Less people are buying newspapers now, reading news online......thank goodness those that do, are willing to donate them to schools. In the past they would be used for keeping table clean. But by the end of the summer term they are sculptures, technological constituents and objects of great desire. SHOES Pixie boots, clown shoes, moccasins, flip flops, moon boots. It seemed the list was endless ( unlike the cellotape) Teachers dreamed of elegant cocktail parties, and long summer weddings. Pupils worked together in small groups. The brief was simple - one shoe, to fit a member of the team, must come on and off. The challenges were endless. Making newspaper as strong as leather without relying on the tape, folding, joining, crumpling, making laces, buckles, football boot studs, heels, bows and bells. And only using scissors for cutting the tape. We had to stop the children wearing them home!
Teaching fractions with hands-on manipulatives and activities helps students develop a conceptual understanding that will endure.
This post contains the animated short film "Glued." Download the accompanying handout leveled for upper elementary students to teach theme.
This project is an ecosystem in a bottle showing how animals, plants, and non-living things are all connected.
Worksheets are a snoozefest...try this Super Fun Engaging Activity for ANY SUBJECT + a freebie!
Student-led Conferences are one of my FAVORITE ways for my students to take ownership over their learning and progress in the classroom. I have successfully held Student-led Conferences in second and third grade (spring semester) in lieu of traditional Parent Teacher Conferences by using individualized “portfolio style” presentations. There are three essential steps that make...
Active Students? Try Scoot! The game, Scoot, can be played a number of ways for a variety of reasons. Here are the basics of the game, a few suggestions, and a freebie!
Learn about the African continent, including its culture and people, with this Introduction to Africa lesson plan for kids!
Use the free website, Mapmaker, to create maps and practice measuring with a digital ruler.
Set upi a DIY science camp for kids! Make rockets, zip lines, candy houses baking soda potions and pH indicators for an awesome summer of science
Brag tags are an effective classroom management tool to use with your students to help them strive towards meeting their academic and behavior goals.
Student self-reflection and growth mindset go hand-in-hand. Model and teach reflection strategies, and reinforce with visual reminders.
When trying to differentiate instruction for our students, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Here are 6 Easy Ways to Differentiate Instruction
Hey Friends! I’m back at it again with the white keyboard! (Dang Daniel reference anyone?) 😉 Tellagami is an app that lets you and students record a quick video with an animated character, or ‘game’. It has a fabulous feature that let’s you customize the gami. Certain features are locked unless you purchase it, but it works just fine using the free version. The app lets you pull pictures from your camera roll, so your kids can make the background pertain to what they are talking about. Tips to use Tellagami in the classroom: Want kids to write what they’ve learned about a topic? Have them share their learning in the form of a Gami. Then they can post it to {Seesaw} for their parents to see! To learn more about Seesaw {CLICK HERE} Place a book in the background and have students give a book review or summary. Students can discuss from a character’s point of view. Extend the story past the text, talk about character changes, the possibilities are endless! Social Studies: There are so many people the kids need to know! Give facts or discuss a topic from a famous person’s point of view. What are some ways […]
Third graders will be starting to hone their cursive writing technique next week in art class. The kids are always so excited about learning to write cursive. Last year I tried a cursive writing pr…
We want to share our Flexible Seating Classroom with you! So, you've seen Flexible Seating and you want to try it, but it seems a bit overwhelming.... are we right? We felt the exact same way! After looking through our tips, you will gain the confidence and motivation to start Flexible Seating in your room!
So you've finally made the choice to purchase flexible seating for your classroom. I love finding new types of flexible seating to share with others.
Who's out for summer?!?! We got out last week and lemme' just tell ya'....I was itching for a summer break! There is just nothing better than having an excuse to stay in your pajamas until noon...or later! I wanted to pop in real quick and show you a free read aloud activity that is perfect for back to school. Have you read the book, The Jelly Donut Difference by Maria Dismondy? My babies and I have read it just about every single night for bedtime story this week. It is such a sweet story about showing kindness to others. It is also perfect for back to school when discussing ways to treat classmates. After reading the story, students can write down (on small sticky notes) different ways to show kindness at school and stick them to an anchor chart. This anchor chart can stay up all year long as a reminder to students on how to treat friends. As a follow up activity, students can make a donut and record their own acts of kindness on their sprinkles - and then choose one act of kindness from their donut and give an example of a time they did that act. You can download this kindness freebie here! Pin for later!
