Sunday 25 September 2011
My New Favourite Teacher Resources
My new favourite teacher resource is Independent Reading Management Kit: Literary Elements by Scholastic for grades 4-8. There are tons of great ideas for those of you looking for something different project wise for your students to do after a novel. All projects are arranged by literary elements and each element has a choice board for selections of projects. It's great for differentiated instruction (providing choice for your students). The one thing I do not care for from the book is the marking scheme. I would personally prefer rubrics which I will end up making myself but what I would do is make a rubric for each element rather than each task and have a general section that talks about the creativity, neatness of the project. What I think I'm going to do for our novel study (literature circles) is provide the students with a choice board made up of the projects in the book and focus on three of the themes that I want to focus on and have them pic one from each of the themes to complete.
Monday 19 September 2011
Graphic Organizers
Two books that I love for graphic organizers are Graphic Organizers for Reading and Graphic Organizers for Writing both by Incentive Publications that have 60 different organizers in each book. They are very easy to use and can be used in a variety of areas.
Tuesday 13 September 2011
We All Fall Down post #2
So last week I started We All Fall Down with my students. We have only finished chapter 5 and I have them hooked. They are loving the book and asking me to read constantly! The students have been great in regards to getting information from the media about the topic of 9/11. They are asking great questions, providing tons of information and having good conversations with each other and their parents. They are ENGAGED! A teacher's dream. Thank you once again Mr. Walters!!! My love for the book continues to grow.
Wednesday 31 August 2011
Shopping, Shopping, and more Shopping!!!
So I'm a girl and I love to shop. There I admitted it!! But if you are an elementary school teacher you will know it's a well known fact that you are always buying things for your classroom from incentives to classroom supplies. Buying things for class can really add up. I'm going to share with you some of my favourite places to shop from the teacher point of view and some places to get awesome deals and bulk supplies.
1. A dollarstore. I'm pretty sure the 10 months school is in I single handedly keep the dollarstore in business. There isn't a week I'm not in there picking up things. There have everything imaginable and it's all under $3. If you need crafting supplies, glue for the glue gun, party supplies, thank you notes (packages of 4, 6 or 8 for $1!!!), clothes pins for gym, baskets and bins, hangers for your anchor charts, stationary supplies and goodies for your treasure box.
2. Scholars Choice! I feel like a kid in a candy store when I go into a store, that's why I probably shop online most often. If you are a member and pay attention to teacher appreciation days you can get some good deals. Also keep your coupons! They give out coupons if you are facebook friends and you can get something like $5 off a $50 order or more. Sometimes even free shipping, who doesn't love that! They have all sorts of wonderful resources from language arts to math, science, social studies, posters, bulltetin board sets and the list goes on and on. They are getting better at providing resources for grades 7 & 8 but still have a ways to come. If you don't know about this store definitely some place you need to check out Scholarschoice.ca
3. Orientaltrading.com. Ok so I'm letting my secret out of the bag so you people out there better appreciate it! I'm pretty sure if this was an actual store instead of an online and catelogue store I would take up residence and never leave. It has everything that my creative mind would ever want! It has been in existance a long time but it is in the USA so you will have to pay a good amount of shipping to Canada but it is 100% worth it! They have things you can not find anywhere else.
4. Scholastic.ca tons of school supplies that will be delivered right to your school and free (ya that's right) free shipping. They also have a book club where students can buy books (it requires work from you) and then you can get coupons back from your students buying books and use those coupons for your classroom supplies. SOOOO GREAT!!! My classroom library is ever growing because of this.
5. Chapters.ca I think this one is pretty self explanatory it has everything teacher books, novels, how to books, dvds and the list goes on and on.
6. Costco great place to go for cheaper books and dvds. Check back regular as stock is constantly changing.
1. A dollarstore. I'm pretty sure the 10 months school is in I single handedly keep the dollarstore in business. There isn't a week I'm not in there picking up things. There have everything imaginable and it's all under $3. If you need crafting supplies, glue for the glue gun, party supplies, thank you notes (packages of 4, 6 or 8 for $1!!!), clothes pins for gym, baskets and bins, hangers for your anchor charts, stationary supplies and goodies for your treasure box.
