Learning through Music and Movement

I love this picture.  Like, really LOVE this picture.  

Why?

Because I was able to capture a moment where our learning was not based upon a scripted lesson from a textbook but rather in an active and engaging whole brain method.

Something magical has happened as we've danced to  Blends are Letter Friends created by kindergarten teacher, Kathy Griffin.

At first, the class was just following the dance moves.  Dancing, listening and having fun.  Eventually, they learned the words to the song. That is when the "aha moments" began. Students transferred their new learning into the academic setting. They began to see blends in their reading, our shared writing, and in their names.  Suddenly, blends were everywhere.

Over the years, I have found that if I can incorporate learning through music and movement, my students are more apt to learn the concept at a faster rate and can retain the information for a longer period of time. I have also learned that it doesn't feel much like learning.  It feels like play and fun. And, we all know that our classrooms need that.

Here is a list of some of my favorite resources that use music and movement.

How do you think students learn best?  Do you have any other resources that I should try in my classroom?

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Using Educreations in Kindergarten

This school year, I have been trying to integrate technology as a learning tool more often in the classroom. One way I have found is using Educreations.  Educreations is a free iPad app which becomes an interactive whiteboard.  It allows you to record, draw, add text and photos while creating your screencast.

Our textbook adoption has a weekly retell component that goes with our main text.  I have been using these cards to model how to retell the story.  First, we look at each card and practice what to say.  We do this several times. First of all, to help us memorize what to say and to help the 3/4s of my students who are learning English as a second language.  When the class is ready, we record ourselves using Educreations.    Finally, we hear our selves and watch our mini movie.

Here is a sample of our most recent retell.

The Bus For Us


You will notice that it is not perfect. At this time, you can not stop recording and fix mistakes. So, that is why memorizing what we are going to say is important. I will coach and prompt students as needed since the goal is to practice retelling.

Educreations is a powerful app that could be used in a variety of ways.  This week, I am going to have my students record themselves decomposing numbers.  Wish us luck!

Wondering if this is standards based?  This article does a great job of showing how it applies to Bloom's Taxonomy.

Happy Teaching!

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I Am A Pizza

I love creating lessons where I can teach yet let my kids be little.  So much of our day is filled with work that has to be done.  Therefore, when I am given the opportunity to create freely, I take advantage.  Last week, I created a series of lessons which went along with our reading series theme, food and menu writing.  I used I Am A Pizza as our focal point because who doesn't love pizza.  We were able to echo read from our song cards which helped with total engagement and participation.




Afterwards, I pretended to order a pizza but the students quickly noted that I got my order all wrong.  I forgot to tell the size and what kind of pizza I wanted.

Over the next two days, we made our menu together. (Please, ignore my misspelling of broccoli).  I created a sentence frame for them to use when ordering their pizzas.  I handed them phones so that they could place their orders.  They loved it! As I walked around the room, I could hear kids talking and see lots of happy children learning.

Finally, came the best part!

Using 24"x24" yellow and brown construction paper, I had prepped pizza wedges that I stapled at the top and cut a rounded neck.

Students recited their order and went to work making their pizza.

They had a blast making their pizzas and loved wearing them.  In fact, many wore them outside to play and as we marched out at the end of the day.  All in all, I think it was a successful lesson.

Happy Teaching!

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Exploring our 5 Senses

Science is so much fun in our classroom!  

We are exploring our 5 Senses through centers.

How It Works:
At each station, I set up five different objects to investigate each sense.

She is making a list of what she sees.

I number the tables and students rotate through each number until that station is finished.  

Tip: Write directly on the table with a Sharpie.
It wipes off clean.

They write a description of what they saw, heard, felt, smelled, or tasted using this journal which I adapted.

We complete the stations over a period of days.  

 I added different scents such as cinnamon oil into the rice.
I didn't want the students to use their sense of vision to tell what it was.

Afterwards, we share our thoughts about the objects.  Once finished, we will create a bubble map of sensory words.

Happy Teaching and Learning!

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How Rude! Teaching Grammar in Writing

My students love to write about their friends.  What five year old doesn't!  But, we have a little problem. Problem? Yes, problem.

Here's what our worked may have looked like.

Did you notice?  My students lacked manners in their writing. They talk about themselves first and then, mention their friend.

So, this week, we worked on changing our bad habits.  To begin, we read Manners at School. I wanted them to understand, the word, manners.  Then, I quickly created this anchor chart to help explain what to do instead.

Friends First Anchor Chart

I talked about how I liked my friend a lot and to show that I did, I would write her name first.  Here was the biggie. I also told them that it was bad manners to use the word me.  After much thought, the kids decided that I could use the word I.   

Since I have many English Language Learners, we practiced orally using the phrase ______ and I.  I had different kids come up and we just practiced the vocabulary.  Then, I sent them off to write. I watched and reminded them Friends First.  Almost all of them could do it. 

Here is what their worked may have looked like afterwards. 

There is still work to do but we are moving in the right direction.  Teaching grammar to young writers is important.  To help me, I love using this resource.  

Happy Teaching and Learning!

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Trees. Tree Maps, Everywhere!

Lettering Delights graphic

We have trees growing in our classroom. 

