EPALS

Check out E-pals! It is a safe email site that allows teachers and homeschooling parents to link with others from around the world. You may set the email settings so that a student will not receive a message or send a message until you have approved it.
www.epals.com

Photo Story 3

Photo Story 3 for Windows is a free download. More to come about Photo Story.

New Website

If you go to www.delicious.com, you can create an account for free. Then you may link to me where I websites that I like. If you add websites, to yours I will probably use your ideas as well. I am user name crum30.

Websites

Here are a couple of new websites that I just picked up from my techology class.

www.wordle.net
With this website, I can have the students type in words about themselves. Hint the more important things in their lives are typed multiple times so that they appear bigger. You can do this to find out the main ideas of texts. Copy and paste a text into wordle. The words that appear most often will be the biggest.

Another way to use this is to help the students use word choice when editting their writing. They copy and paste their writing into a wordle screen. The word that is the biggest is the word that is used the most. For example, a student might have a big "like." That would mean that the student has used like too many times in their work. It is a way to help them edit their work.

It can be used to see main idea and detail as well. Here is a website to give you more ideas of how to use wordle. www.slideshare.net/JenniferW/wordle-ideas

More sites to come!

Another math idea that I heard one time and I am going to try with our kids... Have them each take a turn budgeting the family's money for the month. Let them see what the income is and the set expenses. Then have them decide what meals and groceries the family will need. Let them go to the store and make all of the choices. Then if you have bills like car insurance that is paid every six months have them estimate the cost for one month and put that in savings. Then have them put a percentage in savings on top of that. They will also have to figure all of the families pop up expenses and plan for them the best that they can. The key is that at the end of the month whatever extra money they have AFTER all bills are paid and the savings percentage applied to the saving account THEN they get to keep what's left. Talk about being resourceful and only using what they need. They will be creative. The family that did this had several children and they let each of them do a couple of months worth of bills and budgeting. They said that they didn't stop any child from buying the groceries they chose. One month one kid picked all pizzas because that was his favorite. Everyone in the family ate pizza that month. But the next time around the child had learned his lesson and chose more variety because that didn't work well. As an extension to this activity you could have the child who is doing this for math to have a lesson series in home ec. They could cook the foods that they are using in their budget. That makes them choose foods that aren't complicated and won't take you all day to cook. This can be logged as non core time as long as it is the first time that they are learning the skill. In other words, if they have cooked pizza 5 times and already know how then it wouldn't count, but if it is the first time or if it is the second or third time and they don't remember how you may continue to teach and log it. Plus if they are making something that requires measurement then it would be math as well. Or cutting pizza could turn into a lesson on fractions. Then you would choose where to log it or split the time.

Another great health lesson is mypyramid.gov. My husband and I sometime get on there and plan meals to help us have a balanced diet. I showed my first grade class this site and they thought it was really neat.

Textbook tip for homeschooling parents!

Search individual subjects textbooks. You don't have to go through the same company for all of your textbooks. When I look at textbooks I always find that one company is strong in one subject and one in another. Don't just search homeschool curriculum either. You can search "science textbooks" or "reading series textbooks" and find a lot of information. My personal favorite for reading is the Treasures reading series. It comes with grammar (separate, but follows the reading), reading (focusing on each of the 5 areas in EVERY lesson), writing, and spelling. I think it is great. I think you would definitely needs the teachers manuals and the student hardback and workbooks (grammar, spelling/phonics, and either the approaching (below) practice, on level practice, beyond (high) practice workbook. All of the rest of the stuff that they will want to sell you, you can do without or make yourself. Plus they have resources on their website. I have no idea what it costs for a hoemschooling family. I know that I taught out of it last year and was highly impressed. Website: http://www.macmillanmh.com/reading/ If you are teaching handwriting to a 3 to 6 year old I would recommend "Handwriting Without Tears." It makes every letter using only four different strokes. The preschool loves it for their 3 and 4 year olds. Abeka is a great homeschooling program. I don't think that there science and social studies are very strong in the younger grades though. I would either really add to them or not use them in at least K-2. I like the Scott Foreman Science series. I did supplement a lot in first grade, but I really like science. I do think that the material taught is excellent. Social Studies is the most challenging for me. I haven't found anything especially in Geography that I like yet. Maybe you will have better luck. Let me know if you find something good.

