Class Antics – Inside Elementary Education

Idiom-challenged maid Amelia Bedelia has delighted children since 1963.  Who can resist a maid who doesn’t understand how to draw the drapes or put out the lights?  Amelia Bedelia’s good intentions and delicious desserts carry her through.

Interestingly enough, I have noticed that most children don’t enjoy the humor of Amelia Bedelia unless they are taught how to appreciate it.  Like Amelia Bedelia, children are very literal and they just don’t get the jokes.   I think kids enjoy Amelia Bedelia books best if they hear several of them read aloud.  That way, the students can help each other explain the idioms.  If you are lucky, one or two kids will get each joke, and they can explain them to the class.  Once the students understand Amelia Bedelia books, rereading them makes for good fluency practice.

Amelia Bedelia books are time-honored vehicles for teaching children about idioms.  This is especially helpful to English Language Learners (ELL students).  Idioms are hard to pick up—notice I used an idiom to explain the quandary.   ELL kids might like to know that Amelia Bedelia has ELL and international roots.  Author Peggy Parish based Amelia on a maid in Cameroon, Africa, where Peggy spent some time as a child. The maid was known for her vast and beautiful hat collection.  The illustrations of Amelia pay homage to this woman.

In addition to the classic Amelia Bedelia books, your students will enjoy reading Herman Parish’s books about young Amelia Bedelia and her first experiences at school.  The books are charming and will make your students feel like seasoned vets as they chuckle over how confusing school is to young Amelia.  You can read a sample here at the Harper Collins website.

Tip for standardized test prep: it’s tough to answer a question about explaining the idiom if you don’t know what an idiom is.  Your students will face this problem unless you periodically review the meaning of words like “idiom.”  It’s easy to lose sight of vocabulary basics in fun lessons, so remember to bring the kids back to the definition.

Resources for Amelia Bedelia and Idioms

• Your class will enjoy Amelia Bedelia games during computer lab time.
• ABC Teach has a nice collection of Amelia Bedelia worksheets.
• PowerPoint presentations about Amelia Bedelia and Peggy Parish
• Worksheets about idioms
• The idiom site explains common sayings

List of Amelia Bedelia books
Available at Amazon.com

Amelia Bedelia (1963) – Wiki link
Thank You, Amelia Bedelia (1964)
Amelia Bedelia and the Surprise Shower (1966)
Come Back, Amelia Bedelia (1971)
Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia (1972)
Good Work, Amelia Bedelia (1976)
Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia (1977)
Amelia Bedelia Helps Out (1979)
Amelia Bedelia and the Baby (1981)
Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping (1985)
Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia (1986)
Amelia Bedelia’s Family Album (1988)
Good Driving, Amelia Bedelia (1995)
Bravo, Amelia Bedelia! (1997)
Amelia Bedelia 4 Mayor (1999)
Calling Doctor Amelia Bedelia (2002)
Amelia Bedelia and the Christmas List (2003)
Amelia Bedelia, Bookworm (2003)
Happy Haunting, Amelia Bedelia (2004)
Amelia Bedelia Goes Back to School (2004)
Be My Valentine, Amelia Bedelia (2004)
Amelia Bedelia, Rocket Scientist? (2005)
Amelia Bedelia’s Masterpiece (2007)
Amelia Bedelia Under Construction (2007)
Amelia Meets Emilie Castro (2007)
Amelia Bedelia and the Cat (2008)
Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School (2009)
Amelia Bedelia’s First Valentine (2009)
Amelia Bedelia Makes a Friend (2011)

Renaissance Learning’s report on What Kids are Reading has garnered national media attention, much of it focusing on perceived inadequacies among today’s readers.  A National Board Certified Teacher offers a different perspective.

Renaissance Place’s Accelerated Reader program gathers a lot of data when students take AR tests.  Kids rate books and the program counts how often tests are taken.  The results can be interesting…and misleading.  For example, kids almost always pick the top rating, so you can’t place much stock in the stars books receive on the ARBookFind site. Additionally standalone titles of perennial popularity (Charlotte’s Web) do better than really, really popular series.  Kids love Magic Tree House books, but there are so many that they split the vote.

