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Showing posts with label spelling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spelling. Show all posts

Seven Steps to a Happy Last Day of School - Part 4 Whiteboards

The focus this time of year is getting it all done: packing up, report cards, and all those end-of-the-year necessities.

even Steps to a Happy Last Day of School-Part 4: Keep out a few whiteboards, markers, and erasers. This post includes a Geography task card freebie!


My goal on the last day has always been to try to relax and help the kids enjoy that last day. Today I'll share the 4th of my 7 Steps.

You can read about Step One here:  Read Your Favorite Book
 
You can read about Step Two here: Leave Out a Few Favorite Games
 
You can read the third strategy here: Keep Out a Few Decks of Playing Cards.

Today's strategy:

Seven Steps to a Happy Last Day of School-Part 4: Keep out a few whiteboards, markers, and erasers. This post includes a Geography task card freebie!

Don't kids love using whiteboards?  Mine sure do! I always leave some out on the last day. 

Here are a few "educational" things they can do with the whiteboards:
1. Hangman (They can use spelling words or content words from the year!)

2. Dictate sentences for each other using something you've studied or a book you've read!

3. Tic-tac-toe (it involves strategy!)

4. Make up math problems for partners to solve.

5. Keep out a set of task cards for the children to answer on the whiteboards. Here's a free set that's perfect for end-of-the-year review: Geography Review Task Cards.

Seven Steps to a Happy Last Day of School-Part 4: Keep out a few whiteboards, markers, and erasers. This post includes a Geography task card freebie!


Here's a blog post I wrote last year with a few whiteboard ideas: 3 Ways to Use Individual Whiteboards

Seven Steps to a Happy Last Day of School-Part 4: Keep out a few whiteboards, markers, and erasers.


What are your ideas for using whiteboards on the last day of school?


Here's a link to Step 5:

 
even Steps to a Happy Last Day of School-Part 4: Keep out a few whiteboards, markers, and erasers. This post includes a Geography task card freebie!




3 Ways to Use Individual Whiteboards for Quick Practice

Individual Whiteboards are incredibly handy for many purposes! I find them very handy to practice a number of skills. 

3 Ways to Use Individual Whiteboards for Quick Practice: There are plenty of ways to use individual whiteboards in the classroom each day. Here are three ways I use them!

I have a good supply of individual whiteboards in my classroom, and the children have their own whiteboard markers. I have enough erasers so that each pair can share an eraser. 

I've also seen children bring an old sock to class to use as an eraser. They love to "wear" the sock on their non-writing hand, which makes it very quick and easy for erasing. These socks are also very handy for holding extra markers! 

One of my favorite thing about the individual white boards is that they are VERY forgiving! The children can practice a skill, get it wrong a few times, and no one will ever know! 

Another thing I like about them? The kids love using them! 

Here are a few ways I use whiteboards in my second grade classroom:


1. Practice spelling words - Often I'll have the kiddos warm up for their word work by practicing their words on the white boards. The kiddos love to use the boards, and end  up writing their words over and over again! Here's a tip: have the children say the letters aloud while they write - it helps the memory! Quite often, after a warm up, I'll have them put a star beside their best handwriting, or a heart beside their favorite word, or maybe an exclamation point next to the toughest word to remember.  All these strategies are great for getting the children to self-evaluate, which leads to more learning!


2. Practice sentences from dictation - Writing sentences from dictation is one step away from writing sentences the children create themselves. Dictation models good grammar, vocabulary, and spelling skills. The sentences themselves can be models for the children to use in their own writing. Dictation helps the children develop the ability to hold some words in their heads while writing words. It is practice with spelling, handwriting, punctuation, and memory. Plus, the whiteboards are very forgiving when they make a mistake!
 

3. Practicing important math skills - Some skills just need to be practiced over and over again, and white boards are the perfect place to do it! The picture above shows my students adding three digit numbers using a couple of different strategies. To make it a little more fun, we use dice to choose our numbers, and they earn tiles for accurate answers. (When we're done, I give them a couple of minutes to create a design with their tiles. All that hard work deserves a little fun, doesn't it?)

