It's About Time, Teachers!

Monday, September 10, 2012

More Pinteresting Boards for Teachers

It's about time, teachers, ... for an update on all the pinteresting collaborative boards for teachers.

Last week I posted a list of 57 collaborative boards that pertain to elementary teaching. After posting it, I was asked to list contact information for boards that did not give that info in the heading.

Here's what I found out about those boards that do not make the contact info readily available:

Click on the button "Edit Board." A list of contributors appears. For many of these boards, the creator is listed at the top. Clicking on the creator's name should lead you to contact info.
For all the other boards with missing contact info, I emailed the creators I could identify to ask permission to publish their contact info. Sadly, I did not get any permissions. The best I can suggest is that you go to the Seller's Forum on TpT. Look in the Selling Tips section, as that is where the vast majority of threads on collaborative boards can be found. There are threads on other portions, as well. Check the Everything Else section since I know there are threads there.

Just this past weekend, Jason @ Jason's Online Classroom started 44 new TpT collaborative boards. [Can we say, "over-achiever?"] Go to his pinterest account to check them out: http://pinterest.com/JasonsClass/

Of course, you can also find all of the boards I have listed on my pinterest account since I joined all of them! [Now you can definitely say, "over-achiever!"]

Almost simultaneous with my original blog post about these boards, Heather @ Creation Castle created a FREE TpT product that lists Collaborative Pinterest Boards. She has broken the boards down into categories and only included boards with contact info listed. Her product is dynamic; she'll be adding to the lists as she finds more boards.

It's time to pin, pin, pin!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Hanging Out with Stellaluna, Part 2

It's about time, teachers, for more Hanging Out with Stellaluna. This is the second in a 3 part blog post. The first post focused on things to do BEFORE reading Stellaluna. Today I'll address actually reading the book.

The illustrations Janell Cannon made are exceptional. Her full color panels are captivating and do a wonderful job of making bats cute and lovable. Be sure to give your students plenty of time to enjoy those works of art.

Have you ever noticed the small, pen & ink drawings at the top of each text page? They will not be very apparent to your students unless you enlarge them, at least not while you are reading the book aloud. Those drawings tell a story, too. Challenge your class to explain how the story the pen & ink drawings tell is different from the full color pictures' story.

This would be a great time to launch a lesson on point of view. The pen & ink drawings tell the story from the mother bat's point of view.

As you read the story to your children, invite them to make predictions about the story before you turn the page. For example, ask them what they think will happen when Stellaluna can't hang on to the branch any longer. Or, what do they predict the mother bird will do when she finds Stellalluna in her nest with her hatchlings? What will happen when Pip, Flap, & Flitter try to fly at night? You get the idea.

And now it's bedtime, so until next time...

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Hanging Out with Stellaluna

Do bats give you the willies? Then it's about time, teachers, that you met Stellaluna.

Stellaluna is an adorable baby bat that stars in Janell Cannon's award winning book, Stellaluna. Although the book was published in 1993, it holds timeless appeal for children. In fact, just this year, School Library Journal named it one of the "Top 100 Picture Books" of all time. Stellaluna was featured on Reading Rainbow (my all time favorite TV show for children), as well as in the movie, I Am Sam. It has also been released in an animated version on DVD by MGM & Scholastic.

If you haven't fallen in love with Stellaluna yet, you need to crawl out from under that rock where you've been hiding!

Before reading this book to my class, I like to do 2 activities. The first one is designed to gauge their feelings about bats before we study them. To this end, my students add their name to a graph like this:

[One of my anchor activities each morning is a graph. My students join the graph of the day upon arriving at school. There's a new graph every day, so this is a rote action by my kiddos.]

Be sure to save this graph so that you can compare it to your students' feelings about bats AFTER you've studied them.

The second thing we do is complete a K-W-L chart about bats. NOW we are ready to read the book.

By the way, I always pull Stellaluna out in early October. My school no longer celebrates Halloween. By studying bats, I can give a nod to this holiday without breaking the rules.

I hope you will have time to come back soon for more ideas about teaching with Stellaluna.

P.S. In response to a request, the bat graph is now available via Google Docs. Use this link: bat graph

You may like these other resources for October:

Both are available in either my TpT Store or my TN Shop.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Pinteresting Boards

It's about time, teachers, ... to help each other find interesting boards on Pinterest (i.e. Pinteresting Boards). There are scores of collaborative boards on Pinterest that cater to elementary teachers and teaching. Here's a list of some of my favorites:

Some of these boards have thousands of followers; others are just getting started. What a treasure these boards are! You've just got to check them out!!

Friday, August 24, 2012

Calendar Activities

It's about time, teachers, -- calendar time!

