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Literature Circles with edmodo

Posted on March 25, 2012 by sharyn

edmodo is an online tool that allows teachers and students to connect and collaborate. I have used edmodo before with grade 5 students, but this is the first year I’ve used it with grade 3. I started with setting up one of my reading groups on edmodo to conduct their literature circles. So far, we have had success! The students are enjoying communicating and discussing their shared book both at school and at home.

The students are beginning to develop the skill of referencing text while engaging on edmodo. The following snapshots show a few discussions my students had as we read Because of Winn Dixie. You can see the students referencing pages and specific text selections to support their opinions. This is also transferring over to when we meet face to face in class.

As I don’t see each reading group every day, edmodo allows the students to continue their literature circle without having to wait for face to face time with the teacher in the classroom. The students are engaged and able to connect with each other through this online tool. They have also recently started uploading documents such as a Wordle used by one student for her role as an illustrator.

We have also recently added our Literacy Specialist and the students were more than excited to share their discussions with her as well. Next, would like to connect with another class reading the same novel. Any grade 3 classes out there reading Wayside School series or the Poppy series?

If you haven’t checked out edmodo before, I recommend it. It is an easy tool that allows your students to continue discussions outside of classroom walls.

Posted in integration, Reading, technology, writing | Tagged edmodo, literature circle, reading, wordle, writing | 1 Comment

Do we still need the poster?

Posted on March 22, 2012 by sharyn

My grade 3 students recently held their Invention Fair. They presented a tri-board of research on a particular invention and shared their own invention they created to solve a problem at home.

(Click on image to enlarge)

The home invention went through stages of brainstorming, selecting, sketching, building, testing, and reflecting.
The research at school, including questioning, planning, recording, organizing, interpreting, and presenting, resulted in products for their tri-board such as timelines, diagrams, reports, graphic organizers, and bibliographies.

When reflecting on this unit, we talked about how much the children enjoyed the fair. They loved sharing their learning with their parents, teachers, and students. They were excited to collect feedback from the rubrics that guests filled out. It was asked though if students really still need to know how to make posters. This brought out many questions on the subject-

Can the Invention Fair only focus on the student created inventions and the process they went through?
Isn’t research skills one of our transdisciplinary skills, including presenting research findings?
Should there be a balance in the presenting of research between posters and digital media (if available)?
Shouldn’t it be more about the process and not the product?
If all the research was presented digitally, do we need the fair experience?
Don’t students need experience with creating posters and presenting at fairs before Grade 5 Exhibition?

It’s all about balance isn’t it?
What do you think? Does your school have a poster-like event in various grade levels? Is there value to the poster as long as it is not overused?

Posted in unit of inquiry | Tagged posters, rubrics, units of inquiry, writing | Leave a comment

Is Santa too materialistic?

Posted on March 21, 2012 by sharyn

One of the activities at a recent PD session I attended with Lynn Erickson was based around developing guiding questions. Questions of different types (factual, conceptual, and provocative) that guide students thinking from concrete to abstract levels. For the PYP, these would be our teacher questions. We were to see the need for a balance between the different types of questions.

We were shown an activity in which a famous personality (deceased or living) is invited to sit at a table with you and be interviewed. You are to come up with examples of factual, conceptual, and provocative questions to ask the famous personality.

The example shared was with Santa Claus
Factual questions:
-Why do you think people perceive you as a jolly person?
-Why do you give presents to children?
-Why is Rudolph your lead reindeer?

Conceptual questions:
-Why do so many people believe in mythical figures?
-Why do mythical figures represent either ‘good’ or ‘evil’?

Provocative (Debatable) questions:
-Is Santa too materialistic?
-Should he switch from giving presents to solving problems such as climate change and scarce natural resources?

In groups we were to then brainstorm our own famous personality and create our questions. Some groups chose Michael Jackson, Tiger Woods, Lady Gaga, and even God.
Just an idea for a possible faculty meeting activity or even an idea to share with grade level teams as they practice writing diverse guiding questions tied to their generalizations or central ideas.
Who would you invite and what would you ask?

Posted in Concept-based teaching, PD, unit of inquiry | Tagged guiding questions, PD, tied | Leave a comment

I’ll have the PD with a side of Twitter please

Posted on February 20, 2012 by sharyn

In the past two weeks I have had two very different Professional Development experiences. I feel I was able to take something away from both, although I found I preferred one format to the other.