Math Website

I am a firm believer in repetition. I will do drill work especially in math until every child has mastery of a subject. This can take some time, but in the end is worth every ounce of effort. One way that I have found to quickly make a new math worksheet is a great website called superkids. http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/math/

Respect

How do you get kids to be respectful? This is more venting than teaching help. I have had some experiences this week that are incredible when it comes to children and respect. The students that I took on a field trip today were lower elementary students. I had a student make fun of a physically handicapped person to his face while on the trip. I was so embarrassed for the poor man. He knew that the child was making fun of him and all of the other students were staring! I talked to the student about it and his only comment was if he were that man he would bang his head on the wall until he died. I said that that was really really sad! I asked him how the man felt and he said that he didn't know and didn't care! I could not believe my ears. I had to stop and think about what I would do if this were my child. I believe that if it were my child that I would have made them go to a hospital or facility that cares for people with disabilities and work with them and learn what it is like. This isn't the ONLY incident of the week.

The other incident involved a student from another classroom and the teacher. The teacher was introducing new vocabulary words to the class and while introducing the word "vast" a student pipes up and tells the teacher that she is vast. He meant that she was fat. It is just appalling that a kid would think of calling a teacher a name like that. What can we do to instill values in a child after they are in school? It seems that if they don't learn it at home that they won't learn it at school--no matter what I do. Both of these students are very bright kids. They should understand that this hurts people's feelings. Don't they? Why can't they? Why won't they?

What are we missing in society that makes them lack the respect? I don't understand. I would have never considered doing either of these things in school. Kids now will say whatever they want. Kindergarten students come in knowing what sex and everything else is. They have no problem telling their friends. Kids will say any cuss word and then act like you heard it wrong. It is really incredible! Any ideas how to make the kids understand respect?

Department of Natural Resources Website

This website is more for teachers looking for classroom resources than for parents, but parents might also find some information on this site useful.

http://dnr.state.il.us/education/

Is anyone reading this?

Just wondering if anyone was reading this. Please post and let me know!

Another Spelling Website

www.spellingcity.com

This website is a great way to practice selling words in a fun way. There are games and activities to make learning fun.

More Websites

Here are two more websites that I just ran onto today.

www.weeklyreader.com
Lesson plans, subscriptions to weekly readers, and much more!

http://www.gm.com/experience/education/
Website with lesson plans relating to energy, vehicles, and going green!

Literature Circles

I am starting Literature Circles in the next couple of weeks with my first grade students. Until now, I haven't had a large enough group of them that could read a chapter book with success. Now 10 of my 15 students are reading a chapter book well. Five of my students will be reading a Junie B. Jones book. That is a 2.8 reading level (or 2nd grade eighth month). Five others will be reading a 3.3 (3rd grade 3rd month) reading level book (one of the Magic Tree House Series). The other five students will be reading several picture books during this time in the 1.8 to 2.2 reading range. I am really excited about their progress this year.

A Literature Circle is a group of 4 to 6 students who read a section of a book. As they read each of them have a job to do. The jobs that I will give the students include summarizer, vocabulary finder, passage picker, connector, artful artist, and Question Writer. Basically, each student reads the same passage and does a different job. Then the group meets and I will lead them in a discussion about the book-being careful to make each person feel as though their job was important! Sounds like a lot of fun. I wish I wouldn't have had to wait so long to start this, but I didn't feel that the kids were ready. If I follow my class to second grade, I will do Literature Circles for the entire year. They will be exposed to many types of literature!

Contest and Website

I frequently get emails with educational information including websites and contests. Here are two that I recieved today that some of you might be interested in.

www.chicagobotanic.org/calendar/rainbarrel
This is the art contest.

http://newsletters.nationalgeographic.com/PS!G64S9tR5oP8FBgIAAAAGCgFICgg0MzQxOTg4MQoKMTYwODgwNDM4MgkAHqiDCgkzNzY0NTM3ODQF
This is an earth day link that has some activities. Looks like it is directed toward preschool and early elementary. Fun videos, games, activities and more.

Comment Posting

I just realized that none of you could comment if you were members. I just changed that setting. Now anyone should be able to comment. Sorry about that. See previous post.

