Building Focusing Skills

It is so common place today for a parent to tell me that he/she believes little Johnny or little Suzy has ADD/ADHD. The child has never been diagnosed and most of the time the parent does not want the child to be medicated, so they don’t really push for a diagnosis, but they share this information with me because they see that their child has a hard time focusing and would rather play than sit still.

While I do believe there are children that are appropriately diagnosed as having ADD/ADHD, I agree that way too many children these days are over diagnosed. Having ADD/ADHD has lost the stigmatism that it used to have because so many children have been diagnosed with it. It is now common place and therefore less scary for a parent to think their child has ADD/ADHD. Again, I am saying, there are children with an appropriate diagnosis of ADD/ADHD, but most of these children are… children.

Focus skills are not just something a child is able to do by the time they are 5 years old and start school. Focus skills are learned from birth, just like everything else. There are some children that while growing up learn behaviors through seeing them done by others. If a child sees others able to focus on a task for a period of time, they mimic this ability in their play and develop their own focus skills. There are others that do not see appropriate models that are able to focus on tasks for an amount of time and therefore they learn and practice the behaviors that they see. There are other children that don’t learn through observation at all and will never learn focus skills unless they are specifically taught. All children need focus skills specifically taught to them.

Children have short focus skills when they are young because they have short memories. As their brains develop, they can be expected to focus for longer and longer amounts of time, but just as I shared in my last blog, it is important for us to know the big picture but to celebrate small accomplishments along the way.

If your child is young like my 15 month old son, I work to build his focus abilities by looking him in the eyes when I talk to him. When he sits and reads books, I compliment him. I clap for him when we play a game of ball. I celebrate the times he focuses on one task.

It’s not too late to build a student’s focusing skills at any age, even your own. For school age students, you can talk to them about what it means to focus. What does it look like? How does it make your body feel? What things should you be doing? Make a list with students and practice each piece of what it means to focus individually and all together. Remind students prior to a focusing time, especially if it is a particularly difficult time, what you discussed and practice again. In the classroom setting, walk around and praise different students for how well they are focusing and what specifically they are doing correct. Go to those students that have the most difficulty focusing first, as an early compliment might encourage them to focus a little longer than they usually do. Compliment students quietly if you don’t want to interrupt the class. Make an announcement to the class about a particular child’s well focused behavior if you see several others that are struggling and you know that won’t embarrass the child.

Your end goal expectations for each child should be the same, but your daily expectations for each student should be different. Again, one child might be able to focus for 30 minutes no problems, while another student might struggle with 5. If the student that struggles with 5 minutes is able to last 6 minutes. Take the time to make note of that with the student. Specifically praise them for their accomplishment and encourage them to keep working. They are getting better each time. “Suzy, I noticed that you have been working for 6 minutes without any distractions today. I am so proud of you. You have been working hard to learn to focus. I bet tomorrow you can focus for 7 minutes!”

It’s important to note that students often have setbacks. They might have a bad day. These setbacks can affect them in different ways. Sometimes students are able to start fresh the next day and focus for 6 minutes, while other students allow these setbacks to affect their confidence. If this is the case, it’s ok to take a few steps back to build that confidence level again. If they’re able to focus for 3 minutes today, praise them for continuing to try. When you build their confidence level back up they will quickly surpass what they were doing before.

Even children that have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD will benefit from this technique. Just because they are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, doesn’t mean they can’t pay attention. It just means, they need to be taught some specific strategies that can help them redirect their focus to what they need to do. No disability should be used an excuse.

Teacher Jen

Using Praise to develop Confidence and Academic Motivation

Everyone knows that teachers need to have high expectations and that is true, but sometimes we teachers look at the big picture and we want our students to do so to. For young students and even older ones this is a skill that takes a long time to develop. What seems so natural for use is almost impossible for our students. They are not able to take such broad goals and break them down into step by step processes to help them reach their goals. This is what we need to do for them.

We need to share these great goals with our students, and while those goals are important for them to know about, they should not be what the student focuses on. Instead, we need to break down the goals for them into step by step processes or smaller goals that we can celebrate along the way. For younger students, we should do this for them in a way that will model what they will learn to do later. As students mature, include them in the process of making their own goals and designing their own paths to reach their goals for themselves.

Reaching goals frequently and celebrating these successful through genuine affirmation can quickly build a child’s self confidence in different areas they may not be able to see what they are able to do and take pride in that.

Being celebrated is fun. It makes you feel good on the inside to know you are good at something. That in itself is a big motivator for students. So creating small reachable goals that students can reach motivates children to learn quickly the skill or information they are working on compared to working toward the end goal which may take all year to learn. While students are making progress, they often get frustrated and give up because the end goal seems so untouchable. An example of this will be for students to be able to read all 220 dolch words. For a kindergartener just learning to read, the teacher may make her goal to be able to read 2 words by the end of the week. If the student is able to reach that goal, make a big deal out of it! “I am so proud of you!” is a very powerful sentence to share with students, but don’t stop there. Be specific about what you are proud of, “I am so proud of you. You read 2 words this week. You are learning to read fast. Do you think you can learn 2 more words next week?” Ask the student to buy into the next small goal based on how quickly they are learning them. It might be appropriate to ask another kindergartener to buy into a goal of learning 5 words in a week. It all goes back to differentiation.

I hope you see the successes in your students and celebrate them. Encourage them to celebrate one another. They will learn it quickly through your model as praising others can make you feel as good as receiving a compliment from others. Tune into my next blog, as I continue this discussion on praising to improve focus skills.

