#bethedifference Gingerbread Week

#bethedifference Gingerbread Week

Sepatuads.com   Desember 07, 2015   Comment  

The PERFECT Man

He's cute, he's sweet, 

and he doesn't get upset 

when you bite his head off.

Introducing, the Gingerbread Man!

Gingerbread week happens to be one of my favorite times of the school year.  Kids are engaged and eager to participate in learning activities centered around various ginger friends who always seems to be on the run!  

Today I'm writing to share with you some fun resources I found on The Mailbox Gold to enhance my instruction and boost reading engagement with my first graders.

I find engagement to be at it's height when teaching themes.  Setting the stage elicits excitement while meeting the standards.  This week, we will turn my classroom into a sugar sweet learning lab. The entrance includes yummy candy canes and lollipops that flank the classroom doors.  

Using pool noodles and decorative masking tape, you can create whimsical candy canes. For making lollipops and candy, you'll need pool noodles, pvc pipe, paper lanterns and saran wrap. These elements go a long way to providing the wow factor!  

Our winter wonderland wouldn't be complete without a little snow.  Living in Florida, we have to imagine what snow looks and feels like as we roast with temperatures in the 80s.  

To create the effect, my sister and I strung around 10 cotton balls on approximately 3 feet of fishing line. You'll need a needle and a glue stick to complete the task.  Once you have 10 cotton balls, you'll need to space them out in random widths.  Use a dab of glue by rubbing the stick on the areas where the balls are located.  A little glue goes a long way. Cotton won't need much to adhere to the line. 

The focus for this post is reading engagement.  Candy capers will elicit so much excitement. I prepared our reading matrix using delicious candy prints found on The Mailbox Gold.  The site provides blacklines of M&Ms, Gumdrops, Candy Canes, Peppermints and Hersey Kisses.  YUMMY! The matrix will become our instructional focus as we compare various texts of The Gingerbread Series.  Below is a sample of several PDFs available for download.  

Pre-typed comparisons are ready to be attached as we explore each book.  The kids will assist in recording various characters and outcomes on the white board.  At the end of the lesson, I will have my students adhere the pre-typed papers to the chart since the space is limited.  You can always facilitate the discussion to ensure the outcome essentials are provided and match the content in which you prepared in advance.  

One of the first activities we will complete includes a graphing activity.  I bought several packs of Little Debbie Snacks.  Goodness, the kids are excited and this eliminates baking stress on me.  The snacks are sitting on their desk when they arrive.  Their eyes are already glazed over and eager to figure out the direction of the lesson.  

I find completing this task first gives the kids the necessary schema for what gingerbread smells and taste like.  Surprising enough, I have over half my class that's never had a gingerbread cookie before. We often take for granted that our student know and understand the text.  Weaving in various content areas helps develop a deeper meaning.  Bring on a little math with graphing...

Also available on The Mailbox Gold are various gingerbread printables.  I found the different options to meet the various instructional needs.  I used the decorated gingerbread men for our retelling props. The large gingerbread men are programable and used for the matrix. The smaller gingerbread men are used for the graphing activity.  For a visual representation, I cut the gingerbread to match the recording sheet provided by The Mailbox Gold.

Using various comprehension pages from my freebie book companion, I follow up with the different stories using a variety of strategies.  This allows for me to informally check their understanding with a familiar format.  

This repetitive text provides students with confidence as they work on retelling and fluency. The Mailbox Gold provides visual retelling props used in the matrix and below on tongue depressors for use in our drama center.  

My niece helped me work through any challenges I may face in the week.  Madelyn just turned four and found the flaws in my printing, lol!  However, she did a remarkable job as I read the text and she reenacted the parts with the retelling sticks from The Mailbox Gold.  The puppet theater came from The Land of Nod and has been used in my classroom for five years.  

I find the kids ABSOLUTELY love this book and are eager to take the back seat to read while their partner is reenacting...

To build a purposeful theme, I want to weave the topic of gingerbread in each content area.   Tuesday will be full of excitement as I challenge the kids with a stem project.  We will be building a gingerbread house with gumdrops and toothpicks.  This will provide the kids with an understanding of the shapes needed to construct our own gingerbread playhouse for the classroom.  