Teaching Reading

This post and many posts to follow are at the request of a parent. I am going to put information about teaching reading to young children including scope and sequence (the order things are taught). There are five major parts to reading. These should all be included in every lesson.
*Phonemic Awareness
*Fluency
*Vocabulary
*Comprehension
*Phonics
I will tell you more about them at a later date. Comment and let me know specifics about what you want to know about reading. I will try to post you answers.

Arts and Crafts Ideas

Check out these great arts and crafts ideas.

www.crayola.com
www.kinderart.com

Origami--I have found that almost all students love origami. You can fold many different things from a piece of paper. I usually show the students what the final outcome will look like then we begin to make it step by step. This is fun for young kids in a one-on-one setting; however, the youngest age I have taught it whole class is fourth grade.

Great Books for Kids

I was thinking earler, while answering an email from a parent, about book titles and authors that I would recommend to parents. There is no way that I have the time to type a full list, but here are a few.



Authors
Shel Silverstein
Doreen Cronin (Diary of a _____) Worm, Spider, Fly --My students love these books
Dr. Suess





Books
Clifford Books
Junie B. Jones (Kindergarten-2nd grade)
Lon Po Po (A Little Red Riding Hood Story from China)
Magic School Bus Books (Teach Science Lessons in fun ways)
Eric Carle
Mo Willems (Pigeon Books)

Post books you are your children enjoy for others to see as well.

Teaching Letters to Preschoolers

There are several great and fun stategies to aid in teaching letters to young children 2-5 who enjoy doing hands on things. I have found that making a child hold a pencil to early in life (3 or for some kids four) can lead to many problems with handwriting later in life. One thing to remember when teaching a kid to write is to use a short writing tool. Imagine yourself using a 2 foot long pencil. That is what small child feels like with a full length pencil in hand. Instead try using a crayon. They will enjoy the colorful part and it will be easier to manage.

Secondly, if the child isn't displaying good handwriting posture (thumb and two fingers) abandon writing utensils altogether until the child is old enough to hold the tool properly. Instead practice letters in a different but fun and still very effective way.

Here are some ideas to try.
*Use play dough rolled into long strips and arrange the pieces into letters.
*Put shaving cream on a surface and let the child make letters with it.
*Use blocks and plenty of floor space to write the letters with blocks.
*Find blocks with letters printed on them. Let the child find a block a you say the letter. Show them how to form their name.

Here is a website with endless links for preschool age children. http://www.internet4classrooms.com/prek.htm

Question-Only Strategy

This is a way to teach a lesson only through student questions. This is the way it works.

The teacher tell the students the topic. Example: The teacher says, "The topic today is the Nile. You can find out about it by asking me questions. When you are finished asking questions, there will be a short test, so try to ask good questions."

The teacher will answer each question fully, but not give any more information than what is asked of him or her. The purpose is to challenge the students to think of good questions using higher thinking skills.

Example:
Student: You said, "the Nile." Does that mean Nile is a thing?
Teacher: Yes
Student: This is geography, so is it a country?
Teacher: No.
Student: A mountain?
Teacher: No
Student: A river?
Teacher: Yes
Student: It sounds foreign. Is it in Thailand?

The discussion will continue in this way for approximately 10 minutes.

Sample Test questions:
What is the Nile?
What does it divide?

Then teacher should point out other questions that should have been asked and add information to the ones that were.

Then the students should hear teaching or read text about what they should have learned, but did not in their initial questioning.

Portions of this post were taken and/or quoted from the following source:
Manzo, A.V. & Manzo, U.C. (1995). Teaching children to be literate: A reflective approach. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace, (pp. 382-383).

Reciprocal Teaching

This strategy will help students to understand more difficult text. It is best done in the setting of a small group 2-5 kids. First the students read through the passage either on their own or as a group. Then the teacher leads a discussion with the following components.

1. Summarize--The teacher may need to use prompts to help the students to summarize the passage.

Prompts could include:

• What was the big idea in this paragraph?
• What is the topic sentence?
• What idea do all the details point to?
• How is the passage organized? (Cause/effect, comparison, probem/solution sequential, etc)
• Do you think this was th introduction to the topic, the body, or the summary of the passage?