On February 10th and 11th, I attended Concept-based Curriculum and Instruction: For the Thinking Classroom with Lynn Erickson, Ed.D. The two day PD was held at UWC East Campus in a large hall. There were probably over 150 people there and we were seated at large circle tables, about 8 to a table. The tables were labeled a specific grade level or subject area. I ended up at a table of only 3; two grade 3 teachers and one grade 2 teacher.

Erickson spent the two days sharing her theories through a PowerPoint format. There were times we were given butcher paper tasks to do as well. She tried to make it around to spend time with each table, but that proved difficult due to the number of participants.

There was a lot to take in with only two days. I found the information on the Structure of Knowledge, the conceptual lens, and comparisons to PYP thought provoking and I wanted to talk more about it. As I sent out my first tweet, I was hoping to find others who were there and willing to engage in this PD session through the eyes and ears of twitter as well. Unfortunately, I found only one other person. (cheers @cmk1965)

On February 17th and 18th, I attended the 21st Century Learning Conference in Hong Kong. I presented there last year and was facilitating an unconference on Media Literacy this year. The conference strand I was in was the Primary Strand. Friday I was able to go on school tours and interact with teachers and students at CDNIS and CIS. Saturday included different sessions and unconferences. Even before I got there, which was a day late for I could not take more time off school, I was able to be a part of the conference through my colleagues on twitter. Infact the hashtag #21clhk had already been active for weeks before the conference, exciting participants and allowing the sharing to begin. Though I may have been sitting in one area of the hall for keynotes or in a different session or unconference than others, I was still able to share and learn from the fabulous educators on twitter throughout the weekend.

While I recognize these two PD opportunities differ in their design, I still think there was a place for twitter at both. Sometimes it helps to be in the same PD session and have that twitter conversation going on to compliment the session, allowing afterthoughts, questions, and new ideas to surface throughout.

In the end, I am glad I went to both PD opportunities, but thankful to be on twitter and able to engage with and access resources and educators around the world. I prefer to order my PD with a side of twitter! What about you?

(Twitter : @shaza33)

Posted in PD | Tagged 21clhk, choice, twitter | Leave a comment

Diary of a Puma

Posted on January 17, 2012 by sharyn

The book 6+1 Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham was one of the first books I bought as a resource for teaching writing. Since then I have found many more resources both print and online to support my teaching of 6+1 Traits.

One valuable resource I have been introduced to was created by the Northern Nevada Writing Project, writingfix.com.

Writing.fix.com is a resource in which teachers share writing lessons based on the 6 traits. These lessons are techniques designed to help reluctant writers and their teachers.

This website is full of effective resources, but one of my favorite parts include the lessons partnered with mentor texts suggestions. Using literature to teach the writing traits allows students to see and hear the trait being used. The students are then connected and tuned it.

I recently used a lesson idea for the Ideas Trait from writingfix.com. The suggested text was Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin, although I found the newer version, Diary of a Spider to use. This is the great part about these lesson ideas, you don’t need to follow them verbatim, you can adapt for your own class.

My class and I read the book a few times and discussed the humor the author used to convey facts about spiders. We also talked about how unlikely it is that a spider keeps a diary, which of course led them to think about other funny, unlikely diary keepers. So as the lesson idea stated, the children were then off composing their own diary of an unlikely animal or object.

I am sharing two examples here from my third grade students.

Diary of a Puma- Ruby

Diary of a QuarterWritingfix.com is a helpful and effective website when exploring possible ideas for teaching the writing traits. If you haven’t checked it out, I think it would be worth your time to stop by and see for yourself.

Posted in Reading, Uncategorized, writing | Tagged 6 traits, read aloud, writing | Leave a comment

Multiplication Tables as Art?!

Posted on January 15, 2012 by sharyn

A few years back I took the workshop Mathematics in the PYP in The Netherlands. One of the learning experiences I took away and still use today was turning the multiplication tables into spirolaterals.

By doing this the students can:
-practice and learn their times tables
-see patterns in their times tables
-inquire into why some times table spirolaterals look similar to others
-predict how other times table spirolaterals will look based on the tables they have already done
-Have Fun!

I will share with you the process as well as some student samples.
I will use the 3 times table.
First list out the times table on paper.

3
6
9
12
15
18
21
24
27
30

Now we are only looking for single digit numbers, so any two digit numbers that appear, you need to add together until you get a single digit. Keep going until you see a repeated pattern.
3
6
9
12 = 1+2= 3
15 = 1+5=6
18 =1+8=9
21 =2+1=3

I can stop for now I see the pattern is 3, 6, 9

Now I take my number pattern to the graph paper.
Pick your starting spot and then draw a line 3 units right
Then 6 units down.
Then 9 units left.
Then 3 units up.
Then 6 units right
Then 9 units down
And so on and so on , UNTIL you get back to your original starting point.

