Fantastic Fathers Day Activity

For my literacy intervention in grade one, we are focusing on the students written vocabulary, specifically working on descriptive words. Fathers Day (on 2nd of September for all those who may have forgotten) provided a perfect opportunity to practice using some of the new words we have learnt. I purchased an activity from Teacherpayteachers.com, which is called "donut you know I love you" by A Cupcake for the Teacher and it involves getting the students to first construct their donuts (using 'yummy' colours to decorate) and then adding the sprinkles a.k.a the descriptive words to their icing. Some of the words were "supportive" "handsome" funny" and the students were given blank sprinkles to make up their own descriptive words "cuddly" "strong". The students assisted each other with new words, and also their definitions. There were some great conversations going on while they were making these. We added some glitter at the end, and then they were all ready to give to their dads for Fathers Day.

This activity is very fun, but most importantly provided students with an opportunity to learn and use new descriptive words.  

Here are some wonderful examples made by the grade ones:

Hopefully you find this activity as useful and entertaining as I did. Also, for those students who no longer have their dad's in their lives, the activity includes 'uncle' and 'grandpa' labels as well. 

Kellie

Teach Meet Melbourne August 2012

Yesterday I attended my first Teacher Meet at the Immigration Museum and I must say that it was wonderful. Around 60 teachers gave up their Saturday afternoon to join together to share their knowledge and inspire others. 

So many fantastic things were discussed, and I have pages of notes. The highlights for me were firstly Mic Lowne's presentation about KODU which is a visual programming game that teaches creativity, problem solving, and storytelling. It has a 'low entry point', so students in grade 2 and above can start using this program. The only disappointing thing is that its only available on PC, however perhaps in the future this will change.

Another highlight was Edna Sackson who discussed 'concept driven learning' i.e. the big idea. This is something that we have learnt at uni, so it was great to hear about it in practice, here are some images that I took from her presentation that some may find useful

The 'avocado' model - Worth knowing, important to know, enduring understanding

    The big idea - connection, responsibility, reflection, perspective, change, causation, function, form

Bernadette from Xavier College discussed Teachers Across Borders which sounds like a wonderful experience. Teachers travel to countries such as Cambodia and conduct short term workshops for teachers in developing countries. This will be something that I will consider doing in the future. 

One other presentation which really stood out was llja's presentation about Google docs forms, which I have never heard of, even though I am usually pretty up to date with new google features. It sounds wonderful, but is dependent on students have a laptop each in class to utilise it as llja does. Despite this, it is something that I will be using in the future if the resources are available. 

Other presentations worth noting were:

Nathan Jones - Aurasma

Rebecca Van Den Hoek - Danny deck chair: engaging science/maths lessons

Mark O'Meara - Characters on trial 

I will stop there, even thought there were more presentations that were very informative. So as you can probably tell, I really enjoyed it, so I will hopefully be able to attend the next TeachersMeet in September at Wooranna Park P.S. I highly recommend it, hopefully I will be able to see you there.

Kellie. 

My final semester

It has been a few weeks (or so) since I last posted, and since then I have started back at uni for my FINAL semester (yes, I am excited) which so far has been lots of fun. This semester is shaped some what differently, with most of our assignments centring around interventions that are undertaken in our placement classrooms. I am especially excited about my maths intervention which involves working with four grade one students who need extension in maths. At the moment, the classes topic is money, so over the last couple of days I have been assessing the students to see what they can and cannot do, thus identifying where they are conceptually. They are such a lovely group to work with, and they always try to challenge themselves and are not fearful of making mistakes which is refreshing.

When looking for specific activities to engage them, I came across this fantastic kit on teachers pay teachers. It includes some really fun and challenging games which the students have loved. Below is a photo of one of the resources. This cube (which has a different coin on each side) came with no instructions, however I decided that I would make one for each student (I highly recommend laminating them as the students can be a little rough with them). The only instructions that I gave the students was that they needed to roll the dice and record the coins that appeared and then calculate the total. Once they were comfortable, they were encouraged to add extra coins, and this challenge motivated them and pushed them to see what they could achieve. It was intriguing to watch, as they would keep adding more and more coins, continuously push themselves to see how far they could go. Two students even decided to use different operations to see what would happen to the total.