What skills do you practice on whiteboards?

How do you make this practice fun?

3 Ways to Use Individual Whiteboards for Quick Practice: There are plenty of ways to use individual whiteboards in the classroom each day. Here are three ways I use them!


Seven Strategies to Help Children Remember Spelling Words

Some children remember sight words easily, but there are others who have a hard time remembering the spelling of words that don't follow the rules. 

Seven Strategies to help children remember spelling words - based on brain research, this blog post shares seven strategies to help those kiddos who struggle to remember spelling!
 

Here are a few strategies, based on research, that will help kiddos remember spelling words.


Seven Strategies to help children remember spelling words - based on brain research, this blog post shares seven strategies to help those kiddos who struggle to remember spelling!
1.  Spell it aloud! The act of saying the letters along with hearing the letters helps the pathways form in the brain.


Seven Strategies to help children remember spelling words - based on brain research, this blog post shares seven strategies to help those kiddos who struggle to remember spelling!
2. Get them moving! Studies show a connection between movement and memory. Students can bounce a basketball while spelling, jump while spelling, or even do interpretive dance while spelling the words. 


Seven Strategies to help children remember spelling words - based on brain research, this blog post shares seven strategies to help those kiddos who struggle to remember spelling!
 3. Integrate Music! Ever notice how you can remember song lyrics from years ago that you never even tried to memorize? Music is closely connected to memory! Make up a little tune to the spelling of the words, or have the children make it up!
 

Seven Strategies to help children remember spelling words - based on brain research, this blog post shares seven strategies to help those kiddos who struggle to remember spelling!

4. Integrate the Arts! Have the children write the spelling words, then make up a design around them. Or, you could have them paint their words! Don't forget the performing arts: they could dance their words or act out their words!

Seven Strategies to help children remember spelling words - based on brain research, this blog post shares seven strategies to help those kiddos who struggle to remember spelling!
5. Color code! Brains really connect to colors! Have the children write the words using one color for vowels, and one color for consonants.

Seven Strategies to help children remember spelling words - based on brain research, this blog post shares seven strategies to help those kiddos who struggle to remember spelling!
6. Hands-on! Use blocks, toothpicks, pipe cleaners or other manipulatives to create the words.

Seven Strategies to help children remember spelling words - based on brain research, this blog post shares seven strategies to help those kiddos who struggle to remember spelling!
7. Get social! Get the kiddos to have conversations about their words. They can talk about the letters that follow the rules, and the letters that DON'T follow the rules. (Add color coding to this one, and that doubles the chance they'll remember the spelling!)

Want more ideas?  


Seven Strategies to help children remember spelling words - based on brain research, this blog post shares seven strategies to help those kiddos who struggle to remember spelling!

This is a set of task cards with 48 color and 48 black and white task cards that can be used with any spelling list!

These cards contain activities based on brain research that include integrating the arts, multi-modality, and multiple intelligences. This set of sight word practice task cards is perfect for a word work center, homework, or extra practice in any setting. 

For more information, see: Brain Friendly Spelling Task Cards.

Seven Strategies to help children remember spelling words - based on brain research, this blog post shares seven strategies to help those kiddos who struggle to remember spelling!


In case you want to see how these Spelling Task Cards work, here's a sampler: Spelling Fun Task Cards Sampler
Seven Strategies to help children remember spelling words - based on brain research, this blog post shares seven strategies to help those kiddos who struggle to remember spelling!

Or grab it for free by signing up for my helpful emails HERE.

How do you help children remember Spelling words?

Seven Strategies to help children remember spelling words - based on brain research, this blog post shares seven strategies to help those kiddos who struggle to remember spelling!


Dictation and Round Robin Proofreading!

Writing sentences from dictation is a very valuable skill!  

Dictation and Round Robin Proofreading: Writing sentences from dictation is a very valuable skill! Here are a few reasons why, and some suggestions on how!

It helps children practice writing sentences and helps them become more fluent writers. It models good grammar for them. It's a great way to catch common errors, and give immediate feedback. (Kids need that, according to brain research!)  It makes a great review for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and even handwriting! It helps develop short term memory. Plus, kids love the challenge!

