Last summer I attended a GT training and was introduced to choice boards! I LOVE THIS IDEA!!! I think that students are more engaged and even challenge themselves more when they are given choices. The great thing is....they aren't just for GT students. Choice boards work similar to tic-tac-toe; the student completes 3 activities in a row {up, down, diagonal} They can be adapted for ALL students and actually lend themselves well to differentiated instruction. On Tuesday, I will be attending another GT training specifically on choice boards and differentiated instruction {I'm super pumped about it!} I can't wait to learn more about these learning tools! {I promise to share what I learn!} Choice boards can be set up in many different ways. You can base them off of abilities, learning styles, intelligences, and even levels of questioning. I have found it easier, if I focus on just one of these types. When creating the board, you want to plan out what type of activity each square will focus on. {You don't want to have 2 of the same type of activities in a row} The goal of the CBs are to have equally acceptable activities that you want the students to complete that are similar end products, but have varying ways to accomplish the final product. {For example, you are studying the Alamo. Students could choose activities from writing a diary from the viewpoint of being in the battle, recreating a model of the Alamo, creating a movie, etc.}The wonderful thing about CBs though...students can choose an activity they are willing to complete {taking into consideration their own likes/learning style/intelligence}, but they will have 2 other activities they will need to complete that will focus on other skills that they possibly may need to strengthen {but at the very least they're practicing other skills}! It's a win-win situation! I recently put the choice boards I created for my homework reader's responses in my shop. My students are required to read 20 min nightly, however I found that many of them weren't really reading every night! These choice boards give student's different options to respond to their books, while focusing on varying skills. I've also included 4 blank {editable} choice boards so that you can create your own boards! .....And I used the adorable sneakers clipart to jazz them up from KPM Doodles {love her stuff!} Here is an example template of how to begin creating a choice board based on Multiple Intelligences: Source: Dare to Differentiate Here are some great resources: Dare to Differentiate (AWESOME site for resources!) PVUSD Choices based on intelligence
To help with any teachers dealing with school closures or the possibility of home and distance learning, I've put together these Home Learning Choice
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We've had lots of feedback from our "Read-O" and "Math-O" that was posted a few days ago and so I wanted to post the "Write-O" that I made ...
There are days when it feels like all we do in the classroom is solve conflicts. Here are eight tips to help kids solve their own problems at playtime.
The following board contains a series of activities that the students can choose to do after reading a novel or a short story. Students take on a number of roles, such as detective, journalist, des…
My Life As a Teacher!
A multiple choice quiz after reading is a quick and easy way to check student comprehension, but it doesn't allow you to assess deeper understanding and it certainly isn't fun or creative. If you are looking for more meaningful and engaging activities to use with students during literature circles or a novel unit, here's twelve ideas that are favorites in my classroom and the Common Core standards they align with.
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I'm still alive!! :) Sorry, Y'all....I have been M.I.A. lately due to my intense stress with all these NEW changes in my life! New g...
Learn Math Fast review and how it works for a homeschooling family with multiple ages.
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In literature circles, small groups of students gather together to discuss a piece of literature in depth. In this #2ndaryELA Twitter chat, middle school and high school English Language Arts teachers discussed how they select novels to use. Teachers also shared popular themes for connecting novel choices. Read through the chat for ideas to implement in your own classroom.
My 3rd grade ELA team has been doing amazing things lately! I've decided in order to post blogs about the great things we are doing--I must make my blogs short but meaningful! :) I am hoping that by doing this, I can blog more often! So here it goes... We are revamping the way we are doing our interventions for our kids (a blog for a different time.) Anyway, we needed some enrichment activities, without the dreaded question every week of..."what do we do now?" So we decided to create a choice board that matched our kids needs! I have linked it below! Choice Boards Our goal for the choice board...is when the students have finished all of their intervention activities (or they did not have any intervention activities because they are just that fabulous...) they will be able to choose something from their choice board. The students will color in a square when they get finished with the acitivity. We are going to have the students try to finish 5 in a row (like BINGO) for a prize. I cannot wait to give these to the students! I think they are going to love it! :) Feel free to download it and use it for yourself and your kids! Also, read some of the squares...they are funny and will be great for the kiddos!
