Hamlet Character Webs

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Educational Activities for Popcorn Month

October is popcorn month. I love popcorn, especially movie theatre popcorn.... but there are some amazing ways to use popcorn in the classroom. As a TTOC this is a sure way to be memorable (but still educational) Similarly, I have used candy hearts as BINGO markers on Valentines day and other food items for learning.

This awesome site posted this:

• Use kernels for an estimation activity.  FirstGradeParade posted this and included cute little autumn-themed, printable cards for students to estimate how many popcorn kernels will fit on it.  After they estimate, they count the kernels to see how close their guess was.
• Have students describe popcorn using as many adjectives that come to mind.  Here is Room-Mom101's take on BabblingAbby's adjective activity.
• Challenge students to create a box that holds the most popcorn.  Fawnnguyen did this activity for sixth-graders studying volume.
• Make a popcorn book club discussion.  This is also an idea from FirstGradeParade, complete with printable discussion-starters.  Students discuss their books and eat popcorn.
• Create popcorn writing by crumpling up popcorn-shaped papers with characters and settings written on them.  Students randomly choose the papers and write a story using the elements written on their papers.  This comes from ApplestoApplique and is similar to my Build-A-Story activity, but with a popcorn theme!

5 Apps for connecting with Parents

I previously shared '5 apps that really engage parents' but with school underway, I wanted to re-share these ideas for teacher's in classrooms that have to start thinking about Meet the Teacher night and parent teacher interviews also.

1. Skype: Skype for computer, smart phones and tablets lets parents join in classroom events like story time and special presentations without having to be physically present. Even military parents overseas and grandparents who live far away are taking advantage of the Skype platform to read to students and participate in celebrations. Creative teachers ask students to find the parent’s/grandparent’s location on a map and ask a few questions to learn about the local geography, landmarks and culture. Skype can also be helpful as a way for working parents to attend parent-teacher conferences.
2. Twitter: Whether it is class homework updates, project deadlines, school news or dinnertime conversation starters, teachers are taking advantage of Twitter’s free tool and keeping parents up to date and involved in classroom happenings. In a day-in-age where most parents have cell phones, Fast Follow by Twitter becomes a simple and reliable alert system. To use it, all you need to do is setup a Twitter account and ask parents (and older students) to text Twitter’s shortcode of 40404 with the message “follow [your Twitter username].” From there, parents will start receiving all of your updates via text message in real-time.
3. VolunteerSpot: Get more parents involved in the classroom by streamlining how you ask for help and making it easier for parents to sign up to help. VolunteerSpot replaces paper signup sheets, reply-all email chains and backpack Pony Express. Simple online signups from smartphones, tablets or computers make it easy for class parents to choose a spot that fits their schedule or to send food or supplies for special events; auto reminders and calendar syncing help parents keep their commitments. Quickly organize parents to read to the class, help in the lunchroom or at recess, attend parent-teacher conferences, and help with class parties, field trips and performances.
4. Pinterest: A virtual vision board for classroom inspiration, Pinterest offers a great way for teachers and parents to build community and share ideas. Invite class parents to create and share pinboards with links to age-appropriate themes and ideas including educational boards like fun math apps, favorite books, vocabulary games, and science fair ideas – student-centric boards like recess games, scholarships and prom fashions – and boards geared towards parents such as healthy snack and lunch ideas, afterschool sports resources, and class party ideas.
5. Edublogs: A free, safe blogging platform for teachers, students and school communities, Edublogs lets you easily create and manage student and classroom blogs that keep parents up-to-date on class happenings and give students a safe portfolio for sharing their work with parents and extended family (via password-protected blogs). Post a few times a week adding videos, photos, links to volunteer signup sheets and educational resources – parents will enjoy your current content and feel more informed and connected to the classroom.