I thought I would write about 3 HOT TOPICS right now that are making me feel tremendously PANICKED!!! (HOWEVER, I promise to share some solutions with you that I have come up with for easing the pain!!) #1) CLOSE READING So, I am starting to feel a bit (no, VERY) panicked with all of the mid year craziness. As I feel myself treading water this week, I thought I would share with you some things I MADE this week to make me feel a little more relaxed and on top of things! I LOVE using Close Reading strategies with my students....but I realized I needed a tool to keep track of what the heck we are doing!!! I made the wheel below to track which read we were on...how the students would be reading the text....and WHAT the students would be doing while interacting with the text! This little gem keeps me a bit less PANICKED!!!! Click on the link below to pick this up and make it for your own classroom! #2)FRACTIONS Fractions seems to be every teacher's worst nightmare, right? Well, 5th grade fractions are INSANE!! We started our fractions unit with a more conceptual angle (JUST a warm up for their brains!) where the students could design any fraction greater than OR less than 1/2. Take a look! Once we got into our Fractions unit, in 5th grade, there are SO many sub-concepts within each skill! I needed to form some type of assessment to figure out what students KNOW and what they still needed to work on. If you are a 5th grade Math teacher, you are in luck! You can click on the link below to download this fractions assessment... #3)DATA DATA DATA! With conferences on the horizon, why not get the students in on this hot topic! I thought about making the following sheet for the students to put in their data folders so that they could get an idea of how they were doing AND also something that I could pull out at parent conferences. I made the following sheet below. This week, I am going to have the students sort papers from their portfolios by subject and record their scores in each section. I will let you know how it goes, but my goal will be for the students to reflect on how they are doing before their parents come to their parent-teacher conference. What HOT TOPICS are stressing you out in your classroom right now? How are you simplifying your stress?
This sounds really nerdy but I absolutely love the Periodic Table. I think it’s one of the most fascinating tools in science and I love bringing it to life for my students. I have created a lot of resources around the Periodic Table because as a young student I never really appreciated its usefulness. Through college and grad school, I really did. This ‘Periodic People’ activity has become a favorite lesson and definitely my favorite way to introduce the concept of the Periodic Table as a table of patterns! This activity was adapted from the Oakland Schools Chemistry Resource Unit. The original activity includes a perfectly useful but more simplistic version of the ‘Periodic People’ cards. Somewhere along the way, I found the cutest set of these that had been re-drawn by an artist named Renee Kimpel. She had them on her blog for free download. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find Renee and her blog again to give her proper credit (if you do know about this blog or where the re-drawn Periodic People can be found, please leave this in the comment section below!). I am providing a FREE DOWNLOAD of this resource, so be sure to scroll […]
Magnet painting is science and art wrapped up in a colorful package. And it's a simple set-up project too. STEAM (Sci/Tech/Eng/Art/Math) at it's easiest.
Multiply and Divide by Powers of Ten can be a challenging math concept for your students to grasp. Use these tips to instill and conceptual understanding.
This is a great activity that teaches how to build classroom community and mindfulness in the classroom. It's perfect for a variety of ages.
TES Teach with Blendspace is the perfect platform for creating interactive lessons to engage your students and share via Google Classroom. This easy-to-use application allows you to create a blended lesson, presentation or project quickly
Having been out of the regular classroom for a few years, there was one thing that I was really looking forward to, and that was integrating STEM into my
Allow your students to be a part of Mr. Browne's english class and respond to a precept! Reinforce these values by downloading my Wonder Positive Reinforcement Plan! ...
The NGSS standard 5-LS2-1 leads toward the core ideas of interdependent relationships in an ecosystem and how matter and energy cycle in ecosystems. When developing this phenomena-based unit, decomposers like fungi play a huge role! Our lessons within this unit will help you anchor student learning about decomposers’ role in the movement of matter ... Read more
We came back from winter break with a two day week last week. I really wanted to do a review of multiplication concepts, because we had been away from school for twelve days. So I had planned some …
Create a digital student portfolio of their learning using Seesaw Edu; a great alternative to traditional portfolios.
Teach kids about space with this astronaut ice cream recipe! It's a fun addition to any space or astronomy lesson or when learning about astronauts.
Fibonacci Day - 11/23
Who’s out for summer?!?! We got out last week and lemme’ just tell ya’….I was itching for a summer break! There is just nothing better than having an excuse to stay in your pajamas until noon…or later! I wanted to pop in real quick and show you a free read aloud activity that is perfect […]
First, I used the carousel strategy to promote movement and active discussion. For this lesson, I stapled some of my favorite question cards to chart paper and hung them around the room. I carefully divided my class into groups of three and had them rotate around the room to the various stations. At each station, one group member would read the question aloud. Then they would reflect on the question and share ideas within the group before constructing a response to write on the chart paper. A special signal was used for students to rotate every 2-3 minutes. I assigned a different color marker for each group to record their responses. As the groups traveled around the room in a carousel, they had an opportunity to read the previous responses from classmates and then add their own ideas.
