Class Antics – Inside Elementary Education

Teach an art appreciation lesson and make Mother’s Day cards!

“I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers.” –Georgia O’Keeffe

Students love to learn about Georgia O’Keeffe’s oversized flower paintings. The bold lines, bright colors and happy subjects speak to children. In my experience, students truly appreciate learning a different way to see the world.

Teachers like to have students imitate famous artists’ styles, and for many students, that is very frustrating. Most of us will never be able to approximate the works of the great artists, and kids know it. Georgia O’Keeffe’s flower paintings feel more accessible to kids.

At first, my students have trouble filling a paper with just one flower. I usually do a few examples, with different types of flower outlines. Once kids see how it’s done, they are raring to go!

For reluctant or self-conscious artists, I draw the giant flower myself and let them color until they build up their confidence. Students who figure out how to draw big flowers like to help their friends.

The giant flowers make great Mother’s Day cards. I hope you and your class enjoy this simple but educational art project!

Cross curricular connection for science: plant growth is a third grade science topic in my district. I like to tie in art by having the kids make Georgia O’Keeffe pictures and gluing little clip-art bees on them. It’s a bee’s-eye view of a flower!

Visit the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s website for a gallery of her flower pictures. Fun anecdote: I visited the museum with my little brother when he was in third grade. Halfway through our museum visit, my brother said, “Wait. These are the original paintings? The ones Georgia touched?” He was awestruck.

See if your students understand that the paintings at art museums are the originals. You might be able to give them more appreciation of their next art museum visit.

The elementary school librarian has a big job. In addition to managing thousands of books, the librarian teaches hundreds of children everything from how to select books to how to research any topic under the sun.

Instead of just dropping off your students, why not take a minute to help?

When I take my students to library, I facilitate the librarian’s task of checking in books by arranging all the books into several fanned-out piles with the barcodes easily accessible. This way, it’s a snap for the librarian to scan each book. If the librarian lets me, I then load the books onto the re-shelving cart. (Some librarians find it faster to do it themselves than explain their system.)

My students have caught on and take pride in laying out their books so that it’s easy for me to make the little piles.

Incidentally, this trick is also a good way to help another person we meet frequently—the store cashier. When clothes shopping, I even go so far as to fold my clothes after they’re scanned, which helps move the line along and leads to fewer wrinkles later.

There you have it—a teaching and shopping tip in one!

Accessing information you’ve already memorized is
as easy as Z-Y-X!

That’s a catchy way to introduce this tip: teach kids to access memorized information by showing them where to look for it, so to speak. All you need is a backwards alphabet and a buddy!

Here are the Z-Y-X steps:

Z: Ask the child to stand right in front of you and recite the alphabet—backwards.

Y: Watch the child’s eyes as he attempts this task. Note where the child looks.

X: Tell the student that when attempting the task, he looked to his top left (or top right, or whatever you noticed.)

For THIS STUDENT, that is where to look when trying to access memorized information. Everyone is different, so you will need to help each student individually or buddy kids up so the buddy can identify where the partner should look for answers.

Got a test coming up? Try it yourself and you’ll know where to find all the answers!

It’s much more effective than staring into space.

When you brand your classroom (in the marketing sense, not as in labeling your kids like cattle), everything becomes more fun.  Branding builds community because your class feels more like a club than a randomly assigned group of students.

My last name is Green and I teach third grade, so I branded my classroom G3.  On the first day of school, I taught the kids how to do a class huddle and congratulate ourselves.  (I say “Go, us!” and the kids reply “G3!” in their deepest and most macho voices.) We also created a logo that we proudly displayed on our door. 

The G3 brand belongs to everyone in the class, as evidenced by the decorations on folders, notebooks and even backpacks.  Our PTSO created signing shirts for end-of-year autographs, and the kids all wanted G3 on their shirt.

I knew a teacher whose classroom was in the basement, Room B-6.  She renamed her classroom “The  BOG” as wordplay on B-o6, then she used frogs as a theme for everything related to her class. 

Another teacher chose ladybugs for a theme — her students were “Lovebugs,” as in “Lovebug, what better choice could you have made to get your homework turned in on time?” Her students loved everything she said!

I highly recommend that you create a brand for your classroom.  It can be a play on your name or grade, the school name, or a theme that you can use to decorate the classroom.  Make it unique so that it only applies to your class.  The “insider” feeling will be well worth the effort for you and for your students.

