4 Effective Instructional Strategies That You Can Use This Week

Effective instructional strategies withstand the test of time, and even some learned in my college years remain useful. While I can be quite sure that Dr. Green never imagined how far technology would advance or that students would need to continue learning during a pandemic, her course introduced me to the ways students experience the world and learn. The best of these strategies involve giving students time to manipulate and process new information.

1. Graphic Organizers 

Graphic organizers range from Venn diagrams to timelines and can help students make connections and remember information. I once asked my class to complete a rather simple writing assignment. A student asked, "But where is our organizer?" Even though I neglected to provide a writing organizer with this lesson, the students clearly knew that this tool helped them do their best work.

2. Movement

Research shows that kinesthetic activities have many benefits to learning. When it comes to movement activities, we tend to think about preschool and early elementary age students. However, movement activities continue to benefit learners at any level. One way to add movement to a lesson is to incorporate an educational brain break during a lesson. For example, in the middle of a geometry lesson, you could play Simon Says Geometry. Students use their hands and arms to show right angles, acute angles, obtuse angles, parallel lines, intersecting lines, points, lines, line segments, and rays. If you try this game with your kiddos, remember to throw in some sillies and enjoy the laughter! 

3. The Anticipatory Set 

An anticipatory set is a set of prompts that get students ready to learn. The goal is to activate prior knowledge, build background, or make connections. An anticipatory set can be set up as a gallery walk, mystery bags, or simply a series of questions. Considered to be somewhat time-consuming, their importance is sometimes overlooked. Perhaps adding an anticipatory set to one lesson per day or a couple per week to build your library of this effective strategy would prevent overwhelm. 

4. Sorting Activities 

Young children sort physical objects by color, shape, size, etc. School-age students can sort pictures, words, phrases, and sentences into appropriate categories as they process information and build upon prior knowledge.  Sorting activities can be used for individual assignments, partner work, small group activities, or assessments. 

The art of teaching includes the selection of instructional strategies to use in each lesson. Have you incorporated any of these strategies into your lessons recently? 

5 Virtual Field Trips Worth Checking Out

My first virtual field trip with my class was with a geologist at the University of Maine. Virtual field trips were just beginning to emerge, and as part of my district's technology grant, I was lucky enough to be a pioneer on the virtual playground. This early experience took an IT tech to set up on the school's best TV located in our media room. Even in this low tech set up, the kids and I were amazed that we could connect and interact live with someone in another part of the country and become "certified" rock hounds. 

With amazing tech advances, standards with greater rigor, and increasing opportunities, finding just the right virtual experiences for students can be overwhelming. Unlike those earlier days when there were only a few hundred virtual field trips floating around, now teachers can choose experiences that match standards in any content area. 

If you are looking to add virtual field trips or experiences to your lessons, the sites listed below may be worth a look. To save you time, the links should take you directly to the virtual experience page of each site. As always, make sure to preview the tours and webinars to ensure that they are appropriate for your students!

1. Yellowstone National Park

Topics include animals, winter adaptations, ecology, geysers, volcanoes, and the night sky to name a few.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/education-videos.htm

2. The National Zoo

Live virtual events are free and require advanced sign-up. Topics include habitats, life cycles, and a zoo walk. 

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/education/virtual-programs-calendar

Check out the live animal cams! Why is that panda always sleeping and where is the elephant hiding?

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/webcams

3. Ellis Island

This virtual experience is run by Scholastic and is prerecorded. Park rangers explain the history of Ellis Island and take questions from classrooms. The virtual tour may help you meet the immigration standards in your curriculum.

https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/education/classrooms/virtual-learning.htm

4. Museum of the American Revolution

Allow plenty of time for this one! Rather than simply viewing old stuff, this museum's virtual (and in-person) experience revolves around 4 questions that will encourage you and your students to ponder The American Revolution on a deeper level.

https://museumvirtualtour.org/

5. Access Mars

Don't skip the intro!

https://accessmars.withgoogle.com/

Please note that 4th Grade Frenzy is not affiliated with any of the websites or companies listed above. They are noted for informational and educational purposes to be used at your discretion. 

What virtual experiences have you tried in your classroom? Feel free to share your best recommendations in the comments below! 

A Simple Tool To Improve Learning

Timelines are graphic organizers that show information in chronological order. They are useful for displaying key ideas and can help students organize the information that they read. Although social studies topics come to mind first, timelines can be useful in other subjects as well. Timelines can be used to sequence a story, list procedures in a science experiment, or steps in solving a math problem. 

Here are some benefits of using timelines in lessons: 

1. Timelines enable students to break down larger amounts of information into smaller, easier to comprehend bits of information. Breaking down information can promote a greater understanding of a topic. 

2. Timeline graphic organizers provide a visual representation of content. They can be particularly helpful to visual learners, English language learners, and special needs students.

3. Timelines are useful for teaching research skills and notetaking. Elementary grade students who are just beginning to learn how to research and take notes can use a timeline to display the most important parts of their findings. Timelines help students focus on key ideas to include when presenting research. 