Sometimes the reason for a book’s popularity isn’t what you think.  For example, three of the top books read by third graders (Boom Town, Officer Buckle & Gloria, and Lon Po Po) are in the Harcourt Trophies third grade reader.  Would these books be so popular among AR test takers if they weren’t in the reading textbook?

Reading level can be a misleading thing.  Just because a student is in third grade doesn’t mean she reads only books rated three point something.  A quick glance at the top books for any grade level shows you that reading level is just an average.  For example, third graders love Diary of a Wimpy Kid (5.5), but they also enjoy Green Eggs and Ham (1.5)  Books hovering around grade level are prominent, but so are outliers.

Reading levels run the gamut in every grade, both among the readers and the titles they favor.  That’s why I’m not nuts about assigning kids to a narrow reading level (2.5-3.1 would be a common reading zone for third grade.)  Kids miss out on so much and the reading level is not always an indicator of whether the child can read the book.  It’s an indicator of sentence length, word length, sentences in a paragraph, that sort of thing.

Much has been made in the media about the low average grade level of high school students’ favorite books.  Don’t wig out, America!  There are several forces at work here.  First of all, mostly younger high school kids take AR tests, and mostly kids who are in regular English, not honors are required to earn points.  Honors students read literature and write papers; AR tests rarely figure into the curriculum.   If it does, it’s just an assignment to rack up points for independent reading.  Why not get credit for Twilight under such a system?

A look at AR tests high school kids are taking reads like the bestseller list.  Some of the reading levels may surprise you. For example, The Hunger Games clocks in at 5.3, but anyone who has read it knows the issues, characterization, and depth of the novel go far beyond that.  Besides, how can you knock The Hunger Games for a low reading level when Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is lower, only 4.5?  The low reading levels are indicators of today’s writing style—clear and concise.  Short sentences and paragraphs mean low reading levels.

What differentiates the high school books is topic, not word length and sentence length.  Glass by Ellen Hopkins is considered 3.7 grade level, but would I share that novel-in-verse with my third graders?  It’s way above their comprehension level!

Use the list of What Kids are Reading as it was intended: a way to report usage of AR tests, indicating popularity of certain books.  Don’t think it indicates the end of literacy or a terrible decline in the reading ability of today’s kids.

The report also has interesting essays by some of today’s most famous authors.  Ellen Hopkin’s article about frequently challenged books and what kids should be reading is insightful.

Original poem, FREE poetry worksheet!

In honor of Poetry Month, here is a FREE poetry reading comprehension worksheet written by a National Board Certified Teacher’s…little sister.  The worksheet and poem are very good!

My sister wrote “Ode to Kermit” to help my students with their poetry reading comprehension.  It is a fun poem in the voice of Miss Piggy, who is quite exuberant in her love for Kermit.  It’s a real problem for him, actually.

I hope you and your students enjoy the imagery in the poem.  You might want to explain to them about moi and vous— and why Miss Piggy says “Kermie” for “Kermit.”  Miss Piggy loves the French language because it is très chic!

 Click here for the worksheet and read on for the poem!

Ode to Kermit (in the voice of Miss Piggy)

Kermit, oh, Kermie,
Your name sends me floating through pools of algae.

Just the sight of you sends my heart into thralls
Like the pitter and patter of two ping-pong balls.

Kermit, with your mouth of red felt
And hemispherical eyes that cause me to melt,

Every time I think of wonderful vous
I wish that I could grow old with you.

My precious Kermit, my affection is no mistake,
Yet you still cause moi’s heart to break.

As you can see, the Green family loves the Muppets!  Here are some of the greatest hits from Class Antics Muppets posts:

Muppets in the Classroom Part One: How to integrate the Muppets into your curriculum
Muppets in the Classroom Part Two: More on how to integrate the Muppets into your curriculum
School Garden: John Denver sings “The Garden Song (Inch by Inch)” with the Muppets
Winnie the Pooh Day (A.A. Milne’s birthday): Kermit’s nephew Robin sings “Halfway Down”

Original poem, FREE poetry worksheet!

