My experience with the grade 5’s was a unique one. The students were working on a project where they created simple machines out of art and recycled materials. I wish I would have had a chance to see more of the students work process but it was great to connect with them about what they had created! I was also able to get a copy of the teachers handouts and ask questions about the process since this assignment took much more time then the time I spent in the classroom.
The Assignment:
The students were asked to create a park using their knowledge of simple machines. The requirement was for the students to include all 6 of the simple machines they had learned in class.
Part 1: Planning
Students started out by planning their blueprints.
The students started by deciding how they wanted to include each simple machine in their park and wrote down their plans using this simple graphic organizer.
By having students first write out their plans the students are learning to brainstorm before they start doing. This will help students to have a higher quality end product and ensure they are meeting all the criteria.
This style of brainstorming is especially beneficially to Auditory learners who like to hear and talk through their plans using words.
The students were also asked to draw out their planning and have the teacher sign off on the blue prints before building could begin.
By having students draw out their plans the teacher could ensure that all the students are on the right track. This would be a great time to incorporate extra lessons or support if students were not ready to move forward on this content.
This type of planning is especially beneficial to Visual learners who like to see their plans
By having all students do both types of planning the teacher is able to have students experience different types of learning. At this stage most children do not know their learning style, or their learning style may still change.
Part 2: Building
Next the students built their planned parks. I was amazed by the creativity these children had bringing their ideas to life! Most of the students told me they had a lot of fun doing this part of the assignment, one kid even said “it was nice to get a break from school work” but this was school work my friend!!! Take a look at their creations:
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Part 3: The Write Up
After creating their works of arts the students wrote a description of their park and what each of their simple machines does. The goal of this write up was to be advertisement to try to get people to come to their water park.
*** all links for both subjects are made to the grade 5 curriculum
Core Competency:
Creative Thinking: I get ideas that are new to my peers. My creative ideas are often a form of self-expression for me. I have deliberate strategies for quieting my conscious mind (e.g., walking away for a while, doing something relaxing, being deliberately playful), so that I can be more creative. I use my experiences with various steps and attempts to direct my future work.
(Students demonstrated this competency by trying and using different materials in creative ways to create their simple machines)
Big Ideas:
Using language in creative and playful ways helps us understand how language works. (ELA: students attempted to use language in creative and playful ways to try to get people to come to their park)
Works of art influence and are influenced by the world around us. (Arts Education: Student’s created art that was inspired by simple machines)
Curricular Competencies:
Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding (ELA: students worked in groups to create their simple machines)
Use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create texts for a variety of purposes and audiences (ELA: Students worked on design process by first creating a blueprint, a rough copy of the write up and then the final types version)
Co-operatively design projects (science)
Transfer and apply learning to new situations (Science: Students applied what they knew about simple machines to create a water park)
Intentionally select artistic elements, processes, materials, tools, techniques, and environments to express meaning in their work (Arts Education)
Content:
writing process (ELA: students worked on planning before they started writing)
processes, materials, technologies, tools and techniques to support creative works (Arts Education)
Reflection:
What I learned from this teacher is that you can fit so much curriculum into one assignment! My concern with implementing something like this into my class would be how much time you need to put aside for one project but by writing all these curriculum connections I realize how much students can learn from these large creative assignments. I also saw how being engaged allowed the students to share so much information with me when I asked them about their project. Students really do learn so much more when they are excited about the material. My goal as a teacher is to find ways to include student passion and excitement into my students learning. I have seen first hand how much students benefit from this careful planning and creativity!!!
I was first introduced to the Hunger Games series by my grade 6 homeroom, science, technology and math teacher. Every day during lunch hour he would play the audio book for the class while we ate our lunch. The class LOVED the book and was always so excited to listen to what came next.
What I think was so special about this experience is that I was not reading the book alone. I had my peers in the class to talk to about what was happening, what we think will happen next and which characters we love. I was a very shy student in middle school so having a topic that I could connect with my peers over was really big for my social skills. When talking about the book I was more excited then nervous and I began to come out of my shell and make new friends.
The nice thing about this book is that after we listened to the first one I just had to finish the series. (Something I am 100% sure was my teachers plan. He seemed to have been sneaky enough to “trick” me and others in the class into reading.)
After the class finished the first book I remember begging my mom to take me to the library so I could read the secound book. Less then a week later I was ready for the third book. This was my first time being truly excited to get the next book in the series and the start of my crazy binge reading!
