Literacy Archives - Page 6 of 6 - Whimsy Workshop Teaching

Time Tested Early Literacy Strategies

July 1, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

Does your early literacy time sound like this:

Teacher, how to you spell….?
“What does this word say?

When early readers hear the answer “Just sound it out”, do they really know what you are talking about?

Do they know what that means?

How can we support them further with the risk-taking involved in early reading strategies?

So many students feel anxiety when left on their own to read, and as we know, this anxiety greatly impedes their ability to process information and focus.

Over the last [Read More…]

Ted Harrison Art and More!

June 19, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching 10 Comments

If you’ve read many of my posts, you’ll know by now that we integrate almost all of our content area in class. Rarely do we let an opportunity go by for writing, and using out own art is so motivating!

But, we do keep it simple.

For example, we studied the art of Ted Harrison, who painted in the north of Canada. His colorful but simple images are perfect for elementary students.

We googled his artwork and simply talked about what we [Read More…]

Working With Blends

May 28, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

We’ve been working on letter blends in our classroom, and I got a new set of Letter Buddies Blends books from Hameray Publishing to use with the class.
Here’s what we did this week:

The first thing we did was take some time to look through the books together. The students quickly noticed that each book had words with the same beginning blends. The clear pictures and simple text made even my lower readers feel confident.

Next, I passed out one book to [Read More…]

STEM Exploration Outside the Classroom

April 13, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching 5 Comments

We’ve decided to embrace the idea of STEM in our classroom.
We’ve also explored STEM outside of the classroom! This is where creativity flourishes and students feel the freedom to be themselves and let their natural curiosity lead them.

Since almost everything we’ve done this year has fallen under the category of “integrated learning”, I’m not surprised that my students have completely embraced STEM projects.
Projects that integrate science, math, engineering, art and more? Sounds fantastic, especially when we bring it outside where [Read More…]

Integrated Learning In Primary

January 5, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

There’s a lot of attention on integrated learning. Many schools are moving away from the traditional “single subject blocks” model to a multi-subject, project-based model.

Here’s a quick video from Edutopia to explain the benefits of this approach.

Click for Introduction Video

Project-based learning is perfect for this kind of approach. Why? Within each project there are multiple problems to solve. Each problem is drawing from knowledge in various subject areas.

Our school adopted Genius Hour as another way to facilitate project-based integrated learning. [Read More…]

Making Assessment Fun

January 3, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching 18 Comments

Assessment can be difficult for both teachers and students, depending on how it’s done.

Here’s a super simple little trick for assessment that I call Hop Across the Pond. It can be used for a lot of different things, but I use it mostly for assessment of students’ sight word knowledge.

I used to ask my students to read through a list of sight words and tick off the ones they knew; I’d use this for reporting and to know which words to [Read More…]

Math Board: Daily Practice

January 2, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

When I taught Kindergarten, we always took time to do our daily math board as part of our Calendar routine. This was a way to practice so many essential math skills every day. We covered how a calendar worked, place value, basic addition and a lot of work with a 100’s board.
When I moved to teach grade 2, I created a Daily Math Board for our class to use for older students.

The idea of a daily routine is the same, [Read More…]

Writing Templates For The New Year (Free)

November 20, 2014 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

The first days back at school after the winter holidays can be hard to plan for. Everyone is thinking about goals for the new year, and this is a great topic for writing and reflection with students. Don’t be afraid to model that kind of goal setting with them!

First, we reflect back on the year that past.
We write the highlights, and think about things we’ve learned or experienced for the first time.

Next, we think ahead to the future with goals [Read More…]

Integrate Writing and Math With Building

September 19, 2013 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

You know how some students, especially in the first weeks of school, just sigh when you give them writing or math jobs because what they really want to do is play with blocks or lego all day?
Here’s how I got those students excited to do some writing and math (while still letting them build and use their imaginations.) It’s all about integration!

All you need is ANY building materials and the recording sheet.

You Can Use:

*blocks
*lego
*cubes
*playdoh
*pipe cleaners,
*pattern blocks
*beads
*colored pasta
*colored paper shapes
*anything!

DIFFERENTIATION

To differentiate, there are several levels. Just [Read More…]