Category: Classroom Resources

How To Engage Student Learning With Math Manipulatives

7/30/2018

Many students find math concepts abstract and difficult to understand. Math manipulatives help to make the ideas concrete and easier to visualize. Hands on math manipulatives also connect the thinking with psychomotor activities. These connections help students to remember the concepts or skills practiced. Not only do they learn better, they have fun while learning.

Engaging Student Learning With Math Manipulatives.

How do math manipulatives help student learning?

Math manipulatives capture the attention of the kids. They like to touch and move things around. They get excited when they get to play games. They don't realize that they are practicing skills when they are playing. They will stay engaged longer and practice more when using math manipulatives instead of just working with paper and pencil activities.

Hands on math manipulatives engage the senses. They allow kids to see how things go together and they are fun to touch. They develop concrete thinking and understanding of the concepts before moving on to more abstract concepts.

In the picture above, there are several different math manipulatives. All of these manipulatives were used to help kids represent numbers in different ways. I made up games and activities with a group of students that needed to practice number recognition using these materials. They had lots of fun and before long they were able to recognize different numbers by shape, order, pattern, etc.

Get creative and use whatever you have available to help engage the kids to learn more about math.

How can you use math manipulatives effectively in the classroom?

Math manipulatives can be used effectively in large group situations, in centers, as partner activities, and as aids for individual work. Sometimes it is the size of the math manipulatives that determines how they are used. For example, if you are working with a large group, you would want the manipulatives to be large so that they are easily visible to everyone. If students are to work in centers or with partners, the math manipulatives would be smaller so that they don't occupy too much space. For individual work, the manipulatives don't need to be very big. (The ten frames in the picture above were designed with this in mind.)

It is important to show the students how to use the math manipulatives before handing them out. If they are not correctly used, they are not as effective. Kids need time to practice using the manipulatives so that they use them correctly. They will be engaged and participate when they understand what to do.

Make sure that you have enough math manipulatives for the tasks given. If they are doing partner work, each pair will need a set of manipulatives. Create multiple activities or centers that use different math manipulatives if you don't have enough manipulatives for everyone.

How do you store math manipulatives?

Math manipulatives can take up a lot of space. Using small tubs or reusing empty containers can help with organizing them. I used an old wipes container for my base ten math manipulatives. It had room for a smaller container as well that held the units so they didn't get mixed up in the main container (see in the image above).
The small rollaway carts with multiple drawers work well for holding many different types of math manipulatives all in one place.
In our school we have big carts that hold several tubs. Each tub has a different math manipulative in it. This makes it easy for doing group work or centers. Just grab whatever tub you need and take it to the area you are working at.

As the new school year approaches, I hope these tips help with making your math lessons enjoyable and engaging for your students. I would love to hear how you use math manipulatives in your classroom.

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Creating Teaching Materials: What Is Your Motivation?

3/19/2018

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I love to create teaching materials, but since I retired, sometimes it is hard to come up with the ideas. I have found that the best way to get motivated, is to engage with children and find things that would be helpful for them and fun for them to do.

Creating Teaching Materials: What Is Your Motivation?

When I teach a concept, I like to have a practical application to go along with it. I tutor two girls, and right now we are learning about the kitchen and cooking. I decided that it would be fun to actually try following a French recipe to make some cookies. The girls really enjoyed making the cookies and they remember a lot of the vocabulary because they could make connections to the activity.

I created this booklet after we did the cooking. I took pictures as they were cooking and I put them into the booklet. They were excited to see the pictures and read the booklet. I followed up the lesson by looking at some French recipe books. We reviewed the vocabulary and then talked about doing another cooking lesson in the future.

Les biscuit au chocolat et au beurre d'arachide

Les biscuits au chocolat et au beurre d'arachide

The next lesson, we looked at the different items that can be found in the kitchen. We then did some games with the task cards.

They are going to do some more cooking when we have a longer session. The deal is that they need to be able to identify the different items in the kitchen and follow the instructions in French. They are very excited about this.

As is becoming a habit, I have made an English version for each of these products.

Stay tuned as I share more ideas that become activities and products from my experiences with kids.