A Good Book Sticks With You:
This summer I picked up the prequel of this series to read for nostalgia. The reading level was very easy and the content a little dark and gorier then I normally choose but when I read the book I remembered the connection I had to the rest of the series and I really enjoyed reading it. I think any book you can make an emotional connection with is so important and such great motivation to keep reading! This book is the reason I will work so hard to make reading an experience for my students rather then just a chore. I plan to do this by decorating my classroom to match the theme of the book. Dressing up as characters and cross connecting with drama so students can step into a role!
The Significance of Finding that One Book:
When a student finds there one book that changes everything they change their entire perspective of reading. As a teacher if we can help a student make a connection with a good book we are teaching them the required curriculum.
*** These curriculum links come from the grade 6 English language Arts BC curriculum, the idea however can be shared among all readers
Big Ideas:
Language andĀ textĀ can be a source of creativity and joy. (Reading is FUN! Students should be given support and time to find books that make reading fun for them!)
Curricular Competencies:
Recognize and appreciate howĀ different features, forms, and genres of textsĀ reflect various purposes, audiences, and messages (By expressing why they love a book students are appreciating the message and purpose behind the books they enjoy.)
Content:
reading strategies (the more we love the book, the more we read, the more we learn.)
A running record is a pre made observation sheet that a teacher uses to assess a students reading process. When observing student reading using a running record a teacher is listening to the student read and is watching to count errors, self correction and accuracy rates.
Photo taken from The Literacy Garden Blog- Check out her blog!!!
” Thebest information [from running records] came from analyzing the different reading behaviors of the student. The recording form let me notice which reading strategies they were using. I documented what a child did when they came across a word they were unsure of. I circled if they blew through punctuation marks. I wrote notes about if they read fluently or were choppy. Did they read with expression or sound like a robot?” (Alison- The Literacy Garden Blog)
Samples:
This is a sample of how a teacher suggests to mark your running record.
This picture was taken from Pinterest and is credited to Carla Fedeler
I like that Carla included codes for reading process as well as for student errors. Tracking when a student is self-correcting, re reading sentences and problem solving will help you know which strategies your student likes to use to learn to read. This is great information to collect so you can support those strategies and begin to teach them new ones if needed.
This is an example of what a completed running record may look like.
In this sample the students were given a short passage to read. Every check represents a word read correctly. Simple codes are used to mark student errors so the teacher knows exactly when and how the student made a mistake in the passage and how the student tried to work through the blockage.
Why a Running Record?
A running record is a great assessment strategy because it gives students one on one time with the teacher. This is a great way for a teacher to get to know their students. A running record also provides simple and clear records of student growth. A teacher can show these records to a parent to demonstrate how reading errors are reducing over time. A running record is a great tool to use to decide what your students are ready to learn next, or if additional support may be required for striving students.
Grade 3 BC Curriculum Connections:
Content:
reading strategies (When a teacher is observing the students using a running record the teacher is observing which reading strategies the student uses. From this information a teacher can then teach new strategies to ensure students have a chance to try multiple strategies to see what works for them!)
Curricular Competencies:
read fluently at grade level (A running record tracks if students are meeting this competency and more importantly the growth the student is making within this competency)
Use developmentally appropriate reading, listening, and viewing strategies to make meaning (students are demonstrating this competency in a running record and the teacher is able to track the strategies the student is using)
When To Use A Running Record?:
A running record requires one on one time with a student. A great way to make this time is to do literacy stations! Students can rotate through different stations they can run independently and the teacher can have a running record station where students work one on one with the teacher.
How I would use A Running Record:
My goal would be to get at least 3 records per student by the end of the year. I think it is really important to use this tool to track growth as well as current reading abilities and decoding strategies. I would have a literacy stations week to implement this tool. The week prior I would explain all the stations so students understand exactly what is expected of them prior to literacy station week. I would put students in groups of 5, this would require approximately 5 stations depending on class size. The teacher station will be a read to self station. Students will read to themselves and I will pull out 1 student per day per group to do a running record. By the end of the week all 5 students from every group will have been assessed. Some ideas I have for other stations are:
word matching game (print out a list of words on individual cue cards, students will flip over two cards, if the words match they get to keep the cards otherwise they flip them back over and their partner gets a turn)
I would be most likely to use running records with the entire class in grades 1-4. I may use running records on a case by case bases if a student required extra reading support in grade 5-8, a great example I could think of for this is a new ESL student who may not have learned about reading strategies and may be at a lower reading level because English is not the language they learned to read in.
“Under the K-12 Student Reporting Policy, students in all grades, from Kindergarten to Grade 12, will receive a minimum of five communications on student learning throughout the school year ā four Learning Updates throughout the year and one Summary of Learning at the end of the year.” (BC K-12 Student reporting policy) pg. 50
I believe it is important to give parents communication throughout the year because it ensures there are no surprises. Parents should be in enough contact with the teacher that they have a general understanding of how their student is doing in school. Reporting 5 times throughout the year also celebrates growth. If parents only received a final report card they may not be able to see how much their student has progressed throughout the year.
Proficiency Scale:
(Page 27) The proficiency scale is used in BC from grades K-9 to report student learning in all subject areas. I appreciate that the each level on the scale has specific terms for suggested use in reporting. By having standard terms it assures everyone is on the same page and using consistent language.
Emerging language:
Is beginning toā¦ ā¢ Is working to be able toā¦ ā¢ Needs toā¦ ā¢ Moving forward, the goal is toā¦
Developing language:
Is almost able toā¦ ā¢ Is working onā¦ ā¢ Continues toā¦ ā¢ Moving forward, needs to continue toā¦
Proficient Language:
Is able toā¦ ā¢ Canā¦ ā¢ Is ready to move on toā¦ ā¢ Moving forward, they couldā¦
Extending Language:
Is creatively able toā¦ ā¢ In a unique way canā¦ ā¢ Can continue toā¦ ā¢ Moving forward, their goal will beā¦
Sample Report Card Comment:
*** Note this report card comment is not for a real student. All names and comments are made up for the example
Martha Jones is Developing in English Language Arts at the end of Term 2 of Grade 3. We have been working on identifying story elements within picture books. Martha has taken a great liking to the Story The Paper Bag Princess. I am amazed by her curiosity and risk taking in class. Martha is working on identifying the conflict of a story. Moving forward, she could draw out the conflict before trying to describe the conflict orally. Martha is creative and can use colour very nicely to connect to a story.
This week was week 1 of my first in-situ experience in EDCI 402. I was invited to observe and participate in a grade 6 classroom at the local elementary school. I really enjoyed how every piece of this teachers classroom was carefully considered and used to enhance the students learning.
The Classroom Library
The classroom teacher organized her books using large plastic bins labeled with homemade tags and sorted by genre. The bins were placed on the bottom 2 levels of her shelving around the front and right side of her classroom. The classroom teacher was kind enough to share the pros and cautions of her set up with me:
Pros
Students can find books similar to the last book they enjoyed by searching a specific genre
Everyone knows where the books go, this prevents books from ending up everywhere
The library had a large variety of types and levels of reading so everyone could find books they enjoy.
Cautions
Books will end up unsorted quickly if not maintained. The teacher addressed this by making “librarian” a classroom job
Paragraphing:
There is a series of poster’s on one wall of the classroom that teaches students paragraphing. This poster can be used to teach students to form a united paragraph.
Select and use appropriate features, forms, and genres according to audience, purpose, and message
Writing Process:
There is a series of posters on another wall in the classroom that teach writing process. This poster can be used to teach the writing process and teach students how to edit and revise.
Assess and refine texts to improve their clarity, effectiveness, and impact according to purpose, audience, and message
Use an increasing repertoire of conventions of Canadian spelling, grammar, and punctuation
Word Wall:
This classroom had a ice cream word all of words to use to strengthen student writing. The word on the bottom was a simple word and then each ice cream scoop was a word from the thesaurus that students could use instead. Take a look:
BC Curriculum Links: Grade 6 ELA
Content:
language varieties: regional dialects and varieties of English, standard Canadian English versus American English, formal versus informal registers, and situational varieties
sentence structure and grammar: varied sentence structure, pronoun use, subject-verb agreement, use of transitional words, awareness of run-on sentences and sentence fragments
Curricular Competencies:
Assess and refine texts to improve their clarity, effectiveness, and impact according to purpose, audience, and message
Brainstorming Time:
Something I noticed the classroom teacher did to promote literacy is brainstorm as a class prior to asking students to create work. For this example the students were working on writing a persuasive ad to sell a product they created.