My latest shipment from The Great Courses, producer of audio and videotaped lecture series, prompted me to write this post.  They came up with an innovative marketing/thought provoking technique: Think Inside the Box.

As you can see from this picture, the inside of the box is full of facts and anecdotes from various lecture series.

“Rossini wrote all of his operas before he turned 37, and then he retired.  He started at the age of 18, and 19 years later he had written 35 operas before he put down his pen forever.”  –How to Listen to and Understand Opera

“During his secret negotiations with Zhou Enlai in Beijing in 1971, Henry Kissinger wore an oversized, borrowed shirt with a label that said “Made in Taiwan.” –The Fall and Rise of China

“Beethoven’s favorite foods were oysters, blood sausage, and head cheese.”—The String Quartets of Beethoven

“In the late 1800s Georg Cantor proved mathematically that there can be more than one infinity, an idea that seems conceptually impossible.  He showed that there are infinite infinities.”—Zero to Infinity: A History of Numbers

I developed an interest in The Great Courses when I bought my parents a lecture series about the Louvre since they were interested in visiting Paris.  I ended up watching the course myself and have ordered many more since then.  Between the cool anecdotes in the shipment box and the constant supply of enticing new catalogues, I just keep ordering and learning!

I mostly like the arts-based Great Courses, but you might like the business, scientific, mathematical, philosophical, historical, or health-themed lecture series.  My favorite course is The Genius of Michelangelo—truly fascinating whether you have a passing or significant interest in the man.  I’ve ordered several surveys of art and have branched out to Understanding the Human Factor: Life and Its Impact (about the implications of man’s transition from hunting and gathering to the domestication of plants and animals) and Myth in Human History (a lot easier to explain).

If you want to learn but don’t like dealing with papers, commutes and professional development credit, The Great Courses are for you.  They make daily tasks more fun and educational.  I actually look forward to laundry and ironing because it’s such a good time to watch a course.  I imagine that an audio course would be nice to listen to on a summertime cross-country car trip or just bumper-to-bumper traffic.

I am not affiliated with The Great Courses, except as a satisfied customer.  I don’t receive any benefit from this post.  I just wanted to tell you about how these courses enhance a lifelong-learner lifestyle.

P.S. About pricing of The Great Courses:  Courses go on sale all the time, so watch for sales.  If you like a course but it’s three to five hundred dollars, just wait for it to go on sale.  Once you buy a course, they tell you about all the sales and send you coupons.  The courses are more affordable than you’d think.

Today I have the great pleasure of being the host on Day 14 of the Virtual Book Tour for the new E-Book Parenting Responsively for Connection, available from HeartwiseParent.com, written by ACPI Parenting Coaches for Parents to deal with the most difficult task of maintaining connection with the growing child whose behavior changes and shifts.  

Yesterday, the book tour visited Sherri Boles-Rogers at parentingheart.com/another-excerpt/. Visit now if you haven’t had the opportunity to meet all the authors.  Tomorrow’s tour will be the final blog (Day 15) with Irish Barbour at www.mylifemag.com.

In the meantime enjoy the following book excerpt as well as this podcast
featuring author Adina Lederer, Certified Coach for Parents & Families.
Excerpt © 2011 by Adina Lederer

Managing Transitions

      With the school year comes a season of new transitions. Getting off to school, getting into school, leaving school, going to activities, leaving activities and coming home from school can make morning, afternoons and evenings a stressful time for both parents and children.

     On any one morning, if the bus or carpool is running late, the domino effect can create a logistical nightmare for a working mom or dad.

     Fortunately, with a little organization, a back-up plan or two and realistic expectations, we can successfully navigate transition times and prevent bumps in the road from becoming major mountains.

     If we want to establish a healthy, productive rhythm and balance in our lives and maintain close connections and deep bonds with our spouse and children, we need effective strategies that provide strength for us all.

     Effective strategies can help us all successfully navigate transition times, manage household chaos and prevent us from becoming disconnected when our world around us seems to be spinning out of control.

     While fairly simple to implement, these 10 strategies can help everyone manage their responsibilities effectively and cut down on the chaos that tends to surround transitions.

1. Do what you can the night before.  Prepare lunches, snacks, backpacks, children’s clothing and more.
    
2. Allow children to be involved in the preparation process.  When children are involved they become vested in the outcome.
    
3. Create menus for lunches and dinners in advance.  Make shopping lists, go to the store and prep as much as you can over the weekend.
    
