In this class we also discussed sections of our text. For next class, please create two discussion questions from page 107 to the end of the book.
Lastly, we did an activity with Story Baskets. There are many ways to use this with students: as a preliminary step to dramatic play, cooperative learning, creative writing, art, classification, and so on.
Looks like we might get some sun this weekend. Enjoy.
Okay, so I presented from my portfolio this week. I presented on Directed Drawing, the alphabet book, A Mountain Alphabet by Margruiet Ruurs, illustrated by Andrew Kiss, and I brought in my choral song book which was filled with plenty of songs for ages 3 – grade 5. I also shared one of the songs from my book with you that is a kid favourite. If you saw a song in my book that you were particularly interested in learning or obtaining the lyrics for, let me know and I can either teach you on a break next class or send you the lyrics. My email is: adk6@sfu.ca
ReplyDeleteHermie the Worm
Sittin’ on the fence post
Chewing my bubble gum (make a chewing noise)
Playing with my yo-yo (woo, woo)
When along came Hermie the worm
And he was this big! THIS BIG!
And I said, “Hermie, what happened?!”
“I ate my .....sister, brother, mother, father” (5th time through, “I burped.”)
I really had fun with the story baskets. My group came up with a pretty crazy story. I think it would take a while to introduce this activity to really young children but it would also be a lot of fun to see what they came up with. My group talked about some ways we could adapt or further the activity. We suggested using a tape recorder to record the story so the students could review it later or act it out for the class. We also thought it would be really easy to embed a memory activity. First we would give the students a basket with the objects to look at and tell them to memorize what was in the basket as best as they could. Then we would take the basket away and they would have to write down all the items they could remember. Then they would switch baskets with another group. The group would do the story basket activity and then the teacher would take the basket away again and they would have to write down the items again. Then the students would compare their results and see which basket of things it was easier to remember. As a class you could discuss why.
This week I presented my portfolio to the class; it was the butterfly painting activity, the Alka-Seltzer rocket and the math game ‘race to a dollar’. If you want a copy of any of the activities please e-mail me at sma109@sfu.ca.
ReplyDeleteThe quick and easy recipe for the rockets is as follows:
You need a plug style film canister (which you can get from London Drugs) and decorate it with fins and a nose cone. The opening should be at the bottom of the rocket, so that it can be filled with ‘fuel’; the fuel is a crushed up Alka-Seltzer tablet (the finer the dust, the greater the explosion) and enough water to fill up the rocket. Once the rocket has the Alka-Seltzer dust and water in it, you snap the lid back into place, give it a little shake and set it onto level ground and step away; the rocket will ‘launch’/’explode’ shortly. Just remember to find both parts of the rocket (the lid and the canister) so that you can launch it again later.
The story baskets were a lot of fun; my group was able to come up with a long and involved story that managed to span the length of the time we were given. It was interesting looking back at the actual process though, to see the amount of negotiation of roles and actions of characters and the co-operation in the evolution of the story. I didn’t notice it at the time, but looking back, it was very much like listening to children negotiate (though with more willingness to accept suggestions and less whining). I thought that it might be interesting to see what would happen if a teacher were to give identical story baskets to different groups of students in their class and ask them to write/act out a story with the items. Once that was done, bring the class back together and see how the students’ stories varied and where they overlapped when compared to the stories written by the other groups. This could be illustrated with Venn diagrams or charts and discussion of archetypes/archetypical figures (the hero, the villain, etc.) and story telling forms and styles. This would be a great activity to work into a writing workshop or a fairytale unit.
This weeks portfolio presenters did awesome! Thanks for sharing all your great ideas with us! I love learning about different books that people use in their classroom and how they use them. There are so many children’s books out there that it’s hard to know where to start sometimes. I’m starting to compile a list of books that I liked to purchase one day or even just use in my classroom and I added quite a few onto that list today, so thanks Reading is such an essential aspect of learning in the classroom, it’s really important to have a huge variety of books for the children to choose from.