Dictation and Round Robin Proofreading: Writing sentences from dictation is a very valuable skill! Here are a few reasons why, and some suggestions on how!

I often give dictation sentences when practicing the spelling patterns each week. At the beginning of the year, the children can barely remember a simple sentence, but by the end of the year, they are writing complex sentences from dictation. I usually use white boards, that are much more forgiving than paper, although on occasion I use paper.
Dictation and Round Robin Proofreading: Writing sentences from dictation is a very valuable skill! Here are a few reasons why, and some suggestions on how!

Last week, I noticed the kids were getting a little lazy about checking their work for simple things like capitals and punctuation, and weren't even catching if they left out a word. I decided it was time to increase the challenge.  

Dictation and Round Robin Proofreading: Writing sentences from dictation is a very valuable skill! Here are a few reasons why, and some suggestions on how!

I made sure each child at each table had a different color white board marker. After dictating the sentence, and having them repeat it back to me twice (that's our routine), I gave them a couple of minutes to write their sentences.  Then I had them pass their whiteboards around the table and see if they could find anything to correct on the new board. I let them check each board around the table until their boards came back to them with all the corrections.

The next sentence I dictated was amazingly more accurate for every child. As they passed their boards, they were finding fewer and fewer of those silly mistakes.

Of course, if there were children struggling, I'd never do this activity. I'd go to those students privately and give them a hand. But knowing that their classmates were going to see their work made them a whole lot more focused to do it right to begin with! It gave them some accountability. After our final round, instead of correcting mistakes, the children were enhancing the sentences by adding quotations or phrases to make it more interesting.

I'm not big on "peer pressure", but sometimes that's just what they need!


Dictation and Round Robin Proofreading: Writing sentences from dictation is a very valuable skill! Here are a few reasons why, and some suggestions on how!

Three Quick Math Brain Activities

Teachers can do many quick things to activate the brain while teaching math. 

Remember, the brain needs movement and active engagement to activate those dendrites! 

 
Three Quick Math Brain Activities: Here are three quick ideas for getting children to think about math, while keeping the brain engaged.


Keeping things fun along with social interactions are putting the brain in the best place for learning to happen. Here are some tricks I use.
1. Skip Count beanie toss: Skip counting is big in second grade.  Beanie babies are huge in my class. gairs of children pick up a beanie and start counting. The children say a new count every time they catch the beanie. They keep going as high as they can until time is up.  This could be done with Math facts, too!

2. Musical Math Facts:  Work in groups of 4 or 5. Put one less fact card on the desk or table. As the music starts, they walk around the table. (Dancing is optional!) Works just like musical chairs, but when the music stops, each child picks up a math fact.  The last person to say the correct answer to his/ her fact becomes the "cheerleader". (I use cheerleader rather than loser, as I insist they say positive things to their classmates, even if they're out. I always remind the boys that, in my class, "cheerleader" doesn't mean wearing a short skirt and shaking pom poms, it means supporting their teammates.)  I like to have several groups going at once, since more kids are practicing more frequently, and it goes more quickly. The teacher can keep an eye on those kids that need more guidance. 

3. Calendar March:  My students need to practice the days of the week and the months of the year until they know them by heart. From their desk position, they all chant the months of the year and march in any direction. (Of course, I remind them to keep their distance from furniture and people.) Then I challenge them to return to their seat by marching to the Days of the Week. 

Of course, feel free to adapt any of these ideas to your own grade level. I use most of these as a warm-up at the beginning of math, or as a break to keep the brain focused.

Of course, these three activities can be adapted for anything that needs to be reinforced. Rather than skip counting, math facts, or days of the week, try the same activities for some other subjects. Here are some ideas:

  • Spelling: practicing their spelling words, or "igh" family words
  • Reading: Name all the characters in today's story, or tell the main events in sequential order.
  • Social Studies: Name the 7 continents, or name as many states as you can

The possibilities are endless. And this is only the beginning of brain-based learning in the classroom!


Three Quick Math Brain Activities: Here are three quick ideas for getting children to think about math, while keeping the brain engaged.

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