Getting started with Genius Time, Passion Hour, 20% Time, or whatever you call it? For some students, it can be challenging for them to find something they're interested in researching. This page helps students with the brainstorming process. Enjoy! ...
I am always on the lookout for new tools that I can use with lessons. Anything with technology is always a big plus! I just found a new site that I think you will love. It can be used so many different ways. TikaTok is a project-based learning tool. This site has a bunch of colorful templates that your students can use to make eBooks. Your students can add their own photos, illustrations, and writing to make it their own creation. There are many different templates that can be easily implemented with your curriculum. Here is one example: The picture dictionary template would be a perfect word work center. Each template includes the Common Core Standards. Students will write the definition of the word and use the word in a sentence. Students can write their own definitions or use a dictionary. Here are a few of the other templates that are included on this site: Wouldn't it be fun to let each student in your class write a page about your field trip? Then print and bind the book and add it to your class library. What a great way to preserve the memories! One of these templates would be perfect for an end-of-the-year book. This month is poetry month. There are different poetry templates that you can use. Would you like to try it, too? You are in luck! Click HERE and you can try out this site free for 90 days. You must activate this before June 30th. Use this between now and April 28th and you could win an Amazon gift card. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post telling me how you used it. Example: poetry lesson, word work center, science unit, etc. Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you are the winner.
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Corkboard Connections is a blog written by Laura Candler who enjoys connecting terrific teachers with amazing resources!
These little math books are great fun to make with kids, just cut and fold one piece of paper and there's your book! Instructions plus math pages included.
How (and how NOT to) plan Genius Hour in an elementary classroom. Genius Hour ideas for second, third and fourth grade. Projects, organization, classroom management, and planning for passion projects.
Chris Ferrie once again brings complex ideas to babies with My First 100 Ocean Words. Now your little genius is ready to learn the essential first words of the ocean!From the #1 bestselling science author for kids comes a simple and colourful introduction to the first 100 ocean words every baby should know. With 100 colourful illustrations to look at and talk about, this is the perfect tool for your budding oceanographer.Each spread in this primer focuses on 8 to 12 words related to the ocean—from seaduck to seaweed, freighter to marina and more! Chris Ferrie's latest offering is the perfect way to introduce basic concepts to even the youngest readers—after all, it's never too early to become an ocean enthusiast! Boardbook, 24 pages, suitable 2+
Cutting practice has been a hot topic around here lately. Logi-Bear is desperate to learn to cut,but Royal is the one that is really at the cutting age. I try to do most of our cutting practice incognito…in the form of crafts! But sometimes you just need a bit more, right? I made these strips
Learn 12 early Christmas prep tips for a stress-free holiday. Find out how to organize, decorate, and celebrate with ease.
Play-Doh isn't just for preschool!
Explore fun pumpkin science activities for kids that make your fall or Halloween science center come alive! These hands-on activities are perfect for preschool and kindergarten, helping to introduce
Teaching toddlers letters can be fun and easy with a few games and activities to help you along the way! Try these 8 genius alphabet activities!
Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, is a framework that promotes flexibility and individualization for students. See PBL and UDL in action in this post!
If you are in education, it’s likely you encounter terms and abbreviations for just about everything possible, everyday. One of the more common ‘buzzwords’ in education today is the idea of project-based learning, or PBL. Today we’re going to discuss how to bring together Google apps and project based learning. What exactly is project-based learning? It […]
I love this math activity. It’s genius on so many levels! This would help students with addition and subtraction, but also to teach “the 9’s trick” with multiplication! It w…
Project/Inquiry Based Learning has been a passion of mine ever since I discovered it about 5 years ago. Since then, I have stepped out of my comfort zone and transformed the way I teach from a typical Thematic Based style through baby steps taken each year and with the help of an amazing on-line community of teachers with the same passion (you all know who you are!). My first baby step was taking themes and science/social studies standards and making them more student lead and project based. I got rid of the two week time limit each theme had in the past and allowed more time for students to dig deeper. I found that students would take my broad theme (oceans) and desire to dig deeper into more specific parts of the theme (sharks, jellyfish, ect.). As time went on, I was able to take the biggest step and totally let go of my themes and allowed the children's interests drive my instruction, incorporating the standards through those interests. I am blessed enough to also teach in a district that does not mandate the curriculum I use. Curriculum programs are purchased to use as tools for our toolbox but not required. Us teachers are trusted and encouraged by our superintendent to write our own curriculum as long as the standards are met. My building principle also has that kind of faith in us as professionals! They know that when it comes to children learning what they need to learn, we are the experts! Project/Inquiry Based Learning is highly encouraged in all grades Pre-K through 12. Some wonder how I plan for this style of teaching and how it flows. Here are some of the tools that I use. Once I notice an interest from the students (usually