Assess with Plickers

Have you heard of Plickers? Plickers is a free teacher created app that uses an internet connected mobile device and a student's unique Plicker card.  Teachers create questions.  Students use their Plicker card to select an answer and hold it up as the teacher scans the cards using an iPad or smartphone.  Data is reported and collected instantly!

Assessing with Plickers is a great alternative to traditional means of data collecting.

I used Plickers to create a formative assessment about American symbols.  The questions I asked my students were created to help inform my instruction.  We took this as a pre-test and will take it again at the conclusion of our unit.

Here is a sample.

What I like about it is that I can ask all or a group of my students questions.  Since their Plicker cards are unique, students are less apt to "copy" each other.  Students also love the fact that technology is incorporated.

To learn more about Plickers, this video was very helpful.

Teaching American symbols is one of my favorite units.  Read more about our writing and craft ideas from these previous posts.

My students are learning more about America. Many know very little. We made these hearts to go with the book I Am America. #iteachtoo #teachersofinstagram

A photo posted by Mrs.Parker (@learningwithmrsparker) on Feb 19, 2015 at 8:13pm PST

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Guided Drawings of Pilgrims and Native Americans

For the past two years, I have completed these guided drawings with my students.  It usually takes two class sessions to complete them.  On the first day, we make Pilgrims.  Girls will draw a Pilgrim girl and boys will draw a Pilgrim boy.  The following day, girls will draw a Native American boy and boys will draw a Native American girl.  These become keepsakes for their memory box.  

Today, I am sharing my step by step drawings with you.  To complete the lesson, you will need about 45 minutes to 1 hour.  You will also need to copy a U-shaped smile on 12x9 white construction paper.  I have found that giving this starting point helps them tremendously.

I model each step with the students.  As I model, students draw in pencil.  Once completed, they will trace their pencil drawing with marker.   

Along the way, I monitor each student's drawing. Usually, I am giving directions specifically for the boys and then, directions specifically for the girls.  This means, students have to pay close attention.

I model coloring and limit what colors that they can use because these are meant to be realistic drawings.  

As a final touch, we color the background in a color that we did not use in the drawing.  This gives it a pop of color.  I love how they turn out and my students are always so proud of their work.  

I hope you found this helpful.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Be sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook for up to date happenings of my classroom.

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Our Learning - In Pictures

A picture is worth a thousand words.  - Albert Einstein

Here are a few things that we've been up to in our classroom.

It's all good when you have a Pete the Cat mask. 

In honor of Read Across America, I was Pete the Cat.  

So, of course, I needed a few friends.  

We celebrated Read Across America by sharing our favorite books.

Then, we wrote about it.

 In social studies, we learned about maps.  We explored how to make a map of our home. 

This Target rug became an inspiration for a math center.

The greedy Leprechaun is known to slide over the rainbow to steal the gold.  

My intervention group has been helping Bob learn to rhyme. 

They found Bob to be so silly and were more than willing to help him learn to rhyme.

We wrote an interactive rhyming book.   

 Finally,

this has been my view lately.  Away from my students; assessing 1-1.  I love the data that it gives me and parents but I dislike not engaging and interacting with my class all day long.

I hope to be back to blogging soon.  In the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook where you'll get an almost daily look into my teaching.

Until then,

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Teaching Empathy to Young Learners

Teaching young children to be aware of the emotions of others can be tricky but important to creating a caring classroom environment.  

When, I read The Potato Chip Champ, I knew that I wanted to use it to teach my students about empathy.  

First of all, I felt that it was important for my students to understand what empathy meant.  This video did a good job of portraying what empathy looks and feels like.  

(For a longer video with more examples, download it as a  podcast via iTunes.)

Next, I read the book to my class.  We paused along the way to see which pictures showed empathy; an understanding of how others feel.   Then, we discussed how we could show empathy.  We used this sentence frame to help our discussion.

Click to download.

Students said that they could show empathy by asking, "Are you okay?" or saying "I'm sorry."  I think this book did an excellent job of showing how our actions and reactions have a lasting effect on the relationships we have with others.  I will use this in the coming weeks as I teach about the life and times of Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders.  

I am delighted that Maria Dismondy has generously offered an autographed book for one of you. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To learn more about the book, watch the book trailer video.

Be sure to visit Maria's blog and/or Facebook page where she provides an upbeat view on many topics that you'll not want to miss.  

Happy Teaching and Learning!

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Thanksgiving Retell

Click here for your copy. 

My students did such a great job learning about the first Thanksgiving.  They were able to retell the story to their families using their retell necklaces.  I was so proud of them.  To help, I made a simple text version of the Thanksgiving story.  I printed it out and glued onto colored scrapbook paper to match their retell bead.  The visual helped my students tremendously.

We also watched the classic Charlie Brown, The Mayflower Voyage.  You can find it on this DVD or access via YouTube here (Part 1) and here (Part 2).

My little one and me

As Thanksgiving approaches, I am reminded that I have so much to be thankful for this year; my health, loved ones, school family and for the collaboration and learning I have found via blogging.

From my classroom to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. I hope to share more about QR codes this week.

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Our Week in Pictures

I saw these wonderful shape turkeys and wanted to try them.  Let's just say some of us still need to work on spatial relationships just a bit more. 