In honor of Poetry Month, here is a FREE poetry reading comprehension worksheet written by a National Board Certified Teacher’s…little sister.  The worksheet and poem are very good!

My sister wrote “Math” to help my students with their poetry reading comprehension.  It is an adorable poem about a romance that blossoms in math class.  Really, it’s a shame that she wrote it just for the worksheet.  I hope you and your students enjoy the math puns and the genuine emotion in the poem.

Click here for the worksheet and read on for the poem!

Math

Your obtuse manner isn’t helped
By your acute smile,
And you’re a total square
From your toes to your hair roots.

I’m sorry, but you + me
Just doesn’t equate.

A simple problem, to which there are
Not one, not two, but
No solutions.

Still, you made point after point
While I kept feeding you the same lines.

Then, when
            I couldn’t make ends                            meet
            And my life was

                                    Decaying

                                                             Exponentially

            And there wasn’t a ray of sunshine to be had,

You were the only real number
I could call.

It all started to add up:
As I dialed your number,
All sines pointed toward you.

Writing tips from Corey Green, National Board Certified Teacher;
use them in class or for fun! 

When creating characters for your story, remember that the relationships between characters will drive your plot.  Here are tips to help you create those relationships.

Writers will tell you that it’s important to know your characters well, especially your main character.  You should develop your characters’ strengths and weaknesses, habits, likes and dislikes, fears, hopes for the future, and favorites.  When I first began to write the Buckley School Books, I developed profiles like that for every kid in Mr. Hoker’s class.

However, my stories really gelled when I realized that the relationships between characters are as important, if not more important, than knowing every tiny detail about each individual character.  The relationships between characters should create conflict in the story.

Here are some common threads between characters.  Weave these phrases between your characters’ names for some great plot ideas!

Ideas for relationships between characters:
> Loves
> Hates
> Envies (Is jealous of)
> Admires (looks up to)
> Rivals (competition between characters)
> Fears
> Protects
> Defies (goes up against, challenges)
> Owes
> Upsets

The Hunger Games is an excellent example of how complex relationships between characters can create a compelling story that captivates millions of people all over the world.  Suzanne Collins created a complex web of characters as she wove her plot.

Now, use this information to create your own story!  Create three or more characters for your story and develop the relationships between them.  You can also practice by figuring out the relationships between characters in stories you love.  Harry Potter, Twilight, Percy Jackson—these are few bestsellers with complex relationships between characters.  Can you list them all?

Teachers know it: money math is difficult for many students.  This has been true a long time—after all, money math relies on decimals, fractions, and a firm grasp of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  I think today’s kids have an even harder time with it because so many transactions now are done with credit or debit cards, so there are fewer opportunities to touch and count money.

Here are some online games to help your students with money math.

Counting coins

 This game is perfect for figuring out which coins you need to make a certain amount. I wish I’d found it during our money unit this year. The kids would have loved it!

The next level up is to look at a group of coins and figure out how much money it is. One of my students had trouble with that skill, and this game might help.

 Making Change

 I think making change is the ultimate money-unit challenge for students.  Kids can get through a standardized test by just subtracting, but they are so proud when they master the skill of making change by counting up.

 This making change game lets you click on pictures of coins to make change. It’s fun!

This one is also good. It has more of a fun, cartoon kind of look. Unfortunately, that also makes the coins a little harder to recognize.

Here’s another making change game.

Money Math Seatwork

Math-Aids.com is my favorite site for money math worksheets.

Dad’s Worksheets has a nice section on Money Word Problems.

Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland
by Tomie dePaola
Available at Amazon.com

With Tomie dePaola’s signature illustration and simple writing style, this book tells the story of Saint Patrick, from his roots as a Roman slave to the height of his powers.  At the end of the book, Tomie shows myths and legends about Saint Patrick.  My favorite is driving the snakes from Ireland—but I also love the picture of him cruising across the water on a rock.

Activities and tie-ins:

Color Celtic Designs: Your children will enjoy the Celtic design elements in the illustrations.  Click here to print Celtic designs and alphabets for your students to color and  here to print Celtic knot patterns.

