What's Going on in Room 107?! (Five for Fraturday)

 Ahhhhhh.  I just finished report cards.  What a great feeling!  Now I am moving on to something I actually WANT to do...blog!  :)

We take time for Morning Meeting every day in our classroom.  It is my way of ensuring that each child in Room 107 has been positively acknowledged every single day.  This time always includes a greeting, which changes every week.

Throughout this past week, we did a greeting that I called "The Double Ball Roll."  This.kids.LOVED.it!  I loved it too because they all really had to pay attention, which cut down on any potential side conversations.

Anyway, this is how it worked.  (Oh, I should mention each child in our classroom is assigned a number all year long.)  Student #1 started with a soccer ball.  He greeted Student #2, Student #2 greeted him back, then he rolled the ball to Student #2.  This procedure continued with Student #3 and so on.

At the same time, we had the same procedure going with a second ball - the basketball - but this one was going in the opposite direction.  Student #23 started with the basketball, greeted Student #22, Student #22 greeted her back, and then she rolled the ball to Student #22.  Does that make sense the way I explained it!?  I hope so!

I would love to hear how it goes in your classroom, if you decide to try it out!

One of our school-wide character traits is responsibility, so we built upon the idea this week.  First, we read the book, Horton Hatches the Egg, by Dr. Seuss.

Then, we talked about how Horton showed responsibility.  Next, the students decorated their own plastic eggs and were told that their task was to be responsible for it for 24 hours.  They had to take it home, keep it safe, and bring it back to school the next day.  (Let's just say about 50% of my class is responsible, according to this activity, LOL.)  Finally, we did an independent writing activity in which the students explained again (this time through writing) how Horton demonstrated responsibility in the story.  We used this free writing template from Jenn Bates.

Have you ever heard of the Naked Egg Experiment?  I could not resist trying it out with my students!  If you are not familiar, check out this article and video for an easy-to-understand explanation.  Oh, and using some green food coloring allowed me to tie it into our Dr. Seuss Day when we read the book, Green Eggs and Ham.

Are you looking to engage your students, yet you need to focus your very limited instructional time on your required content?  Yeah, me too.  But I have one word for you:  Kahoot!

I learned about this amazing, free website and app during the Wisconsin Teacher Blogger Meet-Up back in August, but finally got around to using it.  I have no clue why I waited so long because it is EASY-PEASEY to get started!!  There are literally thousands of public Kahoot games out there that you can use (instead of re-creating the wheel) and they are simple to find using their search feature.  I even experimented with making my own Kahoot game this week that aligns with our Math curriculum and it was sooooo easy!  

Seriously - check it out.  My kids have literally begged me to play again.  They are going to do backflips at the end of our current Math unit when they find out we are going to review the content via Kahoot.  :)  (Oh, I should mention that your kiddos need a device to play.  Even if you do not have enough devices for every child, they can play in teams.  My students played in partners on tablets.)

Our school district (and my amazing administrator in particular) is huge into character education.  So he brought in the NED Show for a school-wide assembly.  When I heard the NED Show was coming to our school, I was thrilled!  My previous school district always did this, too, and it is such an awesome experience for all every time.

Anyway, out of the hundreds of children that attend our school, one of my own kiddos was chosen to answer a question and receive some awesome prizes from the presenter.  Lucky (and excited) boy!

Thanks for stopping by!  :)  Be sure to swing by Kacey's amazing linky party to see what other cool teachers have been up to in their classrooms!

Featured Teacher Tuesday - Week 5

Happy Tuesday!  I hope your school week has started off well.  :)

Our featured teacher this week is Misty Savario from Krazy About Teaching!

Misty Savario is a 1st grade teacher in South Louisiana (Cajun Country).  She is a married mother of two: Emily who is 15 and Tyler who is 12.  

Misty has been teaching for 8 years and was honored to be chosen as the 2009-2010 Teacher of the Year.  She is an ITEC and Lead Tech Showcase Teacher.  She presents at tech conferences on a local and state level.  Misty was also a tech guest on the Global Edventures Blab.  She is one of the hosts of The Teacher Blab Show on blab.im and on Teaching Tech on blab.im/iteachtvnetwork.  

Misty loves to teach others about her tech tips on Periscope.  Follow Misty on her Twitter handle:  @emtysmom

You can also follow her on:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Krazyaboutteaching

Instagram:  https://instagram.com/krazyaboutteaching/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/krazyaboutteach

TPT:  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Krazy-About-Teaching

Check out some of Misty's products!

Shape Posters

Four-Square Writing

Addition and Subtraction QR Code Task Cards

Thank you for joining me for this week's Featured Teacher Tuesday linky party!  Please check out Misty Savario and don’t forget to join us next week for a new feature teacher!

As always, thanks for stopping by! :)

A Quick Tip for Any Teacher...

... who is fortunate enough to have their own work laptop... with a clear case.

