After hopefully bonding together over the course of the year, it’s always nice to get the students to formally acknowledge/remininsce about how they bonded as a class.
One is a new one I’m going to try called Friendship Connections (source:Energize).
Materials:
Large ball of yarn and paperclip for each student
Directions:
Sit together in a large circle in an open grassy area and have students bend their paperclips into a V shape.
Ask students to think about something that they would like to remember about their experiences with the group. I’m going to give them a few options to think about if they need a little inspiration. (What experience did you enjoy the most? What’s an experience that brought you closer together as a group?)
Start by securing the end of the yarn in the ground with your bent paper clip and begin the discussion yourself. (Ex. I loved the day we spent on our walking tour of the Humber River and our group pumpkin carving contest.)
Roll the yarn to someone else, have them secure the yarn with their clip and make their statement.
Continue passing the yarn back and forth across the circle until everyone’s had a turn and the web is complete.
Variation for beginning of Year:
Precede this activity with another get to know you game and instead of standing up and reporting something about the person, you can use this type of forum.
As the school year was coming to an end I was trying to think of an idea for the kids to show their appreciation of each other. Some students will be continuing together and some are moving on to a new school. As a class, we had completed a few activities using an electronic wordle program. It made me think about doing a wordle for each student as a class.
I had each student write his/her own name of the paper asking them to make an effort in the design, size or colours. The students then passed the paper one to the right and the new student wrote one word about that student. I asked for no repetitions and the wordle moved throughout the class so every student wrote something on each student’s wordle. The last student sitting to the left of the student on the wordle brought the wordle to me. I then matted the wordle on a little background. Tomorrow, I will be presenting the wordles to every student. The students know this is coming and are very excited to see their own wordle.
To celebrate the end of the year in our Full-Day Kindergarten classroom, we opened our doors for parents and guardians to share our successes. We scheduled it for a half hour in the morning at entry time. The children helped plan for the celebration by taking home invitations, creating a welcome sign for our door with the word welcome or hello in various languages that reflect the home languages of our students. The children also were invited to wear traditional clothing that reflected their heritage on the day of the open house. We were thrilled to have so many parents come to our casual event. They sat around the room and watched our morning circle – as we always start the day with sharing how we feel. Then the children moved to the tables where their writing portfolios and art folders were displayed. They were so proud to show their work! Then the children moved around the classroom as guides, showing their parents their work that was displayed and their favourite learning centres.
In the afternoon, one student drew a picture of her and her mother and wrote,”Today is Monday. That’s the day when we show and share…” She said she was happy to show and share her work and classroom with her mother.
For the past few weeks, we have been exploring Life Cycles in my Kindergarten classroom. First, we started off by learning about plants. I read some stories to my class including The Tiny Seed, and we discussed how a plant is created. We also discussed the different parts of a plant. This lead in nicely to some discussions about various life cycles.
As a Kindergarten team, we ordered caterpillars (from Boreal) so that we could watch the life cycle of a butterfly occur.Our caterpillars will turn into Painted Lady Butterflies. We watched some youtube video clips so students could see what it was that would be happening in our classroom during this process. We also read a lot of various books, both Fiction and Non-Fiction, about butterflies. We were able to observe our tiny caterpillars turn into bigger, fatter caterpillars, form into their chrysalis and then into butterflies. The students really enjoyed seeing this process first had, authentic learning at its best! I allowed my students to have opportunities to observe and even read to the caterpillars. We also kept a butterfly journal, where students would record daily what stage it was in.
After a few days of having living butterflies, we were able to go outside and let our butterflies free into the environment. This also helped our Eco School status. Overall, my students really enjoyed this! They loved coming in each and every morning and checking on the progress. I would highly recommend any kindergarten teacher to use this in their classrooms! It was also a wonderful tool to use at the end of the year when the students are a bit “over” being at school. I felt that by studying the life of a butterfly was able to keep their excitement and engagement right up until the end of the year.
As our school year winds down, I thought I’d share a few ideas I’ve used in the past along with some I’ve recently come across that can create fun and meaningful opportunities to reflect on the learning and overall experience in our classrooms this year.
END OF YEAR BOOKLET: This booklet is geared toward junior students but can easily be modified for primary grades. This booklet is a way for students to think back on the various aspects of their year and includes tasks that involve creativity by adding artwork. Students enjoy reading each others’ booklets and sharing them with the class at a year-end party.
END OF YEAR AWARD: Students create their own award to present to anyone they wish. They decide what the award is celebrating and the recipient can be someone in the class, the school, their family, or community. You can make it fun by having students draw each others’ names and create an award for their classmate which they present at an end-of-year award ceremony. This often becomes very humourous with some silly awards being created.