Teacher Jen

Using External Rewards

There’s always some controversy of whether to give kids external rewards for good behavior or learning something new. I have given stickers and candy (occasionally) as rewards, but the most powerful reward you can give a child is the feeling of worth in your eyes. Even those really tough kids that would never admit it need this, even more so than other students. For them, they may have never received this from others around them or it was conditional and they were burned too many times to let down their guard and let you in. Keep trying, stay genuine, and while you may not preserver immediately you may just break down the wall enough for them to let someone in later. For these tough cases, many times I will attach an external reward that is something they enjoy with the praise. They need it to connect the good feels of the external reward with the words.

Candy is really my least favorite external reward. Candy tastes good and kids already like it, but connecting it to powerful words of praise make one feel that much better about themselves when they eat it. With the obesity problem in this country, I don’t feel that is the message we need to send to young children. I would encourage you not to you candy at all, but it can be used in a responsible manner. In my classroom, I used candy for as manipulatives during a lesson and then allowed students to eat a small number after the lesson was completed if they were well behaved during the lesson. During the holidays, we might play an academic game and at the end the winner received candy, but only one piece to show that candy can be enjoyed in moderation. For example, on Halloween, a winner might get one candy corn and for Valentine’s Day, a winner might get one candy heart, etc. I never gave my students a whole bag of candy as a reward in my class.

There are so many better options of external rewards students can be given that produce as much emotion as candy does, you just have to know what will work for each student. As with anything in teaching, it’s trial and error. Below is a list of fun, free, or cheap suggestions.

1.       A coloring page from a coloring book

2.       A bookmark – Check out the FREE Color-me bookmarks in my TpT Store! CLICK HERE!

3.       Stickers – I had children collect small stickers on a sticker chart. When they filled their chart, they earned a prize from the treasure box.

4.       Treasure box prizes – small toys, pencils, erasers, etc. Have parents donate old fast food meal toys.

5.       Lunch with the teacher

6.       5 minutes extra of recess time

7.       A call home to a parent – You can even call and have the child read to the parent over the phone or do a few math facts to them if they have time. I would suggest talking with the parent prior to making this a reward to make sure they can be available if they are working.

8.       Monopoly type money or Class bucks collected by students in order to purchase a reward of their choosing at a later date.

9.       A special classroom job (Line Leader, Electrician (turns the lights off), Teacher Assistant, etc)

10.   Game time – allow student to pick a friend to play a board game with.

There are so many more, but again these are external rewards and while they have their place, you want to wean students away from the need of such awards to more internal rewards. To do that, make sure you connect the transfer of one of these external awards with genuine verbal approval that specifically denotes what the child improved on or did well.

In my next blog, I will talk about the how to use praise to develop confidence and academic enjoyment.

Teacher Jen

No Recess? Are you Serious?

I would think by now everyone knows how important recess is for elementary age children, but I'm daily shocked to hear from parents how the school in my county and teachers in other schools all around our state refuse this sacred time for children. I'm sure it's not even just an issue with teachers in my state, because I know if it is happening here, it is happening all around our country! Why? Seriously... Why?

I could site hundreds of studies that prove significant learning benefits for children that are allowed to participate in recess. I could share how it builds social skills and play is really the most important job for a student. It's hands-on learning about life. That's been done before and I do want to encourage you to look into the wonderful and insightful research that is out there. It might inspire you, if you are one of the too many teachers that don't let their students play.

Instead, I'm going to look at why these students might not be experiencing recess. I'm going to share some of my own strategies and ideas that I hope will encourage you if you are experiencing any of the listed problems.

Bad behavior during recess - I've mentioned before that I taught 7 years in a kindergarten classroom and my opinion is that I don't care what grade level you teach, that first week of school you should be sharing, practicing, and reviewing your expectations to your students as though they were hearing them for the first time as a kindergartener. You might think, "I teach 5th grade. My students have heard these rules for the past 6 years and they still can't follow them." For a student, every year is different, every teacher's expectations are different, every classroom is different, even if you do have "School-wide" rules. Rules are learned. They are not picked up by most. They are definitely not, "picked up" by those students that struggle with "picking up" the rules every year. So, don't just go over the rules verbally. Don't just have the students repeat the rules back to you. Don't just make the kids sign a "Constitution" the rules are listed on that they are in agreement that they are going to follow the rules. Help them understand the rules. Just like when you're teaching a student a new skill you show them the skill, you explain the skill, and you have them practice the skill. You have to do the same thing for rules. Talk to them about the rules. Show them why the rules are important and practice the rules. Every year, on the first day of school, I would take my kindergarten class out to the playground. We walked around all the equipment as I explained how I expected them to behave. For each rule I made, I would have every student demonstrate following that rule. We would also talk about why that rule was important and I would have students role play not following the rule and demonstrate what bad thing could happen. (Obviously, I didn't let my kids do anything that would hurt them.) Then, I had every student demonstrate following the rule again. After that, I would allow my students to play in one particular area (we had 3 in the play yard) for 1 minute. Then, I would gather my students back together and we would discuss how they did. Again, I let them play for a longer period of time if they did well maybe 5 minutes. We repeated this process over the course of the week until I felt the students could play for 30 minutes without problems. Then, I introduced another play area. This might seem like a lot of work, but I rarely had any issues with my students on the playground. They knew exactly what I expected of them. Anytime an issue arose, I took care of it in the same way. My students had fun playing, no one got hurt, I wasn't stressed out, and we all came back inside healthier and happier.

Bad behavior in the classroom / lose recess - For the most part, bad behavior in the classroom can be eliminated the same way I expressed above. Discuss your expectations, demonstrate what you expect, and have students practice it. Yes, this technique takes a lot of time away from actual instruction time in reading, math, and other subjects at the beginning of the school year, but you make up so much more time by not having to put out bad behavior fires constantly by taking these steps from the beginning. I won't say that I never had  a student that didn't act up and lose his/her recess time, but I hate it when kids just stay in and do nothing or sit and watch the other students play. My students still felt the consequences of their actions, but they still experienced a part of recess. (The exercise part) I made students walk around a small area of the playground. They were not allowed to talk or play, but they were moving and getting their blood flowing, which still activates some of those beneficial qualities of recess. Usually, I made them walk for 5 minutes and then allowed them to play. There were the occasions when a student was to walk the entire recess time. Those students that usually lose their recess are the ones that need it the most. Get them walking if nothing else.

No area to play - This could be a legitimate reason, not to have a recess time, but even if this is the case, be creative. Children need a change in scenery. I mean even I have to get up, move away from my computer and get out of my room for a break. I know 5 - 10 year olds do too! Go on a treasure hunt around the school building. Make sure the students know the behaviors you expect of them just like if you were walking them around the equipment. Turn your classroom into a gym. Move the desks if you need to. I'm sure the students will be happy to help you with that chore. Remember, that socialization is part of learning, so even though they are inside, let them talk and be silly. Just make sure they know what noise level is appropriate and what might distract another classroom. The one thing I would never suggest a teacher replace recess with is a tv. There's no expercise nor socialization with the tv on! Those are the 2 main reasons you want to provide your students with recess, so there's no point. Sure use it as a reward, but it should not replace recess.

Rainy day / Bad weather - Again, be creative. There are many classroom games that serve the same purpose as outside games, but are more appropriate for inside. The below link looked like a good list. I know I've played a few with my students and I'm sure there's more to find a Google away.

Rainy Day Recess Classroom Games

Don't have time to teach everything, must use recess time - I have heard this argument time and time again, not to mention felt it too. I know how many standards there are to teach. I know the classroom size is too large and the help is too little. But as I said earlier, in the long run, with happier, more relaxed children that know your expectations, you are going to have more time to teach because students learn more when you give them a break and allow information to sink in.

Lazy teacher - There's not much I can do if the main problem is a lazy teacher. Unless an administrator is reading my blog and if you are experiencing this problem, I would make recess mandatory. If they don't know how to do recess appropriately, teach them. In my opinion if they're too lazy to take their kids out for a needed break, they're too lazy to teach their students appropriately. If this is you, I ask you to take a good look at yourself. Are you doing what is best for your students or for you? Are you putting in the hours before retirement? It's not fair to kids who could be learning, being productive, and being inspired by someone else for you to steal that away from them.


I'm sure there are more problems that teachers experience that make them feel like they are unable to allow their students the time they need to play and if you are experiencing an issue I would love to hear from you. The Teacher Talk Blog is not just for me to share my ideas. This is not a one-sided blog. This should be an area where all teachers can come together and freely share ideas, strategies, and experiences that will make us all better teachers. Collaborate with me!

Building Relationships

It's the beginning of the school year, filled with a lot of excitement, expectations, and often anxiety. Whether you're a kindergarten or high school teacher the most important part about these first few days of school is the relationships you build with your students. This relationship sets the tone for the rest of the school year. I'm not encouraging you to build a "friendship" when I say relationship, nor am I in agreement to setting the tone of a dictatorship. Rather, I encourage teachers to find a way to make students feel as though they care, genuinely want to get to know them, and this classroom and these people are safe.

Why is this important? Have you ever been in a new environment? How did you feel? What made you feel better about being there? Most likely those same things are going to help your students feel better about being there. I wanted to share a few suggestions I have incorporated into my teaching over the past few years.

1. Meet your students at the door, look into their eyes and greet them with genuine expression that you are glad they are there that day. Not only on the first day of school, but every day.

2. Smile all day long. I know this sounds silly and I really didn't realize the importance of smiling until one of my students taught me my first year. I had just started the class on an assignment and was walking around the room making sure everyone was on task and seeing if anyone needed help when PJ popped up and  announced to the class, "I'm so glad we have Mrs. Schneider. She smiles a lot." How can you get onto a kid for saying something like that?  From that day on, in the middle of my worst days, I would remember what PJ said and while I often felt like giving up or sending them all to Time Out, instead I would smile. I don't know what magical powers a smile has, but don't underestimate it! Your day will get better.

3. Play games. Playing games not only provides you with opportunities to teach teamwork and good sportsmanship, but it's fun, motivating, and helps students learn. Read my previous blogs on Playing Games in the Classroom Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 for more ideas.

4. Listen and Remember. I know this is especially hard with high school teachers as they may have 100 + students every day, but try. If a student is willing to share there feelings with you, there is a reason. No, you're not there to be there friend, but if you want your students to listen to you, you need to make time to listen to them. Which leads into my next suggestion.

5. If you want respect from your students, you must first show your students respect. Children come from all different types of households. Sadly, they don't always come from one that has demonstrated what respect is to them or to other family members. Respect is not something that comes to children naturally.They may never know, unless you teach them. Model respect by the way you talk to them, by the way you treat them, by the way you give them privileges, and in every interaction you have with them. Are you going to do this perfectly? No, so model when you make a mistake how to ask for forgiveness.

6. Mistakes happen. Show your students that you make mistakes. Let them know that they will make mistakes and while mistakes often have consequences whether your the teacher or the student, you will work with them to help them improve next time.