Source: http://www.weareteachers.com/community/blogs/weareteachersblog/blog-wat/2013/05/30/5-apps-that-engage-parents-in-the-classroom

Social Media Icebreakers - Age Appropriate

We Are Teachers has some social media icebreakers for back to school. You could also do some of these as a TTOC (sub) since most do not actually use social media or technology (the rules vary in districts) but the ideas from them. These ideas were in response to a 5th grade teacher looking to use social media ideas in the classroom.

1. Talk about digital footprints by having students trace the bottoms of their shoes on pieces of papers. Then, with pencil and Sharpie, have them draw the lines they see on the bottoms of their shoes. Scan their footprints into the computer and have kids add text around their illustrations describing what it means to be a good digital citizen. —Rachel O.
2. Create a "Fifthbook" bulletin board display where students can routinely add "status updates" about what they are learning. Begin by having them fill out predeisgned templates that are similar to a Facebook bio. Then, throughout the year, have students add their mood, feelings and other updates. —Tabitha F.
3. Try having students fill out a Facebook profile for a character from a summer reading book. You can do it via pencil and paper or online. Then have kids choose their next book based on their classmates' recommendations. —Dominick D.
   
   *** I did this when I taught Grade 9 with A Mid Summer Night's Dream: You can see it here
4. Have you tried Edmodo? It's a great social media platform that's completely safe for students as young as kindergarten. It does a nice job of mimicking the experience of grownup sites like Facebook and Instagram. You can have students fill out their profiles and share them as an icebreaker activity. —Karen L.
   
   ***My daughter's teacher used this
5. Have each student write down three statements about themselves. One of the statements must be false. Then have the children share their statements with the class, challenging the other students to guess which statement is incorrect. It's a nice way to get to know one another AND talk about how easy it is to lie on the Internet! —Francis K.
6. Try making a giant paper iPad with an app space for every student. It's up to the student to fill that space and keep it updated throughout the year. —Brandy G.
7. Make a "Futurebook" bulletin board display. Challenge students to write and illustrate Facebook profiles showing their future careers, hobbies, pets and families. It's a great way to talk about goal setting! —Sabrina K.

Sign Up Genius

Learned about this Sunday during #21stedchat

signupgenius.com

A neat way to organize volunteers, schedules, etc. A great way to set up parent teacher interviews, class volunteers and jobs, donations, parties, fundraisers and pretty much anything!

Build Your Wild Self Website

I really love the site Build Your Wild Self. The site allows you customize a person by using many different animal parts as you can see in the image above. It is simple to use and FREE. What a neat way to use technology and creativity.... Here is an example of student work:

Via Tech Tailgate

Next School Year....

It is linky party time with http://joyin6th.blogspot.ca/

Linky party means you participate with other bloggy-teachers and link up to each other's blogs.. it's a nice way to discover other education blogs and share ideas.

If you want to participate go here: http://joyin6th.blogspot.ca/2013/05/what-will-you-do-differently-my-first.html

Now, Next school year, I am definitely going to.....

• put aside some "me" time.
• do more PBL - it's worked so well this year.
• take some Pro D that is new and exciting for me - try something new.
• Buy travel crates to keep everything filed and organized, instead of just putting it all into one bin that needs sorting at the end of the year.
• Take time each day to connect with a student I don't usually hear from.

How about you?

April Currently...

I

Listening: to 80s music.
I made the mistake of asking "where is our ghetto blaster?" today to my Grade 8 class on our first day back to school. They laughed at me and I realized, it isn't called a ghetto blaster anymore. I said, "So what do you call it?" they laughed some more... "a stereo?!?!" This is the first time in a long time that I felt really old. But it was a funny moment. I love 80s music, blasting on my ghetto blaster - so what?

Loving: the weather.
We had the most amazing weather over Easter long weekend. It was a perfect way to wrap up Spring Break, spend Easter and celebrate my daughters 10th birthday. Fabulous sunshine!

Thinking: About our new units at school.
Touching Spirit Bear novel study and Castle Building projects. I am really excited about both units because I have some fun activities planned to make them more engaging and fun for the students.

Wanting: A massage.
I am feeling a lot of stress in my neck and slept funny last night so my shoulder is sore.

