Why You Need Trello In Your Life!

Hey there! It's Alison from Learning At The Primary Pond, and today I want to share a tip that will make your life EASIER when it's back to school time!

During the last couple of months of school, I've been thinking about the things that I want to / need to do next school year. Many of them require me to take action at the beginning of the year.

I know that even though these ideas are fresh in my mind now (I'm writing this 2 days after our last day of school), I will likely forget most of them during the summer! To avoid this, I created a "Beginning of the School Year" list in my Trello account.

"What's Trello?" you ask? Well, it's an amazing (and FREE) app that you can use on your computer, on your tablet, or on your smartphone (Apple or Android). Simply create a free account, and then start making boards. Within a board, you can create lists and movable cards.

Here's an image of my "Beginning of the School Year" board on Trello:

As you can see, I have three lists:  "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done."  You can't actually see all of the items on my "To Do" list - you'd have to scroll down. As a reading specialist, I have lots of responsibilities at the beginning of the school year!

Each responsibility is listed on one of the moveable cards ("Get 1-2 teachers' schedules and grade division," for example). As I start working on these different responsibilities, I can move them to the "In Progress" list, and eventually to the "Done" list. Trello also allows me to share my lists with other people, so I can keep the other two reading specialists in the loop!

The wonderful thing is that I will never again have to make a new to-do list for the beginning of the school year! I will keep this board, and then at the beginning of next year, I'll move all the "Done" items back to "To Do," add or remove cards as needed, and voila! I'm set to go.

I bet there are things that you have to do at the beginning of every single school year, right? Wouldn't it be nice to keep track of them digitally, so you can't lose your list? And in an app that you can access at school or on your phone, wherever you are? You've gotta try out Trello, because it will make your life much easier!

To learn about how to use Trello in other ways to make your data tracking and anecdotal note taking easier, check out the video below.


Happy teaching!

Read It Again! Reasons to Repeat Read-Alouds

This year I've become a real fan of repeating read alouds. Each week we have one extended text that we reread and explore for several days. 

How do I know when when I've found a book that would make a great repeat read-aloud? Well, my crazy book-loving brain does this...

This is the inside cover of My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza. You can see that I had a brainstorm and scribbled the teaching opportunities inside the book. You'll know you've found a book worth extending across several days when there are opportunities to teach a comprehension strategy, a trait of writing and/or vocabulary. You'll know you've found a book worth reading again and again if the book provides opportunities for asking questions, making connections or considering different opinions. 

Here are three reasons for repeating read-alouds. I've added the opinions of some well-known educators. That way, you don't have to just take my word for it!  

Curriculum Choices

When driving through a roundabout, there are several options for exiting. In the same way, repeating read-alouds gives you curriculum options. Of course the first time around, you'll just want to read the book for enjoyment. On the second reading of the book, you might choose to focus on a comprehension strategy such as visualizing. On the third day you might focus on the craft of writing. "Remember yesterday when we found words in the book that helped us visualize? Who thinks they can use words like that in their writing?" Other days might also include a focus on vocabulary or a writing prompt related to the book. In In Defense of Read-Aloud: Sustaining Best Practice, Brian Cambourne says that read-alouds are the "swiss-army knife" of instruction. Books are a compact container of handy tools. If they are all that, why would you want to use a good book only once?

Higher-Order Thinking

Repeating read alouds adds rigor to your reading program. Can you remember a time when you were riding along a familiar road and you said, "I never noticed that before!" The second reading of a story allows children to move to higher levels of thinking. Once children are familiar with a story they can move from remembering and understanding to applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating.

Matt Glover has this to say in Engaging Young Writers.

Models of Good Writing

Repeating read alouds helps children hear the language of good writing. Here's what Lucy Calkins offers in Authors as Mentors.

If you'd like some specific ideas for extended texts, please visit my blog. Recently I've shared some ideas from my own classroom. Just click to go directly to each post.

If you enjoy repeating read-alouds or if you'd like to share another good reason to use extended texts, please leave a comment!

Reading Reward Day!

I love to watch my kinders GROW as readers! Every year each student makes gains in his or her own way. One student may finally get all 26 letter names and sounds while another may surpass this grade level and the next. 

SO, why not celebrate it?!?

This year our principal set a school-wide reading goal and all grade levels worked together to meet it! 

So, she planned a Reading Beach Day. 

Students were invited to dress in summer clothes (which included hats, sunglasses, and flipflops), and bring a beach towel and their favorite book from home. This added a fun element to the "Day of Reading" I already plan for my class each year!

To celebrate the reading growth of my students we 

Read. All. Day. 

for one day within the last weeks of school. I plan surprise guest readers, I read aloud a few of my favorite end-of-year books, and I plan fun centers that are all about reading. Students rotate through these centers for about 10-15 minutes at a time in small groups.  (Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate with the beachy theme, but we still had fun reading indoors.)

