This simple alphabet book has a format that is adaptable to any grade or subject area. Each page has a "riddle" to it to guess why that letter stands for that particular object. For instance, G is for horse. Why? Because a horse gallops!
Can you guess why H is for owl? Because an owl hoots!
And it's great for higher or lower students along with showing their understanding of word relationships. (Could be good for instruction on word analogies, too!)
Here are some the teachers in my workshop course came up with for content they teach:
L is for rock, because rock is the lithosphere.
M is for water, because water moves.
D is for the Civil Rights Movement, because African Americans faced discrimination.
V is for algebraic expression, because the variable is what you're solving for.
S is for terrace farming because it looks like steps.
This week ATP introduced me to a great vocabulary/ review game, Splat! The game is super simple and all you need is a couple of fly swatters. We played using geography terms like latitude, globe, and specific physical features.
To play, first write all the terms on the board. Then have students line up in two lines. The first students in line listen as you read the definition then have to be the first to "splat" the word with the fly swatter and call out the correct word. We didn't keep points, just kept it moving fast to help students grow in their familiarity with the terms.
I forgot to take a picture of our class, but here is a pic from another blog (2nd Grade Pad) with a math fact review game so you can get the gist. You could totally use the desk tops with cards just as easily as writing the terms on the board.
We're about to wrap up our last Social Studies unit of the year. As a review, we played "ABC Economics." For each letter of the alphabet, students had to list a term related to economics.
First I gave the students about five minutes to see how many words they could come up with on their own. Then I gave them about five more minutes to get with a buddy and add to their lists. We share out and I was pleasantly surprised with all the terms they have learned. The winners got reallllly close to being able to find one for each letter!
The challenge was "X," for which we decided on "X boxes are scarce goods!" Does that count?
Bonus, every student said they did much better with this activity than they would have at the beginning of the unit.
It's a great informal assessment that could be used with many, many subjects. Any good ideas?
Monday I'm leading a professional development for teachers in another district. So that means this girl's at school today!
It's always amazing how much preparing to lead and teach others helps me grow in my own knowledge of a skill area.
Tomorrow one of my discussions is on helping students activate their schema to improve comprehension.
I'm starting with a little illustration using this text:
The Batsmen were merciless against the Bowlers. The Bowlers placed their men in slips and covers. But to no avail. The Batsmen hit one four after another along with an occasional six. Not once did their balls hit their stumps or get caught.
Did you know it was about cricket? Probably not! If I had told you that prior to reading and we had discussed what we know about cricket teams, equipment, and scoring would it have helped your comprehension?
That's schema!
We're going to practice with a text on the American Revolution's Shay's Rebellion by looking at Tier 2 & 3 vocabulary and discussing ways to help students be successful with both.
But I wanted a little more to help teachers visualize more specifically what building schema could look like in their classrooms. Bring on Pinterest! Check out these two great ideas:
This one is from blogger Amanda at One Degree Extra. I love the way she segmented the poster to really dig into students' prior knowledge AND included the misconceptions section, too.
I also love this "Word Splash" poster from Really Good Stuff. I'm not sure if I want to pay $5.50 for it, but I'm totally going to steal the concept. What a quick and easy way to front-load a unit or topic by posting key words before a lesson and reviewing them with students.
I'm excited to work with these teachers tomorrow and hear their own ideas to help students fully grasp and retain important vocabulary.
We're in the midst of our persuasive writing unit. I've been trying to convince my students that this is one of the most common types of writing we encounter. Tonight for homework they're looking for an example of persuasive writing.
What did I come home to in my mailbox?? At least half a dozen examples of letters convincing me to open a new credit card, sign up for health screenings, or buy new sweaters (and my new Anthro member card, a-thankyouverymuch).
Tomorrow we're going to look through the students' examples to help us learn about 'Persuasive Strategies.' (Check out Read Write Think for the original sheet for students.)