ReplyDeleteThe story basket activity was fun. It’s neat how you can make up such intricate stories from a bunch of random objects. This activity really promotes imaginative thinking and collaboration of the group members. Story baskets can even incorporate a writing aspect where the children write out the final, agreed upon story, possibly make some revisions if needed, and then publish the work. They could also turn their story into a play or skit to perform for the class, or just read it from the author’s chair; there are endless possibilities!
Last class I presented my portfolio items. The book that I presented for one of my items was How Full is Your Bucket by Tom Rath and Donald Clifton. I really enjoyed all of the sharing that took place as I feel that this is the best type of learning that can occur especially for a new teacher. The range of activities and books that were shared was great and being someone who did their practicum in an intermediate class I appreciated that some of the lessons could also be used at higher grade levels. Unfortunately, I had to leave early due to a family situation so I cannot comment on other activities that were done during the second part of class. Due to this I look forward to reading other’s posts about the latter half of class.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed seeing what everybody had to share with us, and I look forward to next week’s ideas! I think that this is a great way for teachers (or soon to be teachers) to share their ideas with one another. It was good to be able to talk about the textbook within a group. It was helpful to only talk about certain sections and then listen to what the other groups thought about their sections from the textbook.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Story Baskets before this class. It turned out to be a great activity and I think that it would work so well with children. It would be an awesome way to get students interested in something. It would also be helpful to get students to know one another better if it were played at the beginning of the year. This activity is useful because you can put a variety of objects in the baskets and it could even be curriculum based to get the students interested in a new, unknown topic. Overall, I thought that this was a very good interactive activity to do.
This week I shared three ideas with the class. I shared the idea of using pipe cleaners and beads to work on patterns and fine motor skills. “Magic Mud” (aka corn starch, water and food colouring) is a great interactive activity for students. I shared the book “Haunted House” by: Jan Pienkowski.
Hi Everyone:
ReplyDeleteI am unable to be in class on Monday so I will post three of my lessons on this blog.
Grade 2 Lesson Plan
Learning Objective: By the end of this lesson, it is expected that the students will be able to:
• Create a piece of artwork that contains two big “big questions”
Materials:
• Art supplies: construction paper, glue, sharpies
Introduction:
• The teacher will read “Stella Star of the Sea” by? At the end of the story the teacher will ask the students to think about something they wonder about.
Activity:
1. The teacher will talk about some things that he/she wonders about. Some examples would be: Why is the earth round? Why don’t stars fall from the sky? Why do people die?
2. The teacher will then show the students a piece of artwork that has two I wonder questions (see attached).
3. The students will then be asked to make a piece of creative artwork (I does not have to look like the example). The teacher will Inform the students that they will not receive a mark for their artwork they will just receive a participation mark. An initiative to be creative.
4. On the piece of artwork there must be two I wonder questions.
Grade 2 Lesson Plan
Learning Objective: By the end of the lesson, it is expected that the students will understand how to research a “big question”.
Activity:
1. End the end of each day the teacher will draw one of the student’s names from hat. The student whose name is selected will choose one of their “I wonder” questions from their artwork that has been displayed on the classroom wall.
2. The teacher will write that question on the white board and ask the students to put that question into their planners.
3. The students (with the help of a parent or guardian) will research the “I wonder” question on the Internet.
4. Each student that arrives the next day with an answer to the, “I wonder” question will be able to put his or her name into a jar for a prize.
5. The teacher will ask the students what they discovered through their research and hold a discussion.
Kindergarten Lesson Plan #3
Learning Objective: By the end of this lesson, it is expected that the students will be able to:
1. Identify and discuss a variety of roles and responsibilities they have as members of the classroom and school community
2. Give examples of ways in which people co-operate in order to live together peacefully
3. Experience a community building activity
Introduction:
• Students will receive a notice to go home that invites a family/guardian to the classroom to participate in a community building exercise (see attached)
Materials:
• Students and teacher will collect recyclable items
Activity:
1. Parents/guardians are invited to come together in the classroom after school.
2. Parent or guardian works with their students to create their home, place of work, or local building.
3. After each student (with the help of their parent/guardian) has created their building, the classroom of students and parents will work together to create a model of a unique community.
