let the text inspire you

In class we've been talking about what we can do as readers - what ideas we're making.
One girl decided to make her own book (in Google Docs) after one from her Raz-Kids bookshelf  about immigration really resonated with her.
Two others are in their own "book club" - they borrowed the same book from the library and get together to read and discuss, sometimes even at recess.
I shared these simple projects with the class in the hopes that others will find inspiration and act on that.

This is a quote shared by Kathy Collins during our week of PD. Click to download from TpT.

integrated inquiry: health + math

I was inspired one weekend when my husband set out money for our helper's weekly trip to the grocery store. She has off-the-charts mental math skills, and from the 2000 pesos (about $50), she spends almost every last cent to buy the food she needs to cook our lunches for Tuesday - Friday. (How seriously lucky are we that this something we have in our lives?!) Then I thought: this must go into the classroom. It's the perfect link with our Physical Wellbeing commonality.

So I set it up with the kids, telling them about Angie, and we figured out together how much she probably spends each day. The kids used very intelligent reasoning, saying that some days, when she makes us soup, it probably costs her less than when she makes us chicken with a salad. I mean, come on...! Well done, grade three.

Then we talked about how difficult it is to eat healthy everyday. We talked about advertising and how it's literally all around us, trying to persuade us to buy every sugar-filled and "low fat" and cartoon-laden product out there. From here, we inquired into what makes a balanced meal?

The kids hit the Chromebooks, iPads, and our library, searching for information. After about an hour, we came together and discussed our findings. We even qualified the terms "good" and "bad" with reference to food.

Someone hit on "the five food groups" and we were off...

The next day I shared with them a Google Doc called "The Legends Supermarket," modeled after our class name, that was blank. The kids organized themselves into food group companies, browsed Compfight and CC Search for images of foods, and began adding them to the Doc to create a grocery flyer.

You can see some groups have even started adding in prices...that I've spent some time adjusting today! 10 pesos for a whole chicken? Okay.

After pricing is made more appropriate (!), the kids will use the shared folder to build their own healthy meal for one lunch, with 250 (fake) pesos in their pockets. We've discussed the goal, which is to practice our 2- and 3-digit addition skills. 

I'm really looking forward to getting back to this next week! Real life, meaningful, and integrated.

critique & feedback

Such an inspiring video:

And aside from critique and feedback, so many other themes:
perseverance
goal-setting
revision
personal best
power of positive language
being specific
building excellence
beginning with the end in mind
...
...
...!

inspiring creativity

We start back to school on Monday.

After being off for the past three months with our baby, I'm a mix of excited and nervous.

Reflecting on the last year in the classroom, I knew there was one thing I definitely wanted to add:

Time fillers!

Then I decided these should help foster creativity and build a great classroom culture.

So I've just put these simple prompts together:

click the picture to download for free

The file itself is not all that fantastically pretty or creative on my part, but hey.

brain break

Clearly, all my kids were pretty into this for our morning energizer:

Ylvis -  The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)

wonderopolis

This is a really cool website to share with your class:

wonderopolis.org

Basically it asks a totally random question about the world and offers answers using videos and articles.
It boosts imagination and curiosity.
It can be used in SO many different ways!
And you can subscribe to the daily wondering by email...

PS - they're also on twitter.

my mouth is a volcano

In the classroom I'm trying to create an open-dialogue community.

I don't think my students need to raise their hands all the time to share their ideas or ask one other questions.

I want conversations in our room to feel like natural conversations!

I can guide them, but I want the kids to feel free.

Of course, some of those habits need to be taught and practiced.

Enter Julia Cook!

My Mouth is a Volcano is a really great book for helping kids understand appropriate conversation skills.

It will be a great reference tool in the room as we meet together to as a whole group.

I'm really looking forward to classroom discussions this year with this openness!

I think having an open-dialogue will really help students feel an important part of our classroom community.

inspirational quotes freebie

(Click to download.)
Happy weekend! We're off to a resort for some R&R after these first busy weeks of school.

i-time {inquiry + personal interest = kids in control!}

One of my favourite parts of our first week was our I-Time.

