Rhyme Time, Soap Boxes, & Doughnuts

Instructor Magazine includes lots of fun lesson/activity ideas submitted by teachers. I came across several that I thought sounded like ideas I would like to use in Kindergarten this year, so I thought I would share them.

Rhyme Match Box

Focus Skills-rhyming, sensory skills, shapes, language, recognizing words

What To Do--Place a variety of items or photos in a box. Make sure each item has a "rhyme match." You could use a sock and a block, a brick and a stick, a cat and a bat--the options are endless. Have each child pick an item from the box. When the box is empty, have the children look for their "rhyme match."

Then Try This--Place a cloth over the box so that children can't see in.  Have them slip their hand in and pull out one item and then another.  Do they rhyme? If so, they are in the game for another round. If not, they are out. Play until there is only one child left standing

This sounds a bit like the rhyming game I posted about from Lakeshore the other day. If I got that game, I could use it for stations, but could use the materials included to do this game with the students as well.

Rhyme Pockets

Focus Skills--rhyming, reading, hand-eye coordination, language

What To Do--Attach a variety of pictures to card pockets. Then, write words that rhyme with the pictures you have chosen on popsicle sticks and place them in a baggie.  If you are doing this with non-readers, put pictures on the popsicle sticks, too. Attach the pockets to the wall where kids can read them. Encourage children to select popsicle sticks from the jar and place them in the pockets with the picture that rhymes.

Then Try This--To save space and make is easy to use year after year, attach card pockets to the inside of a file folder. ( I think I would do this to make it a station activity).


Easier Card Storage

Idea submitted to Instructor by Nicole Hughes from Alabama--

Playing cards (and the boxes they come in) get lost easily (and I [KT] will add that they get ripped, torn, & destroyed as well!) in my classroom, so I bought travel soap containers at a dollar store to store the cards in! They are colorful, durable, and easy to label.

Doughnut Vowels

Idea submitted by April Clark from Alabama

My students play "Delicious Doughnuts" as a short and long-vowel review game. Each student is given five small paper plates, each with a vowel written in the center. They are then given "doughnuts"-- or larger paper plates with the centers cut out--with different letters on each side of the doughnut hole. To make words and practice vowel sounds, they place the "doughnut" over top of the small plate, read the word they've formed, and write it down. They proceed for each vowel plate and switch plates with other students to review new words. This activity is great for centers!

I bet creative/artistic teachers could make this really cute!!

Next up-- Let's Move: Better Health at School (also from Instructor!)

and

Outlaw Glitter...and 21 more rules for teachers

Sharing is Caring

I recently tore out several pages from the most recent issues of Instructor magazine and I will be writing some posts this week on the articles I found interesting (I have a stack!)

(I also want to create some sort of system for organizing the little tidbits of wisdom I find so I can actually locate them and use them when needed. Frequently I come across great websites, articles, and ideas but without a system to catalog them I find that I lose track! I am thinking of starting an idea notebook where I can have sections for cool educational websites/blogs, books, ideas, inspirations, items to buy etc., but that will have to be a different post after I get it all figured out!)

How do you keep track of ideas???

One article I tore out of Instructor is called:
10 Ways to help ELLs Succeed in Math.

Great topic, right?

I am not going to summarize every point from the article, but I would like to share the basic bullet points of their top 10 strategies....

1. Create vocabulary banks

2. Use maniulatives

3. Modify teacher talk and practice wait time

4. Elicit nonverbal responses (like thumbs up or thumbs down)

5. Use sentence frames

6. Design questions and prompts for different proficiency levels

7. Use prompts to support student responses

8. Consider language and math skills when grouping students

9. Utilize partner talk

10. Ask for choral responses from students

 

What do you think of the list? 

What strategies are you already doing?

What strategies are new for you?

The article also included some additional teaching tips!

•  use pictures and manipulatives!
• show and tell whenever possible through demonstration
• get the students up and active
• use small groups to allow ELL students to feel more comfortable and confident
• give ELL's opportunites to work individually
• relate a concept to a personal experience
• have students keep journals (my friend Jill (third grade teacher) used math journals and had students write down vocabulary words, pictures, definitions, and examples. The students then brought the journals home daily so parents could see what they were learning and help with homework if needed). I really like this idea a lot!!!

Where do you get your best teaching ideas?

Core Reading Webinar

A few weeks ago, I participated in a webinar that I thought was really interesting based on this book about using core reading programs. We were able to view a power point presentation and listen to the voice of the presenter as he talked about his research on the effectiveness of core reading programs and how they should be implemented for the best results.

I received an email the other day that the presentation was available for download and I wanted to share it because I thought that it contained some good information.

You can download the presentation materials here (right side underneath photo of book cover) or you can view it through my scribd account.

Core Reading Webinar

I also wanted to point out these articles relating to fidelity:

•  McGill-Franzen et al. (2006)
• Dewitz, Jones, and Leahy (2009)
• Brenner and Heibert (2010)
• Piasta, Connor et al. (2009)

At some point I want to look these up because I am really interested in the research behind implementing with fidelity since often districts insist it should be done....