I decided to also find some commercial examples to help solidify student understanding of a few of the concepts. Here are the winners that I will share tomorrow. Any you would suggest adding?
Logos- using logic, numbers, facts and data to support your argument
Sprint, 2009
Pathos- appealing to your audience's emotions
Hallmark, 2013
Volkswagen, 2012
Ethos- making yourself seem trustworthy and believable
Nationwide, 2012
Kairos- building a sense of urgency for your cause
Target, 2011
Big Names- experts and important people that support your side of the argument
Mike Huckabee for President: Chuck Norris Approved, 2008
Research- using studies and information to make your argument seem more convincing
I am officially addicted to "Words with Friends." It's a great way to keep up with family and friends and I just managed another win over uber-talented sister. Mostly, it gets me excited about words.
I am thrilled to share this excitement with my students thanks to a grant I wrote with two other teachers. As part of our "Wordsmith Workout" grant, we were lucky to get THREE carts full of word games to use in our classrooms--Balderdash, Bananagrams, Boggle, Upwords, Scrabble Flash, and Scrabble. Of course, we threw in the official Scrabble dictionaries, too.
ATP ("Awesome Teaching Partner") and I are excited for all the ways these games can be used next year to provoke friendly competition and an excitement for language.
Did you know there is an official foundation called The School Scrabble Association? They have awesome lesson plans, bulletin board ideas, and other classroom resources. There's a great article here that explains all the benefits of word games on learning. We can't wait to use some of these next year and I promise to share the results and fun that ensues.
It's no secret that most teachers would say their favorite time of the year is summer. It's a well-earned and well-deserved break from grading, parent emails, professional wardrobes, and 30-minute lunch breaks. It's a time to relax and reenergize for the year ahead.
But with that freedom from normal work hours, there is also freedom to explore ways to improve my teaching for next year. I like to think about my goals for the summer at the end of each school year. This summer I wanted to start a blog. I finally jumped on that one five weeks in. (My Awesome Teaching Partner, henceforth known as "ATP," told me her summer goal was potty training her almost three-year-old. It makes my goals sound a lot more fun.) It's been a productive summer and yet still a great change of pace. So what have I been up to this summer? How am I doing on other goals?
Here is the list:
1. Teach Grad class on Grammar Instruction. More on that later.
2. Read more. I haven't been making as progress as I had hoped. I've finished The Bell Bandit, by Jaqueline Davies (author of The Lemonade War), Divergent by Veronica Roth, and am currently reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. It's probably my favorite of the three and a great nonfiction read.
3. Read more professional texts. Because of above grad class, I've been digging into Jeff Anderson's 10 Things Every Writer Needs to Know and Janet Angelillo's A Fresh Approach to Teaching Punctuation. Janet's work makes so much sense. She works with the younger grades to teach very basic discovery lessons on punctuation, tone, and the rules of writing. I'm going to be stealing a few things from her next year.
4. Attend Sycamore Literacy Conference. ATP and I, among others, attended this professional development the first few days of our summer. While I'm not sure any of us were that pumped going into the experience, I got so many good ideas out of it that you will be hearing about this coming year. Most of all, I learned I have a crush on Chris Tovani. She's amazing. Her book So What They Really Know? is totally on my wish list.
5. Attend some other upcoming PDs you'll be hearing about: Columbia Writing Project Institute, Teach American History Summer Seminar, and a War of 1812 Institute. Whew... who said this summer thing was a piece of cake?
6. Think about how to improve my vocabulary instruction for next year to make it more engaging. I found this gem through one of the awesome teachers in my grammar class. We'll be using this "Kick me Strategy" from Jody McCauley next year for sure.
7. Beat my sister in Words with Friends. Does that count as a professional goal? Because I did it last week! She's tough competition.
Just to round it out... I've also:
8. Completed a month of boot camp.
9. Babysat for 1.5 & 2.5 year girls while their parents were out of town for three days. (I don't know how you mommas do it!)
