To All Teachers of Any Classroom. . .

An article has been circulating among my friends of Facebook. It was found right here: at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/blackberry/p.html?id=3209305

It’s a humorous article by Steve Wiens, titled:

Steve Wiens: To Parents of Small Children: Let Me Be the One Who Says It Out Loud from May 3, 2013 17:02:32

It made me smile, and even chuckle every now and then. I’ve read it over a few times and decided to give it a try. . .here is my rendition of his article (with no intention to get in trouble for any copyrighting or all that jazz—I give ALL credit to him for what he wrote!) in order to send a note of encouragement to those teachers in my blog-world.

So here it is:

Susan: To Teachers of Any Classroom with Needs and Needs and More Needs: Let me Say it Out Loud. . .or at Least on this Humble Little Blog

I am in a season of my teaching career right now where I feel bone-tired almost all of the time. Ragged, how-am-I-going-to-get-through-the-lesson-plans-by-the-end-of-the-day-or-even-get-them-through-this-year-learning-anything-at-all, hands-in-the-air, did-I-teach-them-anything-at-all exhausted.

I have a full class of primary students—the little ones. I'm not complaining about that. Not even one little bit. I wouldn’t change it for anything. I absolutely LOVE what I do! But the helplessness I sometimes feel—I could give that away. But I know I have a principal and superintendent and board and school community with high standards. I have a bunch of parents who have trusted their darlings into my care each day. And I have a bunch of wide-eyed students who are looking up to me . . . all the time. ALL the time!

I have a class with needs and needs and more needs. There are many moments where they are utterly delightful, like last week, one of them told me they wanted to be a teacher just like me when they grew up, which they thought would probably be about 2 years from now. Or the time when one of them prayed that they could be locked in the school so they could have a sleep-over with me and never have to leave the classroom. Or the time  when one student came up to me and wrapped herself around me in a spontaneous hug to which followed all of the others who are just itching for a class cuddle.

Oh, but there are also many moments when I feel like I have no idea how I'll make it until the end of the day. The constant demands, the outbursts, the yogurt spills on the carpet, the noise, the repeating of directions, the forms, the grading, the set-up, the clean-up, the “I-think-I’m-going- to-be-sick” moments, the e-mails, the phone calls, the problem-solving, the blank stares after 2-step directions are given. Oh they are like fingernails across the chalkboard. The gentle reminders I daily (or hourly. . .or is happening each minute?) give to not all shout my name at once or follow me around like a mother duck and her ducklings. Or shed tears or angry words when demands are not met immediately and to their liking.

photo credit

I’ve come to the stark realization that I am not an octopus with enough hands to juggle all of their papers or problems. Or a superhero who can jump in at any given moment to perfectly rescue them at exactly the right moment. Or a mind-reader who will magically know what is going on in their heads when they can’t get it out by way or words or pictures or actions. . .and follow their logic of course. Or a miracle worker. Oh, to be a miracle worker!

I’m just a teacher.

I have to confess that sometimes, it all drives me to chocolate. And I will neither confirm nor deny how much coffee I drink in one day or how much junk food might be stashed in my desk. Or how loud I play my music on my drive home.

There are people who say this to me:

"You are a great teacher! You can do it!"

I usually smile and give some sort of lame joke to brush the comment aside, but inside, I secretly don’t always feel like I am who they think I am. Sometimes I feel like I wasted a whole day of a child’s life. Sometimes I feel like I didn’t teach the lesson in a way that made them “get it.” Sometimes I feel like we are on a journey that is just too far and the end is not in sight. Sometimes I feel like they missed the point—or I missed the point.

If you are a teacher, you know that there are moments of spectacular delight, and you can't believe you get to be around these little people all day—five days a week; 6-7 hours a day. The joy, the bliss, the “ah-ha” moments, the successful projects, the cooperative group projects, the high test scores! But let me be the one who says the following things out loud:

You are not a terrible teacher if have tried the lesson three (or even 10) times with three (or 10) different approaches and they still give you blanks stares. Half of them are probably already doing calculations two grade levels up and solving major world problems as they stare.

You are not a terrible teacher if you need to take a story break sometimes. You are justified—you have little imaginations that need to be filled right there in your presence. Who knows if one of your students might become the next Dr. Seuss or Robert Munsch, or if they have already formulated the storyline for the next book about the Wimpy Kid or Star Wars.

