Different Physical Abilities In The ClassroomThe ParaOlympics has just taken place over in Tokyo and the Terry Fox Run just happened as well. This reminded me to think about how we can make accommodations for different physical ability issues in our classrooms. Often this is overlooked as we go about our days unaware of the obstacles that children with different physical abilities must face in school. A few years ago, I had a student that broke her leg and she needed to be in a wheelchair for several weeks. This was the first time I made it a point to focus my attention on creating an environment that would accommodate kids with physical disabilities so they could participate in our daily activities. Classroom ArrangementIt is important that we consider the physical arrangement of the classroom, especially if we need to allow for equipment such as a wheelchair to maneuver around the room. Accessibility to materials and equipment also needs to be considered. When I go to the grocery store, there are often things that I cannot reach on the shelves because they are too high, or too far back on the shelves. Imagine how it must feel for those in a wheelchair when they are unable to access things in the classroom for similar reasons. Being in a wheelchair, on crutches, or perhaps wearing a sling or having a cast on an arm or leg makes it more obvious to us that people need help. But, not all disabilities are readily visible and we need to be reminded to consider these as well. Accommodating Kids With Hearing ImpairmentsIn many classrooms nowadays, there are children with hearing impairments. Special equipment is now being used to help these children. Amplifiers, microphones, and hearing aids are provided and teachers and students use this equipment when giving oral instructions or for sharing during conversations and discussions. Not only is this helping the hearing impaired child, but it is taking some of the strain off of the voice of the teacher who is speaking to be heard in a classroom and it is helping others to hear better as well. Using closed captions or a transcript program when required to follow a movie, videoclip, or presentation would be helpful so they can have the added support of reading when things might be difficult to hear. Learning and teaching sign language would also be helpful if they use sign language. Even if it was only the basics, it could still help with communicating. Accommodations For Visually Impaired Students Visually impaired students also need some changes to make their learning successful. It is amazing how much they are capable of doing if given the right environment. The degree of impairment also needs to be considered. Some students may be able to partially see and may just need to have larger fonts, less clutter, and brighter, clearer colors to function successfully. Others may have more severe visual impairment or even be completely without sight. They would need more accommodations to make learning successful. This could be audio recordings of any written material or transcripts in braille. Having a buddy to help guide them when maneuvering around the classroom until they become familiar with where everything is would definitely be useful. It is important that the classroom arrangement stay the same unless the student is prepared and shown when things have been moved around to avoid a dangerous situation. Some students may need to use a cane to help with getting around as well. Helping Others To Understand The DifficultiesIf we want to help those who have different abilities to participate fully, it sometimes takes some understanding of the difficulties they experience to fully get what to do. When my student had to be in the wheelchair, I decided to create some scenarios to help the other students to understand some of the difficulties. We also came up with some solutions together to make things work. I then went further and we talked about some of the accommodations that might be needed to help someone who was blind, or who had a broken arm, who was on crutches, etc. We did some role playing and set up situations where students had to become the person with the ability issue. I brought in a wheelchair and crutches, we blindfolded students, and we used slings for a broken arm. Kids took turns being the one with the ability issue and the others found ways to help them with various situations. This gave them a bit of an understanding of what it might be like for the person with an ability issue. Following these activities, the students were able to think ahead and make sure that my student in the wheelchair had the necessary help and they worked together to make sure she was able to participate fully in all activities. After doing the role playing, they also found solutions to other situations I gave them a reflection sheet to fill out. It was interesting to see how it changed their thinking and how much more aware they were of others and their needs. There are many other situations and scenarios, but I hope you get the idea. If we want to make accommodations that work for everyone, it is necessary for all the students to work together. This requires understanding the situation and creating solutions together. Working Together To Create SolutionsI have created an activity booklet that focuses on some of the different physical abilities that need accommodations as simple scenarios that require discussion and possible solutions. Hopefully this will help make all of us more aware of things we can do to make learning successful for everyone. You can find it here in my TPT store. I am giving a sampler booklet to my subscribers. Get your free booklet now. These are just a few tips or suggestions to help make it easier for accommodating different physical abilities in the classroom. I am sure there are so many more ways we can make things work better. I would love to hear some of the ways that you have made accommodations in your classroom.
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Fall Is Almost HereFall is around the corner. I don't know about you, but we had a beautiful summer. Some days it was a little hotter than we liked, but for the most part, we couldn't have asked for better weather. It was a great time to get outdoors and enjoy nature. Now that fall is arriving, this doesn't have to end. There is still time to get outdoors and do things before the weather gets too cold or wet. This is also a great time to focus on nature and science in the classroom using the outdoors as your source for material and data. There are also many opportunities for math and literacy activities. Fall leavesFall colors are so beautiful. Driving along the streets, the different colored leaves create a wonderful backdrop. Kids love to explore the different kinds of leaves and collect them as they begin to fall off of the trees. There are many different activities that can be done with the leaves such as math activities, science activities, writing activities, and art activities. You can use the colors and shapes for creating art projects, do sorting and classifying activities in math, investigate how the colors change and why as a science activity, or maybe use the collecting of the leaves as a story prompt. These are only a few ideas. Get creative. Beach StudyBeach walks can still be done in the fall, and different activities can be included that explore the sea life there. It is always fun to watch the kids explore the seashore and search for the different sea animals and plants there. They can be found in the tide pools collecting shells, crabs, seaweed, and other things for scavenger hunts. The sea stars and sea cucumbers are always a big hit as well. I remember taking along lots of magnifying glasses so they could get a closer look at the different things they found. Note: We were careful about handling the sea life and we made sure that we were able to return them back to their environment safely. We always put everything back before we left. It is important to leave the sea creatures in their environment. Exploring Parks And ForestsGoing for walks in the parks and forested areas can also be fun to do in the fall. Taking a look at how things might have changed during the different seasons, what