7. No Bullying! Up front, make it well known that bullying behavior is not tolerated. Now, that said, "kids will be kids' and they are going to be mean occasionally. Should a first grade student receive in school suspension because she tells another girl, "I'm not going to invite you to my birthday party," because they can't agree on something silly? In my opinion, No! Others may disagree, but I feel consequences should be natural and connected to a students behavior if possible. If this student was in my class and I overheard this, I would pull both students aside. I would have them talk about what the underlying issue is and help be a mediator to guide them to a resolution if possible. Then, I would talk to the student that made this comment. I would have the student explain why this comment was made, how the student thought that made the other child feel, and why the student wanted the child to feel that way. I would say, that because the student tried to make the child feel this way, she was going to miss out on an experience that we were having in the class, so she will remember this feeling next time she thinks about commenting that way. Of course, you have to follow your school policies, but have some common sense. I have seen way too many unreasonable punishments for children. They're children! Punishment does not solve issues. Teach them respect.

8. Do not show favoritism. I know no one will admit to this, but it happens. It happens even if you may not be aware of it. Watch yourself carefully. Are you calling on a particular student often? Are you avoiding a certain student? Are you more forgiving to some students, but not others? Be honest with yourself.

9. Their learning is important. Show them you care what they want to learn and how they want to learn. Work hard to try to teach in a way that makes what is being learned relevant for each student. I didn't way it is easy, but it is possible.

10. Personally, I'm against those "ice breaker" activities. I know how I feel as soon as someone mentions that I'm going to have to do one and I don't know about you, but I don't learn any names or important information about people that way. I have a feeling my students feel the same way. Create real experiences where students can take time to get to know each other through games and activities you set up for a purpose in your class. Start off with just grouping 2 students together when they work. It's easier to get to know just one person at a time.

I hope you got an idea to implement in your classroom that will help you build a strong relationship with your students, which will allow you to teach them more effectively this year. If you have any ideas that are successful in your classroom, please share them in the comments section below.

Happy teaching this year!

Teacher Jen

How to Fix Schools

I am probably just as frustrated with schools as parents, teachers, politicians, and anyone else that sees there is a problem. Note:  I did not say specifically public school or private school, because usually they are set up the same way and there are just as many private schools that don’t work for students as public schools. I know, as I have seen first hand, that school systems are trying to improve the quality of education by improving quality of teacher relationships with students, the quality of materials provided to students, the quality of a teacher’s ability to teach students, as well as other things that I think are important and should be continued. Unfortunately, those things while they will improve the education of some students are NOT going to solve the overall problem with education.

I teach at a virtual school and while it is considered a public school, it is a school of choice for parents. They are not districted to attend the school that I teach at. Whether they have been attending my school for 5 years or this is their first year, I ask every parent during my welcome call, “Why did you choose this school?” I get so upset by the answers I hear from parents. They range from things like:  problems with bullying, the teacher refused to communicate with the parent about issues the child was having in school, the teacher refused to provide services that the child needed as he or she was struggling to read or learn math skills, they weren’t given recess, they never went on field trips, and the list goes on and on. It’s sad! I can’t believe there are schools out there that allow these things to go on! So, YES! I believe the above attempts at quality improvements need to be continued and from my view point at an even more intensive level!

This year, we have new National Standards, Common Core, that are rolling out and have been researched and studied to be presented to students in ways that are developmentally appropriate. From my training of the Common Core, I do think that these standards change the focus from learning how to get answer right to figuring out how to understand concepts. I believe this is another step in the right direction. I especially think that if teachers follow through on the suggestions that are out there for how to teach students math concepts, they will really understand how math works. That said, at the end of one of my trainings, the presenter posted a slide with a quote from Bill McCallum (Math Team Coordinator, Common Core State Standards). “As my colleague Jason Zimba likes to say, you don’t teach standards, you teach mathematics.” I believe they both have it wrong. I have never liked to say, “I teach 2^nd grade.” or “I teach math.” or “I teach the standards.” Those are the paths that I take to teach my students… “I teach MY STUDENTS.” Every teacher should be teaching each student individually in a way that engages and challenges that child to learn new things at what ever level that might be. When I taught kindergarten, I taught a range of kids that varied from pre-school to students that read on 6^th grade levels. The child that read on a 6^th grade level may have been doing math on a 3^rd grade level. I did not teach kindergarten. I taught my students what they needed to learn about reading or math. I used the standards to guide me, but I taught my kids!

I feel, that although we are making small strides of improvement, we are not fixing the problem. The problem, in my opinion, is that students are not learning what they need to learn in kindergarten, but they are still being passed on to first grade. The student may never get what he or she missed in kindergarten, falls further behind, and yet is passed on to second grade. The child my receive support services, and while there are many success stories, there are even more students that fall through the cracks, and are continued to be passed on to the next teacher possibly until he or she fails a high stakes test. At which time, the child may be retained at that grade level. Some of these students learn to “play school” and how to get the answer right, they may continue to be passed up the school ladder, but they are NOT educated. Students that continue to fail the test are also often just passed up the school ladder… “Maybe he or she will learn what he or she needs to know next year.”

THIS IS THE PROBLEM WITH EDUCATION!

I propose we revamp the entire school set up. I would like to see grade levels disappear altogether. If we are going to use standards to guide our instruction and we want students to master these standards, why don’t we set up our schools in such a way that this happens? How? You may ask… That is the million dollar (maybe more expensive question.) But we can figure this out.  In fact, if we do, my guess is that expensive question will turn out to be a cheap and effective answer in the long run.