You are not a terrible teacher if you can't figure out how to refocus their energy on the 18^th math problem today and need to take a Body Break (of course that is the teacher lingo for run around like crazy for five minutes—you included!) instead. Mind and bodies need to grow and their bodies might be more needy today.

You are not a terrible teacher if you are wishing it were a snow day . . and it’s only  the end of September.

You are not a terrible teacher if you are wishing that the Pro-D meeting would end really soon because you have about 10 stacks of grading sitting on your desk and next month’s unit to plan and bulletin boards to plan and Centre activities to organize for the next school day. And today would have been a great day to get it done. . .instead of spending the weekend working on school stuff. . .again.

You are not a terrible teacher if you just can't wait for the end of the day after a school spirit dress-up day. Or even if it’s a Friday of a short work week.

You are not a terrible teacher if the sound of certain complaints no longer register as immediately urgent to deal with. You don’t like your sandwich again? Your shoes are wet after jumping in mud puddles again? Your pencil broke again? You lost your journal again? You don’t feel like writing today . . .or reading or doing math or science or socials or health? What exactly are you trying to say. . .again?

You're not a terrible teacher.

You're an actual real and normal teacher who has a desire for your students to learn and succeed in your classroom and in life. You cannot do it all. We all need to admit that one of the casualties specific to our information saturated culture is that we have sky-scraper standards for teaching and learning, where we feel like we're failing horribly if we give them more free writing time or add a few extra minutes onto recess or watch a video—even if it is an informational one and fits into the theme you are studying perfectly!

One of the reasons we are so exhausted is that we are over-saturated with information about the kind of teachers we should be. And we are getting so overwhelmed with that instead of being the teachers we were created to be.

So, maybe it's time to stop reading the blogs that tell you how to be the best kind of teacher in 7 steps, with the best worksheets and centre activities, with the cutest graphics because obviously students learn better with cute pictures and the latest fonts. Maybe it is time to stop beating yourself up because you can’t figure out a way to teach this one skill in the absolutely best way possible and integrate it into five other subjects as well. Maybe it is time to stop worrying about what is the principal or other teachers or parents going to say about the project that sure looks messy now, but will have great results . . . just wait and see when we are done.

Maybe it's time to embrace being the kind of teacher who takes those “fails” in class and turns them into “wins.” Who prays regularly for your students and asks God to give you the right, calm, and confident words He wants you to speak into these students. Who asks God to help you to be a better version of the person that you actually are, not for more strength to be an ideal teacher. Who uses moments in the classroom and the playground to recognize that we are sinful creatures who need a Saviour. Who can show that they are forgiven by showing that same kind of love to those around them. Who can model a servant heart and expect a higher degree of love to be shown on a regular basis. Who can show grace because you were shown grace when you needed it most by Someone who has a lot of it to give.

So, the next time you see teachers with that foggy or glazed or frustrated or pensive look in their eyes, take a moment to pray for them. Send them a note of encouragement. Put your hand on their shoulder, look them in the eyes, and tell them that they're doing a good job. That they are doing what they were created to do and are striving to follow the example of the Greatest Teacher. Just don't freak out if they start the waterworks. At times, we feel like we're botching the whole deal and our students will turn into . . .well, we aren’t exactly sure anymore.

You're tired. Today might be a good day or it might be the day that tops the world’s worst day ever list.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

You are making a difference. You just might not be the lucky one to see the results . . . at least not yet. But ask them in 15 or 20 years what their teachers did for them. They won’t repeat the list of how you feel the day went. You might be most encouraged to know that they will look back on today as one that spurred them to be exactly who God created them to be . . . because that is what their teacher taught them and how their treated them.

Go. . .and enjoy your day teaching those precious children of a God. The same God who gives courage and patience and rest. . .and go eat some more chocolate.

Superheroes and Sidekicks. . .against bullying

Our school recently celebrated a "theme week," with this year's theme being "Superheroes and Sidekicks." This was a theme that was centred around our Greatest Superhero, Jesus Christ, whose greatest gift to us was His saving love. We focused on the following verses:

Matthew 22:36-40

New International Version (NIV)

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

In this theme, we tried to foster positive character building and friendship traits by taking a villain--something that stops love from being spread--and to fight that with a superpower, which turned out to be the fruit of the spirit. The theme week overlapped "Pink Shirt Day," a day in which people wear a pink shirt to show their desire to take a stand against bullying.