4. A long table will be supplied for the families to create their community.
5. Take pictures of each student and then print them off, cut them out and glue them onto sticks and placed them around the buildings of the community.
6. Once the community is built, extra features like roads, street signs, sidewalks, etc. can be added.
7. The children will be encouraged to play with the community during classroom playtime.
This in community building activity could be connected to many other different learning objectives. Parents and children could conduct a science experiment, create an art project, or make a poster together.
The motivation behind creating this parent/student activity was inspired by a bad experience that I had with one of my own children when he was in grade 5 he was asked to create a model of Fort Langley on his own time at home. This was a difficult time in our family. My eldest son was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes and we were spending a lot of time at Children's Hospital. My son created this model on his own without any assistance from an adult because we were away with my eldest son. The model that he created pailed in comparison to what the other students created. The Fort Langley models that the other students created were amazing. Frankly, the students did not create them, the parents did. Unfortunately, the parents took over the projects and it became an example of competitive parenting. My son was very embarrassed about his project, which added to the intensity of that time of his life.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I see the value of involving parents I do not see the value of evaluating a project that is created by the parent, not the child. This is why I began thinking about how to involve parents in a classroom activity that is just for fun and is not graded.
Firstly, thank you for sharing all of your ideas with us! The portfolio presentations were great, and full of variety.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to sit down with "The boy who would be a helicopter" and read a few pages and discuss them as a group. Upon first read, the text is a little abstract and difficult to follow. But upon discussing the pages, we actually had a really good chat about the content and realizations within the book. I appreciated that because I feel that throughout most of my post secondary career, most discussions about text are pretty forced. This book is worth a little chatting about.
The story baskets were cute. I think it's an activity that I'd rather give to children and observe than do myself though. Most of the activities we do in this class I have a lot of fun with, and story baskets were fun. I just feel that as adults, we can't quite be as creative and wonderful as children would in the same situation :) Maybe that's just me! But it is entirely a concept I will use in the future. There's so many ways to apply it at all age levels. It's a terrific starting point for fiction, or really any curriculums. It's easily adaptable and requires children to think very carefully as they have to use objects in abstract ways.
July 18
ReplyDeleteI missed last class but from what other people have posted I can speak to the idea of story baskets. My son and I play this game called the story game – I tell a line then he tells a line they usually get crazy but they are lots of fun. They started on a trip we took across the country. Recently I was at Kidsbooks in Vancouver and I found something similar to the story baskets, they were six sided dice with a different picture on them. They range from aliens to flowers, to pyramids, etc. I was able to use them in practicum for a free writing center. Students could roll as few as three of the dice and as many as all 9 – the rule was you had to use all elements in your story. It’s a fun and interesting way to inspire creative writing. I could see using them in a preschool class with some dictation software on an ipad or iphone to record them and print them out to use as a way to make a play.
For my presentations, which I will give on Monday night (July 25) I will present the following:
1. SMART Exchange Website: http://exchange.smarttech.com:
2. Clock Buddies
3. Reading Power: Adrienne Gear
4. The Complete book of Art Projects: Usborne books.
I won’t go into details about them tonight because then Monday night won’t be nearly as exciting. Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday.
Thanks! Its been really nice working with you all… Celina
What a treat this week was to see so many great activities from the portfolios of my fellow classmates! Everyone helped me on compiling my portfolio for the following week, where I can blend literacy with interactive hands-on activities, which I always felt is the best way to learn!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed getting into groups to deconstruct a few pages of 'The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter.' The pages I discussed with my group was really informative and practical for me since the pages discussed how the Jason kept interrupting story time when it was another student's turn. Jason was being non-compliant to directions so the teacher decided to use Jason's random, unstructured outbursts into the in-class activity and have other students join in, making Jason's input contributing to class instead of being disruptive. This was such a good example of redirecting negative behavior into a positive one. As I've learned from my classroom management seminars, educators are not in a power struggle with students and if we do try to engage in that struggle, we will be the losers, so it's for our best interest to make it work one way or another if a student isn't optimally following directions.
