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Friday, December 14, 2012

The Daily Five


I got to guest teach in a second grade classroom with some beautifully designed reading stations. The class was split into 5 groups - The Daily Five. There were six stations and a 15 minute timer running. Each group goes to three stations each day. Part of what made this so exciting was that several of the stations used iPads. Although I have heard about using iPads to flip classrooms and I have looked into several iPad programs for early literacy, this is the first time I got to see this technology in practice.      

1) Well designed reading stations allow the classroom teacher to pull guided reading groups and have the rest of the class stay productive and on task.

2) "Listen to Reading" is a station that uses iPads. Each student in this group got onto Tumblebooks (oh yes, Tumblebooks again). They used a QR code on the back of the "Listen to Reading" sign to log on. 

Once in Tumblebooks students could listen to any book they liked. 

3) "Read to Self" is another station that has students work with iPads. Students use a program called iTalk, were they record themselves reading aloud.

Students label each record with their name and record themselves reading for 1 minute at a time. The students can listen to their own recording to hear how they read. Later the recordings can then be reviewed by the teacher and even emailed to students' families.    

4) "Read to Someone" is a fairly self explanatory station.

There are reminders of good ways for students to read to each other on the back of the "Read to Someone" sign.

Here two students are reading two different books. They each take a turn reading one page from their stories.

5) At the "Work on Writing" station students worked on a previously given assignment. 

6) The "Word Work" station is focused on vocabulary and spelling words. They are currently playing a game that helps them practice making contractions.   

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Poinsettia Project

A fun holiday craft! This was done in a 5th grade classroom. Sadly, you will have to create your own black line. Each poinsettia has 6 green leaves, 8 large red or pink petals, 10 medium petals, 10 small petals and 1 large brad to hold it all together.
   
The final product.

Good luck re-creating the black line images.



Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Learning Through Play

There was a fascinating article, by Gina Bellafante, in the New York Times titled "The Great Divide, Now in the Toy Aisle." The "Great Divide" in this article is the economic divide that exists our country, and the gist of the article is that economic inequalities are apparent even in toys. Many of the specialized toys that are designed to stimulate the brain and promote learning are (according to the article) not typically carried in chain stores. The article notes that "Sean McGowan, a toy industry analyst at the investment bank Needham & Company explained it, the market for educational toys is never quite as big as we would like it to be. While a company like Toys “R” Us carries educational toys, over time its commitment to promoting them has eroded, he said." This is interesting and upsetting to me as an educator. It would seem that this is yet another place where the economic gap is putting out students in poverty at a disadvantage.   

A big part of my training as a teacher has been in outdoor and adventure education and through this I have been trained to recognize the value in learning through play. In every science class that I was trained to teach at Eagle Bluff, virtually every learning objective had a game that went with it. Even in the traditional classroom, math curriculum's always include games. A spelling and phonics curriculum "Words Your Way," that is popular in the Twin Cities, encourages spelling games (way beyond the spelling bee, which I always dreaded as a child). As educators we know the value of getting kids to have fun while they learn and how it helps engage all learners. 

If we try to help students learn through play in the classroom, why not encourage them to learn through play at home too? Learning through play certainly does not have to come from a toy store. David Elkind, PhD wrote the article "Learning Through Play" in which he not only explains the importance of play and how children learn about the world around them, but he also describes several interesting, free activities and word games that parents could do with their children to encourage playful learning. 

This list of suggestions, from Elkind's article, would be a great addition to a newsletter to parents. 
  1. Ask a child to think of as many things as he or she can think of that you can do with a paper clip, pencil, or napkin.
  2. When riding in the car, play games like finding how many houses have For Sale signs, front porches, or identify particular car models that you see passing by.
  3. After watching a TV program together, talk about the story and characters, what did you like and not like about them.
  4. Watch some ads on TV and criticize them.
  5. Make up new endings to stories you have just read.
   