different animals might be around, what different plant life looks like, checking out the streams or creeks, etc. are just some of the possible things that can be investigated. Geocaching is also a fun activity to do. It is difficult to do with a large group because it is supposed to be stealthy and not attract attention, but it still can be done in certain settings. A modified scavenger hunt could also be done that mimicks geocaching but is set up for a specific group instead of the public. Farm VisitsMost people think about planting seeds in the spring and watching them grow throughout the summer, but there are also many things that can be planted for the fall. Checking out some of the fall harvests and taking a field trip to a pumpkin patch or farm could also be fun to do. Perhaps some plant investigations can be done now and even compared with plant investigations in the spring. This is only a sampling of things that can be done in the fall that get kids outdoors. The key is to find ways to keep them actively exploring and learning both inside and outside the classroom. The more connections to real life, the richer the learning will be. I hope you find some of these ideas helpful for your students. I would love to hear about some of the things you do outdoors with you class. Let me know in the comments. Related PostsReturning To SchoolThe first week back at school can be different things for different kids. Some dread returning, some are scared, some are excited, some are nervous, and some don't really know what to feel. We need to be aware of all these different emotions and find ways to help each child feel comfortable and excited to learn. This won't be easy, and there may be some kids that take a while to adjust, but it is a goal that we should aim to achieve. If kids are eager to learn, it makes life easier for the teacher as well. It can be challenging to motivate and encourage kids if they don't seem to be interested and they resist participating. Tips To Make The First Week Back PositiveThere are many different things that you can do to help make the first week back positive and help the kids to engage in their learning. Here are a few suggestions. Use games and ice breakers to help kids to get to know each other and work together as a team. This may be uncomfortable for some of the kids, so be aware of this and try to relieve some of the anxiety or lack of comfort by pairing them with someone they know, or by being their partner or team mate. Make sure the activities are low pressure so that they can be fun, but not too stressful. If you have kids that were with you last year, give them roles of leadership and allow them to help guide the new kids through the rules and routines and be "the teacher" sometimes. Have them buddy up with some of the others who may be feeling nervous or anxious about joining in. Summer AdventuresI often had my students write about their summer holiday and all the adventures they had. But, as I learned that summer break is not always a happy time for some kids, and it is something that they may not feel comfortable sharing about in a written activity or an oral sharing time, I made some adjustments. I started to share some of my summer adventures with my classes and then do a quick written summary example with them. I then gave kids an option. If they wanted to, they could share their own summer adventure. If they found this difficult, they could write an imaginary story of summer adventures or they could write about another topic. The goal was to get them back to writing so I wanted them to have options that would work with their experiences. Team Building And Developing Positive Self EsteemGetting the class to become a team and learn to work together, is really important if you want to have them develop trust and respect for each other. There are many ways to do this, but I feel that the most important piece is creating positive self esteem and a caring attitude towards others. There are many activities that can be done to help make this happen. I often begin my year by teaching about Tigger and Eeyore and how they view the world. We look at the difference between optimism and pessimism and how that can affect our day. I created some optimist/ pessimist task cards that allow the kids to talk about different situations and how they can react positively or negatively in them. Once we have learned about optimism and pessimism, I talk to the kids about attitudes and how important they are. I use the phrase, "Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?" I like to have this posted in the classroom as a reminder when lots of complaining happens. Success Words, Bucket Filling, And MoreDeveloping self confidence and a belief in oneself is necessary if one is to feel successful and valued. There are several different things that can be done to help with this. Name acrostics, all about me activities, and talent shields are some examples. One of the activities I like to do is "success or power words". It is amazing how these words can become so powerful when they are a focus. Many of my students would find things that said "believe" and point them out to me when they learned that it was my power word. I even received a couple of gifts that had the word on them. You can find out more here. Bucket filling activities are also a great way to help kids to see how they cause others to feel based on their words or actions. I remember sharing stories with my class about different situations that happened to me. One time my daughter had her young children talk to me on the phone because they needed reminders to fill buckets instead of emptying them. They immediately changed their behaviors. (Was it the bucket filling reminder or was it wanting to please Grandma? Does it matter, it worked.) I like to tie in Acts of Kindness to bucket filling. They complement each other nicely. It is great to see the kids focusing on others instead of themselves, as well. Brain Breaks And MovementMake sure to include some brain breaks and movement activities during the day. Remember, if we get exhausted the first week back, kids do too. They have been away from school for a couple of months and they need to readjust to sitting and doing activities for several hours of the day. Each Day Is A Fresh StartKids need a reason to want to be at school and learn. If they have a cloud of negative behavior following them around, it is hard to feel motivated to try again or to improve. It is important to allow them to have a fresh start every day and to recognize the improvements in both attitude and behavior. We would want a fresh start and maybe even a do over, so it makes sense to provide this for our kids. This has been my policy for many years. I also find that if I don't look into the history of a child or get the low down from previous teachers immediately, unless it is related to a health or safety issue, or an IEP, I get to form my own opinion of the child and they have a chance to start with a clean slate. I learned how valuable this was a few years ago when I had a child with behavior issues that I was unaware of and after 3 weeks in my classroom, his mother commented that it was the longest he had ever been in a regular classroom. At this point, I did check into his history and I learned of some of the issues, but because we had already built up a relationship and he had not exhibited huge behavior issues, we were able to have a successful year. I did have to make some adjustments to different assignments and allow him to have some flexibility in his learning style, but it worked. Have Fun With Your StudentsHave fun with your students and let them into your world. It is important for them to make a connection with you. I find it interesting to see how they react to some of my personal stories about my family, my pets, and my adventures outside of school. They often have wonderful connections and they love sharing them with me. Years ago when I first started teaching, I was told not to relax and smile at first. It was thought that it would be easier to maintain control and manage the class this way. I learned that it was better to share a part of me and build the relationship immediately. Kids want to feel included, not managed. Enjoy being with your students and they will respond accordingly. I hope these tips have helped and that you will have a wonderful year. Next time I will share some resources and activities with you. In the meantime, if you are interested in getting some free resources, sign up for my newsletter.