Thank you to everyone who shared portfolio items on Monday! I took away some great ideas.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed our discussion about “the boy who would be a helicopter” and I appreciate that the close examination of certain passages helped me better understand Paley’s ideas. I particularly enjoyed the parallel she drew between Jason’s learning through trial and error and her own learning with the “time out” chair. While I agree with her reasoning that the “time out” chair was not productive, I was left wondering how she deals with transgressions in her classroom. I took away that minor transgressions were sorted out through play, but I wondered what would happen if a child was physical (e.g., biting) towards another child. While I appreciate Paley’s storytelling, I often found myself envisioning individual scenes without being able to put together what her classroom and teaching style “look like” on a day-to-day basis. I suppose she is addressing us more theoretically and I am trying to make it practical. Anyhow, I would love to watch her teach!
I really enjoyed my classmates’ presentations during the last class. They shared a lot of great ideas with us and I am sure that the resources will be helpful when I become a teacher. The different books, lesson plans and strategies on teaching were all very insightful.
ReplyDeleteIn the book, “The boy who would be a helicopter”, I was really intrigued that the author wanted the children to learn to act properly without the use of a time-out chair. I have been to a few kindergarten classrooms and a lot of times when the children act out, the teachers would send them to sit out or sit in the time-out chair. However, Vivian Paley wants the child to learn to work out the logic of their behaviour than to send the child to the time-out chair. She felt that the chair is a sad thing and that this type of punishment stuns children’s social development. She also felt that when children are being sent to the time out chair too often, they become labeled as the child who is always bad and even the teacher might react negatively towards the child. After reading the passage from the book, it provided me with insights as to how to manage children who might have behavioural difficulties in the classroom. I need to be aware and careful not to have certain assumptions or stereotypes regarding certain children.
The story basket activity was really fun. I was amazed at the story my group came up with using small random objects. The activity promoted imagination, creative thinking and collaboration with other group members. As I was playing with the small objects and creating the story with my group members, I became immersed in the story. I created the characters with ease and I also reacted to what my group members were doing with the toys in creating the storyline. Everything felt like child’s play. I enjoyed it so much that I did not feel the time had passed. I felt like I was back in my childhood days when I used to play with little action figurines. I can see how this activity would be very effective for young children. Teachers could use this activity as an ice breaker at the beginning of the year to help students to get to know each other. They can also use this activity as a story writing activity. Teachers could use story baskets as a great hook for the students during story writing/journal lessons. They can have the students play with the story baskets first and then write their own stories. It is a great way to help children come up with their own stories. Teachers can also use story baskets as an activity for children to practise for drama. The students can play with the story baskets and the teacher can have the children present their stories to the class after. The small objects can act as a mediator to help children who are shy or afraid to talk to practise their presentation skills.
I also presented a few items from my portfolio project this week. I presented activities I had done during my practicum with a farm animal unit. I presented a vocabulary brainstorm for farm animals, a class book project titled “In the Barn” and a poem of the week called “The Chicks will Say ‘Cheep, Cheep’”. I was very excited to share the concept of the class book; I think it is a great activity to get the whole class involved in. It gives students the opportunity to become both the illustrator and the author of their very own book page. All the students love seeing what their hard work contributed to and they love showing off their work. Class books stay in your classroom library and are looked at over and over by your students. Because there is a repeating phrase throughout the book, students are able to practice memorization and pre reading skills.
ReplyDeleteIt is always very interesting to see the stories that come out of random objects that were put into the story basket activity. I would very much enjoy trying an activity with young children to hear their own stories about their favourite items. During my practicum my class and I participated in a teddy’s bear picnic. I think this could work with the bears the students brought. Everyone has a story about how they got their first bear (or any stuffed animal). I think it would be a great activity for special occasions or sharing times.