 

 

Place a sheet of colorful and fun scrapbook paper behind the clear case on your laptop!  :)

 

We are very lucky in our school district because EVERY teacher (homeroom, special education, ESL, Title 1...everyone) receives their own Mac laptop - to use for work purposes only, obviously.  LOTS of teachers in our school district put fun scrapbook paper behind our clear cases.  I love the look AND, at a glance, you know exactly which Mac is yours when you are at meetings and trainings.

 

Like I said, many teachers in our school district do this, but recently I got to thinking, "Do other teachers do this, too?"  How do you personalize your laptop?

 

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you have a wonderful and productive week full of learning and fun!  :)

 

LOTS of Spring Activities, Fun Photos, and a FREEBIE!

While many of you out there are thinking more along the lines of SUMMER BREAK - maybe your vacation has even started already... lucky you! - our school is still thinking Spring, or at least I am.  We are on a non-traditional year-round schedule, so our last day of school is not until June 20th.  Anyway, I have LOTS of photos and ideas for some fun Spring activities to share with you today!

 

You may have read in the past about the calendars that my two First Grade groups work on each month.  I love having the kids do these because they incorporate numbers, writing, art, discussion, and the calendar concept.  Here are the calendars that we created for the month of March:

 

 

My kiddos also had the option of creating a bird (with their handprints as the bird wings) or a kite, if they chose not to create an Easter basket.

 

As always, the students had to respond (verbally and through writing and illustrating) to the following question, "What can we do this month?"  The actual calendars are glued at the bottom.

 

 

This was my May example.  You can see how we always highlight holidays, birthdays, and special events that are going on at our school.

 

 

I wanted my students to create Spring scenes as their artwork for the month of May, but there was NO WAY I was going to take the time to cut out these little pieces and there was ABSOLUTELY NO WAY I was going to waste valuable learning time having the kids cut out all those pieces, soooo...

 

I contacted the Production Center at our district office building!  Do you have something like this in your school district?  They will cut out designs and letters, laminate, bind books, etc. all for a minimal fee.  Such lifesavors, they are!  And they are FAST!  I sent them an e-mail and in a matter of a few days, these arrived in my mailbox.  How easy is that!?

 

 

I was able to get all of these for a little over $3.00!!

 

 

Here is a close-up of one, but I am sure you get the picture:

 

 

Creative minds at work!  I love providing my students with opportunities to use their artistic sides, but yet not taking up too much of our valuable time doing so.

 

 Here are some of their Spring scene creations: 

 

 

 

Almost all of my groups participated in some sort of Easter egg hunt.  I couldn't just let the kids "have fun"... I tied the activity to academics.  (What a mean teacher, I am!  Hehe.)  My intermediate kids, who are reading chapter books, found eggs that had questions inside about the stories they are reading.  They, of course, had to write the answers on a provided recording sheet, after the hunt was over.  My primary kids found eggs that had high frequency words, questions about books we had read recently, etc. depending on their needs.

 

 

You would think the egg hunt would go rather quickly, given the fact that I teach in a small room... but it took them longer than I anticipated to find all the egss.  Some of them seemed to be lost for good!

 

In the 4K classroom, we were learning about how living things grow and change.  One week, we focused on gardens, plants, and flowers.  We read the book, I'm a Seed, by Jean Marzollo (super cute book)!

 

 

Then, I partnered up the kiddos and gave each set of partners a little baby food container that held various types of seeds:  corn, watermelon, sunflower, pumpkin, peas, etc. 

 

 

I just bought the packets of seeds at Wal-Mart for a buck each.  The plastic containers are Gerber baby food containers that my husband so kindly washes for me, after my baby boy is done eating.  :)  My hubby keeps asking me if I need more... really I don't, but I just cannot stand the thought of recycling them. 

I instructed the kids to sort the seeds into groups, any way they liked.  But I told them they had to EXPLAIN to me how they sorted.  Hard at work!  I just love this sight!  :)

 

 

A group of my Second Grade students read the following books for Earth Day:

 

 

(Todd Parr is one of my very FAVORITE children's book authors and illustrators!!  His illustrations are colorful, simple, and clean.  His words are easy-to-comprehend, yet powerful.  I highly recommend any and all of his books!)

 

 

I found this one by accident at Barnes and Noble.  Once I started skimming the pages, I knew I had to have it!!

 

Then, the students wrote about ways they can help the Earth.  I required them to include an opening, 3 support statements, a closing, and temporal words.

 

We glued their writing pieces to green construction paper.  They made a green handprint on light blue paper (to represent the land and water on Earth) and sprinkled it with glitter.  Finally, we took their photos as though they were holding the Earth, cut them out, and glued them accordingly.

 

Here are some close-up shots of their work:

 

 

(The Earth is heavy!!  What a hoot, she is!)

 

(Or maybe it's not such a challenge to hold.  This guy is taking a nap!)



 

We also went outside one day, so the students could write about what they saw, heard, smelled, and touched outdoors.  They love any reason to go outside; I love any way I can get them excited about writing.  :)  Oh yeah, and anytime students get to use a clipboard...that really gets them geeked!