Back To School Insights For The New YearBack to school time is approaching. For some of you, summer break is over and you are heading back to school. For others, you have another month to go. Of course, as teachers, many of you are already thinking about the new school year and some of the things you will be doing. I hope you have had time to rest and recharge and that you will have a renewed energy and motivation to get started again. After an exhausting and unprecedented year of teaching through a pandemic, it will be great to return to the classroom again and back to some of the familiar routines and activities. Here are some insights and suggestions that I hope will help you based on what I have learned throughout the years. Returning to school this fall will be a bit different since it is at the end of a very difficult year teaching during a pandemic. There will still be some uncertainty as to how things will progress. Will there be another wave, more online or hybrid teaching situations, or extra precautions needed in the physical classroom? Hopefully not, but we still need to be somewhat prepared. Take what you have learned from teaching virtually and use the good parts to enhance your in-person teaching. Have a plan for teaching using a mixture of in-person and online activities. That way, you can find a blend that works with the current situation. It may not be as overwhelming that way. Many teachers have decided that they will continue to use digital resources in the classroom to supplement their teaching this year. Preparing For Back To SchoolSetting up a special classroom environment for teaching is not necessary, but it will definitely make a difference to both the kids and you if it is inviting and well laid out. Just like people are attracted to different homes and designs when choosing a place to live, kids will have an emotional response to their classroom environment. I know it is not always easy to get into the room ahead of time and do decorating and arranging, but even small things like pops of color, desk groupings, messages on the board, and special centers will help create a positive atmosphere. Once school begins, the kids can perhaps help with adding special touches to the class decor. Getting Ready For The First DayEvery school and district has it own way of getting classes organized and ready for the new year. In our district, the classes are determined by the numbers of students enrolled and a class size formula. That means that the classes are not finalized until the end of the first week of school. Instead of forming classes and then restructuring them all after a few days of school, the standard process is to have students return to their classes from the previous year. New students are added to classes of similar ages/grades. After the numbers are finalized, new classes are formed and the whole school is shuffled on the same day. This process works, but it does require some extra planning when deciding on what activities to do, what the classroom set up will be, and how to make the new students feel welcome and included in a class that is already familiar with rules and routines. When the reconfiguration is done, some students will move to different classes and some will remain in the same classroom. It is important that they feel special if they are staying with you. I will elaborate more in the next blog post. School Rules and RoutinesIt is important to know what your must have rules are for the classroom and also which ones are flexible. During the first few days of school, if you are still not in the final class configurations, some of these rules can be introduced and practiced right away. Regardless of the different groupings, school rules can be introduced and practiced. There are different ways of doing this. One practice that we have used in the past, is to create family groupings of mixed ages and have them rotate throughout the day to different teachers for lessons on specific rules and expectations. That way, every student is getting the same instruction and information for each expectation. Another method is to have a school wide chart of expectations posted in each classroom and have the assigned teacher go over each of the expectations with his/her class. Or perhaps, buddy classes could combine to do these lessons. Remember Self CareIt is important to remember self care as you return to school. Get lots of rest and give yourself some slack. I remember how exhausting the first few weeks of school was. Even though you intellectually know it will be tiring, it still comes as a bit of a shock when it actually happens. Being well planned will help you to get through this. Brain breaks and physical movement will not only help your students as they adjust to being in school all day, it will give you a mental break and perhaps help you to get through the day better as well. Next time I will focus more on the first week of school and ways to start the year off positively. Related PostsWeek 5 Focus - Social Studies Part 2Last time I focused on inquiry processes, geography, history, culture and heritage. This time I would like to look at rights and responsibilities of people and regional leaders, relationships between people and the environment, multicultural awareness and diversity, and the interactions of First Nations people and early settlers. These are all large topics, so I will only be touching on them, but depending on the age and understanding of your kids, you can dig in deeper. Rights, roles, and responsibilitiesRights, roles, and responsibilities of people change depending on where they are and who they are. In the home, parents and children have different roles. The parents are the caregivers and they have the role of looking after their children and the responsibility of raising them to be responsible citizens. They are the role models. Children have different roles and responsibilities depending on if they are the only child or if they have siblings. Where they are in the group of siblings also affects their roles and responsibilities. They may be left in charge of others if they are the oldest. They may need to listen to older siblings if they are younger. In the community, roles and responsibilities could be different. Community leaders make decisions that affect those in the community. They have the responsibility to listen to the members of the community and make decisions based on what is best for the community. Different groups have different degrees of responsibility. Adults have the opportunity to vote for different leaders and laws or bylaws. It is important to have discussions about what the different roles and responsibilities are for at home, at school, and in the community. This might also be a good time to talk about how these roles and responsibilities have changed over time. For instance, when parents and grandparents were children, they would probably have had different roles and responsibilities than children today. They could share these changes with the kids and maybe talk about why they might be different. Along with roles and responsibilities, come rights. This is more difficult for young children to understand. They should be informed of some of these rights as they are old enough to understand, and as they gain more maturity and understanding, these rights can be explained further. One of the big ones for me is that everyone has a right to a safe, inclusive environment at school, in the classroom, on the playground, and in the community. This can be tied in with responsibility during discussions. Another one is that everyone has a right to be heard, but that also comes with a responsibility to listen when others want to be heard. A big part of classroom management and class rules is based on the rights and responsibilities of those in the classroom as they work together. If they are mutually understood, this will make it easier for them to