Summer Slide

Summer Slide is the phenomena that occurs when kids are not working very much on academics over the summer vacation. They typically lose at least 2 1/2 months of learning, which means next year's teacher will have to review those concepts before introducing new ones, which means we all begin the year behind. A few suggestions:
1) Start a book club for kids. Invite their friends, cousins-choose a book read it aloud and then have the kids discuss it the way grown-ups in book clubs do. Make it as child-centered as possible. It can even be you and your kid in a tent in the backyard or in beach chairs by an inflatable pool-go with the theme of the story.

2) You don't just have to read books. Recipes, backs of DVD's, comics, magazines-it's all reading. They should still be reading every day.

3) Plant a garden and use it to review science concepts. Measure how tall the flowers got, journal their observations.

4) Speaking of journals, why not make a summer journal. Buy a simple composition book-they can write about their adventures and even save souveniers from trips, etc.

5) Read a chapter book and compare it to the movie. There are so many books that have been made into movies over the past few years, even 2 movies of some. Have the child take part of the story and rework it-give Charlie and the Chocolate Factory a different ending. Change part of the plot and then invent what would happen. What if Despereaux never got out of the dungeon? They can do a puppet show or anything to show their ideas creatively.

Yes, have vacation-the kids do still deserve a break. But to prevent the loss of any academic knowledge, give them opportunties to apply some of the great things they've learned!

Novelty

Since getting a puppy last year, I can compare a lot of dog training techniques to what I do in the classroom. I know that sounds funny-but my trainer actually gets a newsletter entitled "Teaching the Whole Dog" (like the "whole child"!).  My dog is unquestionably GT and one of those kids who looks for things to get themselves into if you don't challenge them enough. She has probably at least 50 toys and bones-but she doesn't want to play with any of those. Now take one and put it inside the other, fill one with treats or just tie 2 of them together and well, it's a whole new toy.

Kids are the same way. They love novelty in the classroom. They will notice if you change the posters or hang something from the ceiling. If you let them read with a stuffed animal and then one day give them sunglasses with the lenses popped out-well, that's a whole new workstation! We have to remember these kids spend 9 months of the year looking at the same scenery, using the same materials. We have to do what we can to shake things up every once in awhile and make learning exciting for them.

Giving Kids Inspiration

Inspiration is a big concept for kids to comprehend. My kids just completed their final class book and wrote about who inspires them. I received responses from moms to Martin Luther King, Jr. to our principal to sharks.  All of them could justify how those people were something they aspire to be.

I stole an idea from my neighbor teacher (she's phenomenal- what I want to be when I grow up). She put pictures of famous architecture out with her block station to inspire the kids with ideas of what they could build. Of course, we encourage them to create something, but this gives them ideas to spark that creativity.

Creativity

We all know it's important for our kids to be creative. I went to a workshop recently that talked about the benefits to brain development when arts are incorporated into a daily curriculum. Musicians' brains actually look different than brains of people who have never played an instrument. Art can be used to cross that divide for ESL students or help the focus of those with ADHD.

I used the book Duke Ellington, which uses rich vocabulary and amazing pictures to illustrate the sounds of music. I asked the kids to use their adjectives to describe different colors, then paint a picture of an instrument and the music spouting from it. Some of them really had to stretch their thinking to come up with words to describe a color, but I think they did an awesome job!

New Uses for Everyday Things

Another activity I like to do for critical thinking can involve something as ordinary as a paper clip. Most students don't enter school being able to really think creatively (many adults actually have difficulty with that sometimes). I want them to think of new uses for the item. We talk about the normal ways we can use it, then brainstorm new ways. Any old object will do; I've used pencils, frying pans and my all-time favorite is the paper clip. It amazes me the way their little minds work. I did this with my class yesterday and the idea that really made me chuckle: one student opened theirs up to make a hanger for ant clothes! :) How cool!

Ant hanger for clothes.

To make a letter "I".

For measuring.

Back scratcher.

Tapping Into Their Interests

So on my favorite teacher forum I discovered the site: http://www.ustream.tv/theowlbox . A man named Carlos in California put a "Barn Box" in his barn and there's a live feed documenting an owl named Molly who had 5 eggs and now has 3 babies.

My kids have been so inspired by her to learn everything they can about owls! I truly believe that your lessons should be flexible enough to go where your little sponges want to go. So we've done many lessons on the life cycle of owls.  Yesterday they made a replica of Molly using a pinecone wrapped in cotton. Then they wrote about what they learned from her.

 

A Poet But You Didn't Know It

I love using poetry in the classroom. I think the succint language a poet uses is just ripe for vocabulary instruction. Every week I post a new poem in a pocket chart; and we read it chorally each morning which also helps with reading skills. The children have to listen carefully because there are no illustrations to fall back on to reference meaning. On Fridays they cut and paste a copy of the text into their poetry journals and then write about their own evaluation of the words. Did they like it? Why or why not? What is it about? Did it make you feel, hear, taste, see, smell something?

Well, since April is National Poetry Month, we tried our hand at writing our own poems. I held my breath and crossed my fingers to see what understanding came out of their chubby little pencils. I was actually very impressed. Some used techniques like using spicy adjectives and sound words, others wrote "Oh, little bee"-just like some of the poems we've read. We did "Shape Poems" where they wrote the words, I typed out their poems and they cut the words out gluing them into the shape of their idea.

We're going to have a little celebration this month where the students can read their poems for their parents and I can't wait to see their expressions as they watch their little poets. Never doubt the osmosis that occurs when you model something for kids-they pick up more than you would expect!