4. Develop schedules for the morning, afternoon and evening.  This includes setting aside time for homework, meals and playtime.
    
5. Set homework schedules.  Create a schedule for children based on their age and capabilities. If a child needs breaks in between their homework schedule, budget time for those as well.
    
6. Provide healthy snacks throughout the day.
    
7. Create a work environment that is conducive to completing homework.  A bright, quiet designated area with supplies readily available works well.
    
8. Make time for dinner.  Children enjoy family mealtime and children who eat meals regularly with their families are less likely to engage in risky behaviors.
    
9. Establish nighttime rituals.  A nightly routine that includes a bath and time for reading and talking creates connection and a sense of security.
    
10. Set alarm clocks.  Waking up the same time each day can help promote consistency and routine.  Be sure to give everyone enough time to get ready in the morning. Wake up 30 minutes before your children to you can take care of your own needs before they awake.

      Throughout my many years of parenting, teaching and coaching, I have learned that with a plan, structure, consistent effort and an understanding of our strengths and weaknesses, we can develop tools that strengthen our lives and allow us to live with more peace and balance.

Don’t miss this podcast featuring author Adina Lederer, Certified Coach for Parents & Families.

Be sure to follow the Virtual Book Tour for the E-book Parenting Responsively for Connection tomorrow for the final blog (Day 15) with Irish Barbour at www.mylifemag.com.  For further information on this E-book and the others in the Heartwise Parenting Series, please visit heartwiseparent.com/e-books/.

I am pleased to announce I will be hosting a virtual book tour for the new E-Book, Parenting Responsively for Connection.

The E-book contains down-to-earth and easy-to-apply strategies for staying connected to your children as they grow from their early years into the school years.  You’ll learn how to cope with issues from potty training to developing successful study skills. 

Eleven ACPI Certified Parenting Coaches have joined together to bring you the best of their accumulated knowledge and 110+ years of parenting experiences.  You’ll appreciate each author’s sincerity and realism in each chapter of the book.  This is a must-read!  You’ll find out why when you read the excerpts from each chapter as the virtual tour unfolds.  The first excerpt will appear on Wednesday, June 8, 2011 at Heartwiseparent.com, when the official virtual book tour begins.

Can’t wait?  Order the E-Book now!

List of Authors:

Sherri Boles-Rogers, ACPI CPC
Alan Carson, M.Ed., ACPI CPC
Lesa Day, ACPI CPC
Sharon Egan, MS, ACPI CPC
Marcia Hall, CPN, ACPI CPC
Kareen Hannon, ACPI CPC
Adina Lederer, ACPI CCPF
Malini Mandal, OT, ACPI CCP
Sedef Orsel, ACPI CCP
Minette Riordan, Ph.D., ACPI CCP
Jennie Tehomilic, ACPI CPC

Follow the journey of this Virtual Book Tour:

6-08-11 – Day 1 – www.Heartwiseparent.com/blog
6-09-11 – Day 2 – www.yesicanandiwill.com
6-10-11 – Day 3 – www.northtexaskids.com
6-11-11 – Day 4 – academyforcoachingparents.com
6-12-11 – Day 5 – yourparentingquestions.blogspot.com
6-13-11 – Day 6 – www.nannyalliance.blogspot.com
6-14-11 – Day 7 – parentcoachsedef.blogspot.com, (English)  or (Turkish)  cocukluyuzbiz.blogspot.com
6-15-11 – Day 8 – metaphysicsetcetera.blogspot.com
6-16-11 – Day 9 – www.intentionalconsciousparenting.com
6-17-11 – Day 10 – annebabaokulum.blogspot.com – (Turkish)
6-18-11 – Day 11 – www.lifeinaweek.com
6-19-11 – Day 12 – www.heartwiseparent.com/blog
6-20-11-  Day 13 – www.parentingheart.com
6-21-11 – Day 14 – ClassAntics.com (my blog)
6-22-11 – Day 15 – http://www.mylifemag.com/

The last day of school is usually a blur of yearbook signing, room cleaning, and board game playing. I’d like to make a case for teaching something on the last day of school.

Students are about to leave your classroom for a summer of (mostly) unstructured activity. There will be plenty of time to watch movies and play games at home. Time for learning is precious, and sharing a special lesson together can create a lasting memory. Plus, it can only enhance your rep with parents if kids run home and talk about the cool thing they learned in school today.

