Edmodo and Discussion

Edmodo is obviously a great resource to use in the classroom in many different ways.  I just wanted to share one way that I use Edmodo and how I use it to promote discussion.

Edmodo is a great way for students to discuss their self-selected reading text.  I created small groups with in my class group.  These groups are heterogeneous so that the students can gain information from each other and learn about a variety of different books.  By grouping the student heterogeneously, the students can build off of each other, gain vocabulary, and learn about books that they might not even be capable of reading.

Basically, every week I post a question or a topic for them to discuss about what they are reading.  The students have to post about their book and then respond to two other people's posts within the week.  Not only is this pushing their reading to the extra step, but it is integrated reading and writing.  It is also a great way to promote literature discussion.  Sometimes, I even post something during the week to get them thinking at a higher level if their discussion seems to be surface level.  The students participate in literature circles online through technology!  They love getting to share what they are reading and learning about other good books from fellow classmates.

Just a quick idea!
-h

Word clouds in the content areas

Who knew word clouds could have so many uses? Earlier, I posted about using word clouds as an activating strategy. Another way that I use word clouds in my classroom is when learning content area vocabulary. After learning vocabulary words in Social Studies, the students got in groups and made a list of words that describe their designated vocabulary word. Then they created a Wordle using Wordle.net. I printed these off for an activity the next day. At the beginning of the next lesson, I posted the student-made wordles around the room and numbered them. The students then did a silent activity where they walked around the room and wrote down which wordles they thought went with each vocabulary word. We discussed their responses, and I wrote the word on each wordle. I kept these posted until their assessment. This ended up being a great way to review vocabulary in a visual fashion.

-h

Early Finishers

I have always had the question about what to do with students after they have finished an assignment or test/quiz. This year, I finally feel like I have perfected activities for early finishers.

Below are pictures of my differentiated early finisher chart. There is a pocket labeled with each subject area plus some extra topics. I create assignments or activities for the topic we are studying for each subject area. This is not as hard as it seems because there are a ton of resources on the Internet, and I tend to create general activities like word sorts with vocabulary that can be easily interchanged. I also plan some in depth, application activities for some pockets. The cool thing is that there are always two pockets that you never change. You can add to them if you want but you don't have to switch them out. I will explain those below. The kids know that after they complete something, they are not to be idle. They have to get something out of the early finisher chart. They love it though because they get to choose what they work on and there are TONS of options. Students are always extending their learning which is the best part! Check the pictures out below! Below the pictures are explanations of each pocket.

Reading: Can switch items out for current curriculum.  I always have blank graphic organizers in that pocket for them to fill out.  They can always fill these out for their SSR books or other books they are reading.

Writing:  I have 3 composition notebooks in that pocket.  Each composition notebook has an example test writing prompt on it with the exact instructions that they will see on their state end of the year test.  Students write in the notebooks responding to each prompt.  Then I glue a new prompt on them when most of my students have responded to it.

Social Studies: For each Social Studies unit, I create or find a choice menu for that unit.  There are so many different types of activities that the students can do provided on the menu.  An example is, "Act out something important from the time period that we are studying.  Write a script first, and then have a friend video it with a Flip Camera."

Science:  I have a word sort activity with their vocabulary words from the current unit.  Again, this is interchangeable to each unit.

Math:  I have practice sheets, word problems, and games for the current unit.

Scramble with Students:  This is just some fun with words! They are game sheets like Boggle or Scramble with Friends on the iPhone.  Students are only allowed to complete one a week because they are not specifically content related.  They do make the students think about how words work though and sometimes they are pretty hard.  I have a competition going each week for the student who can get the most points.  These always stay in that pocket.

Choice Menus:  These also always stay in that pocket.  They are very general choice menus having to do with the students weekly affix words or vocabulary or novel choice menus that they can do with any book.  General options can be put in this pocket.

In Progress:  Student work that is in progress goes here.  They are not to leave the classroom without putting it in the In Progress pocket otherwise I will never see it again.

Completed:  Obviously, student completed work goes here.

Hope you find this useful!

-h

Dancing Geometry with the Cupid Shuffle

Hi, we've decided to venture off with our own blogs! Please go to teachitivity.blogspot.com to find my new post related to dance. See you there. 

I did this my first year teaching but thought I would share it with everyone. For the kids who beat on tables, sing, and couldn't care less about math, this is the perfect way to teach transformations in geometry.

Part 1: Students trace their footprint on large paper and then recreate their footprint using rotations, reflections, and translations.
Part 2: Introduce the lyrics, song, and the ORIGINAL dance.
Part 3: Students work together to choreograph/create steps and hand gestures to help them remember the vocabulary terms and communicate the dance to others well.

Here's the link to the youtube video of the original Cupid Shuffle. Hit the chorus and the lyrics work PERFECTLY: Original Cupid Shuffle video

Have fun!!!! We had a blast learning geometry this way and my kids still remembered the geometry concepts by the end of the year. This was one of my favorite things I've ever done in the classroom.

-K :)

Buzzing Readers

Here is another anchor chart I used for one of Lucy Calkins's mini-lessons for reading workshop. As adult readers, we talk about books we love and recommend them to each other all the time. I'm hoping that my students this year will learn to do the same and become fabulous buzzing readers!

We started by interviewing our reading partners and now we are practicing different ways to talk about our books using sentence frames. So far, the kids are pretty excited about it. It's pretty cool to listen in because I think they see themselves as this valuable resource for their reading partner. Buzz away readers!!

