I found this book (another great resource from Free Spirit Press) and knew that I just had to introduce it to my students. We'll be spending a couple of our reading blocks this week digging into these short biographic profiles of some amazing kids from around the world.
The readability of these profiles is approximately a 5th grade level. It's a very approachable text as the font is large enough not to be daunting (but not so large it feels "elementary"), while there are just enough graphics and maps interspersed to keep it interesting.
Each of the profiles are categorized into chapters that cover themes such as: Kids Saving the Environment, Kids Standing Up for Themselves, Kids Helping Others, Kids Overcoming Challenges, and Kids Using Talents and Creativity. There's parity between genders, with both strong boy and girl figures represented from around the globe.
The applications for this book are really endless. We'll be examining and reading closely (yes, my new buzzword) to look for similarities and differences between the kids, their skill sets, curiousities, and their causes. We'll also explore the causes themselves and look at the effects of each young adult's efforts.
I am predicting that my reluctant readers will be particularly drawn to these mini biographies for a number of reasons. I would imagine that parents of reluctant readers would want to try this book with their own children. It offers a global perspective, using real-life examples, and delivers text in short, easy to digest snippets. It could easily satisfy independent reading requirements and kids may be sparked to become change agents themselves!
I borrowed a copy from our local library, but it's well worth purchasing for $9 on Amazon.
If you read it with your children or students, please leave a comment and let me know if they enjoyed it!
With the advent of the Common Core Curriculum Standards teachers are being asked to present their students with texts that are more rigorous. In addition, we are being encouraged to engage students in close reading. No, that's not hold the book closer and read! It's strategic reading of text excerpts multiple times with a focus on various aspects of theme, conflict, characterization, and author's purpose. This isn't necessarily anything new for most teachers, but it does present an opportunity for us to dig a bit deeper and reflect on our instructional practices.
I stumbled across an amazing book that does just that! Not only can teachers benefit from its content, parents who are interested in working with their children to enhance comprehension can use this too.
The premise of the book is that all of the commonly read literature in grades 2-12 contains "signposts" or signals that good readers attend to while reading. Here's a summary list that the authors created after analyzing numerous fiction texts:
1. Memory Moment - when a character stops and remembers something that happened earlier. This is a great time to stop as a reader and ask yourself why this event is important to the character or the plot.
2. Words of the Wiser - sometimes a character receives significant advice from another character (usually an older/wiser person). Often times this leads us to the themes and lessons in the book.
3. Again and Again - when a reader sees situations, phrases, or statements being repeated over and over, he or she should stop and reflect on the importance. Maybe you'll learn something about the theme, or it could be a foreshadow.
4. Aha Moment - sometimes characters figure something out or realize something that they should have seen all along. Again this leads us to themes, conflicts, and possible understanding of character development.
5. Contrasts and contradictions - characters and situations sometimes aren't as they appeared previously. Pause when this happens and consider why this is significant and what it means to the character and to the plot.
6. Tough Questions - when a character stops and asks him or herself a tough question you often find clues to the themes and conflicts in the story if you pause and wonder about its importance or significance.
If you would like to read more about how to use these signposts in your instruction, find questions that scaffold reader thinking, and see sample lessons, you must buy the book! It's well worth the $20.00 on Amazon.
I used these signposts with my class as a summative assessment for the book "Number the Stars" over the past two days, and I was very impressed with the critical thinking and analysis that I saw as I observed students working collaboratively to find text evidence of these signposts. Even my reluctant readers were enjoying finding and describing the significance of their evidence.
Parents can use these signposts while reading aloud to their children, or as activators to get kids thinking while they do their independent reading. For example, challenge your child to find at least one signpost during their reading time and stop to tell you about it's significance.
Teachers should really consider buying this book and collaborating with grade level colleagues to introduce it to your students. You'll be glad you did!
I have purchased many games from this company and have not been disappointed yet. Our most recent find is "Golden Gate".