The school's PAC so willingly decorated the display case in a "comic book"style. Our week included Captain Bucket-filler--a superhero we created in connection to the book about filling people's buckets--and our school's theme from last year about how God desires us to fill the buckets of others by doing kind and loving things.

One of the grade five classes created these banners for the "Pink Shirt Day."

Our staff room had a HUGE table filled with resources about friendship and bullying for teachers to use throughout the week.

Here is Captain Bucket-filler himself (our principal!) in a visit to each classroom to encourage the students to keep filling others buckets!

Pink Shirt Day was accompanied by pink lemonade for all the kids and treats to celebrate friendship!

Friday was a superhero dress-up day, closing chapel, and grade-level presentations.

Each class was responsible for creating a project of some kind to present to their grade level on Friday to show what they learned about friendship. My group of grade ones picked the villain, "The Meany Monster. We created "Wanted" posters with pictures of crazy monsters and wrote descriptions about what a mean monster might do. Then we talked a bunch about the Fruit of the Spirit.

With a little searching on google, I found colours that represented the fruit of the Spirit, so we made beaded bracelets for our grade one friends in the other classes, and also made a card that went along with it explaining how we wanted to practice "loving our neighbors" by letting the fruit of the spirit flow out of us instead of those mean traits.

Here are some of the kids working so hard on their cards. (We each had to make 2-3 bracelets/cards so that we could have one for ourselves and also share them with the other classes!)

It was a great week of watching the presentations of the other classes and spending a lot of time talking about how we can show love to God and our neighbor in the way we treat our friends.

The week started out with an opening chapel, featuring a teacher skit of a Sloth who saved his sleepy friends, even though they at first found him annoying.

The week ended with a worship chapel, where we also acted out the Good Samaritan story and sang our favourite song of the week, "Jesus, You're My Superhero!"

Making a Rainforest

It so happened the my son was sitting though one "boring" church service and paging through a magazine called The Banner. It was the August 2011 one. This publication has a section called, "Just for Kids," and this particular month's was all about the rainforest (Really Cool Rainforests by a Mrs. Baker).

There was one part in it called Rainforests in a Bottle, and E decided in church that he better go home and make one. So. . .that is what he did (with a little help from Dad!)

They took a 2L pop bottle, cut it in half, put rocks in the bottom, and covered it with potting soil, just like the directions said to do. They added water to moisten the soil, and put a small strawberry plant inside. Then they attached the "top" of the bottle using clear packing tape.

The directions said to put it out in the sunshine, and that no more water was needed  because the water inside the bottle recycles itself and the plant should grow. (See all the droplets on the sides of the bottle?)

And according to Mrs. Baker, "You've successfully created a rainforest!"

Learning Letters and Sounds with Flashcards

Being a teacher, I couldn't resist showing these to you! I stumbled upon this idea as I was looking for some baby/sewing tutorials, and thought I should share the work of this talented mom with you! If you are a mom of a preschooler or a care-giver of any sort, read on!

Homemade by Jill is a blog I have visited before. In this post of hers, she shows off these cute little flashcards that she made to teach her son the letters of the alphabet and the sounds each letter makes. I have a son who is reading a bunch already (and not quite in school yet) and a daughter who couldn't care less about letters and numbers. However, the ballerina card was pretty catchy for her, so she looked through them all. :)

Thought I would share them with you. . . the teacher in me thought they were very cute and very useful. Laminate, punch a hole and put them on a ring, and you have an instant "book" to take along with you in the car or to read before bed.

(One warning I do have for you if you are printing them off, the "regular" print option had a few glitches when I tried it. . .some of the letters needed a bit of fixing before laminating.)

*Image taken from Homemade by Jill post (see link above)

Snowman Snowglobes

A recent art project. . . the idea came from a colleague a {few} years back at my LCS days.
For a couple of years, we made crayon directed drawings of snowmen (or penguins for some students) and did a white wash (white paint watered down that will resist the crayon drawing--used for snow) over it. One year since I did a spray snow (store-bought snow intended for decorating windows) over this as well, just to change it up. One of my colleagues had this great idea to make these snowmen creations into snow globes. So. . .here is how I did it this time around.
(Please take note: at the grade one level, it might be wise to have parent helpers around or have the time to work one-on-one with each student if they are going to be involved in the wrapping of the plastic!)

