Time Off

Due to some personal issues, I am going to take a couple weeks off from blogging. I will, however, be back with a fresh bunch of Daily Brain Teasers and interesting posts, so please don't go away forever. In the meantime, this would be a great time to explore everything that Minds in Bloom has to offer. There are some really great articles on the right sidebar and you can also check out the category cloud as well as the archives.

Back soon!

-Rachel

7 Ways to Help Children to Get Along

One year I had a particularly challenging group of third graders in terms of classroom culture. They just did not get along. They frequently treated each other unkindly. There were, of course a few ring leaders, but it seemed like many of the other kids just kind of went along. Here are some of the things my teaching partner and I did to try to make the situation better:

The Three Gates
We put a small copy of the picture above on every student's desk. We encouraged students to think about their words before they spoke -especially when talking about another person. The statement should pass all three gates before it is spoken.

Read Aloud
We read There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom by Louis Sachar outloud to the class. If you are not familiar with this book, give it a read. Sachar does an amazing job of telling the story of how a rejected child finds acceptance. Every time I read it I tear up when Bradly finally gets his first gold star.

Peer Recognition
We started the "I Saw You do Something Good!" program which was basically small forms that students could fill out when they witnessed a classmate doing something nice. Teachers could also fill out the forms. All the forms went into a jar and a few were picked each week for small prizes. Each student also got to keep all their forms from other students.

Role Playing
We role played positive solutions to common classroom problems.

Team Building Games
In PE we played cooperative team building games to help students learn to work together. This had varying success. Sometimes it worked remarkably well. Other times, students argued about strategy or unfairness. We soon learned which games to avoid. At the same time, we steered clear of competitive game both in PE and in the classroom.

Journal Writing
We used several journal prompts about friendship. For example:

• What does it mean to be a good friend?
• Do you think you are a good friend? Why or why not?
• You and your friend both want to do something different on Saturday afternoon. How can you solve the problem?
• What are three things you can do to make new friends?

Holiday Gifts
I actually love a good art project, but for that year, we made coupon books. Each student came up with their own coupons for nice things they could do for their parents.

Most of these ideas could be integrated into our normal school day and curriculum, so we really didn't have to spend much extra time "teaching friendship." For the most part, it worked. Our classroom did become a kinder place. There was one girl who, as far as I can tell, was immune to all of it. Although she continued to be a challenge, she did become less popular with her peers, which lessened her influence.

Pentomino Puzzles
Animal Book Report

Teaching Tools: Handy-dandy Name Sticks

Welcome to the second post in the Teaching Tools You Gotta Have series. The point of this series is to highlight simple, yet highly useful teaching tools.

Ever get tired of that sea of raised hands? This easy-to-make tool makes it a cinch to choose kids randomly. Randomness adds a little fun to your day. It also keeps kids interested and thinking.

Get a package of Popsicle sticks, craft sticks, or tongue depressors. Write the names of the students in your class on the sticks - one per stick. Put them in a cup. You have just created a very handy tool.

Now that you have this handy-dandy tool, here are some ways to use it.

For Calling on Students
Use the sticks instead of calling on raised hands. Because a students never know who will be called on, they all need to pay close attention to the lesson.

For Choosing
Use the sticks to choose kids for special jobs - such as passing out papers or when you need a volunteer for a demonstration.

For Grouping
You can use the sticks to randomly pair or group students simply by pulling out the number of sticks that you need and calling it a group. Kids know the groups are random and are less likely to complain. Also, through the course of the year, this gives each student the opportunity to work with every other student in the class.

For Turns
Make an extra set and use it for any ongoing thing that you cycle through the class for. For example, if you have 3 classroom playground balls and three different children get to use them each recess, you can simply pull 3 names and then not put them back into the cup until the entire class has had their turns, then start again with a full cup of sticks. Also good for oral presentations.

For Subs and Guests
Name sticks are great for subs or classroom guests. When faced with a group of students you don't know, it is nice just to pull a stick when you need a helper or volunteer.

Tip: Sometimes, you may want something to appear random, that really isn't. Consider a subtle mark on the top of the sticks of students that are particularly reliable. That way if you really need to be sure you get a responsible student, you know that you will. Some teachers also code their sticks for boys and girls.