Learn about Celtic Designs: Your class will get so much more out of coloring Celtic designs if you take a few minutes to teach them about the history.  This website is perfect for a quick study.  I particularly liked learning about Celtic animals.  Kids love animals, so you know it’s a natural fit for the classroom.

Illustrate & Write: Tomie dePaola’s deceptively simple style is enticing for children to imitate—your class would love to illustrate their favorite part, writing a short paragraph underneath the illustration.

An occasional series with sample pages from the Best Multiplication Workbook EVER!

My publisher is running a limited-time-coupon for $10 off Best Multiplication Workbook EVER! to help your class prepare for standardized testing.  Use Coupon Code NGUTA5C6 and click here to order.  The offer expires April 15, 2012.

More than just a workbook, Best Multiplication Workbook EVER! is a comprehensive curriculum that makes learning multiplication easy, enjoyable and relevant to real-life situations. Written by a master teacher, it addresses how kids really learn.

> Multiplication facts: scaffolded, comprehensive approach helps kids memorize their facts and cement their learning.

> Word problems (lots of them!) help students see the relevance of multiplication. There are word problems for each times table, level of multiplication, themed word problems, and long-multiplication word problems.

> Standardized testing content boosts students’ confidence and courage as they face the stresses of the standardized testing environment; answers teach strategies for getting it right!

> FUN! Friendly animals guide kids through the lessons. Certificates acknowledge achievements. Real-life word problems show how multiplication helps in sports, movie making and beyond!

The FREE standardized test prep worksheets never expire. This sample is Part 2 of an occasional series with sample pages from the Best Multiplication Workbook EVER!

Tip # 2: Determine what must be in the ones place

This is a really simple trick that lets you quickly eliminate wrong answers. Check just the ones digit of the problem. Multiply quickly in your head, and you will know what the ones digit must be in the correct answer. This trick works when you multiply by 2 or 3 digit numbers (and even bigger numbers) because the when you do your hugs and kisses, you never put any new numbers in the ones place.

Example A: 48 x 3: since 3 x 8 is 24, you know 4 must be in the ones place. Eliminate all answers with a different digit in the ones place.

Example B: 246 x 316: 6 x 6 is 36, so you know 6 will be in the ones place. Eliminate all answers with a different digit in the ones place.

Click here for FREE worksheets about this skill, straight from the Best Multiplication Workbook EVER!

On Saint Patrick’s Day, we’re all Irish!  Have some fun with your class.

Preparation: get a class shamrock plant.  (Bonus points if you can convince a parent to donate it!) 

Ask the kids to save their milk cartons from lunch.  Use them to take home a piece of the class shamrock plant.  Students can repot a piece of the shamrock plant and grow their own at home.  Learn how to grow a shamrock plant at ehow.com

If you are learning about immigration in Social Studies, tie the Irish immigrant experience in with your Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations.  You could talk with your class about how Irish immigrants were treated and compare it to immigration today.  The countries of origin have changed, but in many ways, how people view immigrants remains the same.  Read Eve Bunting’s Dreaming of America: An Ellis Island Story.

Grownups, take this opportunity to read a book by a wonderful Irish writer, Maeve Binchy.  Her books immerse you in Ireland, and you know her characters better than you know your own family.  Tara Road is her magnum opus, and her newer books all feature that Dublin neighborhood.  Every single book by Maeve Binchy is wonderful.  I read them over and over again.

Here are some fun ideas for Learning with the Lorax from a National Board Certified Teacher.  

The Lorax, the latest Dr. Seuss movie adaptation, stars Zac Efron and Taylor Swift voicing Ted and Audry.  Kids will demand fan activities for these two popular actors right away, so here are some ways parents and teachers can be really cool.  Don’t tell the kids that these activities also tie in nicely with NEA Read Across America Day!