found out through experiences set up for them to explore during play) , I find out what their knowledge and misconceptions are about the subject. Kind of like a KWL chart! I list all that they know about the subject we will dive into. Then I ask what they wonder. I list all of their questions. NOW I can plan! I take their wonderings and create a web map showing the different directions they want to take the inquiry and possible experiences that will help them find answers to their wonderings. I got this web map from the amazing Joanne Babalis and her amazing blog http://myclassroomtransformation.blogspot.com. On the back I have all of the Literacy and Math Standards listed so that I can highlight the ones we will focus on through the inquiry and project. I add any Science and Social Studies Standards to the bottom of the web map. Here is the link to the web map if you would like it: Web Organizer Here is the link to the Common Core Standards Sheet for Kindergarten Language and Math: Kindergarten CC Standards Once I organize my thoughts, I create my inquiry plan using a template I created based on one I found from a Texas school district. It was so long ago I have no memory of which district but if I find out I will add them to give them credit. Their form was 3 pages long. I tweaked it to fit it all on one page. I use this to show the objectives and vocabulary, plan the investigations and materials I will need, show how they will organize the data about what they have learned, possible projects that could result from the inquiry and how we will present the project to the community. Here is the link to this inquiry planner if you would like to download it: Inquiry/Project Planner The next step is to start the investigation phase. In early childhood I set out experiences for them to explore and document what they notice. We also do whole group and small group investigations through books, videos and hands-on experiences. As we answer questions, we add the answers to our wonder chart to show our new learning. We organize this data in a web map format for all to see. The start of an inquiry wall. Information is added to it as we learn. Once we have investigated we use organizational maps to show what we learn. In kindergarten it usually consists of web maps, circle maps, tree charts (can/have/are maps), and brace maps (to show part to whole). We will chose one or two to organize our data. The next step is the project. We take what we learn and create something to show it! The projects can be individual, small group, or whole group. Some examples of projects in our room have been turning an area of our room into an ocean, forest and sky to show how animals adapt in the winter. The kids signed up to be on the migration team, adaption team or hibernation team. They each became experts on their part during the investigation and worked on their part of the project. A cave, forest, sky and ocean were created to show what animals do in the winter. Animals were created, labeled and added to the habitats. A group interested in map making and migration created this map showing migration patterns of monarchs, geese and grey whales. Another project was our The Sound Exploration Area created for our school. They saw a need (an area to explore sound) investigated different ways of creating sound, organized the data and designed a Sound Exploration Area! An area for everyone in our school to explore sound which is in our science standards. They have also turned the inside of our room into a great hall and medeival kitchen and the outside of our room into a castle wall complete with moat and drawbridge after investigating castles! The outside of our castle. A map created by a group interested in maps and where different castles were found in the world. A big book created by a small group about who lived in castles. A small group project during our castle inquiry. They have created murals and big books to show their learning also. A mural planned and created by Kindergartners. The last step is the presentation to show what they had learned. The kids LOVE this part and I've never had a child refuse to present! They are so confident of what they have learned and proud of what they have done that they cannot wait to share it! I am always so impress with their speaking and listening skills during these presentations! Sometimes small groups go to other classrooms and present what they learned, sometimes we invite parents or other classes to our room to see our presentation, and sometimes we create a video to share with others. They create maps, big books, and, get to show off the projects created at this time! Showing what they have learned through these projects gives the projects an even bigger sense of purpose! They can't wait to show others what they have learned and done! Presenting different weapons used during medieval times. I have never had so much fun teaching in my 22 years as I have he past four years! I could never go back to the way I had done it I the past. The benefits of this way of teaching are not only meeting the standards (the old way did that too) but the 21st Century Skills they are forced to develope when they learn in this type of environment. When inquiring, investigating and creating within thier own interest, they are motivated to collaborate, problem solve, handle frustration, persist if things don't work the first time, and learn from their mistakes. They have to use critical thinking skills and develope research skills. When kids develop these skills, they can learn ANYTHING! My new passion that I am learning to incorporate in my classroom is Playbased Learning! I have been amazed by the learning taking place in this way also....but that's another post! SaveSave
This post is part 1 in my inquiry series. To learn more about inquiry click through to see my many other posts about inquiry. If you are new to my blog,
We’re learning about the continent of Africa this month! Here we have our materials for the study of Africa displayed on our Geography shelf. I’m lucky to have a sister who travels a lot and brings back treasures for the classroom! So many fun things to touch and examine here! These items are […]
Sylvia Duckworth's graphic illustrates questions students can use to guide inquiry-based learning ideas that act as a catalyst for curiosity.