Above is the finished globe. Below are a few of the finished ball part of the globes. You can kind of see and example of the drawings and the "wash" in this photo.

Here are some of the supplies--for after the snowman directed-drawing is completed and the wash is done--I'm assuming you know what to do for that.

We took a piece of Saran Wrap, put in a few snowflakes, and turned the snowman picture onto it.

Then we glued a circle around the back side, and taped the extra plastic wrap down. This just makes it not so bulky for the next step. . .which is putting glue on the back and putting it onto a background paper. I also cut out "bases" (the yellow part on the bottom) for the students to place their snow globes on, to make it look a little more real (see very top photo). These need to be pressed down well under books or heavy objects to keep them flat as they dry.

If your plastic wrap and snowflakes are not too static-y, the snowflakes should be able to shake around inside the snow globes.

These are going into our Grade One Scrapbooks, so we did some writing to go along with it. The students were asked to write a small story about the character in their snow globe. We talked about introducing our character, having a problem, and solving it. This is their first try at stories, so they are pretty rough. :) The first example here is a student who is somewhat low and also struggles with some speech. You can see the invented spelling this student is using. (But look at those great finger-spaces and neat printing!!!)

This student is quite capable of writing. (Note that these pieces were not edited by myself or peers. It was all student-writing and self-correcting at this point.) Sorry, no completed projects (art and writing together) yet. Hopefully that will be added soon!

Comparing Books- Reading for Information

At the grade one level, we read for information often. We read information books to gather a collection of facts. We collect facts for making mini-research projects or reports. (We did the same thing in grade four last year! It's amazing how much practice kids need in doing this!)

I also spend time reading story books for the purpose of gathering information as well. During the Christmas season, we read various versions of The Nutcracker. Most of the comparisons between books were made orally at that time. During our Winter unit, we have been reading various versions of The Mitten. This time, we filled in a question chart each time we read a different version of the book.
Here are the books we have used so far:

To do this, I just made a chart that asked questions about some of the differences between the books. We even came up with one as a class. Then, each time we read a book, we filled in the chart. Pretty simple. We have one more book to read, then we will highlight the information that was the same in each book.

This could be done as a Centres circuit--each center could be reading one book and filling in one column of the chart. This could also be done at the older grade levels--in a partners or small group setting, or as part of a Literature Circles activity.

Reading Enrichment

At the school where I teach, we have a school-wide Home Reading Program. Most schools have a programs similar to this, in which students are required to read each night. In grade one, I have my students take two books home. One of these books is a choice of their own (at the reading level of which they can read) and one is a guided reading book.

As in any class, there are always a few students who are reading above grade level or students who need additional challenges along with reading. Here is one thing I do for those students along with the Home Reading Program.
The student is given a notebook and a pack of Home Reading Response Cards. Each night, the student is encouraged to read one of the books he or she took home. Then that student can pick one of the response cards to complete.

Each card has to do with a part of the story. for example, one card talks about putting the events of the story into a beginning, middle and ending category. Another card asks what the main problem was and how it got solved. One card asks some questions about the characters. Students working on the response cards are asked to write the number of the card on the top of the page (so I know what questions they may be trying to answer!) and then write about 2-3 sentences in response to that card. If they choose, students can also draw a picture.

It is my hope that this activity gets the students to think a little bit more about what they are reading. Most of the kids, especially at the beginning of the year, work so hard on the actual reading part--sounding the letters out, deciding what sounds chunks of letters make and so forth. The students who work on these cards and books generally have that part of reading down already, or are somewhat advanced in their ability to do this, so they need "something more" to focus on.

Then I use their writing to formulate "mini-lessons" more specific to each child. While some of the students will use reading conference time with me to read and decode, these students will use this time to learn about writing skills or sentence structure, or matching words or ideas from their books to their writing. My goal is that, in these reading conferences, each student is learning a skill or two related to their individual needs.