You might want to check out last week's post about Ways to Use Individual Whiteboards with your students. Be sure to come back next week when I will discuss another simple, but useful tool!

Teaching Tips

Mental Math Cards

Top Ten at TpT

A tiny bit of shameless self-promotion:

This is the last week's Top Ten Items sold on teacherspayteachers.com The ones boxed in yellow are teacher materials that I developed!

If you want to have a peek, check out the right sidebar at teacherspayteachers.com or just click any of the dark blue links on the sidebar right here at Minds in Bloom.

Carnival of Educators

Welcome to March 2, 2010 edition of the Carnival of Educators here at Minds in Bloom. Please have a look around after you take a peek at this week's Carnival Posts, and if you like what you see, please consider subscribing or becoming a follower.

Many of this week's posts were a bit tangential to the subject of education, but still interesting, so I included them. I ordered this carnival by how relevant I felt the posts were as well as loosely by subject matter. 

Inspired by the Olympic Games

Andrea Hermitt presents If we treated math students like olympians posted at Examiner, saying, "a call for individual math instruction"

okp notes that students often focus more on grades than on learning and suggest an Olympic Games inspired solution at  Grade Calculation, Student Focus, and Winter Sports posted at Assistive Principles . . .

Ideas to Try

Quirky Momma has a great post about  Learning to Read with a Cootie Catcher  at quirkymomma.com, saying, "We made a learn-to-read cootie catcher for my daughter! She loves manipulating it and making sentences/mini-stories from the words she finds." The post has some great photos that show you exactly what to do!

Ben Dinsmore presents Tips on Teaching Kids About Money posted at Trees Full of Money, saying, "When it comes to teaching children and young adults about managing money, most schools in the United States get a failing grade. Here are some tips to ensure your child gets the financial education he or she deserves!"

Good to Know

Tom DeRosa has some excellent points to consider if you are wondering whether to stay in your current position or try something new next year in his video, Where Should You Teach Next Year
at I Want to Teach Forever

Nancy Flanagan  reviews an important book about the shootings that took place over ten years ago in  We Are All Columbine posted at Teacher in a Strange Land, saying, "What can still be learned in thinking about the school shootings at Columbine?"

Herbert Anderson presents 50 Incredibly Weird Facts About the Human Body posted at BSN Program, saying, "Our bodies truly are amazing. You might be surprised at what your body is capable of after reading these 50 weird facts about the human body."

Deana presents The Frugal Homeschooling Mom: A+ Homeschool Giveaways posted at The Frugal Homeschooling Mom, saying, "I’ve begun a collection of homeschool giveaways on my site – it’s a linky list and I invite all of you to participate"

Denise has a really interesting article about Spam Comments posted at Blogging 2 Learn, saying, "This week, my homeschool co-op blogging class will be talking about comments and comment spam. Spammers are tricky, and inexperienced bloggers can be easy to fool." A must read for bloggers!

Amanda Rosen presents 7 Easy Ways to Secure Your Own Personal Computer posted at Best forensic science schools.

Lisa Taylor presents an interesting post about  the 10 Youngest College Graduates in U.S. History (and Where They Are Today) posted at Online Degree.

In the News
hall monitor presents Students Spied on by School Issued Laptop Webcams posted at DetentionSlip.org, saying, "The now famous privacy issue is continuing to heat up!"

Liam Goldrick presents Central Falls Redux posted at The Education Optimists.

For the College-Bound
Basil presents The Top 10 Things that a High School Student Needs to Know Before College posted at Teen College Education, saying, "A Blog written by a teen for other teens and parents alike"

Tom Tessin presents Attending College Fairs Online posted at FCC Student Blog, saying, "College fairs aren't just in person anymore, find out how you can take advantage of one online."

For the College Crowd and Other Adult Learners
Mike presents New Year Resolutions for the Student posted at AidScholar.

Katie Freeman presents 25 Helpful Government Resources to Find Legit Online College Programs posted at Online University Data, saying, "If you want a reputable online education, then you need reputable sources to learn more about the programs you choose. The following list contains twenty-five helpful government resources to find legitimate online college programs."

Mary Jones presents 50 Fascinating Lectures for Humanitarians posted at Online University Lowdown.

And in case you need more links, The Carnival of Homeschooling is up and running at Homeschool Buzz.