Once we understand the foundation of a gingerbread house, we will construct one using a furniture box from a local store.  I'm assigning kids to work on various tasks when building our playhouse. My experts will create a few sentences sharing how they completed their task.  We will work to collectively combine their words into a shared "how-to" writing paper which will become a model for their independent papers at the conclusion of the week. The Keeper of the Cheerios has an outstanding visual blog post on how to create a cardboard gingerbread house.

By the end of the week, we will bake gingerbread cookies together, following the step by step directions on the Betty Crocker package.  This allows students to see the value of detailed instruction when teaching someone following your steps.

Our final task for the week will include decorating a gingerbread man while explaining how in their own paper.  This performance writing task will become a portfolio writing sample. 

This week is packed full of themed learning that is sure to make magical memories!  Don't let themes overwhelm you.  You certainly don't have to squeeze in everything.  I find going big builds excitement for learning so I typically do one large theme a month.  Best wishes to you and your littles as you navigate through the holidays!

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post!  I'm thrilled to share a surprise giveaway hosted by The Mailbox.  The Mailbox team has offered one of my readers a giveaway for a $100 Visa Gift Card. Please check this post on Saturday for the announced winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats to Sharon Marie!  

Your winning gift card is in the mail.  Best Wishes!

#bethedifference Shape Math Centers

#bethedifference Shape Math Centers

Sepatuads.com   Oktober 30, 2015   Comment  

Did you survive this exceptionally crazy week?   

For me, this week was packed full with Red Ribbon Themed Activities, the 50th Day of Cool School, Owl Pellet Investigations, an observation and our school wide costume parade.  I'd previously planned to share my #bethedifference post using place value but lost all my data when I crushed my iphone last Friday.  I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am to be here a week later, breathing a sigh of relief.  I have a new phone, activities complete, blog post finished and I'm in one piece! 

By mid week, I began to think about changing the direction for my Friday lessons.  The kids were tapped out from all the activities this week and frankly so was I.  Using The Mailbox Gold, I found really engaging activities for shapes.  This topic had been previously instructed so I knew this would be entertaining centers on this half day of school. 

I challenged my students to create a shape monster using specific number of shapes.  I suggest allowing kids to create their shape monster manipulating shapes with pattern and attribute blocks first.  Having a visual and manipulating the shapes will help speed the center along.  Without a doubt, my kids were over the moon with excitement as we shared our creations!

An equally engaging activity was our Camera Picture Walk.  The kids created their own camera with envelopes, four (trifolded) index cards, black construction paper and a string.  On the back of their index cards, I listed three specific shapes based of their previous assessments.  The final card was student choice.  Once the kids returned to class from the parade, they began recording their observations for each shape.  Before placing the images in their camera envelope, the kids cut the index cards into thirds.  

At my small group table, I pulled kids who struggled with the Camera Picture Walk to create shapes with real objects.  We began the guided instruction with Shapes, Shapes, Shapes by Hoban which was a familiar text.  After, we completed a mini shape book. 

I wasn't sure this final activity would keep my student's attention.  We'd worked really hard on attributes before the district assessment so I figured it might be the least desirable activity.  Oh my moon and stars, I was so very wrong.  Give a kid craft supplies and smelly markers for decorating, constructing and comparing basic shapes and you'll get loads of engagement and accountable talk.  

All in all, I felt good about the hour and a half of meaningful instructional review the kids received. The files are instant downloads with minimal prep!  

Best wishes as we coast into November!  

#bethedifference Parent Conferences

#bethedifference Parent Conferences

Sepatuads.com   September 20, 2015   Comment  

Happy Monday, Friends!  It's officially the 25th day of school.  This past week marked our half way point of the semester.  With interims complete, I'm thinking about the first conferences of the year.  I want to share a few tips and resources from The Mailbox Gold with you!

Parent-Teacher conferences are important to building a bridge between what happens in school and at home. Research has shown that high parental involvement leads to positive academic performance. 

Preparing for conferences begins with informing families of their importance!  Communicating begins with guidelines so parents can prepare.  Will kids be present or should alternative plans be made available before or after school?  

