Day 46: KLIP Hallway Mural project

When the leaf blew in...

Students in Mrs. Granger's Kindergarten literacy intervention program (KLIP) class recently read the book When The Leaf Blew In, by Steve Metzger.

http://www.amazon.com/When-Leaf-Blew-Steve-Metzger/dp/0545112818

The students created a wall mural that retold the story.  They colored in characters from the story, rewrote some of the lines, and practiced reading the sentences by pointing to each word.

Here is a clip Mrs. Granger recorded as the students were retelling the story.  Take a look:

Day 45: Now I get it.

Some things are funnier when you're older.

My family and I have lived in our house for 3 years now and each year I'm expected to put up lights outside during the holiday season.  I don't really have a say.  When I complain, I get a reminder that our daughters (the bosses) won't be young much longer.  After my guilt trip, I usually get going.

Usually decorating consists of me throwing a few strands of lights that still work from last season around the tree in the front yard a couple of times and calling it a day.  That wasn't going to cut it this year.

For the past few weeks, my four year old (the manipulator) looks out the window at the neighbor's house lighted up in all it's glory and says, "Can we make our house look like that?".

The neighbor's house: success.

This time I took holiday decorating as a challenge.  I made a plan for how I'll get things done and start early on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  By the end of the day, only half of what I wanted to complete was done because I didn't account for two things:

1. The ladder didn't reach the rooftop.

2. I still haven't conquered my fear of falling off ladders that don't reach rooftops.

Our house: fail.

The day ended with me trying to grab onto some shingles for leverage while I kick my leg up onto the gutter.  What was I thinking?  I stopped and actually said, "What am I doing?  I'm going to end up like Clark Griswold."

And that's when it hit me.  The scene in the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, where Clark is hanging on his gutter trying not to fall from the roof, got 10 times funnier in that moment.  I used to think it was just a funny scene, but now I get it.  I guess somethings are funnier when your older.

Day 44: Opportunities

Creating Opportunities for Yourself

I feel strongly about using Twitter for professional growth.  Each day, I run across dozens of great ideas shared by amazing educators across the world.  Being involved with Twitter really has changed me professionally.

Every now and again, someone will share something short and to the point (which is the point of Twitter) that really changes my thinking about teaching and learning and what I can do to help improve learning experiences for students.

This quote made me have one of those moments:

Your professional growth is not dependent upon opportunities created 4 U by others; it's about opportunities you create 4 yourself. #edchat
— Dr. Justin Tarte (@justintarte) November 18, 2012

This quote really resinated with me in two ways.  First, this quote is something I'm realizing more and more the older I get:  If you have an idea, go for it.  It may be a risk, but isn't it riskier to never know what might have happened if you didn't try?

Second, and more importantly, this quote made me begin to think of how we can teach the kids we work with how they might be able to create the very opportunities they are waiting around for.  How many of our students are secretly wanting to start some sort of club?  How many are wanting to do a big project, but need more likeminded folks to help out?  What could we share with students to help them get going on their own big idea?

I've just started thinking about how I might help students advocate for opportunities.  Right now I have more questions than answers, but I might just start listening a little more closer to what kids are asking for to see how I might help them get there.  

Day 43: 3rd Grade Instrumentalists

The Sound of Learning

For a few weeks, 5 third grade students have met with Mrs. Romine, Hilliard Horizon's music teacher, twice a week to work together on a song for the upcoming choir concert.

The girls are using hand chimes to create a sound that will accompany a song the choir will sing during the performance.

The girls shared how challenging it was at first.  They had to learn when to play and when to rest.  They admit that they have come a long way and they are excited to share their hard work.

Take a moment to listen in on one of their practice sessions with Mrs. Romine:

Day 42: Mrs. Marsh's Leadership Academy

What is a leader?

Four weeks ago, Mrs. Marsh started a project-based learning experience with her 1st grade students by asking this simple question:

What is a leader?

The project involved aspects of math, social studies, science, and language arts, and featured leaders like our principal, Mr. Blum, and our superintendent of schools, Dale McVey.

Students began by brainstorming different characteristics they thought described a leader and by thinking about important leaders in their lives.  They interviewed family members about who they consider leaders and what makes a leader.

Mrs. Marsh had different guest speakers come in to talk about leadership.  She coached her students on asking quality interview questions.  Mr. McVey shared that you may think you're a leader, but you're not if no one is following you.  The students compared the different leadership qualities of the guest speakers and added the information to their research.

While the students continued to research and share ideas, Mrs. Marsh read 6 books that featured 6 different characters that demonstrated some sort of leadership qualities.

After researching what makes a leader and reading each of the books, students worked together in cooperative learning groups.  Their task: develop an election campaign for the book character they thought was the best leader.

Students worked on campaign speeches and campaign poster to gear up for the big event: the election.