Benefits:
The white board can easily be erased and added to as students increase their vocabulary
Students will produce higher quality work because the teacher took the time to get the ball rolling on student work
Students will be more willing to risk using new words if the teacher introduces the word
The students feel ownership over this work because they created it with the teacher
My Classroom: Grades 1-4
When I have my own classroom something I really want to include is a space for the students to read that is not their desk. I believe a change in scenery can be very beneficial in promoting reading.
I would want to include lots of pillows that students could sit on. Using portable pillows allows students to move to a setting they choose. This choice allows students some autonomy over their own learning.
I would implement the pillows with a procedure that says 1 student per pillow. Pillows are used only for independent reading time. Pillows can be moved anywhere in the classroom but they need to be put back.
Having a special material only for reading time will add excitement and student choice.
This week in class we check out SD5 DESIGN LAB and boy was it AMAZING! The district does such a great job of cultivating resources to engage our students and give them opportunities I could have only DREAMED of when I was in school.
PROS
students engage with technology they may not otherwise have a chance to use
students collaborate to problem solve
practicum teachers are welcomed
design lab tries out technology to see how it can be incorporated in a classroom
great resources to help the teacher create and teach a lesson plan if they don’t have much experience with technology
design lab books up early, be prepared to plan this months in advance to get a spot
students have varying level of technology expertise, how can you work to ensure every student is included?
funding needed to get students to the design lab (buses)
Something that stood out to me from the design lab was the tools for attaching cardboard together. I thought this could be a fun low tech project for younger grades to introduce them into technology.
Students would work in groups to create a house using any products they can find (great practice for students to be resourceful) and the given screws to hold challenging materials together. Students would be told to create the most sturdy house they can.
After creating the houses we would discuss what we think makes a building more or less sturdy. Create a list with the students hypothesis.
Students will then place their projects on the earth quake simulator to see how their building holds up.
After discuss the results. Ask the students again what makes a building sturdy.
Create larger groups and conduct another experiment with students using there new knowledge on how to make a building sturdy. See if the students new projects last longer on the earthquake simulator.
Children get bored. As educatorās it is imperative to our students success that we find ways to keep children engaged and excited about learning.
Icebreakers are an excellent way to break up long lessons in a class and redirect students when they are starting to get side tracked. As a teacher how are you suppose to know when your students will need a Brain Break?
Purpose: This blog was a way to use class time to create a virtual resource binder so I can efficiently flip through my work and find the perfect ice breaker to fit my students needs.
Materials: Choosing more ice breaks that do not require any set up is how I managed to collect a video of instant classroom activities
Benefits: Students learn to regulate their learning to avoid getting overwhelmed. These activities are a great way to teach students to ask for breaks. Each Icebreaker also fits into different aspects of student learning so students can remain on task while still getting up and letting loose.
Ms. Johnson’s Virtual Resource Binder
Find the Activities below for an in depth how to teach: All linked on this blog
This first ice breaker is a FUN CHALLENGE to do with your students! The purpose of this activity is to have the students work together to untangle themselves!!!!
Adaptions:
challenge the students to complete this task without talking! This is a great way to practice nonverbal communication
have two smaller circle of students and see which group gets untangled first
have one student volunteer to be the leader. Only that student can talk, everyone else must use nonverbal ques and follow the direction of the student leader. After 30 seconds call switch and the student directly to the left of the leader becomes the new leader and only they can talk. This is a great way to allow students to practice taking charge and work on following directions from a fellow classmate! Give every student a chance to lead!!!!
Ensure students know it is not a competition within their group. They are working as a team! At the end of the activity ask each group to share how many words it took the ENTIRE group to guess every object in the bag! No singling kids out!
Randomize the groups so students are working with students they may not normally team up with! Consider drawing straws or rolling a dice so the kids know the groups are 100% random.
Pick objects you know the students will be comfortable describing.
Adaptions of the senses:
**** See: have the students act out objects instead of describing them
*** Touch: have the students blindfolded and guess by using their hands to feel the object. Consider weight and texture
** Smell/taste: Use food items and have the students blindly smell and taste the object to try to guess what it is. Try using a candy with many flavors and then the students can guess which flavor it is!