My favourite activity of the semester was the story baskets. Every person in my group brought a wide variety of objects, which made the story that my group came up with was both ridiculous and entertaining. I have seen activities where words are handed out, and a story had to be created based on them. These were mostly used for high school classes, but I think having the objects visible garnered enthusiasm from all my group members. I think that story baskets and the tangible items would be perfect for children in early childhood. I think that these could be used for a variety of activities in the early learning classroom. I think that in the dramatic play centre, it would be a useful tool. The baskets could be a bit bigger, and have dress up clothes and other items; the children could choose one basket and concoct a story or play scenario based on their play. Obviously, it could be used for traditional story writing, where the students draw a picture based on the items, and the teacher scribes for them. It could also be used as a method to foster collaboration. I think that the best part of the activity was the collaborative process. When we were concocting our stories some ideas were passed up, and others became the centre of the story, and as better ideas came up, others were dropped. No one was upset if the group did not approve their idea, we were all enjoying ourselves, and when the story was completed we were all happy with the product.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading Vivian Paley’s book one thing that I found interesting is her role as the observer only. Even when she notices the gaps in Ira’s stories that results from the lack of questioning from Simon. When reading this I felt that maybe a teacher should have stepped in to fill the gap of Simon; that would allow Ira to have a more cohesive story. Part of me wanted to jump in, and wondered why the child was provided little support immediately. Then I began to think about the importance of allowing kids to figure things out without the help of the teacher. I think that in some situations teachers jump in too soon, and do not allow the students to think for themselves. In the beginning of kindergarten many teachers will step in to help children get ready to go home; they remind children to pack their bags, change their shoes, and take their things home. Eventually, the teacher should remove the support and let children remember to get all their things. If the teacher never removes the support, the child will always be reliant on the teacher’s support, which will cause them many problems later on. As a teacher, I think that will be one of the things I struggle with; hopefully, if I am aware of it, I will be able to stop it.
My Portfolio Items
1. Yoga for Kids
I took the afternoon training session through Yoga Kids, but the book I got there is available through chapters
Program Information: http://yogakids.com/
2. The Mood Meter
This is part of the Ruler Approach founded by Dr. Marc Brackett
The website is http://therulerapproach.org/
Note: In order to use the mood meter and the program, you have to be trained. In the program that made quite a big deal about it and maintaining the integrity of the program.
3. Eric Carle Collage
The Hungry Caterpillar
I am not a big presenter and always find that I am most comfortable with an audience of people under four feet tall, but this was fun.
ReplyDeleteIt was so wonderful to see all the different resources that people were able to add to their portfolios and share with the class. I added quite a few names of books and songs and lesson plan ideas to my bank of resources. I am hoping that perhaps a page can be created on this blog? Hint Hint Sue, that we can all post our book lists, article links, resource sites, or songs so that we will have a whole page of valuable materials.
In the meantime, as promised, here are the links to my portfolio stuff, my top ten favorite books by request and the other info I shared in my presentations.
1. My Article that I shared called “Questioning Your Collection” is by Toby Rajput. It is a wonderful article that tells you how to critically go through books and check for biases, stereotyping and blatent racism. I have tried to find a direct link but couldn’t, however, this article is available through SFU on the their article database.
