Daily Domino

Most of us can remember memorizing math facts when we were in elementary school. Timed tests and flashcards immediately come to mind. I can remember being quizzed over each fact family, and how hard each of us worked to memorize them all.

Memorizing math facts is essential, and so is understanding the concepts behind those facts. Even before children are prepared to be tested over the facts, they are capable of exploring and comprehending addition.

The Daily Domino is a part of our class meeting each day. It is a simple, effective way to introduce and explore addition. I make enough copies of the Daily Domino template to last several weeks. While the children watch, I circle several numbers with a colored marker and more numbers with a different colored marker. At the same time, we discuss other key concepts.

“Boys and girls, what color am I using to draw these circles?”

“Brown!”

How do we say that in Spanish, “Marron!”

“That’s right!”

“What color are we using now?”

“Orange!”

“That’s right! How do we say that in Spanish?”

“Anaranjado!”

“Boys and girls, whisper to someone next to you our number sentence for today.”

“Okay, use your fingers to show me how many brown circles we have.”

I look at the fingers the children are displaying and write the number on the template.

“What symbol do we use we use next?”

The children make a ‘plus’ sign with their arms. We discuss how we could say ‘plus’ or ‘and’ or ‘put together.’ This is an opportunity to discuss math vocabulary.

“Use your fingers to show us how many orange circles we have.” Using their fingers and arms (rather than raising their hands) requires all of the children to participate (rather than only the most confident ones).

“What do we do next?” The children show the equal sign with their arms.

“Boys and girls, show me how many circles we have circled altogether.” The children show the answer to the problem with their fingers.”

As the children indicate each number and symbol, I will write them on the template.

This activity provides a venue to explore addition, make connections to a visuals (the domino, written numerals, watching each other make symbols with their arms), and practice using math vocabulary. It incorporates visual, oral, auditory, and kinestetic senses. Maximum learning and maximum participation. This is good business and good education. Make math concepts comfortable, natural, and practice them frequently. Take the stress and drama out of addition, and replace it with efficiency and practicality.

Puppets

Lions and tigers and bears . . . oh, my! Puppets are fun for the brave and the shy!

I have developed a career around building literacy skills. Many children with special needs and English language learners are hesitant to express themselves. Making a puppet “talk” can be nonthreatening way to allow these children to try out their language skills.

Puppets are also a great way to focus students’ attention and encourage interest in a lesson or story. Children are fascinated by puppets. The positive emotions that these puppets elicit stimulate the brain and encourage retention.

Puppets can be bought from many sources. It is also fun to make your own. There are many types of puppets. Stick puppets can easily be made by upcycling small stuffed animals.

1. Choose a stuffed toy (garage sales, parent donations, and second-hand stores are a great source).
2. Use scissors or a utility knife to make a small cut in the bottom of the toy.


3. Insert a dowel or old wooden spoon (these work great - more surface area inside to stabilize the puppet) in the opening.
4. Use hot glue to seal the opening.
5. Have fun!

Make Your Own Pointers

Pointers have endless uses in the classroom. They channel student attention, allow teachers to emphasize key skills, promote left to right directionality, and more. Mundane skills like practicing word wall words, reading the room, and reading the morning message are a little more exciting when students have the opportunity to choose a pointer and be the “teacher.” Incorporating positive feelings and utilizing novelty stimulate the brain and serve as a catalyst for learning.

Pointers are available commercially through many educational companies and discount stores. They are also easy to make. Making a special pointer is a fun way to incorporate a theme or highlight a sight word or letter. Wooden dowels can be purchased from discount, craft, or hardware stores. Simply glue an object (such as a foam shape, letter cut-out, spider ring, so on) to the end fo the dowel, and you are ready to roll.

Getting More From Your Puzzles

Teachers invest in their classrooms. We invest our hearts, our time, our talent, and our money. Like any professional, we want those dollars to do as much good as possible.

One way to get more from our puzzles is to use both sides. The possiblities are endless. Matching puzzles (often these are available for letters and numbers) lend themselves to becoming manipulatives to practice math facts, compound words, numbers and symbols, and many other skills.

Other puzzles can be flipped over and used as a canvas for nearly any skill you want students to practice or review. Math properties can be written for students to put together, mitosis can be drawn out, vocabulary words and definitions can be listed . . . the possibilities are endless. These puzzles can be teacher created, or challenge students to upcycle by creating review puzzles for the class.

Puzzles are tactile, hands-on, and great for visual learners. Get more from your puzzles by using the flipside.

Sing for the Season

The holidays are a time for love, laughter, and an opportunity to enhance learning. Santa Claus elicits feelings of joy and excitement for young children. Research has taught us that the brain is stimulated when learning has an emotional connection. This song (sung to the tune of “Bingo”) uses this connection with Santa to teach letter recognition, beginning spelling, and descriptive language.

