Day 3- Filling in Dead Time

For the past 3 days, I have been subbing at various elementary schools. The kids have been amazing and the lessons plans that teachers leave have been outstanding. I know many teachers are feeling burnt-out and need to take care of their physical and mental health. Even though teachers are doing their best to leave highly detailed lesson plans for numerous days, I have noticed that sometimes I need to fill in some dead time. From my years of experience, dead time can be dangerous time. When kids are bored, they can easily become anxious, disruptive, or chaotic. That is why I have a list of go-to activities for those last 30 minutes that I need to fill. Here are some ideas:

1.) This month of January students are learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and so I was able to have my 2nd grade students watch this short video. We then discussed why we celebrate his legacy. 

Link to the YouTube video: Click here 

2.) For my 5th grade class, we read a short article about MLK and then watched this video. Then the kids had a blast playing a quick round of Kahoot. Since I had a few non-English speakers, they were able to play the game by changing the language setting on the game. You can go in as a guest to set this up. 

Link to the YouTube video: Click here

Link to the Kahoot game: Click here 

3.) Depending on age and access to computers, I have my student go to typing.com to practice their skills. Whenever students finish their work, they can do a few minutes of this great little activity.

4.)  Again, depending on age and access to computers, I have my students do a quick vision board using Google Slides. At this point, most students know how to use Google slides, how to insert a background image, and how to add images and text. For more advanced students, they can create a virtual or Bitmoji dorm room. You can show these short tutorials and watch them run with this. Of course, if they don't have computers, you can give them a blank sheet of paper and have them draw out their ideas. 

Link to Vision Board tutorial: Click here

Link to Virtual Dorm tutorial: Click here

Hope these ideas help. Comment below and let me know how these lessons went. 


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