Also, I really liked the 10 points about using core programs well:

1. Create a literate environment
2. Read extensively outside the basal (yes!!)
3. Differentiate instruction
4. Modify the scope and sequence as needed
5. Use children's literature for read alouds (wahoo!!)
6. Develop more prior knowledge than the program suggests (especially for students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds with value placed on hearing their ideas and not looking for prescribed answers from the book!)
7. Select vocabulary carefully
8. Be more explicit than the program suggests (includes teaching students the strategies, when to use them, how to use them, and why they are important)
9. Developing guided reading lessons
10. Use core assessments selectively (amen!-- it was discussed during the webinar that IRI's are a great source of information about reading skills, therefore it is a good idea to choose assessment materials carefully and based on what truly helps to inform your instruction)

I really recommend that you take a look at this information because it really helped me to gain a better sense of what elements from core reading programs are really important and which ones are better off left out. 

From the other Kindergarten teachers I will be working with next year, I found out that we use Fast Track Phonics more than Treasures which is the program my district has adopted. I am happy about that and I hope to utilize some of the points listed above to create a solid overall program that gets kids excited about learning to read and proficient in their beginning skills.

New Book

I ordered this book back in October when I was doing a paper on multicultural education and I was really surprised when it arrived today because I had given up on it ever getting here. With my Amazon Prime account, I can get most books the day after I order them. Some books, however are more difficult to get through the amazon.de website and this was one of them. The delivery date kept getting pushed farther and farther back and I actually thought I had canceled the order anticipating that it was a text I would have to wait on until I am back in the U.S.

Now that this book has shown up, I am really excited to read it! I think it relates well to the research I plan to do for my dissertation. I am always looking for ways to be a more effective teacher for students whose backgrounds are different from my own. I am leaning towards researching the effectiveness of core reading programs for students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds and I am going into with the belief that reading instruction needs to be more directly related to the particular students in a classroom, especially when students are learning English and come from cultures other than the mainstream. In my opinion, core programs don't do this since they are scripted, so I am interested in reading up on research that supports different methods for these populations of students.

***

I have been slacking on my reading this week. I was in the middle of The Borrowers, but I honestly was not digging it as much as some of the other books I have read from my list. I put it aside and started Island of the Blue Dolphins, which I have heard great things about. Neither book was bad, but I guess I overloaded the week before and now my brain just can't handle all the reading. The truth is I never just give myself a break, so it's probably time to do just that. I will try to finish those two books before school is out next week since I have to return them to the library. I have a few other teaching books I ordered waiting for me in California, so maybe it's time to switch back to PD books instead of children's novels....

L.O.V.E

Doing research and writing papers always reminds me of my love affair with office supplies and just how handy they are.

These beauties are currently on my mind and on my shopping list for must haves when I return to the states. 

(and if you are anything like me these images will invoke a warm fuzziness within)

 anything that comes in a rainbow of colors has my name all over it...including sneakers!

 oh the pretty colors....

It's not like these items don't exist in Germany, but I wasn't quite willing to pay 14 Euros for Post Its...well, I was willing, but I thought Mr. Sneaker just might have a H.A. so I declined.

status update:

• group project- check (hopefully my team members won't come back with any major overhauls to what I worked on tonight
• slides for presentation-check (I did mine but we are waiting on slides from one more person)
• other paper-partial check (worked on it today and I have 5 complete pages. It needs some editing, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel)
• pile of books waiting to be read- still waiting

Teaching Resources

Next week, Mr. Sneaker leaves for a business trip the US, so he will be stopping in OR to help me with some aspects of my relocation (like trying to get a car!). It would be nice if I could get around while I am there like I do here--with my two feet--but sadly, I will need a car because it is a 20-25 minute drive from my campus to my new elementary school and the public transportation takes for-ev-er. Since I pretty much have 30 minutes from the time I am finished working to the time I need to be in class for my doctoral courses, it just would not work to use public transportation (or bike or walk like everyone does around here in Gemany). Because we are trying not to make my time back in the states a costly endeavor, Mr. Sneaker is looking into vehicle options for me, so I will have something to get me from point a to point b while I am there. We'd like to have an idea of what we can get because once I arrive I will need to kick it into gear and get ready for the school year, so I won't have a ton of time to shop around for something to drive.

So, since he is going to Portland, I get to send some things with him to drop off at a friend's house so that I will have those items when I move in August. Since I will be traveling alone in August, I can't bring that much stuff, so we are spreading it out and moving some stuff now. I am thinking of sending winter clothing, coats, scarves, hats, shoes etc. because I won't need any of those things between now and August. That's not to say we won't have more cold, rainy, very non-summer-like weather between now and then, but I need to send something.

I have posted before about how I am so torn with regards to my collection of books that I have here that I really want to have access to once I am teaching Kindergarten back in OR. I have pretty much decided that most books can be found in libraries, so although that means having to be a bit more organized and making frequent trips to the good old library, I will be okay leaving most of my picture books behind. I did pick out some particular ones that are for instructional purposes that I know I would not find at a library, but I have significantly narrowed my pile.

My cute little coin books are coming. My character development books are coming too.