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Making Connections In Reading

3/14/2018

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I love working with small reading groups and interacting with the children. The other day, I did a group in my grandson's French Immersion class. He was actually in the group that day! We talked about losing teeth and they each got to share a story about losing their first tooth. It was fun to seen them engaging and making connections to the different stories.

After our discussion, we looked at a story I wrote about losing a tooth. We first did a picture walk and shared what we thought was happening on each page. Then we read the story and discussed how our predictions and the actual events were the same or different. We also made connections between the text and our personal stories.

After our discussion, each child wrote one or two sentences about losing a tooth and then added an illustration. It was too bad that we didn't have more time, because I could see that this could have been a great time for creating little booklets and personal stories.

I have also created the same story in English. I am hoping to use it with one of my English reading groups.

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What Motivates You?

3/10/2018

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Everyone needs to find something that motivates them to create or perform activities and tasks.

What inspires you and give you motivation? For me, it is often my grandchildren or children that I work with at school. Last month, my grandson participated in his first out of town swim meet. He swam some events for the first time. I was so proud of him.

Here he is waiting for his event and having a quick snack. His sister and his dad were there to help cheer him on.

Last week I was in Victoria looking after my grandchildren. While there, I did the runaround between swimming and dancing. My younger grandson had swimming lessons. He just turned five, but he is already swimming the length of the pool without fear. Here he is practicing his streamlining and kicking.

Swimming has been an important sport for our family throughout the years. All of our children participated in the summer swimming club and one of my daughters was a swim coach for several years. The two boys in the pictures above are hers.

I am tutoring two girls right now, and one of them has swimming lessons before she comes to her lesson. This made me think about swimming and so during the lesson we created some swimming stories. It was a great way for them to use their language to make a connection with what they do. These are the little booklets that they are working on. They are creating their own illustrations. I also created a booklet that included both of them as the characters. It was fun to see them read and enjoy the booklets.

This gave me an idea for an emergent reader. I have found that most of my ideas lately have come from experiences with the kids. Here is the book that I created about learning to swim. I made it in French first, and then I made an English copy.

Stay tuned for some other resources that I am working on that are directly related to activities and situations that are happening now! Here are some I have just finished.

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Winter Games

1/21/2018

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It is hard to believe that it is almost time for the winter games to begin again. Every time I think about them I remember the excitement we felt when they were held in Vancouver in 2010. It was such a special time for those of us who live in British Columbia.

My students were so engaged and felt connected to the athletes and their accomplishments. We would listen to the theme song I Believe and this became our song in class. As some of you may know, "believe" is my power word and it comes up often as I am constantly coming across things with the word on them.

It is times like this that I miss having my own class. There are so many things I would love to do with my students. During the last winter games, I created some activities that could be used to make writing and Math time winter game focused. I would certainly be doing some of them in the next few weeks if I had the opportunity.

Here are some task card templates that can be used to create your own questions, games, or activities. I hope you find them helpful as we watch the athletes compete to represent the various countries.

winter sports task cards template freebie

I know this will be an exciting time for people all around the world as they cheer on their athletes. It is a time when we focus on the good in the world. It is a time to unite instead of divide. I hope for more caring and kindness towards one another, not just during the games but everyday.

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Stone Soup

1/15/2018

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I love using story books for springboards into teaching concepts. It is always fun to see where the ideas go. One of my favourite stories is Stone Soup. I have 2 versions that I usually share with the children.

I like to read the version by Marcia Brown. It is great to present it when studying about veterans because in the story the soldiers were returning from war. It is a good springboard for discussions.

It is interesting to see how the children react when the villagers hide the food. Just last week, when I read the story with my reading group, they kept commenting on how everyone was "lying". They also found it to be magical that stones could make soup for a king.

We also read the version by Ann McGovern. We then did a comparison of the two versions and how they had many similarities but they also had some differences.

I created some activities to further explore these ideas. Some of these activities can be used for single versions as well.

If I still had my own class, I would continue to investigate further and discuss how caring and sharing are inclusive and we can all be richer as a result. Sharing of the stone soup was not just about eating soup, but reconnecting with others and working together. As the villagers learned, because of the stone soup experience, they would never go hungry again.

As a culminating activity, I would make stone soup with my class. They were always amazed that the soup tasted so good. They really thought it was because of the stones!