I see a school building similar to those fashioned today, if not the same, but once you walk inside, things may look a bit different. There would not be a kindergarten wing, first grade wing, or anything of the sort. Instead, I see lists of standards organized from simple to complex. Teachers would be responsible for not just teaching these standards, but for each student’s learning of these standards. Today’s teachers are responsible for a hundred or more standards to teach in one year. These teachers would be expected to teach maybe 10 standards, plus or minus (we’ll have to figure out what is appropriate) to students without a given timeline. The students will determine their own timeline. If a child can master the standards of the class in 10 days, the child is ready to move on to more complex standards. If a child needs more detailed instruction and opportunities to understand the expected standards, he or she may take 2 months. Instruction should be differentiated, engaging, and challenging. Movement among classrooms should be flexible, where students are progressed as they master standards or returned to certain classrooms to review if needed. This is the biggest difference; students are moved because they know what they need to know, not because it is the end of the school year! While teachers are expected to make sure students master the particular standards being taught, they may incorporate other standards into the learning. They don’t have to teach standards in isolation, in fact, I don’t recommend that anyway. There would still be a need for support teachers (Title I and EIP – Early Intervention Program) to provide additional support to students who struggle learning specific skills. There would still be a need for advanced learning teachers to provide opportunities for students to dive deeper into certain standards.

We need to create schools were every decision is made based on what that child knows or what he or she needs to know as individuals. I’m obviously NOT saying I have it all figured out, but I do think our students would benefit from it if we took the time to figure it out. The steps we’re taking to improve education right now are as effective as putting band aids on a gunshot wound. Let’s do something different!

Teacher Jen

Games in the Classroom (Part 4)

To Compete or Not To Compete…

That is a very controversial question!

My answer… it depends. I know, I know! What a cop-out, but it really does. Let me explain myself.

What does it depend on? Well, there are a couple of factors. The first one is the students playing the game. The second one is my purpose for playing the game.

Your student should always be the first thing you think about when planning anything. When I think of my students, I think about what they need to learn or practice and then what game would best suit their personalities to motivate them to learn and keep them engaged in the learning during the game. Some students need the competition to keep their interest in the game as they are learning, while others do not. Some students may feel defeated even if they are behind one person. At that point, the game becomes the focus for them.

The game should NEVER be the focus. It should be the medium that stimulates the learning.

I think about the interests of the students and try to incorporate their interests into the game. For example, if I have a student that is interested in rockets, I might use a game board in the shape of a rocket or maybe I just use a generic game board and provide that student with a rocket sticker as his game piece to move around the board.

I think about how the students learn. Do they easily pick up on new material? If so, I might challenge them with questions beyond their ability to test their understanding and build their knowledge. Does it take many encounters with new material before a student learns something new? If so, I might present the same materials over and over again to this student in several different ways during the game. Does the student get easily overwhelmed by new material? If so, I would present material already taught that the student needs practice with most of the time and occasionally throw in some new material after the student has seen/heard other students’ answers. I would watch this student’s body language carefully and make sure to present the student with problems I know he or she knows the answers to before he or she becomes frustrated by the new or challenging experiences. Likewise, I would also watch the student’s body language that finds learning easy; to make sure he or she is staying challenged and engaged in the learning and the game.

After I think about my student, I think about why we are playing the game. Do I want my students to learn something new? If so, I might not want to incorporate a competitive game as I want my students to take risks, make guesses, and not be penalized for wrong answers. In this situation, I might allow the student to try a hard problem first. If he or she misses, I would help the student figure it out. Then, I would allow the student to work through an easier problem in order to take his or her turn for the game. If I am playing a game with the intent of having my students review material they should know, I might incorporate a competitive game to keep the interest high in the game and motivate students to get the answers right.

Are you a competitive spirit? Are you an “everyone gets a trophy” kind of person? Or are you like me… It depends? Share your insights!

Games in the Classroom Part 3

How Differentiating can be Incorporated into Gaming Time…

If you visited my brick and mortar classroom, you would see every kid working on something at their own level during each subject of the day. I was known as the Differentiating Queen! Everyone thought what I was doing was so difficult, but really it wasn’t. In a later post, I’ll share my differentiating secrets, but today we’re just going to focus on gaming and differentiated instruction. As I mentioned in my previous posts, I don’t do games the way most teachers do. You can learn more about how I play  games by visiting my posts on Part 1 and Part 2 on Games in the Classroom. The games that I typically play with my student are not skill focused. They are game focused. That might sound backwards, but it allows me to pull in any skill I want my students to practice while we are playing the games. There is so much flexibility with doing it this way, if I so choose, I can have 4 students playing a game practicing different skills from 4 different subjects!

A quick review….

Most of the games I play with students are slightly altered traditional games whether they are board games like Sorry, Trouble, or Candy Land or active games like Baseball, Kickball, or Darts. I also play games that I’ve created, but for the most part they are some type of variation similar to traditional games. The slight alteration that I make with these games is that prior to a student's turn, I have the student answer some type of problem or demonstrate some skill they have learned. For the most part, if they get the answer correct, they take their turn. If they are incorrect, they wait for the next round to try again. Not every game works that way, but most can.

Now for the differentiated part…

There are 2 types of groups:

1.  A small group of students that are all working on the same skill (addition facts to 5). If that is the case, I may use a set of flashcards with addition facts to 5 on them to have the students answer during the game.

2. A class or small group that is not working on the same skills or even at the same level. I often find this in my center groups as they are chosen by the student. If that is the case, I could choose to pull out of my files a baggie of flashcards with addition facts to 5 that John is working on, another set of flashcards with sight words that Marcus is working on, and another set of flashcards with cvc words that both Juan and Sue are working on. I would place the three stacks of flashcards in front of me. When it is John’s turn, I will pull from the addition stack. When it is Marcus’ turn, I will pull from the sight word stack. When it is Juan’s turn I will pull from the cvc word stack, and the same for Sue’s turn. Yes, I have a lot of flashcard sets. I didn’t go out and make them all in one day. I accrued them over time (like we do the stuff in our garage!) After I create them, laminate them, and usually use them, I put them in labeled baggies and file them in file folders marked with their skill. You may not be prepared with all these different stacks of flashcard skills and that’s ok too! Don’t stop reading! I don’t always use flashcards. My favorite thing to use is a small dry erase board. It doesn't matter if I’m working with the whole class, I can differentiate a game to work on a specific skill for each child’s turn with a dry erase board. I like dry erase boards because they can be a bit more interactive as well for the student.

