And With A Light Touch Chapters 3 & 4

This week I read the Chapters 3 & 4 in the book And with a Light Touch.  The focus of the chapters is Environment and Tone.  These are the perfect chapters for teachers to read and reread this time of year, as we are getting ready to set up our classroom and prepare of our new students. 

Chapter 3 was title Classroom Climate.  Carol writes about the importance of involving the children in the decision making process in the classroom from the very beginning.  She writes about the importance of creating routines in the classroom.  She writes about the importance of the teacher’s tone.  What kind of teacher are you?  The type that rules the kingdom and the subjects just do what they are told.  Are you the type of teacher who creates a million activities to keep the children busy?  Or are you the type of teacher who listens and observes the students and believes that you learning along with the children?  

This is the point that stuck with me: 

We work together, we are a learning community.

I’ve heard this before, but it is a good reminder as I get ready to begin the year.  I love the word community.   It is a word that pops up in our Religion, Science and Social Studies books. 

How do you teach children what a community is and how to be part of one?  At the first grade level Carol suggests through literature and daily modeling. 

She begins her year with having the students create the class rules.  She of course guides them in positive phrasing however she lets them feel as though they are in charge of the rules.  All classrooms have the same basic rules:  We are kind to each other and we work hard together. 

My plan for the first day of school…………I am going to guide my students to help them create classroom rules as well.  We will write the rules on chart paper so we can remember them.  Then on the second day I will tell my students that I took all their ideas and created a poster of First Grade Rules….

I plan on combining two of my ideas from the past, faces and names.  The students will create their faces and we will put them around this poster I found at eighteen28 to show we are a community together.  

Then we will decorate our names and put them around our new rules to show we will do our best to follow them.  

Chapter 4 is all about Planning and Preparing 

Thinking about how you set up your classroom and how you manage your lesson plans and records. 

Carol’s main point is keep your room kid friendly.  Don’t spend a lot of time over decorating your classroom; just set up the basics and let the kids take part in the rest.   She said she can set up her classroom in one weekend!  Wow, that is something to aim for. 

Next Week's Reading is all about Writing in the Classroom.  Sounds Good!

An Amazing Resource

I found an amazing new blog today.  I have been reading book reviews and watching book trailers for the last hour.  The blog is well written and is extremely useful.  The blog is by Roxanne and is called Books that Heal Kids.   Roxanne searches for books that help children of all ages deal with different real life issues.  This is just a screen shot of the some of her topics.

As you can see she has a wonderful variety of topics that can be useful in the classroom.  I added this to my list of favorites.   For each book she writes a summary of the book and then in the next paragraph she writes why she likes the book or how she used it with the children where she works.

I already added three books to my cart at Amazon.

This blog is well worth your time to read.

My Teddy Bear Poetry on Freebie Friday

The last two weeks of school I have my students read the story Ira Sleeps Over.  It is a cute little story about a little boy who has to decide if he wants to take his Teddy Bear to a sleep over with his friend Reggie.  He seeks advice from his parents and his sister.  Needless to say, he is conflicted about what to do.  We had some great discussions in class. 

During this week I have the students read the poem:  My Teddy Bear  by Margaret Hillert.  I found it in a great poetry book: Read Aloud Poems  By:  Jack Prelutsky.  

This is one of the last poems we do in first grade so I use it as an assessment.  I have the students use their detective skills to find short and long vowel words.  I warn them ahead of time…..there may not be an answer for each box you have to think about it carefully. 

If you would like a copy of My Teddy Bear please click here.

Enjoy :)

New Book for Professional Reading

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…..And with a Light Touch

Learning About Reading, Writing and Teaching with First Graders

By:  Carol Avery

This is my second book selection for this summer.  I picked this book because I vaguely remember reading back 16 years ago or so when I taught first grade the first time.  I remember I enjoyed the book, but to be honest I don’t remember why.  So when I came upon the second edition of the book I decided to read it again. 

 I am not going to report to you with summaries of the chapters.  I am going to write about key points and how I see them impacting my classroom.  I cannot do my usually two chapters at a time because that is not how Ms. Avery has the book set up. She has the book broken into seven parts, so I will try to stick to those same parts.

Beginning

This is what Ms. Avery calls the first two chapters of her book.  They focus on how Ms. Avery came about her philosophy of teaching and how the first days of school have changed over the years.

One quote that stood out to me was:  “I better understand now that reading aloud to children is teaching and that how I read and the talk surrounding that reading has a direct influence on children’s growth as readers and writers.”

This is TRUE!  This is the lesson that I know I cannot recreate for children who are absent.  I send home the books we read however I know that the parents do not spend the time with the books like I do.  Sometimes the talk I plan does not go as I plan, the children take it in a whole different and meaningful direction.  This is something you cannot recreate!  First Graders learn so much from GOOD literature and the discussion that takes place afterwards!  Reading is so important!

 

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“We worked to form a community……learner-centered classroom.”

I want to work these key phrases into my teaching philosophy because I feel that it is very important.  We are a learning community and it takes a lot of hard work to build a successful and beautiful community.  Ms. Avery points out many times that a true community is form when everyone has input in the decisions.  She has many class meetings to get the children to work together and learn to listen to the needs of everyone in the community. 

I especially like the term community, which is a word we read about a lot in literature, social studies, science and religion.  I feel if I can reinforce that vocabulary in the classroom community as well it would help the students build some understanding.    

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Chapter 9 Teaching in the Digital Age

I finished reading Teaching in the Digitial Age.  I read Chapter Nine this week and it reinforced the importance of having technology in classroom.

I think every teacher already knows that kids love technology.  They love to touch and learn and have fun all at the same time.  If you need some evidence to write a grant for ipads this is the chapter for you.

For those of us looking for ideas of what to do with the ipads now that we have them in our classrooms, this chapter will not help you. 

Instead of writing about the chapter I have decided to spend some time researching on Pinterest from other teachers what apps they like and what they suggest for the classroom.  I already have a couple of my favorites however I am looking for new ideas that I am not already using in my classroom. 

Right now my students use the ipads for listening to lots of stories that I have purchased and for logging into ixl math.  The iPads are always in use in my room.    

However I was searching for some free ideas that I could add to that list of things to do when your work is done.  Here are some ideas I found:

Tap Roulette App

 

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This app can help solve problems in the classroom.  It can decided who can go first in a game.   Which table can line up first.

Screen Chomp

 

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This looks like a great way to document what you know and record it and show it to the class.  It looks like a recordable white board.   I can see this being very useful during math.  It begins a whole new meaning to show me your work1

Number Pieces

 

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Place Value blocks…..perfect. I need these to help explain some lessons. 

Meerkat Math

 

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This looks like a fun way to practice math facts.

Spelling City

 

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This I like……I am always looking for fun ways to practice spelling words.  It has games the children can play as they practice their words.  

A+ Spelling Test

 

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This app will quiz the students on their spelling words and give the results.    

Google Earth

 

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This will be great for Social Studies or Reading when I am explaining where a place is on the Earth.

Fry Words  and Sight Words

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A fun way to practice sight words.  I always have a couple students who struggle with sight words.  This would be a fun way to practice those words.  

I am looking forward to using these this year.  I think the students will enjoy them.  I hope this list is helpful to you as well.