be followed. Here are some posters and ideas for routines and manners that will help kids with these. Classroom Manners Dos And Don'ts Posters Dos And Don'ts Manners For Home Classroom Routines Relationships between people and the environmentRelationships between people and environments is also an important aspect of social studies and ties in with our personal and community responsibilities. Depending on the type of community, different industries and services are an important part of the livelihood of the community members. Along with these industries and services comes the responsibility to make sure that they are not negatively impacting the environment. This can be a difficult balance at time. It might be an interesting angle to look at as kids get older. For young children, learning about the different industries and services in their community, region, or country would be a possible research project. Here is a resource that I have successfully used with late primary grades in the past. Industries and Services project Protecting our environment is a focus that is often a main topic around Earth Day, but should be considered throughout the year. Maybe it could be a family event to do a beach cleanup or a neighborhood walk and check for litter. It is amazing how much litter is just tossed even when garbage cans are nearby. Plastic is everywhere. Maybe the focus could be to see how many ways plastic can be replaced in daily life. Or perhaps, how many different ways we can reuse containers instead of using one use type ones. These are only a couple of suggestions. There are many different ways that we can help our environment. It might be fun to come up with ways that the class or families can do things to make a difference. Multicultural awareness and respect for diversityOur countries are made up of many different cultures and beliefs and it is important to respect these various cultures and beliefs. This is what makes our country rich in traditions, celebrations, holidays, special foods, music and many other things. Cultural differences can be acknowledged, but the diversity of people needs to be respected. We do not have to all have the same beliefs and values, but we all need to be respectful and responsible citizens. Mutual tolerance and acceptance is what leads to a peaceful existence. We spend time teaching kids about acts of kindness, and spreading peace. It is important that we model the same behavior for them. Kindness is huge. It goes a long way in maintaining a peaceful existence. Right now in Canada, there is a lot of attention being focused on the First Nations people because of the injustices inflicted on them in the residential schools and the multi-generational impact it has had. In other places it might be racial prejudice towards other ethnic groups. In order for healing to begin, it is important that this be acknowledged and that changes happen. We need to be the change and not pass off blame. This may be a tough thing to accept, but if we are to move forward, we need to show our children that wrongs sometimes happen, but they should be made right. When we say Every Child Matters, we need to take action to show that we mean it. This poster demonstrates the impact that one person can make by being kind and respectful. Imagine if we all did this. If you would like a copy of this poster, click on the image above. First Nations People And Early SettlersPrior to teaching at my last school, I didn't have much of an idea of how life was for our First Nations people. I didn't have any First Nations children in my classes. I understood the importance of celebrating our heritage, and I did lots of projects and activities with my students, but this was one area that was missing and I hadn't even realized it until I moved schools and had several First Nations children in my class. I made it my mission to learn more and to make sure that my lessons were inclusive and respectful of these kids as well. I had the good fortune to have a student's parent come and make bentwood boxes with my class. Her father also had a longhouse which he invited us to visit. We used birchbark disks for plates and had salmon and bannock while there. It was a wonderful cultural experience for my students as well as myself, and my student and his family were proud to share their culture with us. Here is a book that I found very useful when talking about the First Nations people and helping the children to understand some of their contributions to making our country special. I discovered lots too. If you would like to find out more or download a copy of the lesson plans and the book, click on the image below. It will take you to the government website where all the information is available. I also created a unit that focused on ways the early settlers and the First Nations people might have worked together. We looked at what life might have been like in the Pacific Northwest and on the Plains. We researched types of dwellings, types of canoes, food sources, trade, and life as a child and what it might have been like. The contributions of each group was looked at and the projects created were to reflect this. It was interesting to see which groups were chosen and what elements were represented in the project models. It was interesting to see how my First Nations children were able to add some of their own heritage into the projects. I have to admit, because my students were young, I didn't go into much detail about what happened later or about how the children were sent to residential schools. In recent years, this has been addressed more in the young grades and discussed in detail in the intermediate grades. There are some good books available that help to talk to kids about residential schools. Here is one source. We are lucky to have a good relationship with some of the elders of the band and there have been many different activities and sessions that have helped with understanding the culture and traditions. Several of our students participate in the dance celebrations and drumming and singing. Language classes are also a part of the week. One of my favorite activities was a nature study in the nearby forest where we learned about the different trees and plants and how they were used for clothing, medicine, food, and even transportation. If you would like to find out more about the project that we did, you can check it out here. I hope that the tips and activities I have shared with you will help to make connections with social studies taught at school. There are many opportunities for expanding and enriching understanding through discussions, research, and activities done at home as well. There is much more to social studies, but hopefully these ideas will be a springboard to further learning. Related PostsWeek 4 Focus: Primary Social Studies Part 1For the next couple of posts, I will be focusing on social studies, what it is, and how to help primary kids with tips for learning for school and home. What is social studies? In simple terms, it is the study of people and their relationships to other people and the world. For young children, it starts with family and then spreads out to community, regions, provinces, states, or territories, and from there, to countries and the world. It can be broken up into 5 different categories: geography, history, culture and society, civics and government, and economics. I will be focusing on some of these categories today, and some others next time. An important part of social studies is developing inquiry processes and skills for asking questions, gathering information, interpreting and analyzing it, and communicating effectively. It can involve mapping skills, learning about the world around them, and researching and reporting findings. For primary kids, the focus is on family, neighbourhoods, communities, and perhaps larger regions such as provinces, states, or territories. As they get to later primary grades, they begin to investigate their country, other countries, and the world. GeographyGeography is the study of places and the relationship between people and the environment. For simplicity we will be focusing on the study of places right now. This starts with looking at the neighborhood, the