Well, not tress but Tree Maps!  

Tree maps have become a rich part of our learning experience.

Here are a few that we made this week.

First up, MLK.

We read several books which helped us learn about the life of MLK. I was inspired by many, such as this, and this wonderful resource. The kids loved the new word that they learned; equality.  

The ideas presented on this tree map are all student generated.  It came from their learning.

Here is our completed bulletin board.

Next. Penguins!

These arctic animals made an appearance during our English Language Development class.

I love this time because the students are a mixed group from every kindergarten class. I teach the highest level of English speakers. As a  result, my goal is to move them towards English fluency in all areas; listening, speaking, reading and writing.  

Here are some samples of the writing.

 
I am so proud of the writing that they produced with guidance and support from the use of the tree map.   

We can do it! Yes, we can! 


Happy Teaching and Learning!

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Do you Fold?

Have you used foldables in your classroom?  Recently, some of my students created these foldables during our study about Friends.  Here is how we created them.

Here are some uses for this activity. 

We used the graphic organizer above to help us organize our thoughts.  Since the kids were writing about a friend and needed to present it to their classmates, we practiced the vocabulary and the sentences many, many times as we made the Foldable.

Happy Teaching and Learning!

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Hanukkah idea....and More

Whew!  Assessments and report cards are finished!



We are performing for our families a collection of winter songs including The Driedel Song by Raffi.  Here are few Hanukkah activities we completed during our learning.

We made these pattern candles found here.  I used them to decorate the door. 

My students learned how to play the Driedel game which they loved.  Look at that smile! The kids could not get enough of this game.  

I also made a little book for my kids to read based on the song.  Unfortunately, I can't share because of the graphics but you can find the Hanukkah graphics here.

Source

And totally, unrelated, we are participating in a Gingerbread Exchange.  This kids enjoy looking at the map to find where our Gingerbread is from.  They are eagerly awaiting getting a Gingerbread Girl. Here is our display. We made gingerbread houses after reading Gingerbread Baby.  It was a great independent activity while I finished testing.  

Five more days until vacation!  Yeah!

Happy Teaching and Learning!

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Teaching ELD Learners

At my school, every student receives English Language Development instruction because frankly, every student needs to improve their oral and written grammar.   Classes meet for ELD instruction three times a week for 50 minutes.   Our grade level has chosen to "split" the kids based on English Proficiency Level.  We use this exam to make our classes.  Lately, we have begun to use ELD instructional time to help prepare students for their upcoming writing assessments.  We continue to work on listening and speaking but focus the lessons on grammar used in relation to the writing prompt.

I teach the lowest level of ELD speakers.  The students are a mix of native English speakers and non-native English speakers.  They are also some of the most fragile learners at our grade level.  Many of these students are frequently in trouble, have home issues, and are struggling in their classes academically.  They are a high need group who is yearning for attention.  I must admit, that at times, we had our moments but overall, I enjoyed these kids.  I also admit, I have a lot of admiration for their teachers.  Boy, they are a handful!

Here is a glimpse of our learning during ELD.

We made rainbows, watched raisins dance, made oobleck; all in the name of science.  The kids kept asking to watch something explode.  I kept saying no for fear that they might try it at home. 

Translation: #1 spicy, #2 candy, #3 coffee, #4 chocolate, #5 Mrs. Parker for perfume

We discovered our senses.  Students had a blast rotating through our senses centers.  Great vocabulary building activity.  

 This led to our learning of adjectives using a familiar story.  

We wrote our own version of the story.

Lastly, we used all our knowledge about describing people, places and things to become superheroes. Students had to read their writing using Superhero voices.  

This was my favorite picture of the day! It is from a little boy who when he discovered he was going to be in my ELD class, the first thing he asked was would we make police hats. I had made them with my kinder ELD class the previous year and he wanted one. Well, no police hat is in sight but we did manage to come up with something better.

Happy Teaching and Learning!

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Helping Kids Understand Questions

Sometimes children have a hard time understanding what is a question and what is a statement.  I know that as teachers, we often hear, "I have a question." When truly it is just a statement or in the case of some of my kiddos an entire story.

At our school, we use Systematic ELD.  One of the functions for beginning and early intermediate learners is to ask and answer questions.  To help them, our first grade team created this song to help build background knowledge.  

The unit focuses on the 5 Ws but the song can be altered to any question words.  As a class, we generate a list of question words.  To help, I use the word wall and use the word in a sentence.  I let students know that if they can answer me back it is a question.  I teach students who have receptive language in English but need help with expressive language so this task is not as easy as it may seem.  With lots of practice, students begin to understand and use the language appropriately.

I also like to take a garden glove and attach velcro to each finger.  I make and laminate little cards with the questions written on them.  We practice together using the words as questions.  For students, we ask our nurse or purchase latex gloves (check for allergies first)  and write question words with a Sharpie.  The students practice with one another using their words in questions.  It is always a big hit.  

Other ideas for asking questions include playing 20 Questions or making an art craft where you intentionally leave out needed items so that students have to ask you for the items.  :)

These books go perfectly with our unit of study about questions.

     

Happy Teaching and Learning!  

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