Until now, I have always conducted interventions with students who are falling behind, and I am finding it so different to work with students who are working far beyond the expected level for their age. Instead of trying to 'fix' something, my role is to help the students to challenge themselves, and provide new learning opportunities and this is such an exciting process.

I could write forever about this so I'll stop, but soon I will write about my literacy intervention (focusing on written vocabulary) and also my designing personalised learning project (which is centered around leadership and dance).

Tomorrow I am also going to the TeachMeet in Melbourne at the Immigration Museum, so I will be sure to write a post about that as well.

Kellie.

Being your own 'brand'

Last week I attended the VIEU conference 'Best Foot Forward' - which focused on assisting student teachers with constructing their CV and cover letters in preparation to apply for graduate positions in the next few months. Even though I have written a CV before, this conference demonstrated just how challenging it can be to create one that is specific to teaching and one which also reflects your teaching philosophy.

One of the presenters Steve Whittington from SchoolJobs and Oxford Education discussed the importance of creating your own 'brand'. Even though this initially sounded quite odd to me, I now understand that it is important to articulate what you can bring to the job. It is essential to effectively communicate what makes you right for that position and more specifically that school. He used the analogy that the school is a puzzle, with individual pieces, and you must demonstrate how you fit into that puzzle.

To be honest, all of this is very daunting. The university has not given us any support (as yet) and I feel as if I am searching through the dark. The most challenging part is writing my teaching statement or philosophy. There does not seem to be much support online, so I am trying to focus on these three question -  What does my ideal classroom "Look like, feel like, sound like?"

These are some of the statements that I have come up with so far - 

As a teacher, I will endeavour to: 

- Create a classroom which is warm and welcoming, by maintaining a positive and honest environment where all students learn with and from each other, feeling safe and comfortable when sharing their thoughts and ideas with their peers. 

- Develop positive and supportive relationships with all students through having a genuine interest in their learning and lives, thus ensuring that mutual respect is maintained in the classroom at all times

- Ensure that all students learning needs are the primary focus, with knowledge being transformed into effective student understanding. This will be supported through ensuring that students are actively engaged with learning experiences which incorporate issues that are relevant to their own lives.

However, it is hard to know how much to write and the detail required.

For all those who have gone through this process - any advice would be much appreciated.

Kellie.

Skype & Education

During the opening speech at the 2012 ICTEV conference, the speaker Alan November briefly discussed the benefits of using Skype in classrooms. This made me realise that during my placements, I am yet to see teachers or students utilising this tool and it made me wonder why? Thus, I decided to find out how other educators use this tool in their classroom, with the aim of understanding how I could use Skype with my future students. 

After doing a little research, the benefits of using such a tool were obvious. Skype allows for students to be connected to others while still being in their own classrooms. Students can meet meet other students, introduce overseas relatives to their peers, share their work with others, thus creating a global community. It is also an fantastic resource for teachers, as it allows you to interact with fellow educators, talk to experts, share ideas and create amazing learning experiences with others from around the world. The most important feature (I believe) is linking classes together, allowing for students to discover new cultures and undertake their learning together. 

Skype also allows for students who study online to connect to their teachers or gain access to resources which would otherwise be unavailable to them. An example of this is Teach The World Online (TWOL) who are currently establishing English language programs and curriculum to teach students in Haiti, Nepal, Cambodia,Colombia, Russia, Turkey, Tunisia, Pakistan & Brazil through using Skype. TWOL brings students around the world who want to learn English face-to-face with American university students who want teaching experience. Click here to read more. 

Also, Karl Prunell has written a very interesting blog about visual learning and skype, which I highly recommend. 

I could go on forever about this, and will write more about this topic in the future. 

