Social Studies Toolbox

As we are about to enter our final week of the school year, I have spent a lot of time thinking about how I should wrap up the year with my 6th grade U.S. History students. The last couple of months have been like no other. The last time I saw my students in person was March 13th. We didn't realize at the time, we would not see each other again for the rest of the school year. Fortunately, we sent all of our students home with their Chromebooks and two library books that afternoon. (I am also grateful that  I stood in the hall, outside of my classroom that afternoon, and said goodbye to my students. That doesn't always happen. Sometimes the end of the day can get a little hectic and I don't make it to the hall to say goodbye to my students. I am SO glad I did that day.) After we learned we were not coming back (at first we thought we'd be back in a few weeks), we were tasked with coming up with curriculum that could be delivered online. We had the benefit in my distri...

Well, I jumped on the bitmoji classroom bandwagon this morning and created one for myself. It was remarkably easy and FUN! I plan to use my bitmoji classroom to share announcements with my students these last few weeks of school. In the image you see here, I added an announcement about our next Google Meet on the whiteboard. I also created a recording of me reading the announcement and linked the audio file to my bitmoji. When students click on my bitmoji, they will hear me reading the announcement written on the board! If you are familiar with Google Slides the process will be relatively simple. I explain how I made my bitmoji classroom in this short (less than 5 minute) tutorial. I explain how I added my background, furniture, my bitmoji, and my audio file. Below is a picture of my bitmoji classroom. (I added a few personal touches including my notorious RBG coffee mug and a copy of Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States. Can you spot them? I...