TeachAde

Lisa

Just sharing again this link to the showcase blog I'm keeping for my students. Bethany in Technology did a great job helping me set it up, and the kids enjoy leaving each other comments. Teacher (and former teacher) comments are welcome too! Thanks~

http://www.clearfield.org/education/components/blog/default.php?sectiondetailid=832

Lisa B.

mmccloskey

Our team organized a variety of activites for our fifth grade students to do during the month of December.
First, we have been reviewing geometric terms with our homeroom classes. Each homeroom, during flex time, completed a variety of paper folding activities using proper mathematical terms. This activity was called "Sandy Square". Each homeroom will also have these books read aloud: Sir Cumference and The First Round Table and Sir Cumference and The Dragon of Pi. Both books are full of geometric terms relating to the circle.
Secondly, each student started making their own Winter banners. This activity requires they measure accurately with both customary and metric measurement. As they measured their guidelines, they added wintery pictures to their banners. One student's comment was, "Thank you for allowing us to do a fun activity like this." (Makes you think about how much stress is on covering materials and getting ready for testing, that we forget the fun part we use to do as well.)
Lastly, on a day that scheduled a dance for 7th and 8th grades only, we organized a round robin day. Each class rotated to the four different teachers on our team to complete a different activity. The activities included snowflakes and similes, a story "Poinsettia Parade", making poinsettias, and Wordo using PSSA terms for both reading and math. The students were given the opportunity to do all of these activities.
Team teachers - Mrs. Aveni, Mrs. Wallace, Mr. Solomon and Mrs. McCloskey

bbillotte

The Physical Education classes recently completed a week on the obstacle course. Students love this and once I get over the safety issues and give a small demonstration, they stay very active. There is something for all levels of phyical ability, so everyone is having fun. It is a student centered activity with very little teacher intervention.
Also, I took pictures of the students on different parts of the course. I then put these to music and showed a video during parent visitation. This gave the parents a chance to see their kids in action and what some of the activities we do in class. I even had parents wish they could try it...do you?

mkanski

As the new school year began, I was thinking about the changes I might want to institute in my language arts classes. How can I improve? I thought about the writing process, and I felt that the process begins to break down when we ask sixth graders to evaluate and revise their content. Peer evaluations were useless because they did not know what to look for and therefore could not make useful suggestions for improvement. I could not find a tool that suited my purpose, so I developed one. The students needed a tool that would be specific to the writing they were doing. The questionaire had questions that could be answered in yes or no terms. For instance: Does the beginning paragraph have a topic sentence that states the main idea? Are there details that support the topic? etc. I developed questions that would follow throughout the essay. Once they had completed an essay, one that I used to assess their skills, I then chose a few essays, and we looked at them on the overhead. Using yes/no cards, each student looked at the essay and made a judgement concerning a certain question. If there was a disagreement, this led to a good discussion. We practiced evaluating the essays together. Using post it notes students could then offer suggestions for impoving the content. Later after writing a rough copy of their first major essay, they began to evaluate with a partner another student's essay. Using the yes/no boxes on the questionaire, the students had a tool to give feedback to their peers. They also used the post it notes to offer suggestions for improvement. If the author agreed with the suggestions, they would make changes. When I began conferencing with the students, I also had this to use as a basis for discussion. The students agreed that it was helpful, and it also helped them see weaknesses in their own writing.

mkanski

December 22, 2006

Today. Mr. McKolosky, one of our Learning Support teachers for sixth grade, taught not only Mrs. Read's social studies class but my class as well. He gave up his plan period to do so. Mark has a friend who recently had the opportunity to visit Greece. He brought back some wonderful photographs. Mark, seeing the opportunity to use these photographs to enhance our study of Greece, brought them to class. His presentation and the lesson he taught was excellent. Mrs. Read and I both agree that he had the students right in his hands. The students used what they had learned in our classes in a discussion about what they could see in the photographs. Mark's questions helped the students apply what they had learned about Ancient Greece to a modern view of of the land. Thanks Mark! Great job!
Mrs. Kanski and Mrs. Read

mread

Christmas time. It's the season of giving, of spending time with family and friends, and of sending wishes of "Peace on Earth". It is the wish of "Peace on Earth" that sixth grade pursued. One of our 6th grade team members found an interesting history behind the song "Let There Be Peace on Earth", a song known and sung by many. She approached the other 6th grade teachers about sharing the song's history with the students and teaching them the song. She found a web site that actually played the song, so we could sing along with it if we so desired. Both Team B and Team R were in agreement that this was an excellent idea.

During the first and second weeks of December, FLEX class teachers shared the history of the song with their students. "Let There Be Peace on Earth" was written in 1955 by Sy Miller and Jill Jackson, a husband and wife songwriting team. Their purpose for writing the song was to share their wish for world peace and what they believed every person could do to create it. Their song was first introduced to a group of 180 teenagers selected from their high schools to attend a weeklong retreat in California. These students purposely came from different cultural, economic, racial and religious backgrounds. The goal of the retreat was to create understanding and friendship through education, discussion groups and by living and working together in a camp situation. One summer night, this multitude of youth gathered atop a mountain, formed a circle by locking arms and sang this song of peace. When the retreat ended, the sentiment of this wish for peace did not remain on top of that mountain. These inspired teenagers shared this song. It didn't stop with their families, friends, churches, etc., but took flight like a dove and spread to many countries, even to the far ends of the earth in darkest Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

Teachers chose a variety of ways to convey the message of peace inspired by this song. Along with sharing the history, some teachers held a discussion about peace and what we can do to help the world be more peaceful. Even though the world seems troubled right now, and there's not much we can do about that, we can carry the words of the song in our hearts and make a difference in our homes, classrooms, and our school. Some classes actually formed a circle, linked arms and sang "Let There Be Peace on Earth" just like the teenagers did in 1955. It was our hope that many students would be inspired by the words and do their best to help their world be more peaceful.