Anyone else use this?

It's something I've never used before, but after jumping in, I highly recommend it!

We teach an inquiry curriculum, meaning students are given a lot of control over their learning.

They take the reigns, so to speak, and that whole idea, I'll admit, made me uneasy.

Coming from Kuwait, where I had to implement behaviour expectations like crazy, teaching through inquiry seemed like a big loss of control on my side.

I have to say, though, that the transition has been really really great so far.

I love giving the students the responsibility and independence that inquiry calls for.

It's amazing watching them learn together.

What is I-Time?

Basically, it's a time for students to choose a topic of personal interest and research it.

My students are allowed to sign out up to four books from our library, so my one stipulation during our browse and borrow time will be that each kid find at least one non-fiction book focusing on something they want to learn more about.
Note: We have an absolutely AMAZING library space in our school! We also have five iPads in the class and I'm able to book a class set of Chromebooks.

Immediately following our library time is a single forty-minute period that I've designated for I-Time.

Each student has an I-Time notebook where they will write down their questions, ideas, new learning, diagrams, thoughts, etc. etc.

For this week, I pretty much answered "yes!" to all the "Can I..." questions the kids asked.

{Can I draw pictures to show what I learned? Can I write questions about things I want to remember to look up later? Can I write the things I learn in a list? Yes, yes, and yes.}

They grabbed a pencil and found a comfy spot around the room to read and learn about a personal interest.

Everyone was so engaged!

In the coming weeks I'll start to teach the class about framing their inquiry questions - how to broaden questions, how to write more specific questions, how to research effectively, how to go about summarizing new knowledge, and options for presenting their learning to the class.

Letting kids make choices about what they learn is a very powerful tool; I'm already looking forward to our next I-Time session on Thursday!

Sparking Student Motivation - Mini Munsch Awards

I completely forgot to post about this idea that totally saved a near end-of-year lesson meltdown.

We were studying Robert Munsch.
I love his stories, the kids love it's stories, he's great. 
The class listened, enraptured, as I read "They Share Everything."
They laughed. They cheered. They chorused the lines.
As soon as I closed the book, though, they were goners.
Even the ones I can always count on.
Goners.
Hopeful, I explained the writing activity - an easy one.
Some groaned. Some whined. Some harrumphed. 
And then they groaned and whined and harrumphed altogether.
It was a collective mess.
No one wanted to write.
I explained the activity again, this time with a smile and what felt like a pathetic little "he he..."
I'm sure I heard crickets.
One or two half-heartedly picked up their pencils.
I knew I was losing them.
And then I thought I might lose my cool...
But in the last instant, I blurted, "You know, I have a special reward for the awesome writers today. The awesome writers today get to be my Mini Munsches!"
I hardly knew what I was saying...
Eyebrows raised. Shoulders straightened. Ears bent.
I told them I was going to use my time while they were writing to make some special awards.
So while I got busy, they lifted their pencils and they wrote.
Oh, they wrote! They wrote amazing things! 
It was some of the best writing I've seen all year from some.
Here's what my awesome writers took home: 

Phew.

Crisis averted.

Check out Head Over Heels for Teaching for more motivational ideas:

 

Curbing the Chaos

It's finally countdown time!
School ends June 12 for us, so it's still pretty much "forever" away.
I decided to go ahead and use the ABC-a-day countdown.
(A is Animal Day; B, Bubble Gum; C is Candy Day)
I'm hoping it will help with all the wiggles and giggles...
As there have been many.
Oh-so-many...

And I fear my EA has had it up to here with some of the silliness.
Honestly, I'm just trying to keep my cool.
You know, give the kiddies some space.
Space that's really just a disguise for me to sort through my own reactions...
Space to harness in all of my own whine-y "Why in the world would you do that?"s.
That kind of space.

To get them excited about it, I made these little calendar cards to decorate our door...