And my collection of simple decodable/sight word books are coming because it's hard to find texts like these in the real world of literature, yet this kind of book is important to have around so my little friends can practice words they know and can read a book from start to finish.

Then I started thinking about my teaching resource books....another dilemma! These types of books are ones that I refer to continuously for planning, teaching, and also for completing all of my papers for class that require links to research and best practices. It's not likely that I would find them at a library and I want to have them permanently while I am there rather than for only a few weeks at a time. I took a little inventory of all the books that I have (which by the way are organized by theme on my bookshelves) and made a list of the ones I am pretty sure I can't live without.

• Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller
• Growing Readers by Kathy Collins
• The Daily Five by Gail Boushey & Joan Moser
• 6 + 1 Traits of Writing: Primary Grades by Ruth Culham
• Un-Standardizing Curriculum: Multicultural Teaching in the Standards-Based Classroom by Christine Sleeter
• Readers and Writers with a Difference by Lynn Rhodes & Curt Dudley-Marling
• (and of course my new book) Letter and Picture Sorts for Emergent Spellers-Words Their Way

It's not a ton of books, but the weight and space that they require adds up. I also have to make sure that I bring along my Boardmaker software and my portfolio containing all of my important documents. It is so hard to narrow everything down and I am really glad I left most of my teaching materials and supplies in storage back in OR. It will be fun digging through our unit to find the stuff, but at least I know my classroom won't have to be entirely empty and void of fun and interesting learning materials!

What are you favorite "teacher books"?

What resources have given you aha moments?

What personal items (i.e clothes, shoes, purses etc.) would you sacrifice (if you were me) in order to bring more books?

Are you a technie?

Yesterday during my skype session with my class, I got to admiring how many different ways we were incorporating technology and it amazed me. Earlier in my teaching career, if you asked me how I would use technology during a lesson, I most likely would have said that I would use a video related to the subject matter. While instructional videos certainly have their place, based on my experience  participating with my doctoral cohort in OR from Germany, I have come to appreciate some much cooler technological helpers. 

If you are a regular reader, you know I skype with my class on Thursday mornings from 3-6 am, individually with my amazing professor once every other week, and sometimes with a different class that meets a few weekends during the term. Sometimes the time of day isn't completely convenient, yet I am continuously baffled by how cool it is that I am seeing and interacting with people so far away. I see the familiar classroom that I sat in for so many hours during my master's program, the familiar parking garage in the background where I always struggled to find an open space before class, and the familiar street corner that I crossed Diet Coke and snack in hand on my way to class so many times in the past few years. Usually the technology is flawless we rarely experience "technical difficulties." In a wrap-up session last night where we had to comment on what we liked most about the term, one of my classmates actually commented that she learned so much from having me skype in because it really opened her mind to different uses of skype for the classroom.The best thing about skype is that, unlike many other forms of technology, it's free!

Last night, as I struggled to view the document we were talking about and my skype window at the same time, I realized that I should try utilizing my extra screen. This is the setup Mr. Sneaker hooked me up with and I had never used the second screen for skyping because I was afraid it would disconnect my skype call. I decided to try it out and it worked. Check out this awesomeness...

I was able to see my class (but I didn't take a pic when we were actually in session because I thought they might think I was a bit crazy) and the paper we were discussing at the same time. 

Crazy

Awesome

Fabulous

One of the class assignments last night was to create a poster with both pluses and wishes from this term and another with pluses and wishes for our entire first year in the program. Everyone there got butcher paper and markers and they displayed their papers on the wall to share. I quickly grabbed my colored markers (is it a teacher thing to have colored markers ready and available on my desk?) and I made my poster. When I was finished, I quickly slapped my pages on the scanner and then sent the scanned images to my teacher so he could project them on the screen for everyone to see. Once again, the distance was not a barrier! 

Finally, when each person was sharing the pluses and wishes from his/her list, my professor recorded their comments with his flip camera so he could have the feedback to share with the doctoral committee. I also have a flip camera and have used it to record a presentation that I sent to my class earlier this year. It is so easy to use and has a USB port that pops out so you can connect it directly to a computer. I have used my flip in the classroom to record my students reading for fluency and then immediately plugged it into the computer, uploaded the video, and projected the video onto my big screen for them to see. They LOVED seeing themselves and it was so easy to do. There are so many fantastic uses for this camera in a classroom setting because of the ease of use. You can provide instant video feedback for students because it takes just a few minutes to upload the video! 

 

I was able to view videos on my big screen because I got a document camera and projector through a technology grant at my previous school. I used those two treasures for everything! The cool thing about the document camera is that rather than making overheads, you can use original documents and you can project anything up on the big screen. Math manipulatives, student work, books...you name it. These babies are expensive, but through a district grant resource they were

free to me!

Also, I have not gotten the chance to use one yet, but all of the classrooms in the international school where I work recently got Smartboards. From being in various classrooms, I have been able to see the variety of uses and I am really impressed. I know there are different types of interactive whiteboards and I am not knowledgable enough about them to know the ins and outs of comparing and contrasting them, but I do know they are all cool! I was shocked to find out that every classroom at my school was going to get one because they are quite costly and they are not as likely to appear in public schools in the US.