Using "Blue" in the Classroom

As a way to get my Kindergarten students making "oral presentations," I came up with this idea (a "few" years ago) based on my brief moments flipping through the kids TV program, Blue's Clues. I made up 3 bags (3 students from the class took a bag home each night) similar to that shown in the picture below. Inside each bag were instructions and three recipe cards. Basically what the students were supposed to do (along with the help of their parents, of course!) was to find a special item in their house and write down three clues (one on each recipe card) to "read" to the class so that the class could guess what the items might be. The item would remain in the bag during this time. I say "read" because some of the students needed picture clues in their hints, just as in the show. This was an excellent way to make sure all students has an opportunity to speak in front of their classmates, and gave them a chance to do it with confidence using an item they were an expert on. And it was fun for the listeners to guess what might be inside. It was also great for me as a teacher to see which kids were listening to what was read and using that information to form answers. :) Another great benefit is the opportunity to practice writing in a safe context, but also a unique way. It's not your everyday journals or reading response. The writing part can be read by others only if the teacher chooses to display the entire sharing, otherwise the spelling can be inventive or read-able to the writer only.
In the above photo, the bag I made is using a colouring page found here.
Also shown is a "treat bag" (the small one) found at a website called the FamilyShoppingBag. (If you want each student to do a small item, these are easy enough to print off and put together in an evening). This website is great if you are throwing a themed birthday party, as it has many printable items to use (ie: stickers (shown above), bookmarks, invites, note cards, etc). It also has a link where you can print off Blue's Clues themed recipe cards, which would have been great to use in this Kindergarten project to write down the three hints.

This idea is easily transferable to other grade levels, although you might want to change the icon used. I'm not sure Blue would be the appropriate token character at the intermediate grades! But, for example, you might want to use Sherlock Holmes and have students write clues to . . . just about anything (favourite items, book response, math shapes, events in history, Bible stories, etc)! One idea for students at the intermediate grade levels might be writing descriptive paragraphs without actually saying what the topic is--that would be a great challenge! Some books to inspire this thinking at various grade levels might be the Cam Jansen series or Encyclopedia Brown.

What would you do using an idea like this?

Summer Learning

Well, it's summer already, and summer vacation is a day away for me.

Being a teacher. . .I should probably encourage a little learning/study time over the summer. And I do! The following is something that I've enclosed in and end of the year packet for my students (So . . . in reading it, you will find that most of it is intended for the upper elementary level. But--there are some websites that are very applicable to lower grade levels as well!)

I realize that many of my "points" are adapted from websites and the like, but if you intend to reproduce this, please credit it to Susan @ My Humble Words (and insert blog website). Thank you, kindly!

Interested in a Little Learning this Summer?

Here are a few ideas of how learning can continue in the summer. Short learning sessions throughout the summer can be very productive and very fun! The following activities are some ideas that enhance learning that could be done at home:
* Explore a summer reading program at your local library.
* Use a children's cookbook to read and follow directions to make favorite foods. Directions in cookbooks can be simplified by numbering them to assist with sequencing.
* Encourage child to read the newspaper. Some newspapers have special pages for children. *Encourage reading of any type. Reluctant readers might enjoy books on tape to listen to as they read.
* Read to the child and talk about the book or stories.
* If possible, have child read books that could be used for book reports next school year.
* Improve vocabulary by learning three new words a week. Post the words on the refrigerator and talk about them each day. Encourage vocabulary improvement through use of "Word a Day Calendars."
* Have the child write post cards to grandparents or friends. Make "child size" post cards using 4X6 cards. Divide one side in half using a dark line. Make lines on one side for the address and lines on the other side for the message. Have the child draw a picture on the reverse side or cut one from a magazine.
* Older children could write in a journal each day. Encourage two or three sentences. Read about places that the student will visit on vacation. Have the student write about them in a letter or journal
* Write a letter to family or friends. Reluctant writers benefit from filling in the blanks or dictating the letter to an adult and then copying it.
* Use computer games to learn math facts, improve reading and vocabulary.
* Listen to math facts on tape or CDs (this can even be done in the car).
* Match or sort coins depending on child's age or add random sets of coins
(Adapted from http://www.ldaamerica.us/aboutld/parents/help/summer.asp)

Some websites to explore for Summer Learning:
· http://school.familyeducation.com/summer/family-learning/36089.html
· http://www.thinkfinity.org/su,,erfun.aspx
· http://www.readwritethink.org/beyondtheclassroom/summer
· http://www.kidsturncentral.com/summer/summerfun.htm

"Parents and families are the first and most important teachers. If families teach a love of learning, it can make all the difference in the world to our children."-Richard W. Riley, U.S. Secretary of Education

Reading Activities
A LIFETIME OF READING -- Encourage lifelong reading. Read with your youngsters by taking roles in stories and acting out dramatic poems. Whenever possible, tape record these sessions. Then listen to and enjoy these performances together.
STREET SMARTS -- Put reading skills to practical use. Gather bus and subway route maps and schedules to a special place in your area -- the zoo, a museum, a football stadium. Let your child plan a trip for friends or family. Figure out the travel time required, the cost, and the best time to make the trip.
TV AND THE WORLD -- Connect current events to TV viewing. Post a world map next to the TV set. Watch the TV news with your children and have them locate world news spots. Keep reference books such as dictionaries close by.