Which my kids promptly destroyed by colouring with their "Come on, lady, it's May" attitude.

The word lackadaisical comes to mind.
But they're up, displayed, and they'll be a good reminder for parents.
So now, to keep them motivated and on track, my beloved clip chart comes in to play.

{Hahaha, I chuckle as I throw my head back and give a wistful wave of my hand. Oh, September, with all of your clips on Amazing!}

The deal is that each kid has to be on the green level or above if they are going to participate.
Because it's not September anymore...and maybe five kids make it Amazing by the end of these days.
Perhaps a little cruel, sure.
But at this point, I'm a bit tired of repeating myself.
And by "a bit" I mean "a ton."
I'm a ton tired of repeating myself.
So we'll see how it goes!
I know we won't get all the way to Z anyway, since kids will stop coming to school by the end of May.
Looking forward to a bit of extra fun each day at any rate :)

- Amanda

Another freebie poster share

Since I liked making these one so much :)

Freebie poster

Here is just a little something I've been working on today. Pick it up as a little freebie in my TpT or click the picture to find it in Google Docs.

I've also been working a bit on our school yearbook - it's a lot of work but it's fun work :P

Here is one page I created (don't mind the Publisher boxes around each element):

Happy weekend!

- Amanda

Building reading fluency

The other day a parent said to me, "You know, I'm really trying to help him read more like a person, more normal." I told him that I'd actually heard a lot of fluency improvement specifically in his child's reading, so a good job was being done! I added that fluency and expression are difficult things to "teach" - it seems to me to be more about modeling. Of course, teaching a largely ESL class, many of my kids are like little robot-readers because they don't have the natural language flow yet. So I thought on it. And thought it. Then thought some more. Finally I remembered a blog post I'd read - a looooong time ago! Funny the things our brains hang on to...

Starting this quarter I'm going to be implementing a program called "Awesome Reader" into our daily learning! Students will basically be practicing at home {with the help of their families} to read a book {A-Z readers I give based on their level or a parent/teacher-approved/familiar-to-the-student book} to read aloud in front of their classmates. Special cheering and lots of encouragement will make this work, and I know it will be a  big hit with the right enthusiasm and modeling. It's a great way to get some oral communication assessment in, too.

Big thanks to Second Grade Sparkle for this great idea. You can find her "starter pack" here if you think this idea might be great in your class, too.

Happy reading!

- Amanda

Looking for suggestions

I have a great class. Truly great. I love the mix of personalities, the creativity, and the different learning styles. 
But...
I have this one kid, just one, who drives me nuts. He is a good kid. Really. And I can see that he is smart. Unfortunately, he refuses to complete ANY class work. It's not an aggressive refusal, it's a lazy refusal. So, all that "smart" that I see can't always be assessed. Plus, he missed the entire first quarter (because his family was travelling) so I have a feeling he doesn't see his education as important. I've talked with him. I've talked with his Mom. I've talked with his older sister. I've talked with our principal. I've talked with our vice-principal. He's talked with the principal even! I hear from his family that this is the same behaviour he showed in his last school.

So I made an incentive chart to track {what little} work is actually completed. He was made fully aware of the rewards and consequences and even agreed it would help. I promised rewards like positive phone call home! The treasure box! The chance to change seats at snack and lunch! It didn't work.

I researched. I read all of this information. I gave him a dependable buddy in class. I gave him a little extra of my time to explain assignments. I called on him in group discussion and he was proud to answer! {Hurray for small successes!} I talked seriously with him about the importance of school, his goals, and of course I was very firm and consistent with consequences. I helped him start assignments. I praised and praised and praised and still do, as often as I can. It didn't work.

I made a behaviour contract, went through it with him, saw a bright glimmer of motivation in his eyes and smile; I almost screamed with joy at my hopefulness! But in the very next class - the very next class, I say! - the kid still would not do a thing. And when I say he won't do a thing, I really do mean that - he won't write his name. He won't even colour. He barely participates. I feel like I'm not sure what to do anymore.
Any help? How do you motivate the unmotivated?