For more information, you can:

Follow Skype in the classroom on twitter
Visit this website to connect to fellow educators and students 
Get updates on facebook, through 'liking' their page here 

Also, you can click here to view Alan Novembers Skype instructions for the classroom.

I would love to hear about others experiences with Skype in the classroom, please leave a comment :)

Kellie

Twinkl.co.uk - Hands-on Downloads for Primary Educators

Twinkl is your one stop shop for fantastic free primary resources, across all curriculum areas. All of the resources are downloadable, colourful and engaging, with the focus being on hands-on learning for students. It is also fantastic for visual learners and students with autism.

Click here to view a YouTube video, made by the website creators explaining its features.

This is an example of a kit I downloaded from this website to use for my phonological awareness intervention mentioned below. I printed these using a colour printer and laminated them, and lastly separated into two piles. When playing with the students, spread the smaller cards over the table, then students need to find two words that make a compound word. When they are able to explain the components of their word to you, then they can be given the large card (the compound word). The aim is for students to collect as many words as possible, and then share them with their peers. When doing this, encourage the students to explain the components of their words (showing the two cards) and then put it into a sentence. This game is also fantastic for vocabulary development.

Here is a picture of the cards:



You can download them here or you can order them through the website and they will print/deliver them for you! :)

You can also suggest resources, upgrade to premium to download restricted resources and multiple files.

They also have a facebook and a twitter account to keep you up to date with the latest downloads.

Also, they have uploaded a bunch of Olympic Resources, which will be very useful in the upcoming months. For example, Olympic symbols and display posters and themed numeracy activities


Click here to view other olympic downloads.

Kellie.

A quick thank you! :)

Just wanted to add a quick note to thank everyone for visiting my blog. Over the last day and a half I have had 86 views, with people from Australia, New Zealand, America, England, Germany and South Korea reading my entries. Thank you very very much :)
Remember if you would like to keep reading my blog, you can sign up to email subscription or join as a member.
Kellie xx.

Save the Date: Wed. August 8th – EdmodoCon 2012

For any educators who use Edmodo, they know of the fantastic benefits for students, parents and teacher alike. For those who use Edmodo, or simply would like to learn about how to use this online resource in there classroom, EdmodoCon 2012 is currently open for registration.




On Wednesday, August 8th 2012, Edmodo educators across the globe will gather online and in person for a one-day professional development extravaganza. Throughout the day, teachers will share, inspire and showcase the creative ways they are using Edmodo and other digital tools in the classroom. It’s a great day to celebrate being a teacher – and an event not to be missed! Check out the 2011 archives to learn more and stay tuned in the coming weeks for further details. Last year, 2000 teachers from all 50 US states and 51 countries joined EdmodoCon.


Registration is free and events will occur from 8am to 9pm so for teachers who are working during the day you can still involve themselves before and after school.

Click here if your interested :)

Kellie

Phonological Awareness & Elizabeth Love's 'A Sound Way'

During my placement this semester, one of my assessment tasks was to plan, implement, reflect upon and evaluate an intervention for a group of students in my grade one classroom. The aim of the intervention was to assist the student/s to go beyond their current level of knowledge and/or skill.

After discussions with my mentor, and also through doing my own pre-assessment I found that two students had particular issues with their phonological awareness. Over a two week period, I conducted a series of tasks for these students during their normal reading groups, moving them from their current level of understanding to the next step on the phonological awareness continuum (ZPD, Vygotsky). A majority of these tasks were obtained from the book seen above, 'A Sound Way' by Elizabeth Love. I cannot emphasis enough about the benefits of using this text. It contains some fantastic hands-on activities to increase students phonological awareness. The activities are playful and engaging, with the grade ones loving the activities. They were always very excited to be working with me, and I am sure it was due to the activities from this text.