community, the town or city, the region, province, state, or territory, the country, the continent and the world. Mapping skills, designing and creating a community, or doing research on a city, region, or country all help kids to better understand the world around them. Mapping skills start with being able to recognize that maps are used to represent real places, and symbols or pictures are used to represent real locations. This progresses to being able follow a map to a destination, use cardinal directions, interpret symbols and legends, create simple maps, and read more complex maps. There are many different types of mapping activities that can be done to practice these skills. I wrote about many of these here. Here are some resources that can help with these skills. Mapping Skills Using Grids Mapping Skills Using Grids (online version) Creating A Community A fun extension to mapping is geocaching. This is like a scavenger hunt with added technology. The goal is to locate hidden containers by using a gps device to follow coordinates to specific locations. It is something that can be done as a family and lets people explore areas around them that they might not visit otherwise. Geocaches have been hidden all over the world, so it can be done when traveling as well. HistoryHistory is the study of past events, stories, and people in different places. This includes the significance of various events, objects, people, and places in the past and how they may impact our lives today. Then And NowWith young children, it is important to start with events that they can relate to. One way, is to look at the community they live in and find out how it has changed over time. There are many different ways to learn about the past and how things have changed over time. One way is to visit the local museum. I often booked field trips to our local museum. There were also video or slide show presentations there that showed how the city had changed over time. The kids loved seeing what it used to look like where current landmarks now sit. I also borrowed the kits they made available to use in the classroom that included artifact replicas that the children could handle and even try to use. Another place to find out information is the library. There you may be able to look at old newspaper articles or books that may have been written. Interviewing grandparents, seniors, or elders and looking at old photo albums will also provide some understanding of how life has changed over the years.
Timelines and order of eventsCreating picture timelines of families are great ways for young children to see how their families fit together. These could start at any point: when their parents met, when they were born, when they moved to a certain place. Community events timelines are a good way to help understand what events are significant in a community. These could be annual events, historic events, or even one time events that mark important happenings in the community. As children get older and begin to study a bigger part of their world, timelines could be done for larger regions, such as provinces, states, or territories, or even countries or the world. These timelines can be less pictorial and more detailed with dates and specific events listed. Culture, heritage, and traditions in societyDiverse cultures make up our communities and countries. They provide a rich blend of customs, art, music, traditions, holidays, food, clothing, and dress. It is important to value the many different aspects of culture that make us who we are as well. These characteristics of various cultures need to be acknowledged and better accepted in our communities. Research activities can be done and families can be involved in them. Several years ago, I had a student that was afraid to let people know about part of her heritage. Apparently, in another school she had been teased and she was afraid of this happening again. It made me sad to see a child so young feeling this way. I decided to create a project that would help her, and any others who may feel the same, to celebrate who they are and how their heritage made them the unique people they are. By the end of the project, she was excited to share that she had a mixed heritage and she began to feel proud of it. Here is the project we did. Another fun activity we did was a flat family project. It was based on the story of Flat Stanley and it came about after learning of a teacher who started send Flat Stanley on trips. In our case, we sent our flat families to other parts of the country and across the world to visit family members. You can read more about it here. As you can see, there are many different aspects to social studies. These are just some of the ideas and activities that you can try. I hope they are helpful for you. Next time, I will focus on other aspects of social studies. Related PostsWeek 3 Focus: Primary ScienceThis week, I am sharing some tips and activities that can help primary kids with science as they develop a better understanding of how our world works. Science is involved in every aspect of our lives. At school, kids are introduced to some of the basics, and various experiments and investigations are done. At home, more of these types of activities can happen and deeper learning can be accomplished. I know that as I was preparing for this blog post, I was amazed at how much we do that I hadn't even thought of as science, but rather, just part of my daily life. If you stop and look around you, it is amazing to discover all the science that is happening right in front of your eyes. The ideas I am sharing, are divided into several different areas, but they are only a small glimpse into the world of science. They are like a springboard into where you can go to continue to further investigate the different areas. Scientific MethodThe Scientific Method, or Scientific Process, is a way of looking at how things work in science. We begin with a question, form a guess as to what we think might happen (hypothesis), gather materials and make a step by step plan (materials and procedure), notice what happens (observations and results), and form a conclusion that may or may not be the same as our initial guess. Here is a resource that sets it out in a way for kids to understand. Scientific Method Chemistry and experimentsChemical reactions are fascinating for kids to watch and try out. There are many different experiments that can be done at home that show how things change when different ingredients are combined. Just think of times when you may have gone to a science fair at the school, or maybe even participated in one. There were undoubtedly a few chemical reactions going on there. Here are a few popular ones that I have used or remember seeing others do: making a volcano, elephant toothpaste, Coke and Mentos. Sometimes these chemical changes require added things like heat or cold to happen. Cooking and baking are examples of how we use chemistry in daily situations. Biology and life cyclesStudying the life cycles of plants and animals is a great way to introduce biology and the study of living organisms. It is exciting to see how a seed begins to sprout and grow into a plant that produces more seeds that continue the cycle. If it is a fruit or vegetable seed, it is an added bonus to be able to eat what has been grown as well. Here is a resource that may be useful for recording what happens. My Bean Plant Observation Journal Another fun thing to do, is to study the different animals and learn more about them and their lives. This was always a great research project for my students. Here are a couple of research templates that you could use if you would like to try to do this. I would sometimes add in a powerpoint component with my students so they could share with others later. Animal research planning templates Earth scienceStudying about the earth and the solar system that it is part of are fun ways to learn about where we live and how it works. Checking out solar eclipses or lunar eclipses, learning about the phases of the moon, the planets and how they orbit the sun, investigating rocks and minerals, and studying the weather are all part of earth sciences and there are many ways they can be studied both at