-K

Transitions

This is a classroom management post.  I am going to try to post more content based blurbs, but I am finding this very helpful in my classroom. 

At the beginning of the year, my students had a very diffiicult time starting the day and ending the day effectively in order to maximize instructional time.  These First 5 and Last 5 posters can help to set up expectations and hold students accountable for those important transition times.  Plus, anybody can alter it to fit your classroom routine and procedures.

Facebook status update

IHi, we've decided to venture off with our own blogs! Please go to teachitivity.blogspot.com to find my new posts. See you there. 

 love Heather's twitter board and decided to do a Facebook status board in my class! My uses are similar to Heather's aside from the IB objectives since we aren't IB here.
Purposes:
- see what lessons made the most impact.
- pre/post assessment
- another avenue to talk about their reading and writing
-to teach word choice and sentence structure
- way to celebrate accomplishments
- inform others of what we are learning in class

My favorite moment was when one of my students shared that her second eraser from her locker went missing or possibly stolen today. Instead of bugging me or others about it, she decided to inform her struggle through her "halebook" status. She felt that the Facebook status was her safest place to express her thoughts because there was a large audience who would read and react to it. Made my day!!

Writing from a List

Hi, we've decided to venture off with our own blogs! Please go to teachitivity.blogspot.com to find my new posts. See you there. 

Writers write from a list to generate ideas or to gather out thoughts. I love Aimee Buckner's book, Notebook Know How. It is the way I launch writing workshop. Here is the anchor chart my students and I created for this particular writing strategy. This is one of my favorites because it can serve multiple purposes. Students love writing lists and the possibilities are endless. I love to also refer to the lists when my students are convinced they have nothing to write about. As they write more lists,it's fun to watch their lists develop and become more specific to them. Yay for lists!!

Stop and Jot

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Strong Readers "stop and jot" to think and interact with their reading. Here are 5 major moments during reading when readers should stop and jot. We are reading the book, Wonder, during interactive read aloud time and the kids are obsessed with the book. I provided "stop and jot" examples, based on the book, for each situation in order to model what it should look and sound like. To start the year out, my students after each workshop are posting their "stop and jots" under the appropriate type of stop and jot. Hopefully this will become a natural part of their reading.

Math Centers - 5th grade style!

Hi, we've decided to venture off with our own blogs! Please go to teachitivity.blogspot.com to find my new posts. See you there. 

I've decided that I'm done with whole group learning in math! With students at so many levels, I am doing them an injustice by making them sit there listening to me when they either don't understand or they are bored to death. I know centers aren't a new thing, but while they are highly effective in lower grades, upper grades tend to avoid them. Here is what I'm trying this year and I will post updates/modifications as the year goes on.

Rather than centers, they are called MATH ZONES!! My math zones include the game zone, huddle zone, work out zone, and spin zone. As shown in the photo, I display the 4 zones and the order they go on my pocket chart. The students every morning check to see what color they start with and then rotate in the order of the cards at the top. My math coach suggested I structure it so that the groups are flexible and easy to change every day. She was right, I love doing it this way.

The hard part is timing - We set the timer. My kids say time flies during math zone days!

Schedule (70min period):
Check homework, daily problem, and calendar math (10 min)
Whole group mini lesson/Teaching point (10 min)
Introduce zones (5 min)
Zone Rotations (10 min each/4 rotations)
Link/Homework (5 minutes)

Definition of Zones
Game Zone (picture above): Must be games that require strategy and played usually in pairs.  The games need to push students to apply what they learned and engage in rich conversations that use math vocabulary. Each game lasts 2 days. I model the game and they play for 2 days.

Huddle Zone: My small group instruction time but with a cool name! Instruction for each group is based on the students' needs. The huddle zone controls my groups each day and which groups I want to work with before sending them off to the work out zone.

Work Out Zone: Instead of the gym, we work out by using our brains and hands. Worksheets and manipulatives happen in this zone.

Spin Zone: Spiraling of math standards happens here. I provide a choice of 6-7 math boxes that cover different math strands. The students can pick which ones to do and the order in which they complete them over the week. The trick is to have math boxes that appropriately challenge all levels.

Word Clouds

Today my students creates a word cloud using www.tagxedo.com. There is also an awesome website called wordle.net. Their word cloud is compiled of their knowledge of segregation before we learn about it. We are going to do another one at the end and compare the two. What a cool way to see what we learned! They chose a yinyang as their shape because they said that in that shape the black and white sections are separate. I thought that was clever!

Posting student work made quick and easy

At the beginning of the year, I laminated scrapbook paper that went along with my class theme. Then I dyed clothespins and hot glued them onto the top. Now it is super easy to post and switch out student work. Plus it looks nice!

Twitter Board

This is a Twitter board where students tweet formative assessments, IB reflections, exit slips, and ways that they take action with their learning. The sentence strips are laminated so that the students can write with dry erase marker. I also have them tweet their exit slips by posting sticky notes on the door part. In a 2 minute look I can quickly assess my students understanding or lack of understanding in order to adjust my future lessons. Great way to engage students in thinking about their learning!

Reading corner

Hi, we've decided to venture off with our own blogs! Please go to teachitivity.blogspot.com to find my new posts. See you there. 

After reorganizing hundreds of books and buying all matching baskets, here is my newly organized reading corner this year. I hope that my students will be able to enjoy it this year and find books that are just right for them. Most books are leveled. My checkout system this year will be asking the students to mark the book basket with their clothespin when they check it out. That way they will be sure to return the books to the correct basket for the next reader!