Using choice boards just makes sense! Since each individual student is unique, a one-size-fits-all approach to assessment is not ideal.
Are you familiar with Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences? It is an amazing way of looking at how your students learn best. You can visit his website here: http://howardgardner.com/. There are several online assessments that your students can take to determine what type of learner they are. In this unit you will find 16 choice boards (8 mini choice boards and 8 full-size choice boards). Each board focuses on activities for your students to complete based on each Multiple Intelligence. Why use choice menus? Choice menus provide differentiation student choice student engagement student-paced learning activities for distance/remote learning meaningful activities for early finishers learning through multiple intelligences minimal or no prep work for teachers!!! Choice menus are not only perfect for early finishers, they are excellent tools for homework, differentiation, enrichment, assessments, extension activities, and more. Choice menus also add instant engagement, motivation, and easily address various learning styles. Looking for no prep activities for your early finishers? Print these out and put them in a folder or pocket for your students to grab and go without disruption or post them in your room for easy access. Looking to provide a variety of skills? These activities focus on critical and creative thinking, problem solving, and more. Varied activities are included throughout the product. Looking for quick, reusable center activities? Print and laminate or put in a dry erase pocket and add to your centers. Great for themed unit extras, too! These boards are included in full color and black and white. These choice boards are perfect for homework, early finishers, independent work time. For classroom use, simply laminate them for durability.
Student choice is a cornerstone of student engagement. When students can take charge of their learning and can pursue topics of interest, they will be more engaged and more inclined to do the work, and their work will become more meaningful. This blog post explores different ways to integrate studen
Student choice is a cornerstone of student engagement. When students can take charge of their learning and can pursue topics of interest, they will be more engaged and more inclined to do the work, and their work will become more meaningful. This blog post explores different ways to integrate studen
Hello darlings! Just a few more days until I leave 3 Teacher Chick and launch my new blog That Teaching Spark. The blog still looks yucky and I am just waiting on the designer for some finishing touches! She has been awesome! Make sure to check back for some amazing gift card giveaways, TPT Product giveaways, and crafty giveaways! This post is an overview of the Word Study Program I use in third grade. Stick with me though, because you could do the same thing in your classroom, you just need some word lists. These pics will take you through the program step by step. It is a mash up of Words Their Way, Fountas and Pinnell, and Beth Newingham. Click the pic to get the entire program from my store! Wow! You stuck with me this far! You deserve a freebie! What program have you been using? Is it differentiated? Amy
Answers: 1b 2c 3a 4c 5d 6d 7b 8a (cause and effect) linking_words_phrases (linking words) (linking words)
Many students on my caseload have language difficulties impacting their ability to answer simple questions — a deficit that has the potential for considerable effects on a student’s abi…
This post is about a chart I created with my friends over a three day period. It was really review for us, so the lessons were sort of quick hits. We did a section of the chart, they practiced in their writer's notebook with a quick share. My goal was just to review some areas in writing and grammar that I've seen they need a little reminding about. This is what the chart looked like at the end of day three: As you can see, it's a busy chart. That's why I really suggest doing it as a quick lesson over a few days. I will explain how I did it and give you some changes you might make so that it's a better fit for your friends. Day 1 Learning Goal: Using more descriptive verbs that relate mood This was the chart at the start of the lesson. We started with a simple sentence: The boy went up the stairs. I then focused my friends on the first column, the different moods I might want to create as a writer. We discussed how our simple sentence just doesn't do it. As a class, we brainstormed some different verb choices that better suited the moods. I charted these, and then we read the sentence again, substituting the new verb choices each time. To practice, my friends then worked with a partner for a minute or two to brainstorm their own verb choice for the same sentence and write it in their writer's notebook. We did a quick share of some and then off they went for independent writing. Modifications: This could be the extent of your entire chart. You don't have to go on and do the other sections. For younger friends, working on verb choice alone may be enough. You could also focus this lesson on synonyms for verb choice. How many verbs can you think of that would show someone going up the stairs in a happy mood? Bounced up? Jumped up? Pranced up? Skipped up? Danced up? Day 2 Learning Goal: Using adjectives or more descriptive phrases