Do you need ideas for teaching distance learning in first grade? One thing that's helped me the most is YouTube! It's free, has thousands of books and videos and it's easy to use. Take a look at some of the ways I use YouTube for both my face to face and online classroom.
1. Whole Group Teaching
My number one tip is to use free YouTube videos to help you teach your whole group lessons, both in class and online. I use YouTube videos every single day. I love using videos to help teach our phonics skills, sight words, and math skills. Most of the videos are only a few minutes long so they don't take long to watch. But, with their catchy tunes and humor, they pack a lot of punch in your lesson and help kids remember the skills!
When I'm teaching to my face to face students, I use these videos on my smartboard and show them to the whole class. I often add YouTube videos and online games to my word work lessons in the morning or my math lessons.
If you're teaching students online you can do the same thing by sharing your screen in Zoom or Google Meet. Before you start your meeting, open a new tab, and find the video that you want to share during your lesson. Be sure to preview it ahead of time and skip past any advertisements. When you're ready to use the video during your instruction, simply share your screen and click on the tab with the video already open. You can show it to your students and when finished stop sharing and go back to your regular screen.
2. Read Alouds
I love reading books to my students. We read at least one book every day and they're often the beginning of a reading comprehension lesson or writing activity. But let's face it….books are expensive and I don't always have every book that I want in my classroom library. Using links to free books on YouTube can help you out when you need just the right book for face to face or distance learning in first grade.
YouTube has links to literally thousands of children's books being read out loud. Do a quick search on YouTube and you're likely to find the book that you need in an instant. But be aware…..not all read alouds are of the same quality. Some of my favorite YouTube channels for read alouds are Happy Cultivated, Kid Time Story Time, SnuggleBug Story Time, Storybook Nanny and PV Storytime.
3. Brain Breaks
We all need a break occasionally and kids are no exception. Sometimes we just need to take a break and have a quick dance party or laugh together. YouTube is full of great kids music and dance songs. Your students will love it when you turn on some music for them to listen to while working at their desks. My students love it when I turn on a great Disney playlist. They always know all the words and sing along to the music!
Another way to use YouTube for brain breaks is to use the Go Noodle channel. You can have the kids get up and dance in your classroom or share your screen with your online kids. It's the perfect way to get up and moving when you're on a screen all day!
4. Field Trips
Field trips? Yep! YouTube is filled with all sorts of virtual field trips. Many of us are stuck at school, with field trips off-limits due to Covid-19 this year. Or maybe you're teaching online with no way to get kids out and about.
But that doesn't mean you can't check out some real marine life for your ocean unit, visit a real zoo, or even a pumpkin patch in the fall. The world is at your fingertips when you use YouTube for your virtual field trips!
5. Tutorials
Are you feeling a little overwhelmed with all the tech that comes along with distance learning? You're not alone and YouTube can be the answer to all your technology questions for distance learning in first grade. There are hundreds of free tutorials that can help you with setting up your Google classroom, learning how to use Seesaw, or other online platforms.
Are you trying to figure out how to record your lessons or share your screen in Zoom? There's a tutorial for that! Chances are, whatever your tech needs…..somebody has made a step by step tutorial and all you need to do is search for it on YouTube.
Are you ready to use YouTube but you don't have any time to search for what you need? No worries! Click here to grab this ULTIMATE LIST OF FREE BOOKS AND VIDEOS with clickable links to over 280 books and videos on YouTube that are perfect for the K-1 teacher classroom!
Need more ideas for distance learning? Head over here to get my top tips for surviving distance learning in first grade!
You are awesome! Thanks for sharing!!!