Did you know that there are FREE early literacy interactive apps available to caregivers, teachers, and families at www.ginapepin.com?
What techniques do you use to help students retain and use new vocabulary in their speaking and writing?
Answer; Many school district utilize a word of the day approach for this. They tailor daily or weekly activities that focus on opportunities for application of these specific words. Our school uses the Leader in Me curriculum for SEL and it is integrated into daily routines. There is a designated - and universal - list of age appropriate words for each unit. These words are shared through daily announcements, board messages, classroom discussions and even in some assemblies. Our school Speech and Language Pathologist posts a fun word puzzle each week and she also utilizes Word Genius and Word Daily - as this is sent to her email each day/time.
Michigan uses IRIPs - Individual Reading Improvement Plans for students where data shows they are in need of a specific plan. These plans can look different across the state and the retention aspect of this law has now been removed.
Does your state require specific reading plans and processes to be in place? What does that look like in your district?
Meet the Team! This is something we recently created to share with families to help ease into staffings or REED meetings. How do you help your families feel at ease prior to difficult conversations and/or meetings?
How do you encourage families to build literacy skills at home? Here are 5 easy ways!
Create a Morning Routine for Kids With Reading!
Explore these five realistic ways you can add family reading time to your school morning routine.
https://www.scholastic.com/parents/family-life/parent-child/make-your-morning-routine-easier.html
Why is Phonemic Awareness so Important?
Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to identify, manipulate, and work with individual phonemes—the smallest units of sound in a language.
Participating in phonemic awareness activities, students can decode words, spell, and comprehend text.
How do you incorporate phonemic awareness into your daily activities?
How do your students get to play? Here’s a peek at how my Kinders get to play!
What are you doing to keep your students motivated to do well on end of year district assessments for grades K-2? I am awarding my students play money if they show growth so that they can purchase a prize from our classroom store. I am also posting their pictures outside my classroom.
How do you manage behaviors in Kindergarten?
I use a warm fuzzy jar and LOTS of modeling of behaviors that I WANT to see happening. Students earn warm fuzzies as a class for following classroom routines and expectations and when we fill the jar, we choose a no-cost, school appropriate reward such as extra recess, extra play time, dance parties (10 minutes), extra time to read/draw/paint/build/etc. Each time a student models the correct behavior they earn a warm fuzzy. As we move through the school year, it takes more to earn a warm fuzzy and they are given out less and less.
We use orange folders for studentswho are a part of our Student Study multidisciplinary team/s. We summarize interventions, response to intervention, etc in a final recommendations report/pdf. This will then go into the student’s file. What does this look like in your school?
What’s your Goal this Year?
At the beginning of every school year, effective teachers will set a goal for themself. Why? Setting a goal gives you a purpose and can point you in the right direction of improving your teaching performance. As your skills improve, a new idea might be discovered that keeps you motivated, which in turn will also improve your students’ performance.
As you begin setting your goal, remember to consider the “why” behind it. Try to decide where you really need to improve. As a new teacher, you might have several areas that come to mind. Instead of trying to tackle everything at once, try to focus on one thing.
Start by reflecting on your past year. Did you have a feeling of dread with certain educational buzz words like technology, differentiation, data, etc.? As you reflect on some of your students, were there some that made you lack confidence? How about your engagement with other teachers in the building, is there anyone that you might need to build better relationships with?
Once you have decided on your goal, create an action plan. What steps do you need to take to achieve it? How often will you address it? How will you know if you have been successful?
What are some examples of goals that teachers might set for themself?
With the focus on Science of Reading, have you found any decodables for beginning readers that you really like?
One of my own personal family activities for the new year is a Family Book Club. Together as a family we select a book to read together during the month of January. We try to pre-schedule weekly discussions where we talk about the book and relate its themes to the new year.
What family literacy activities do you do at the start of the new year?
How many are in school for the eclipse? What do you have planned? We are in the path of totality and have a day of learning planned!
.jpg)
As we continue to build relationships with the parents, here is an example of an email I sent to everyone because, well, I made a mistake.
Good Tuesday afternoon everyone-
Remember that time you thought it was a Tuesday because the teacher said it was a Tuesday and you were expecting a Tuesday folder to come home on Tuesday because Tuesday is when the Tuesday folder comes home?
Well, the teacher knew it was a Tuesday and did not send the Tuesday folder home on Tuesday because there was a FAST test on Tuesday and the teacher who even sent an email home saying it was a Tuesday in the subject now has to apologize on a Tuesday for not sending the Tuesday folder home today which is a Tuesday because he forgot it was a Tuesday.
Tuesday word count: 18
Being able to joke during your mistakes helps ease the tension with the parents. It also opens up a closeness when there is effort to be vulnerable with your mistakes. In the grand scheme of things, it is not that big of a deal but it brings people together.
