Spontaneous Winter Lesson

I'm pretty sure every teacher has had those moments where she/he spontaneously teaches something just because you saw the need.  Or the students were just yearning for this knowledge.  My Russian lessons were fairly flexible, but I wasn't even planning on teaching them winter clothing.  While they were putting on their coats to go outside, I figured, "Hey, why not learn winter clothes in Russian?"  Gotta love spontaneity!  Not to mention, all your materials are right in front of you...the children's winter clothes, which they love showing off while saying the words.  So here are the words if you're brushing up on your Russian skills:

coat: kurtka
scarf: sharf
gloves: rukavitzi
hat: shapka
boots:  sapogi

And while were were on the topic of clothing, the next week we learned regular clothes, which once again, the children loved to be fashion models!

pants: shtani
skirt: yubka
dress: platyie
shirt: kofta
t-shirt: futbolka
camisole: maiyka
socks: noski
tights: kalgotki

Intro to Russian

As we all know, the younger one is, the easier it is to learn a language.  So...I have started teaching my 4-year old group Russian!  So far, they seem to love it.  I really hope their interest doesn't fade!  I try to interact with them as much as possible and have them talk to each other as well.  We're starting simple but they already know (or I hope they know)...

P.S. You can learn some Russian here if you would like :)

I have the children shake hands in the beginning of class and say "privet".

And when class is over, they wave and say "poka"!
privet!-hi
poka-bye

They've been practicing introducing themselves...

Kak tebya zovut?-what's your name?
Menya zovut...-my name is...
Priyatno poznakomitsa!-nice to meet you!

With the help of a student, asking to pour water for me (or you can use any other chose), we learned:

please-pozhalusta
spasibo-thank you
you're welcome-ne za chto

And last but not least we learned counting 1-10 (we have 10 and sometime 11 in the class so I count each student as they hold up the # and we count together):

odin
dva
tri
chitiri
pyat
shyest
syem
vosem
deveed
deseet

Laura Numeroff Book Craze

The month of September, we decided to do a book theme with our after-school children.

We started out with some really fun books by Laura Numeroff:

If You Give a Mouse A Cookie

Then children decorated paper plates with the cookie of their dreams.

If You Give a Moose a Muffin

Children colored a muffin template.

Then, we sang this rhyme, subtracting one every time we chanted the rhyme. 

However many children you have is the # you start with.  The teacher may start by being the moose, and then the child chosen becomes the moose.  Every time a child is chosen, they become the moose who will "eat his fill" by taking away one "muffin" (child) from the group.  

__(10)__ little muffins on the window sill.
Moose came along and ate his fill.
Now how many muffins are on the window sill?

From:  

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/MooseHeadbandandRhyme.htm 

If You Give a Pig a Pancake

After reading the book, we will make pancakes with the children!  
Just make sure none your children have allergies to any of the ingredients.  If someone does, find a recipe to substitute.  We have a child allergic to eggs, so his mom brought in a recipe for egg-free pancakes!  

Other awesome books by Laura Numeroff:


If You Give a Cat a Cupcake


If You Take a Mouse to the Movies



If You Take a Mouse to School


If You Give a Pig a Party
 

Love all these books!  Hope you enjoy them too with your students!

 

Woodland Montessori

It's been awhile, but that's because summer was quite busy!  With a one year old running around, things get hectic (yet fun!).  August 22, 2012, was the first day of school at Woodland Montessori!  I'm really excited about this school year and can't wait to see what's in store!  I'm also very interested in learning more about the Montessori Method because it is such an amazing way to learn! 

BrainPop!!

No doubt, a website the kids love to learn from (and I enjoy as well) is www.brainpop.com (for older kids) and www.brainpopjr.com (for the younger tots)!  There are even resources that come with each video!  How cool is that?!

If you like to sprinkle your lessons with videos then definitely check 'em out!

Write to Winnie

With my 2nd graders, we were writing friendly letters...to POOH!  I had them watch a clip of Winnie-the-Pooh and then in their letters they told Pooh 3 things about themselves and asked Pooh 3 questions about him. 

Once they were done with their letter, they put it in our REAL mailbox to send off for Pooh to read and write back to them individually.  I enjoyed reading their letters and becoming Pooh to write back to them! 

It was a great way to review writing friendly letters, and both the kids and I loved it!!

No Germs Pass

I saw this neat idea in Mailbox, and I thought it was really cute!!

For bathroom passes,  have two bottles of hand sanitizer:  one for boys and the other for girls.  A lot better than having paper bathroom passes...I thought...

Describe Me

Learning adjectives/describing words?!  My class (not exactly mine, but who I'm with until May) loved having hot chocolate, and then we came up with many adjectives for it!

What do they

See?
     Taste?
          Smell?
               Feel?

Yeah, there's an answer for all of those!

Conveniently enough, I started reading to them Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl today, so that flowed together nicely!

Don't want to do hot chocolate?!  Well, then find something that floats your boat :).

Yummy Liquids and Solids

Today, my 2nd grade student teaching class learned about changing states of matter:  freezing and melting.

A yummy demonstration you can do to show the two states is to have a can of frozen juice (orange, apple, grape, take your pick) and have the children stir it, adding heat.

