Thrills and Frills in First

Teacher Evaluation - Freebie!

Monday, April 7, 2014

With the new common core, and all of the new teacher evaluation systems being put in place, I find myself always looking for ways to be “highly effective”. In my district, teachers are evaluated under the Danielson Framework. On this rubric system, under domain 3d “Using Assessments in Instruction”, it states that a clear indicator of a highly effective teacher is one in which the students self-select assessments and have a hand in helping to choose/create those assessments.

To make sure I hit this element during an observation, I allow my students to self-select a graphic organizer to use in order to demonstrate their understanding at the end of a lesson. For my latest observation, my students were sequencing pictures from a story before they were introduced to the text. After the lesson, the students were asked to sequence the pictures into a logical order based on clues they see in the pictures. My students have been introduced to self-selecting their assessment at the beginning of the year, so by this time, they know exactly which graphic organizer will help successfully show me they understand the targeted objective.

To really hit the nail on the head with this domain, I originally create 10 graphic organizers at the beginning of the year and have the students work to choose 4-6 of them that we will use as our classroom assessment pieces for the semester (this is where I hit the criteria for student choice or assistance in the selection of the assessments).

Here are a few samples of the differentiated options:

To grab this FREEBIE , visit our TPT store here.

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Letter Writing with Dear Mr. Blueberry

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Do you paint in the classroom?? I always try to find and alternative or an easier way to create a craft instead of taking out the paints.... but, this week I was so happy that I had the courage to wipe the dust off the trusty old watercolors.

Throughout March we focus on letter writing. We begin with friendly letters, move on to persuasive letters to that sneaky leprechaun and finish the month up with information/persuasive letters. To begin the informational letters I always read Dear Mr. Blueberry. It's the perfect book to teach letter writing. The book consists of letters Emily exchanges with her teacher Mr. Blueberry. Emily is convinced there is a whale living in her pond and Mr. Blueberry responds with reasons why it couldn't possibly be a whale.

It is on Amazon if you need the book you can get it here... Dear Mrs Blueberry Book

Following the readings I gave each student a piece of paper and had them draw a whale, then I said the magically word... PAINT. They could hardly believe it... Is she really letting US use PAINT??? They were elated!

For the whole time the paints were out they did not say a peep ...they just painted their masterpieces, they were so engaged an loved every second of it. Not one child asked for help nor said they couldn't do it... they just picked up their paint and the magic began....Their whales came out absolutely amazing....

The following day we read a variety of books about blue whales. Each student had to write a letter to Emily convincing her why it wasn't possible for a whale to live in her pond.

I was so proud of how hard they worked. They came out too cute for words. If you want the writing paper we used click HERE to get it.

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Happy St. Patty's Day!!!!

Monday, March 17, 2014

As one of my favorite days of the year comes to an end I thought I would share some of our days fun festivities with you all! To begin, I wanted to show you some of my students creative and inventive leprechaun traps. This project was a part of the Leprechaun Inference Unit. The students had a little over a week to work on this family project. The task was to build a creative trap that they would be able to explain and present to the class.

On Friday March 14^th, as the bell was about to ring, I let all the students set their traps around the classroom.

This morning the students walked into a room filled with leprehchaun mischief. Chairs were all in a pile, green streamers and silly string were all over the place, little footprints were found all over the classroom! And finally this note was left along with all the students’ leprechaun traps all left in one heaping pile.

The students then went on a scavenger hunt around the school, following the leprechauns clues, and leading us to his pot of goodies.

All of these activities can be found in the LeprechaunInference Unit!

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Brain Breaks

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Who doesn't LOVE a good brain break? Break breaks are a great way to get your students up and moving while stimulating their brains at the same time. By doing these breaks, it allows your students to get their "wiggles" out while breaking up the normal daily routine.

Have you heard of GoNoodle?? Well, if not, you are in for a wonderful treat! GoNoodle is a website designed just for brain breaks. After you register your class you are assigned to a little monster and the more brain breaks you complete the the more your monster grows. My class loves to see his progress.

They have a ton of activities like Yoga, 100 meter sprints, Zumba and breathing exercises. They recently teamed up with Youtube and now have some of your favorite Youtube Brain Break like the Sid Shuffle from Ice Age.

Dancing

We LOVE doing Yoga

There are still a ton of brain breaks that GoNoodle does not have just yet, so I also rely on our Pinterst Board. It is important to keep Brain Breaks fresh and new so students are always interested in them…By creating a Brain Break board on Pinterest all my brain breaks are located in one spot.

My ALL TIME FAVORITE brain breaks are from Koo Koo Kanga Roo and Dr. Jean. Koo Koo Kanga Roo has a bunch of videos on Youtube .. WARNING : They are extremely catchy and you might find yourself singing them while at home with your husband. (in fact, you may actually have him go onto Youtube so you can show him how you do it .. embarrassing but true) You and your students will love listening and dancing along with the Koo Koo Kanga Roo clan. I love their videos because of their catch lyrics and the dance moves are simple to pick up... No Crust is a MUST . To see my Brain Break Pinboard Click HERE.

An important thing to know about Brain Breaks is that your students have to know that after the break they need to get right back of work. My students know that these breaks are a "treat" and immediately get focused once the break is over.

What are some of your favorite Brain Breaks??

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