Stages of Writing. This would be very helpful during parent teacher conferences to help explain student writing.
Heck. I use something similar to show my students! Many of them, once they know letter sounds, don’t want to try using the letters they know because they know they can’t spell it right. I show them example work to say — hey this is great work! This is what I am looking for. Once you get this down pat, we’ll work on the next part!
(via peace-love-kindergarten)
I have a student with very different hair than the rest of the class. Her mom does her hair for her in so many ways, and it always looks great. One of my male students made a grumpy comment to her about her hair 2 weeks ago. I totally busted this video out the next day. Whoa, did this make a difference in a little girl’s life. Thank you Sesame Street!
Last spring while I was teaching 2nd grade, I was very upset with how cold and unwelcoming my classroom felt. I thought that if I could just save up enough money I could buy things like rugs, curtains, book shelves, lamps, pillows, and more books for my library. Unfortunately I was unable to really get what we needed/wanted, and then I lost my job. Well, I’m back in 2nd grade at AISD, and I really want to make my classroom the best that it can be!
I’ve decided to add a Donate button to my page. All donations will strictly go to my classroom fund. I will post pictures of all of the supplies I get for the classroom so you can see where your donations are going! It’s also my birthday in 2 weeks, so I thought this would be a great way for family to contribute as a gift.
The button is in the right column——————————————»»
But here it is as well so you can share it with your followers:
DONATE TO MS. MURPHY’S 2ND GRADE CLASSROOM!
THANK YOU!
Just passing this along!
— Pre-K Grandpa introducing me to one of my new students
Some of my students raise chickens and get VERY excited about them.
Throughout that year, I utilized a variety of management pointers for a differentiated classroom that had been presented during the conference. These guidelines helped me to begin integrating basic differentiation without losing my sanity. Here are some of those basic points to help you create a solid foundation for differentiation in your classroom
Some excellent tips on using differentiated instruction here. The term is thrown around a lot, however, I have found from talking to a number of first-year teachers that it wasn’t quite a focus in their education program in college. Many districts require it. Personally, I believe it is the best way to meet the needs of all your students in your classroom in order to properly scaffold their learning as well as challenge them.
Flexible groups is one of the most important factors for me. At my school, some teachers keep the same group throughout the year. Others do not. I truly recommend keeping consistent anecdotal notes on students and to re-evaluate your groups periodically in order to determine which skills they need to work on and then do your grouping based on that.
Another good point made in this article is that differentiation can come in many forms and in different parts of the lesson.
Basically, differentiation to me exemplifies my motto that fairness is not that everyone gets the same thing. It is that everyone gets what they need.
Thanks to draconian budget cuts, thousands of layoff notices have been delivered to teacher mailboxes nationwide over the past few weeks. But, after notices went home about pink slips handed out in the Arcadia Unified School District, Jocelyn Lam, a fifth grade student at Camino Grove Elementary decided there was something she could do to save her school’s teachers: she emptied her piggy bank.
Last Friday, Lam gave her teacher an envelope full of $1, $5, and $10 bills totaling $300—money she’d earned over several years for doing chores and getting good grades. She also included a handwritten letter addressed to the Arcadia Unified school board and superintendent, saying, “I really hope this $300 will help save the teachers that are about to be laid off. I also hope this is enough to save more than one teacher.” Her donation was completely unsolicited and took the school staff by surprise.
(Click the link to continue reading)
While I can think of a 1,000 more causes that this student could have given to that might need it more— I can’t help but feel the tears being triggered just a little. Teaching is a job where the people you work with don’t always realize the impact you have until many years later. You don’t get many thank yous, recognition, or in these days support. This, just wow, what a voice of support!
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One of my 5th graders.
Oi vey. Also, I didn’t have a cell phone until I was 18 and could pay for it myself.
This is the kind of thing we need to do: reach our students where they are, using what they understand. I’ll post it later. In the meantime, here’s something to think about: what kinds of lessons you create using social networking sites? Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare, whatever. Brainstorm on that for awhile and let me know what you find out, k?
I think tumblr can be a GREAT tool for the classroom, I just worry about making sure inappropriate content doesn’t come across their dash. Have you found a solution to this?
and so much more.
What’s on your list?
I was thinking of trying some colored paper with students I suspect of having some visual processing problems, and then I came across this.
I’m thinking blue for study guides and some light colors for tests :-)