1. Bookshelf Reading:  At this center students can read (or look at) literature off our display shelf. Books on this shelf are changed out weekly during the school year with texts that align with our theme or topic for the week.

2. Text Book Reading:  I use an old set of first grade basal text books as a supplement for guided reading groups once students begin reading independently. They love this center because they can re-read favorite stories together

3. Online Reading:  Of course, we have to involve technology in our reading centers. Starfall is my go-to website and it's a site with which all students are familiar.

4. Leveled Reading:  This center includes ALL the leveled and decodable readers students were able to choose from for self-selected reading throughout the year. They love this because they can choose new books for a challenge or reread the "easy" ones they have outgrown.

5. Magazine Reading:  At this center my assistant shares a summer "Scholastic Let's Find Out" magazine with students. This was a weekly favorite all year long.

6. Newspaper Reading:  This is my personal favorite! I save a set of kid-edition newspapers (provided by the local news) for this center. When students are settled I ask, "How do grown ups sometimes read the paper?" Responses always included, "With coffee!" or, "With their feet up!" So, I serve them my special of the day - Clear, Cold Coffee (AKA water) and allow them to put their feet up while reading, "just like a grown up."

What have you done to celebrate reading achievement this school year?

Non-fiction Reading Activity

Hi! I'm Mona from First Grade Schoolhouse. Happy summer (coming soon) everyone! I just started my summer break this week. I hope you're enjoying yours.

I'm already meeting with my grade level teachers to talk about plans for next year!

I thought I'd share a non-fiction reading activity that I do in my classroom. The activity can be done during your word work time, writer's workshop, or used at a social studies or science thematic center.

I start by gathering books about a topic. I will show you samples of one for farm animals, but you can do this activity with any topic of study in your class. You will want to make sure you have books at various reading levels that will meet the needs of the readers in your classroom. I use books from my own classroom library, our school library, and our public library. I usually have a couple of baskets of books for student reading.

I use the activity as a center activity, so I don't have all my students doing this at the same time. They start with choosing a writing printable about a topic. This is one from a study of farm animals.

The students read about the animal. They write 3 facts they learn about the animal. And then they read their writing to two other students in the class. The children who have been read to write their names on the lines. It's a way for students to learn about the animals from each other. It's a great activity to integrate reading, writing, speaking, listening, and science/social studies.

I place picture word cards on the word wall or on a pocket chart for reference.

These picture word lists are available for students at the writing center. I print them on cardstock and laminate them.

Each student has a personal word list in their writing folders. They can add words under "Farm Animal Words" that they will need to know how to spell in their writing.

The students love these activities. They learn a lot about the topics, and they especially enjoy sharing what they have learned with their classmates.

You can view Writing about Farm Animals by clicking on the picture below.

I hope you find this idea useful. Enjoy your summer break!

Summer Skills Maintenance

Hi, Everyone!  It's Anita from Primary "Teach"spiration.

It's so hard to believe that summer break is upon us!  For some, it has already begun, while for others 

it's just around the corner.  I know, for me, the very end of the school year has always been such an emotional time.  We've nurtured those babies for nine months plus, and they've come so far since

Day 1.  Now it's time to let them go, and as we send them forward to the next grade, we feel a

sense of pride in all they have learned.  

Yet, we know that along with summer break comes the backslide.  You know what I mean.  You're confident your kids are fully prepared for the next grade when they leave your classroom for the summer, but next year's teacher may wonder why they didn't learn this or that.  It's the summer slide!

The kids put it out of their minds for those few short summer months and forget so much.

To help parents recognize the summer slide and get some helpful tips, I developed a parent letter to send home at the end of the year.  The tips are simple:

1.  Read with your children every day or as often as possible for just a brief amount of time.  You might take trips to the library and let them find new books that interest them.  Let them read for a while, then you read for a while.  Kids really do like it when you give them that special time.

2.  Surprise them with a special notebook.  Suggest to them how much fun it might be if they keep a "diary" of their summer days.  Set aside a special time each day for them to write and share with you their thoughts of the day.  Then, without being teachery (is that a word?), ask them if they can find anything in their sentence(s) that might need fixing (capitals, periods, spelling, etc.).  Guide them to find needed revisions.  Make it fun, no pressure!  Praise for the thoughts and writing skills!

3.  To keep up the math skills, play a variety of math games; you can find many at teacherspayteachers. com.  Or, for those who enjoy coloring or if you don't have as much time, encourage them to do one of the many color-by-number math sheets.

If you would like a copy of my letter, you can download it here.

And here is a fun summer color-by-number math facts packet you can get at Teachers pay Teachers.

Have a Happy Summer!

 

Let It Go! 5 Reasons to Simplify Your Classroom

It’s the end of the year and time to clean up and clean out your classroom.  As you’re busy deciding what and what not to keep I want to offer you this bit of advice: When in doubt, throw it out!

