- What's New in K-2
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Welcome to “What’s New in K-2”!
Welcome to "What's New in K-2," your weekly source for fresh ideas and practical resources designed to spark joy and learning in your classroom. Each week, we'll dive into a curated collection of helpful content to make your teaching life a little easier and a lot more engaging.
Inside each edition, you'll discover:
💡 Tips, Tools and Templates: Ready-to-use strategies and resources to streamline your lesson planning and classroom management.
📺 Teaching with Teachflix Junior: Creative ways to leverage educational videos and media in your lessons.
🛍️ Teacher Finds for the Classroom: Discover exciting and practical products to enhance your learning environment.
😄 Giggle of the Week: A guaranteed dose of laughter to brighten your day.
❤️ Share your ideas with us! A place to connect and contribute to our growing community.
We're passionate about supporting you in creating a vibrant and engaging learning experience for your young students.
Don't miss out on these weekly gems! Subscribe now to receive "What's New in K-2" directly in your inbox and unlock a treasure trove of helpful resources. Let's make every week a wonderful learning adventure together!
💡 Tips, Tools and Templates
5 Great Apps for K-2
Each week we will feature a big idea that will give you either a helpful teaching tip along with resources to make it work in your class, tools to make your job easier of templates to save you time.
To get started we have shared 5 great apps for K-2. We know there are many great ones but here are 5 we think deserve a look.
App/Tool: Seesaw
What it is: Seesaw offers a suite of award-winning tools, resources, and curriculum with interactive lessons, digital portfolios, and two-way communication features that provide continuous visibility into the student’s learning journey to support and celebrate their learning. Seesaw offers an extensive activity library with ready-to-use resources for multiple subjects and grades.
Great for: Student portfolio and parent communication
Helpful Links: Learn all about the Seesaw lessons library.
App/Tool: Snorkl
What it is: Snorkl is an innovative educational platform that uses AI to provide students with instant personalized feedback on their responses to questions or prompts assigned by their teachers.
Students record their thinking on a digital whiteboard using various tools like drawing, highlighting, typing text, inserting equations, and uploading images, while simultaneously explaining their thought process aloud.
Great for: Math reasoning/thinking and quality AI feedback
Helpful Links: Check out the Snorkl Getting Started Guide
App/Tool: Book Creator
What it is: Book Creator is a digital tool that makes it possible for anyone to create, publish, and share their own digital books. Students can easily add text, images, audio, and video to your pages. They can even use pre-made templates and themes to get your imagination rolling. Books can be saved as PDFs or published online for others to view and read. Book Creator works on the web, on iPads, and on Chromebook.
Great for: Publishing and sharing student writing
Helpful Links: Teach your first lesson with Book Creator
App/Tool: Grouper
What it is: Grouper allows you to instantly generate random groups of any size. Groupings can be randomized, customized, or based on student attributes. They can be used immediately for whatever task you’d like your students to engage in or saved for later.
Great for: Making groups for centers, teams for games or randomizing students.
Helpful Links: 10 ways to manage small groups with Grouper
App/Tool: Khan Academy Kids App (ios & Andriod)
What it is: For K-2 teachers seeking to differentiate instruction, Khan Academy Kids offers valuable tools for individualized learning. Its adaptive learning path dynamically adjusts to each child's needs, providing tailored activities, books, videos, and creative lessons that promote learning at their own pace. This personalized approach ensures every student receives an experience that meets them where they are. The Khan Academy Kids Library empowers independent learning, offering a curated collection of activities, books, videos, and coloring pages. The built-in book reader, with options for audio narration or independent reading across leveled fiction and non-fiction texts, fosters literacy skills and encourages self-directed exploration.
Great for: Independent learning
Helpful Links: Check out the printable packets for offline learning.
📺 Teaching with Teachflix Junior
📒Get this FREE ebook!
Ever find that perfect video for your little learners? The one that captures their attention, sparks their curiosity, and gets them talking and thinking?
Videos can be an amazing tool to kickstart great learning experiences.
That's why we created Teachflix Jr. (teachflix.org/junior). It's a treasure trove of carefully curated videos, sorted into categories, that you can use with your K-2 students in class. We've handpicked our favorites and gathered suggestions from classroom teachers. It's not an all-encompassing collection, but we love it, and we're always adding new videos!
Want to make the most of it in your classroom?
This guide is here to help.
You'll find a variety of plug-and-play activities you can do with your students after watching the Teachflix Jr. video—some can be used with any Teachflix Jr video or even videos you find on YouTube or other platforms.
Want to use the activities digitally?
Click on the page you want.
On a computer, go to File > Make a copy > Selected slides.
Share the copy with your students through your learning management system or with a link.
On a mobile device, click the three dots, choose Share & Export, then Make a copy.
Prefer a paper copy?
Find the page you want in this guide.
Adjust the text (or anything else) to fit your needs.
Delete anything you don't need for your printout.
Go to File > Print and under Pages, choose Custom to select the pages you want.
These resources are designed to help you plan your lessons for the next few days—or even longer! We hope you find them helpful and inspiring!
Don’t wait. Grab this ebook and level up those video learning lessons!
❤️ Love these Teachflix Jr. resources?
You’ll get even more in the What’s New in K-2 newsletter!
Each week you’ll find new resources specifically designed for Teachflix Junior videos. So get ready for ready-to-use resources delivered right to your inbox!
🛍️Teacher Finds for the Classroom
📲Scannable Labels
During the 2021 Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit Deanna Rice shared her favorite teacher finds in her session 12 Must-Have Items to Make Your Classroom Rock.
One item that was a HIT with the participants were Intelligent QR Labels for Organization/Moving/Storage.
What they are:
These pre-printed, peel-and-stick Intelligent QR Labels, designed for smooth surface storage bins and cardboard boxes, revolutionize classroom organization by linking physical items to digital information through a free mobile app.
Why they’re useful:
Detailed Itemization: Teachers can record titles, descriptions, quantities, locations, and photos for each item.
Flexible Search: Find items easily by name, keyword, or direct QR code scan.
Collaborative Sharing: Share account data with colleagues for team organization.
Data Export: Export data for inventory management or insurance documentation.
Editable and Reusable: Labels and content can be edited and reused as needed.
No Subscription Fees: Access and use data without ongoing costs.
Rapid Retrieval: Scan the QR code with any mobile device for instant access to associated information, saving you valuable time.
Note: The link below is an affiliate link. This means that, at zero cost to you, Deanna will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.
L👀king for more great teacher finds?
Each week we will share useful and fun teacher finds in the What’s New in K-2 Newsletter. Be sure to subscribe to get these recommendations sent straight to your inbox!
🤭 Giggle of the Week
More like 7pm for K-2 teachers 😴
h/t MathMashup.com