Universal Design for Learning UDL

So, for some crazy reason,  I decided to take an online workshop this week!  Because I'm bored? No! Because I'm crazy? YES!   Here are some pics from today's module that gives some insight to what it is all about.  I'm happy to see that I already use UDL, but it's always nice to get a refresher and validation that what you are doing is best practice. 

Engagement

Personalized education is important, but very hard to manage.

Examples of what it looks like.

Reminders and such...

Today was a bit better until I messed my 4th graders up by posting 2 different times for the same meeting. Message that I need to slow down!!!  The meeting for 4th grade on Zoom is Wednesday 3/25 at 9:00 am.  When I was in the room yesterday, I took some pics.  We need to remember our HR3 expectations at home.  When we are online, we need to remember that we are in the classroom.  When online, you are on your school account and the technology expectations we have in school are the same at home.   I'll see the 4th graders tomorrow! 5th graders, I'll send you an email tomorrow letting you know about our next meeting!

Tell your parents what THINK means!

Henrietta says hello!

Jackie O is still fabulous but is lonely!

Hard Day!!

Today was a hard day.  I started it by trying to do a Zoom workout session at 5:15 a.m. only to have it not connect!  I quickly moved to Facebook live and let my friends who were joining me know. We made it work.  I will be doing Facebook live workout sessions from now on because I can't deal with tech issues at 5:15 in the morning!

I went up to school around 8:00 a.m. to get any materials I would need to teach from home.  We are not allowed to stay in the building anymore.  It was hard.  I had planned to go to school every day and teach from there and work in my room.  I ran to the store after, since I was out, and got a text saying, "Your students are waiting for you..."!  OH NO!  I cancelled the google meet on the google calendar and thought it would email all the kids too.

So, Tuesday we will try a Zoom meeting for 5th and Wednesday a Zoom meeting for 4th.  I was going to use google meet but other teachers were using Zoom and I wanted it to be consistent for families.

Here are a few pics from today's visit to our classroom.  I took more, but will save them for other posts!  I miss you all!

Our book nook!  Zero level!!!!

Fish Tank

My "at home" teacher desk!

At home teacher area!

Trout and such...

The trout continue to grow! I will put a picture and video at the end of this post.
Today was the first day experiencing video conferencing. The first attempt found only a few able to connect, but then we worked it out and it seems as if everyone can connect with the Chromebooks now.  We will try again tomorrow morning.  I am getting so many resources sent to me about online learning that it is overwhelming.  I use online learning already, so will pretty much keep with what we use.  If I find anything that I think we could use then I will share that with you.  I am going to try to post every day, Monday through Friday!

Feeding

The Trout are Swimming Up!

The trout are swimming up! We fed them today and a few of them ate the food.  At this stage, they are called fry.

I will send home a letter Thursday about Run Like A Girl.  The Run for Jim is Sunday May 3rd. We will start practicing on Thursday March 19th.

Illustration Day

Thursdays are illustration days for the 4th grade.  We are illustrating the stories about Grady. Students are grouped by story but also by the job they have. Today, Mr. Raymond started working with the job groups teaching them specifically about their roles  They are character development, background/details, finisher, and colorer.  Cole came today and will join us every Thursday. The kids were so excited to see him!

Fish and Illustrations

The trout continue to grow.  We should be able to start feeding them soon.

The 4th grade has started illustrating a book called, "What Would Grady Do?"  It is a collection of stories about Grady Howrigan that his friends and family shared.  The characters will be bugs and the students are doing a great job!