I told my reading group that I usually did this with my class and they asked if they could be in my class. Unfortunately, I don't have my own class now and I don't have the opportunity to do things like make soup anymore. It warmed my heart to have them say that though.

What are some stories you have used to create discussions and do other activities with? I would love to hear about them. Let me know in the comments below.

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Reading in English and in French

11/25/2017

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I love teaching guided reading and I continue to do so even though I am retired. I volunteer a couple of mornings a week and I work with 6 different groups. Some groups are still working on sounds and cvc activities. Others are working on beginning chapter books and reading for deeper meaning and understanding. I enjoy being able to take them beyond the basic story and I often incorporate other activities.

Guided reading is helping others to understand words and their meanings.

Lately I have also been tutoring some children in French. I have found it to be very similar to teaching beginning reading. I have been busy creating activities and resources that introduce basic language and concepts using themes. I am thrilled to see how quickly they are grasping the ideas.

I went into my grandson's grade 1/2 class last week and I got to work with small groups using one of the themed task cards. It was so much fun. I also helped out with a reading group. Again, it was refreshing to see that the language didn't matter. The process was the same and the kids engaged in a similar manner. I am not certain why I didn't think about that sooner. I guess it is because I was so focused on teaching reading in my own class that I didn't think about how it worked in other situations.

Differentiation is important. I found that some groups were better able to do the activities than others as some of the children were reading and other were not quite there yet. I was able to make modifications to the games to allow for both groups to be successful. I look forward to going back again soon.

Les couleurs - Emergent reader in French

Once I finished creating simple emergent readers and the thematic visual task cards, I started to translate them into English. They will be fun to use with my guided reading groups as well. I am surprised that I didn't think of making them in English first, followed by a French translation. I guess it is because the inspiration came from a need for materials.

I am proud of my new products. If you are interested in checking them out, you can find them here. Just click on the images below.

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It's Back to School Time

8/20/2017

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Here in Canada, summer vacation is nearing an end and teachers are preparing their classrooms for a new year. In other places, some teachers are already back at school. It is always exciting to freshen up a classroom, prepare for the new students, and just begin a new adventure.

Back to school sales are happening everywhere. Who doesn't want to have new pencils, felts, crayons, notebooks, backpacks and clothes?
Well, teachers love back to school sales too! Teachers Pay Teachers is having a special Back to School Ready Bonus sale just for teachers.

I am excited to be able to offer a $10 TPT gift card to one lucky person as well as a product valued up to $5.00 from my TPT store. In order to enter, comment below with the item that you would choose if you were the winner and your email contact. The winner will be chosen at random and contacted Tuesday. This will still allow you to use the gift card for the sale.

I am excited to be able to share all of my products with you for an extra discount for one day only. Here are some of my favourites. Click on the images to see more about them.

This is a project that allows students to represent their learning in a variety of different ways.

Teaching about the solar system is always fun and this project involves the family in the learning as well. My favourite part of this is the variety of ways that children have available to share their learning and understanding.

Task cards for the popular I Have, Who Has game that feature a variety of measuring units in both metric and imperial measurement terms.

I have created several measurement activities and anchor charts that feature both metric and imperial measurement. Here is one of my favourites. It features the popular I Have, Who Has game. To see some of my other measurement activities, click here.

This unit involves creating a 3-D community as a culmination to planning and designing a community with the students.

If you want to do an inquiry project that culminates in a 3-D community, this one is for you. It is definitely one of my all time favourites. The kids learn so much about communities and how they are developed. The celebration day is very special.

This is a unit that teaches children about money and how to earn it, save it, and give it. It was a project created with my students.

This is a unit that teaches about money and how to earn it, save it, and give it. I created this with my class and it was awesome to see how they develop better money sense as a result. I have also created several money products that use Canadian and American currency. Check them out here.

This is a decor package that has everything you need to set up your classroom for the beginning of the year.

If you are looking for a fun way to decorate your classroom with materials that will be useful throughout the year, check out my rainbow themed back to school kit. It has everything you need to get the year started out right.

This is a guided reading study guide that helps to dig deeper into the story and develop better comprehension skills.

I love working with small groups and helping them to better understand and appreciate books. I have created many guided reading study outlines for books that are for beginning readers as well as advanced readers. Here is a sample of one of the book studies that I created.