Pilot Day: This is my traditional last day of school activity. My dad, a retired F-16 and F-4 pilot, puts on his flight suit and teaches the students about being an Air Force pilot. He starts with a simulation of all he’d say as he prepared for takeoff. He brings in his helmet, manuals, patches and insignia. He even shows an Air Force recruiting video about the awesomeness of jet fighters. Question and answer time can last over an hour. Questions about the ejection seat and bird strikes are always popular.

If you don’t have your own fighter pilot to create last day of school awesomeness, consider a lesson with an art tie-in. This way, you teach something cool, and then the kids can create art and chat.

Mythological Beasts: one of my students just loves mythology, and we did this lesson in his honor. He brought in his book of mythological beasts and my class was dead silent as he read it to us. Then, under his direction, we each created our own mythological beast. He wanted us to write a little about it—not too much—since it was the end of the year—and give it a clever name with a Greek or Latin flavor.

Starry Night: I taught students about Vincent van Gogh, and then we watched a slide show of his art while listening to Don McLean’s “Vincent.” Here is my copy of the lyrics (pdf), complete with vocabulary words. I recommend you teach the vocabulary before listening to the song. You can analyze the song for figurative language or simply treat it as a beautiful homage to Vincent. Then, color “The Starry Night” or create your own Vincent-style art.

Even if you teach on the last day, it’s probably good to leave some time for stacking desks and chairs, signing yearbooks and playing board games. Enjoy it, because you know that you also left your class with the impression that something important happens in this classroom—learning.

I learned the “offer a choice of two” tip from a mom volunteer, who smoothly distributed about 5 flavors of popsicles with all students feeling like they had a choice in the treat they were given.  I realized that offering a choice of 2 has many classroom management applications:

– It speeds up questioning that’s intended to keep the lesson going, not spark deep thought.  “Should we put the apostrophe before or after the s?” instead of “Where should we put the apostrophe?”

– It gives students options without overwhelming them with choices: “Would you like to use markers or crayons?” instead of “What would you like to color with?”

– It offers students a pseudo-choice: “Would you like to calm down and do the activity with us, or refocus in another classroom?” instead of “Shape up or ship out.”  (also a choice of 2, actually)

– It teaches kids to make a decision, then stick with it.  Most decisions in life are not worth over-thinking.  Your mom’s birthday card will look good whether you use red paper or pink.  Just pick one!

Newly released: Best Multiplication Workbook EVER!
Order now!
Also available from Amazon.com.

I’m blowing my own horn: Best Multiplication Workbook EVER! is a great resource for teachers, parents, tutors and students.

This book is divided into levels, and everything is taught systematically.  The workbook pages are fun for kids to do, and the organizational system helps teachers, tutors and parents know how to guide kids.  If a child is having difficulty with a concept, the parent or teacher will know to go back a level and remediate before proceeding.

> Teachers can use the book for whole-class lessons or to teach small groups.  The scaffolded, leveled system makes it easy to manage many students working on different skills.
> Parents can buy the workbook for use at home.  Kids can do most of the work on their own.  The leveled system makes it easy for a parent or tutor to review a lesson—or teach the next step in acquiring new skills.
> Tutors can use the book to identify gaps in a child’s learning.  Simply proceed through the levels and slow down when a concept seems difficult.  The book lays out a great tutoring program for helping elementary school students.
> Home school parents will appreciate the comprehensive nature of the book, the word problems, and the scaffolded approach to learning.

The workbook contains 260 pages filled with worksheets for skill development, word problems, long multiplication mastery, standardized test practice questions and strategies — everything needed to succeed in learning to multiply. 

A student who masters multiplication is ready to take on all the other mathematics challenges in elementary school!

This tip will help your students spell would, could and should.  Students have a hard time remembering the tricky vowel combination and silent “l.”  Teach them:

“Oh, you lucky duck!” to stand for “o-u-l-d:”  Would.  Could.  Should.  Whether they’re called trick words or sight words or anything else, these words are difficult for most students.

Now, if you could just get them to stop writing “would of” for “would’ve.”  How did students ever come up with that one?  It makes no sense whatsoever!

I have found that assigning students to write “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve” twenty times cures this problem.  Repeat offenders can just keep copying until they get it right.

Part One: What is a National Board Certified Teacher?

You may have noticed that your child’s teacher has the initials NBCT after her name.  What does it mean?

A National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) has completed a voluntary and rigorous process of evaluation.  Based on 10 assessment pieces, NBCTs have demonstrated their excellence in the Five Core Propositions for what teachers should know and be able to do.

