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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.