As teachers, so many of us take on the “pack rat” mentality of thinking we can’t get rid of things for the minute chance we might use them some day.  A friend offered me this piece of advice a few months ago and it has completely changed the way I approach “stuff,” not only in my classroom but in all areas of my life.  He said, “Don’t hold on to stuff ‘just in case’ you might use it some day because ‘some day’ will probably never come.  Instead purchase or find things ‘just in time’ - that way you don’t clutter your classroom and your life with things you’ll probably never end up using.” 

Now, just to drive home this point a little further I want to offer you 5 reasons to simplify and get rid of clutter in your classroom:

1. You’ll spend less time organizing your teaching materials and classroom:  This is kind of a no-brainer but it doesn’t hurt to think about it again.  Consider how much time you spend organizing or trying to find certain teaching materials in your classroom.  The less you have, the less you’ll have to go through when trying to put it all together.

2. It will make your room (and you) look better: Think about it.  You can usually get an idea about what kind of learning is happening just by walking into a classroom and taking a quick look around.  The less clutter there is in your room, the more focused the learning environment will be for your students.  Also, although this it is not the most important reason, you will leave a good impression on teachers, parents, and other adults who stop by your room and entrust you to teach their children every day.

3. It will create space for new and fresh teaching ideas: By weeding out old, dated teaching materials that you haven’t used in years you’ll be more inclined to seek out and try new ones.  I’ve found that change is hard but it’s even harder when you’re holding on to the past.  So, try setting a rule for yourself such as if you haven’t used it in the last year or two, toss it out or give it away.

4. You need to be an organized, “clutter-free” roll model for your students: As teachers you know what a huge life-skill organization is.  You also know how much it drives you crazy when you ask your students to get out the assignment they started the day before and three of them can’t find it because their desk looks like a tornado just passed through it.  Make sure your desk and classroom isn’t a disaster that gives students allowance to be messy and disorganized.

5. It will reduce your impact on the environment:  When I first started teaching I would make class sets of every handout I would use.  Not only did this waste a ton of paper and space, but it wasn’t necessary.  I found having students share copies or just keeping one copy of something that I projected onto my whiteboard, or saving a digital copy in a file on my computer instead of a hard copy, cut down on my waste considerably and reduced my impact on the environment. Plus, the school’s tight budget will thank you.

I hope this provides a bit of encouragement to you as you approach the daunting, year-end task of cleaning and organizing your room.

Happy purging!

Dealing Up Some Fun in Math

Hi everyone! It is Teresa here from Fun Games 4 Learning. I'm excited to be back here blogging on Who's Who and Who's New!

Many of you will be winding down with the end of the school year and today I have some games that could be perfect for this time of year!

Did you know that a simple deck of playing cards can be a fantastic math resource?

There are loads of math games that can be played with an inexpensive deck of cards.

These games will get students adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing and comparing numbers and even fractions.

One of the best things about math card games is that children see them as a game and don’t consider themselves to be ‘doing math’ while they play.

Here are three of my favorite games below.

Each game is played with the picture cards removed and Aces are valued at 1.

 

Race to 27

This game has players adding cards until they reach 27.

2 - 4 players

Deal out all of the cards to the players. Players put their cards into a pile in front of themselves with cards face down.

The first player turns over their top card and places it in the center.

The next player turns over their top card placing it on top of the first card. This player adds the value of the two cards and tells everyone the total.

The next player does the same adding the value of their card to the previous total.

Play continues until the total reaches 27 or over. The player who puts down the card that takes the total to 27 or over takes all of the cards in this pile and shuffles them into their pile.

Play continues for a set time or until one player has no cards left.

The winner is the person with the most cards.

For a more advanced version you can play Race to 50 or Race to 100.

 

 

Fraction Draw

This game has players create and compare fractions.  

2 - 4 players

Shuffle cards and place them face down in a pile in the center of the players.

Each player draws two cards from the center pile. (Or someone can deal two cards to each player.)

Players create a fraction by placing one card above the other with the smallest valued card placed on the top.

All of the fractions are compared and the player with the largest fraction wins the round and keeps their cards.

The other players return their cards to the pile which is shuffled and placed in the center.

Each player keeps adding the value of the cards they have won until one player reaches 50 and becomes the winner.

(HINT: Fractions can be compared by using a calculator to divide the top number by the bottom number or by using a fraction model.)

 

 

Flip Three

This is a memory style card game with a twist. Players make equations from the three cards that they flip over.

2-4 players

The cards are all placed in rows face down.

 

Players take turns to flip over three cards and attempt to make an equation using the three cards. The equation can be an addition, subtraction, multiplication or division, e.g. 3+3=6, 8-5=3, 2x1=2, 10÷2=5.

 

If the player can make an equation they keep the cards. If they can’t make an equation the cards are flipped back over in the same place.

Continue playing until only 7 cards remain. The winner is the player who has the most cards.

 

Well I hope these games are enough to get you started dealing up some fun in math.

If you'd like more math games ideas or printables, make sure you visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

 

 

     Till next time,