I've been reading the book, Mindsets in the Classroom by Mary Cay Ricci, and just finished chapter 3. It was a real eye-opener. Through all of my years of teaching, I thought I was differentiating by planning and implementing reteaching and enrichment lessons and activities as my class worked through a unit. But in this chapter, I learned how important it is to start the differentiation before the unit even begins! This process begins with the preassessment. So much valuable information can be gathered before you begin teaching a unit. The purpose of the preassessment is to find how much students understand the content before you plan and teach the unit. Do they have a complete understanding of the content? Then they will need enrichment and/or accelerated activities. Do they have a partial understanding of the content? Then you need to make note of the gaps in their learning so you can plan accordingly. Checklists are a great way to keep track of the objectives and student mastery. From this checklist, you will also see students that need to be grouped for instruction. Keep in mind that this grouping will change as students master the objectives. Another insight I gained from this chapter is the different types of assessments used in a classroom. I put together this graphic to sum up the three types of assessment you should be using in your classroom. Click on the image to download the pdf version. You can also download this free packet with three quick and easy formative assessments you can use
This is a big puzzle piece for students to fill in and cut out as a get to know you activity for the first day of school. Each puzzle piece is approximately 7 inches by 7 inches. All students are an important piece of the puzzle! Give each student a copy of the puzzle piece. They can decorate however they want. Cut out puzzle pieces and glue/tape them together to form a wonderful classroom mural. I always print extra for those they mess up. I also cut a few out in advance in case there are students who have trouble with scissors. Don't worry about your puzzle being a perfect rectangle. Print the extra puzzle pieces to fill in the missing pieces or cut blank puzzle pieces and scatter them. If new a student enter your classroom you can always add to the puzzle. It's never "complete." I typically find a big roll of paper and start with my puzzle piece in the upper left corner. Kids can share something about their puzzle piece or they can partner up and share something about each other. After sharing, they connect their puzzle piece to one that is already on the big roll and glue it down. Idea: Have paraprofessionals, Admin, custodians, classroom volunteers, etc. fill out a puzzle piece. Everyone is important!! Please check out Our Classroom Quilt for another great community building activity.
Piet Mondrian's work show us the importance of focusing on what's truly important. So here're 10 Piet Mondrian projects for kids to get inspired from!
Our school has an Outdoor Learning Committee that I am a part of. We all feel very strongly that the environment where the children play outside is just as important as the environment inside our school. We have worked hard to make our playground an area where the kids can run, exercise explore and yes...learn! Outside play plays an important role in children's development! They are working gross motor muscles and getting must needed exercise. They learn how to solve problems such as when social disagreements arise. They learn empathy as they help friends who get hurt. They learn to take risks and see where their limits are and feel empowered as they take those risks and succeed. They create games and role play. They learn science concepts as they discover things in nature and learn to look closer and ask questions about what they see as they discover new things. They learn kindness as they try to save an insect in danger or nurture a plant. They are literally learning about life and life skills as they play outside, so we knew the environment needed to support that. We had an area that we were having some problems with in the middle of our asphalt area. We wanted to turn it into something all of the kids could explore and benefit from and decided to create a Barefoot Sensory Path. We came up with a design and my husband figured out how to make it so that it would be sturdy and last. Our amazing PTO gave us funds to purchase the materials and we had fun shopping at Lowes for items that would provide the sensory experiences we were hoping for. Our team came in on a Saturday and went to work. Our maintenance team had dug the area down four inches so that it would be even with the asphalt. We put down a layer of paver sand, and then the 4x4's. We glued some materials to 2x2 pieces of plywood. The sections were all 2x2. We filled the sections with paver base and tamped it solid. My son even came and helped! Here is the finished frame. Of course, we had to test it out! Here is the finished path!! We were so excited for the kids to try it! It was a huge success!! The kids absolutely loved walking on it with bare feet, crawling on it and feeling with their hands and even laying in it enjoying the warmth radiating from it from being in the sun. Another new area we created was an area to create roads, ramps, etc. using scrap wood, cars, signs and other loose parts. This lovely lady below had the vision for this area! We also added an area to really work those gross motor muscles. Mr. Doyle created a boundary to keep it all contained to one area. We filled it with stumps, logs, and large branches. The kids have created obstacle courses and love lifting these up to show how strong they are! They jump, balance and create here. They collaborate and problem solve. They use both critical and creative thinking skills. This is a great area to develop 21st Century Learning Skills as they play! For our nature lovers, we have an area with plants for them to explore and observe. Some are edible such as peppermint and fennel. We have cone flowers, milkweed, irises, sunflowers and more. This area is a great place to explore and observe insects also! Here are some other things on our playground where they can let lose and have fun! Our playground is still a work in progress! We have many more ideas that we want to implement some day! One step at a time!
Hands-on learning is incredibly important for kids. There are a million reasons why! Today I am highlighting more than 60 elementary hands-on math teaching ideas that I have featured over the years on my site.