Next, students campaigned in different precincts (the other 1st grade classrooms) to try and get other students to vote for their book character.  They made campaign speeches to try and win the vote.

After the campaigning was done, the voting began.  Each precinct voted on one of book characters.  As the votes came in, Mrs. Marsh's students tabulated the results:

Somes students were stunned to find that while their book character won in one of the precincts, they did not win the over all vote:

The winner?  Molly Lou Mellon!

Overall, the students learned a great deal about leadership and about what leaders do in order to lead others.

Enjoy this VoiceThread of the book character campaign posters and speeches:

Day 41: Mrs. Nott

"The heart of teaching..."

Hundred Years

A hundred years from now
it will not matter
what my bank account was,
the sort of house I lived in,
or the kind of car I drove -
but the world
may be different
because I was important
in the life of a child.

~Forest Witcraft

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3314/4574733303_c568605333.jpg

I have always loved this poem; it speaks to the heart of teaching.  Children, guiding children through the wonderful world of education -  discovery of themselves and world around them and helping to build confident, self-reliant, and compassionate people - is, for me, the best career.

To the many families who have let me be a part of their lives through school, thank you.  Thank you for allowing me to take part in your lives and your childrens’ education.  And a very warm and special thank you to Nimo, Naima, Anas, Iman, and Amina for not only letting me be part of your lives, but also for including me as part of your family!

You have brought this poem to life for me.  Thank you all for being so important in my life.

Mrs. Nott

Day 40: The Letter Sounds Song

"Do you know your letter sounds?"

Mrs. Granger helps kindergarten students link the sounds letters make through singing...

Students use the Alphabet Linking Chart to  learn the letter/sound relationships of the alphabet and in words.

Day 39: Mackenzie, 2nd grade student

Using VoiceThread to Share Learning

Recently, Mackenzie, a 2nd grade student in Mrs. Potter's class, explored VoiceThread.  VoiceThread is a social way of sharing your thoughts and ideas with others.  

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/01/dozens-of-examples-of-voicethread-in.html#.UKFZLLDwsTY

"You can do this anywhere there is a computer," explains Mackenzie.  "I can see myself going to different schools' [VoiceThread sites] and talking to different students on their VoiceThread and making comments."

Mackenzie and her class learned how readers describe characters by thinking about the character's traits.  She also learned that it is important to include evidence from the text when she describes characters.

Take a look at the VoiceThread Mackenzie and her classmates put together.  Use the buttons on the bottom of the VoiceThread to navigate between threads.

Day 38: "Number Talk" with 1st Graders

Supporting Young Mathematicians

Each day, teachers throughout our school engage their students in "Number Talks" as a part of their math lesson.  A number talk is an instructional method that strengthens each student's mental math skills.  A number talk is designed to help students understand a concept that will eventually help them be more efficient when solving math problems.

There are certain guidelines for a number talk.  These guidelines allow students to be flexible in their thinking about a math problem and to give them the necessary time they need to successful solve a problem.

 

Number Talk Norms for learning

A couple of guidelines are really important in making a number talk successful.. The first is using hand signals to communicate that your are "thinking" about a problem or if you have a strategy to share.  Hand signals keep students from waving their hands or shouting out answers and allows everyone to think through the problem.

"I'm ready to share my thinking."

"I was thinking the same thing."

The second important guideline is sharing your thinking and listening to others share.  This allows students to hear different strategies for the same problem and helps them see that there may be more efficient ways of solving math problems.

Watch as Mrs. Remington leads her class in a number talk.  She is wanting students to see "5" fast and then quickly add on what is left.

Day 37: The World is Getting Smaller Faster

"One Laptop per Child" Experiment

This weekend, I learned about a project the One Laptop per Child program recently documented.

They delivered tablet computers into an Ethiopian village that was completely disconnected from the rest of the world, technologically speaking. 

The program left no instructions.  They didn't even show anyone how to turn it on.

What is amazing is that after 4 months, kids who had absolutely no knowledge of literacy were singing "ABCDEFG...".

Two thoughts came to me immediately:

1. Technology is amazing and it's making the world smaller faster.
2. Kids are awesome, curious people and have more skills and intuition than we sometimes give them credit for.

Take a look at this video that summarizes the project:

Day 36: Kids Vote

"Securing the Future of Democracy"

http://kidsvotingusa.org/

As we get closer to the Presidential Election, students at Hilliard Horizon Elementary are getting the opportunity to register their vote for President online through a non-profit organization called Kids Voting USA (KVUSA).

The mission of KVUSA is "working to secure the future of democracy by preparing young people to be educated, engaged citizens."

Each student receives his or her own "Voter ID":

Then, they log-in to view a ballot similar to the ballot adult voters see:

Our Media Specialist, Dr. Christina Dorr, explains why there are more names on the ballot than we would expect to see: