Let students explore! Give the time to play with it and come up with their own codes.
Let students be the teacher! Let the students learn own their own and teach YOU!
Encourage failure! Let students know that this classroom is a safe environment for them to try, fail, and try again!
Coding and robotics is NOT only for science!!!
Coding with Bee Bots:
Math:
Adding & Subtracting: have the students roll two dice, add or subtract, code the bot to go to the sum.
Mapping: code locational coordinaates to navigate a map.
Even & odd numbers: have students roll the die, if they get an even number they code the bot to go up the ladder, if they get an odd number they code the bot to go down the ladder.
Colors & Shapes: code the bot to go to certain colors and/or shapes.
Literacy:
Spelling words: one student draws a card and the other spells the word on the card using the bot to move from letter to letter.
Short stories: prepared drawings on the board and have students tell the key events from the story using the bee bot.
Retell: have students to use the bee bot to retell events from a story
Letters and Sounds: have students to identify letters and sounds useing the bee bot.
Have you walked into a classroom lately? Bright colors everywhere you look, posters filling the spaces on every wall, brightly lit LED lighting, loud noises coming from every direction, and stacks and stack of books, movies, papers, crafting tools, and toys piling high in every corner. It can be quite over stimulating for even a grown adult such as myself. Just imagine this same situation for a child that already has difficulty paying attention for more than ten minutes at a time. What a nightmare!
Now, just to be clear, bright colors and posters on walls is not inherently bad. However, many modern classrooms have become much less sensory friendly in the past decade.
Many people are disinformaed about our senses, as I learned from the presentation, we do not just have five senses! We also have vestibular and proprioceptive senses. Vestiubular senses focus on the position of the body and its movement. For example, feelings of balance and movement. You may not like fast roller coasters or sitting in the back seat of your aunty's minivan while she drives quickly down a curvy road. Propriopceptive senses process information through contraction and stretching of our muscles and by bending, straightening, pulling, or compressing joint between bones. For example, when you're stretching in your hot yoga class or hanging from the pull up bar at the gym, these movements help to refocus your attention.
Solution Ideas:
Provide students with frequent opportunities to move!
Provide a variety of space for individual and group activites
Provide with opporutnity to choose between a variety of activities, both physical and mental.
Natual lighting instead of LED lighting
Flexible seating options
Opportunity for active and unstructured play
Orton- Gillingham
Created by Samuel Torrey Orton and Anna Gillingham. They brought listening, speaking, reading, and writing together so that students would have the optimal help needed to enhance their learning for all of the language skills. This approach is an action-based learning.
Resources:
Orton Gillingham Online Academy
Making Teaching Fun
ABC Magic Phonics
Starfall
Reading Eggs
Special Words
Montessori Education
Maria Montessori developed specialized mareials after she realized that children understand complex concepts better if all of their senses are engaged. She also realized that the role of the teacher should be to facilitate student learning and not dominate student learning. She focused on the wholechild with the goal of developing responsible adults. Components of Montessori education should include freedom and autonomy of the child, structure and order should be cale and chaos free, reality and nature should be included regularly.
This amazing instructional platform provides a space for teachers and students to engage and participate in formative assessment and dynamic media so that they are able to learn and build new experiences together. This platform enables and enhances student participation while promoting 21st century skills and creating digital citizens. Teachers have the option to choose between a variety of pre-created lessons of all subjects and age ranges or they may create their own lessons and fun activities. There are many different games, vitual field trips, discussion tools, and quiz tools available to be inserted into a lessons. The teacher may also download a presentation they have created from Goolge Docs or Google Slides into their Nearpod lesson. Once they have picked the lesson or created their own lesson, their students may access it from any of their own devices using a code given to them upon starting the lesson. They may interact with the lesson, with the teacher, and with each other in real time throughout the lesson. They can participate in games together, write on virtual sticky notes and post them on virtual boards, go on virtual field trips, and take quizes created by the teacher in real time. All answers and progress are recorded for the use of assessment by the teacher.
Nearpod Categories:
Nearpod DCL: Digital Citizenship & Literacy
Nearpod CCE: College & Career Exploration
Nearpod EL: English Learners
Nearpod LL: Learning Lab
Nearpod HPL: Historical Perspective & Literacy
Nearpod SEL: Social & Emotional Learning
Cost:
Silver (Free) - Includes sessions sizes up to 40, storage space up to 50 MB, lesson size up to 20MB, and basic features.
Gold ($120/year) - Includes session sizes up to 50, storage space up to 3GB, lesson size up to 50 MB, and advanced features.
Platinum (349/year) - Includes session size up to 75, storage space up tp 5 GB, leasson size up to 50 MB, premium features.
School & District (Contact Nearpod 1-855-NEARPOD) - Includes session size up tp 200, storage space up to 20 GB, lesson size up tp 80 MB, and all features.