2. Scholars Choice! I feel like a kid in a candy store when I go into a store, that's why I probably shop online most often. If you are a member and pay attention to teacher appreciation days you can get some good deals. Also keep your coupons! They give out coupons if you are facebook friends and you can get something like $5 off a $50 order or more. Sometimes even free shipping, who doesn't love that! They have all sorts of wonderful resources from language arts to math, science, social studies, posters, bulltetin board sets and the list goes on and on. They are getting better at providing resources for grades 7 & 8 but still have a ways to come. If you don't know about this store definitely some place you need to check out Scholarschoice.ca
3. Orientaltrading.com. Ok so I'm letting my secret out of the bag so you people out there better appreciate it! I'm pretty sure if this was an actual store instead of an online and catelogue store I would take up residence and never leave. It has everything that my creative mind would ever want! It has been in existance a long time but it is in the USA so you will have to pay a good amount of shipping to Canada but it is 100% worth it! They have things you can not find anywhere else.
4. Scholastic.ca tons of school supplies that will be delivered right to your school and free (ya that's right) free shipping. They also have a book club where students can buy books (it requires work from you) and then you can get coupons back from your students buying books and use those coupons for your classroom supplies. SOOOO GREAT!!! My classroom library is ever growing because of this.
5. Chapters.ca I think this one is pretty self explanatory it has everything teacher books, novels, how to books, dvds and the list goes on and on.
6. Costco great place to go for cheaper books and dvds. Check back regular as stock is constantly changing.
Tuesday 30 August 2011
We All Fall Down by Eric Walters
This is a book time and time again that I love reading with my class! Out of about 100 and some children I have read this book to I would say only 1 child didn't like it. We All Fall Down is a historical fiction book that is created around the events of 9/11. This is a book when you get into the children beg you to continue to read as each chapter ends with a little clifhanger.
Now I know I live in Canada but I'm pretty sure this book is of great importance to read to our students. September 11, 2001 is the day the world changed, or at least from my view the day the bubble I lived in popped. Up until that day I had never heard of these terrorist. I was in my first week of classes in university which was exciting. I had just finished an hour class moved onto a two hour lecture where the four professors that were team teaching the English literature class told us that despite the tragic events of the day they were going to go on with the scheduled lecture. I had no idea what they were talking about (smart phones weren't exactly popular back then and laptops were just becoming popular amongst the student population and thus I didn't have one) but when I walked outside of the university with planes flying over head someone said to me "I wonder if they will fall out of the sky as well" by this time I was getting a little worried as to what was happening in the world. And from there I went home and I guess as they say the rest is history. This is an event that changed history as we know and Eric Walters most certainly does it justice with his book We All Fall Down. This book revolves around his main character Will, whose father works at the World Trade Centre and it just so happens that September 11, 2001 is take your child to work day! Walters uses vivid descriptions and pure emotion to tell the story of Will and his father that faithful day.
What I have found is that the first few chapters students don't really get what's going on. It is a little slow but there are plenty of events that foreshadow the possible outcome of the book and as a teacher these are very teachable moments. Using good read aloud techniques, pointing out passages, making connections, writing down key phrases, visualizing, will all help your students with concepts later on in the book. One of my favourite lines from the book is from Will's teacher on September 10, 2001, "All of you have a great day tomorrow. Who knows, it might be an experience that changes your entire life!" This quote can be read into so much. I even display it on my bulletin board in the classroom.
If anyone has ever been to NYC then you will have a wealth of information to share with your students. I have been to NYC twice since 9/11. I have shared with my students my experiences from my visits as well as my pictures. I have a map of Manhattan that I also display in the classroom when we read this book. We locate areas on the map that they are familiar with from movies or shows with little sticky notes. We also locate where the World Trade Centres were. This year my students are to gather information about New York and pictures for the first day of school we will do a round robin where students will share their ideas and I will copy them down onto chart paper and we will also create a NYC collage.
From the book I have students do a character web on either Will or his father. This is a great way to talk about characteristics of people (this is usually a CASI question #6 I believe) and explain their reasoning.
A book review is also a good way to work on explaining their thinking. So if you ask your students did you like this book and then ask them to explain and if you want to get real technical think of the EQAO testing where it asks for ideas from the text and their own ideas.
There are a variety of articles and books out there as well as videos, movies, songs, etc that you can make connections with that relate to 9/11. A simple google search or YouTube search can retrieve you more websites, articles and such that you will ever need. In the current issues of Our Canada (August/September 2011 issue) there is an article on page 39 about Forgotten Victims of 9/11 all the animals that were on the planes that were diverted and grounded by the no fly restrictions. In the August 1 People magazine there is a section dedicated to the tragedy. Here is a great article on how steel from the WTC was used to make a new US Naval Ship http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4365449&page=1.