Here is a picture of one of the tasks, called syllable sorting. The students had to identify what the picture was of, use their strategies that we had practiced to figure out the words syllables (jaw drops, clapping) and then put the picture into the appropriate syllable group. This activity encouraged students to reflect on their choices, deliberate with others and work together as a team, while also learning about syllables. I used this activity many times, and would highly recommend it


By the end of the two week period that students had made fantastic progress (I used my assessment to establish this 'for,as and of learning'), with one student moving from a level 8 text to a level 11 and the second student moving from a level 8 to a level 14 text. Both were extremely proud of their achievements and were able to experience success. By the end of this intervention they felt that they were readers, which they didn't at the start. I couldn't have been more proud of them.

I will most definitely be purchasing this book in the future :) You can purchase it here if you are interested.

Also, there is another edition with an interactive whiteboard CD which looks amazing.

Kellie.

Getting Students to Listen

Erica Bohrer's First Grade: Getting Students to Listen

This fantastic resource was created by Erica Bohrer, she explains that: Teaching students to listen is no easy task. Sometimes, I feel like I am trying to herd a bunch of cats!

I use a “Whole Body Listening” poster in my classroom. The speech pathologists and ABA teachers at my school inspired the Whole Body Listening posters. They use a Whole Body Listening Social Story they created through Boardmaker to give the students an idea of what whole body listening looks like. As you know, many students on the spectrum struggle with eye contact while speaking. I have found that through my years of mainstreaming, the social story worked well for all of my students. So I decided to make a poster instead of social story to remind them. When I need students to listen, I simply say “Whole Body Listening.”

Click on the link to her blog here and you can download some of these resources for free.

Here is an example of one of the posters:


I am looking forward to using this next semester with the grade ones, using this links in with Bill Rogers model for behaviour management, by having simple rule reminders to reduce the amount of interruption to the rest of the students.

Kellie

Teachers Pay Teachers

Some of the best resources that I have found online are made by teachers themselves.


This wonderful website TeachersPayTeachers is an online marketplace where teachers buy and sell original downloadable educational materials, hard goods and used educational resources.
The resources themselves are fairly priced, and the teachers who create the items receive the money from the sale. I guess it would be described as an teachers ebay. Also, there are 1,000's of free resources that are fantastic.
Here are some excellent shops to follow:
Nyla's Crafty Teaching
Laura Candler
Amy Lemons
Miss Nelson
Let me know of any other great teachers to follow :)
Kellie

Pinterest

I am still amazed at how wonderful pinterest is for educational resources and ideas. Throughout my last placement I used lots of ideas from this website, and I will continue to collect ideas when I start teaching and beyond.

This is an example of a kit which I created (based on an idea from pinterest, zap it using the 100 Magic Words). This is a fantastic game for beginning readers, and was used during reading groups for students in grade one. The instructions are: Put high frequency words on sticks (these are foam sticks) and write zap it on a few sticks. The kids pull sticks from a container and read the words. If someone gets Zap It, all of the sticks go back in the bin.




Also, here are some excellent people to follow:

Suzy Brooks

Jennifer Jones

Melissa Alonzo-Dillard

Clever Classroom

Creative Teaching Press

AND me :)

Comment below about other fantastic pinterest pages!

Kellie.

Keeping track of all those educational blogs!

Since attending the ICTEV 2012 conference in Melbourne, I have come across some FANTASTIC blogs and teaching ideas(especially from teacherspayteachers.com) and have started building up a great collection of resources for my first year of teaching.

However, it is sometimes very hard to keep track of all the blogs that I am following. To solve this problem and keep up to date with everything that's going on, I have added all of these blogs to my account on BlogLovin.



I highly recommend this site. Every day they send me a summary of all the new posts of the day and it keeps track of what I have and haven't read. Such a fantastic tool! :)
Kellie

Dancing Oobleck | Housing a Forest

Oobleck is a great, and kids LOVE it. If you have never made it before Oobleck is a mixture of cornstarch and water. When played with fast it acts like a solid and when allowed to relax it acts like a liquid. Such a fantastic science idea, we explored this during our science lesson at uni. There are fantastic examples on youtube.
Check out this website, for instructions: Dancing Oobleck | Housing a Forest