Monday, December 10, 2012

Points and Rewards

Today I'm in a fifth grade classroom where the teacher has a idea for keeping track of points to reward her class. On the whiteboard, next to the class schedule there is a popsicle stick on a magnet for point tracking that also says what is happening at each time of the day. Classes like math have 2 popsicle sticks (for the lesson and indepent work time) for greater acountablitity for students and more possible points. Win-win! 

The Secedule With Posible Points
 
If students are on task, the popsicle stick gets moved up into the point bank. I like this because it gives the kids are very clear idea of when they are earning points.

The Point Bank
 
The Entire Secedule and Point System




Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Place Value Bingo

Today's great idea for teaching comes from a 4th grade classroom. The name of the game is "Place Value Bingo" and this would be a great math game for any class working on place value. 

To prepare for this game write the numbers zero through nine for each place value you would like to include in your game on small squares of paper. Having each place value on a different color of paper helps the game run more smoothly and laminating them helps it last longer. 

To play the game have each student write a number (obviously for this round it was a 7 digit number) on a little white board or piece of paper. Have students quickly check their neighbors numbers, to help prevent cheating. Draw a number and call out the place value. Students mark off their number as they are called off. When a student gets a bingo, have them read the number aloud and reward them as you see fit (I have been called the sticker queen). 

As you draw the numbers during the game, having them color coordinated by place value helps the game run quickly and smoothly. 



Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Motivating Students

Any substitute teacher can tell you, motivating students who do not know you can be really tricky. I have been building a bag of tricks over the last few months.

-Music during silent reading. I like to play Trace Bundy on Pandora - it brings up calm and lyric-less acoustic guitar. If you are planning on playing Pandora in class, have found that its worth it to pay to not have commercials.

-Stickers! They are amazing motivation for kids in kindergarten through 8th grade (its most amazing to see this work in the upper grades).

If you give out stickers as students are working it shows them you care about what they are doing.

-Create a "I was reading!" or "I was writing!" list. As students are silently reading I walk around the room, quietly thank students for being on task and ask them to sign their name. I always leave the list for their classroom teacher.

Tried and true: students love it when you notice the postive things they do.

-Wiggle breaks! If you tube is not blocked in your classroom, project or put on the SMART board the Cha Cha Slide or Just Dance.

-Tumble Books (see my previous post about how great these are).

-In very chatty classrooms I have a contest with the students. I post "Class" and "Teacher" on the board, where I tally points. I give them a count down: 3 seconds for voices off, 30 seconds to gather supplies and be ready for the next activity. If they are ready at the end of the count down they get the point, if not I get the point. At some designated point near the end of the day if they have more points than me they get a reward - typically a Tumble Book or a wiggle break.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Quite Captin

Today's great teaching idea comes from me! In the moments when a class has to wait in the hallway, say for a specialist teacher, I often have the students play "Quite Captain." Guest teachers - this is great because it is almost always a new game for kids and really grabs them. I tell my students I will pick my first quite captain. A quite captain is totally silent and not bothering their neighbors. That person stands before the class and has three seconds to pick the next quiet captain.

The name of the game is Quite Captain.

Before this week I had only used Quite Captain with younger students (k-1). Yesterday, I was subbing as STEM specialist and had a third grade class lined up, waiting for their classroom teacher. We gave it a shot - they loved it. This morning I am in a 4th grade classroom. They love it! This is a fun way to have the class calm and ready for the next lesson.

Image from: http://www.clker.com/clipart-quiet-outline.html

Monday, November 26, 2012

End of Day

Today I am guest teaching in a very nice 1st grade classroom. My students are with their STEM specialist and when they back from specialist it will be dismissal time. Being as I don't need to prepare anything (other than a note to their teacher, which I already wrote) I thought it would be the perfect time to write a new post.

The end of the day is often a chaotic time in any classroom. To help eliminate the chaos this teacher had a great idea: She uses read aloud or Tumble Books. Before they left for specialist, all students stacked their chairs, packed their back packs, and put them with their coats at their table spots. When the students return from specialist students will put on their coats, stand by their table spots and wait for buses to be called. While they wait they watch a Tumble Book.