TEACHER REPORT CARD: I can understand why some teachers would be wary of having their students do this but I actually find it very helpful and the students love giving me feedback. I spend so much of the year assessing them and sharing descriptive feedback about their learning so why shouldn’t they do the same with respect to my teaching? Students are quite insightful and honest. Some of the reports I’ve received have been eye-openers and got me thinking about how to better my program the following year.
LETTER TO NEXT YEAR’S STUDENTS: This gives the current students the opportunity to reflect on their year and think of advice to give to the students for the upcoming school year. Both the students writing the letter and those reading it the following year really enjoy this opportunity to get a sense of what can be expected.
LET STUDENTS TEACH A CLASS: You can split the class into groups and assign each a specific topic you studied this year. Give them time to go over their topic and invent a good review activity, which they have to grade (or not, if it’s too much for the end of the year). You assess them on whether they were able to re-teach the concept or skill and how effective their review activity is.
STUDENT CREATED QUIZ SHOW: Have students come up with questions for a quiz show about concepts, skills, facts, or anything they learned throughout the year. Create categories (ie. like Jeopardy) for each subject area and have students organize their questions. Enjoy the quiz show as a class competing against the teacher or form teams of students to compete against each other. Prizes can include a longer recess, extra gym time, or some frozen treats at the end of hot June day.
In the Full-Day Kindergarten program, it is essential to give children the tools to help them self-regulate. The day is long, and often the noise and energy escalates as the day goes on. We talk about how we are feeling each morning at sharing circle. This provides us with an opportunity to listen to the children and to find out if they have had a difficult morning or maybe a sleepless night. It also allows the children an opportunity to reflect on how they are feeling – monitoring this each day when we come together as a group.
Dr. Stuart Shanker is a renowned expert on self-regulation. He provides information on the topic in various forms that are available on the internet or in his book, Calm, Alert and Learning (2012)
In our classroom, we talk about how fast our “engines are running” and whether we need to slow them down or not. We also talk about various strategies to calm down. In late November, we started yoga breathing with the children. We would do a few poses, but mostly concentrate on the breathing. Now, after lunch each day, we close the curtains and the children find a quiet space in the room to lie down on their backs. We provide pillows or small blankets if they want. We then walk around and place one glass stone on their forehead – it provides a focus and keeps wiggling bodies from moving and dislodging the glass stone. At times we play classical music or relaxing sounds of ocean waves. Other times we may talk about visualization; imagining lying on a beach in the warm sand or in a park in the cool grass. Two or three children usually fall asleep during this time, and if they do, we leave them to rest while we quietly get up and resume our activities at learning centres. The children continue with their play in the afternoon, but they have had the opportunity for quiet and peace in their hectic day. Children are recognizing how they feel after these opportunities for relaxation, and now ask the teachers, “Can we do yoga today?” or “When will we lie down and put the stones on our foreheads?” This shows that the children are recognizing when they need to implement self-regulation strategies to help them be successful in their day.
One of my colleagues does The Daily 5 in her classroom. In my Board, this is an initiative that we are all currently working towards. When I used the Daily 5 in my classroom, I sometimes found it hard to constantly keep my students engaged in the Work on Writing aspect of this program. After looking around her room, I just fell in love with her Work on Writing centre. In her class, she has a separate area for her Work on Writing. Students all choose which centres to go to for that day (choice is always important).
At her writing centre, she set up one of the three-fold bulletin boards, filled with information about different types of texts, and some examples of what students could write about for each text type (i.e. letter, story, etc). This is a great idea for students as they can be immersed in their writing, and THEY can choose what to write about using whatever text type they choose. Below I have included a picture for you to observe (and perhaps steal) for your own classroom if you wish!
With the new regulation coming into play for the next school year, many teacher are (or have already) been preparing themselves for their interviews to get onto the LTO List.
With this new regulation, each and every board is a little different, but with my board, anyone who has supplied for 10 consecutive months, can apply for the LTO List. Once on the list, anyone who has completed a 4 month or longer LTO can apply for contract positions.
This time of the year is typically a very busy and stressful time. With report cards, and finishing up curriculum, stress levels are very high. But when you add an “all or nothing” interview into the mix that greatly shapes your future, stress levels are at an all time high.
I had my LTO List interview 2 weeks ago. Although I have not heard any news as of yet (we find out next week), there were many things I did to help myself prepare for the interviews. Here are some tips of things that I did, that may help you when preparing for the LTO List interview (or any interview at that):
I read through and highlighted the Growing Success Document, as well as the Guide to Effective Instruction in Language and Math
I brainstormed questions that I thought may be asked, and created some answers to these questions, using as many of the “buzz words” as I could think of
I spent a lot of time on my school board’s website looking at various things about the board that may help me answer questions. Some things I looked at were the board’s vision, improvement plans, school improvement plans, new programs, etc.