What is Inquiry Based Leaning in Kindergarten? In simple form, inquiry-based learning is more of a student-directed way of learning rather than teacher-directed. In some cases, the teaching team may set the general framework for learning, but for the most part, the learning is based on the students questions, ideas and passions. This is similar to the emergent curriculum if that is a term you are more familiar with. Rather than working off set lesson plans that are theme-based and not necessarily developmentally appropriate for all children, your teaching is guided by the students interests thus making the learning more meaningful to them. We know from research that children achieve optimal learning when they are given plenty of opportunities to become fully engaged in their play. Most often while children are engaged, their natural curiosity of the world around them comes forth. They take notice of everything and have a beautiful sense of wonder about people, places, objects, and nature. Through noticing and wondering, the children come up with questions and observations about their thinking. It is important that children are given the opportunity to investigate their inquiry, gather information, make observations and share their findings with others. It is the role of the teaching team in kindergarten to act as facilitators. We use these opportunities of inquiry to help guide the children with more open-ended questions allowing them to extend and clarify their thinking and make connections, while modeling the inquiry process. We provide the children with the tools, materials and resources they need to investigate these inquiries. What is the Inquiry Process? The Full Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program clearly defines the inquiry process in the curriculum document and I have included the table for you below: There is also an article I enjoyed named "The Plan: Building on Children's Interests" by Hilary Jo Seitz through NAEYC, that you can read here, that offers a very interesting perspective on the inquiry process. It has many similarities to the one in the Full Day Kindergarten document, but I enjoyed the way Hilary explained her four step process. I also now love the term SPARKS which refers to anything that promotes deeper thinking. Open-Ended Questions to Promote Inquiry The key to open-ended questions is that they promote further thinking and explanation. Questions that begin with "what, why, how, if etc." are usually open-ended questions. Anything that can be answered with yes or no are typically closed-ended questions and a lot of the time may begin with "can, do etc." I created the sheet above to carry with me on my clipboard when I am doing observations during the day as a reminder or suggestion. Very quickly these just became natural for me and it is just part of my normal conversations throughout the day with the children. This certainly won't be my last post on inquiry, but I hope this answers some questions for those who were wondering just what inquiry-based learning is.
Within my preschool classroom, I have been completing assessments with each student during Center Time. This is something I was very used ...
How to raise a brilliant child made easy. We all want to raise smart kids and here are 8 genius tips you can start using today to boost ...
Jesus chooses and sends his 12 disciples preschool Bible lesson. Free printable for home or church. Includes worksheets, games, coloring pages, craft and more.
Learn how to make realistic felt root vegetables for kids to play with! Project includes photo tutorial and pattern for felt carrots, onions, and beets.
Learn everything you need to know about planning for financial independence! Don't just use retirement calculators, make a REAL plan!
My son started kindergarten this year. He’s been most excited to learn how to read. In fact, he was a little bit disappointed his first day that he “didn’t even learn to read one word yet”. The boy has loved books all his life, and I know that as soon as he learns to read...
Here is a list of blogs that of I know of that are written by “Early Learning Parents”. These […]
How (and how NOT to) plan Genius Hour in an elementary classroom. Genius Hour ideas for second, third and fourth grade. Projects, organization, classroom management, and planning for passion projects.
Successful early experiences in math have a powerful effect in how your child develops their mathematical thinking, a important skill to master for use in their everyday lives. Our math printable worksheets will help your young child learn their numbers, shapes and other basic math skills.
Targeting a teaching role but unsure what to put on your resume? Our teacher resume examples will help you land the best roles at top schools.
Our plant and animal cell worksheets include the perfect visuals for your animal cell project in Grade 6. Animal cell poster ideas are here!
How to set up the math center in your preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten classroom. FREE path game!
Teach your child fine motor skills while strengthening shoulder and arm muscles with this vertical cutting practice activity!
In all of my childhood, I never heard of Thornton Burgess. It took motherhood and homeschooling for me to become acquainted with his genius and I am very sorry that I missed out on knowing him sooner. I personally do not love his writing voice, but I love his approach to the natural world and
Practice letter sounds in this Zip-Line Letters literacy game for kids from the book 100 Fun & Easy Learning Games for Kids. Perfect for early learners.
These bring back memories....*sigh*
