After the 2020 year, we are stuck with a TON of digital resources, but don’t hit the “trash” button just yet! There are appropriate places we can still use digital resources in the classroom to keep us organized and our students engaged. Although we won’t be using digital resources 100% of the time, there are some benefits to them-like they don’t create a lot of clutter (no papers getting lost…) and they are time-savers (no printing/copying needed). So move your finger away from the trash icon and take a look at some uses for digital resources below!
Use Digital Resources for Whole Group Teaching
Your digital resources can be used whole group for keeping your day on track or teaching lessons!
Digital Slides for Organization
Pre-made daily slides have been a must have even before 2020 for me. Using digital slides makes me feel so much more organized and ready to tackle anything that comes my way. While they were the perfect thing for distance learning, they are still very much relevant and a life-saver. See how I used them at the beginning of the school year. Trust me, you’ll see why I love it so much! Tons of headers and icons are available to create your own organized slides.
Blending Slides for Teaching Phonics
These phonics sound/spelling patterns slides were created in one of my first years of teaching…but they got a major facelift over the past few years. These were life-saving during distance learning, yet can be used anytime. These PowerPoints & Google Slides are all you need to practice blending words. The PowerPoint is controlled by the teacher while students blend each sound together. Also, FYI this wireless remote is GENIUS to use to transition between slides (amazon aff. link). See how I taught phonics virtually too with additional resources.
Independent Work/Stations/Centers
Your digital resources can be used for independent work, stations, or centers. A no-mess, easy, low or no-prep situation!
I love word work, but the amount of copies I need for centers and extra practice is frightening. With digital resources, you save yourself a lot of paper and time. With these phonics word work packs, students practice creating words, sorting words, building fluency, and so much more. This is a must have for early learners and is perfect for center rotations, intervention, small group activities, and even early finishers. Even if you’re back in the class teaching, you can still use this digital word work activity in the classroom (you can read more about how I teach phonics digitally here).
Task cards are one of my favorite centers-engaging and low-prep. I made sure some of my task cards were digital for 2020, but I will be using these digitally for the foreseeable future. You can even print an answer sheet, but keep the task cards digital, saves you from printing and laminating (aka TIME is saved). This bundle is perfect for introducing early learners to grammatical concepts! Just a few goodies in this bundle include: Noun and Verb Agreement, Parts of Speech and Proper Noun Scoots just to name a few. If you’re looking for more ways to use task cards, read 10 ways to use task cards.
In this activity, students read the words on the page and order them from least to most intense vocabulary words. This resource is great for vocabulary development and discussion. While this activity is geared primarily to first grade students, it would also make a perfect review for both second and third grade.
Small Group Instruction
Your digital resources can be used for small group instruction as reteaching, presenting, or extra practice-again with low to no-prep!
Small group instruction is a great way to intervene with struggling students. This intervention pack will provide students with the practice they need to hear the difference between /ch/ and /sh/, as well as short /i/ and short /e/ sounds. This intervention pack includes printables/digital Google Slides, cut & pastes, and centers to assist in the teaching and learning of these sounds. Whether you are teaching in person or digitally, this resource provides flexibility for your classroom.
Classroom Celebrations
Your digital resources can be used in classroom celebrations anytime of year.
I tend to use these for end of year celebrations, BUT it’s an easy way to boost morale all year long-student of the month, star of the week, it works for anything. Each student gets the chance to be celebrated in this celebration. Pick a student to celebrate, put their picture in the frame, and have the students write encouraging words about them. You can also choose to do them all at once, since it is digital.
During the 100th day of school, I love to challenge my students to do 100 acts of kindness (classroom-wide), but this can be started any time of the year to promote kindness. Digital (and printable) journals to keep tabs on what types of kindness they’ve done around them. I’ve had great experiences with this type of thing in my own classroom.
Finish the school year strong with this digital (and printable) review. Students work on their own to complete A-Z (on single lined alphabet sheet). Then they collaborate with a partner to see if they can add more to their brainstorm. Students log on to the shared Google slide to add one or two of the words (class collaboration). Students pick their final words from the Google slide or the brainstorm page and create their picture dictionaries (on large a-z picture dictionary spaces). Such a unique way to review what we’ve learned during the year.
ALL THE FEELS happen throughout the first and last days of school! This paperless interactive resource will get your students talking about their first and last day of school! This is such a fun way to encourage a class community and a feeling of inclusion. One of my favorite parts is a printable part-if you have students draw a picture and write about their feelings the first day of school, you can easily compare to the last day and SEE all the progress they’ve made!
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