Some of the bundles available in my TPT store.

This is a great time to get an extra discount on bundles.

French materials available in my TPT store.

I have just started creating French materials. Here are some of the items that I have made so far. Check them out in my French materials category.

A sampler of tips and freebies for the Canadian teacher.

Several of my Canadian teacher friends collaborated to put together a back to school e-book of tips and freebies just for you. Check it out here or by clicking on the image.

Teachers after the first week of school.

Enjoy your time with your new students and returning ones too. Don't forget to get lots of rest also. I always forget just how tired a teacher can get the first few weeks of school.

I wish you a very happy and rewarding year.

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8 Reading Strategies That Work

6/15/2017

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Reading strategies are very important for developing good reading skills. They help children to make meaning out of unfamiliar words and ideas in a variety of ways. Many children get stuck when they rely on only one or two strategies. Introducing these 8 strategies and practicing them will give them the tools to better understand the material they are reading.

About 3 years ago, I was introduced to these cute animals and their uses as reading strategies. I loved how the children engaged with them. I had to get my own stuffies so that they could actually hold them and interact with them. I use them all the time now in my guided reading groups.

Eagle Eye is one of the strategies most used by young children. It uses pictures to convey meaning. In emergent books there are very few words and lots of pictures. This strategy is very effective for more advanced readers as well.

Lips the Fish helps children focus on the beginning of the word. It helps them to remember to say the beginning sound. Often this is enough to help them figure out what the word might be.

Stretchy Snake helps children to stretch out the sounds rather than individually saying each one. Making each sound separately is choppy. When they stretch the sounds of the words they are still connected and they can hear how they fit together.

Skippy Frog is useful when children get stuck on a word and can't move on. This strategy encourages them to go on and make meaning by reading the next part of the sentence or passage. When they figure it out, they are supposed to go back and read the word that they were stuck on. The danger here, is that they don't always go back, so it is a strategy that should be used sparingly.

Chunky Monkey is a great strategy for helping children who are sounding out every letter. It encourages them to start looking for small words or chunks of letters inside the word that they already know.

Flippy Dolphin is used for flipping to the long vowel when the short vowel doesn't make sense.

Careful Caterpillar reminds children to read the entire word. Often children only look at the beginning of words and add in words that are incorrect that start the same way. By encouraging them to look at the whole word, they will make fewer errors and their understanding will increase.

Tryin' Lion reminds children to go back and try again when they are not sure what it means. After working through a sentence with other strategies sometimes rereading the sentence helps to make the meaning clearer.

I created a set of bookmarks and posters to go with these strategies. If you would like to get a copy of these bookmarks and posters, click the image below.

Reading strategies posters and bookmarks

I hope you find these tools helpful with your young readers. I would love to hear how you use strategies in reading.

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Using Games to Teach Skills

6/12/2017

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Using games and activities that are fun will help to engage children and they will learn skills without realizing that they are learning. It is wonderful to see them taking risks and challenges and enjoying learning.

I have always tried to include games in my guided reading lessons and my literacy blocks. Children can often get frustrated if they are working hard at learning to decode or make meaning of what they are reading. Using games to focus on some of the skills relieves some of that stress and allows them to practice the skills in a fun environment.

I use lots of different boxed games, but I also use task cards and other games that I have created. The ones that I have made are specific for what I might be covering in groups. I have many different themes for my sight words so that they are always fun to use because they are linked to different holidays, or special times.

Here are some other types of activities that I have used with my students. Depending on the abilities and the needs, I have made the materials simple for learning letter sounds and names and more difficult for learning about figurative language and parts of speech. I have also created activities for the interactive whiteboard. Bingo games that go with various topics are also fun to create.
If you are interested in checking out some of these products or other literacy activities that I have created, click here.

I volunteer at school and work with several guided reading groups. I create games and activities for them. Another retired teacher volunteers as well. She asked me to make up some game boards for her. You can check them out here.

Here is a free sample from the set of game boards. Click the image below to get your copy.

I have fun creating games and I love seeing the children react when a new game is presented to them. But more importantly, I am excited to see them learning skills that they were struggling with. It is so thrilling to see them applying the skills to their reading and writing lessons.