Lorax Games

> Don’t Whack the Lorax: a game tie-in with the movie
> Ted’s Scooter Dodge: a game tie-in with the movie
> Dodgeberry Blast: a game tie-in with the movie
> Hummingfish & Swomee-Swan Survival: a game tie-in with the movie
> The Lorax Quest Game at Seussville: You are in charge of truffula seeds. And truffula seeds are what everyone needs! Gather the truffula seeds from the characters and help the Lorax grow a whole new forest! To reach the game, go to the Seussville Games Page and click “forth” until you come to the Lorax game.

Lorax Worksheets from Random House:

> How Many? A fun counting worksheet—count how many you see in the picture! Your students will need a good working knowledge of The Lorax to complete this worksheet.
> Dear Mother Earth: Write a letter to Mother Earth stating what you will do to help preserve her. The worksheet is basically nice Lorax-themed stationery.
> Lorax Maze:  Help the objects find their way to the recycling bin.

Lorax Writing Contest: Every Inkling Makes a Difference. The contest opens March 2nd. Your students can write an online story describing one creative idea for living sustainably. The grand prize is a $10,000 scholarship. There are 3 prizes in two categories: grades 3-5 and 6-8. Click here for the student printable explaining the contest.

Read The Lorax, Available at Amazon.com

Many schools have interclass competitions for all sorts of events: readathons, jogathons, fundraiser competitions, school spirit days.

I am not insanely competitive, and I don’t push my class to win everything. Winning takes a lot of dedication from the teacher, students, and families. I think it’s best to put that kind of energy into educational goals.

Here are the five tips I developed when G3 decided to win the school readathon.

1.  Set your goal high, and make it measurable. Yes, your goal is to be the best, but what do you think it will take to win? It’s only an estimate, but quantifying really helps. Your class can revise the estimate as early results come in.

2.  Set the goal for individual contributions. The competition is organized by class, but you’ll have to figure out what each person needs to do. Often, I find that the per-person goal is fairly low. Watch out for this—it makes people think they don’t have to do anything. As with most things in life, a few students will carry the rest. The next tip increases the numbers in the few, the proud…

3.  Reward individuals. Decide on a reward for individuals in your class who work hard to achieve the goal. For our readathon, we decided on an Oreo party for everyone who got their log signed each night and read a minimum number of minutes. Participation soared!

4.  Encourage the kids to motivate each other. My students and I identified a surprising pitfall in our quest for the readathon championship: the reading itself wasn’t so hard, but remembering to put the signed reading log in your backpack each night was. My students called each other to remind them to put their signed reading logs in their backpack each night. (Bonus: G3 parents got phone numbers for other G3 students.)

5.  Communicate with families. In most interclass competitions, parents’ support is essential to success, for example: signing the reading log, making sure the school T-shirt is laundered, making cans of food available to donate. The class performs better when the teacher forms a partnership with parents.  I sent emails at critical points in our quest for the championship.

When G3 won the school readathon, we invited our families to help us celebrate during the last few minutes of the school day. Families who couldn’t attend were encouraged to hold their own celebrations at home.  I think it’s an important life lesson for my students to learn how to create lifetime memories celebrating their accomplishments. This helps kids internalize goals and intrinsic rewards. Those benefits last a lifetime!

For years, I have read magazine interviews in which actress Eva Longoria* mentions that she makes the world’s best guacamole.  This month she was kind enough to share her recipe with Self magazine—just in time for the Super Bowl**!  Eva Longoria’s guacamole will go very well with chili.

 Try it and you’ll see: it really is the best ever!  I live in the Southwest, so I know a thing or two about guacamole.  Every year, students make guacamole and salsa for the class for their “How-to” presentations.

Best Guacamole EVER!

6 ripe avocados, diced
4 medium tomatoes, diced
1 large white onion, finely chopped
1 medium Serrano pepper, finely chopped
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
½ cup fresh lemon juice
2 tsp kosher salt

Mix all ingredients.  That’s it!

If you like the recipe, check out Eva Longoria’s new cookbook, Eva’s Kitchen: Cooking with Love for Family and Friends

 *of Desperate Housewives fame.  I have seen some of Eva’s movies.  I really liked Over Her Dead Body—Eva is very funny as a bride who dies on her wedding day—and haunts her fiancé when he falls for a psychic.