 

 

 (Random side note:  Do you see the yellow and blue playground set?  Along with several very generous donations, our students raised money to purchase that set!  Our staff is currently looking into ways to raise money for phase 2 of the playground.  If you have any great ideas, please share!  I would so appreciate it!)

 

So I have a group of primary kiddos (1 Kindergarten, 3 First Grade) that are pretty low, in terms of their English language acquisition (though they have made awesome gains this year).  Academically speaking, each of them is quite high.  But we focus quite a bit on vocabulary and the 4 domains: speaking, listening, reading, and writing in the English language.  All the activities they have been doing are tied into our "Spring" theme in one way or another.  So we had to build that Spring vocabulary.  We started with a Word Wall.

 

 

We created booklets, in which they had to read the vocabulary word, say a sentence using that word, write the sentence, then illustrate the sentence.  This took several of our sessions together, but it was totally worth it and the boys really loved making their booklets.

 

Recently, the kiddos participated in a vocabulary review using technology - iPads... and boy were they ever excited!  (Our school is quite fortunate because we have an entire class set of iPads.  We do have to share with the whole school, but our school is kind of small, so getting our hands on them is not that difficult.)

 

 

Are you familiar with QR Codes?  If not, I recommend checking out QR Stuff.  It is a free, easy-to-use, pretty self-explanatory website for creating, downloading, saving, and printing QR codes.

 

 

I created 12 QR codes for 12 of our Spring vocabulary words.  Then, I printed them, cut them out, and taped them around our classroom.  I also stuck a number card next to each QR code.

 

First, we discussed my expectations for iPad usage:  1) Only use the iPad in the way that Mrs. Unger is instructing you to do.  In other words, they were not allowed to poke around on other apps...stay on task.  2)  Use the iPad with care.  We talked about things to do and NOT do with the iPads.

 

 

Then, I gave each of my kiddos a recording sheet and explained the directions.  Their job was to hunt for QR codes, scan the code, verbally identify the picture that popped up, go back to the table (I teach in a very small room, otherwise I would give the kids clipboards to write on), read the word that matched the picture, then write the corresponding number in the circle next to the word.

 

By the way, the name of the app on our iPads that we use to scan QR codes is "Scan."

 

 

If you would like to snag a copy of this FREEBIE to use in your own classroom, please visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store by clicking HERE!

 

(The green scallop frame was a generous freebie from Kyp McLaren.)

 

So this was my first experience trying out QR codes and it went over REALLY well!  The activity was easy-peezy to set up, the kids LOVED it, they were using technology, and the kids were able to get up and move around, while reviewing vocabulary.

I have a group of 1st graders who also spied the QR codes taped around the room.  When the kids asked what they were and I explained, they also wanted to partake in the fun.  This group did not need help on Spring vocabulary, nor was that something they had been working on, BUT I just could not resist allowing them to have a little fun with the iPads, too.  (Next time I will be better prepared and have a QR Code Hunt ready that aligns with what they are learning and doing.)

Anyway, back to my Kindergarten / First Grade group of ELLs that was working on Spring vocabulary... here is another review activity that we did the other day.  This was a listening activity.

 

 

First, I had the kids start at the table, standing with their hands on the table.

 

Then, I gave clues by describing a Spring object / one of our vocabulary words.  The boys then had to walk around the classroom until the found the corresponding picture laying on the floor.  I had told them to stand on our around the picture, but they decided a group hug seemed more appropriate.  ;)

 

 

 I really liked doing this activity with them because it was easy to set up, it was quick to implement, it focused on one of the 4 ELL domains (listening), the kids were up and moving, and it was a fun way to review our vocabulary again.

 

 

 This 1st Grade / Kindergarten group read Spring-themed poetry.  I assigned each of them a different poem, based on their reading levels.  They practiced independently and with the teacher before reading it aloud to the small group.  They were so proud of them themselves when they were able to read them in front of the group!

 

 

 I had planned to work on acrostic poems with a group of my 2nd grade students, so you can imagine my excitement when I found this book in our school library!  We started off by reading this mentor text.

 

 

Then, we created an anchor chart of Spring-related words.  My intent was for the students to use this (along with our Spring-themed Word Wall) when they got stuck coming up with sentences that started with the letters in their chosen Spring word.

 

Next, the students chose a Spring word and got to work.  I have to be honest... I was expecting to have to provide LOTS of support with this activity (I thought it would be challenging for them to come up with sentences that started with a certain letter AND related to their chosen word), but these kiddos blew.me.away with their creativity.  They came up with better sentences than I would have ever thought of!

 

(Side note:  I laminated some scrapbook paper and taped them to my door to provide pretty backgrounds behind my students' work.  I really like the way it turned out!  I intend on changing up the scrapbook paper each season.)

 

 Well, I have run out of pictures, so I guess that means I am (finally) done.  I hope you were able to snag a few ideas that you can use in your own classroom.  Have fun!  As always, thank you for stopping by.  :)