Recently, I posted about introducing patterning and predicting to your calendar activities. (See blog post here.) Calendar icons for Sept. & Oct. are available FREE at Tpt and at TN. The response was enthusiastic and overwhelming. Naturally, that spurred me to create calendar icons for the entire year.

Each month's icons increase the complexity of the pattern. Simple patterns based on color transition into color, shape, and direction properties.

The simplest pattern begins in July, in deference to those of you who teach in year-round schools. The calendar icons come in sets of 31, allowing you to use them in any month you choose. I have also included some icons for special days, such as Father's Day or the first day of spring.

I like to place the special day icons on the calendar on the first day of the month. Then as we do our calendar activities, we can count the days until Father's Day, for example. We can also predict what the icon for that day will be, ultimately replacing the special day icon with the patterned one. The hardest part for me is not affirming my students' predictions until we reach the actual day. It's just so rewarding to hear the kiddos squeal, "I was right!" when that icon is placed on the calendar.

Also included are title strips for each month. The title strips are designed for 8 1/2" x 14" paper.

All of the traditional calendar activities continue. Naturally, we name the day, tell what day came before, and which day will come next. We still bundle sticks into groups of 5 to tally our days in school. Counting the days until the weekend or a special day carries on, etc.

By using patterned icons, you can simply add another dimension to your calendar activities. In naming the pattern and predicting the next icon, you are exercising your students' critical thinking skills, challenging their visual discrimination abilities, addressing the CCSS, maximizing your teaching time, and engaging your students in a fun and valuable activity. It's about time, teachers!

free set

entire year set

Update 2015 : Now available, a new set of calendar icons in a forest friends theme.

Friday, August 17, 2012

GR8 PL8

It’s about time, teachers, for some creativity! Here’s a fun project that is sure to get your students’ creative juices flowing.

Challenge your students’ creativity with vanity license plates. Vanity plates are car license plates that convey a personalized message using just 8 letters and/or numbers. Many vanity plates have cryptic messages that symbolize something important to the owner. The message may tell something about the person’s:

appearance --

personality --

accomplishment --

occupation --

or philosophy --

Present several examples, asking your students to deduce the meaning. This will get your class into the right frame of mind for creating vanity plates. Then challenge them to design 2 vanity plates.

The first license plate should describe someone or something well known. For example:

A famous person like Abe Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, or Christopher Columbus
An occupation such as cook, artist, or computer programmer
A fictional character like Cinderella, Superman, or the 7 dwarves
A fictional place such as Never-Never Land or the Land of Oz
A well-known site such as Mount Rushmore or the Eiffel Tower
An historic event like the 1^st moon landing or the Civil War

The second license plate should describe something unique to the student. It may be a personality trait, a favorite activity, a goal, an accomplishment, or a message s/he wishes to express.

Encourage your students to think of several ideas before selecting the license plates that suit them best. Fluency of ideas often leads to increased creativity. Distribute 2 templates to your students and encourage them to use upper case letters. Numbers can be used for words (1 for ONE or WON, 8 for EIGHT or ATE). Alternate or incomplete spellings are absolutely acceptable (CS for SEES or SEAS, or EZ DUZ IT).

Display the vanity plates on a bulletin board in the hall. Then prepare for traffic jams as spectators gather to decipher the messages.

You can download all the materials for this project for FREE at my TpT Store or TN Shop

Enjoy!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Calendar Patterns

Young students love the comfort of a daily routine in their classroom. One of the most universal routines is a morning meeting with calendar activities. Lots of math concepts are inherent with calendar activities. But, have you every incorporated patterning?

Once September rolls around, I like to subtly introduce patterns on the calendar. To do this, I provide apple cards for the calendar --

As the calendar starts to fill with apple cards, someone always notices that they make a color pattern. Gotta love those "Aha!" moments! Once that realization has been achieved, my students have a new challenge at calendar time: predict what color the apple will be today.

My first graders really get into this. So naturally, I have to up the ante with the next month. October brings autumn leaves --

The first few days of October are such fun as the children try to predict what the pattern will be. By the 5th of October, the pattern becomes clear. However, I'm not finished with the predictions... Now my students have to predict such details as what kind of leaf it is, which direction the stem will point, is the leaf right side up or upside down...

Common Core Standards are being addressed. Visual discrimination is enhanced. Teaching time is being maximized. Students are engaged and having fun. Try it; you'll like it!

You can get both of these sets of calendar cards for FREE in my TpT store or TN shop. If you like adding more content to your calendar activities, I have another product that offers icons for the entire year.

Update 7/2015:

I have just added a new product that provides Calendar Icons in a forest friends theme. Check it out!