This back to school season is definitely the first of its kind. We already started back this week and have about a month left until the first day of school for students. We have no idea whether we’ll be virtual year round, but we will be using a virtual model for our first week with students.
At the end of the last school year, I didn’t have much of a dedicated space for virtual teaching and learning. I moved a week before the pandemic and didn’t have any furniture or materials besides my laptop in my new home office! Once I started delivering virtual professional development this summer, I started to settle into a dedicated space, but there was a lot of trial and error when it came to adjusting to this new virtual world.
I partnered with Walmart to set up a distance learning space at home and I love it so far! I had a very limited budget and was able to find everything in this post from their back-to-school teacher shop at an affordable price point. My goal was to set up a space that was functional based on my experiences this summer with virtual PD, but also to have materials that I could easily pack up and bring to school if we were to return in person again.
This is what the space looks like so far! This desk is only $59, but it’s a great size and has a spacious drawer as well. I’ll get into tech setup a little later in the post, but first I wanted to share some of my favorite finds!
Here’s what the inside of the drawer looks like right now! I’m obsessed with these retractable highlighters– no more losing the cap! The felt pens are super affordable and I love using them under the document camera. The tip is fine enough where others can see precisely across the screen, which is something I definitely had to get used to compared to writing big anchor charts during the school year! The colors don’t bleed through but are still dark enough to be seen clearly.
This planner is my new favorite! Although it’s a student planner, it has a section for every subject and is super lightweight for only $8. It’s perfect for teachers who love the structure of a teacher planner but don’t like the bulk that comes along with it!
I mentioned the retractable highlighters earlier, but Pen + Gear also makes retractable dry erase markers! With such light colored carpets, I can’t risk losing the cap and accidentally dropping one. I think they’re such a great idea!
Last but not least, here is what my tech setup looks like for digital learning! All items are linked below the image.
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