Peter Johnston has written an amazing book which Debbie Miller shared with our team. In Choice Words he talks about how easy it is to make or break a child with our words.
In Debbie Miller’s Book Teaching With Intention
I compiled some of the ideas Debbie mentioned in her book.
We spend a lot of time talking about the importance of quality classroom libraries . One area that is often in need of growth is the culturally responsive section of our libraries. I am very lucky to work with our First Nation Inuit and Métis Consultant on a regular basis. She put together this document that she has allowed me to share.
Please click on the link below and read her suggestions. Thank you Amy!
Culturally Responsive Classroom Libraries Look Fors:
I think what hit me most about this poster as I entered a classroom, was the mindset of the teacher. I have worked with her a lot because she invites me to her classroom. Her belief in, and love of children is so obvious in everything she does. Sometimes as educators we forget that! She truly is about the kids. Thank you KO for inspiring me everytime I visit you!
This book by Mary Cay Ricci, has had me thinking a lot lately. Are we truly about the kids? Do we actually do our best to help all children learn and grow? Do we learn new things in order to achieve that success for each child? I am working very hard to ensure I have a growth mindset and not a fixed one…
AS Anne Davies asks- do you want to TEACH for 25 years, or do you want to teach the same thing 25 times??
One of best parts of my job is working in classrooms with teachers and students. Everywhere I go, I learn something new.
I recently visited a classroom where the teacher showed me her student’s reading puppets. Each student has a “puppet buddy” which is kept in their take home reading bags. The puppet goes home every night and comes back to school everyday. 
The puppets were made from scrap material so no two were alike. The fronts and backs were not the same.(put out a call for left over material, find a friend who sews and whip them up on a weekend) The puppets are faceless which leaves creativity and imagination intact. Students are able to draw how the puppet is feeling or what it is wearing on paper and store it in the reading bag.
Students are given the option to read to the puppet-they hold it up and read aloud. The puppet listens carefully. This is particularly great for students who have nobody to read to at home and need to practice oral fluency.
The second option is to have the puppet help the student read. The puppet helps the student track the words and read along with them.
The students were very excited to show me their puppets and how they use them. What a great way to build engagement in reading 🙂
Thank you J.C. for inviting me into your classroom and sharing this creative idea.
November 7th is Random Acts of Kindness Day-What are you going to do? How can you prepare to be Random ?? How can it become a daily event , not yearly?
The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission promotes Think Good Do Good. One of the events being promoted is Random Acts of Kindness.
I have visited some classrooms where teachers are teaching their students to Think Good Do Good all year long. What a great way to end each school day-by having students leave saying :”tonight I will Think Good Do Good”
Please share any activities you do, using the Think Good Do Good tag.
Some classrooms are brainstorming ideas they can do to be kind, on an anchor chart, some classes are writing letters to cheer people up and delivering them Nov. 7. Some classrooms are cleaning the playground. Some classes are working at being “bucket fillers”
It will be random because nobody will be expecting it!
Please share your ideas with me, or Post them on Twitter at @ThinkGoodDoGood.
We can make the world a better place one child at a time! I will be posting other events here.
Remember to Think Good Do Good
I can’t wait to hear from you no matter where you live in the world!!
Teaching time really is precious. When we look at the hours in the school day, there is really so little time with the children we are given for the year.
I have started thinking hard about the time wasters in the classroom. I have looked carefully at the Two Sisters for Daily 5 and Daily Café and Fountas and Pinell for The First Twenty Days. The idea of working smarter not harder really grabs me. Years ago, Harry Wong had a lot to say about it as well in his book The First Days of School. No matter whose style you prefer the message is the same. Teach the procedures you need to teach from day one.
The basic non-instructional routines which take up so much time must be taught, reinforced and reviewed until they become habits. Make sure students know what they are supposed to be doing and why. Teach them where to go when they need help. If you start the year this way, really reinforcing the habits you want to see there will be so much more learning. The classrooms I visit where the teacher and students alike are least stressed and happily learning are the ones where these routines are firmly established from the first day and practiced over and over again. Both the Daily 5 and The First Twenty days have mapped these out in clear, easy to use formats. All the models I have looked at give the same message. To be engaged, students must feel that they have some control over their learning. They must also see themselves belonging in their classroom. The classroom belongs to everyone, not just to the teacher.
This summer I read the series not this but that. One of the books, was about time wasters.
I really like the idea of CHAMP planning for daily tasks : (A planning tool for procedural routines from No more sharpening Pencils During Work Time by Brinkerhoff and Roehrig Page 53 )
| Conversation-Can students talk to each other? When? How loud? To whom?Help-What do students do if they need help? Who and how do they ask?Activity-Exactly what will students do? What will the end project look like?Movement: What type of movement is permitted? What will the movement look like?
Participation-What does the student behaviour look like while they are all participating? |
The authors give suggestions of possible procedures you might wish to clarify-care and storage of materials, morning entry, what to do when there are needs (bathroom, questions, water…) transitions, one that was always of concern to me coming back from recess.
The main idea being that the routines focus on objectives-not busy work and more wasted time. The key word being ACCESS
When you are planning your CHAMP think about the ACCESS you are giving students.(For example: silent reading at morning entry, versus colouring sheets)
If you think “I don’t have time to read about procedures” or “I don’t have time to set up all these routines”. remember, if you don’t set the students up for success up, you won’t get the teaching done that you really wanted to.
Read More :
Mme G.C. by Lezlie Goudie-Cloutier is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at https://mmegc.wordpress.com/.
Mme G.C. -Work in Progress 