How to introduce timelines to your students:

1. Show students examples. 

The examples can be timelines that you find online, draw on the board, or even one made on poster board.

2. Create a timeline together. 

You may want to begin by creating a timeline of a typical school day. Draw a timeline format on the board and label "arrival" at the beginning of the timeline. Students can write activities and subject areas in chronological order along with corresponding times.

3. Assign independent or partner timeline research and creation. 

Be sure to assign or suggest topics that spark interest! Students can create a timeline of fun topics on bulletin board paper, poster board, or printables such as this resource:

Timeline Resource

Timelines make learning so much easier! 

Examples of Specific Feedback for Students

General comments such as "Great Job" are nice words that may make students feel good, but specific feedback can help students advance their learning. Imagine that you are just learning to drive. After driving all over town, the instructor or your parent says, "That was pretty good, but there are some things you still need to work on," and walks away. It may be kind of important to know what exactly was good and what needs work! Students need the guidance of teachers to provide information about what is going well, and what next steps to take to move along. This guidance can be provided in the form of specific feedback. Feedback can be provided informally while walking around the room as students work or more formally with a student and teacher conference. Either way, your students will likely benefit from specific feedback. 

Like other effective instructional practices, providing specific feedback may take a bit of practice. You may want to try focusing on one subject area to start. Then you can add other subject areas as specific feedback becomes a habit. Here are examples of specific feedback in 5 subject areas to get you started:

1. Writing

You remembered to indent each paragraph. The next step is to use transition phrases such as "The following day..." when you begin a new paragraph. 

2. Math

You chose the right operation to begin that story problem and solved it correctly. It's a 2 part story problem so let's keep reading to decide what to do next.

3. Science

Your graph is an accurate display of your results. What conclusions can you draw based on this data?

4. Social Studies

You were able to use North, East, South, and West correctly when answering questions about the map. Now you are ready to work with the intermediate directions.

5. Reading

You were able to answer all the factual questions from the passage correctly. Rereading may help you answer those trickier open-ended questions so that your answers are supported by text evidence.

When you provide specific feedback, you are recognizing small steps toward a goal. Notice the reaction from the student when you give specific feedback. Confidence grows when students know exactly what to do next. 

Have you tried giving specific feedback? Feel free to share what has worked for you in the comments below! 

I've been reading a lot about the importance of habits. You too? Read about making math a habit HERE!

5 Whole Group Games That Work With Kids At Their Seats

Kids staying at their seats may not be the ideal situation. Nevertheless, adapting temporarily can give students the opportunity to play whole group games. Of course, make sure that you are able to follow all health and safety guidelines before playing these games. 

1. Bingo

Bingo can be played to reinforce many topics from vocabulary words to math facts. Consider using printed disposable bingo boards. Students can have their own set of chips that can be stored in individual Ziploc type bags or inexpensive plastic containers. Here is a FREE blank printable bingo board that students can fill in with vocabulary words that you write on the board.

FREE Vocabulary Game Board

2. Twenty Objects

Display 20 pictures on the board for 1 minute. For younger students, you can start with fewer objects. The pictures can be content-related. For example, if you are studying electricity, you could have 20 pictures of items that run on electricity. To play during a math lesson, you could display 20 math-related items. After 1 minute, close the display. Students then try to write down as many items as they can remember. 

3. Unpacking Grandmother's Trunk

Students pretend to be up in Grandmother's attic unpacking an imaginary trunk. One by one, students name imaginary items that are found in the trunk. Each student must list the previous students' items before adding their own. Some like to play this game using the alphabet. A game could go like this:

Student 1: I unpacked my Grandmother's trunk and found an accordion.

Student 2: I unpacked my Grandmother's trunk and found an accordion and a bike.

Student 3: I unpacked Grandmother's trunk and found an accordion, a bike, and a cake.

Let the kids be silly and see how far they can go. If you have fewer than 26 students, they can have more than one turn. If you have more than 26 students, you can have recorders who write down what is said. Another starter for playing this game is "I am packing a suitcase for vacation and I am packing..."

4. Categories

This game is played like Scattegories. Make a list of 5 to 10 categories such as animals, plants, games, names, places, books, food, etc. Choose a random letter. Students then try to write one example from each category that begins with the selected letter. For the letter "D" a student could write:

Animal - dog

Plant - dandelion

Game - dominoes

Name - Dustin

Place - Dave and Busters

Book - The Doorbell Rang

Food - donut

Categories can be related to curriculum content once the students know how to play. For example, the solar system, rocks and minerals, music, art and design, and colonial times, could be categories. Make the categories more specific for advanced play. 

5. I Have Who Has Games

I Have Who Has is a fun game for students to play while practicing various skills. The game starts with a set of cards that are NOT numbered. All of the cards in the set are distributed even if students need to get more than one card. One student will have a card that says "I have the first card. Who has..." If students are practicing math vocabulary, the first card may read "I have the first card. Who has 2 lines on the same plane that are equal distance apart and never meet?" The student who goes next would have the card that says "I have parallel lines. Who has a part of a line that stops at given endpoints?" The game continues with students listening for clues to the card that comes next. The game ends when a student has the card that reads, "I have the last card." Students like to repeat these games while being timed to see if they can beat their previous time. During times when students cannot share materials, these games can be printed on paper and disposed of after each use. Once students can share materials, the game cards can be printed and laminated for repeated use. 