Ok, let's get back to talking about school stuff. I bought at a lot of items for the upcoming school year at the end of last year, as a way to not end up in August panic mode. However, no matter how prepared you think you are, I am sure that all of my fellow teachers know that there will still be a list of items you need. If you are like me, this means 50 post-its in random places, each with one item that you think of as you are watching TV, working out, etc. Oh, the post-it notes that we find around the house. My husband loves it It drives my husband crazy! Anyway, as I was feeling ahead of the game, I figured I'd take a trip to The Dollar Tree to pick up a few items that are still on my list (the one that I made from my stack of post-its...lol). I grabbed a basket and began my shopping. I mean, how much can you fit in a basket, right? How about THIS MUCH? Yes, ladies and gentleman, for the first time in my life, I spent over $50 at The Dollar Tree! Thank goodness for TpT earnings! I'm sure you are wondering...is there a NEED for each of these? The always correct answer would be YES! I am going to break my purchases down below in hopes that you might see something that you NEED as well and then you can be savvy and grab it from The Dollar Tree too! Are you ready for my breakdown and justifications? Here we go: Super Blow Pops 4-Packs These are a part of my birthday gift for each student throughout the year. You can read about my birthday rewards here: A Simple, Cost-Effective Birthday Wish Computer Paper (40-packs) for Homework Superstar Rewards, Birthdays, and whatever else may come up. Office Depot charges $6.99 for a pack of 100. Though these are a bit thinner, I still consider them to be a great deal and I should be set for the year, maybe even next year too! If you were to use your inferencing skills, you might think I make my students brush after every meal all year long. However, this is for our first week Toothpaste Activity. Students work in groups to squeeze an entire tube of toothpaste out as fast as they can on to the paper plate. Then, the next task is to take the toothpicks and try to get as much toothpaste as possible back in. I maybe give them 10-15 minutes before they realize that they aren't getting it back in. That's when we have a discussion about words. I let them have an open discussion about words or phrases that have been said to them that have hurt them. I write all of the acceptable words and phrases on the board (and if an inappropriate one comes up, I don't freak out, I just tell them that the word is so hurtful that I can't even write it on the board). Then I take a step away from the board and say, "Students, these are toothpaste words. When I asked you to squeeze the toothpaste, it was like the words that sometimes come out of your mouth, some of which are hurtful. Then I asked you to put those words back in and what happened?" Students will recognize that they can't take the words back and a discussion begins about how carefully we should choose our words, even when we are angry. This is an amazing lesson, and my students referred back to it often. You can grab a print out of the directions and a reflections sheet here: Toothpaste Activity Squeeze toys! Gosh, these are so fun! My students loved them last year. In my class, these are used to identify the person in the group who is sharing. The only person that is talking is the one holding the toy, and they pass it around until everyone has held it and shared. Great for group discussions. Bonus points because they look forward to discussions because they get to touch the toy. They do get a little icky after a year, which is why I got these replacements. I love the caterpillars and wish they had more than just those two! Mini Tote Bags in packs of 2! I have a strict policy on signing out books from my library overnight. I keep a separate sign out sheet and everything. My biggest concern is that the students don't ruin or lose my books. I am going to decorate these and call them the book overnight bags. I'm even contemplating adding something else to the bag, like a little bear or something. I'll post them when they are ready for use! Smarties Smarties are part of my Welcome Bag, which you can read all about here: Welcome Back Bag. They are also great for use with test motivator notes. In other words, I like to have them on hand at all times. Why pay $3 for a large bag at Walgreens when I get can get the same amount in two bags for $1 each? The snack stock Seasoned teachers will probably know right away why I bought these. There are always going to be kids who skipped breakfast and then feel sick around 9am because their bellies are empty. Instead of sending them to the nurse, give them a pack of crackers. Problem solved, no learning time missed. You're welcome new teachers! The basics: bright, neon colored index cards and colorful eraser caps. Items teachers can never get enough of! Enough said on that! Stickers, stickers, stickers! In my Coupon Reward Post, I talked about a great rewards system that I use where students earn tickets that can be used for different items. I've decided that sticker sets can easily be worth 40 tickets. I love that I found stickers that will appeal to boys and girls. I also love that I can still find Lisa Frank stickers. What a throwback to my youth! Sets of 2 Posters! That's right, TWO! These posters were a great find in the teacher section (yes, The Dollar Tree has a teacher section) since I am going with an owl theme and I am going to be teaching science this year! Score for Mrs. O! Now you know why I left The Dollar Store with more bags than ever before. I might have spent more than $50, but I came out with so many wonderful items, I felt overcome with joy for only spending $1 on each item I needed had a reason found a reason to purchase! If you aren't hitting up your local Dollar Tree, you are probably missing out, and spending way more money than you need to! I know it's still July, but the store ads are out, and I'm getting up early to find the best deals on scissors and pencil sharpeners. I think I'm officially in back to school mode!