The first week of school generally consists of getting to know one another, in addition to discussion and practice of classroom procedures and routines. We also got our creative juices flowing by creating summer reflection writing pieces, squiggle stories, and "All About Me" mini-posters. Students are getting to know one another and me, and we are learning to work together to build a successful and positive classroom environment. On Wednesday, I wrote out six questions, all having to do with how to make our classroom and ourselves function to the highest level, on six pieces of chart paper. Students, in groups of three, spent two minutes at each chart, collaborating and responding to each question on a sticky note. After all groups visited each chart paper station, I hung all of the charts up and we discussed each answer and noticed some very interesting trends. Here's the finished product, which you can click on to enlarge: Inspired by Life in 4B To tie into the previous activity, I was inspired by my wonderful teammates, Mrs. Fadden and Ms. Mattox, to develop at class pledge with my students. We reviewed our responses to the above questions, and then we put all of the ideas together to form a cohesive paragraph that we have all agreed will help us to remember why we are here at school and what our common goal is. Below is the rough draft of our class pledge (which I will type up, make pretty, and have all of my students sign): Since we were able to develop a class goal (to achieve success in third grade), I also had each student determine an individual goal after reading the story Matthew's Dream by Leo Lionni. I displayed our "Hopes and Dreams" for third grade near the classroom door, so that we can refer to, and revisit, them throughout the year. Lots of students are interested in learning how to sharpen their cursive skills, multiplication and division skills. I was very impressed by the number of students ready to take on our 40 book challenge! More on that later! Here's our class display of our hopes and dreams for third grade: Lastly, I read a book called Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The premise is that everyone carries an invisible bucket everywhere they go. When your bucket is "filled" you feel happy.When your bucket is "empty" you feel sad or upset. People can fill buckets by lending a helping hand, smiling, being kind, including others in games, and more. People can empty buckets by teasing, being ungrateful, acting disrespectfully, and more. I encourage my students to recognize the actions of bucket-fillers by writing them quick note and sticking it in their bucket display. This helps make everyone feel good. When we feel good, we want others to feel good. Therefore, kindess is passed from person to person. This is our bucket-filling display, complete with ways we can fill buckets and ways we can empty buckets: I look forward to more of these types of meaningful activities that promote teamwork, kindness, and achievement with your child!
Learn about 17 things I think you must do after getting diagnosed with hashimotos. Discover how to be healthy with hashimotos.
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Rewards and incentives can be a critical component to classroom management success. They are also the perfect tool to help learners to go outside their comfort zones and learn new skills. Simply put, providing rewards and incentives encourage positive behaviors. Sometimes rewards are seen in a negat
A Delicious Lesson All Students Can Sink Their Teeth Into Curriculum Design % %
Have difficulty dealing with trauma, anxiety, or demands of life. Learn to recognize your window of tolerance and self-regulate with these simple steps.
These camping worksheets for preschoolers are a great way for your little ones to work on important skills this summer.
Galas are back in a big way. Steve Paste Alpine Creative Group, says, “90% of all donations come through galas." Make yours more successful.
Practice with a very nice PDF worksheet including a crossword puzzle on reflexive & non-reflexive verbs used for daily routines in Spanish.
Agriculture is one of the most important sectors with plenty of business opportunities. Here are the best farming business ideas that will make money.
Necklaces and Neckline Necklaces and neckline, what to wear? Its a question we get almost daily! Finding the right necklace to wear with your neckline can sometimes be a challenge for a lot of us. This is simply because we are generally so focused on colors that we tend to miss how important shape and size fits int
Over the years I've created and shared more than 500 printables here on the blog. Keeping track of all of them and, more importantly, making them easy for you to find can be a bit
Want to give minimalism a try and have a clutter-free home? Here is a list of 70 things to get rid of for a minimalist home.
Tired of the same GoNoodle videos? Break out of your brain break rut with these 6 new ideas that your students are sure to love.
Combine Art with Anatomy in this X-Ray Skeleton Hand Lesson! This project is perfect for elementary art, but could be a fun Skeletal System Activity for Middle and Highschool as well! A perfect Fall Art Activity, it's spooky enough for Halloween art while also teaching important shading skills and s...
Create a Math Block I can't say this enough. An effective math block will help you tremendously! It creates routine and structure that you need to make sure everyone is on task. This is what I include in my math block: Engaging Mini Lessons Math centers Independent practice visuals throughout the classroom Use A
The standard dimensions of a bedroom are 3000 mm by 3600 mm. The standard dimensions of a master bedroom are 4200 mm by 4800 mm...
Teach the kids about David and Goliath in this family night lesson prepared by Adelle. They need to know they're strong, no matter their size!
Everyone starts losing weight with the best intentions. These tips will teach you how to get serious about losing weight.
Simple 6-piece sun hat, many students know how to do at a glance, the most important thing is the paper pattern, the following special to provide you
New to string or strip piecing blocks? Check out video tutorials to see different ways to do the string piecing technique as well as some ideas for patterns and information to get you started.
Tired of the same GoNoodle videos? Break out of your brain break rut with these 6 new ideas that your students are sure to love.
If you want your family to be close-knit into the teenage years and beyond, you need to nurture positive family traditions.
Classroom management is one of the most important things a teacher can master. Here are 2 kindergarten classroom management ideas that work!
Learn how to "pick up and knit" stitches from the edge of your work. This is a particularly useful skill for sleeves, collars, and edgings.