2. The second resource is the tomatosphere project. It is FREE! YAY! And so worth doing every year! My students love this and all ask in Sept. If we will be growing space tomatoes this year. It is a blind experiment so even the teacher doesn’t know which seeds are which until the results are submitted. Please go to this link to sign up. http://www.tomatosphere.org/
3. Finally the website that I love for its information regarding literature and children’s books is called the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC). This is run by the University of Wisconsin and have wonderful resources. They have an extensive list of multicultural books that they recommend and everyone is sure to find something on their site that is useful. Their website address is http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
4. Lastly, my top ten favourite multicultural books,
1. Shades of Black by Sandra Pinkey
2. Girls Hold Up this World by Jada Pinkett Smith (Yes really)
3. Rain School by James Rumford
4. Shades of People by Shelley Rotner
5. Pretty Salma by Niki Daly (Love this one!)
6. I love my Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley
7. E is for Ethiopia by Ashenafi Gudeta
8. A Mother For Choco by Keiko Kasza (a book about transracial adoption)
9. Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
10. And lastly, the book I think everyone should own is called “ONE” by Kathryn Otoshi. This is not a multicultural book, but is an ant bullying book that I love more than any of my other ones. It is simple and easy to read but has a very clear message. Worth adding to anyone’s collection.
Ok, that’s it for my endless blog post. I am looking forward to seeing more presentations this week. Thanks for sharing everyone!
This week's portfolio presentations were very enjoyable and there were such a variety of activities to do with students in the classroom. I never realized there were so many books on multiculturalism.
ReplyDeleteI had a really good time with the story baskets and being able to put yourself in a position as a child and make up silly and creative stories. My group members bounced ideas off of one another and created a funny story about Mickey Mouse travelling to different places in a spaceship. This would be such a neat activity to do with students in the class as it works with their creativity and each individual gets to input ideas and through small objects, be able to tell a story.
The Vivian Paley book is an interesting read. At first, I didn't quite understand the story and had a hard time following it but after a while, it got less complicated. It was also enjoyable to get to discuss with group members about uses of story telling.
Having people share activities from their portfolios this week was a very helpful activity. I took many notes and fully intend to bring some of these things into my future class, so thank you to everyone who shared; I look forward to seeing more next week! One thing that I think would be especially entertaining is the end of the day question. This activity can be done with questions related to a particular class unit, or with silly questions such as the ones that were brought up in class. At the end of the day, I think that students (and teachers) deserve a nice break from curricular thought, so I love the idea of using silly questions. This activity will give students a desire to go to school the next day and, as we discussed once before, it will provide students with motivation to be in class on time.
ReplyDeleteI also like the idea of giving students a purpose when doing nature walks. I think that by setting out a purpose beforehand teachers will give students more focus during their walk and will allow the students to benefit more from the experience. This will also give a reason for going outside if parents should ask questions, or have concerns about wasting class time. Getting students outside in fresh air, in my opinion, is never a waste of time, but some parents may see it as such. In those cases, by explaining that we were outside collecting leaves to study the effects of fall (why are some trees dropping leaves while others are not? etc), we provide parents with a sense of comfort knowing that there was a reason for getting out of the classroom. The same is true for every activity that teachers do though; teachers must always be able to justify teaching a certain thing, and having that justification ready beforehand will make things much easier.
Last week I found everyone’s presentations very interesting. I believe that we learn the most when we are learning from each other. It was exciting hearing about all the different activities. I am really looking forward to the remainder of the presentations this week.
ReplyDeleteI had never done story baskets before last class; I will defiantly use them in my class when I begin teaching. These story baskets are great for helping students get ideas about what to write, also for the students to negotiate and work together to create the story. I think this activity is great to teach the students how to work together. When you are creating the story everyone must work together, writing the story without everyone working together would be very difficult. If someone takes over the story writing then the story is that person’s and not a representation of the group’s story. This is not to say as you are reading the story to each other that it will not change, but the changes must be mad with group agreement. I was the recorder in my group and I found it difficult to record everyone’s idea at once so my group took turns telling their version of the story. We put it all together to create our final product. I also really liked that we didn’t know what items others were brining in, so it created a more interesting story.
Over the course of the semester we have looked at and discussed a number of different children’s books which has been very informative for me. I am an avid reader myself and love sharing my joy for reading with my students. While completing my readings for another class I came across some great free online book site I thought might be interesting to share. One of them offered free online multilingual books, which I thought was great way to build a multicultural classroom. There were a number of other really interesting children’s literature sites. I am including the websites for a few that I found really interesting; hopefully they will be of interest to some of you.
