In this post, I share 17 ideas for connecting with students during distance learning.
Have you found yourself drowning in all that is involved with distance learning? Maybe you have even found yourself just missing seeing your students each day. I have heard some people compare this time to summertime. But friends, it is very different than summer break. At this time, we all know that for sure. We all feel it. No proper goodbye to your students. No planned award ceremony. No end of year party. Just a feeling of being done and not knowing when you will be reunited again.
Before the summer break, you get to make sure you are enjoying every last second with your sweet students, who truly feel like family.
Not with distance learning that happens so suddenly. That is a whole different experience and one that may be new to you. Staying connected to students is incredibly important for both students and the teacher. Connecting with students during distance learning doesn’t have to be difficult or tricky. It can be simple!
1. Send an email telling them how you have seen them grow so far this year
2. Send a snail mail card to tell them you are thinking of them
3. Use the app Bomb Bomb to send a personalized video to each kid
4. Use Loom to send a video-teaching or non-teaching
5. Tell them what you have done today
6. Remind them of a funny time you all had together
7. Suggest a topic for a backyard science investigation
8. Challenge them to read five books this week and share their favorite one with you
9.Create a Private Facebook Group and do weekly check-ins
10.Set up a Zoom classroom meeting and allow each child to share something great
11.Record yourself reading a book using Loom
12.Invite them to a pajama party for a bedtime story via Zoom
13. Ask them to go for a shape hunt nature walk and send a picture of their favorite discovery
14. Leave a sidewalk message at their home in chalk
15. Send a picture of something that made you think of them and tell them why
16. Send a snail mail letter to one to two kids per week
17. Send a student weekly newsletter just for the students in your classroom.
While the setting is totally different, we can keep the classroom community alive through this time of distance learning. Connecting with students during distance learning will help them have some sense of normalcy when they hear and see the people they’re used to being around so often.
I’d encourage you to try a few things on this list to keep a strong connection with your students, even it’s outside of your comfort zone. Choose ways to connect that work with your schedule (and your supplies!).
Reach out and let me know if you have other great ways you are intentionally staying in contact with your students. I’d love to hear about it!
I’m a K-1 teacher who is passionate about making lessons your students love and that are easy to implement for teachers. Helping teachers like you navigate their way through their literacy block brings me great joy. I am a lifelong learner who loves staying on top of current literacy learning and practices. Here, you’ll find the tools you need to move your K-2 students forward!