Once it is all melted, and everyone has had a turn at stirring, pour it into cups (have a glass baking dish for convenience so you can carry them all at the same time), and then put it in the freezer.

Once they are a little frozen, stick some popsicle sticks in.

The next day, the children can enjoy some popsicles, while learning about the states of matter!

Particles...sss...ss...s

I am a very visual person and I especially love to get to get up and move.  So to incorporate that with my students, I saw an amazing way to teach particles of solids, liquids, and gases.

Ask a group of students to come up front of the room.  They are to be slightly moving...vibrating, to be more exact.  They are the particles of solids.

Then, have another group to demonstrate liquids.  This group moves around, yet they are contained in some sort of "container" within the room.  These particles bounce off when they hit the "edge" of the container (these can be desks, walls, etc).

Last but not least, you have your group of gases get up and show gas particles.  These "particles" can move anywhere around the room, but when they bump into something, they bounce back and keep moving in that same direction.  These particles are also spread out throughout the room with no container.

Isn't this a cooler way to teach particles and show them HOW the particles really move?!  I think so!

Act and Prop

I absolutely love dressing up and having props here and there! So if you're teaching colonial America, (and this works for many various lessons!!), have your students dress up as that person...
        ....act out something possibly....
             ......and have some props that they bring in or even make to go along with their character!!!

Not only is it fun, but it gets them to really experience what it was like to live in in the colonial times (or whatever lesson you happen to be teaching)!!

Chick-Fila!!

Come out to Harrisonburg's Chick-Fila from 5-7 p.m. and you will be helping Cornerstone Christian School raise money for their school!

And if you say you're for Mrs. Nolt's class, the class I'm doing my practicum can win a party!! All you have to do is just come and eat!! :)

Thanks everyone!! Hope to see you there!! 

Wheel of Fortune

Another game show I loved as a child was Wheel of Fortune! So you could use it for your classroom as well!

Create or buy a "wheel of fortune", or for convenience use an electronic one.  Ask your question, and if they get the answer correct, let them guess at a letter!  The team/person who guesses the puzzle correctly receives points! 

This is...Jeopardy!

Reviewing for a test can be made fun and engaging with...JEOPARDY!!  I remember loving it as a kid, so your students will probably love it too!  I found many templates on Google for creating your own Jeopardy game, so check them out!

Practicum at Cornerstone Christian

When I found out I was going to do my January practicum at Cornerstone Christian Elementary, I didn't even know where this place was!

But God has blessed me so much!!  I am soooo glad to have been given this opportunity to be a this school!  I have learned a lot already, and it has only been 3 days that I have been there!

The people are wonderful, the atmosphere if filled with God's presence, and it is just an amazing experience!!

Student Teaching!

I should have announced this earlier, but I'm really excited about knowing my placement! I got to meet my 2nd graders at Pleasant Valley Elementary School!!  I already went for my field experience for 10 hours.  Soon, I'll be there every single day for a whole semester!  Can't wait!!

Similarities and Differences

In my curriculum class, we have been studying what research shows about various strategies to use so students learn better.   

Classroom Instruction that Works by Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock is given credit for this information presented here.

I'll start off with...

Identifying similarities and differences.

The percentile gain is 31-46%!

What it is?

There are four parts to this strategy:
Comparing:  what do the two objects/ideas have in common, what is different?

Classifying:  first identifying similarities and differences and then organizing into two or more categories based on similarities/differences.

Creating Metaphors:  identifying abstract similarities and differences between two elements.

Creating Analogies:  identifying how two pairs of elements are similar and different.

Thank You...

Ron Clark has inspired me to come up with my own by combing two of his rules.

I believe appreciation and saying thank is extremely important.  Therefore, every week, have your class write a thank you note for someone working hard in the school (but not always receiving the gratitude they deserve).

These people can be:
cafeteria workers, bus drivers, janitors, volunteers that come to the school, other teachers who come and help out in the classroom, etc.

Who doesn't like being thanked for what they do?!  Plus, it teaches your students to be more grateful!

Ask ?Questions?

Inquiry lessons take more time to plan and do BUT they are so important and beneficial to the classroom.  Wait, you might be asking a question...what is an inquiry lesson?  Perhaps, you do these all the time (I hope!). 

Inquiry lessons provide students the opportunity to ask questions AND find out answers for themselves...with you helping and guiding along the way of course!  It might hard to do lessons like these every single day, but once a week is quite manageable!  

An example of an inquiry lesson (combining science and math) is giving your students various sodas and scales and get them asking questions.  You can model a few questions to get them to start thinking:  does diet weigh less than regular; does carbonated weigh more than flat soda; etc.  They can use the scientific method to test the various questions they come up with; come up with a hypothesis, and so on.  Let them come up with the questions and be the curious beings that they are (or hopefully are)!

Positively Positive!

Notice when someone asks you to do something in a nice way, you're bound to do it more than if you were asked in a negative way?  Yeah, that's the idea with children.  They ARE human beings after all so when treated with respect, they'll treat you back respectfully (HOPEFULLY)!  However, I see way to many adults who treat children like someone less than them.  No, they deserve respect too!

Therefore, using positive statements when asking your students to do something can make quite a difference.

It's not "don't run"  it's "walk please".
It's not "don't talk while I'm talking" it's "please be quiet while I'm talking".

You get the drift!