Smartboard

Promethean Board

InterWrite Board

All of these things really help to make learning come alive for students and it is so exciting and fun to incorporate them into lessons. The drawback is that technology tends to be expensive. Especially with horrible budget cuts that are occurring in many districts, it is not likely that funds will be spent on items such as these. I always recommend Donorschoose.org as a great way to obtain teaching materials that you/your district cannot afford.

How do you use technology in the classroom?

What is on your techie wishlist?

***

In yesterday's post when I mentioned a few show finales, I completely forgot to mention how excited I am for the premier of the new Bachelorette this week! After her behavior on the Bachelor, I am not really sure how I feel about Ali because she was mean to some of the girls, especially Vienna, yet really sweet to Jake. I am interested to see what her true personality is, but I tend to think I will like seeing her as the Bachelorette. The best part is that three of my friends come over to watch, so I am excited to have our weekly girls nights like we did during the Bachelor season!

 

Are you excited for the Bachelorette?

What do you think of Ali?

***

PS Thanks to Jen for sending me the link to this cool video about teaching with technology. Take a look! Pay Attention

Best Books

I just went down in our storage area to put away our bags from our trip. While I was down there, I decided to go through the children's books that I brought with me to Germany. When we moved, I was hoping to get a classroom of my own, and since I didn't know what grade it might be, I brought along all of my favorite picture books. On the chance I got a classroom position, I didn't want to be without them since I have invested a lot of $$ on good books in my four years of teaching. I left behind a LOT of "teacher stuff" carefully organized, packed, and labeled from my classroom. I knew that it was not reasonable to take all of it, so I settled on the books.

Now that I am going back to OR to teach Kindergarten next year, I have a great book dilemma. This time, I do not have access to a huge container that can tote along all of my belongs across the ocean back to the US. I basically can only bring what I can carry on the plane, which makes it quite difficult to bring along 5 heavy boxes of beautiful, fun, colorful, and inspiring books.

As I went through the boxes, I did my best to use my Kindergarten teacher lens, to look at the books and think about whether or not they were "must haves" for my new five-year-old friends. As a first grade teacher, I collected a lot of great sight word books from Scholastic and I know those are coming. Thankfully, they are pretty small and won't take up too much room. When I came across a few classic Dr. Seuss books, I knew those had to come as well. What Kindergarten classroom can exist without The Cat in the Hat?!  I also grabbed some "instructional books" like my coin books (also very small and light) and my books about learning social skills, following rules, and sharing (those are definitely important for Kindergarten). Then I added my color books to the pile because Kinder Kiddos need to learn their colors.

As I looked through each box, I came across my Henry and Mudge collection, my Froggy books (Frooooooogy....Whaaaaaaat?), Junie B. Jones, Frog & Toad, Kevin Henkes collection with Chrysanthemum and Lily's Purple Plastic Purse, and lots of great rhyming books. Not to mention an entire box of books that chronologically represent every season, holiday, and special occasion throughout the school year. I wish there was a way I could take them all!

I know I can visit the local library or even the school library and borrow lots of great books, but there is something about having them...owning them...and knowing they belong to our classroom that makes a difference to me. I can't have a Kindergarten classroom that does not have a great classroom library. I can't do without my little colorful baskets of books sorted by author, or theme, or sometimes size (I learned in Ireland that all the books in the library at Trinity College are sorted by size which makes it pretty darn difficult to actually locate a book!). I want to instill a love of reading and learning in my little friends and having interesting books to look at and great stories to read is a big part of that.

I love living in Germany. I am glad we moved here. I loved living in Oregon and I am really excited to go back. But there is something about having a permanent place that is appealing. It is hard to go back and forth because it's hard to bring everything you need and you end up doing without things. Maybe they are important things, maybe they aren't but I am at the point where I think it is easier to just have less stuff! Yikes, did I just say that?

In retrospect, I probably should have just left all of my classroom stuff back in OR in the storage unit, but I didn't know that I would end up in a teaching position that does not require a classroom. I didn't realize those books would just sit downstairs in a lonely storage unit instead of being read by curious kiddos. I feel some sort of weird protectiveness over my books and I just couldn't imagine not having them close by. Now I have to leave them again. I suppose I could look into shipping them, but I am afraid to know how much that would cost.  I guess in the grand scheme of things, not being able to bring all my books is not the end of the world. Not even close. I can do without. I can select my favorites and add those to my suitcase along with my clothes and other important stuff. I can make frequent trips to the library and borrow from other teachers. It will be fine. But I can really see how teachers end up with so much stuff when they teach in the same classroom for years at a time. They don't have to do without and they get to enjoy a collection of stuff that just continues to grow and grow. I am jealous!

And I am having this dilemma over my chidlren's books which doesn't even take into consideration all of my teacher books that I want to bring like The Daily Five, Growing Readers, Reading with Meaning, Teaching Student Centered Mathematics, The Art of Teaching Writing, 6+1 Traits of Writing, and all those great book on multicultural education I have acquired while living here.

