Fostering the Five Domains of Human Development and a Freebie!
Teaching is a performance skill. Like a dancer who practices muscle movements daily until his body can perform intricate dance routines with ease, an actor who studies unconscious body movements until she can recreate them on the stage, or a writer who knows all of the elements of a well written tale so well that she can construct a page turning novel, teachers learn and practice the elements of lesson design, behavior management and modification, and lesson delivery, until these become second nature.
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Homework That Is Flexible and Fun.
Homework has become a hot button issue lately. Is it appropriate? Should it be sent home? Does it help academics? The truth is, that on Hattie’s scale of Visible Learning, homework only has an effect size of .16. Meaning, it really doesn’t matter if you send it home or not. Either way doesn’t have a large positive or negative effect on student learning.
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Christmas & Winter Themes For Early Learners
Look no further for some great Christmas and Winter Thematic units for your kindergarten, preschool, Pre-k, T-K or 1st grade classroom. All of these units are cross-curricular, strategically linked to the common core standards, and scripted for easy use.
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Making A Christmas Shape Book: Mathematical Art
Your students will love making this adorable book of Christmas shapes. Not only is it a great and memorable keepsake, it is a great way to teach mathematical shapes to mastery. At the completion of the project my students usually pass off this common core standard with 100% accuracy; even the tricky hexagon!
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Creating Christmas Memories
Here are some of my favorite activities I love to do with my students. These products are packed full of future memories.
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How To Make Digital Student Portfolios For Free!
I have been making Student Portfolios for a long time and it’s always been one of my favorite parts of the school year. I love keeping track of the student’s progress and recording their growth, but the best part about student portfolios is watching the student’s faces light up when they share them with their parents for the first time.
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Biographical Book Buddies
One of my favorite ways to engage my students with print is to send home "Book Buddies". Each Book Buddy bag contains a book, a journal, and a matching buddy. The children keep this bag for a night and (with their parents help) they write down the adventures they had with the buddy and then share their adventures with the other students the next day.
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Flexible Seating In First Grade
In March we had a chance to interview Patti Clark, the Vice President of Product Development at Lakeshore Learning Materials, about Lakeshore’s new product line of flexible seating furniture options. This month, Lakeshore sent some of their Flex-Space Comfy Floor Seats and Flex-Space Wobble Cushions to our friend, first grade teacher Wendy, to try out in her classroom as she tries her first year of flexible seating. Here’s what Wendy has to say:
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Learning Center Signs to Promote Play and Learning
Another kindergarten teacher came into my classroom lately, saw my dramatic play center, sensory table, and building center and said, “I used to have all of that a long time ago, but I had to give it all up.” I’ve been thinking about that exchange over and over since then and there is a single word I keep coming back to:
Why?
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Connecting School To Home Using Quality Homework
In 1995 Betty Hart and Todd Risley conducted a study which revealed a language gap that exists between families of different incomes, and shed light on a disparity of parent/child interactions that follow children through their lifetime. It seems the greatest gift that parents can give their children is free and readily available: quality and substantive interaction.
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Vocabulary Development: And the Achievement Gap
Today I took a city tour of a major US city. While all of the tourists were taking in the city sites, I couldn't help looking at the city with teacher eyes: those eyes teachers use every day as they lovingly work for the equality of instruction. I reflected on several books that I have been reading and of what I know as a teacher about the affects of systemic poverty on education. I know that I can't single handedly fix the 30 million word gap that faces our nation, but I will do everything in my power to help the students I teach have a fair and equal shot at public education.
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Celebrate The End of the School Year!
It is the end of the school year and yes, everyone is exhausted and ready for a break. But before you head off for your summer plans, remember to stop for a second -- look around -- and celebrate the learning you brought into your student's lives.
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Tips to Enjoy Teaching at the End of The School Year.
So you've come to the end of the school year and you're feeling a bit frazzled? Want some tips to help you finish the year strong with energy and enthusiasm? Well, here are two methods I like to use:
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The End of the Year is all About Growth.
The end of the school year is filled with documentation, testing, and data. My days are like yours, filled with assessment, celebrations, and sadly anxiety and disappointment of missing that green score. I know the data is important, but I love to cast that aside for a few days and celebrate each and every child's individual growth.
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A Map of Your Community Thematic Unit
The only thing more important to a child beside themselves and their families are the communities in which they reside. This week we have been studying our community as part of our Social Studies curriculum.
To begin the unit, I introduced my students to Google Earth. It is fabulous! I
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Kindergarten or Preschool Graduation
I love ending the year with a celebration! A great way to celebrate in preschool or kindergarten is a formal graduation, classroom program, or celebration. I have participated in all three ending events and I have found no matter the format, songs are the essential component of the festivities. The links below contain some of my favorite end of the year must-do's and of course posters and links to our songs suggestions.
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Spring Fling with ESGI & Friends
I love spring! It is the perfect time to try something new! If you have been thinking about trying ESGI, and just haven't made the plunge, the time is now! Here's the deal --- hold on to your hat! Now is the perfect time to organize that data in your classroom, inform (and impress) your administration and parents, and save time-time-time!
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How To Make A Simple Easter Bunny Hat
It is always great to have that teacher friend next door who will share great ideas. This idea comes from Lyndsey's friend Lynnell Fox. An adorable, super-simple bunny hat!
Step 1:
Starting at the corners, cut out two bunny ear shapes, stopping at about the middle of the construction paper leaving about 2 inches between the cuts. Don't cut the ears off completely, leave them attached at the end and make a slight fold line.
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Painting Spring
Allow students the opportunity to be budding artists by painting flowers.
Learning to draw means learning to see! Painting flowers is a fantastic way to all students opportunity to create by looking at, thinking about, and discovering that nature is made of a vast amount of shapes, colors, and textures.
I begin by showing my students examples of great artists like Georgia O'Keeffe, Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gough. It is very powerful to show their work of art side-by-side to the real object; in this case a flower.
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Growth Mindset and Young Children
You know what I see when I look at this photo of a classroom from the 1960s? I see a growth mindset classroom! All the tools are there: painting, sensory, blocks, puzzles, dramatic play, art, and smiling faces. As a teacher for nearly 3 decades I know that children learn best through natural curiosity, discovery, a rich environment, through trial and error, through playing and cooperating with others, through failing and succeeding, and through play.
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