HOTS Activity

Did you find yesterday's TRIADS easy?  If you did, thank the teachers that encouraged you to use HOTS.  

Answer:  card

Answer:  brush

Weren't those fun?  Want to try some more?  

WARNING: TRIADS may be addicting!

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H.O.T.S. Activity

It's about time, teachers, ...  to focus on Higher Order Thinking Skills (H.O.T.S.).  If we neglect to teach our students critical thinking skills, we do them a huge disservice.  There is an on-going debate about the role of HOTS in the elementary school.  Some contend that elementary students should focus on the basics (i.e. the lower 3 levels of Bloom's Taxonomy). Others argue that HOTS are essential to elementary education.  

In my opinion, this debate is moot, in as much as standards based curricula require HOTS.  In my own experience teaching K-5, Reading Recovery, Title I, enrichment, and self-contained gifted, for more than 3 decades, I absolutely believe teachers should give considerable attention to critical and creative thinking skills whether you subscribe to CCSS or not.  Even in teaching Reading Recovery, which suggests it's all about the basics, the most successful students were the ones who were able to grasp the idea that they should be constantly evaluating what they were reading.  In RR, we challenge our students to decide whether what they read makes sense, looks right, sounds right, ...   

Similarly, although at the other end of the spectrum, G/T and enrichment students need to be able to defend their thinking.  We do them wrong if we don't challenge them to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate/create.  G/T education calls for differentiation of instruction; a summons that is daunting to some educators.  But it does not have to be overwhelming, intimidating, or off-putting.  Consider the following activity:

TRIADS combine critical thinking with vocabulary development.  That's a win-win since students with larger vocabularies consistently perform far better than those with poorer oral language.  In working with TRIADS, your students will use analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.  The challenge is to find 1 word that can be added to each of the triad words to make a well-known phrase or compound word.  The common word may be added before or after the triad words. For example, add GRASS to the triad words blue, hopper, and crab to make blue GRASS, GRASShopper, and crab GRASS.

Now try these two triads for yourself:

                          

TRIADS is a great activity for a literacy center or enrichment. It could also be used as an anchor or sponge activity.  My students beg to do these together, and, thus, I often grab a card when we are headed to our specials -- just in case we have to wait in the hallway for a minute or two.  You can almost see the cogs turning inside their heads!  What teacher doesn't love that???

Reproduce the cards on card stock, laminate, and use for years to come. Naturally, an answer key is included. This product is available on TpT and TN.  There are currently 3 versions of it, should your students love them as much as mine do.  Each set includes 24 TRIADS cards & an answer key for $2.60.  You get a lot of differentiation for very little money.  

How did you do with the 2 TRIADS?  Come back tomorrow to see if you found the common word.  

Hooray for Hats thematic unit FREEBIE

It's about time, teachers, to start planning for the new school year.  As a primary teacher, I {heart} thematic units. Immersing children in a topic, carrying it across disciplines, and finding creative ways to meet the Common Core Standards are my passion.  One of my favorite thematic units is Hooray for Hats.  

This unit integrates ELA, math, HOTS, and creativity.  It is intended to last for 1 week, but I freely admit that I usually stretch it into 3 weeks.  There are so many hat related books to read aloud, so many writing topics, so many math activities, ...


The ELA components include vocabulary work, comprehension, poetry, alphabetical order, writing center ideas, and a 14 page booklet for students to make about Hat Idioms. You can download the Hat Idioms Book for FREE on TpT or TN.  Following is a preview of the Hat Idioms Book:

Hooray for Hats! math activities include computation, graphing, patterns, Venn Diagrams, journal prompts, sorting, measurement, and money.  Following is an example from the math portion:

Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) are also included in Hooray for Hats!  There are homework assignment sheets and a craftivity.  If you like thematic units, I hope you will check out Hooray for Hats!

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Rules for Syllabication

It's about time, teachers...that we really teach our students the rules for syllabication. Knowing those rules helps children to decode words in reading and to determine correct pronunciations.  It helps them to apply spelling patterns in their writing and to make their writing easier to read.  And, of course, it is a component of the Common Core Standards.  