This image created is your 3 times table spirolateral.
You can add color to it as well.

Student Examples

As the students continue they begin to see similarities between certain times tables and you can have them inquire into why that might be.

They also begin to think about larger times tables like the 27 times table, and predict based on what they know, what the spirolateral will look like.

Through this learning experience, students are:
-constructing their own meaning
-transferring meaning (into symbols)
-understanding and applying their knowledge

I have done this with grades 3, 4, and 5. Each time the students truly enjoy the experience and are engaged in their thinking and learning.

What do you think the 9 times table would look like? Have a go!

Posted in art, Math | Tagged fun, inquiry, math, multiplication, prior knowledge | 8 Comments

If you build it, they will use it

Posted on October 24, 2011 by sharyn

I may have mentioned before that one of my challenges this year is space, well the lack of space. I have to be pretty creative when creating areas for reading, group work, using manipulatives, etc. Recently I realized I had not taken advantage of the fact that I have a refrigerator and metal cabinet in my classroom; a great space for magnetic tools. I decided to create magnetic tens strips and ones cubes for students to use if needed while working on their addition/subtraction/place value skills. I have also seen teachers use this type of space for magnetic letters to promote spelling skills. (Quick tool to use as a formative assessment tool as well)

As soon as I put the manipulatives up, there was no explanation needed. The students went right to them and began to use them. Whether they were working on math, lining up to go somewhere, or having snack/break, the students not only saw the tool but realized it’s value and jumped right in.

A simple idea I know, but providing tools around the classroom for students to access on their own increases their independence and ability to help themselves.

Posted in assessment, Math | Tagged assessment, formative assessment, fun, math, peers | Leave a comment

Is Halloween too scary for children?

Posted on October 17, 2011 by sharyn

Ok, so my birthday just happens to be on October 31, but that isn’t why I am writing this post. As I was catching up with my google reader this weekend I came across many posts with Halloween themed activities or website ideas. It reminded me that I was at a faculty meeting recently where we spent a considerable amount of time debating Halloween and whether we were going to celebrate it or not.

There were many view points expressed that fell into several categories…..

-Halloween is an American event (not holiday) promoted purely for consumeristic reasons.
-It scares children and schools are supposed to be safe places
-Schools should not promote unhealthy habits like eating a lot of candy
-Teachers should know the history of Halloween if going to integrate in class
-We don’t celebrate a lot of other international holidays, why Halloween?
-Halloween is fun, let the children dress up and celebrate being a kid
-Students should just have opportunity to dress up if they want to

Just to state a few.

I can’t remember ever spending time in a faculty meeting debating Halloween with such strong feelings so this was a surprise to me. I have taught in schools in the States as well as International schools and some schools allowed the students to dress up and other schools didn’t. Some schools allowed the younger students to dress up but not the older students. At this point I am not sure what the final decision will be. Do you think Halloween should be recognized in schools, especially elementary schools?

What does your school do for Halloween, if anything?

Posted in international teaching, teaching | Tagged holidays, teaching | Leave a comment

Launch of Teacherhorizons

Posted on October 15, 2011 by sharyn

Teacherhorizons is a new website offering recruitment services and networking opportunities among international schools. They officially launched their services Oct.12, 2011 and welcome you to visit their site for more information.

Watch their informational video below.

Posted in international teaching, teaching | Tagged teaching | Leave a comment

Read one more chapter, pleeeaassee!

Posted on October 5, 2011 by sharyn

I am currently reading The Monster’s Ring by Bruce Coville aloud to my grade 3 class. They love the book and I love hearing them moan and groan when I stop reading for the day. The story focuses on young Russell and the school bully he is eager to scare with the help of a magic ring that comes with instructions. With a twist of the ring, Russell begins to change into a Monster. If the ring is turned two or three times, more changes occur. This suspenseful plot leads the students to predict what Russell will look like after the ring is turned three times!

Using Build Your Wild Self, an online tool that allows students to create a wild image using animal parts, the students were able to capture their ideas of Russell when he turned the ring three times and share them with the class.

This is a great tool that I could see integrated with other books such as Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak and the Goosebumps books by R. L. Stine.

Below is a picture from our classroom display as well as some samples from student created Russells using Build Your Wild Self.

Russell

View more presentations from skrtic

Have a go and build your own wild self!

Posted in integration, Reading, technology | Tagged fun, read aloud, reading | Leave a comment