Marshmallow Mania

Today we started a new Social Studies unit about equality and children's rights. Our introductory lesson involved a game focusing on fairness and communication that my students LOVED! Their participation and motivation actually blew me away. Here's how it worked:

First we talked about various ways to communicate. This was fun because I was able to exaggerate all of the little {nonverbal} ways my class and I communicate - thumbs up, nods, W sign for "washroom," shhh-fingers, etc. and they were in stitches. Then I gave each student a small cup with four fruity-coloured marshmallows. Their goal was to trade colours with one another until they had four marshmallows of just one colour. And then they could eat them... The key? NO TALKING ALLOWED! They did a fantastic job and were even able to ask me questions without talking {and I had to try so hard! to answer without talking}. 

If your're looking for a super quick and motivational game, give it a shot. My twos were begging to play again! Easy peasy. 

I hope to be back tomorrow to answer some tag questions!

-Amanda

Star of the Week

Today I had a new student join my class and I am so proud of my "originals" haha. The group did a really wonderful job of explaining all of the different incentive programs I use daily to encourage everyone and by the end of the day I feel like he just fit right in. Fantastic day!

There are two things I want to share today...
First up, the old "Star of the Week" routine. I thought earlier in the year about eliminating this "position" from my classroom - the students didn't seem to really care about it. Instead, I created "Star of the Week" reflection pages. I know, I can hear you yawning from here. Here are a couple samples:

I'm sure it's self-explanatory, but the rhyme reads: "Grade two helps me learn and grow! Here is something I now know." On the top is a note for families. Easy peasy. Click the images if you would like a copy. Here is how I use it as a display:

{I had to ask the Arabic teacher if I could steal part of her bulletin board! There are only two in my room and the other is dedicated to our clock display for the time unit...} I LOVE that this student brought in a baby picture of himself {he looks the exact same!} AND that he wrote about the three states of water for what he has learned in grade two. I'm getting through to them - hurrah! On the top, I use a sign I printed from Technology Rocks. Seriously that the kids are all really excited about: "You Rock because..." I think it has renewed the "Star of the Week" ideal and I'm happy about that.

Next up, the latest whole-class incentive program. Last time, I made a paper birthday cake with twenty candles on it. Every time the class was working well {listening, contributing to discussion, walking in a straight line - yep, something we have to practice daily. It's tedious but they are getting it!} I would "light" a candle. It took a LONG time but we finally had our "birthday party" a couple weeks ago. You can read about it here. This time, I decided to cater more specifically to the boys in my classroom since the girls I have are actually the sweetest students ever. I made this and laminated the pieces: 

I just tape on the matching black patch as I did the birthday candles. They have three spaces covered after two days! When they are filled we will enjoy a class soccer game. How do you present whole-class incentives? I'll be looking for the next great idea after this one!

Take care, all!

I can't forget to send out a HUMONGOUS THANK YOU to my new followers! It's so nice to see people reading my blogs :) Thanks for the support!

- Amanda

An apple for the teacher

Vacation is so close I can almost feel it. Before it hits, there is ordering for next year (four grade two classrooms!), Science and Math assessments, and chocolate-covered pretzels to bake for my students. This list does not include, of course, the daily "to-do's" but it makes everything seem more manageable to only mention a few! While browsing through the supplies catalogue, I looked up to find an apple neatly placed beside my computer - made me feel like a teacher! 

There's my beautiful niece, Lucy. I miss her little smile oh-so much! Also, you can see ALL my lists. I am a list person. And a post-it person. And a "print-the-homework-for-all-the-students" person (trust me, it's worth it. The parents here like to see homework to see their child's progress).

Enough about me. A couple weeks ago I focused on nouns during Language Arts to match our textbooks. After creating a chart together on the white board, we made flip books with four windows: person, place, thing, idea. Their books look so great and are very colourful! That week I also used a shared reading poem to reinforce the definition (bonus: it has music!).