1. Challenge students to list things they associate with Santa Claus (long white beard, flying sleigh, comes on Christmas Eve, big black boots, soft white suit, bag of toys).
2. Write the letters S-A-N-T-A on a dry-erase board or chalkboard.
3. Sing the following song to the tune of bingo inserting the descriptive phrases provided by the children.

There was a man with a long white beard and S-A-N-T-A was his name-o

S-A-N-T-A

S-A-N-T-A

S-A-N-T-A

And Santa was his name-o

Erase the “S” and insert a line for a ‘blank.’ Explain to the children how to clap in place of singing the letter. There was a man with a bag of toys and S-A-N-T-A was his name-o

_-A-N-T-A

_-A-N-T-A

_-A-N-T-A

And Santa was his name-o

Erase the “A.”

There was a man with a cherry nose and S-A-N-T-A was his name-o

_-_-N-T-A

_-_-N-T-A

_-_-N-T-A

And Santa was his name-o

Erase the “N.”

There was a man with big, black boots and S-A-N-T-A was his name-o

_-_-_-T-A

_-_-_-T-A

_-_-_-T-A

And Santa was his name-o

Continue until each letter has been erased.

More ideas for Christmas in the Classroom: http://infinitecvideos.wikispaces.com/Literacy

Christmas in the Classroom

There is just something magic about Christmas. Christmas is about love, giving, searching for good, and miracles.

Children associate Christmas with positive memories and excitement. Positive memories and emotions create hooks in the brain. One of the joys of teaching is using these hooks to build new skills.

This simple activity with Christmas tree cut-outs and button manipulatives can be used to teach a variety of skills building on those positive dendrites.

1. Cut Christmas trees from green craft foam or felt. (Christmas tree template printable: http://familyfun.go.com/printables/christmas-tree-ornament-patterns-702979/)
2. Use buttons as manipulatives .
3. Choose a skill topractice!

• Orally state math story problems while students use the buttons to create the problems on the trees. Stress words that are synonyms: plus, and, add; minus, subtract, take away.
• Practice positional words, “Put the button at the TOPof the tree.” “Put two red buttons UNDER the yellow button.”
• Demonstrate the communtive property using the trees, buttons, and a dry erase board.
• Place the trees and buttons at the math center and challenge students to write math story problems.
• Practice one-to-one counting using the mats and buttons.
• Learn beginning addition and subtraction skills.

Snot Science

Hypothesis: Snot can be colored.

Materials: 5 year-old child, water-based (thank goodness) marker

Procedure: 1. Child is too quiet in her room. 2. She colors the insides of both nostrils with a blue marker. 3. Allow time for nose to run.

Observation: Blue mucus ran out her nose for several minutes.

Conclusion: Yes, snot can be colored.

Note to future scientists: This research was only conducted on liquids. Additional experiments need to be conducted to determine if this procedure will work with solids.

How To Be Unsuccessful

1. Don’t try something if you might look foolish.
2. Never ask for help.
3. Never cry.
4. Don’t take risks.
5. Work hard and never play.
6. Mimic and make fun of people. Invest the time to become a real bully.
7. Be afraid to dream.
8. Never question authority or the status flow.
9. Don’t start until the time is right.
10. Wait for someone smarter, better looking, wealthier . . . to do it first.
11. Compare yourself to other people.
12. Worry
13. If you experience fear . . . stop.
14. Spend hours a day playing watching tv and playing games alone.
15. Complain
16. Listen to people who tell you can’t.
17. If you don’t understand someone, call them names.
18. Only spend time with people you already know.
19. Surround yourself with negative people and negative conversations.
20. Only listen to people who think just like you.
21. Brag about how good you would be IF you tried.
22. Never try anything that might not work.

Sometimes Life Is Like That . . . It's Just Pants

Monster Queen was refusing to wear her glasses in the car on the way to school today. Big brother was trying to convince her that wearing them was the right thing to do. The explanation went like this:

“This is how life is sometimes . . . it’s like it’s your birthday, and you get this cool package. It is just the shape of the toy you want, and you are really excited to open it. When you tear the paper off, though, it’s just pants. Sometimes life is like that . . . it’s just pants and you have to pretend you like it.”

Preschool Premeire

Dear Preschool Staff,

Thank you, thank you for filling my daughter's first day of formal schooling with joy. I am forever grateful.

Love,

The Monster Queen's Momma

What was the best part of school today?

“Um, I like drawing . . . I like playing with the girls. We rode the bus. We just had to HOLD ON. I sat with my best friend.”

“Who was your best friend?”

“I don’t know her name yet.”

When you played outside, what did you do?

“I goed down the slide alot.”

What did you think of your teacher?

“I called her Mrs. Christian. She gots other teachers. They ring their bells and they’re the readers.”

What story did you read?