After the students become better at this they can develop the questions for each other in the discussion. Modeling by the teacher is important for the first few times, however.

2. Question--The students will question each other during this part, but intially the teacher will demonstrate the questioning process.

• How does this passage connect to what I know?
• Does this selection make sense iwth what I know?
• How does this selection relate to my predictions?

3. Clarify--In this part of reciprocal teaching, the students will try to discover the meanings of unfamiliar vocabulary or concepts that were not understood.

• I don't understand these words: _______
• Does this information fit with my experience?
• I didn't understand this part: _________
• I need to know more about: _________
• I don't understand how these ideas are connected: __________

4. Predict--Use this to ask what they students think with come next in the text.

• I predict:_____

KWL Charts

The use of KWL charts is something that many people have heard of and some people use regularly. If you don't know what a KWL chart is, it stands for three questions that a reader should ask him or herself while they are reading to monitor his or her comprehension.

K-What do I think I Know?
W-What do I Want to know?
L-What have I Learned?

The student should answer the first two questions before reading and the last question after reading. Some researchers and teachers (me included) believe that there should be one more question. Let's call it C.

C-What if I am confused?

The purpose of this letter is for the student to realize that not everytime will the answer to his or her questions be found in the current text that he or she is reading. If the answer was not found, the student should find a way to get the answer. He or she may choose to read another text which may have the answer or find another way to discover the answer.

Text Pattern Guides

Help the students understand how the text is organized.

• cause-effect
• sequence
• description
• problem-solving
• comparison-contrast

The goal is to help students recognize a single pattern that predomininates over long stretches of print, even though you recognize that individual paragraphs and sentences are apt to reflect different though relationships within the text selection.

Provide assistance and numerous examples because perceiving text structure can be one of the most difficult tasks that a reader will do.

You may wish to use a graphic organizer to help the student think about and map their thoughts. http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/ You can find many kinds of graphic organizers as well as many other resources at http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganizers/. There is a charge for some of the activities on this website.

You can find many more graphic organizers by going to google and typing "graphic organizer" in the search. Select images tab. Then tell it to search.

Reader's Theater

Have you ever done a reader's theater with your students? My students love reader's theater. I probably don't spend enough time with it. It helps build fluency in a fun a creative way. Basically reader's theater is just a script that the child practices with other children for fun. Usually I arrange the desk into a circle and have the students each take turns reading. It is a lot of fun! I great website for reader's theater scripts is http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/. There are script for a variety of ages and numbers of students.

Goosh

The following is a paper that I received in college entitled Goosh. At the bottom it appears that it was taken for a book by MDrew called Reading for Meaning. That is the only citation on the page. I didn't create this exercise, but it does let you know if the child is able to use context clues to decode an unknown word. You can do this with other passages as well. Just change a word. Basically as the child reads this or has it read to them, he or she tries to figure out the meaning of goosh.

Every Friday night, we have a goosh. Sometimes we have a goosh at home, and sometimes we don't. This week our neighbors are coming for goosh.

We all help Mom prepare the goosh. First, we have to go to the store and buy a goosh kit. We each get to choose a favorite item for it. Then we go home and the fun begins.

When we get home, Dad has preheated the oven for us. Mom reads the directions on the back of the kit and gives each of us a job to do. After we have each done our jobs, we combine everything. Mom puts it on a pan.

As the goosh is cooking, it smells spicy. I peek in the oven window and see the cheese bubbling. I can hardly wait to tste the gooey goosh.

Ding! It's done. Mom slices it and puts it on the table. Our mouths are drooling. Uh-oh! Dad put those little fish on it again! Dumb Dad!

Fry's Readability Graph

Have you ever wondered the easiest way to find the level of the text that your child is reading? Check Fry's Readability Graph. It is simple to use, but it does take a little time. Here's how to use it.

1. Select three 100-word passages near the beginning, middle, and end.
2. Count the total number of sentences in each 100-word passage (estimating to the nearest tenth of a sentence). Average these three numbers.
3. Count the total number of syllables in each 100-word sample. Average these three numbers. Plot the two averages on the graph. Here is a website with a good graph. http://www.idph.state.ia.us/health_literacy/common/pdf/tools/fry.pdf

I have found this to be a great way to find out the true reading level of a book.

