Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits
The Picture Book Bonanza Continues!
It's part two of. . . Picture Book Bonanza! More picture books as recommended by you.(No giant asparagus included.) Becca of Whole Words uses Children Make Terrible Pets to teach plot diagram. I love that title! Fiona uses Diary of a Worm to teach point of view and voice. "Dan" uses Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street to introduce narratives. Jennifer likes My Great Aunt Arizona to help her students write about what inspires them. Nari uses Charlie Anderson to teach questioning. Tracy at Grade 3 Top Dogs uses Big Chickens to discuss story elements. Allie-Gator of And so it begins. . . likes to use Peanut Butter and Jelly to teach sequencing. Prudence likes to introduce writing workshop with Born Yesterday, The Diary of a Young Journalist. Stjstinn uses a Patricia Polacco classic, Thank You Mr. Michelle likes to use The Important Book at the beginning of the year to help the students share things about themselves. This is a list that could go on forever!
Using Google in the Classroom-A Series
Today I am going to be starting a week-long series on how to use Google in the classroom. We were very fortunate this year and transitioned over to Google for our e-mail system. We got all of the perks that came along with Google, including Google Docs, Calendar, etc. I am my school's technology coordinator and I am a huge advocate for using technology in the classroom. Please understand that my district does not have a lot of money. The first post in my series is creating a library book checkout system using Google Forms. Once you are logged into your Google account, you will want to go to documents. On this page, you will create your form. In the first box "Question Title," I have Name and "Question Type" is Choose from List. On all Google Forms, you are only given sample question 1. Next, click "Add Item" again and add another text box. If you want to spice up your form, you can select a theme. Click here to see my sample form.
Our Reader's Notebooks
Today we had a 6th grade Language Arts teacher planning day. I was really excited about it, but I am bummed at the lack of things we actually got planned today altogether. I wish I could have just had a whole day to plan alone because I know I could have at least gotten a 6 weeks taken care of. I was actually excited to dive into the C-SCOPE materials because I have really struggled with not having a real scope and sequence to use this year. Well, I know what I am going to be doing over the Christmas break! I know that I have blogged about our reader's notebooks a few other times, but I just love them. Sorry for the bad quality, they are from the phone.
Paper Bag Books: A Simple Way to Teach Story Elements
Have you ever made a paper bag book? I hadn't, but I'd seen them floating around pinterest and finally decided we had to try! One of our current favorite activities is creating books. I like to staple a few pieces of paper together and have my son draw pictures on the pages and then we talk about the pictures and I write down what he says or have him write down his own stories. He can spend hours on this. There is no real plot yet in his stories... and if there is, it is really confusing and hard to follow. My goals as we created the book were to... have funbe creative togethermake a paper bag book (since I really wanted to try this)teach the basic story elements of conflict and resolution (in a simple way) These concepts seemed easy to introduce since I feel like we spend a lot of time each day talking about problems and how they could be resolved! Materials Needed for Paper Bag book:several paper bags (I think we used 3-4?) How to Make a Paper Bag Story Conflict/Resolution book:
20 Ways to Keep Your Students' Attention
As the end of the year approaches, it can be more and more challenging to keep your students' attention. Brain Breaks are important, but there are plenty of things you can do within a lesson to keep kids from day dreaming...or worse yet, nodding off. Here are some ideas:Desk Switch: Students have ten seconds (count down from ten) to find another desk to sit in that is in a different part of the room than his or her normal desk. Students stay in that desk for the rest of the lesson. Did you get a new idea?
DIY Map Magnets
I picked up this puzzle at a yard sale a few weeks ago. I intended to frame it in Matthew’s room, but unfortunately I realized one piece was missing. Bummer! I still love the look of the pieces, so I decided to turn the individual states into magnets. I used sticky magnet strips on the back of each piece. The magnets weren’t sticking well, so I ended up using hot glue to stick them on. I attached a locker door front on this little empty wall space in Matthew’s room. It’s the perfect magnet board for a narrow space. When my kids saw it they thought it was really cool, but my little two year old nephew seemed to enjoy playing with it the most! This ended up being a really fun and easy project. As for the locker door front, I love it so much as a magnet board I decided to put one in my studio too!
Pick Up States
Do you remember the classic game "Pick Up Sticks?" I created a new game for my class last week based from the childhood game. My fourth grade social studies curriculum is the regions of the United States. I have been trying to find games to help them learn their states and capitals. You need to collect Crystal Light canisters and Popsicle sticks. To play the game the child or children dump out the sticks and take turns naming the state or capital. Here is the document...sorry about the first one. Do you have any ideas for learning states and capitals?
Job Charts - Setting Up the Classroom Series
This post is part of my Setting Up Your Classroom Series. As we continue to get those room ready for the fall, let's chat about the Classroom Job Board. Which is also a classroom management topic. Much like my mailboxes, jobs in my classroom have evolved over time. It is. But so is your sanity. I'll skip all the middle stages and tell you about where I am now. In my classroom everyone has a job. This means the classroom runs very smoothly. Table Captains Line Leader Caboose Clip Chart Carrier Mail Carrier Homework Clerk Librarians You know, the usuals. When I rotated jobs too often my friends would forget to do their job or else wouldn't know exactly what the role involves. When I do change jobs (maybe 2-3 times a year), each student is responsible for training their replacement. I do still have a job chart. Below are some very cute charts and ideas that you could use no matter if you change jobs annually or daily. Mrs. Callie's job chart had me feeling nostalgic.
