Hedgehog Facts, Comprehension, and Salt Dough Art

I've been M.I.A. for about a year now!  I'm going to make a concerted effort to start posting regularly again!

We are at the end of our trimester and are a bit off of our regular schedule, so we dragged our basal story out for two weeks allowing us to do a bit extra.

We've been reading Hedgehog Bakes a Cake by Maryann Macdonald.  Yesterday we made little hedgehogs out of salt dough.  I took them home and baked them last night and today we painted them.  I got the idea and instructions here.  I used more of a skin tone color for the face, dark brown for the body, and gold for the tips of the spines.  Instead of using black pepper peas for the eyes and nose, we made them out of little dough balls and painted them black.  Here are some pictures:

Overall, I think they came out pretty cute.  A few looked more like hippos or other animals, but the kids had fun making them!

In addition to making the salt dough hedgehogs, we read about hedgehogs and worked on some non-fiction reading and comprehension strategies.  Click here for a copy of the reading passage and comprehension questions I created.

MLK Wall Mural and Book Talks

For MLK Jr. Day this year, I teamed up with another teacher and we created this amazing wall mural of MLK!  The template came from Art Projects for Kids and was $5. - totally worth it.  Each student in the two classes used oil pastels to color one 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper.  Then we put it all together and created a huge wall mural. 

I can't take too much credit for the idea, because my co-worker, the amazing and talented Mrs. H came up with the idea. I then begged her to let me include my class :-)  Here is the final product!

How are you addressing this standard? 

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.2.4 Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences.

I am having my students do book talks.  I have them complete these at home and then present them at school.  So far, they have NOT gone well - uggghhh! 

I tried giving them a form to fill out that included title, author, genre, etc.  Then I had a beginning, middle, and end area to help them with their summaries.  What I ended up getting back was, "In the beginning he went to the store, in the middle their was a dog, and at the end he found what he was looking for..." 

So basically, they totally missed the point! It was torturous to listen to the presentations and the kids were completely restless and uninterested!

Luckily, I was browsing through Pinterest, and came across an interesting idea!  I had to modify it big time because it was for the upper grades, but I think the kiddos will have more fun.  Basically, I sent home brown paper bags, a paper (copied on construction paper) that they will complete, cut out and put in the bag, and use as index cards when they present.  On the front of the paper bag, they will illustrate an original picture that captures the main idea of the story. Then they will have the cards and the bag to help them present.

In addition, I have been modeling and showing them video clips of other students giving book talks to help them get a better idea of what kind of summary I am looking for.

I also posted video examples of students giving book talks on my classroom blog for parents to view.  You can check it out at mrszunigas2ndgrade.blogspot.com.  There is a link at the top of this blog to my classroom site as well!

I am hoping that this will drastically improve the quality of talks and interest in presenting and listening to presentations!  I'll let you know how it goes.  I should mention that I work in a Title I school, so at-home projects can be difficult for some students!

Integrating Music and Dance into the Classrooom

Do you remember educational songs from when you were a child?  I remember the Conjunction Junction song and the Counting to 12 song (that had the pinballs) from Saturday morning cartoons... any of these sound familiar?

My 5 year old recently taught me the continent song she learned at school!  I could name the continents before, but really had to think about them.  Now I can't get the song out of my head!  The continent song is from a Dr. Jean C.D.  She has some great educational songs and videos for PreK-1st grade! 

Here is a You Tube video of Dr. Jean doing the Macarena Count to 100:

I love the idea of integrating more music and dance into the classroom.  Research shows that integrating movement (mucle-memory,) music, art, etc. is how students learn best! 

I've used Wrap-ups with my students and the songs that go with them.  Some kids love it and others are easily frustrated with the pace of the song and completing the Wrap-ups.

How do you integrate music and/or dance into the classroom?  I would love hear your ideas!!!

Teaching with the Brain in Mind

I just finished reading Teaching with the Brain in Mind, by Eric Jensen.  Great read!  I love learning about how our brains work and how to best help our students learn! 

 I found the time table guidelines for direct instruction very interesting. 

Grades K-2 (5-8 mins.)
Grades 3-5 (8-12 mins.)
Grades 6-8 (12-15 mins.)
Grades 9-12 (12-15 mins.)
Adults (15-18 mins.)  - Probably less for me (ha, ha!)

I've been a resource room teacher for the past 7 years.  The last few years we've been limited to specific direct instruction programs - the kids hate it (and honestly, so do I!)  These programs are research-based, but seem to completely contradict brain research.  Why are we asking our neediest students to sit still for 30 minutes blocks and listen to a teacher go through a scripted program?  No movement, no muscle memory, no music, no arts, little time to practice and certainly no variety in how to practice (paper and pencil only!) Ok, maybe a few short games here and there (but not very fun ones!)

I try to integrate variety where I can, but with budget cuts I have no assistants (to help with prep, etc. they are one-on-one with students in the classroom,) two schools, back-to-back groups, no prep time, and a new IEP program that doesn't work!  Very little time to spend on the most important part of my job - teaching!!!

Sometimes it feels like we are moving backward in time!  I feel like special education has been hit the hardest, but I'm interested to know... Do you feel like budget cuts and/or district mandated curriculum impact your ability to teach with best practice?  How do you work around these limitations?

Summer Reading

So, I should not be let loose in the bookstore!  I went to Barnes and Noble to get my stepson a book, and came out $65 later!!!  I won't mention the trashy novel I bought (shhh, it's a popular trilogy out now!)  We all need a little brain break, right?  Well, I can never pass up the education section.  So today I bought Positive Discipline, by Nelson, Lott and Glen.  I've seen lots about it on pintrest and other education blogs, and can't wait to read it.  I also got Teaching with the Brain in Mind, by Eric Jensen.  The question now is which to read first? Hmmm, decisions, decisions...  Has anyone read either of these books?  Any suggestions on what to read first?  Thanks!

Visual Phonics

I attended the Incredibly Fun Visual Phonics seminar yesterday.  It was wonderful!!!  So many terrific ways to incorporate visual and kinesthetic methods into your teaching - and easy to do! 

Visual Phonics is perfect for K-2, special education and Title I programs.

I wish I could have taken advantage of the $10 off products when purchased at the seminar, but sometimes finances don't coincide with great opportunities!  I will be purchasing the Bonus Book and the Systematic Sight Vocabulary soon (and maybe a few more!)  Check out their website for products Visual Phonics.

If you ever have the opportunity to take the seminar, take it!!!

Have you read Daily 5 and The Cafe Book yet?

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these books!  I read the Daily 5 one day and The CAFE Book the next day.  I'm so excited to implement these ideas into my classroom next year!  If you haven't read them, they are a must!!!