Word and Picture Sorts

A word or picture sort can be a fun way for kids to learn their colors, letters, numbers, and words. I have found that it can also be great way to study for spelling tests. The basic idea is this. Give the child a list of words (maybe spelling words). Make them large enough that they can be cut apart and easily rearranged. Make categories or for more challenge have the students create their own categories. Let's use the following example:

Words
row
go
no
so
grow
tow


-ow
row
grow
tow

-o
so
no
go

Picture example
You have the following pictures.

A red car
A red house
A blue store
A green truck
A blue van
A green school

The child could choose the category of colors.
Red
car
house

Blue
Store
Van

Green
Truck
School

OR

They could choose building and vehicles.
Buildings
house
store
school

Vehicles
car
van
truck

You can make this activity fit with many different subject matters and age ranges depending on whether or not categories are given and what words that they students are classifying. It could even be used for vocabulary if you used several words with the same meaning and several words with a different meaning. The students would put them with the other words that are the most similar.

Sometimes I make this activity more difficult by having the kids think of a few more words on their own that fit into the categories.

Levels of Thinking and Questioning

When writing curriculum, lesson plans, or just speaking to a student, I try to use a variety of questions that display a wide range of thinking and reasoning skills. It is important that a child not only know knowledge questions, but also be able to use processing and reasoning skills to reach a higher level of thinking called evaluation. Here is a list of the levels of questioning and starter words that may be useful in composing such questions.

Knowledge


At the knowledge level, a teacher is asking only for recall of a fact. You are expecting the learner to remember something that they have been taught. Questions on the knowledge level use words like list, identify, locate, memorize, review, match, name, read, recall, reproduce, label, arrange, check, cite, define, find, group, offer, omit, pick, point to, quote, recite, repeat, say, spell, state, tally, tell, touch, underline, write


Comprehension


Comprehension usually requires a little more thought from the student. The purpose of a comprehension question is usually to see if the learner can explain the information. Comprehension can include translation, interpretation, and extrapolation. Comprehensions questions use words like alter, change, convert, group, moderate, paraphrase, restate, reword, tell, translate, transform, vary, submit, sheme, propose, project, off, contrive, comptemplate, calculate, advance, account for, annotate, summarize, review, interpret, infer, group, generalize, expound, explain, describe

Application

Application is the third level in the hierarchy of thinking skills. The purpose of application is for learner to learn to transfer information. An example question: Solve mathematical problems. or Demonstrate how to ___________. Application questions use the following words: apply handle, llustrate adopt, collect, interview, profit by, relate, show, solve, make use of , construct, consume, mobilize, state rule, demonstrate, manipulate, survey, devote, organize, try, employ, operate, use, explout, put to use, utilize, give example, put into action.

Analysis

Analysis is the fourth level and the level that begins to delve deeper into the thought processes. I prefer that the majority of my questions are at a level three and above. When you write or ask questions using this level of thinking you are asking your students to break things down into their part, to determine, the distinguishing factors, and to uncover the special characteristics of something. Here is an example question: Simplify the musical piece into its basic rhythms. or Compare and contrast the two poems. This level is characterized by words such as analyze, audit, break down, categoriz, classify, compare, contrast, determine factors, diagnose, diagram, differientiate, dissct, distinguish, divide, examine, inspect, outine, reason, screen, scrutinize, search, section, separate, simplify, sort, specify, study, survey, debate, experiment

Synthesis

This level seeks to find whether the child can combine information. In this level a student will be able to take information given to them and make something new from it. Here are some of the words commonly used for this level: compse, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, hypothesize, manage, organize, originate, plan, produce, propose

Evaluation

This is the sixth and highest level of thinking. It determines whether or not a student can make a judgement. The words used in this level of thinking include appraise, assess, choose, compare, contrast, critique, decide, estimate, evaluate, grade, judge, prioritize, rank, rate, recommend, select, value

Geography Series

I am looking for a good geography series. Here is what I have in mind. I would like a series that allows the students to learn about one continent a year. Kindergarten preferably would just learn the basics about the United States. Then first grade would be about North America, second grade would be about another continent, and so on. I really am looking for a series that is all inclusive--culture, land formations, countries, foods, languages, etc. I am finding it hard to find any good geography series--much less those divided the way I would prefer. I am looking for this for myself as a homeschooling tool. Do you have any suggestions? What series do you use to home school your children or in your classrooms? Do you feel that it is successful in teaching the material in a fun and organized way? If I don't find one soon, I think I am going to begin writing my own.