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carnival of educators
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8 Fun things to do with Idioms

Teaching Idioms? I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say that idioms are more fun than a barrel of monkeys. There is a boatload of idioms at GoEnglish.com. Beyond going over the literal meaning of such phrases as "It's raining cats and dogs!" there are many other out-of-this-world things to try. They are the cat's pajamas, so give them a whirl!

Draw them
The picture on the right shows how much fun this can be. Here are some others that might be fun to draw:

• Give me a hand
• Hit the books
• Keep an eye on you
• You're pulling my leg
• Cat's got your tongue
• Zip your lip
• Cold turkey
• Wear your heart on your sleeve
• In the doghouse
• When pigs fly
• Put your foot in your mouth
• On pins and needles
• I'll be there with bells on
• Bite off more than you can chew
• Toss your cookies

Act them out
This is probably easiest to do in small groups. Assign each group an idiom and have them act it out for the rest of the class to guess. Some that will probably work well include:

• All in the same boat
• Barking up the wrong tree
• Birds of a feather flock together
• Crying over spilt milk
• Don't count your chickens before they're hatched
• It takes two to tango
• Let the cat out of the bag
• Out of the frying pan and into the fire
• Out on a limb
• Preaching to the choir
• Rub salt in your wound
• The straw that broke the camel's back

Use them as writing prompts
A phrase such as, "a fool and his money are soon parted" could inspire a great story. "Every cloud has a silver lining" could inspire an essay on finding something good in an otherwise bad situation.  "In the heat of the moment" could be the theme behind a story about doing something foolish - or perhaps brave.

Use them as discussion starters
"You can't judge a book by it's color" could be the start of a discussion about false first impressions, unfairly judging, or racism. "Rome wasn't built in a day" could start a discussion about persistence. You could have all kinds of interesting discussions around, "The ends justify the means."

Write an idiom story
Challenge your students to write a story using as many idioms as they can. They will probably want to use a lot of dialogue, so this is a great way to practice using quotations properly. It would probably help to have a large list of common idioms available.

Create an idiom challenge
Over a period of days, see how many idioms your class can come up with related to a specific subject.  Students could write them on a large piece of butcher paper on the wall as they come up with them throughout the week. Some ideas are:

• animal idioms
• food idioms
• weather idioms
• location idioms
• idioms that mention parts of the body

Go a Little Deeper
Where exactly did the idiom, "to cry wolf" come from? Do your students know the story of The Boy who Cried Wolf? How about "Curiosity killed the cat." Why a cat instead of some other animal? "Raising Cain" must have biblical roots. An idiom could be the start of a great research project!

Create your own
What else, besides cats and dogs could it be raining? Fish and Chips? Lizards and Snakes? Water balloons and Superballs? That's the way the...cookie crumbles, ball bounces, soda bubbles? leaves fall? carrot crunches? It'll cost you...an arm and a leg, a finger and 4 toes? an ear and a bad haircut?

Analogy Worksheets

Language Arts Worksheets

Visual Word Puzzles

Picture Credit: SeamlessIntegration

TpT Newsletter

So, I was this month's featured teacher in the TpT newsletter. Yippee Skippee!

In addition to a little blurb about me, there are also links to ten free teacher resources from other teachers, as well as a list of the top selling teacher materials. If you want to have a peek, here is a link!

Teaching Tools: 7 Ways to use Individual Student Whiteboards

This is the first post in the Teaching Tools You Gotta Have series. I plan to discuss a different teaching tool each week! Generally, these will be inexpensive, yet highly useful. So, be sure and check them all out!

With individual student whiteboards you can save paper, make learning fun, and keep your whole class engaged all at the same time. There are many uses for these handy boards! If you don't already have a class set, you don't have to spend a ton of money to get one. The material is inexpensive and available at your local hardware store, and most stores will cut it for free. 12x12 seems to work well for most classrooms, but you can have it cut to whatever size you want.

Once you have your boards, you will need to decide whether you want students to keep them in their desks or if you'd rather keep them in a central location and distribute as needed. I prefer the latter as I think it keeps the boards in better shape. A good way to get dry-erase pens is to have students bring them at the start of the school year with their school supplies. A clean, white sock makes a good eraser.