In Social Studies, we finished up our Features of Communities Around the World unit. I did the ever-popular "Me On the Map" craft with my class. They turned out pretty cute, but next year I will definitely use circle templates on white paper. It's just so much easier and none of the pencil writing gets lost on a dark construction paper colour. 

As we move into our Traditions and Celebrations unit, we thought it fit to focus on birthdays around the world rather than Christmas. (Though every mall here has large Christmas displays, which I am rather enjoying!) I used scrap paper to create a birthday cake visual to use as incentive for good behaviour. I "light" the candles every time the class is working well, or is quiet, or is doing super awesome out-of-this-world work. At the end, we will have a birthday party! Sounds great, right? Not to this grade two bunch! I am shocked to find that really, they don't care about this new reward scheme. I'll play it out until we have the birthday party, because maybe they need to see how great a classroom celebration could be. I definitely need to keep thinking up motivational tactics with this group. (There actually are flames on the cake now; this is an old photo now.) One thing to note: clip chart working....okay. I feel like behaviour is SO close to good, but I just have to keep working at it!   

I'm sure there is more I wanted to add today but - I didn't put it on a list! Night, all.

Centres and Motivation

A week ago I taught my students "The Five Finger Test." I loooooved my class during this lesson - they were all listening with open ears and afterwards, when I handed out A-Z readers for them to practice, they were caught hook, line and sinker. Yay!

Today, I mentioned using this strategy to my Rad Readers at centre time, and one sweet young'un said, "Ms. Amanda, I do it at home!" She was all smiles (which made me all smiles, first because I am pleased as pie to be getting through to this age group, and second because our principal was in evaluating my lesson!). Here is the poster I made to hang in our classroom library:



I have also made a few little motivational treats for my class to use during centre time, particularly while reading and writing. These are the centres I rotate in class:

Super Spellers - This group works from a bin filled with Wikki Stix, foam letters, alphabet stencils and magnetic letters, and all of the students know where to find white boards and markers to practice the weekly spelling dictation words. There are two separate spelling groups and I post the word lists where they work on the carpet.

Rad Readers - This group may read any of the books in our classroom library, including our past shared reading poems that I have neatly folded and glued into small construction paper booklets. This group uses F-U-N magic reading glasses that I picked up at a 100 fils shop. I just popped the lenses out!

Wonderful Writers - This group works on any specific writing tasks I have featured during lesson time. Right now they are creating frog page toppers that are glued to a piece of lined paper. They will use it later to write sentences from a graphic organizer we did as a class, which integrates our Science unit with Language.

Fun Phonics - Our students were asked to buy MANY text books for Language, so this is my way of sneaking them into use. Boring, yes, but at least it won't seem a waste of money in the end! Plus, I have a marvellous EA to help out here.

Guided Groupies - I work with this group (clearly). Our school has purchased the Oxford Reading Tree series, and since DRA has finally been completed for every student (this took about three weeks in October...ew), it's great to just sit down and chat about a good read with a small group. They get to use our "Eyeballers" - popsicle sticks with googley eyes glue-gunned to the end to reinforce the importance of really looooooking at e.v.e.r.y word. Of course, I cannot find actual popsicle/craft sticks ANYwhere in Kuwait, so I improvised and used Japanese "sweet sticks" from the 600 fils shop! Did I mention I am really excited to have bought a glue gun? Wish I bought one earlier.

Journal Jotters - This team works on a weekly prompt. My groups are all similarly levelled, so I differentiate the number of sentences each group must write before they can draw the picture (i.e. my "high" group writes five or more sentences). This bucket has erasers, sharpeners, children's dictionaries, and my personal favourite, the Feather Pencil People. Everyone gets a kick out of using these to write! (Even if sometimes what they write does not make any sense...)

Time to cook and time to RELAX. It was a ca-razy day. PS - I am proud to say my evaluation as a first year teacher went exceptionally well!