Seriously, when is someone going to invent teleportation??

What is your favorite children's story?

What is something you could not live without in your classroom? 

Should I bring the Froggy books? (I just love hearing the class respond "whaaaat?" when I read the "Froooooogy" part in those stories!)

Do you differentiate?

Yesterday we had middle and high school parent teacher conferences. All of the teachers had stations in the gym and parents were able to come in and meet with whichever teachers they wanted/needed to speak with. At certain times, parents had to actually wait in line to see a teacher, but overall the system seemed to work pretty well. My station was not too busy though. I only work with 7 MS/HS students, so there were not a lot of parents who needed to speak with me. Each teacher on my team had a separate station and since we often share students, some parents didn't come talk to me at all. I was supposed to be there from 8:30-5, but luckily, I got to go home at 3 because all of my families had been there at that point.

Since I knew I would be sitting for a long time, I brought along a few books to occupy my time. The one I really got into was called Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom.

I am the first to admit that my skills at differentiating are not where I'd like them to be.  I have learned a lot about how to differentiate and what good differentiated instruction looks like because I have been able to see many different teachers this year while I support students in their classrooms, but I know it is lacking in my own practice.  Reading this book really helped me to get a better 'big picture' of how to make differentiation work.

I am going to try and summarize the main concepts as a set of steps that I am hoping to use in the future in order to better differentiate instruction and learning tasks in my classroom.

1. Make a curriculum map: This includes Subject, Unit/Theme, Essential Questions, Unit Questions, Curriculum Standards, Content/Topics, Skills, and Projects/Products. There is a nice organizer in the book that lays this all out nicely so that everything can be organized at the beginning of the unit.

2. Complete a Matrix Plan: Another great organizing tool which requires using the different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy to create a project menu to ensure that projects/assignments touch on various levels of thinking from concrete to more abstract.
(Levels of Bloom's Taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, evaluation, synthesis)

3. Create an Integration Matrix: A third organizer that crosses Bloom's Taxonomy with Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. The idea is to ensure that the types of assignments/projects/activities incorporate different learning styles at different levels for children who have various strengths and learning preferences.

Multiple Intelligences: 
verbal/linguistic (say it)
logical/mathematical (count it)
visual spatial (picture it)
bodily/kinesthetic (move it)
musical (hum it)
interpersonal (lead it)
intrapersonal (reflect on it)
naturalist (investigate it)


These three steps can be done prior to the start of a unit to ensure that there are clear learning objectives and that students are able to demonstrate learning and thinking in a variety of ways. I have never before sat down and thought about categorizing the nature of my activities to ensure I am doing enough activities that cater to the various learning styles. I know I incorporate a lot of visuals (maybe because I am such a visual learner and I know visual input is great for ELL students) but I need to make sure I have enough for the musical learners, the tactile learners, and the naturalists or 'discovery' learners. How would I feel if I went to a class and there was no visual input? I would not learn as much! I need to be more cautious of this in the future!

The book also talked about project menus that allow incorporate activities or projects that touch on different learning styles. This incorporates the element of choice which is a great way to motivate students and have them engaged in and excited about their learning. Sometimes it is good to let students choose, but there can also be times when the teacher assigns projects to have students working on skills they need to develop more. Finally, the book discussed tiered assignments which differ based on challenge level, complexity, resources, outcome, process, or product to ensure that students who need to practice basic skills have enough time to do so, but students who can move farther ahead have opportunities to be more challenged.

I am really looking forward to incorporating these ideas into my lesson planning next year. I really want to improve my differentiation skills and I know it creates a work environment much more conducive to learning growth for all students.

How do you differentiate in your classroom?

What kind of learner are you?

I am visual (color coding!!), verbal, and intrapersonal.

I need to see it, talk about it, and reflect on it.

Which kinds of learners do your lessons cater to the most? The least?

Research & Homophones

You may remember this post about my super geekalicious organizational strategy for researching that I used earlier in the year for my paper on multicultural education. Today, I worked with my fourth grade friend and her teacher was implementing a similar system (more kid friendly of course!) that I thought was great!

The teacher provided her students with envelopes (small manilla) and had them label each envelope with a research category. My student is researching the Mayan civilization and her categories are farming and clothing. On the back of the envelope she wrote specific questions she is looking to answer such as "What kinds of crops did they grow" and "Where did they get water from?" The students were also provided index cards and are being taught to take notes in order to write down the most important words and information on their cards. As they read and research, they write notes on index cards and put them in their envelopes for safe keeping. The teacher also said she is going to teach them about plagiarizing and how to write down the source where they found information on the back of each card. My student wrote the question on the top of her card and then wrote down some details that pertained to that particular question in the rest of the space. Now, when she needs to write a paragraph about how the Mayans farmed, she will have all the information she has collected in one nice, neat envelope.

I think this is a great system to teach kids at a young age because research skills will become very important and learning how to organize and keep track of information can be tough for kids. I wish I had some pictures, but I think that the system is easy enough to imagine since I didn't have my camera with me during this lesson.