For years, I have used old fashioned, plug & chug practice.  It may not be creative, but it surely is effective.  Following are a few samples of my syllabication unit for primary students:

This unit includes 12 rules for syllabication.  Each rule has a full page of practice on that rule only.  Repetition is an effective teacher.  Also included are several pages of mixed practice:  

After mentoring scores of student teachers, I can say with certainty that they benefit greatly from taking a refresher course in the rules of syllabication.  The vast majority of my student teachers comment positively about working through this unit.  They they boldly take a blank copy with them for future reference and as an addition to their teaching files.

My unit, Friendly Frog's Syllables Book, is 17 pages long. It's available on TpT or TN.  

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SIMILE POETRY

Simile Poetry is one of my favorite “beginning of the school year” activities. This type of poetry is a simple blend of acrostic poetry

and similes. 

Have each student write his/her name down the left side of a piece of paper.  Using each letter as the first letter in a phrase, s/he writes a series of similes that describe him/herself.

Simile poems are a great way to get to know your students, or at least gain some insight into their self-images.  A display of these poems is a big hit at the fall open house.  Keep these poems in your students’ portfolios.  Repeat the assignment at the end of the year and enjoy comparing the two.

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Poet-tree

Just outside my classroom window, there is a beautiful maple tree.  My kiddos and I love to watch it grow and change throughout the year.  A while back, I decided to make a paper version of that maple and posted it just outside my classroom door.  Then, as a class, we  would mimic the changes the real tree went through.  

I start with a brown, craft paper trunk. 

Prior to school opening in the fall, I use the school's Ellison Die Cut machine to cut bunches of green maple leaves.  Writing each student's name on a leaf helps to make them feel a part of the group and welcomes them back to school.

                

I put the leaves on the trunk and pretty much leave it alone for awhile.  

As the leaves begin to change colors and fall, we make our tree do the same.  (Swapping the green leaves for the fall leaves is a great activity for early finishers.)

The tree transitions from fall to winter and we replace the leaves with snow (stretched out cotton balls).  All of this is in conjunction with scientific observations of our tree.

Because I do this with 1st graders, the tree does not become a Poet-tree until spring, when they are more skilled writers.  Then, as they write poetry, they make a copy on the computer and print it.  Recycling the green leaves from the fall, my students glue their poems to a leaf and put them on the tree.  It never fails to amaze me how motivating that is for 1st graders!  Before long, the tree is full.

Our tree buds with budding poets!  

Writing Center Graffiti

It's about time, teachers,... that I admit I am a word collector.  I {heart} words.  I {heart} interesting phrases.  Although I do not feel a need for an intervention, I will (gulp) admit that as a child I used to read the dictionary.  

This love affair with words has continued throughout my adult life and I strive to share my passion with my students.  That is what led me to create a graffiti wall in my writing center.  

My graffiti wall is simply a bulletin board dedicated to posts of interesting words and phrases.  Both the students and I can write words on strips of paper and post them on the board.  At the beginning of the year, I demonstrate this by extracting words and phrases from our read-alouds to post on the board.  Before long, my students are pointing out the words they find interesting.  I invite them to copy them and post them on our graffiti wall.  Students who "catch my fever" even bring phrases in from home.

I've forged an alliance with the computer teacher to further spur our graffiti.  When he introduces fonts to my class, he uses some of our graffiti wall words.  Using the SmartBoard, he gives our words "life" by applying cool fonts to them.  You should hear the ooo-s and ah-s! Naturally, there is a marked increase in graffiti after that lesson!  

As a corollary to our graffiti wall, I have a "tired words" board.  We put overworked words to bed and list alternatives on the foot board.

This, too, gains momentum over time.  Before the year is over, we have a dormitory of beds with tired words!

Both of these boards have improved my students' writing markedly.  They are easy to accomplish and the payoff is huge.  Try it.  You'll like it.