No doubt media coverage of the 10th anniversary will be huge ( I can't believe it's been 10 years already!) and a great way to include media literacy into your classroom. The Ottawa Citizen has it's own site dedicated to the 10th anniversary http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/9-11-anniversary/index.html.
If you want to do a visual arts lesson, bring in pictures or paints that deal with 9/11 and get students to talk about emotions, colours, lines, light, etc.
If you want to do a music lesson there are songs out there that have been written in memory of that horrible day. Alan Jackson Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvj6zdWLUuk is one that I can think of. You can look at the lyrics, etc.
A nice writing tribute might be having students write letters to a person that was involved that day, or to a family member that lost a love one (just because it happened in the USA doesn't mean it didn't affect us here in Canada!).
There is a sequel to this wonderful book called United We Stand where I will later review and provide suggestions on lesson ideas as well.
I definitely give this book two thumbs up and am excitingly looking forward to starting this book with my grade 6/7 class in September.
Now I know I live in Canada but I'm pretty sure this book is of great importance to read to our students. September 11, 2001 is the day the world changed, or at least from my view the day the bubble I lived in popped. Up until that day I had never heard of these terrorist. I was in my first week of classes in university which was exciting. I had just finished an hour class moved onto a two hour lecture where the four professors that were team teaching the English literature class told us that despite the tragic events of the day they were going to go on with the scheduled lecture. I had no idea what they were talking about (smart phones weren't exactly popular back then and laptops were just becoming popular amongst the student population and thus I didn't have one) but when I walked outside of the university with planes flying over head someone said to me "I wonder if they will fall out of the sky as well" by this time I was getting a little worried as to what was happening in the world. And from there I went home and I guess as they say the rest is history. This is an event that changed history as we know and Eric Walters most certainly does it justice with his book We All Fall Down. This book revolves around his main character Will, whose father works at the World Trade Centre and it just so happens that September 11, 2001 is take your child to work day! Walters uses vivid descriptions and pure emotion to tell the story of Will and his father that faithful day.
What I have found is that the first few chapters students don't really get what's going on. It is a little slow but there are plenty of events that foreshadow the possible outcome of the book and as a teacher these are very teachable moments. Using good read aloud techniques, pointing out passages, making connections, writing down key phrases, visualizing, will all help your students with concepts later on in the book. One of my favourite lines from the book is from Will's teacher on September 10, 2001, "All of you have a great day tomorrow. Who knows, it might be an experience that changes your entire life!" This quote can be read into so much. I even display it on my bulletin board in the classroom.
If anyone has ever been to NYC then you will have a wealth of information to share with your students. I have been to NYC twice since 9/11. I have shared with my students my experiences from my visits as well as my pictures. I have a map of Manhattan that I also display in the classroom when we read this book. We locate areas on the map that they are familiar with from movies or shows with little sticky notes. We also locate where the World Trade Centres were. This year my students are to gather information about New York and pictures for the first day of school we will do a round robin where students will share their ideas and I will copy them down onto chart paper and we will also create a NYC collage.
A book review is also a good way to work on explaining their thinking. So if you ask your students did you like this book and then ask them to explain and if you want to get real technical think of the EQAO testing where it asks for ideas from the text and their own ideas.
There are a variety of articles and books out there as well as videos, movies, songs, etc that you can make connections with that relate to 9/11. A simple google search or YouTube search can retrieve you more websites, articles and such that you will ever need. In the current issues of Our Canada (August/September 2011 issue) there is an article on page 39 about Forgotten Victims of 9/11 all the animals that were on the planes that were diverted and grounded by the no fly restrictions. In the August 1 People magazine there is a section dedicated to the tragedy. Here is a great article on how steel from the WTC was used to make a new US Naval Ship http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4365449&page=1.
No doubt media coverage of the 10th anniversary will be huge ( I can't believe it's been 10 years already!) and a great way to include media literacy into your classroom. The Ottawa Citizen has it's own site dedicated to the 10th anniversary http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/9-11-anniversary/index.html.
If you want to do a visual arts lesson, bring in pictures or paints that deal with 9/11 and get students to talk about emotions, colours, lines, light, etc.