It's a relatively quick game, played in 5 rounds. The tin box is sturdy and the cards and chips are high quality. It's for 2-4 players and rated ages 7 to adult. I must say that I enjoyed playing it and so did my kids. The object of the game is to be the first to play all the cards in your hand and earn the most chips in the process. Players need to sequence cards either by going up (0,1,2,3...) or down (7,6,5,4...) while keeping in mind that green cards are neutral and red cards left in your hand will penalize you at the end of the game. Gold cards earn chips, but a player needs to be strategic in when he or she plays them. The longer you can hold onto and play a gold, the higher score chip you'll earn. Since it's a five round event, you have a chance to make up for a poorly played round. Like many games of this genre, there's a bit of luck and a bit of strategy, which is perfect for those children who maybe aren't ready for "full-on" strategy games. The educational value isn't huge, but children do need to think about whether to count up or down based on their hands, and the count "resets" at 0. That means that a count down from 0 goes to 10, 9, 8 and so on. A count up from 10 goes to 0, 1, 2, 3. Also, at the end, chip tallies need to be added (the values are 10, 20, 30, 40) and that makes for a perfect opportunity to practice mental math. At appx. $12.00 this game is well worth its value.
Another wonderful and fun Blue Orange Game is Spot It! We have the basic version:
Since purchasing this last fall, the company has come out with a number of themed versions of the game based on sports teams, holidays, and basic shape/number recognition. The idea is amazingly simple, yet so much fun to play. Basically, you're looking for matches on cards (and each card has a match with another no matter what). The images that you are trying to match will likely be different sizes and it takes careful examination to find the right combination. It really levels the playing field between adults and kids.
The beauty of the game is that it has high replay value. There are many variations in the directions and the game is never the same regardless of which way you choose to play. It's quick and easy and lends itself to playing at the beach, a restaurant, or even on a plane. Although this game is fun for all, it's particularly useful if you have a child at home or school who needs help and practice with visual discrimination.
I am always on the lookout for games and activities that are fun and educational. l bought this on Amazon for my kids, but I have to admit that I'm having as much fun as they are. It's a great maze/puzzle that has cards of increasing difficulty. I haven't made it past beginner/intermediate! The cards themselves are very high quality material with two wipe off pens. The metal box is very durable. I would suggest wiping the cards off with a Lysol or other wet-wipe since they do get the hazing from the wipe off pen. Dry with papertowel and they continue to look like new after several uses. Although everyone can find something to enjoy about these mazes, they are especially great practice for kids who struggle with executive functions (planning and organizing in particular)and for those who have difficulty with logical reasoning and visual / spatial skills. If you prefer to use an app instead of a table game (which is great for indoor recess or waiting at a restaurant) then you may want to check out "Flow" and "Flow: Bridges" from Big Duck Apps on iTunes.
Follow this link to iTunes Both of these apps are similar in principle to Lab Mice, and they offer different versions/levels and time constraints to add even more challenge.
There is an increased focus on bullying these days, as there should be. Unfortunately many of our students and our own children are exposed to all sorts of behaviors that range from teasing all the way up to full-fledged bullying. Let us not forget, the bullies have parents too - even if they don't want to admit it. Not every kid is the victim, some are the perpetrators and others are the bystanders. Others are actually trying to be something different - peacemakers! Wouldn't it be great if all of our kids fell into one category? THE PEACEMAKERS! I realize that may be a Utopian view that isn't ever going to be reality. It's likely unicorns will walk on Earth the day that happens. But still, can't we try to imagine a world where kids work proactively to get along and broker peace? Maybe the adults could try it too?
I found a new resource that helps children (and their adults) to be more peaceful, mindful, and empathetic.
This book is an amazing resource that comes with a CD of all of the worksheets that you can use with students, or even your own children. Its target audience is grades 3-6. This text has 125 mini-lessons that can be taught within 20 minutes or less. Student activities—including games, role plays, group discussions, art projects, and language arts exercises—affirm the importance of respect, listening, and kind actions vs. bullying in schools. Kids learn skills they can use to calm down and conflict resolution techniques for situations when strong emotions threaten to disrupt the peace. With a focus on preventing teasing, name-calling, fighting, exclusion, and other hurtful actions,No Kidding About Bullyingalso features activities to stop bullying when mistreatment is occurring.
If you'd like to see sample pages/sheets from the book, visit the publisher's site. They have many other wonderful resources for teachers and parents. I highly recommend (and own) many of their products:
Do you know about this amazing site? If not, read on. As their tag-line states, "Wonders never cease". It's brought to you by the NCFL (National Center for Family Literacy) and Verizon's ThinkFinity non-profit organization. So, what is Wonderopolis you ask? It's a daily dose of thinking and time well spent with a child or a group of children.