Establishing consistent accountability when using the workshop approach to teaching and learning may seem daunting at first. After all, your students are producing, and consuming an immense amount of content during workshop on a daily basis…far more than you can (and want) to grade. The good news is, you don’t have to grade every activity. I know what you’re thinking…”If I stop grading every single thing…there won’t be enough accountability.” The reality is, there are other far more efficient ways to establish accountability and boost meaningful student growth. One of these ways is routine student self-reflection. If you’re ready to bring more student reflection to your classroom, these tips can help you establish routines that maintain consistent accountability in your workshop classroom. Creating Rubrics Together A foundational rubric will help you and your students create a common language that can make ongoing assessment more meaningful and fluid in your classroom. Begin by pulling the rubric your district requires you to use, or write a rubric that communicates your parameters for each level of understanding in your classroom. Rewrite this rubric in your own student-friendly language so you can share these parameters with your class. Making a slide or poster for each level on your rubric so it is easier for students to digest may be helpful. Set aside time in your schedule each day to create a one-week series of work sessions when you and your students can rewrite the rubric again as a class using language that is actually produced by your students. You may opt to: Have all slides/posters on display simultaneously while students rotate to stations where they work in groups to make meaning of each level of understanding. Students can then write their interpretations on the slides/posters, which can be aggregated on the final day. Display one slide/poster each day and host a class conversation that facilitates meaning-making for each level of understanding. Record student ideas as you work toward a common, and final definition for each level of understanding. At the end of these series of work sessions, you and your students will have a rubric that is unpacked by them, rewritten by them, and ready to be used by them. Working together as a class to write a final rubric that will be adopted as the foundation makes conversations about assessments more meaningful and productive. Rubric Drawers Once your class rubric is created, you can make it easy for students to consistently reflect on their work by submitting any assignments to “rubric drawers” that are marked with the definitions for each level of understanding. This built-in practice of self-reflection builds students’ intrinsic motivation to reach higher and produce quality work. If you notice your students have a tendency to submit work to the “wrong” drawer, this signals they need a follow up lesson on the type of work quality required to achieve each level of understanding. Using exemplars (examples of each level of understanding from a particular subject area or activity) can help students build a stronger definition for what work quality looks like. As students build their ability to accurately assess themselves, you can also have them attach a short note of justification for their self-scoring. This will provide insight about any misconceptions they may have about their work or the rubric levels your class has written. If you want to track the score students give themselves on an activity, provide a special pen or stamp that allows them to mark their score before placing it in the drawer. In addition, you can have students submit work with the help of a partner. Once an activity is complete, a student can briefly confer with their assigned partner to get feedback, and make a decision about which drawer a piece should be submitted. This provides an additional layer of motivation for students to reach higher, as they know a peer will be reviewing their work quality. Reflection Letters Another routine that can boost student growth through self-assessment is the writing of reflection letters on a routine basis. Students thrive when they know they have an important role in their assessment process, and will be eager to read your response. Begin by creating a prompt that asks students to reflect specifically on different areas of the assignment that will support their goal setting and goal progress. Also direct students to refer to their rubric to self-assess, and provide justification for their assessment as part of their reflection process. This routine will remind students the importance of keeping the rubric in mind as they complete their work each week, which will foster stronger performance. Set aside time to read these reflection letters and write brief responses which may include your own score using the same rubric, and comments that support your scoring. This written dialogue further emphasizes the value you place on student work and growth. If you find the need to differentiate this letter writing process to support the unique needs of students in your classroom. Here are some differentiation ideas: Have students dictate as you record their reflection. Have students circle their score on a rubric and mark evidence with color-coding or sticky notes. Provide sentence frames to scaffold independence. Self Assessment & Reflection In Your Classroom Ready to give self-reflection a try in your own classroom? Here are a few editable tools to help you get started. Once you’ve established student self-reflection routines in your classroom, stop by and share your experience. I look forward to hearing about the growth your students make, and the freedom you feel from teaching in a workshop classroom where accountability and engagement are off the charts.
I'm sharing two different ways that I've held student led conferences. The first way is in my old school last year and the second way is my new school this
Somewhere along the way, data became a four-letter word. I’m sure it all started back when lawmakers became more focused on test scores and less on students…and High Stakes Testing became the only thing that only mattered… but somewhere along the way, data became a word that was like nails on a chalkboard for teachers. […]
Who’s out for summer?!?! We got out last week and lemme’ just tell ya’….I was itching for a summer break! There is just nothing better than having an excuse to stay in your pajamas until noon…or later! I wanted to pop in real quick and show you a free read aloud activity that is perfect […]