Finally, I had my current administrator come in to observe a lesson of mine, and fill out a TPA-like evaluation on me. This would be used as proof that I have had a successful LTO. Having someone come in to observe you teach, and who will be a reference for you, is always an excellent idea!
Again, I have yet to hear anything, but I am very hopeful to get onto the LTO List. Yes, this is a stressful situation, but you CAN do it! Good luck to all the teachers going through this process!
Recently, our school went to an overnight outdoor education centre. Parent/student/teacher relationships are developed and also expanded during these types of trips. I had three students with special circumstances. All were brought to my attention before we left for the trip. I had one student who had separation anxiety, another had social issues and a special family event during the trip, and the third was a student with Aspergers and mom was concerned about the socialization/routine for her.
Although most of my time was occupied with these three students, I still feel my time was spent in a very productive way. One night, I spent the time helping a student get to sleep. Distracting her thoughts, staying near her, making sure she was ok. She made it through the night. The second night, she didn’t need me at all. When we returned, the parents were very appreciative and gave me a very nice note and flowers. The flowers were a very nice thought and I really appreciate them but the note I will keep forever. The parent also went to my administration team and spoke to them letting them know how appreciative the student and parents were and what a difference I made. It was a very kind gesture which will always be remembered!
I had another parent who also thanked me through the student and with a small taken of appreciation. Her child ended up getting sick and her mother was very happy that I was there with her until her mother came to get her. The last parent showed up at the school and was all smiles. Again, I received another thank you.
We may not get thank yous for all we do but remember we make the difference in students’ lives. Whether it is a child who feels included, another who is happy to be part of an event, or the student who feels s/he has learned something new – all it takes is one effort to make a difference and change that child’s life for the better.
I recently created an account on Bitstrips for Schools. Bitstrips is a free website where students can create comics or other graphic texts. Creating an account is easy. Bitstrips provides you with an access code that you share with your students. Students simply log in with the access code and they immediately have access to the different activities you create. Their first task (and yours) is to create an avatar. Students can then begin to work on the activities you create.
My Avatar
My initial activity was an introductory activity where students were asked to create a comic introducing themselves to the class. The learning goal for this activity was for students to become familiar with the comic building tools. After a week of in class work, Bitstrips is now an activity students have an option to go to when other work has been completed or they can work on activities from their home computers. Now, most of my students are completing the graphic text activities at home for ‘homework’. Parents appreciate that their children are using the Internet to complete school activities rather than to play games and watch videos on YouTube.
A quick and simple activity to help students become familiar with the tools.
What I appreciate most about this website is that all students, regardless of abilities, can navigate the tools and create a piece of writing. Once students complete an activity, it must be submitted to me for review before it can be published. I can access student writing from anywhere; smart phone, tablet, at home, or school and I can give them timely specific feedback on their written submission. I am using Bitstrips to reinforce punctuation and spelling with my third grade students. I spend a few minutes each evening sending students feedback on their submissions. The next time students log in to Bitstrips they will see my feedback and they can immediately edit and/or revise their work and resend it to me for another review.
Below are some sample comments I have submitted to students:
Hi Charlie,
This is a fun comic! Please make sure you begin each sentence with a capital and end with a period.
Hi Krisandrew,
I really like how you ended your comic! I am impressed with all your slides. Please review for punctuation. For example, sentences must begin with a capital. Example “Me too.” You missed a period in one of your thought bubbles. It is movies not movie. Otherwise, great effort! Please correct and resubmit.
Below are two activities I have assigned on Bitstrips.com:
Turning Narratives Into Graphic Texts
You are to select one of your personal narratives and create a Bitstrip.
You are to use speech bubbles for your dialogue sentences.
You are to use thought bubbles for your thinking and feeling sentences.
You are to use captions for your action sentences.
Your bitstrip should meet the success criteria for personal narratives!
Silly Story Comic
You are to write a silly story!
You are to use the success criteria for a personal narrative. That is,
-Action, dialogue and thought sentences;
-Beginning, Middle and End;
-Correct punctuation and spelling;
But your story must also include the characteristics of a silly story:
-Strange and impossible events take place;
– Characters act as if everything is normal;
-You leave the reader with a smile on their face.
Your story should be a at least 5 frames long.
Dialogue sentences must be in speech bubbles.
Thinking/Feeling sentences are in thought bubbles.
Action sentences must be in captions a the top or bottom of the frame.
I am fortunate to have unlimited access to computers throughout the school day, but you can do this in a one computer classroom. As I mentioned in a prior blog post, it is important to know what access your students have to the Internet from home before you encourage Bitstrips as a homework activity. Bitstrips has helped me engage students in the writing process. It forces them pay attention to writing conventions and it provides me with a manageable way to provide timely feedback to students.