Build a climate and culture for your classroom with work displayed.  Provide a cozy spot to chat with a snack and water.  An inviting environment will set the tone for the conference.  

Prior to meeting with the parents, I prepare invitations with the purpose of my conference and scheduling options. I like to send home a conference note for parents to complete.  The note will help provide me with feedback.

The week prior to the conference, I send home a reminder about when and where the conference will take place.  This provides the parents with an option to reschedule.

In the interim, I prepare student materials and assessments completed in class.  Just prior to the parent's arrival, I will ensure I place out all the artifacts. 

To set the tone for the conference, I provide the parents with my conference planning sheet.  This provides a take away with direct notes from our discussion. The editable form guides the conference, starting with three positive observations and areas of strength prior to discussing areas of concerns. Being an active listener goes a long way to showing parents their voice matters. Synergize on solutions by setting goals for student improvement together.  

Establish ways in which you plan to stay in contact.  The post communication and follow-up conference will be a place to re-evaluate goals.  

To ensure my families know what is happening daily in my classroom, my students and I have a closing meeting each day.  We create three sentences that summarizes our learning for the day. Students will spend their final minutes recording a sentence about their learning providing parents the ability to probe specifics.  Each parent signs the planner daily as part of my classroom expectations.  

The Harvard Family Research Project has an acronym that provides the principles for an effective parent-teacher conference.  I'm going to leave you today with the acronym...

B- Best Intentions Assumed

E- Emphasis on Learning

H- Home/School Collaboration

E- Examples and Evidence

A- Active Listening

R- Respect for All 

D- Dedication to Follow-up

#bethedifference Open House

#bethedifference Open House

Sepatuads.com   Agustus 25, 2015   Comment  

As many of us prepare for back to school, meet the teacher and open house, we are looking for materials to get organized.  I want to share a few printables from The Mailbox Gold website that I found really useful during my meet the teacher night!

Prior to my current school, I've always sent an invite to my open house.  I want my parents to feel welcomed in my classroom!

Currently, I work in a title one setting.  We host one big event with meet the teacher, open house prior to school starting.  This will be our only open house for the year. To increase participation, families enjoy a full BBQ meal.  It's held the Thursday evening during our teacher work week. My room is usually 80% pulled together. Most of the missing details are only noticed by me.  Since school hasn't let in, we don't have crafts, charts, and content on display.  This is a time where the spotlight is 100% on me. Organization is key!  Many parents have multiple kids and visiting several classrooms so my time is limited. 

This will be the first time I meet my newest darlings and so often the parents have different last names. A sign helps me to identify both the parent and child.  I strategically place the sheet in the entryway!

Placed with care on each desk is a little gift for the kids.  They so often purchase supplies for school but rarely remember to keep some for home.  I gave each child the essentials with a new editable bookmark.  

I prepared a little packet to help inform parents without overwhelming them.  Many speak limited English.  I found hitting a few key points and providing a copy to send home helps the parents start the first day with ease.  Included with the newsletter is a monthly calendar to show the rotations of our specials (PE, Music, Library and Computers).  All the forms are editable!

The above newsletter is my follow up letter to parents.

Along with the essentials above, I give my parents a little note taking sheet for those that stay and ask questions.  

The next form had my giddy!  I printed hard copies and strategically placed near the donation tree.  I also saved several PDFs on the student desktops.  The file below is an editable file.  Some parents took advantage of typing student information so I could print it out in class.  

Also located by the donation tree is a school supply list.  It's purpose was meant for updating parents throughout the year; However, many parents often ask what they can provide for our class.  I share this list and add specific supplies on the "other" line.  I let them know any of the below supplies would help me tremendously.

The transportation log was strategically placed near the food.  The most important thing on the first day of school.... keep the kids safe, feed them and get them home without incident! 

Parents won't leave empty handed!  They will receive a thank you on the way out the door.  Their bag consist of two free books coupons under $3 to purchase for their children with our Scholastic Book Clubs.  Oh my stars, parents really are touched by the gesture!  

The Mailbox Gold has a large bank of resources to meet a busy teacher's needs!