Writing Activities
PICTURE STORIES -- Develop imagination and creativity. Have your children select four or five pictures from magazines and newspapers, and put them together to tell a story. Ask your children to number the pictures -- 1,2,3, etc. First, ask them to tell the story with the pictures in numerical order. Rearrange the pictures & tell a new story.
WRITING INSTEAD OF TALKING -- Exchange notes instead of words at different times during the day -- when getting up in the morning, at dinner, or at bedtime -- or whenever the noise level becomes too high.

Math Activities
A TRIP TO THE SUPERMARKET -- Plan ahead with the 3 R's. Ask your child to choose a dish to prepare for a meal -- a pudding, a salad, a sandwich. Have your child check to see what supplies are on hand and then make a shopping list. At the supermarket, let your child select the food on the list. First, your child decides which items are the best buys and makes selections. Also have your child write the price of each item on the list and if possible figure the total, checking the prices against the sales receipt.
ON THE MOVE -- Sharpen math skills on trips. Use even short trips around town. For example, at the gas station, ask your child how much gas you needed and the cost. On the highway, ask your children to read the signs and check the different speed limits. Then ask them to watch the speedometer readings and notice how fast or slow the car is going. Have your children estimate distances between cities and check the estimates on a road map.
NEWSPAPER MATH -- Use the Weather section to check temperatures across the nation and the world. This is good geography practice, too. Discuss baseball and football scores and averages on the sports pages. Who are the high scores? What are the percentages?

Social Studies Activities
A CLOSER LOOK -- Help your children become aware of family responsibilities. Make a chart of family chores, including the name of the person responsible, the days and time required, etc. Discuss changes or improvements of these jobs.
HISTORY TIME LINE -- Record history at home. Stretch a roll of shelf paper along the floor. Use a ruler to make a line about three feet long. (Use a separate sheet for each child.) Ask your children to fill in the important dates in their own lives, starting with their birth.
THE FOREIGN TOUCH -- Travel abroad at home. Visit ethnic shops, food stores, and restaurants in your community. Before the trip, have your children find on a map different countries you will "visit." After the trip, encourage your children to talk about what they have seen.
(Adapted from http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content/rec4-5.html)

Final Reading Responses

First. . .pretend it is still Thursday! Oops . .just a little late this time. :)

Then. . .here are some ideas to use at the end of a novel study. These ideas came from a colleague of mine. He said they were originally from a book of long ago (that I just can't site because we don't even know what book it came from!), but changed to suit his novel studies. These are great ideas to use instead of a "final test" as they cover the same kind of information, but are done in a more creative way.

This first one is called a "Title Summary." It obviously works better for books that have longer titles, such as Owls in the Family, by Farley Mowat. For younger grade levels you can also use this idea to write information about the theme you are studying or a math concept.

Similar to an Acrostic, this activity requires the student (or the teacher on a page--see below) to write the title of the novel vertically down the page. Then, each student needs to write a sentence about the novel that begins with each of the letters. After this is all completed, the students should have a summary of the events or themes in the novel.

Here is what a sample page might look like:

Here is a close-up of the instructions my colleague made:

The second idea focuses on the characters in a novel. Using the categories Intelligence, Honesty, Friendliness, Obedience, and Sense of Humor (or any other traits related to the novel your students are reading), each student needs to assign a letter grade to the character, and then under the comments section, they need tell why (give proof as to why) the character deserves the grade assigned. What events in the novel show the character displaying this trait? What was the character thinking about? Why would you assign a high or a low grade to this character?

When I have used this, I asked my students to write page numbers in brackets behind each "proof" if they could (which can also be used as an enrichment, because it was difficult to do!)

So. . .just two quick ideas to use in your novel studies or themes of study. Sorry, no finished pages to post just yet! Stay tuned. . .

Poetry Books

I recently updated THIS POST about Grammar, and making Silly Sentences using the basic parts of speech. I added some pictures there of the finished product. Check it out if it interests you.

