I have been SO grateful to my friends Martina Bex, Pat and Carol Gaab, and Jim and Jennifer Wooldridge for saving my behind this week. When I went to school Thursday, we were told that we should start thinking of how we would do ELearning should the schools close. By Friday evening, we were facing two weeks of planning!

Thank GOD for all the free resources that not only small companies like Fluency Matters, Señor Wooly, and The Comprehensible Classroom are sharing… big companies are opening up their platforms to bail teachers out as we navigate these unknown waters. Working at Fluency Matters and Wooly has let me see up close and personally how HARD everyone is working to give these materials away. Who could’ve ever imagined that nearly EVERY SCHOOL IN THE US would close??

But what they’ve given us is all for the first two weeks! They’ve shared and saved my hide for now and I need to start thinking ahead to what I’m going to do next. I would encourage you, as you try out all of these new resources to choose some and support the companies after the freebies run out. As our schools ask us to teach virtually, we need to be prepared to ask them for help with resources.

My first thought is that the ECourses worked out great today in my classes. I had all my students set up and we were able to log in and preview how to tackle the reader on our day together before the closure. If we end up with a full month closure, I’m going to purchase another title and do that next.

I’m a Señor Wooly subscriber so I plan to take the plans we are sharing through his site and use them for the next song that we tackle.

I am going to keep doing free-reading using Martina’s Choice Board and Revista Literal.

I love Screencastify so I am using the 2 week free resource and then renewing my subscription.

I am so excited about using Zoom too! It is free right now and it will make it nice to get to see my kids face to face (those who can make it at the given time).

What are your plans if the shutdown lingers on?