to relate mood and stronger visual images For Day 2, we briefly reviewed the previous day's lesson and then discussed how we could add adjectives or descriptive phrases to help relate mood and create a more powerful mental picture for the reader. We brainstormed together to fill in the last column. Notice that for our happy and carefree mood, we didn't really change anything. It was important for them to see that sometimes you just may not be able to think of a way to change the sentence. I come back to this at the end of day three, so I'll explain then. For independent practice, my friends followed the same procedure at Day 1 using the same sentence in their writer's notebook. Modifications: To simplify it, you could focus on just adding one adjective in front of the word stairs in the original sentence. Note: I'm a little embarrassed! It wasn't until I was looking at the chart after school on day 3 that I realized I wrote "creeped" when "crept" is grammatically correct. I did go back and correct it with my friends, but it's not in these pictures. Oh well, it's probably good for them to see that even teachers (this teacher anyway) need to proofread! Moving on. . . Day 3 Learning Goal: Correctly using and punctuating dependent clauses and creating vivid, descriptive mental images Dependent Clauses have been a stickler for some of my friends, especially using commas correctly with them. For this section, we worked on adding dependent clauses that related mood. As you can see, we also threw in some adjectives for the boy. I also highlighted the use of the comma. For independent practice, my friends went on to add a dependent clause to the sentence they had been working on in their writer's notebook. We did a quick share, and then I had them write their "Power Sentence" on a sentence strip. We hung them up in the room, and of course I forgot to take a picture of them! But, I think you get the idea. Modifications: Dependent clause is definitely an upper elementary focus, so you might want to simplify this section. In all, this would be a great chart for a simple adjective lesson. Your friends could focus on simply adding adjectives for the boy. You could also remove the "mood" section altogether if you wanted to just focus on adjectives, but I do think the mood really guides this lesson no matter how you modify it. So, as you can see from the chart, we went from the simple sentence, "The boy went up the stairs" to: With a gleam in his eye, the boy race up to the top of the staircase. Head bowed, the boy sighed and dragged himself up the long staircase. With a nervous glance up, the timid boy crept up the dark and shadowed stairs. While humming a silly tune, the boy bounced up the stairs. With a scowl on his face, the boy stomped up each step of the staircase. As I noted, these were quick lessons each day. They were meant to be a quick, meaningful review, not take up our whole writing period. The new sentences are complex sentences that create mood and vivid mental pictures. This is a skill my friends can always use practice with. On day 2, we never changed "the stairs" section of the sentence. One of the reasons I let this go was to point out to my friends that every part of a sentence doesn't need to be bedazzled. We sometimes use that term in class. I will tell my friends that their writing needs some bedazzling! It's a silly way for them to see that they have fallen back into the habit of using only "simple" writing. It's also important to point out that every sentence shouldn't be so involved. We have done lessons on varying sentences for structure and length, so my friends know not to "over bedazzle" their writing. Does that make sense to anyone but me?!! So, that's my chart that I call the chart that just keeps on giving. :-D I like charts that you can go back to over time. I find that my friends tend to get those lessons better when we are able to go back to the same chart a couple of days in a row. It just seems to imprint on their brains a bit more than the anchor charts you hit for one day only and then hang up. Hopefully there is something in this chart you can use. Have a happy weekend! See you tomorrow!
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Choice is a powerful tool for the classroom. Students feel empowered when we offer choices for their learning. Providing students who finish their work early with options that require higher order thinking is meaningful and motivating. This year, I am giving my fourth and fifth grade students monthly Choice Boards. The tasks utilize creative options from the top two levels of Bloom's Taxonomy (create and evaluate) and from the SCAMPER mnemonic, developed by Bob Eberle (substitute, combine, add something, magnify/minify, put to other uses, eliminate, and rearrange). Simple pocket folders decorated by the students hold the choice boards and "projects in process." Students choose activities from the board that reflect their strengths, interests, or new areas they would like to try. *We also talk about other options that are always great choices when they have free time ~ the perennial favorites of reading and writing stories, poetry, and research. Free Download: August Choice Board for Early Finishers TPT The tasks for August focus on timely "back to school" topics! Teachers: Click through the link of your choice above to find the free August Choice Board and try it with your students. You will find a color version and a black line version. Enjoy!