Below are a few examples of how I differentiate for students with a dry erase board playing several different games.

·         If we are working on spelling, I can allow the student to use my dry erase board to spell the words I tell them. For some students, I might give them easy words like dog or pig while other students might get words like truck or even thunder. Students get points for each letter they get correct in the word.

·         While playing 4-Square with 2 students, I have one student complete a multiplication fact on the board by drawing an array. For the second student, I write a word problem that he needs to read and solve. When each student answers correctly, he can insert a game piece into a chosen slot.

·         During the first round of playing kick ball, four students come up to Home plate. The first student is shown a picture of a plant cell and is asked to find and define the word nucleus. The second student is asked to read the word honesty and give an example of a time when she chose to demonstrate that trait. The third student drew a picture to demonstrate what it means to divide 12 by 2. The forth student was shown a list of numbers and asked to find the only prime number in the list.

The most important part of playing games like this with your students is that you have to KNOW your students very well. You need to know what their strengths are, their weaknesses, what motivates them, what discourages them, how to read their body language, and how to best support them to be successful in what ever the are learning.

·         You need to have accurate assessment data that you understand in order to have a clear picture of what your students’ academic strengths and weaknesses are.

·         Observe them as they play, when they talk to their friends, and have conversations with them to find out what motivates them and what discourages them. Watch their body language as they interact with other students in various situations.

·         Research, study, observe and reflect on the cognitive phases that students go through as they learn subject matter, so you can understand how to move them through those phases successfully.

Why do all this for a game? First, you can’t differentiate effectively unless you know what your students need to learn. Second, during a game where you are having students practice skills that are new to them, if they are struggling they may become discouraged. You need to know what motivates them, because games are meant to be fun, even when the purpose is educational – especially when the purpose is educational. If you know your students’ body language, you can determine if they are having fun, getting discouraged, feeling that the questions you are providing are too hard or easy, etc. The games that I’ve shared with you are so flexible that within the game, if a student is struggling, throw in some questions you know he or she will be able to answer to boost his or her confidence. If a student is getting bored because the questions you are providing are too easy, raise the level of difficulty and say, “This one might be hard…” When they get it, make a big deal to congratulate them and keep increasing the level of difficulty until you hit the level your student needs to work on. If students are getting bored with the game in general, you might change your voice and tell them they have… “Mooooved on to the BOOOONNUUUUUSSS ROUND!” Last, you have to know what baby steps students need to take in order to move them from point A to point B. Continue to learn how students learn through research, study, and observation! Observation is meaningless without reflection. Reflection is the putting together of the puzzle pieces so that something can be better understood.

You might think after 3 posts, I should be done talking about games, but I’m not. J My next blog post topic is a continuation of Games in the Classroom – To Compete or Not To Compete… Please be a commenter. I want to hear from you. You all have wonderful ideas to share with others. Don’t think that we’ve already heard them before, because somebody hasn’t!! I look forward to collaborating with you!

Teacher Jen

Games in the Classroom Part 2

How to create games simply...

In the past, I thought games had to be difficult and time consuming to make or expensive to buy premade. I remember making Bingo games for my students to practice sight words. I had to write in all those boxes the different sight words I wanted my students to practice and in different spaces on each game board for each student. With 24 students – THAT’S A LOT OF PREP WORK! Even for a small group of 8 or 4 students, that’s still too much work for me! I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a lot of money to spend on premade games especially when they are specific to a particular skill for students to practice. I teach numerous standards. If I had to buy a different game for each standard, I would be broke! Over the years, I have learned how to simplify my gaming experiences without affecting the fun level for my students. Wait… I take that back, I believe it may be more fun for them, because even the same game can be different every time we play it! There are several ways that I created games and I’m going to share this with you so you can enjoy them with your students too.

Traditional Board Games

                Most likely many of you have games like Sorry, Trouble, 4 Square, Candy Land and/or many more. If not, you can find them pretty cheap at yard sales. What I do for any of these types of games is just add one step in the process. Before a student’s turn, I show the student a flashcard that displays a subject related skill the student is working on. The flashcard might be a sight word, an addition fact, a science or social studies term to be defined, or anything else the student is working on. If the student answers the problem shown correctly, they take their turn. If the student answers incorrectly, they miss their turn for that round.

Created Board Games

                Created Board Games are fun to make when you have the time and you can attach them to themes that your students are studying. I’ve used many materials to do this including file folders, large pieces of construction paper, butcher paper, tag board, dry erase boards or even copy paper. There are many other options you can use that may be more available to you. You can do this as quickly as drawing a circle or S-shape on the material used with a Start and Finish space as well as blank spaces in-between or you can spend time on making the game board “pretty.” If you’d like a pretty game board, but don’t have time to create them, check out my Teacherspayteachers Store as I have many at very reasonable prices. For game pieces for each student, I like to give each student a small sticker that will fit in the square of the game board. That way, when the game is finished, everyone earns a prize as I let them keep their stickers!