Today I am posting some pictures (the product) of THIS POST on Poetry. We finally finished up our work on poetry and making small anthologies. Here is my bulletin board (it was such a small space!!!) and the poetry books that the students made as a result of the poetry unit taught. (I just finished grading them all! Phew! That was a lot of work . . . but you can see that they obviously did a lot of work!!! We spent class time, computer time and art time working on this. Some of the kids also spent some homework time on it!) All the books are hanging on tacks so that we can read/look at the work done by our peers.
So, here are a few of the inside pages. First the table of contents (And, my students have the correct spelling of Biographical Poem in their books!)
And the following are some examples of the pages: the poems and the layouts that the students chose. They were required to include 10 poems, but the way they laid out the pages was completely up to them. (BTW, I have some future artists and scrapbookers in my class! Yay!)
Don't you just love some of these pages? The creativity in the decorations and the imagination in the pictures? Oh, it makes me so giddy as a teacher!!!

So. . .another idea or two for you. Enjoy!

Winn-Dixie Party

Okay. . .so we have been doing a few productive things at school. I've referred to it before, but I am doing a novel study with the kids in my class. We are just about done with it. . .so last week we had a Winn-Dixie party. If you are familiar with the book, opal and Gloria Dump organize a party for all the "sad" people they know--to bring joy and celebrate friendships.

So I risked having my kids organize a party of their own!!! Just like India Opal! So. . .they planned the menu (of course we needed egg salad sandwiches (We are a peanut-free school, so the peanut butter sandwiches were out!), Dump Punch, candy and pickles! they decided a few other items were necessary as well. The sad part is that I was so busy at the "eating part" of the party that I have no pictures!!! And its kinda sad because we decorated the tables with pink, yellow and orange, just like the book, and posted dog pictures just like little Sweetie Pie! I guess you just need a camera around your neck!!! (The next greatest girl invention should be a "bling camera"--where it looks like great funky necklace, but it is really a camera! If you are the one who creates it. . .please remember me!!!) Anyway. . .here is the best I can do for you!
Another part to the party was making a bottle tree. We did the opposite of what Gloria Dump did. We made bottles (out of baby food jars and ribbons) and put a coloured slip of paper that said a positive thing we had done.
Then we gave everyone in the class an opportunity to write positive comments or comments that celebrated accomplishments each student had made during the school year. This part blew me away! I had cut up a bunch of slips of paper for this purpose, but I had to cut more 3 TIMES!!! They loved doing this part!!! Then we hung them on a tree, trying to make a similar one to what Gloria Dump's might have looked like.

After all that, each of the students had to prepare a part of the book to read to the class. They had to choose a part they liked, a part that was funny to them, or a part that was meaningful. They submitted their passages, and I put them in order, so we could have a "brief reading" of the entire book! I loved the expression--and the passages they chose!

"Good times were had by all!"

Silly Sentences (Grammar)

One thing that is (stereotypically) pretty boring to teach and to learn is grammar. I started the year with this activity jsut to guage how much my students knew, an it turned their thinking around a little bit.

We made Silly Sentences. Then we made them into a silly flip book. Here is what I did.

First is the "boring" part. I did review what a noun, verb, adjective and adverb was. If you don't have something in your many teacher books to use, check out Super Teacher Worksheets for some basic helps. In our review we made a list of examples of each of the parts of speech.

Second. . .we made them into sentences. For writing the first sentences, I kept up the lists of examples that we had brainstormed. We followed this sentence pattern:

Noun with an adjective (either before or after the noun)->verb with an adverb (either before or after the verb)-> phrase.

For example: The yellow alien ate vigorously after landing on Earth.

The yellow (adjective) alien (noun) ate (verb) vigorously (adverb) after landing on Earth (phrase).

We wrote one and shared each students' example with the class. Then we wrote another one without the help of the lists. Then, the next day (just to be sure we knew what each of the parts of speech really was), we wrote three more sentences . . . and pair shared (to check for corrections, editing practice and accuracy).

Third, we made our good copies. (Good copies were written on special paper--see the example for how to create it). This was actually tougher for them than I expected. I showed them an example, I did an example for them, I had them explain back what they were supposed to do. . .and it was still tough for some of them to understand! (Maybe we were just having one of those days!) Once we got the hang of it, it was easy! Split your sentence up into three parts: noun and adjective, verb and adverb and phrase. (This is why it is kind of important to follow the sentence pattern.) The noun and adjective needs to be written in the top section. The adverb and adverb needs to be written in the middle section. The phrase (the rest of the sentence) needs to be written in the bottom section. (See photo). Each sentence needs to be written that way on a separate page.