This is the multilingual site
http://en.childrenslibrary.org/
This is the Kid Space site
http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/
This is an interactive website for students to work with Clifford the Dog
http://teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/
During my presentation I shared two strategies and one activity:
ReplyDeleteItem One: Hello, Goodbye (Strategy)
Strategy: Greeting students by name each morning, and saying goodbye at the end of each day. Perhaps asking one or two conversational questions as this is done. I think this is done best when the teacher gets down to look in their eyes.
Why:
• Greeting students by name each morning and saying goodbye at the end of each day helps form trusting, nurturing relationships with kindergarten students
• By carefully listening to their responses, teachers can better understand students and be sensitive to their ideas
• Saying hello to each individual student gives teachers the opportunity to ‘check in’ with them, and get an impression of how they’re feeling on that particular day
• An attentive teacher may choose to be flexible and modify their day plan based on general or specific feelings of the students
• Forming close relationships with students is a means to a positive class environment, and is thus also a classroom management strategy
Item Two: Planning for positive parent involvement (Strategy)
Strategy: Making a plan about how to facilitate parent involvement that includes the kind of involvement you’re aiming for and how to include hard-to-reach parents (parents who work or are really busy, parents who have a negative perception of school, parents who don’t see value in their involvement, etc.)
Why:
• Parents and caregivers are children’s first and foremost teachers, so it’s beneficial for students if parents are involved at school
• Parent’s can take home what they see in the classroom and help their children’s learning at school by extending it at home
• Teachers can also get a feel for the families of their students when parents are involved; teachers can communicate with parents about what their learning goals are for their children and vice versa
• Teachers are generally better able to serve students and families if they are directly connected with their needs and individual contexts
• Making an actual plan for facilitating parent involvement helps to ensure that it happens and occurs effectively; this plan may vary greatly from school to school because it should be developed to meet the specific community’s needs.
Item Four: Drawing on bed sheets
Activity: Having the students do collaborative drawings or paintings on old bed sheets would be an interesting activity. The sheets could be spread out on the ground to work on and then hung from the walls or ceiling when finished. They could even be made into a more permanent classroom item like curtains or a space-divider. Or the sheets could be washed and used again.
Why:
• I think it’s great for students to have the opportunity to use many different supports for their drawing (paper, fabric, chalk-board, etc
• Facilitating this activity would be worthwhile because as it challenges students to draw on a large scale, it gives them lots of room for gesture and expression, which in turn exercises their gross motor skills and fine motor skills simultaneously
• Having a clear purpose and some instructions to focus the activity would be beneficial (‘draw flowers’ for example), but could also take many different directions and could be easily tailored to have a cross-curricular function
• By the nature of it being collaborative, students engage in creating imagery together which presents the opportunity for them to make many complex decisions and negotiations
• Teachers could guide students to consider these things by using questioning as they work on the bed sheet drawing. I also think this activity is worthwhile because it’s fun and relaxed
I thought that the story basket activity was so fun. It gave us a chance to get really creative and work collaboratively. It would be a great activity for children of course. Such an activity gives them the liberty to explore different ideas and it also helps them practice their storytelling skills. The story basket involves collecting objects ahead of time, which can promote a discussion as to what made the children chose the objects that they brought. During the activity itself, the teacher has the opportunity to observe how children work together in small groups. In groups children tend to take on different roles and responsibilities. Some children are natural born leaders and they will usually take charge, while others tend to follow. Some children are outspoken and more adventurous, while other children are shy and reserved. Once you get to know your students it would be interesting to make up groups that are diverse in terms of personality. The leader type children will be able to scaffold certain social skills to less outgoing children. It’s a great activity for expanding children’s vocabularies, and to increase their literacy skills. Most importantly the activity is just fun to participate it, there is an endless amount of stories ideas that children can come up with.
ReplyDeleteWeek 10
ReplyDeleteAfter my completed Portfolio share, I wanted to post some information about my three activities/lesson plans.