school and at home. How many times have you come across interesting rocks or seen land formations that are intriguing and wondered how they may have been formed? Rock collecting and sorting is fun and it can also be a great learning experience. Combine that with learning about volcanoes, mining, and how different rocks are formed, and how they are used, can be a great way to study about rocks and minerals together. I still remember when I first went to Hawaii and saw the lava fields and the different rock formations and layers as we drove around. It was so interesting to see what we had studied at school in person and to experience how it impacted the area. When studying the moon phases, we used Oreo cookies to make the different phases. Not only was it a great way to reinforce what we learned, it was fun to do and we got to eat them afterwards. I have yet to find a student who didn't enjoy learning about the solar system. One of my favorite ways to study this, is to do it as a project. We do lots of research and activities along the way, but ultimately, each child gets to share what they have learned as a presentation style of their choice. This has always been a family affair, because families are encouraged to work with their kids on the final project. We have had so many amazing projects over the years and the kids have always been able to competently explain their knowledge in a way that they felt was best for them. You can check out the project and read more about it here. Our Solar System Project Physics-gravity, magnets, soundwaves, buoyancy and densityPhysics encompasses so many things. Here are a few different aspects that may be fun to explore. GravityGravitational force is what keeps us on the earth and not floating around in space. When we think of gravity, we often think of astronauts floating around in the spaceship. We don't really think about how it affects things around us. Without the pull of gravity we would not be able to walk, sit, take a shower, or do any of the basic things we do every day. There are many different ways to look at how the gravitational pull works. One way is to do what I call the "clink-clunk" test. This is a fun way to test gravity and practice using the scientific method at the same time. MagnetsStudying about magnets is another great way to see how the gravitational forces work. Kids love to see how things attract and repel. There are so many cool ways to test out if objects are magnetic or not and this can keep them busy for quite a while. They may start to drive you crazy, but they will be engaged! Sound wavesThere are lots of different fun activities that can be done to learn about sound waves and how sound travels. One of my favorites is making string telephones. Here is a craftivity and experiment that can be done to test out different types of containers and how well they can make sound travel. String Telephones Another interesting thing to test out is how size and vibration speed changes the pitches of the sound. I have an old fashioned car horn that I used to keep for this type of activity. When a bicycle horn is squeezed, it makes a fairly high pitched sound, but when the car horn is squeezed it make a much lower pitched sound. This can be a good topic for discussion and one of the activities that can go along with it is to try to find other examples of how size and speed of vibrations change the pitch. Here are a couple of examples: a violin and a double bass, a short ruler and a longer ruler. Buoyancy And DensityBuoyancy and density are also fascinating to study. One of my go to experiments is dancing raisins because they demonstrate how things that are more dense sink, but that with the gas bubbles attached to them, they become less dense and float until the bubbles pop and then they sink again. Adding salt to water and then placing an egg in it is another experiment that amazes the kids. They are surprised to see how the salt water causes the egg to float. The salt makes the water more dense than the egg causing it to float. Because different liquids have different densities, they can create an interesting display of layers when added together. The more dense liquids settle to the bottom and the less dense liquids float to the top. Have you ever noticed how quickly a person sinks when they are in the water in an upright position, but that they float when they are stretched out on their back or stomach? This is a great way to visually show buoyancy and how the water is displaced differently when the body is spread out allowing it to float. These are just a few examples of ways to show how buoyancy and density work. States Of MatterSolids, liquids, and gases are also fun to explore. Learning about the different states of matter and how they are the same or different peaks the curiosity of kids. They love to do hands on activities too, so it is fun for them to create their own water cycle and do experiments with ice. Being able to connect the water cycle with how the weather works and how nature recycles is also a great learning experience. It might also be interesting to discuss and explore how the gases in the air we breathe can be found in other states as well. ElectricityA popular experiment at recent science fairs with younger students has been creating electric currents using fruits and vegetables. They are excited to see how these act as conductors for the electricity. Working with batteries and other electronic devices also fascinates them. Electricity is fun to study, but can be a bit dangerous too. It is important to make sure that these activities are monitored. I learned through experience as a child that it isn't something to take lightly. I had not been taught much about electricity when I was young and I tried to get a plug out of a socket with a knife. Not a good move. The electrical shock went through me and into my sister who was leaning up against me. It also made a big black mark on the knife. We were very lucky not to have been seriously hurt. I definitely have a much more cautious approach to electricity now. Static electricity is also interesting to investigate. Have you ever petted an animal and then touched something and felt a shock? What about walking across carpet and then reaching to touch a door handle? This shock is caused by static electricity. There are other fun examples that don't give you a shock but demonstrate the electricity. We used to have fun rubbing a balloon in our hair and then sticking it on the wall. Sometimes, your hair will have static electricity when you take off a hat. Lightning is also a form of static electricity. This might be a great place to do some research about how static electricity works. As you can see, there are many different ways we can explore science. I have only just touched on a few. If you would like to explore more ideas, there are several places that have science activities for kids. Here are a couple that I found that might be interesting to check out. 100 Amazing Food Experiments For Kids Fun With Science: 27 Sensory Science Experiments For Kids Final ThoughtsI hope you have found some helpful tips and ideas for connecting what is being taught at school with ways to continue investigating science at home in every day situations. A child's natural curiosity can be a great springboard into many scientific adventures. Happy investigating! Don't forget to grab your free copy of The Clink Clunk Test. Related postsWeek 2 Focus: Primary Math ActivitiesThis week I want to focus on some tips for helping primary kids with math. I feel strongly that providing real life experiences helps to make learning meaningful, engaging, and relevant. Math is often thought of as lots of calculations, worksheets, equations and critical thinking activities, but in fact, math is used in almost every decision and action that we make on a daily basis. Here are just a few ways that we use math. I have also included some resource ideas. Sorting and ClassifyingWe sort things at home all the time. Think about your closet, dresser, cupboards, shelves. When you organize clothes, put away groceries, or clean up your room, you are sorting and classifying. This is a good time to look at the different kinds of sorting and classifying. What