Tumble Books are picture books online, that are read aloud to students. The words are posted with each page and are highlighted as they are read. Some of the pictures include small animations and they also include music in some parts of the books. Information is posted with most of the books telling the reading level and  how long they run for - typically just a few minutes, making them a great brain break or reward.

"Porcupining" is one of my favorite Tumble Books.
I've shown this story in many classes I guest teach in.
 
I strongly encourage schools that have smart boards or lap top projectors to get a subscription to Tumble Books. If you want to try them out, Dakota County Library has a subscription to Tumble Books. You can access it by first clicking on the "For Kids" link and then the "Building Literacy" link.

Note: You now have to have a Dakota County Library card number and pin to access Tumble Books through their web cite.    

Monday, November 19, 2012

Four Inch Photos

Hello all! Today I am back in my favorite kindergarten classroom (let's call them Ms. L's class). I have had the pleasure of working with this group about 5 or 6 times so far this year. The best way to describe Ms. L's class as a whole would be joyful. (School starts in about 15 minutes so we'll have to see if I feel the same way about them at the end of the day!)

Today's great idea for teaching is - you guessed it! - four inch photos. In this classroom Ms. L. included each child's name on the word wall and with each name a four inch head shot of the student. I think this is a great way for students to feel ownership of the classroom and as a guest teacher it has been very helpful in learning names quickly. I think that I would make this a separate bulletin board in older grades (not part of the word wall), perhaps part of a hopes and dreams bulletin board, but still post pictures and names prominently. 


Friday, November 16, 2012

Ketchup and Relish

As a guest teacher, I got the rare privilege of teaching in the same classroom two days in a row. Back in the 7th grade science class, our lunch period was switched with 6th grade's lunch and this was where I got today's great idea for teaching. The 6th grade needed more time in the morning for "Ketchup and Relish Day." It is two weeks before the end of the trimester. Students who had all there homework for the trimester complete got to "relish" the day by watching a movie and eating popcorn. Students who had outstanding homework had to "ketchup." While I've seen variations of this played out many times, this version wins the prize for best name for the reward day. What a great way to motivate students!

Ketchup Bottle Clip Art 
                   







Thursday, November 15, 2012

Seating Chart

Today's great idea for my classroom comes from a 7th grade science teacher. She has 27 to 37 students in each of her 5 classes (in on class there were 5 at a table). When I came into the classroom I found this teacher had a great way of  having multiple seating charts. Each students name was on the sticky part of a post-it note and each seating chart was inside a page protector. I think this would work great even for a general classroom teacher -  it seems potentially easier to rearrange a seating chart.
 


Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Guest Teacher

This fall I have been guest teaching. I have been trying to note things that I want to do in my next classroom and I am realizing that it will be beneficial to actually note them (not just think - wow, good idea - and move on). So today's note: The Sub-Folder.

Every teacher creates one. As a guest teacher, it seems that every time I am frustrated because the teacher did not leave the information I needed, it turns out that it actually was there. It (whatever it is) was buried in the sub folder. The key seems to be how that information is organized. 

When a sub folder is literally a flat folder it is difficult to find things quickly. When a student is having a melt down and needs to talk to the social worker, I want to be able to act. I do not want to spend time sifting through papers looking for the correct number.  

My favorite sub-folder has been a three ringed binder. All the pages were in page protectors and the sections were divided with clearly tabbed tabbed dividers. I want every classroom I substitute teach in to have a binder with the following sections: class list, a list of special needs, seating chart, important phone numbers, daily schedule, and extra activities. Teachers would get bonus points from me if their sub binder included small pictures of each student with the class list or seating chart. I also want the daily schedule to be very specific about morning routines and end of the day routines. 



This flip chart from http://thesilverlininginteaching.blogspot.com has very similar information in another easy to use format.