Higher education (Contact Nearpod 1-855-NEARPOD) - Includes session size up to 250, staorage space up to 25GB, lesson size up to 100 MB, all features.
My Nearpods https://share.nearpod.com/afjqf84cQ0 https://share.nearpod.com/LjA1EUsk30 https://share.nearpod.com/30vKWNSGH0
The Llama Who Had No Pajama
Written by Mary Ann Hobermann
Illustrated by Betty Fraser
Published by HMH Books for Young Readers on April 1, 2006
Genre: Poetry
Number of Pages: 68
Overview
This wonderful book of poetry covers every topic from centipede to whales, from swinging on swings to ice-skating in winter, from eating applesauce to celebrating birthdays, the wonderful poems in this amazing collection convey the experiences of childhood in a fresh new light without sacfrificing its timelessness. The illustrations by Betty Fraser dont just add to the text, but enhance it all together. With beautiful pops of color and discriptive imagary, readers will be engaged and entertained from beginning to end.
"Hoberman's rhythms are lively and agile, and her imagination and sense of humor are still in tune with young readers. Fraser's simple but detailed gouache and watercolor illustrations exhibit the same qualities . . . Good for beginning or experienced readers of poetry, this should indeed become a favorite."
--School Library Journal
Grade level: K-2
Content Area: Poetry, Literature, Phonics, Phonemic Awareness, Early Literacy
Student Connection: This book is not only full of rhyming words and alliterations, but it also full of all sorts of information about different experiences. This book could be used for a vieriety of different topics and a great way to introduce new experiences to your class!
Number the Stars
Written by Lois Lowry
Published by HMH Books for Young Readers on May 2, 2011 (reissued edition)
Genre: Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 137
Overview While the German troops are beginning their campaign to "relocate" the Jews of Denmark, the main character, Annemarie Johansen, and her family takes in Annemarie's best friend, Ellen Rosen, and hides her by pretending she is a part of their family. Throught the eyese of a ten year old, we get to see the Danish Resistance smuggle almost an entire Jewish population, nearly thoughsands of people, across the sea of Sweden. The heroism shown by the nation in this book helps to reminds us that there was pride and humannity even in the world of war and terror.
"The whole work is seamless, compelling, and memorable—impossible to put down; difficult to forget."
—The Horn Book
Grade Level: 5-6
Content Area: Social studies, History, Diversity
Student Connection: This would be a wonderful book to read when descussing the history of the German's and Jew's and the whole time period associated with that. I remember reading this book in sixth grade and I have never forgotten it since. I would have my gifted students read it and discuss it to help them to further expand their knowledge and to challenge them to really get into the perspective of someone living out this historical time period.
Written by Monica Brown
Illustrated by Sara Palacios
Published by Lee & Low Books Inc. in 2011
Genre: Diverse Perspective Fiction, Children's Literature
Number of Pages: 32
Overview
Marisol McDonald stands out among her peers because she is "mix-matched". She has firetruck red hair, nut-brown skin, and enjoys wearing polka dots and stripes. Others around her try to tame Marisol's mix-matched choices, however, this Peruvian-Scottish-American girl cannot be tamed. This book is a wonderful celebration of multiculturalism and individuality. Through the vibrant and fun illustrations and descriptive text, the illustrator and author portray Marisol's personality and heritage in a creative and non-conformist way. Sara Palacios, who illustrated this lovely book, was born and raised in Mexico City and shows her knowledge of the culture in her colorful images. Each page is covered with interesting and detailed images that help to depict Marisol's mix-matched life. By integrating this book into your class story time, you will be giving your student the opportunity to learn more about multiculturalism, diversity, and originality.
"I wrote this book because, like more than six million Americans, I’m multiracial. I’m the daughter of a South American mother and a North American father, and my childhood was spent in a close community of cousins, tíos (uncles), and tías (aunts).
Like Marisol McDonald, my cousins and I are mixed—indigenous Peruvian and Spanish mixed with Scottish and Italian and Jewish, not to mention Nicaraguan, Mexican, Chilean and African. One thing most of us do share are freckles. According to one of my tíos, the family freckles came from the time my abuelita (grandma) was stirring a big pan of chocolate on the stove—my tío reached for it and it splattered everywhere, leaving chocolate sprinkles on everyone’s faces and toes!
People sometimes ask us, “What are you?” and sometimes even say that we “don’t match.” But we know better. Our mothers told us that we are Americans, yes, but also citizens of the world. My life (and I’ll bet yours too) is bound up with the history of many peoples, and like Marisol McDonald, I open my arms wide and embrace them all."
- Monica Brown
The quote above is directly from the author's notes on the last page of the book and explains the need for bilingual and diverse children's literature. When reading this books, students with diverse backgrounds will be able to relate and connect to Marisol on a personal level.