Needing: A massage? ha ha I don't know if that is a need or a want at the moment. I also need to get more sleep. Isn't that always my need every month ha ha!

Advice:  Hmmm... Work-Life Balance.
After some R & R over Spring Break, I am appreciating being back to work, but taking it easy and trying to have better time management and learn to say "NO" sometimes. I think as educators we take on too much, too often, and need to set aside time to relax. I have started to take longer walks with my puppy and family, play candy crush to unwind, and delegate/pass on tasks and say no when I simply can't do it all.


If you read my blog regularily you will know I have started to participate in this monthly "CURRENTLY" blog post that originates from Farley's awesome blog here.

Website: Instant Classroom

Another cool site someone showed me... You can add your class list and it will generate seating plans, groups, class lists and more. I haven't played around with it much yet, but it is free and could be great for classroom teachers and TTOCs to quickly create random groupings or draw a random name for a job or to present first etc.

http://www.superteachertools.com/instantclassroom/

Cool Site: Storyline Online

http://www.storylineonline.net/ is a cool website I quite love. It features famous and well-known actors reading stories such as Harry the Dirty Dog read by Betty White, Me and My Cat read by Elijah Wood.

It is free, it is fun, and something you can do to change things up as a TTOC or in your own classroom.

Cool Site: Spelling City

Spelling City allows teachers to upload weekly spelling lists — Awesome, I know! — for free!!!
1. this allows parents/students quick access to words at home
2. this creates a wonderful opportunity for independent practice
3. this website can be used for a center activity
4. this gives no excuses for students who “forgot their list at school”
5. this provides games at your fingertips (which you did not have to create!)
6. this gives substitutes an easy way to create a spelling/language arts center 

Check this out:

 

Teacher's Hall Pass

Found this cool blog post on some teacher blogs I follow and decided to participate.... HALL PASS for teachers....

Product
I love my SMARTboard in my class. It allows me to experiment with so many interactive lessons.

Area
Right now it is the "nobility table" We are doing "The Feudal Games" and each student has a role in the system. The king and queen have a large table in the corner of class where they can oversee everyone and it is near the teachers desk so it is nice.

Signal
Right now it is just a simple "regardez moi" then "ecoutez" because I teach them FSL (French) I like to use those commands throughout the day.

Sanity
Is it a cop out to say my prep block? Last block of the day is prep and it is often when I eat my lunch (finally) and update our class website with homework and copy tomorrow (or next weeks) handouts and create SMARTboard lessons and get organized. Also, the SEA in my class is amazing and keeps me sane, it is great having another adult in the room some of the day to work with.


VIA http://tunstalltimes.blogspot.ca/2013/02/hall-pass-linky.html

Online Math Games

I am looking for some new student friendly free websites for Math Games. My daughter is finishing Grade 3 and I want to ensure she has a fun way to practice over the summer.

Here are some I know of, please feel free to add a comment with any you like:

http://www.maths-games.org/times-tables-games.html

http://www.teachingtables.co.uk/


Also this site has some strategies and ideas to help understand how times tables work and ideas for memorizing them.

Action Schools! BC Resources for TTOCs

Action Schools! BC has a lot to offer teachers and some great things for TTOCs who wish to include some Daily Physical Activity or healthy lessons into their days with different classes.

The first cool thing I discovered was that they have established really cool activity Circuits for most schools in BC here. You can click your district, find a school, and load the map of the schools playground/field area for suggested activities/circuits to do with classes.

Besides that, they offer many FREE workshops. At the BCTF New Teacher's Conference, a rep told me they could do one for TTOCs and everyone gets some super handy supplies and lessons they can take with them into the classroom!
Their website has Tons of Resources including downloadable worksheets, handouts, posters, and activities about healthy eating, excersize, and more.

I always love the resources the schools have from Action Schools! BC - but was thrilled to see all the online resources and workshops available for teachers not attached to a school. I hope to book a workshop for our TTOCs next year!