E-books and E-readers in the K-5 Classroom

Ideas and resources for using e-books in the elementary classroom. Strategies to help your students be effective close readers whether they are using Kindles, Nooks, iPads or traditional books. Check out this link for a pinterest page full of resources.




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POST-IT STICKY NOTE DESIGNS - Math Lessons

I will be using this with my Grade 3/4s when we do perimeter and patterns. True, it is a lot of "paper waste" but I think this type of hands on learning is perfect for my class. And I can def. reuse the stickies after =)



Have you used post-it notes for a creative math lesson yet?! (See post from 2012 about post-it math art). They're a fantastic tool to introduce the concept of area and reinforce perimeter. For this lesson, students used 25 or less post-it notes. We made a prediction: Do different shapes that have the same area have the same perimeter? Working in groups of 4, students mapped out their design on 1-inch graph paper and figured out the area and perimeter of their shape. Then, they found a blank wall to construct it! Click here for more math/art projects!


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11 Vocab Review Games to Make the Learning Stick

Here are 11 classroom games with free downloadable reproducibles perfect for practicing new vocabulary or test facts. Hope you find them useful! 

• Oranges to Oranges: Quick, define "chimerical"! Based on the popular game Apples to Apples, this is a great way to practice and expand on weekly vocab words or terms from your latest unit.
  
• Fun With Synonyms: Guess That Word: Can your students guess a word by its synonym? They can after playing this game! Having students create the cards—researching the synonyms—is an important part of the learning too!
  
• Vocab-Categories: Just like with Scattergories, kids have to think and use vocab words creatively to win the game. The download includes letter cut-outs, vocab-category lists and make-your-own list cards.
  
  
• Vocabulary Land Game Board: This is one of my favorites—I loved creating this board game! If you have access to a laminator, print and laminate 8 to 10 boards for your classroom and use dry-erase markers. Instant classroom game or language arts station!
  
• You're on a Roll Dice Game: This game gives students the chance to improve their vocabulary skills while playing with their friends.
  
• Vocabulary Checkers: To move checkers on the board, players must use the vocabulary word in the square correctly in a sentence. Challenge students to build on one another's sentences to tell a quick story or to make up the silliest sentences that they can.
  
• Bracket Battles Vocabulary Game: With bracket battles, the best word always wins. Students have to sort the words into parts of speech to play. So you sneak in a little categorization practice at the same time!
  
  

• Bingo Vocabulary Game: Admit it, everyone secretly loves bingo. Now your students can play while simultaneously enhancing their vocabulary skills. Give away new pencils as the prize and maybe your students will finally give up those tiny stubby ones.
  
  
• Color Your Vocabulary Activity: Challenge students to creatively use their vocabulary words to label pictures. It's harder than it looks!
  
  

• Picabulary Vocabulary Game: Divided into teams, students have to creatively draw out vocabulary word meanings for their teammates to guess. Chances are, they are going to make you draw too. Be forewarned!
  
  
• Think-Tac-Toe: To execute their tic-tac-toe strategy (three in a row), students must complete the vocabulary activity within each square. Two students (or two halves of the class) can take turns choosing squares. If it ends in a draw, that means you snuck in more vocab practice!
  

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Poetry Tools Sheet

5 Ways to assess students writing progress

This is from the sixth post in the Teaching Young Writers blog series sponsored by Zaner-Bloser's Strategies for Writers. You can see the previous post on 5 Peer Revision Strategies.

1. X Marks the Spot
   Too often we teachers grade papers as if we are preparing a manuscript for publication. We proofread, line-edit and rewrite. Stop now. Refrain from spending all of your time writing long comments on your students' papers. A piece of writing filled with comments and proofreading marks can cause students to feel overwhelmed and bewildered. The goal is for your students to slowly gain writing skills and confidence, not to feel discouraged and negative about writing. Instead, focus on the content of the paper. When you see a grammar mistake or a spelling error, simply put a small x next to it. Let your students problem-solve what needs to be corrected. They figure out the mistakes marked with an x and enter their corrections in the margin. This will cut back your time and help students grow as writers and assess their own work. Save the proofreading marks for your students to do on their own writing, as well as on their peers'papers.
   
   
   
2. Write an End Comment
   Save your comments for the end of your students' writing. Your comment should include at least one strength. Then, it can point out a problem that the student needs to improve. Finally, it should end with suggestions for the student's next step in the writing process. Students can take your recommendations to assess their writing and set goals to continue their progress.
   
   
   
3. Address Common Errors Together
   If you notice that many of your students are inserting semicolons willy-nilly or skimping on the textual evidence, rather than writing this note over and over on each student's composition, do a mini-lesson (or three) with the class. By having a class discussion, students will all receive the same comment you would have written on many papers in one simple whole-group conference.
   
   
   
4. Use a Rubric
   Using a rubric to assess students' writing is a great way to see exactly what students are grasping and and what they're struggling with. Teachers can find premade rubrics or create their own on iRubric. This is my favorite site for creating and adapting rubrics, and it's free! What makes rubrics efficient is that teachers can circle and add notes to each category. Then, they quickly calculate the score. Rubrics help teachers pinpoint exactly what the student needs help with or where the student needs more of a challenge.
   



5. Incorporate Student Reflection
   Rather than viewing assessment as something only teachers do, have students complete a self-assessment. Encourage students to assess their own strengths and needs in their writing. An easy way to motivate students to evaluate their own writing progress is to create a rating scale. The rating scale could be in a traffic light format (red, yellow, green). Students color in the circle to describe their level of understanding: Red = I don't understand, Yellow = I'm starting to get it and Green = I got it! After they assess themselves, have your students create goals for themselves. By doing so, you will get an insight into what your student is thinking and feeling, which will make the ongoing assessment process a lot easier and more efficient!
   

Looking for more? Nine free Strategies for Writers lesson plans complete with teacher and student pages!

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Monday Quotes....

Keep cellphones out of bedrooms!

It’s an attention-grabbing poster – a teenager girl, typing her on her phone at night, with a text bubble lifting up her skirt. But the Coquitlam-based Children of the Street Society say their “Hooked” campaign, meant to convince parents to ban smartphones from their children’s bedrooms at night, is grounded in education.

Source: http://globalnews.ca/news/1778928/coquitlam-organization-wants-cellphones-out-of-kids-bedrooms-at-night/