“Chicken one. She didn’t listen; she she thought she was on the farm and not at school. She thought the ball and bat were a nest and egg. She thought the pencils were straw. She was so funny.”

When dad came home . . .

“Dad! DAD! I have to tell you something. I went to school and I rode the bus and I holded on and I was awesome!”

Our Classroom Norms: C.A.R.S.

Posting rules in my classroom has not been my strength. It’s a back-to-school expectation, but I have always struggled with this duty. I was a loop-hole sort of kid myself, and I was very good at developing my own interpretations of the meanings of the rules. Many an exhausted teacher suggested that I save my talents for debate or law school. As a result, I managed a somewhat successful career without this traditional list on the walls of my little lab.

Today, a student addressed this predicament for me. A gifted (former) graffiti artist, he came to me with a piece of paper and asked how to spell, “confidentiality . . . attendance . . . safety . . . “ After I wrote them for him, I went back to addressing the needs of the American History students.

Later, the young man told me I needed to turn and look at the “CARS” he had created. I turned to see the following in beautiful lettering on the blackboard:

Classroom Norms

confidentiality

Attendance

Respect

Safety

This addition to the lab stimulated a great deal of discussion but not any dissent. The following points were discussed:

Confidentiality-

Somewhere to let your guard down and someone to talk to without fear that your vulnerability will be someone’s entertainment.

Attendance-

Showing up means something. Someone cares enough to make you miserable when you don’t show up.

Respect-

Everyone. Everyday. All the time.

Safety-

Physical. Emotional. Creative. Cognitive. You can’t reach your full potential without it. School may be the only sanctuary available.

I like it . . . all of it. I like it a lot. I found the term, “norms,” especially interesting. This isn’t a list of ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts;’ it’s simply the standard we have set for our community. Thank goodness I neglected to hang those rules.

The Gifts of Our Fathers

Sophomore English students are studying copyright laws and their evolution in our country. The conversation has carried into my classroom. We have reflected on the value our founders placed on creativity and the flow of ideas. It was apparent how closely they linked education, information, and liberty. The more we discussed; the more amazing our nation seems. Consider what these colonists were working with:

• Books were an expensive, luxury item. The family Bible was often the only book in the home. Many families were too busy working to focus on reading and education. Yet, those who sculpted our country thought to make provisions for the flow of ideas and information. These provisions still provide the foundation for today’s copyright laws.
• No internet. No phones (of any kind). No radio. No television. No telegraph. No national postal system. The colonists managed to Declare Independence, organize and fight a war, and create a new government. I wouldn’t be able to manage dinner.
• The most advanced transportation also created fertilizer.

Given enough time, it would be easy to fill pages with a list of barriers that the Revolutionists faced; yet, that’s not what we read about. These men and women had a vision, a passion so great; that they made it work. Countless men and women lost their fortunes, their security, their British citizenship, and their lives.

Do we honor their sacrifice? Have we extended their vision? When these men left their homes and families to form our government, did they intend for their descendants to invest these privileges in Cheetos and cable television? Do we have what it takes to maintain our nation’s ideals? Do we understand the meaning of discipline, honor, passion, and commitment? Perhaps this is one of history’s greatest lessons, we come from greatness; it is our responsibility to rise to the occasion.

Little Ears Are Listening

Halloween was a few days away, and I sat at the front of a circle created by 20 brown and 2 white faces. The children were excited and jabbered about their plans to Trick-or-Treat. As I listened to what they planned to dress as, my ears perked up when a young man with crimson hair innocently exclaimed, “My dad said we can go to lots of houses, but not our neighbors. They’re a bunch of Mexicans.” Before I could address the statement, the circle of Hispanic faces agreed with him and said they couldn’t go to Mexican houses, either.

• Dear God, forgive us for what we say to our children.

Take the Fall

I was initiated into the professional world of education as a preschool teacher in an ideal classroom with an ideal storage closet. This beauty was was a walk in with custom-made shelves for manipulatives, posters, and construction paper. There were drawers for storage, amazing overhead lighting, and plenty of space. It was larger than any of the bathrooms in any of the houses I have ever owned. If Sports Illustrated had a closet edition, this baby would have been the centerfold. Yes, I was in love.

As with any relationship, there was an obstacle. My full height is five foot nothing. For me to fully utilize this supermodel of storage units, I had to crawl the shelves and counters like a monkey. Of all the things I loved about this closet, the possibility of falling and cracking my head open did not top the list. I fretted and stewed about what I could stick on the top shelves that I did not need often, that was properly labeled, and would not cause a concussion when I dropped it on my head. My fear of falling off the top of that closet was a road block I had to maneuver around on a daily basis.

You know what’s coming . . . yep, about four years later, I was re-organizing, AGAIN. Convinced that through better organization I could get an additional nickel’s worth of space and completely enrich my life, I shimmied onto the top shelf to work some magic. I twisted a little too far and took the plunge; eight foot down, slowed by a bounce on the counter, and right on the end God padded.