I also made this document of common homophones today, so I thought I would share it. These are great visuals for students who may confuse certain words and how to spell them. It could also made into a fun matching game like memory. Please feel free print and/or make copies of this document! If you click on scroll on the bottom, you will be able to view all of the pages before printing.
Homophones


The weather was finally getting sunnier and warmer and then we were hit with a lot more snow over the weekend! I am freezing my fanny off and wishing spring would just come already! I am starting to feel like I have put on some winter "padding" if you know what I mean, and I really want to start getting fit for spring/summer. Only three weeks left until my two-week spring break and our trip to Ireland! Woo hoo!

Any tips or motivational speeches for getting back into summer dress/bathing suit/shorts shape?
Any advice or recommendations for traveling to Ireland?
Anyone else sick of snow!?

Are you a busy teacher?

I came across a great resource for teachers today. It's called the

Busy Teacher's Cafe

and it is jam packed with great tools to use for students in grades K-6. There are printables, theme activities, a blog, other teacher resources like author studies, literature activities, ideas for classroom management/organization, and much, much more!

The best part:

Everything is free!

Teachers love the word free :0)

Today I mostly went through the Reading, Writing, and Graphic Organizer sections and I found lots of great tools to use for enhancing reading and vocabulary comprehension.

I definitely recommend checking out this site for easy to access resources.

***

Check out the kicks my husband custom designed for me at www.miadidas.com

It's hard to see from this small picture, but the letters bwe are on the side.

He said it stands for best wife ever.

Love it.

Top Picks from Debbie Miller

In her book, Reading With Meaning, Debbie Miller suggests many children's book that are great to use for teaching certain comprehension components. I want to have a comprehensive list in one place rather than having to go back and page through her book, so I thought I would post the list here and then I can have easier access to great book suggestions as I go through the year.

Book Clubs for Kids:

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman

An Angel for Solomon Singer by Cynthia Rylant

Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Berger

How Many Days to America? by Eve Bunting

The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland

The Magic Fish  by Freya Littledale

Oliver Button Is a Sissy by Tomie dePaola

Sleeping Ugly by Jane Yolen

The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Baylor

The Titanic Lost and Found by Judy Donnelly

The Mummy Lost and Found by Judy Donnelly

Wild, Wild Wolves by Joyce Milton

Williams' Doll by Charlotte Zolotow

Tried and True Text for Mental Images:

Close Your Eyes by Jean Marzollo

Color Me a Rhyme by Jane Yolen

Creature of the Earth, Sea, and Sky by Georgia Heard

Footprints and Shadows by Anne Wescott Dodd

Goodnight to Annie by Eve Merriam

Greyling by Jane Yolen

I Am the Ocean by Suzanna Marshak

Mountain Streams (CD)

The Napping House by Audrey Wood

Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant

Night Sounds, Morning Colors by Rosemary Wells

Putting the World to Sleep by Shelley Moore Thomas

Quiet, Please by Eve Merriam

The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer

Say Something by Mary Stoltz

What Does the Rain Play? by Nancy White Carlstrom

When I'm Sleepy by Jane R. Howard

Wild, Wild Sunflower Child by Nancy White Carlstrom

The Zoo at Night by Martha Robinson

Tried and True Texts for Schema:

Fireflies by Julie Brinkloe

Hazel's Amazing Mother by Rosemary Wells

I Know a Lady by Charlotte Zolotow

Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber

Koala Lou by Mem Fox

My Great-Aunt Arizona by Gloria Houston

Now One Foot, Now the Other by Tomie dePaola

Oliver Button Is a Sissy by Tomie dePaola

The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant

Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

The Two of Them by Aliki

Tried and True Texts for Inferring:

Creatures of the Earth, Sea, and Sky by Georgia Heard

Fireflies by Julie Brinkloe

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

For the Good of the Earth and Sun by Georgia Heard

Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Berger

How Many Days to America? by Eve Bunting

If You Listen by Charlotte Zolotow

Miss Maggie by Cynthia Rylant

Mother Earth, Father Sky selected by Jane Yolen

Oliver Button Is a Sissy by Tomie dePaola

The Royal Bee by Frances Park and Ginger Park

Where Are You Going, Manyoni? by Catherine Stock

Winter Fox by Catherine Stock

Tried and True Texts for Asking Questions:

All I See by Cynthia Rylant

Amelia's Road by Linda Jacobs Altman

An Angel for Solomon Singer by Cynthia Rylant

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Berger

The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland

Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons

The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg

The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

Why Is the Sky Blue? by Sally Grindley

The Wise Woman and her Secret by Eve Merriam

Yanni Rubbish by Shulamith Levy Oppenheim

Tried and True Texts for Synthesizing:

The Alphabet Tree by Leo Leonni

Charlie Anderson by Barbara Abercrombie

Fables by Arnold Lobel

Frederick's Fables by Leo Leonni

Oliver Button Is a Sissy by Tomie dePaola

The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills

See the Ocean by Estelle Condra

Smoky Night by Eve Bunting

The Story of Jumping Mouse by John Steptoe

The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Balor

Tea With Milk by Allen Say

Tried and True Texts for Determining the Importance of Nonfiction:

Series:

