E-learning Ideas for Learning at Home

Crazy times are here! The dreaded virus (I won't say the C word as most of us are tired of it!) has caused everything to close. My school is closed. Because of this, we have moved to e-learning. My team already has a little plan in place (at least for a couple of days). Unfortunately, we never thought we would be closed multiple weeks! With this in mind, here are some E-learning Ideas for Learning at Home.

In each section below, I provide different links to FREEBIES offered by different providers during this period. Please use the links provided as some are not found on the first page of their website. 

* Please note, these are NOT referral links. I am in no way affiliated with any of these programs.

Google Classroom 

This has to be set up by your district. If they do not have it, unfortunately you will not be able to access it. Having access to Google Classroom makes it easy to drop links and assignments for your students. 

If you are a G-Suite district, check out the link to see how they have expanded services to help teachers and students at home. For example, they have increased the participants allowed in Google Hangouts.

Breakout EDU 

Have you ever played a breakout game? These are fun, educational games that have questions which need to be answered to unlock different clues and win. This particular website has breakout games meant to be played at home.

The students answer questions and use the answers to unlock the locks. This might be a little difficult at first. I suggest having students do an easy one (below grade level one) at first to understand how to play the game without worrying about the questions.

Virtual Field Trips 

Since students are stuck at home during this period, a Virtual Field Trip will take them to different places around the world. This list shows just a few places. To find more, I suggest doing a simple Google search for Virtual Field Trips.

1. 12 Museums you can Tour. - People Magazine created a list that links different museums for you and your students to visit. One museum I recommend is the British Museum. I love that one!
2. Mount Rushmore - When I first tried this, it was a little tricky to navigate, but once you get into it, it's pretty cool. Students can click on different pictures throughout which will lead them on the trail to Mount Rushmore. There are also 360 degree panoramic views and lots of educational information!
3. Statue of Liberty - This page gives you the directions on how to navigate the tour. In order to actually take the tour, students need to click on the words - High Speed.
4. The Liberty Bell - This will take you around the Liberty Bell so you can examine it up close.
5. Treasure Trove of Places - While looking at the Liberty Bell, I clicked on all they have to offer. There are too many places to list here but some include the Lincoln Memorial, Titanic, Sigmund Freud Museum, Antarctica, and hundreds more all over the world.

Most of these trips offer so many educational pieces of information that students can read and learn. To 'prove' that students have completed their field trip, you can have them write 3 things they have learned or find a cute graphic organizer to fill out.

EdPuzzle 

EdPuzzle will allow you to make videos or use already created videos to engage your students. By signing up with the link I provide, you will gain full access to this site. This means you will get records of which students have viewed the videos and their comprehension of them.

Mystery Science 

Mystery Science is offering some free mini lessons perfect for science. Some of the lessons have an activity for students to complete after watching a video. Some are just an educational video. With those, have students watch them and write a reflection afterwards to prove they saw the video.

Moby Max 

We use this in my school and I love it! They are offering their program FREE right now. You can assign students work in reading, math, science, and social studies. What's nice is that once students start, you don't actually have to do anything! 

Students are pretested and placed in work according to their ability. You can even create a contest in which students earn a certain number of points. Right now we are in the midst of a March contest and my students have already been going on at home to get the most points in class. (FYI - Points are earned for correct answers.)

Brain Pop 

If you fill out the form by clicking on the link above, you will gain FREE access on BrainPop. This means you can assign videos, quizzes, and view lessons that go with them. I love how BrainPop makes videos easy for my students to understand. In school, I generally use them as an introduction to a lesson or a quick review. However, you can use them for so much more!

Kahoot! 

While you can use Kahoot! for free anytime, right now they are offering FREE Premium access to their site. Kahoot! is a fun way to review that students understand their work. You create quizzes (or find previously made ones) that students answer to earn points. By use the Premium feature, you will be able to print out reports with how well the students completed their work.

There are tons of more FREE resources to use during this time but like anything else, I caution you to keep it simple so you and your students are not overwhelmed by shiny new object syndrome. We are all working to figure out this e-learning. If you have any tips or suggestions, please let me know by commenting below or emailing me at beth@confessionsofafrazzledteacher.com. I want to help in any way that I can!

Looking for FREE printables to use during this time? Click the picture below to get access to 20 pages of FREE Differentiated Math pages!