Treasures Reading Series

Our school has a reading series called Treasures. This series is available from the publisher MacMillan McGraw-Hill. It is an amazing series with which you can not go wrong as long as you just do and say what it says. It has each lesson broken into parts which include the five basic parts of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency.) It also includes spelling, writing, and grammar. I have to credit this series with my students high reading abilities! It has been a true success! There are 3 stories/selections to read each week in the main hardback book. There are also decodable readers (a stories with words that the students should be able to sound out based on the lessons that week). There are oral vocabulary sections to boost the students oral language skills. The grammar is presented on a very challenging level. At first, all of the students really struggled with the grammar. The skills being taught in second grade are like the skills that are taught in fourth grade in other reading series. After using the series for a few months the students adjusted and are now doing quite well. There are many resources including a very helpful website with activities that anyone can access--even someone without the textbook series. Check it out sometime! http://treasures.macmillanmh.com/utah/students

Helpful Websites

One website that I have found to be very positive in a preschool-second grade age setting is a website called Starfall. You can access this website by going to http://www.starfall.com/. It has many phonics and phonemic awareness exercises, as well as letter recognition exercises. There are little stories and activities to use on this website. It is great for children who are stuggling to read or hear the sounds. It is also good for homeschool children or a child who needs a little extra practice at his or her own pace.

Another great website is Netsmartz. You can access this website by going to http://www.netsmartz.org/. It teaches children about internet safety. I will caution you that you should preview this site and direct the children to the things that you find appropriate. There is a character (Numbutts) who some people find offensive or at least not school appropriate. The basic concept behind him is that he sits around all day. I never found it to be a problem; however, I know some who have. This is a great site. Just use it with caution.

Rising to Our Goals

My students participate in a reading program called Accelerated Reader. It is a great program which raised my students reading levels by six months in only two months. I made a bulletin board to help my students see which goals they had met and to help all of the students to celebrate each others accomplishments.

For the background, I used colored paper. We have a big roll of several different colors that all teachers have access to. I chose yellow, but you could choose any bright color. I found some border for the board that had hot air balloons on it. I put it around all four sides of the bulletin board. Next, I made four bubble shaped objects on which I wrote the words, "ONE GOAL!" on the first, "TWO GOALS!" on the second one, and so on. I put them on the board with one goal near the bottom and four goals near the top. Then I made hot air balloons which I cut from a variety of colors of construction paper. I put the students names on the hot air balloons and stapled them to the bottom of the board. Everytime the students reach a new goal, I move them up to the equivalent goal on the board. They get really excited about seeing their successes and are challenged to try harder when they see a classmate has reached a new goal.

Most recently two of my first grade students finished reading a book entitled The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. It is labeled 5.1 reading level. That stands for fifth grade first month! The other students are now challenging themselves with chapter books so that they may also read this book. I have found that showing each students individual successes (no matter how small) to others in the classroom only encourages them to try to achieve greater things.

My Purpose

The purpose of this blog is to provide teachers and homeschooling parents a site to read lesson plans that I have prepare for my classroom and for my children when they reach the age that I will homeschool them. I am currently an educator in a rural public school. I have seen many good and bad things over the last two years in the public schools. I hope that this will be a guide that will help to direct you in teaching in the most effective ways. I have a strong dislike for the education system as a whole, but I love the kids that I work with. I enjoy seeing my students be challenged on a daily basis. The students who are not as gifted benefit as well from the good instruction and from the challenge that my classroom provides. I have seen students who were below grade level in reading jump an entire grade level in only two months when the appropriate teaching and pressure to succeed is provided.

I hope that the start of this blog will be just that--a start. I hope to continue to blog throughout the remainder of my teaching career at public schools. Then I will begin blogging my challenges and successes while being a homeschooling mom. One of these days, I may write a book about my experiences.

Note: I will never tell my full name, my school district, my state, or any of my students names to protect my job, my school's credability, and my student's identities. Any names I use (other than my first name) will be changed to protect all parties involved.