Dorling Kindersley Readers, DK Publishing, New York

I Can Read About..., Troll Associates, New York

First Discovery Books, Scholastic, New York

Eyewitness Books, Knopf, New York

Newspapers:

Your local paper

Weekly Reader

Magazines:

National Geographic for Kids

Time for Kids/Big Picture Edition

Ranger Rick

Zoo Books

Calliope: World History for Young People

Kids Discover

Cobblestone: The History Magazine for Young People

Read Alouds:

The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

Poppy by Avi

Poppy and Rye by Avi

My Father the Dragon series by Ruth Stiles Gannet

Research

This summer I completed my Master's Project which was entitled, "Best Practices and Implications of Response to Intervention for Elementary Level Non-Native English Speakers." The topic stems from my interest in both English as a second language and special education and what happens when they intersect. 

Because I chose to do my project by myself rather than working in a group, it was a lot of work that took up a lot of my time this summer. Although I am so glad it is over,  I found the research I did to be very interesting. I came across a lot of great resources related to linguistically and culturally appropriate teaching practices, Guided Language Acquisition Design (GLAD), Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP), Response to Intervention (RTI), teacher expectations, and teacher preparation.

I'd like to share some of the resources I found to be most helpful:

Brown, J.E., & Doolittle, L. (2008). A cultural, linguistic, and ecological framework for response to intervention with english language learners. Teaching Exceptional Children   40(5), 66-72.

Cartledge, G., & Kourea, L. (2008). Culturally responsive classroo

ms for culturally diverse students with and at risk for disabilities. Exceptional Children, 74(3), 351-371.

Chamberlain, S.P. (2005). Recognizing and responding to cultural differences in the education of culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Intervention in School Clinic, 40(4), 195-211.

Echevarria, J., Short, D., & Powers, K. (2006). School ref

orm and standards-based education: model for English-language learners. The Journal of Educational Research, 99(4), 195-210.

García, S.B., & Ortiz, A.A. (2006). Preventing disproportionate representation: Culturally and   linguistically responsive interventions. Teaching

 Exceptional Children, 38(4), 64-68.

Gersten, R., & Woodward, J.P. (1994). The language-minority student in special education: Issues, trends, and paradoxes. Exceptional Children, 60, 310-322. 

GoPaul-McNicol, S.A., & Thomas-Presswood, T. (1998). Working with linguistically and culturally different children: Innovative clinical and educational approaches. Needham Heights: Allyn & Bacon.

Mandlawitz, M. (2007). What every teacher should kno

w about IDEA laws and regulations. Boston: Pearson. 

Nordmeyer, J. (2008). Delicate balance: ELL students struggle to balance language and content, while educators need partnerships and specific professional learning. National Staff Development, 29(1), 34-40. 

Ortiz, A.A. (1997). Learning disabilities occurring concomitantly with linguistic differences.  Journal of Learning Disabilities, 30, 321-332. 

Very Interesting Video: A Class Divided

Donors Choose

My mother in law first told me about Donors Choose last year. She recommended checking it out as it is a great way for public school teachers to obtain classroom materials that they cannot afford to (or don't want t0) purchase with their own money.

I decided to give it a go.

I created a proposal requesting some math manipulatives and games for my students. I was having a hard time motivating some of the kids during math and they were struggling. I was searching for a way to make math more enjoyable, bearing in mind that kids are more likely to learn if they are having a good time and math makes more sense when you have things to move around and manipulate. 

The fun part about creating a proposal for materials is the shopping! There are many education websites linked to the site where you can do some virtual shopping and add desired items to your cart. When finished, you have a completed list of items that you are requesting and a total cost which includes the cost of shipping. 

Don't get me wrong, this is not just an easy way to get whatever you want for free...Your request has to be student centered, reasonable, and meaningful which is why you are required to submit a proposal for review in which you describe the materials you would like, how you will use them, how the students will benefit etc. 

Once submitted, the proposal gets reviewed and, if accepted, gets posted on the  DonorsChoose.org webpage. Potential donors can browse through the proposals and if there is a particular proposal that speaks to them, they can make a donation towards the total cost. I was fortunate enough to have two wonderful donors who submitted enough money to cover the cost of the math games and manipulatives I had requested.

I received notice that my proposal had been funded and was asked to confirm the shipping address of my school. Shortly after that I received the thank you package which included a disposable camera, the names of my donors, and instructions on what to do next. As part of the process, teachers are required to photograph their students benefitting from the donations (whether it is using the materials or participating in an activity), they are also required to have their students write thank you notes to the donors, as well as write a personal thank you note describing the impact the donation had on the students. Within a few weeks of returning the thank you package, I received a box including all of the materials I had requested.

That was an exciting day! I showed my students each of the new things we had gotten and they were just as thrilled as I was. During an indoor recess shortly after the arrival of the new games, all of my students played math games instead of blocks, coloring, or computer games!

Once you have established an account with Donors Choose, there is a point system. You begin with three points and you can spend and earn points by completing various actions. Submitting proposals costs points (based on the cost of materials), but by responding to email notification quickly and returning the thank you materials you can earn back points. 