If you want to do a music lesson there are songs out there that have been written in memory of that horrible day. Alan Jackson Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvj6zdWLUuk is one that I can think of. You can look at the lyrics, etc.
A nice writing tribute might be having students write letters to a person that was involved that day, or to a family member that lost a love one (just because it happened in the USA doesn't mean it didn't affect us here in Canada!).
There is a sequel to this wonderful book called United We Stand where I will later review and provide suggestions on lesson ideas as well.
I definitely give this book two thumbs up and am excitingly looking forward to starting this book with my grade 6/7 class in September.
Eric Walters
So if you have been teaching in Ontario the past few years you will know that the focus has been on encouraging and increasing the number of boys that read/like to read. So when looking for an author that could appeal to boys I found Eric Walters to be the perfect fit. I can't take all the credit for this as my first year mentor suggested Eric Walters books but I certainly quickly fell in love with his writing. I must admit I'm not a huge fictional reader in my spare time ( I know, I know, I'm a teacher how dare I!) but Mr. Walters has certain drawn me in, as well as my students. The first book that I read and consequently read to my students was We All Fall Down (I will review this book in a later post with some lesson ideas). I have read three others since then which have all captivated me and kept me so interested that I read each book in a day or two. The books that I have read all have male main characters and create suspense and use wonderful word choice to draw the readers in. A little bit about Mr. Walters is that he was an Ontario school teacher, he still lives in Ontario and a good portion of his books are historical fiction including topics such as survival and natural disasters. Mr. Walters has won many awards if you ever read any of his books you will know why. He has his own website http://www.ericwalters.net/ and even does school visits. If you are ever so lucky to have one of these visits I do hope you share your experiences.
Why I created this blog
I would like to welcome you to my new blog where I hope to share some ideas, books, and resources that I hope will helpful you in your teaching. Why did a start this blog? Well after teaching for five years I have discovered a few things about teaching 1) we are constantly reinventing the wheel, 2) that teachers don't like to share and 3) finding good ready to use resources for intermediate grades is as easy as getting a root canal.
1) For those of you who aren't teachers you might ask why are we constantly creating new assignments and assessments for our students? Well the reason for this is we want to keep up with the ever changing curriculum, society, technology and we want to improve in our own teaching practices. However with the amount of curriculum to cover in a year this can turn into a truly exhausting experience. And for those of you in teaching you know very well that you could work 24 hours a day and it still wouldn't be enough.
2) Now as far as why teachers don't like to share, I'm not criticizing my fellow teachers. Don't get me wrong I know why this is, we work very hard to create authentic learning activities and assessments so why share it with others and not get any credit for it right? It does take a lot of time and effort so it's hard to part with! One thing I learned in teacher's college that was actually relevant to the teaching profession was to beg, borrow and steal. I know, I know we are professionals and there is the whole copyright thing, but if you are in education you know money isn't readily available for many things and grants are so well hidden that it's easier to locate the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
3) Being an intermediate teacher at heart and having taught a variety of splits and single grade combinations I have learned that there are tons of fun, creative, well planned books and acitvities for grades K-6, but somewhere after 6 teachers are on your own! So I hope to share some things that have worked and maybe not have worked so well for grades 7 & 8.
1) For those of you who aren't teachers you might ask why are we constantly creating new assignments and assessments for our students? Well the reason for this is we want to keep up with the ever changing curriculum, society, technology and we want to improve in our own teaching practices. However with the amount of curriculum to cover in a year this can turn into a truly exhausting experience. And for those of you in teaching you know very well that you could work 24 hours a day and it still wouldn't be enough.
2) Now as far as why teachers don't like to share, I'm not criticizing my fellow teachers. Don't get me wrong I know why this is, we work very hard to create authentic learning activities and assessments so why share it with others and not get any credit for it right? It does take a lot of time and effort so it's hard to part with! One thing I learned in teacher's college that was actually relevant to the teaching profession was to beg, borrow and steal. I know, I know we are professionals and there is the whole copyright thing, but if you are in education you know money isn't readily available for many things and grants are so well hidden that it's easier to locate the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
3) Being an intermediate teacher at heart and having taught a variety of splits and single grade combinations I have learned that there are tons of fun, creative, well planned books and acitvities for grades K-6, but somewhere after 6 teachers are on your own! So I hope to share some things that have worked and maybe not have worked so well for grades 7 & 8.
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