This week, we used QR codes to practice our sight words.  The kids were very excited to use the camera to scan the QR code.  This was a guided activity that I hope to incorporate into our Word Work study.  Of course, we spent some of the week discussing the election.  

Inspired by HeidiSongs directed drawings of Pilgrims, we made our own version.  I did get them started by providing them with a U shape for the face but all the other details they did on their own with my modeling.

In other news, my blog was featured in Carson-Dellosa's Facebook page.  Don't forget to enter my giveaway.  A lucky winner will be announced soon.

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It's November!

November is finally upon us.

Here are a few books that I hope to read throughout the month.

Click here to read the original post.

I love to teach nutrition this month since Thanksgiving centers around food and family. We launched the unit by going to our local grocery store.  The kids toured the store, met many workers from various departments, and took home a bag of donated groceries.









Our team is planning a Thanksgiving feast.  We will sing It's November to our families.  I hope to teach my students the story of Thanksgiving using this retelling bracelet.  I did this a few years ago with my first graders.  That year, we feasted on more traditional foods of the first Thanksgiving.  

Some new additions, I hope to accomplish this November will center on the upcoming election and I hope to make Stone Soup and bake bread with my class.  I've been busy planning these ideas; well, at least virtually, pinning.  To see more, follow my Pinterest board. 

Many of these ideas were from earlier posts. Thus,

Happy Teaching.

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Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?

As we wrap up the last few weeks of school, we are learning about our community workers.   Each day we read and write about a community worker.  We are using this wonderful and simple resource from Kindergarten Hoppenings to write about each community worker.  In addition, we complete an easy art craft or activity to compliment what we are learning. So far, we've made fire fighter helmets, police hats, and wrote a letter home for the mail carrier to deliver.  

Like the frames? I got them here. 

I hope to culminate the unit by having the students make a community models complete with buildings, cars and people. I saw this several years ago before I taught kindergarten and have always wanted to try it.  Wish up luck! 

Here are a few books that we are using during this unit.

Happy Teaching and Learning!

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American Symbols Part II

We had a wonderful time learning about the symbols of America.  Here is a peek at some of our learning.

Patriotic Hearts  After learning about the colors of our flag, students weaved these hearts.  I added their photo to the star.

Liberty Crowns  This is one of my favorite crafts.  To make, I draw the crown onto a 18x12 construction paper and cut.

 Drawing Lady Liberty With the help of this You Tube video, I was able to teach my students how to draw the Statue of Liberty.  I originally saw this here and here.

Bald Eagles We completed this shared writing to go along with our art from Mrs. Jump's unit.

I loved how patriotic our classroom looked.


Happy Learning and Teaching!

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Patriotic Heart Weaving

Looking for an easy to do item to teach American symbols. I love incorporating this simple paper weaving craft with the colors of our American flag.

I pre-cut the heart for my students. While the heart is folded in half, I lightly draw lines for them to cut. Students use strips on paper to weave into their heart. Cut excess strips to form the shape of the heart and glue down if needed.

I love how this look on display in our classroom!

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American Symbols

This month I will be teaching my students about American symbols.  I will be using many of the books listed in my February Book Picks.

Tomorrow, we will launch the unit.  We will begin with our flag.  I plan to read this book and this one.  Then, we will complete a tree map about our learning.  Would you like a copy of the tree map?

Click image.

I love teaching this unit to my kinders.  What are some things that you do to make this engaging for your students?  I am looking for new ideas.

Happy Teaching and Learning!

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Thankful Turkeys

Instead of the traditional Thanksgiving card, my students will be taking home a Thankful Turkey to adorn their home.  Pinterest inspired, I love how cute they look.

Together, we brainstormed what we were thankful for.  Here is a typical sample.  (Is it ever to early to be thankful for presents?)  Afterwards, I assembled the feathers for them.

Click here for your copy.

If you grab a copy to use or tuck away for next year, leave a comment about what you are thankful for. Today, I am thankful that I survived our walking field trip. One more day until Thanksgiving break!

Happy Teaching and Learning!

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On Safari to Africa

Each year, our school hosts a multicultural fair.  During the fair, students "travel" around the world, learning about a particular place.  For the past month, my students have learned about the animals, people, culture and stories of Africa.

 We're on Safari!  Inspired by this awesome blog, I created this jeep.  

The kids  and I love it!  

 My special ed students made these animals from Deanna Jump's zoo unit.  

 I worked with them on writing a simple sentence.  

Whereas, my other students read and researched native animals.  

They kept their information stored in their Safari Journal.

We created these beautiful African masks.  

The masks are made out of chipboard which they painted to look like wood.  

I helped them to cut out the shapes for the mouth, nose, and eyes.  

The students added details.  It was very labor intensive but well worth it.  

 During the multicultural fair, students "visit" to learn about the country.  

We performed two Reader's Theatre plays based on African Tales; 

The Royal Drum and Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain.

The culmination will take place this Friday with a school wide performance based on that grades' learning.  We will perform 3 African songs and a dance.  It will be a fitting ending to a long unit of study.

Happy Teaching and Learning!

5

The Presidents

Here is what we created this week in honor of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Thanks to Chalk Talk my students created these super cute Presidents.  My class normally creates the TLC Art Lessons  but this was a great substitute. 

Here is a sample of their expository writing.  We did the top together and they had to come up with three facts on their own based on our readings and our notes from the lesson.

 Happy Teaching and Learning!

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