A Strategy For Leaving School On Time

Leaving school on time and not taking work home at night and on weekends is one of the biggest challenges teachers have. The simple truth is that teachers are often assigned more work than can be completed during prep and whatever time can be salvaged from lunch. Although being organized and systematized certainly optimize efficiency, try thinking beyond the sticky notes and routines in order to eliminate time spent outside of contractual hours.

One of the best ways to get your time back could be hiding within your grade-level team. Many tasks are assigned to all teachers. Working as a team, these tasks can be divided up, shared, and then adjusted by each teacher. An initial investment of time would include a meeting to discuss the concept and begin dividing up tasks. Consider tasks that could be completed by one teacher and shared with the others: 

Lesson Plans

Hallway Displays

Meeting Notes and Minutes

Copies

Learning Centers

Field Trips

Visitors

Parent Communication

Ceremonies

Class Parties

Focus Walls 

Review Games

Projects

Homework Assignments

Behavior Management

Assessment Creation

Each situation is unique and this is just a guide to get started. Brainstorm your own list and consider dividing up the larger tasks into smaller ones. For example, one teacher may write the math plans and another may write the science plans. Tasks can be taken for the month or for the school year as desired.

Some teachers may struggle with giving up control, but each individual teacher can adjust a final product to their liking. For example, if one teacher creates a hallway display for the month, the basic project is done. An individual teacher can add their own spin to it. 

Letting go of control can be difficult at first, but the reward is great. Once this system is in place, a team can work more efficiently resulting in teachers who have a life outside of school!

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Benefits of Read Alouds in the Classroom

My only memory of 4th grade is listening to my teacher, Mrs. Haker, read the Little House on the Prairie series to us every day after recess. This sacred time provided a feeling of calm following the chaos of recess in the '70s. I remembered wishing that she would just keep on reading all afternoon. Today, the time after lunch and recess is still marked by beloved read-alouds in many elementary classrooms. The benefits of read-alouds are worth every minute.

 

1. Read-alouds expose students to many curriculum standards. 

A read-aloud can be used to informally discuss genre, author's purpose, literary elements, and text structure, to name a few. Rather than teaching these skills in isolation or in the context of a reading book, students can experience these ideas outside of the literacy block. 

2. Read-alouds promote the joy of reading. 

What is more endearing than hearing, "I found the same book you're reading to us!" from a student in the library. Often students will try to find the same book you are reading or books from the same author. During a read-aloud, students can simply enjoy a story with no other required tasks. 

3. Listening skills are developed.

Students are listening and visualizing the story which is a skill that can transfer to independent reading. Sometimes, students may enjoy drawing what they visualize as you read. 

4. Read-alouds help students form a common bond.

The read-aloud is a whole class activity experienced by all students. The class will always have the memory of this time together. 

5. Fluency and expression are modeled.

As students learn to read, they need to hear what smooth, fluent reading sounds like. Fluency is important for comprehension. 

6. Read-alouds spark curiosity.

When students listen to a story, they may discover a new interest. In addition, read-alouds can be selected to introduce a concept in science, social studies, or other curriculum areas. 

7. Students make connections.

Stories enable students to make connections to other books, to themselves, and to the world.

8. Read-alouds can be used as a springboard for writing activities.

Craftivities with a theme around the read-aloud are motivating to students. There are plenty of ideas worth a look at on Pinterest or you could try these time-saving resources:

Need some ideas for read-alouds? Of course, it is recommended that you read the books first to make sure that they are appropriate for your students!

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Niagara Falls, or Does It?  by Henry Winkler and the rest of the Hank Zipser series

Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Holes by Louis Sachar

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

The BFG by Roald Dahl

Looking to mix it up during read-aloud time? Try:

• Poems from Where the Sidewalk Ends or Falling Up
• Joke books for kids
• Picture books that are just silly and seasonal 
• Picture books to introduce a new topic 

Why not squeeze in a few minutes after lunch for a quality read-aloud? It just may be what your students remember about your class years from now!

*Please note: Fourth Grade Frenzy is not affiliated with any of these books. This post is informational only. 

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5 Benefits of Craftivities

Crafting can be extended beyond learning the ABCs. When students make a craftivity, they are practicing skills that need attention.

1. Fine Motor Skills

Ask any middle-grade teacher who has been around for a while. Fine motor skills are less developed than in previous years. Of course, there are students still rocking the eye-hand coordination, but many teachers have seen this trend. Craftivities include practice with cutting, positioning, and gluing. 

2. Following Directions

See above for similar trends. Following multi-step directions can be especially challenging for students. Craftivities have many steps that can be grouped into chunks of directions for students to follow. For example, "Cut out the leaf, and glue it on the tree branch." 

3. Chill Time

Many students relax their minds during craftivity time. Don't be surprised if a few even start humming quietly to themselves. Soft music playing in the background is a great option during craftivity time.

4. Motivation To Write

Whether the completed projects will be hung up in the hall or at home on the fridge, students are usually asked to complete writing to go along with their project. Students have a purpose for writing and craftivities can be an engaging option for reluctant writers. Motivation increases when students prepare their writing to go along with a display project. 

5. Pride And Accomplishment 

Students love seeing their completed projects hung on a bulletin board or in the hall!

Click the pictures to view a few customer favorites!

 

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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 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 how 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 didn't provide a writing organizer for this lesson, the students 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 often 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, 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 time-consuming, their importance is sometimes overlooked. 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? 

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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 the school's best TV in our media room. Even in this low-tech setup, 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 only a few hundred virtual field trips were floating around, now teachers can choose experiences that match standards in any content area. 

If you are looking for virtual field trips or experiences, 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, preview the tours and webinars to ensure 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 websites or companies listed above. They are noted for informational and educational purposes to be used at your discretion. 

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A Simple Tool To Improve Learning

Timelines are graphic organizers that show information in chronological order. They are useful for displaying key ideas and will help students organize the information 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 helpful to visual learners, English language learners, and special needs students.

3. Timelines are useful for teaching research skills and note-taking. Elementary-grade students who are just beginning 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 you find online, drawn on the board, or even made on poster board.

2. Create a timeline together. 

You can 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! 

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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's 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 formally during a student/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 can focus 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 recognize 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.  

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

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