Visit the site HERE and see what you think. It's updated each day with a new "wonder" that you can share with your class (perhaps as part of a morning meeting?) or with your own children as you settle down for the night after dinner (or maybe before, to spur conversation?). However you choose to use it, Wonderopolis is sure to be a hit with children and the adults in their lives. The best part? You can nominate a wonder of your own! Have fun, and let me know what you think!
I try to incorporate current events and non-fiction reading into my classroom as much as possible. I also like to share the news with my own kids too. I find that the "real" news often has too much detail (causing kids' eyes to glaze over) or too much information that they don't quite need to know at this young age. I spent a lot of time scouring the internet to find trustworthy news sites that are kid-friendly, but not watered down or condescending. Here are the ones that I think are the best-of-the-best. You can access the site for each e-zine by clicking on its title. All descriptions are taken directly from the sites. Be sure to scroll down, there's a handful of them:
Many educators have remarked that Youngzine is a perfect complement to academic material, and can be a great resource for teachers and their classes. Learning through current events not only makes students more aware of what's going on in the world, but also helps absorb concepts better. Here's what teachers and parents are saying about Youngzine.
Moreover, Youngzine now provides a safe "blog" environment for classrooms - a constructive, creative and controlled way for teachers to create classroom assignments and foster discussions on current events!
Youngzine provides special features just for you, if you sign up as a Teacher:
Each of your classes gets a unique "Classroom Code" that identifies the students in that class. For each class, you get a Blog where you can post assignments and have students respond. You can include specific articles and quizzes to include in each assignment.
For each of your classes, you get to see a full report of each student's activities just by going to your classroom tab: their comments, assignment responses, points and quiz results.
Welcome!Here There Everywhereis a news website/blog designed for elementary school-aged children. Its purpose is to show kids how they are connected to their world and introduce them to the people and events shaping it. It credits children with being interested in and being able to understand some of the more newsy topics (though there will be lots of the fun stuff, too!). HTE can be read with a caregiver or without.
Our Mission
The mission of The Why Files is to explore the science, math and technology behind the news of the day, and to present those topics in a clear, accessible and accurate manner. We are based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but The Why Files covers science at all institutions that engage in scientific exploration and discovery. We hope our work will help explain the relationship between science and daily life.
Our Content
The Why Files produces a new story each week, alternating longer features with shorter shorties. We also post a series of interactive science animations, the ever-popular “Cool Science Images,” a series of Teacher Activity Pages linked to the national science teaching standards, The Weather Guys, and Curiosities. Eager to explain the science behind the news, our home page reprises older stories that become relevant to the headlines.
Our History
The Why Files was founded in 1996 as part of the National Institute for Science Education, with funding from the National Science Foundation. We have published weekly on the web since January, 1996. Since 1998, we have been supported through the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Welcome to TeenTribune, TweenTribune,TTEspañol and TTJunior – the daily news sites for kids, tweens and teens – where you'll find the most compelling, relevant and interesing news for 55 million kids in K-12 and their 3.5 million teachers.
Stories are selected by professional journalists working closely with teens, tweens and teachers. Teens and tweens can post comments, with all comments moderated by their teachers before they are published
We allow teens and tweens to produce 99 percent of our content as a means of engaging them. Almost 100,000 teachers and 1 million students have registered so far.
We're encouraging kids, teens and tweens to seek out news on a daily basis because our democracy depends upon a well-informed public, so we believe it is important to foster a daily news-reading habit as soon as kids begin to read.
(This site is incredibly teacher/student friendly. It allows you to customize your printout by changing font size and even eliminating any text that you may not want to include.)
Science News for Kids (SNK) is an award-winning online publication dedicated to children 9-14, their parents, and their teachers. It was launched in 2003 by the nonprofit organization Society for Science & the Public (SSP) as a youth edition and companion to SSP’s Science News magazine.
SNK offers timely, interesting news stories and features, accompanied by suggestions for hands-on activities, books, articles, and web resources. It attracts nearly four million visitors annually. Younger and older visitors enjoy its pages.
SNK news stories are selected from articles from SSP’s award-winning flagship magazine, Science News, which enjoys paid print circulation of over 120,000 paid subscribers and millions of readers each year. Science News is written by a staff of professional science journalists and editors, and covers all areas of science. SNK contentis tailored to make Science News accessible and interesting for the middle-school audience. Longer news features are commissioned from professional science writers as original articles for the site.