COMBINE THESE ACTIVITIES FOR ULTIMATE GUESS THAT OBJECT
The first student in the group pulls an object from the bag and verbally describes it to the second student in the team
Once the second student guesses the object they are passed the bag with just the teams object in it. The second person then assists the third person in the team on guessing what the object is while blindfolded. The students can not talk to each other so they need to touch the object to guess what it is!
Once the third student guesses the object correctly they can take off the blindfold. They will then assist the last person in the team on guessing the object using taste! (Use a new piece of the food item that entire group has not been touching to reduce germs but make sure it is the same product everyone else guessed!)
You can have multiple groups in the classroom doing this relay activity and the first to have every station finished wins!
Students will all walk around the room reciting the alphabet as a group until the teacher yells STOP. (quite yell please there are other classes learning beside you)
All the students will gather in a circle repeating the letter we stopped on until everyone is in the circle.
Once in a circle the students will answer the first question written on the board: What is your favorite animal but the answer must start with the letter we stopped on. Use describing words to achieve this, ie: little rabbits for L if the students favorite animal is a rabbit.
Continue playing for the next 4 questions:
What is your favorite sport/activity?
What is your favorite colour?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
What is one thing that scares you?
NAME AEROBICS:
This next ice breaker is a fun activity for younger students who are just learning the alphabet but feel comfortable spelling their own name!!!
created on canva
This game is an excellent way to have students work on the alphabet while also learning the names of fellow classmates! The silly actions are a FUN way to help students REMEMBER and having the students repeat each letter is a great way to PRACTICE saying letters of the alphabit
ADAPTIONS:
instead of saying their names students could say a phrase answering a morning prompt like “what did you do this weekend?” for each SYLLABLE the students would create a new action. This is a fun way to practice breaking short sentences into syllables!!! GO SKI ING (this student would have 3 actions)
Instead of doing an action the students could say one descriptive word for each letter in their name! C (caring) A (attractive) S (silly) S (sassy) I (independent) D (daring) Y (yeller)
******* for the second adaption I would recommend limiting the students to 4 letters and have them just say the other letters in the name to save time
******* consider allowing the students 1 pass if they get stuck on a letter. Maybe ask them to tell you what they come up with by the end of the day!
These ice breakers could be an excellent way to dive into a literacy activity for the day by warming the students up and having some fun!
Credits:
I adapted these ice breakers to make them fit my needs but check out these awesome resources for plenty of other fun ice breakers!
Today we explored prodigy as a classroom tool for teaching math. Prodigy is on online game intended to make learning fun! Students create characters in the game and explore the world by battling creatures and completing tasks. Prodigy can be used for Math or English but I have been playing to learn math so that will be the focus for today!
sample in game question
BATTLING in the game is done by answering math questions! If you get the answer correct your attack is successful and the opponent loses damage. If you get the answer wrong your attack misses. If a student is continuously getting questions wrong then the algorithm adjusts the questions to their knowledge level to ensure every student is learning!
my character attacking in the game.
ATTACKING in the game does damage to the opponent. The goal is for the opponent to lose all their health points before you to win. If you win you collect starts, new attacks and level up your characters!
completed quest screen in prodigy, take note of my characters there are so many to collect!
QUESTS can be completed in the game to earn more points and level up! As you continue to complete quests you also get chances to “catch” more creatures to add to your team. As you can see I already have Snowfluff and Rukus!
I found prodigy to be a lot of fun to play! By creating a STORYLINE to the game and QUESTS to complete I was eager to keep playing to grow more levels! This is a great MOTIVATION for students who may otherwise not engage in a math class! The game is super adaptable by the teacher to ensure students are sticking to the LEARNING OBJECTIVES. The teacher is able to set grade level and check the progress of the students. They can see who is playing, when they are playing and how they are doing within the game. The teacher can access statistics on which questions students tend to get wrong. For example if they notice students are getting 60% of the questions on division wrong the teacher will know to focus on division in the classroom!
PROS
engages students
adapts questions based off of student skill level
tracks student results for the teacher
addictive (I wanted to keep playing)
in game tools for drawing out the math problem- inclusive to lots of math strategies
fun
can continue learning at home
CONS
reward based learning, how will students react without getting points for correct answers (how to keep them motivated)
easy to cheat with access to a computer!
addictive (I wanted to keep playing instead of doing work)
requires access to technology for every student
Please check out my Screencastify for some live action game play!!!