characteristics are you using for sorting? For example, with clothing, do you sort by type of clothing, color of items, season that they are worn, whether they are hung up or put into drawers or on shelves? These are just a few of the possibilities, but I think you get the idea. Not everyone uses the same set of "rules" for sorting and classifying, so this can provide opportunities for discussions as to how the "rules" are determined and may even lead to changing some of the ways that the sorting and classifying are done in the future. MeasurementKids are fascinated with measuring things. There are so many opportunities to practice measurement in everyday activities. One of the best places to do this, is in the kitchen. When cooking or baking, many forms are measurement are used. Measuring out ingredients involves using weight, mass, and volume to determine how much of each item to use. Scales, measuring cups, measuring spoons, and container of specific measurements are used. When the items are being prepared, temperature and time also become important if baking, chilling, or freezing is required. Another place where measurement is important, is at the store when shopping for food or clothing. When buying groceries, produce is weighed, packages have measurements to check, labels are read, and portions are measured. When buying clothing, size and height are important to know. At home, doing things in the workshop or the yard often require understanding linear measurement. Measuring lengths and widths of materials and being able to accurately use a measuring tape and calculate when doing construction is important. Here are a couple of examples of other measurement opportunities that involve longer distances. If you want to go on a trip, it is important to figure out how far away your destination might be and how long it will take you to get there. Perhaps you can plan it out together. Watch a track and field event or a football game. Distance is key in these sports. Time can also be important. You can find out more specific ideas for measurement here. Check out my measurement category for more resources. EstimationIt is amazing how many people find it difficult to estimate things. There are so many time when this can be an important skill to possess. Think about trying to estimate how much food is needed to feed a family, how many items will fit into a container, how much money you will need when you get to the checkout, just to mention a few. Being able to estimate time needed to get ready for school, when to leave for an appointment, how many things can be done during a set amount of time are other good skills to have. Learning to estimate things well takes time and practice. Start small with estimating things like how many objects are in a jar, how many items you can fit in a box, how long it will take to walk around the block. As the estimations get fairly accurate, increase the complexity. It might even be fun to have a competition to see who gets closest to the actual answer. TimeDeveloping an understanding of time takes practice. It begins as a concept that is very broad for young children. It is important to start with big ideas and gradually get more specific. Younger children aren't ready to read clocks and accurately make sense of what the time means. How many times have you heard kids telling their friend they will invite them to their party as if it is happening next week, when in fact, it may be several months away. They will talk about what they want to do next time some event happens as though it will be happening again soon. That is why calendars and schedules are introduced in the classroom and become a focus of each day. As kids become familiar with days, weeks, months, and years, they can be introduced to small portions of time. Using schedules with times attached to them will help with getting a sense of how long something lasts, what routines happen when, and if a picture of a clock accompanies the schedules, what to look for on a clock. Finally, actual clocks and written time can be formally introduced. Here are some resources for routines and schedules and telling time on an analog and digital clock. Routines And Schedules Task Cards Telling Time Task Cards Clock Templates Telling Time Task Cards Bundle GeometryMany people struggle with spacial awareness. Learning about geometric shapes and solids, help with understanding how different things fit together. When creating structures it is important to understand how shapes go together. Imagine trying to balance a cube on a sphere when building a house. Try doing some puzzles or activities that work with stacking objects, creating structures, making 3D puzzles, or even doing something like building a gingerbread house. For some geometry games and activities, check out my geometry category. FractionsLearning about fractions is another thing that can be confusing for kids. Sharing a pizza, or cutting slices of a cake or pie help them to visualize what is happening. Using lego can also help with seeing how different pieces can make a whole. The more opportunities they have to see fractions in real life, the better they will be able to apply the abstract concepts. Basic operationsThere are so many examples of how basic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are part of daily life. It might be fun to get the kids to find ways that they use them instead of giving them examples. Perhaps they could create list of how they use these operations during the day and then compare them with other family members. Final thoughtsWell, there you have some different options for adding math into daily living. As you can see, it is actually an integral part of our daily lives already. We just need to stop and focus on it sometimes. There are many other examples out there. I have given you a few, now let your imagination and daily experiences show you other ways that math is used. Feel free to share some of these in the comments. If you are looking for math resources for primary kids, I have many different ones available in my TPT store. Check them out here. Next time I will be sharing ideas for science activities. Check out last week's post if you want more ideas for how to incorporate language arts in everyday experiences. Related PostsWhat is Figurative Language?Have you ever been told to "get your head out of the clouds"? How about "hold your horses"? Can you just imagine what a person who is new to the English language must be thinking when they hear these expressions? I really didn't think too much about it until I had a student in my class who was a very literal thinker. I had no idea just how many different times during the day we used figurative language in the classroom. We are so accustomed to it, that we don't even realize that we are using it. There are several types of figurative language. Today I am going to focus on idioms and some fun figurative language activities for kids. What is an idiom?According to the dictionary, an idiom is an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words but that has a separate meaning of its own. For example: when we say that someone has "ants in their pants" we don't really mean that they have ants crawling around in their pants. Instead, we are referring to them being wiggly and having trouble sitting still. Here are a few other common idioms: full of beans sick as a dog a dime a dozen back to the drawing board once in a blue moon spill the beans down to the wire in hot water play it by ear raining cats and dogs in a pickle There are many more, but I think you get the idea. My daughter-in-law is Korean, and when she moved to Canada, she was often confused by the expressions we used. She would ask me what I meant when I said something that didn't fit with what the words said. This made me more aware of what I was saying. She has been here for six years now, so she is comfortable with the way we talk and often uses figurative language herself. Back to the student I had who was a literal thinker. I introduced him and my class to the Amelia Bedelia books. The author, Peggy Parish, had a wonderful way of helping us understand how much we use expressions when speaking. The character Amelia Bedelia did everything as literally said which led to some very comical situations. The children loved the way she reacted and they found it amusing to see how she would behave in each situation. My literal student began to understand that sometimes when we say something, it might have a different meaning than the words used. Fun Figurative Language Activities Using IdiomsHere are some activities that worked well with my students. You might like to try them with yours. 