Tanya at First Grade is Fantabulous! is having a giveaway for reaching 100 followers! Head on over to her fabulous blog and find out how you can enter!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
First Grade is Fantabulous!: O-MI-GOODNESS It's GIVE-AWAY Time!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Edmodo: "Facebook for Schools"
Have you heard of Edmodo? I recently learned about it in my latest Scholastic Instructor magazine. I strongly believe in teaching students in the ways that they learn. It is no secret that today's students are very technologically-advanced. I do my best to integrate technology in the classroom: Smart Boards, Study Island, Tumble Books, etc. I decided to test out Edmodo, on a small scale first, with one literature circle group of average readers, to see how it would work out.
I created an account on Edmodo, then created accounts for the members of the group. When telling my students about the website, I could see the excitement on their faces as I described it as "Facebook for Schools." My students all love Facebook, even though they are technically not even old enough to use it. I did send home a letter to get parent permission, since it did involve a social networking site. I stressed that I would be closely monitoring the activity. I was even able to sign up to get text messages whenever anyone posted to it. This is an extremely useful feature when you are dealing with an entire class using the site. (My first thoughts go to cyber-bullying, and the ways to prevent it.)
Once I got permission, my students got to work posting. I was very pleased with their levels of questioning and critical thinking skills. So pleased, in fact, I had to run next door to show our SLC! One student posted "Why is Judd so grumpy?" A response was, "I think he is grumpy because he lives by himself and does not have company." Students were also making predictions, "Do you think Marty will achieve his dream of becoming a vet?"
These are just a few examples of the awesome "conversations" my students were having with each other on this wonderful site. Does it replace actual conversation about the book? No. Does it encourage learning in ways students learn best? Absolutely!
I created an account on Edmodo, then created accounts for the members of the group. When telling my students about the website, I could see the excitement on their faces as I described it as "Facebook for Schools." My students all love Facebook, even though they are technically not even old enough to use it. I did send home a letter to get parent permission, since it did involve a social networking site. I stressed that I would be closely monitoring the activity. I was even able to sign up to get text messages whenever anyone posted to it. This is an extremely useful feature when you are dealing with an entire class using the site. (My first thoughts go to cyber-bullying, and the ways to prevent it.)
Once I got permission, my students got to work posting. I was very pleased with their levels of questioning and critical thinking skills. So pleased, in fact, I had to run next door to show our SLC! One student posted "Why is Judd so grumpy?" A response was, "I think he is grumpy because he lives by himself and does not have company." Students were also making predictions, "Do you think Marty will achieve his dream of becoming a vet?"
These are just a few examples of the awesome "conversations" my students were having with each other on this wonderful site. Does it replace actual conversation about the book? No. Does it encourage learning in ways students learn best? Absolutely!
Mrs. Patton's Patch: 400 Followers and a Giveaway!
Mrs. Patton is having a giveaway! Head on over to her awesome blog to check it out!
Monday, April 25, 2011
One thing I've Learned...
One thing I have learned since starting this blog is I HAVE GOT to take more pictures! I am a fairly new mom, so I take plenty of pictures of my beautiful little boy, but I don't take any of the fabulous projects we do at school. This occurred to me when posting about the volunteer appreciation event I hosted last year. A perfect supplement to that blog post would have been a picture of those awesome (if I do say so myself!) favors.
So if any of you (my three followers!) notice I don't take pictures of something that you would like to see...call me out on it! Please.
So if any of you (my three followers!) notice I don't take pictures of something that you would like to see...call me out on it! Please.
Volunteer Appreciation
I was somehow put in charge of the Volunteer Breakfast at my school last year. I had never done anything like this before, and was only given a couple of weeks to prepare invites, decorations, and gifts. The teachers volunteered to bring in breakfast items, but everything else was purchased out of my pocket. I wanted to make it as nice, and as inexpensive, as possible!
I created the invitations on my computer. Had I given it more thought, and had more time, I would have asked for student volunteers to create cards.
For the gifts, I bought plain Hershey bars and created a new "wrapper" for them. I've seen this done for different occasions; birth announcements, wedding favors, etc. I had the hardest time finding the dimensions to make them the appropriate size, however. It took A LOT of trial and error (and paper!) until I finally got it right. You can download the template here. The poem was anonymous, and I found it on the web. I had some students help me wrap the candy bars during recess time and we even placed a few stickers on them to dress them up a bit.
The finished product turned out really cute, and our breakfast was a success!
I created the invitations on my computer. Had I given it more thought, and had more time, I would have asked for student volunteers to create cards.