Created BINGO Games

                There are a ton of different types of BINGO games out there (Number, Letter, Sight Word, Shape, etc). Wouldn’t it be so much better to have 1 BINGO card that would cover all of these? I think so and that is how I play with my students. I provide my students with blank BINGO cards, if you don’t have one, you can find them online to print out or you can download the “pretty” ones from my TpT store. Yes, this BINGO game is played slightly different from the tradition game, but it is still just as fun! I provide my students with a blank BINGO card and some type of markers (beans, paper scraps, small stickers, or blocks.) Students take turns providing answers for questions of skills they are working on. If a student answers the question correctly, he or she can use a marker to cover any space of choice on the game board. If the student answers incorrectly, he or she misses a turn. The goal of this game is to cover the entire board. I typically continue playing the game until all students have covered their game board as my goal is for my students to get the practice they need in the skills I presented versus “finding a winner.”

Activboard Games

You can also create game boards on an Activboard flipchart. Make sure to lock down the game, then you can use clipart for game pieces for each student. If you’re playing with a large number of students, you can just type each student’s initials on the board and he or she can use that as his or her game piece. You can also find Activboard games at my TpT Store. Activboard games can be used in multiple ways.

1.       As a whole group: Interactively passing the pen to each student as it is his or her turn.

2.       With partners: Students can use the board or just the software at a computer they share.

3.       Individually: Students can play games with self-checking answers.

Other website games

                There are tons of games online that students can play that focus on specific skills. If you can’t find one that practices the skill your students are working on, you can make any game into an educational game even if it wasn’t intended to be that way. Just find a game that would be fun for students to play and then play it in the manner I described playing the traditional board games. For example, the below website is a puzzle students can put together online. For this game, all my students are on the same team working together to put the puzzle together, but in order to accomplish this task, they must first correctly answer a question. If they provide me with the correct answer during their turn, they may move one puzzle piece to the board.

http://www.thekidzpage.com/onlinejigsawpuzzles/kids-jigsaw-puzzles/12-piece-jigsaw/08-28-06-playground.html

Active Games

                As fun as games are, they are even more fun when kids can get up and move around. I like to play “life size” games. Again, you can do this several ways. First, you can play a traditional game like baseball, kick ball, or “Mother May I,” just have students follow the same pattern as previously discussed. Ask the student a question before his or her turn. If he or she answers correctly, they may hit the ball, kick the ball, or move forward 5 steps. If incorrect, that student will miss his or her turn. One of my favorite ways to play in this manner takes almost zero preparation at all! Grab about 20 or so sheets of construction paper from the shelf and lay them on the floor in a game board manner. The students can be their own game pieces as they move around the game board. This is a favorite! PS: If you have a carpet with squares in a circle in your room, you don’t even need the construction paper!

There are so many ways to create fun games for students that will take very little preparation on your part, but are still effective in reviewing, practicing, applying, and learning new skills. Be creative and find several that work for you and your class! I’m going to leave you with a couple of additional tips that can add to the simplicity of creating games in your classroom.

1.       I’ve mentioned flashcards a lot today because that is one way that I present the skill I want my students to demonstrate knowledge of during the game. Of course you can take index cards and write out sight words you want your students to read, addition facts you want them to know, etc, but I find that printing worksheets I find online and using the paper cutter to cut each word or problem out that I need to be much faster. You can laminate these for durability if you choose and stick them in a baggie labeled with the skill and you’re done!

2.       One thing I didn’t mention is a dry erase board. I have small dry erase boards cut into 1 ft X 1 ft squares from Home Depot for each of my students, but I frequently use one during game time to display questions, pictures, or problems my students are to complete before they can move their game piece. With kindergarten I might draw a square at the beginning of the year and they tell me the name of the shape. In first grade, I might ask them to draw me a shape that has 3 sides and 3 angles. The possibilities are endless and using a dry erase board in this fashion really frees you up to differentiate your game time as well. We will talk more about that in my next posting.

Maybe you do some of these things already or have more great ideas that you would like to share. I would love to hear from you and I’m sure my readers would too, so please share in the comments section below! For more information about games, be sure to check out Games in the Classroom Part 1.

Teacher Jen



Games in the Classroom (Part 1)

You’ve probably noticed if you follow my TeacherspayTeachers store that I am a big advocate for Games in classrooms, especially with younger children, but I encourage all teachers even through college to incorporate games into learning time. I think the more fun you have while learning, the easier the information being learned is absorbed and understood. If you do it right, games can be the application of what was learned and therefore the students are learning the skill or concept at a higher level. Usually, they don’t even know they are learning! I’m not saying the teacher should “entertain” students all day. There are times when discussions, direct instruction, differentiated instruction, and other teaching strategies will better meet your students’ needs. What I am saying is that the use of learning through games is just as important as each one of these strategies used at the appropriate moment.

Class discussions are effective when you want students to feed off of the information that others have and build on those ideas with their own. It creates a community of students that respect each other’s opinions when used correctly.

Direct instruction sometimes gets a bad rap, but is effectively used when students need specific information given to them or to reinforce discoveries they have made on their own.

Differentiated instruction is the more recent buzz word in a teacher’s vocabulary. It too is an important strategy for teaching when students are on different levels of understandings, which is ALWAYS!

Of course there are many other important strategies like small group instruction, tutoring, collaborative learning, and many more, but I’m not going to define these as my goal is to prove how using games is equal to the use of strategies teachers already use in their classrooms.

Games can be effectively used as a practice of skills, review of skills, the application of a skill or even during the learning process. Games can also be played in whole groups, small groups or even in solitaire. They can easily be differentiated for students learning at different levels, working on different skills, or even different subject areas! They are very versatile and fun, which is why I love them!