> Teachers are committed to students and their learning.
> Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students.
> Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning.
> Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience.
> Teachers are members of learning communities.

Application for National Board Certification is a demanding and time-consuming process.  Within a year, a teacher must complete 4 portfolio entries and take a 6-part exam.

The portfolio entries vary by type of certification sought—a music teacher would complete different entries than a biology teacher.  A portfolio entry tends to consist of a videotaped lesson, a 12-15 page analysis of the purpose, planning, pedagogical techniques, and effectiveness of the lesson as measured by student achievement.  Teachers typically tape and analyze many lessons before choosing the ones they will use for the portfolio entries.  After the portfolio entries are submitted in March, the teacher waits until November to learn whether he/she has attained National Board Certification.

To apply for National Board Certification, a teacher must meet certain requirements:

> Hold a bachelor’s degree
> Have completed three full years of teaching/counseling experience
> Possess a valid state teaching/counseling license for that period of time, or, if teaching where a license is not required, have taught in schools recognized and approved to operate by the state

Teachers and students know that the new year really begins on the first day of school.  January 1^st is like a new beginning for us.

Here are some of my plans and resolutions for the second half of the school year:

Review procedures on the first day back.  A break that feels too-short to the teacher feels like forever to the kids.  They will have forgotten so much—in academics and in classroom behavior.

Renew our focus on basic facts.  It takes an iron will to force students to memorize, but I know that knowledge will serve them well.  We’ll practice in many ways: with Dad’s Worksheets, Best Multiplication Songs EVER!, my math addition and multiplication practice programs, and the classroom game Math Smackdown.

Set new goals for independent reading.  We’ll set goals for reading a certain number of chapter books, a certain number of books in each genre, etc.  We’ll work toward a fun celebration, like Fort Day.

Forge on with our typing.  Our school district bought special computers to help students build typing skills.  The students love them—but again it takes a teacher’s iron will to force them to focus and practice.  I know that good typing skills pay off for a lifetime: it’s worth it!

Make time for fun.  Community builders, energizer activities and parties to celebrate accomplishments bring us closer together.

…so those are my classroom resolutions!  But school’s not in yet.  I’m working up my appetite for the traditional New Year’s black eyed peas and greens.  Learn more about the tradition at about.com.

Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary
AR Reading level 4.5  1 point
Available at Amazon.com

Cursive may seem outdated compared to typing, texting and tweeting, but it is still an important skill for kids to learn.  If nothing else, they need to be able to read cursive—notes written by parents and teachers, or cursive written by our forefathers in the Declaration of Independence.

Kids are very excited to learn cursive, but sometimes their interest lags after the first few lessons.  You can keep them going by reading to them Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary.

In Muggie Maggie, third-grader Maggie absolutely refuses to learn cursive.  She’s a smart girl, but she gets herself into quite a predicament—with a lot of embarrassment, time spent out of class, and even trips to the principal’s office!

See, Maggie’s teacher has hatched a plan with other teachers and school staff.  She makes Maggie the messenger.  All the messages Maggie deliverers are written in cursive.  Maggie is pretty sure she recognizes her name in the messages.  Maggie has no choice but to learn cursive so she can read the secret messages.

Muggie Maggie is clearly intended for a third-grade audience, but AR (accelerated reader) classifies the reading level is 4.5.  (Many Beverly Cleary books have a reading level above the intended audience’s grade level, as I have described in a different post about this topic.)  Some third-graders will be able to read Muggie Maggie, but I recommend that third-grade teachers read it aloud because it is perfectly suited to their audience.

Some kids just have terrible handwriting.  The letters are too big, the spacing is a mess, and their finished paper is illegible.  I have found that using the first and second grade style lined paper doesn’t really help older kids.  There is something, though, that does help them: graph paper.

It needs to be graph paper with big squares.  You can print your own from math-drills.com, which is a good site for—you guessed it—math drills at all levels.

I like to use the ½ inch graph paper.  In my experience, it improves handwriting immediately, but the child should keep using it for a few weeks until better handwriting becomes a habit.  The graph paper really helps kids understand spacing, and lets them develop their fine motor skills within the realms of the little boxes.

I have found that it is good to turn the paper sideways, because otherwise the child will write a lot of hyphenated words that continue on to the next line.

The graph paper is also good for lining up math problems.  It’s a lot easier to keep your addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division straight if you have the little boxes helping you line everything up.

Hurray for graph paper!