Now that you have your boards, here are some ideas on how to use them:

To Display Answers 
Students can easily write short answers on their boards and then hold them up for you to quickly scan and check. Consider using for mental math problems, spelling, or review of pretty much any subject.

In Partners
Students can practice spelling words in partners with one partner giving the word and the other writing it on their white board. They could also use the board to keep score when playing a game.

For Handwriting Practice
Using a whiteboard is a good place to start just to get the motion of the letter down. Of course, it is different than writing on paper and you will need to do some of that too, but it can be a fun, first step.

Instead of Scratch Paper
Save paper by having students use whiteboards as scratch paper whenever they will not need to save their work.

Instead of Clipboards
Great for when students are moving around the classroom to collect data that they will not need to keep permanently. Also good for times when students are sitting on the carpet for instruction rather than at their desks.

As a Quick Mood Gauge
Ever feel like your class is just off, but you can't quite put your finger on it? Try having your students each draw a quick face on their boards - either a smiley face, a sad face or a neutral (straight line for the mouth). It gives you a quick read and may possibly lead to a class discussion about what is going on.

For Indoor Recess and other Free Times
Great for games like hangman or just for drawing. Kids love to use these during their free time.

Do you use individual student white boards in your classroom? Please share your ideas!

Next Week: Name Sticks!

Mental Math

Visual Word Puzzles PowerPoint

Any List Spelling Activities

Ways to Make Group Work, Work

I believe that most teachers don't really know what is going on socially in their classroom. Not because they aren't paying attention or because they don't care, but because much of the social interaction - especially negative interactions, happen at lunch or recess, or before or after school, or intentionally behind the teacher's back. As adults, we can't really, truly know what is going on. Sure, we know who is super popular and who is neglected or rejected, but that still leaves a lot of unknown territory.

And that makes group work tricky because all of those unknown status hierarchies get carried into the group. Add to that the varying academic abilities of your students. Add to that the fact that there are more and more kids with various special needs - Aspergers, sensory integration issues, ADHD, not to mention any number of quirky tendencies that can make group work challenging.

Yet, group work is important. Kids need to learn to work in groups. So what can we do to help? Here are some ideas:

Make the Groups - Don't Allow Students to Choose 
There are several reasons for this. First, when students are allowed to choose their group members, some kids get left out. This is beyond hurtful. And when they are finally assigned to a group, they know they are not wanted. Also, students do not always make the best choices for group mates. And finally if you do the grouping, you can balance them socially and academically. Even if you don't want to group them yourself, using Popsicle sticks or some other random method is still better than allowing kids to group themselves.

Set Ground Rules about Behavior
At the top of the list should be treating everyone in the group fairly and with respect. Dividing work fairly, listening to every one's ideas should be in there as well. You might also have a plan for mediating disputes within the group.

Give Everyone a Job
One of the main problems with group work is that often one or two kids do the majority of the work while the rest of the group members slack off. By dividing the work involved in the project into parts so that each person has their part, you can make sure everyone does his or her share.

Grade the Project Both as a Group and Individually
When students know that they will be graded on their individual contributions, they are less likely to let others do all the work.

Check in Frequently
Check in with groups frequently to make sure they are on schedule and that they are all getting along. Monitoring group work time is one informal way. You could also talk with groups about how things are going, or have a formal timetable for them to follow.

Plan Diverse Projects
For long term projects especially, try to have many components so that everyone can find a place to fit in. This is especially important for struggling students who may feel that their contribution will be sub-par. If there are many different aspects to the projects, odds are, everyone can find a way to contribute that is valuable to the group.

Plan Carefully for Quirky Kids
Some kids have a really hard time working in groups. My son was one of these. Now in high school, he does fine in groups, but in elementary school and even Jr. High, group work was extremely stressful - not just for him, but also for the other kids in his group. You probably have one or two kids like this in your class. Assign them carefully and monitor closely. With the proper guidance, the project could become a tremendous learning opportunity for these kids. But left to their own devices, they are very likely to crash and burn.

Mental Math Cards

Analogy Worksheets

Totally Cool Social Studies Assignment

My daughter's 8th grade social studies assignment is to make a comic strip with at least seven panels that features Jr. High students living without the Bill of Rights. Three amendments must be broken in the strip. So much better than reading from a textbook!