Ya know what? I lived. A scratch, a few bruises, but it wasn’t that bad. I got up, finished the job, and lived to fall again. Sort of made me wonder why I was afraid in the first place.

What fall are you afraid of? Teaching a different grade, trying a new approach to writing instruction, video taping your classroom . . . ? What would you do if you weren’t afraid? What’s preventing you from climbing? Even worse, what are we modeling? If we constantly play it safe, teach the same lessons that we have always taught, using the same units we are comfortable with; what are we teaching our students? Maybe the fall isn’t as dangerous that the barriers the fear creates.

Fast Food Education

“I’ll take a #3 with fries and a Diet Coke.” It’s not good for us, but it fills our gut and keeps our hands and jaws busy for a few minutes. It doesn’t do much for us in the long run; no real nutrition to nurture our bodies, but it’s easy and we know what we’re getting.

Do we have fast food schools? Move the kids through, pour in a few facts, give them a test, and let them pee it out on down the road. Our children can not obtain the skills they need through empty, routine lectures and worksheets. Those who eat well and exercise benefit from increased health and energy. Students who are engaged will be prepared for life.

Creating a Transformation

My classroom is at the top of a long flight of stairs next to our school’s art rooms. The proximity to art and talented people makes me feel talented by association. Recently, Mrs. T and I gained permission to repaint the landing at the top of our staircase and create a type of student lounge. When I asked administration if we could do this, it was assumed that the “we” was Mrs. T. Thank goodness I have friends with talent!

Mrs. T began by challenging one of the high school art classes to create designs. She worked with the students to merge their individual components into a shared vision. THEN, she guided the sixth through eleventh grade art students to transforming a mess into a masterpiece. They taped, painted, repaired, sanded, and created. The room was not painted; it was TRANSFORMED.

Authentic assessment? Check! Real-life applications? Check! Problem solving, multi-sensory, hands-on? Check, check, check! Mrs. T nailed them all, AND she created a darn good-looking room.

Experiencing the Impossible

I can run, read, calculate, write, analyze, create, dig, cook, and run a blender. I can braid, hug, teach, clean, and blow bubbles. I cannot, however, dunk a basketball.

Standing at 5 foot nothing, dunking basketballs is not my thing. If you yell at me, I will not dunk a basketball. If you call me names, I will not dunk a basketball. You can offer to give me stickers and M & Ms . . . no dunking. Make me sit alone in a hallway, still no dunking. Have a meeting with my parents to discuss my refusal to dunk; probably won’t help. BUT . . . lead me to the gym, show me the basket, teach me to climb the ladder, hold the ladder while I climb, and I just might have the resources and confidence to climb that ladder and stuff the basketball in.

We ask some of our students to dunk basketballs everyday. We yell, belittle, bribe, punish, and discuss; but, still no basket. It isn’t until we take their hands in ours, lead the way, and MAKE them experience success that they will put the ball in. Can we do this for every skill in every subject? Of course not! Will we have to? Probably not. Most of us have hundreds of skills we are perfectly competent with, but there are some feats that seem insurmountable. This is when Vygotsky taught us to build a scaffold, lend a hand, and find a way to make it happen. It isn’t easy and sometimes it feels very unnatural, but that is what teachers DO. After it is demonstrated that a skill is possible, once they have tasted success, students can begin to build those scaffolds on their own. BUT . . . they must experience to believe.

I Get Where You're Coming From

I was a kindergarten teacher, and in kindergarten we had centers. Jason entered the classroom one morning and noticed a tray filled with purple tissue paper squares. With an alarmed expression, he exclaimed, “Teacher! Why you have rolling papers at school?!?” I calmly explained that there were many uses for tissue paper, and at school we used them to make flowers.

That night, I was on the phone with my mom. I shared the tissue paper story. Through giggles she said, “He thought you were going to give a PERM!” It took awhile for me to explain that Jason did NOT think we were going to give perms.

As professionals that build little brains, we seek to create connections. Linking concepts to prior knowledge requires a teacher to have an understanding of a child’s background and experiences. These experiences may not be ideal, but they belong to that child. We all want to be seen and heard. Acknowledging a child’s world is not only good teaching, it demonstrates caring and respect.

Time to Boogaloo

Empty the shelves. Order supplies for next year. Create your schedule. Finish entering grades. The end of the year checklist is exhausting. The children are counting the hours, and the staff is counting the minutes. Visions of summer are dancing in our heads.

Be kind to yourself as you approach the end and take a little time to boogaloo. Celebrate all you have accomplished. The words read and written, art created, games played, and friendship shared. Think of how special the year was, and the experiences we had. In the midst of the chaos and commotion, take a moment to reflect, smile, and shake your tail feather.