Once submitted a proposal has about 6 months to be funded or it is removed from the site. Since I had excellent luck with my first proposal, I decided to create a second. This time, I requested non-fiction books relating to science and social studies themes I cover as well as picture books written in Spanish for my students who participate in Spanish Language Arts. The proposal has been listed for awhile and so far I have not had any donor action, but I am still hopeful! 

Teachers typically spend a lot of their own money on classroom supplies. Donors Choose is a fantastic way to receive donations rather than using personal funds. So many teachers have inspiring, creative, and magnificent ideas, but are limited by the costs involved. If you are one of those teachers that has a fantastic idea brewing, but needs some materials to make it work, I strongly encourage you to check out DonorsChoose.org and give it a go!

My current, hopefully soon funded, proposal

Boardmaker

I was first introduced to Boardmaker during one of the special education courses I took at Portland State University. Typically, the program is utilized with students who have special needs, although since getting it, I have used it for TONS of different purposes in my classroom for all students.

Basically, the program has a large data base of picture icons to represent different objects, phrases, and activities that children might see, say, or do at school and/or home. Using the program, you can create picture schedules, communication boards, and games galore for students to use. I have also found that in addition to being a great tool for students with disabilities this is also a great tool to use with English Language Learners. 

In the past I have been frustrated with clip art in that it did not depict the image I was looking for. Boardmaker has been fantastic at providing images depicting just what I want. Included in the images are foods, games, school subjects, sports, people, actions, numbers, coins, animals and much much more. I have found it easy to use and very versatile.

Not inexpensive, the program retails for $299 (which will increase to $329 on August 22nd) and that is the least enhanced version. I was fortunate enough to win  prize money through the Kappa Delta Pi Education Honors Society which allowed me to purchase the program.

Some ideas for using the program:

Picture Schedules: Laminate icons that depict different activities a student participates in throughout the day. Place a large strip of velcro on a student's desk and velcro on the backs of each activity card. Place icons in the order in which they will occur and have a small basket or container the icons will be placed in once the activities have been completed. Often children on the Autism Spectrum Disorder are visual learners. Utilizing this type of schedule allows them to know what is coming next. 

Communication Boards: The program includes specially formatted templates for making communication boards. This would be used for students who are non-verbal or have special communication needs. Essentially a board (piece of paper) is created based on a particular topic and the icons included are all related to that topic. The board helps to facilitate communication or conversation about the specific topic. In class my teacher used an example of Thanksgiving. Icons on the board represented different Thanksgiving foods and activities. There were icons for "I like" and "I don't like" as well as transportation icons to indicate how the student might be traveling. We worked in groups where one person could ask questions and the other person had to respond only by pointing to the various icons and phrases. It was really fun to experience how useful the tool could be for someone who is non-verbal and how much I could communicate without talking. Often students will have communication notebooks or binders they carry with them which include boards on various topics.

Making Learning Fun: I made several games using the picture icons from the program. When my students were learning about money, I made game cards with picture icons of food, games, toys, and animals. Under the picture there was a price indicating the cost of the item. I also made another set of cards using coin stamps that had coin amounts matching the amounts on the item cards. Students spread the item cards out in rows so they were all visible. The coin cards were placed in a pile, face down. The kids would turn over one coin card at a time and had to find the item with the same price in order to buy it. 

I also used picture icons as items my students could purchase from my store. I laminated pictures of fun food items such as popcorn, an ice cream cone, pizza, and cotton candy with prices below the picture and placed magnets on the back. I arranged them on my whiteboard and created my "store."  I would have a student choose which snack they would like and all the kids had to figure out whether or not that child could afford the snack given the amount of money represented by the coin cutouts I placed on the board (also laminated with magnets on the back) The kids loved it!

Sentence Frames: I used a lot of picture icons while teaching my English language development group. I frequently use sentence frames with this group in order to facilitate the use of complete sentences. For example when we were using comparison words to compare animals the frame was:

The ________ is ___________ the _________.

         (animal)         bigger than            (animal)

                      smaller than

                         heavier than

                        smarter than

                          faster than

                                    slower than

In order to help the students, I used picture icons of the animals for them to arrange in order to create a sentence that makes sense. They might place a picture of the elephant in the first blank and a bird in the second blank and choose the comparison words bigger than. Then they would read the sentence:

The elephant is bigger than the bird. 

Because reading too many words in English can be challenging, the addition of the pictures helped the students to read the sentences more fluently. 

Job Chart: Finally, this year I set up the classroom job chart using the picture icons. At the beginning of first grade, many students cannot read the jobs that they are assigned to. Rather than checking the chart and knowing what they have to do, they have to ask me to read what it says. Now, there are picture icons and words to label the different jobs. For example, the most coveted job, line leader, now has a picture showing a line of students with an arrow pointing to the first student in line. Underneath the image it says line leader. Now, students can independently check the job chart and do their classroom jobs!

Most often, this program is used by special educators and speech pathologists, but as a general education teacher I have found it very useful for my classroom in many ways. It was particularly helpful with my student who had Autism last year, however really helped to spruce up some activities used with the whole group. 

Click on Boardmaker for a link to the products.