1) The first topic I talked about was an Author Lynne Truss. She is an award winning author of her humourous books on punctuation.
Book List:
“Eats, Shoots and Leaves”- a book about the proper use of commas.
“The Girl’s Like Spaghetti”- a book about apostrophes.
“Twenty-Odd Ducks”- a book about why every punctuation mark counts.
Here is an excerpt from my portfolio that discusses a possible lesson plan:
“An activity that I would do with children after reading her books over a period of time would be to have the students create their own pages that we can put in a class guide to punctuation. I would give my students the task to write the same sentence twice but to change the punctuation so as to give it a completely different meaning. Then, the students would provide an illustration above each sentence (like Lynne does in her books) that matches the meaning that the punctuation gives the words. We would produce good copies of these, and gather them into a class book. When different punctuation issues come up throughout the year (for example, the students are struggling with apostrophes), we can pull out our class book as a reminder. This activity would be more appropriate for the older primary grades, however I believe that her materials can be adapted to younger grades. If using her books with younger children, the emphasis would need to be on the pictures and then you can show how the sentence is punctuated in order to get that picture. For older students, I would suggest doing the reverse order and showing them the punctuated sentence first and having them try to figure out the meaning.” – Chelsea Todd
2) The second activity I shared was the alliteration alphabet game “Albert likes apples.” I highlighted how this activity can be easily used in any classroom, and adapted to the different ability levels of your students “Albert always likes awesome apples to act on…”
3) The third activity I shared was an example of how you can use singing as a classroom management tool. I wrote an introduction song for when I TOC’s a primary class, and it told the kids my expectations for the day in a fun interactive way. As well, the students used the song throughout the day to remind each other of our expectations, repeating parts of the song to each other. I’ll post a chunk of my song here:
“Hello Boys and Girls! (repeat)
My name is Mrs. Todd (Your name is Mrs. Todd)
Mrs. Todd, Mrs. Todd (repeat)
And I’m your teacher today (And you’re our teacher today)
Lucky me, Lucky me (repeat)
Lucky you, Lucky you (repeat)”
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI missed my presentation, but I chose my favorite piece from my portfolio to share with you guys, enjoy!
Oliver Jeffers is the author and illustrator of many picture books that can be appealing to children of all ages and adults. In all his storybooks, he uses soft watercolors to display vivid, whimsical and capturing pictures while still maintaining a clean feel throughout his pictures. Oliver Jeffers’ stories create suspense, determination and adventure for his readers. In all his books, he provides the opportunity for his readers to be imaginative and to be their own owners of the story. However in the end he is able to display a powerful message in a gentle and lasting way.
I chose Oliver Jeffers’ books for my book talk due to his: beautifully drawn pictures, exploration of hope and uplifting endings. I feel his stories and pictures can be appealing to any age and be appreciated by any reader. His books are fun, imaginative and insightful. Hence, I feel his books would be appropriate for any grade level were the story telling can be followed with many different kinds of Language Art exercises that is dependent upon the age level.
Some Activities:
1. Have children fold a piece of paper into three sections. Then have them wright down in the first column: What they enjoy doing, in the second column: What makes them sad and in the third column: What do they do when they are sad. The children can share their list with two-three other students to better understand one another and to learn how their peers deal with their sadness.
2. The teacher can stop in the middle of the book, where the little girl gives up on finding a solution to getting her heart back. The children can then go back to their seats and think of a way to help the girl get her heart back by writing down their solution that can later be supplemented by a picture.
3. At the end of the story, the class can make a “Bucket List”, where each student writes something nice about each one of their peers in their class.
Books:
Jeffers, O. (2010). The Heart and the Bottle.Great Britian: HarperCollins Children Books.
Jeffers, O. (2005). How to Catch a Star. Great Britian: HarperCollins Children Books.
Jeffers, O. (2005). Lost and Found. Great Britian: HarperCollins Children Books.