Fourth, we made the picture to go along with the silly sentence. This part needs to follow the pattern as well! The "head" or top of the noun described needs to go in the top section of the picture box. The "body" or "trunk" or middle of the noun needs to go in the middle section of the picture box. The "legs" or bottom section of the noun needs to go in the bottom of the picture box. The top and middle of the picture is linked by the noun's neck and the middle and bottom section are linked by the noun's lower body. (One of my students did a sentence about a book shelf. Another did one about a shark. I showed them how their picture had to still cross or attach at those same points. . .for later on, when we put it all together in a book.) Because. . .we are going to put all of our sentences together to make a flip book of MANY Silly Sentences! See. . .

(oops, photo still coming!)

And here are the photos:

This is one students' page. Below is how the pages look mixed up in this silly flip book!
In our class we made a "girls-authored" book and a "boys-authored" book. I was amazed at how often the students chose those books to read when they were finished their work or doing quiet reading. You can adapt this to other grade levels by adding more adverbs, adjectives or other parts of speech, deleting them for younger grade levels, making specific requirements for the "phrase" part, changing tenses, plurals vs. singulars, whatever fits your lesson. This is more exciting than worksheets, in my opinion! . . .but a little more work as well.

Isn't grammar fun?!?

Okay, so if this wasn't rewarding enough for you, check out this link for a grammar computer game called Grammar Park.

Poetry Books

We're making poetry books. We've been busy making all the poems. Poetry is hard to teach at the upper grades. Poems have patterns to follow; rules to follow. Sometimes, kids just don't like to follow even MORE rules. Or maybe it's because poetry seems so different. It's not something you read as often as you would a short story or novel. (Which is something I will commit to changing in my teaching years to come.)

But we're making poetry books. And here is how we are doing it this year. Like I already said, we have made it through the tough, laborious part: the writing part. (I'm sure if you are a teacher, you have TONS of info on writing poetry. HERE and HERE are two great poetry units if you do not have anything to work with. HERE is one for more of the upper levels.) Now we want to "publish" them and share them. What I have done is made an example for the students. My example includes both how to write each poem and an example of each poem. I did this so that the students know exactly what is expected of them. Their work should be like the bottom half of my book. If they are not so sure about a poem while editing or proof-reading, they have the instructions to go back to (less work for me, more focused work for them!!!)

Here is my cover (I went with the theme "Poet-tree." Neat, eh? Hee-hee!)

Another skill I am integrating into this project is the use of a Table of Contents. I figured this would be a natural way to integrate making them (rather than just reading them or using them for research) if we used them as part of a project like this. (Making our books just like the poetry books we have been reading in class!) Did you spot my mistake?

(It's supposed to say biographical poem, not bibliography poem. I wonder what that kind of poem would turn out to look like. . .)

So here is a crooked example of my page.

(Poem helps (from book) come from the Evan-Moor Co. I credited it to the right spot, so I'm okay now, right? I'm not a big fan of reinventing the wheel. If you bought the book, cut these little cards out and mount them into your examples! I have found that these cards are also great to use for the kids who can write poetry quickly/easily (or use as enrichment). Once they are done their poems, they can pick a card and write another poem- something different than what the rest of the class is doing).

The top shows the pattern of the poem and what needs to be written on each line. The bottom part is the poem. The students are required to add art (pictures, cut-outs, drawings, decorations, etc.) to at least 4 of their poems.

The last page is a poetry review. Each student gets to pick one of their own poems and write a review on it. They are to give their opinion (whether they liked it or not) and then give me 2-3 reasons why they liked it or not. (We have been working on writing paragraphs as well, so this ties in with that nicely--giving them a good purpose to their writing). If all goes well, we will write a review on a poem by one of our peers, too!

I am assessing this project using a rubric. I like rubrics. They give the kids a great outline for what they need to do. I used this one and added some components of my own (like the table of contents and poetry review page, I changed some of the requirements and the points awarded to suit my class). Here is another example, more for teachers to use as guidelines in making a project; not really for kids.

So. . .that's just one idea for you. . .