1. Create an idiom booklet Out of this situation, a new activity was born. We began a study on idioms and started to collect a list of expressions that we found in the books and in our daily conversations. Our goal was to come up with 100 since hundreds day was coming up soon. Needless to say, we could barely get a word out without someone saying "idiom". It was fun for the class, but it also had the potential to distract us from other things we were working on. We had to start making some guidelines to keep it in check. Once we had our expressions, we decided to do some activities with them. We created a class idiom booklet and each person was given 4 or 5 idioms to illustrate for the booklet. This booklet was a favourite for free reading time and barely lasted throughout the year because of its popularity. 2. Use Idiom task cards for a center activity I created some idiom task card games that we were able to play in small groups or as center activities. I used the theme of turning lemons into lemonade for these cards. You can check them out here. The following year, I created another set of task cards. It is called Figurative Language Task Cards. You can check it out here. 3. Use Amelia Bedelia stories to study figurative language The Amelia Bedelia series of books was very popular with all my students. Herman Parish, a nephew of Peggy Parish, continued her legacy with Amelia Bedelia and wrote some simple readers and some chapter books about Amelia's childhood. These books provided me with enough differentiated material on the same character for everyone in my class to read. We were able to study the characters, learn about idioms, and work on our reading skills at the same time. 4. Try out this activity for Good Work, Amelia Bedelia When I retired, I continued to work with small reading groups at my school. I found that the Amelia Bedelia books were still a good fit for some of the guided reading groups I was working with. I created an activity to go along with the Good Work, Amelia Bedelia book to use here. If you would like to find out more or get your own copy, check it out here. 5. What does the idiom mean? I have been thinking a lot about language lately, and I decided to create another idiom activity. It includes 39 different idioms with 10 of them that have two different images, so 49 pages in all. I have also created a small sampler of it that you can get here by clicking on the image. So there you have a few ideas for using idioms in your classroom. I hope your students have as much fun as mine did. Don't forget to grab your free sampler of idioms here. I would love to know more about how you use idioms in your classroom. Related postsHandling money is fascinating for children and it can be used to teach many different skills. It is also challenging for some children to grasp how it works. Teaching kids about money with games and activities will help them to make connections that can be used in real life. The more opportunities they have to work with it and handle it, the better they will understand how to use it. Learning the value of moneyI find it fascinating to watch kids choose nickels over dimes when given a choice.They don't know the value, but they think that bigger is worth more. They are always surprised to find out that the dime is worth more than the nickel. It is important to teach them what the values of the different coins are and how they can be combined in different ways to equal a certain amount of money. For example, 50 cents could be 2 quarters, 5 dimes, 10 nickels, 50 pennies, or combinations of these coins. Counting coins and bills is fun, and it is important too. In order to correctly pay for things or make change when given money, children need to understand how to count money. This is a great time to do activities that encourage exchanging money. Perhaps they could pretend to go shopping, or do some activity where they need to order food at a restaurant and pay cash for it. Understanding written money amountsBeing able to recognize money amounts in written form is also difficult for many children. They often get confused by the $ and the decimal point. The ¢ is not as difficult for them to recognize and use. The more they use both forms, the easier it will be for them. For younger children, explaining how the decimal works might be too abstract, but they should be able to understand that dollars come before the decimal and cents come after it. I like to use lots of games and activities to practice this. I created some task cards and Boom sets for counting money and matching up the ways it is written. You can check them out here. Debit cardsMany children think that money is a plastic card that parents use when they go shopping. They don't understand that a debit card is used for transferring money as a payment, but that the money needs to be there in order to spend it. They need to have this concept explained and taught to them. I discovered this when I was teaching my grade 3 class about money. This led to creating a unit with them about money, how to earn it, how to save it, and what happens when it is spent. It was a great learning experience for all of us. You can read more about it here. Making connectionsKids love to hear stories that relate to what they are learning. This was a great chance for me to share a story about my kids and their grandfather. Their grandfather saved any coins he received when he went places or bought things and he kept them in a container at home. When we would go over to visit, he would dump the coins out in the middle of the bed and let the kids take a handful of them. They were allowed to keep whatever they didn't drop as they went from one side of the bed to the other. It didn't take long for the older ones to strategically choose which coins they wanted to grab to gain the most money. He also had a big pig that he put all the pennies in. Once a year, they got to roll the pennies and take them to the bank. These activities gave them opportunities to practice handling money and counting it. Real life situations and other ways to use moneyMoney is also a great tool to use when practicing addition and subtraction. I often taught my students to "go to the bank" when they needed to regroup. We would also practice taking pennies and trading them in for dimes, taking dimes and trading them in for dollars, and the reverse. It helped them to visualize how regrouping works. The same thing can be done with base ten blocks, but my students were much more excited to use the money to do the regrouping. Real life situations are the best ways to help kids understand the importance of money. If they have a bank account and can see the money being deposited and withdrawn they will understand that money needs to be in the account in order for it to be taken out. Maybe they can be given opportunities to pay for things and then count the change to double check that they got the correct amount back. Learning about ways to earn money, save money, and give money is also important, but I will save that for another time. Here is a free set of task cards that may help with practicing how to recognize the way money amounts are written. You can get a copy by clicking the image. I hope that you found some ideas here to help with teaching money. Let me know in the comments if you have some other ways that work for you. I would love to hear about them. Don't forget to grab your free task cards by clicking the image or here. Related Posts
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About Me Charlene Sequeira
I am a wife, mother of 4, grandmother of 9, and a retired primary and music teacher. I love working with kids and continue to volunteer at school and teach ukulele. Categories
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