As always, let me know if I can support you or your team in differentiating for math in the classroom. Mama math is always there as well and can assist in getting math stations going as well.
Jenna
Monday, October 28, 2013
Differentiated Math
Did you know that there is a resource out there that makes differentiating math a breeze? If you log in to Everydaymathonline and click on "Everyday Mathematics Assessment Differentiation System" you can find resources that align to the lessons you are teaching.
Look at the front of your lesson and it will tell you the strand you are teaching. Locate that within the webpage and then you can find the skill you are focusing on that day and Voila! Ideas to use for your very low learners, all the way to your very high learners. It might take a little searching to find the perfect one for each group of learners, but if you plan as a team... you might consider adding this to your agenda as a way to bring differentiation into your classroom.
As always, let me know if I can support you or your team in differentiating for math in the classroom. Mama math is always there as well and can assist in getting math stations going as well.
Jenna
As always, let me know if I can support you or your team in differentiating for math in the classroom. Mama math is always there as well and can assist in getting math stations going as well.
Jenna
Blogging to Communicate
If you attended the new teacher training last week, you were introduced to the extremely fast version of how to set up a blog. Blogs are becoming such an amazing tool to share ideas and resources, not only in the world of teaching, but everywhere around us. It adds another way for us to communicate with people, especially our kids' parents. Plus, it's FREE!
Blogs can be used just like an electronic newsletter that you keep adding to. Can't remember to get that classroom newsletter typed up, copied and sent home on Friday? No fear... blog at anytime of the day. And... if your parents follow your blog via email, they will be notified every time you post. No more newsletters or notes getting lost in a backpack. Or our students forgetting to write things in their agenda. And don't forget about how much paper you would be saving!
Another use for a blog is a digital scrapbook of your classroom happenings. Now remember, what you post on your blog is ON THE INTERNET and ANYONE can find it, if they look hard enough. So, if you choose to post pictures, artifacts and/or first names of your students you will want parent permission first. So send home a note to ask for permission. However, if you do some searching, there are several blogs out there where teachers will post pictures with only a first name and no faces, students will hold the work over their face instead (it's pretty cute). Decide where your comfort level sits and go from there.
Need support in setting up a blog? You know how to get ahold of me. We can even do it as a group of teachers and all work together.
Get ready, get set and COMMUNICATE!
Jenna
Blogs can be used just like an electronic newsletter that you keep adding to. Can't remember to get that classroom newsletter typed up, copied and sent home on Friday? No fear... blog at anytime of the day. And... if your parents follow your blog via email, they will be notified every time you post. No more newsletters or notes getting lost in a backpack. Or our students forgetting to write things in their agenda. And don't forget about how much paper you would be saving!
Another use for a blog is a digital scrapbook of your classroom happenings. Now remember, what you post on your blog is ON THE INTERNET and ANYONE can find it, if they look hard enough. So, if you choose to post pictures, artifacts and/or first names of your students you will want parent permission first. So send home a note to ask for permission. However, if you do some searching, there are several blogs out there where teachers will post pictures with only a first name and no faces, students will hold the work over their face instead (it's pretty cute). Decide where your comfort level sits and go from there.
Need support in setting up a blog? You know how to get ahold of me. We can even do it as a group of teachers and all work together.
Get ready, get set and COMMUNICATE!
Jenna
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Whole Brain Part 2
Here is a link to another blog that really explains the 7 elements of whole brain teaching in depth. It is really interesting and allows you to understand why things are the way they are in WBT and how it affects the brain. Enjoy!
http://www.commontothecore.com/p/whole-brain-teaching.html
Or.. just jump to the WHOLE BRAIN TEACHING website... Mind blowing!
Click on "1st steps" to get an idea of each element.
http://wholebrainteaching.com/
Jenna
http://www.commontothecore.com/p/whole-brain-teaching.html
Or.. just jump to the WHOLE BRAIN TEACHING website... Mind blowing!
Click on "1st steps" to get an idea of each element.
http://wholebrainteaching.com/
Jenna
Whole Brain Teaching
I am so amazed. I have been looking through several videos on Youtube and am amazed at what Whole Brain Teaching can do for a classroom. Even to take a few elements here and there could make a world of difference when working with classroom management and the engagement of your students. Enjoy!
There are several other videos out there by a man named Chris Biffle that are AMAZING! Check them out.
As always, let me know if you have any questions and/or if you found this useful.
Jenna
Vocabulary Strategy
Vocabulary is a huge piece to learning. I pulled a few ideas from here and there, and below is something you might utilize in your classroom as a way to teach vocabulary or incorporate it into Daily 5.
1. What is the word?
2. What does the word mean? (kid friendly, not dictionary copied)
3. What other words do you think of when you hear this word?
4. Name two people who would use this word.
5. What are other ways of saying the same thing?
6. Make up a sentence using the word. Your sentence should tell what the word means without
saying it directly.
As always, let me know if you have any questions and/or if you found this useful. Have a great day.
Jenna
Word Work Ideas
Students will make notecards to keep track of their
vocabulary words. On one side, they write the word and on the back, they do a
Word Storm. They keep all their notecards on a ring and add as they learn more
information about the words. They can use their notecards to practice their words both reading and knowing what it means.
Word Storm
1. What is the word?
2. What does the word mean? (kid friendly, not dictionary copied)
3. What other words do you think of when you hear this word?
4. Name two people who would use this word.
5. What are other ways of saying the same thing?
6. Make up a sentence using the word. Your sentence should tell what the word means without
saying it directly.
Where you might see this going…
Keep notecards also with
morphographs they learn. The morphograph will go on the front of the card, the
meaning will go on the back and then they can create a list of words that
contain that morphograph and can continue to add as they read. Ex. Un would be
on the front of the card…. Not would be on the back and then I would list words
like unaware, unclean, unrest, unavailable. As students find words around the room and in books they are reading, they can add to their morphograph cards.
Jenna
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Can you see it? Let's Visualize!
We have started to embark on a new journey using Steve Dunn Reading Workshop. Our first steps have moved us into using visualization. I have heard from several that resources are hard to find and there is not enough time to go searching. So... I went searching for you.
Now, some of these have been tested in the classroom by teachers, and some have not. Enjoy the list. Feel free to add your own ideas by leaving a comment. Or if you found a book that works well, leave that comment as well.
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant
Abuela by Arthur Dorros
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
The Paperboy by Dav Pilkey
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
When I Go Camping with Grandma by Marion Dane Bauer
The Sandcastle Contest by Robert Munsch
No Clean Clothes! by Robert Munsch
The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
June 29, 1999 by David Wiesner
My Side of the Car by Kate Feiffer
Tuesday by David Wiesner
Remember, you don't have to use the whole book. Find a paragraph or two that work well for your think together, or think along. They can also work on a paragraph or two during guided practice, not a whole book.
Good luck and Happy Visualizing!
Now, some of these have been tested in the classroom by teachers, and some have not. Enjoy the list. Feel free to add your own ideas by leaving a comment. Or if you found a book that works well, leave that comment as well.
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant
Abuela by Arthur Dorros
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
The Paperboy by Dav Pilkey
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
When I Go Camping with Grandma by Marion Dane Bauer
The Sandcastle Contest by Robert Munsch
No Clean Clothes! by Robert Munsch
The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
June 29, 1999 by David Wiesner
My Side of the Car by Kate Feiffer
Tuesday by David Wiesner
Remember, you don't have to use the whole book. Find a paragraph or two that work well for your think together, or think along. They can also work on a paragraph or two during guided practice, not a whole book.
Good luck and Happy Visualizing!
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