Teacher Tips for Parents: Free Resources

Being a grandparent and a retired teacher I am always looking for resources for my daughter-in-law to help her better understand what to expect her 3rd grader to be learning each year and how to help him at home. I came across some great information that I wanted to share with all of you.

You can find it all in one place at Scholastic for Parents by clicking on the picture below.

You will find a great video for helping your students get organized. I especially like the part about making a Backpack Map to make sure they have everything they need to take home and return to school. This would be great to share with your parents. You can view the video by clicking on the picture below.

You will also find Curriculum guides for children from 1st through 5th grade that help explain the skills students will learn in reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. They are skills that are aligned to the Common Core Standards if your state is one that has adopted them Click on the picture below to check out the one for 2nd grade:

Click HERE for 1st Grade and click HERE for 3rd Grade. Not only will you find these great resources but  great free printables and lots of parent tools. Hope you will check it out and get some great tips and ideas to help you throughout the school year. For teachers it is a great website to recommend to your parents.

Do you know your students' learning styles? Some children are auditory learners, they learn by listening. Others are visual learners, they learn by seeing.  Kinesthetic learners are hands on learners- they learn by doing. Some are a combination of the these. Knowing your students learning styles can be very helpful toward planning lessons and their success in school. It is also important for parents to know as well. You can learn more about the 4 School Success Tips by clicking on the picture below.

Can't wait to share this information with my daughter-in-law.
I would highly recommend your parents subscribing to their free newsletter.

Thanks for all you do to make a difference for your children.

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How do you think most of your students learn best?

The Importance of Outdoor Play: Free Resources

    My grandson just started 3rd grade and I was so surprised when he told me that he only had 10 minutes for recess after lunch. Last year he only had 20 minutes. It seems with all the high stakes testing that children have less time to just play outdoors. Personally I can't sit in my house couped up all day without getting out in the fresh air, even if it's 99 degrees outside. Why do we do that to children? I remember asking my students what their favorite subject was and most of the students said "Recess". Believe it or not  we let children go out and play in Alaska if the temperature was above 10 degrees! Here are a few great reasons why outdoor play is so important:

• Playing outdoors is multi-sensory. Students use all five senses in different ways that they aren't able to do in their classrooms.
• Informal play can help students connect to formal learning. Think about science lessons about the change of seasons or plant. Students can actually see real-life changes in leaves or plants that they learned about in their classrooms.
• Outdoor play can help develop creativity in children. 
• Outdoor play helps reduce stress.  We all know that experts say that exercise helps reduce stress in adults. Letting children run off some steam will help them be more focused when they return to the classroom.
• Outdoor play can promote leadership skills.  Many children may not excel in the classroom but may excel in sports. It will give them a chance to "shine" outdoors where others will look up to them.
• Outdoor play can promote cooperative play. When playing games, children have to work together to achieve a common goal. 
• Outdoor play can promote communication and vocabulary development.  Students need time to communicate and negotiate meaning when they aren't sure about rules or how to do something. They can also expand their vocabulary with exploring the outside world. This is great for ESL students learning to speak English.

You can read the position statement written by the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education by clicking HERE. It is a great read and proof of why children need recess time. You can also read Sarah Taylor's Research finding of here 2011 Study of the Importance of Play in Elementary School by clicking HERE.  Scholastic also has a great article, " Recess Makes Kids Smarter" which you may like to read by clicking HERE.

Here is a great website to give you some fun indoor recess ideas when it's raining or snowing. Just click on the picture below.

Here is another website you may want to check out with fun easy activities for outdoor play. Just click on the picture below.

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Thanks for all you do to make a difference for your students. I hope you have a wonderful and safe Labor Day Weekend.

How much time do your students get for recess?

Hooray for Constitution Day: Great Free Resources, Lessons, and Activities

 Although Constitution Day is only celebrated on September 17th we should celebrate it all week long. It is the most important document for all Americans and students need to understand why it was written and how important it is in protecting our rights and freedoms. I have put together some great websites for you to check out with free resources, lessons and activities.

Scholastic has some wonderful lesson plans and free printables for the intermediate grades which you can access by clicking on the picture below.

I also found 3 more great free lesson plans that teachers of grades 2-4 may want to check out. How about making your own class constitution. What a great way to help your students better understand what our constitution does on a much bigger scale. Just click on the picture below to check out this lesson and more.

The Holiday Zone has put together 15 free activities including Reading Comprehension Texts for Grades 2-6, American Symbol Coloring Pages, and more that you can check out by clicking on the picture below.

My search also took me to a super website called Congress for Kids. You can find free information about the Constitution that students can read. After each reading text there is a set of comprehension questions. If it something you are interested in then click on the picture below.

If you are looking for a variety of free printables and worksheets then you should check out Apples4theteacher by clicking on the picture below.

I have revised and updated my "Hooray for Constitution Day" Unit which includes an original Shared Reading Book, 2 Reading Texts and Comprehension Questions for Grades 2 and 3, Picture/Fact Cards Matching Activities, Writing Informative Text and Opinion Piece Anchor Charts and Writing Graphic Organizers and Writing Prompts for both 2nd and 3rd Grade. ELA Common Core Standards are included for Grades 2 and 3. I have added 2 differentiated reading texts about Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence and a Main Idea and Details activity. You can check it out by clicking on the picture below. I have updated the Preview so you will see sample pages of all the reading texts and many other materials and activities included in this packet.

I hope you find some great resources and activities for all your Constitution Day activities. Thanks for all you do to make a difference for your students.

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What kinds of activities do you do for Constitution Day?

The Importance of Graphic Organizers in the Classroom.

One of the best teaching and writing learning tools that I used with my struggling writers and ESL students were graphic organizers. In an article by Dr. Katherine McKnight she states, " Graphic organizers are teaching and learning tools; when they are integrated into classroom experiences, students are better able to understand new material. Creating a strong visual picture, graphic organizers support students by enabling them to literally see connections and relationships between facts, information, and terms."     


Click on the video to listen to Dr. McKnight. You can read more from Dr. McKnight by clicking HERE

For young writers I liked to use retelling the story with different types of graphic organizers such as the one below: Beginning-Middle -End. Students draw a picture and write a sentence about what happened at the Beginning, Middle and End, of the story.

                             

For students learning to sequence a story I made the graphic organizer below. I put transition words at the left so that students will eventually be able to use this organizer to help them write a paragraph or narrative which is an ELA Common Core Writing Standard.

For young writers learner to write informative texts I designed this 4 Bubble Web. In the middle students will put the Main Idea and then draw and label 4 different details. For example if they read a book about Community Helpers that would be the main idea and a policeman, fire fighter, school crossing guard and teacher might be the 4 details from the book.

These are just 3 of the Writing graphic organizers I have put together in a free packet which you can download by clicking on the picture below. I hope these will help your students improve their writing throughout the school year.

Looking for some more Great Stuff for Teachers? Follow my new Pinterest board by clicking on the picture below. I also have a new one for parents too. 

                                 

Thanks for all you do to make a difference for your students. Hope you will find these useful. I would truly appreciate your feedback.

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What kinds of writing graphic organizers do you use in your classroom?