For the gifts, I bought plain Hershey bars and created a new "wrapper" for them. I've seen this done for different occasions; birth announcements, wedding favors, etc. I had the hardest time finding the dimensions to make them the appropriate size, however. It took A LOT of trial and error (and paper!) until I finally got it right. You can download the template here. The poem was anonymous, and I found it on the web. I had some students help me wrap the candy bars during recess time and we even placed a few stickers on them to dress them up a bit.
The finished product turned out really cute, and our breakfast was a success!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Earth Day Celebration
Because we are on Spring Break, we did not have a chance to celebrate Earth Day at school. Instead, I chose to have a celebration with my 21 month old son.
We also watched Wall-E. This is a Disney/Pixar movie that teaches a great lesson about taking care of the Earth.
Lastly, at bedtime, we read The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. This is my son's favorite book, and we read it every night, but it offers another great message about taking care of our planet.
This is also a book I read with my fourth graders at different times throughout the year. I use it to teach setting in Reading and human/environment interaction in Social Studies.
He wore his special Earth Day shirt.
If you can't see it, it says "Respect Your Mother" and the "O" is a picture of the planet Earth. I bought it from Crazy 8.
 |
Lastly, at bedtime, we read The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. This is my son's favorite book, and we read it every night, but it offers another great message about taking care of our planet.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Discipline Anyone?
Since I was off work today and didn't have to deal with any discipline problems, I thought I would blog about it! Twisted? Maybe.
I teach two sections of Reading, Language Arts, and Social Studies. My co-teacher teaches two sections of Spelling, Math, and Science. No matter what grade I am teaching, my students have always switched classes with another teacher. We decided two years ago that we needed a universal discipline plan to keep things consistent. We came up with a checklist. For misbehaviors, students receive checkmarks in different categories, depending on the infraction.
You can see a copy of our discipline plan here.
As you can see at the bottom is our list of consequences. One checkmark (or 'check' as we call it) serves as a warning. Normally, by the time the child has received the check, they have already had several verbal warnings, though. For most students, the one check is enough to make them to choose to modify their behavior. As the number of checks increase, so do the consequences. You will also see a section for notes at the bottom. This is especially useful when someone gives a check for inappropriate behavior or disrespect. It also makes for a more detailed office or quiet room referral, if needed.
Students receive rewards related to the checklist as well. At the end of each day when I'm stamping agenda books, I give everyone who did not receive a check gets a one point sticker. At the end of the week, any student receiving zero checks for the week gets a five point sticker. Stickers can be used to "buy" rewards. I am very much a believer in rewarding positive behavior. How many of us were one of those kids who always did what was right, and the teacher's attention was always focused on the "bad" kids? I don't want to be like that. I appreciate those kids who always do the right thing, and I want to show them that. I will definitely blog more about my increasing positive behavior efforts later.
The beauty of using this checklist is that it travels with the class no matter where they go in the school. Not only does it go with them to the other teacher's room, but it goes with them to Fine Arts, the Library, the Cafeteria if needed, etc.
Wow. Writing about discipline is a lot easier than actually dealing with it! I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend!
I teach two sections of Reading, Language Arts, and Social Studies. My co-teacher teaches two sections of Spelling, Math, and Science. No matter what grade I am teaching, my students have always switched classes with another teacher. We decided two years ago that we needed a universal discipline plan to keep things consistent. We came up with a checklist. For misbehaviors, students receive checkmarks in different categories, depending on the infraction.
You can see a copy of our discipline plan here.
As you can see at the bottom is our list of consequences. One checkmark (or 'check' as we call it) serves as a warning. Normally, by the time the child has received the check, they have already had several verbal warnings, though. For most students, the one check is enough to make them to choose to modify their behavior. As the number of checks increase, so do the consequences. You will also see a section for notes at the bottom. This is especially useful when someone gives a check for inappropriate behavior or disrespect. It also makes for a more detailed office or quiet room referral, if needed.
Students receive rewards related to the checklist as well. At the end of each day when I'm stamping agenda books, I give everyone who did not receive a check gets a one point sticker. At the end of the week, any student receiving zero checks for the week gets a five point sticker. Stickers can be used to "buy" rewards. I am very much a believer in rewarding positive behavior. How many of us were one of those kids who always did what was right, and the teacher's attention was always focused on the "bad" kids? I don't want to be like that. I appreciate those kids who always do the right thing, and I want to show them that. I will definitely blog more about my increasing positive behavior efforts later.
The beauty of using this checklist is that it travels with the class no matter where they go in the school. Not only does it go with them to the other teacher's room, but it goes with them to Fine Arts, the Library, the Cafeteria if needed, etc.
Wow. Writing about discipline is a lot easier than actually dealing with it! I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)