Using games to practice skills/concepts is a fun way to help students master skills/concepts they are working on. After you’ve taught a new skill, choose a game that will allow students to practice the skill in order to move toward winning the game. An example of this would be to use a blank Bingo board game in a math center after students have learned addition facts. Show the students an addition fact, have them use manipulatives to figure out the problems if needed, and then cover one of their squares if they figure out the answer. In this game, students win when they fill up their entire board.

Using a game to review is similar to those used to practice skills/concepts. When students play the game, they have already learned the skill/concept and the game is used to help refresh these ideas and solidify their understandings. An example of this would be to use a standard board game, like Trouble. Show the students a sight word they are reviewing. If they read their word correctly, have them move their game piece the correct number of spaces according to their POP!

Games can be used to a have students apply what they know about a skill/concept in order to move toward winning.  An example of this would be when students are learning place value. When working with a small group, have students roll 2 dice or more depending on the number of digits in a number your students are working on. When it is the student's turn, tell the student where to put each die on a place value chart. You might tell the student to put the 4 in the hundreds place, the 3 in the tens place, and the 1 in the ones place. Have the student read the number as a whole. If the student completes the task correctly, he or she can write the number down on a smaller place value chart. At the end of the game, have students find the number on their list with the greatest value. That student is the winner!

Games can be used during the learning process to teach students a skill through trial and error. In this situation, you don’t want students to be punished for making a guess or mistake as that is how they are learning, but you do want students to be made aware of their error and to challenge them to remember what they learned for next time. An example of this would be a game I use to teach self-correcting reading skills called Beat the Tiger from teaching Cupp Readers created by Cindy Cupp. In this game, the tiger wants the student to win, but if a error is made and is not self-corrected by the time the student moves on to the next sentence, the Tiger gets a point. If the student doesn’t make an error or if the error is corrected before moving on, the student gets the point. A discussion about the results, goals to improve, and/or celebrations for good work are all essential for a learning game to continue to be fun!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t share all the information I have about Games in the Classroom with you in one Blog post. As you can see this one is quite lengthy. I have 2 more posts coming out later on this subject. Follow my Blog, Twitter, or Facebook to be updated on the latest Blog posts. If you don’t already, I also encourage you to follow my TpT Store as I have several game products there and will be coming out with more soon!

 I hope you make it your goal to try to incorporate games into your learning sessions with students this year. If you do, you will fall in love with them as I have! Share your wonderful gaming experiences in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you!

Traveling

Well for the past 4 days, my little family has loaded up the car and traveled around the south east coast. We stopped in Columbia, South Carolina; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Today, we are heading to Florence, South Carolina. Then, we’re off again to Savannah, Georgia; Titusville, Florida; and Ormond Beach, Florida. Summers can do that to you. Everyone thinks the purpose of summer is to relax and rejuvenate for the following school year, but often we find ourselves even busier! All of this traveling has put me in the mood to offer another FREEBIE!  The title of this Game-tivity is Travel Games! Teachers, I think this would be a great use of your students’ time on the bus heading to a field trip and homeschoolers can use this on those fun road trips as well!

I also want to let you know that I have a special 20% off SALE going on until July 14^th when you buy my American Flag Number Book. This is not your typical number book. It is designed to be an interactive book that stimulates discussion with your students about numbers and helps to build number sense and problem solving skills. Let me know how you like it. Please post a comment below and rate me on my TpT Store!

I hope you and your students enjoy these great opportunities! Let me know what you think! Please post below your own great ideas that you do while on the road! Let's make traveling and Travel-rific time!

Happy 4th of July Week!

My family has been celebrating the 4^th of July for just about the entire week. Last Sunday at church, we sang good old fashioned gospel music and patriotic anthems. We went to the little airport in Montezuma on Wednesday to watch an hour's worth of fireworks and enjoyed the 28^th annual BBQ at our neighbor's house today. All of these fun events have inspired me to create a few new items, which I’ve just recently added to my TpT store. The first, Watermelon Numbers, I have posted as a FREEBIE for today ONLY! I hope you don’t miss out on this great opportunity. Watermelon Numbers is perfect to use with younger students who are learning number sense, one-to-one correspondence, and basic number comparisons, combinations, and deconstructions. Check it out!

The second is a book that I am really proud of! The title is American Flag Number Book, but it is NOT your typical counting book! This book challenges students to look at objects and see numbers, building their understanding of what a number is and encourages students to problem solve. I have had fun creating these materials for you, I hope you and your students enjoy them too!

I hope you also had a wonderful 4th of July! If you did something special, I would love to hear about it, just leave me a comment below! Also, let me know what you think about the products above! I hope you enjoy them both!

Teacher Jen

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

Grab a cup of joe and let's chat!
This isn’t my first time as a blogger, but it’s been a while. Life got a little crazy in a good way. I had my first child, moved and changed jobs all at the same time. Parts of that were sad, but I knew that God was directing my path and I have never had a more wonderful experience, bumps in the road included. I’m excited about getting back into blogging as well as sharing my resources with teachers through my Teacherspayteachers (TpT) store. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my teaching career, it is that collaborating and sharing build a community of effective teachers.

That’s why I’m excited to share today a FREEBIE! Since we are in the midst of summer, I thought this would be great for all the teachers with children and homeschooling parents! I believe that learning doesn’t stop when school ends. In fact, summer is just the time to bring all that “education” to life in the real world! I don’t know about where you are, but here in Georgia we have been experiencing 100° + temperatures! My family has been visiting the pool quite frequently as I bet many of you have been too! Therefore, what better place to learn, than the POOL! Check out POOL GAMES and ENJOY!

I'd love to hear what learning experience your share with your children during the summer. Please take a moment to post in the comments below! Let's learn from each other!

Teacher Jen