**Funny story: one year I asked a routine question while teaching third grade math and a boy raised his hand.  Instead of answering, he blurted out, “Okay, who do you like: the Saints or the Colts?  It took me forever to calm the class down.  I asked the boy to write a paragraph about why you don’t poll the class about football during math.

An occasional series with sample pages from the Best Multiplication Workbook EVER!

This tip comes straight from my Best Multiplication Workbook EVER!  The section on teaching 2 digit multiplication is very helpful for teachers looking to scaffold learning.  I break long multiplication into 3 sections—multiplying multidigit numbers by 1, 2 or 3 digits.  Within each section, a dozen or more lessons teach the process step by step.

Please use these two FREE sample pages with your class to introduce 2 digit multiplication.  This introductory lesson lets your students learn the Hugs and Kisses method to keep their numbers lined up when they have to put in that place holding O.  (The place holding O is the hug.  You put an X, or kiss, over a number to kiss it goodbye when you are through with it.)

The workbook lets students practice Hugs and Kisses by beginning with multiplying times 11.  This isolates the Hugs and Kisses skill, allowing students to focus on the procedure, not the math.

I wish I’d learned multiplication this way when I was a kid!  I hope this and other lessons from the Best Multiplication Workbook EVER! help your students.

January 18 is A.A. Milne’s birthday.  Celebrate with Winnie the Pooh Day!  You can adjust your activities to suit your students’ interests and reading levels.  Pooh is not just for little kids!  The books are actually quite challenging—AR levels Winnie-the-Pooh at 4.6. 

Disney has a great Winnie the Pooh site where your class can play games, watch episodes, and print pictures to color.  (Veteran teachers know to NEVER let students print without permission!  Print the pictures yourself ahead of time.)

Print Disney’s downloadable Winnie the Pooh activity book.  It’s excellent for students up to grade 3.

Extend your students’ learning by going beyond Disney’s Winnie the Pooh.  Visit the charming UK site for A.A. Milne.  You can teach your students about the author and delve more deeply into his life and books.  He wrote much more than Winnie the Pooh!  He wrote really charming poems, for instance.  They are excellent for your students to study.

I love “Halfway Down,” Milne’s poem about a place of one’s own.  It comes from his book When We Were Very Young.  http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/miscellaneous/mmilne-halfwaydown.htm   Check out this awesome Muppets video of Kermit’s nephew Robin singing the poem as a song.

Click here for the text of several of A.A. Milne’s poems.  You can use them for reading comprehension, reader’s theater, fluency practice, or just to color and decorate.  Whatever suits your class!

Your students would enjoy listening to you read aloud from the original Winnie-the-Pooh book.  Have fun comparing it to Disney’s movie and TV versions of the story.  Just-Pooh.com has a nice gallery that lets you compare original illustrator Ernest Shephard’s illustrations to the Disneyfied Pooh. 

 Happy Winnie the Pooh Day!

Students love to learn about Martin Luther King, Jr., but his achievements seem inaccessible to them. For kids, Dr. King was a fully-formed civil rights leader who always knew just what to do.

You can inspire children by teaching them about Dr. King’s school days. Then they will understand that he had to face obstacles, study, and learn. Kids feel so powerless sometimes—it’s good to show them that famous people were once children, and that everyone was a beginner at some point.

You and your class would enjoy taking Valerie Strauss’s MLK Quiz: His unorthodox education. Here are some no-context tidbits to get kids interested:

Did you know Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. …

> Was kicked out of school? (Okay, so it was kindergarten, and it was only because he was too young. Got your attention, though!)

> Was called an underachiever by his college professors?

> skipped two grades?

> thought about studying law or medicine?

In my book, Double Switched, the kids in Mr. Hoker’s class pick the subject of  African-American history for a group  project.  Connor and Tyler get their topics switched around when their presentation doesn’t go as planned: Connor talks about his dad’s experiences growing up during the desegregation years in the south, and Tyler talks about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a leader of the civil rights movement.   Their classmates are thoroughly confused about who did what.  I bet you will enjoy the double switch — I certainly could see it happening in a real classroom!