Lesson and Activity Content Area: Self-Acceptance, Confidence, Kindness, Multiculturalism Standard: 1 ) Ask and answer questions to demonstrate an understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. [RL.3.1] 4 ) Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language. [RL.3.4]7 ) Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting). [RL.3.7]10 ) Ask and answer questions to demonstrate an understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. [RI.3.1]
Model: Read the entire book out loud to students twice with no interruptions. Guide and Scaffold: After reading the book out loud to the students the first time, ask them about what questions they may still have. Tell them to think about those questions while reading the book to them the second time. Discussion: Ask questions to enhance close reading, comprehension, and develop a deeper understanding of the literature. Encourage students to refer back to the illustrations and passage in the book to support their responses. Activity: Point out that there are some Spanish words in the English text and some English words in the Spanish text, this shows that Marisol is comfortable using/mixing both languages. Ask students who are bilingual or are from bilingual/multicultural homes to share examples of the way their own family mixes and combines languages. Students could also learn some of those words from another language to incorporate into their own use.
Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon Written by Patty Lovell Illustrated by David Catrow Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons; 1st edition on August 27, 2001 Genre: Picture Book, Realistic Fiction, Children's Literature Number of pages: 32
Overview Molly Lou Melon is not an ordinary little girl. She has buck teeth, a bullfrog voice, and a short stature. Other people notice this as well, her grandmother, who encourages her throughout the entire book, and a little boy, who makes fun of her for her differences. Regardless of the teasing, Molly Lou Melon is unwaveringly confident and joyful.
This is an outstanding book to use in the classroom to help teach students about acceptance, confidence, kindness, and awareness of what teasing and bullying are. The book is a great example of how to handle bullying or teasing situations. Molly Lou Melon continues to stay positive and confident regardless of how others treat her and address the problem in a nonviolent way. This is a wonderful book for children and even adults who worry about what others think of them. It encourages us to do things anyway, regardless of what others think or say. David Catrow, the illustrator, paints imaginative illustrations for readers. Using bright and exciting colors. Each picture attracts attention and drives students to want to know more about what happens next.
Lesson and Activity Content Area: Bullying, Confronting Fears, Self Esteem, Confidence, Kindness Standards:9 ) Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. [RL.K.10] 8 ) With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories. [RL.K.9] 1 ) With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. [RL.K.1] 17 ) Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison; cause and effect; first, second, third in a sequence). [RI.3.8] 12 ) With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text. [RI.K.3]
Model: Read the entire book out loud to students twice with no interruptions.
Guide and Scaffold: After reading the book out loud to the students the first time, ask them about what questions they may still have. Tell them to think about those questions while reading the book to them the second time.
Discussion: Ask students to discuss cause and effect. Why did Molly Lou's grandma tell her to "Smile big and the world will smile right alongside you?" What do you think that means? Why did the child at her new school think she was good at football? How come Ronald Durkin brought Molly Lou a penny?
Activity: Ask students to visualize. Molly Lou showed Ronald Durkin and the other kids the things that Ronald teased her about are all the things that made her special. Pick three things unique about yourself and visualize how it makes you feel special. Ask students to draw a picture and/or write these things. Hang artwork in the classroom or in the hallway.
Here is a Digital Portfolio I made for my 21st Century Teaching and Learning class. This presentation has many great resources for how to integrate the arts into the Early Childhood curriculum. Enjoy!
DIY Integrated Arts Crafts Creative Movement Cube
This was super easy and cheap to make.
Supplies:
Styrofoam cube
Cardstock
Scissors
Hot glue
I personally made each of the activities in a word document. I just typed the activity and inserted clipart underneath it. Once it was all printed out, I laminated it and cut it out, then hot glued each one onto the sides of the cube.
Classroom Use:
You can use this as a fun and interactive activity for creative movement. Have students roll the cube like a dice and do the activity it lands on.
Supplies:
Felt
Scissors
Marker
Hot glue
Googly Eyes (optional)
I printed out the template from the website below and used it to cut out each piece of the puppets. Then, I hot glued them together and drew the mouths or noses on and added googly eyes! Super simple and cute!
Classroom Use:
These can be used for so many different things!
They can enhance storytelling time or read aloud time.
Originally, I started to make the road letters myself but ended up printing out the road letters that were already made on the website below. However, if you want to make them yourself, I'll list the supplies below.
Supplies:
Cardstock
Black or grey construction paper
White or yellow marker or paint
Cut each letter from construction paper and glue them onto white cardstock. Add white or yellow road lines to each letter. Laminate each one (optional).
Classroom Use:
Have students use hot wheels cars or their finger to trace over each letter. This is great to help them learn their letters and can even be used with numbers and punctuation, as well. https://www.giftofcuriosity.com/product/road-letters/