Here are a few inexpensive suggestions to get started with I Have Who Has Games:

Multiplication Game 2's and 3's

Multiplication Game 3's and 4's

Multiplication Game 4's and 5's

Multiplication Game 5's and 6's

Dreaming of getting back to the future with all the things? Here are some not-so-socially-distanced games to keep in mind for later on:

Whole Group Games

What are your favorite classroom games? Feel free to leave a comment below!

With faith and friendship,

6 Models of Co-Teaching

Co-Teaching is a rewarding, yet challenging experience. Co-teachers need to plan and communicate regularly, and consideration of teaching models will most likely become regular topics.

There are 6 basic models of co-teaching to consider when planning your lessons.

1. One Teach and One Observe

One teacher teaches while the other teacher collects data. The data collected can be academic or behavior, formal or informal. One type of data that I previously asked my co-teachers to collect centered around my interaction with the students. I wanted to know how many times I called on each student during a particular lesson and whether or not they had raised their hands before being called on. This was informal data collection but helped me recognize which students needed more engagement or sharing opportunities and of course, which students had no trouble at all with class participation.

2. One Teach and One Assist

One teacher teaches while the other teacher provides individual assistance during the lesson. Basically, one teacher is leading the lesson while the other walks around and helps any student who may be confused or needs additional direction.

3. Parallel Teaching

The class is divided into 2 groups (possibly based on data) and each teacher teaches a group at the same time.

4. Station Teaching

Both teachers teach in small groups, and the students rotate through stations that include meetings with the teachers. My personal favorite! If you group students into 4 groups, they can rotate around the room with 2 teacher-directed stations and 2 more independent stations. The teacher stations can be different parts of a lesson and students would visit both of your stations. Alternatively, the teacher stations could be the same and students would visit with just one of you. Students love this form of instruction (as do many administrators in my experience!) This type of teaching allows for teacher and student engagement while allowing for creativity and independence. Station teaching is perfect for incorporating those fun ideas found on Pinterest and TpT!

5. Alternative Teaching

One teacher takes a small group aside during a lesson for intense or remedial instruction. This type of model works well when you have a small group of struggling students and they cannot move on with content until they grasp certain concepts. Buyer beware though...often students who are not struggling will ask to sit at the table! How you handle this is up to you, but sometimes a student may just need a little TLC so if there is room at the table...

6. Team Teaching

Both teachers teach all the students in a whole group instruction format. Some concepts are just better taught with the two of you interacting back and forth in complementary roles. This model almost feels like a theatrical performance and can really be fun and effective. Students like to pay attention to the interaction between the adults and the adlib in the lesson. Again...buyer beware...students have been known to use this type of lesson to get you sidetracked and off-topic!


You can choose different models during the day to keep the variety and meet the needs of your students. Flexibility is important too. A lesson that begins with One Teach and One Assist may evolve into Alternative Teaching if you observe that some students are in need of greater support.

Working with a co-teacher and need a place to start? Check out this Co-Teaching Guide that includes plenty of helpful printables:

Co-Teaching Resources

Have you used any of these co-teaching models? Which models have worked out the best?

4th Grade Writing Prompts and Ideas

4th Grade curriculum usually includes 4 types of writing.

This chart summarizes expository, descriptive, persuasive, and narrative writing. It can be used as a reference and get you started with your lessons.

4 Types of Writing Printable

Does your writing curriculum need supplements?

Kids love this Opinion Writing resource that may help with your persuasive writing goals:

Opinion Writing

Once students are interacting again, you can try a fun way to distribute the opinion writing prompts!

1. Place each prompt in a separate envelope. Do not seal.

2. Have students stand up.

3. Distribute one envelope to each student. Spread out the extra envelopes on a table.

4. Students look at their prompt but keep it a secret.

5. If the student wants to keep their prompt, they sit down with it.

6. If a student does not want the prompt, they may EITHER trade with a classmate or swap at the table.

7. Repeat step 6 one more time or for as long as your patience allows!

8. Students use an organizer and begin writing.

Need just a graphic organizer for your own topics? Check out this print and go best seller for only $1.00!

Personal Narrative

Have you ever thought about having pen pals? Pen pal letter exchange can help students practice their writing skills. Check out this older post where I talk about how I teamed up with a teacher in California for a pen pal experience.    

Pen Pals!

Once you team up with another teacher, you may want to use this friendly letter resource to get your kids started:

Friendly Letter Writing

Choice boards are all the rage and writing is no exception! Kids and teachers love these writing choice boards that can be used throughout the school year. One teacher states: "I used this during writers workshop. The kids really loved the variety of prompts and it was easy to implement every month."

Writing Choice Boards

What motivates your students to write? Feel free to respond in the comments below!