All Part of the Journey Too

This Is Not a Picture Book by Sergio Ruzzier This book is about a duckling who happens to find a book, which he attempts to appreciate but cannot because he is disappointed that the book has no pictures for him to enjoy. The book emphasizes that anyone who can read a little can still learn to enjoy books with no pictures because the words are still rich with meaning. 2. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems This is a fun book for children to interact with as they must tell the pigeon "No!" and that he cannot drive the bus. It is full of statements, questions, and commands for them to observe. 3. Tanka Tanka Skunk! by Steve Webb Tanka Tanka Skunk is a rhyming book that encourages children to read aloud and enjoy its rhythm. It causes children to count along with the syllables, or beats, of the words. 4. Circus Vowels: The Long and the Short of It by Jodi L McMaster The is a colorful and useful book written by a first grade teac...

I had never heard of the Sketch to Stretch strategy. Kids are told to sketch something real quick just to clarify and broaden their understanding of something new. I really liked our instructor's idea of how to use it a formative assessment tool - having the kids do it after parts of a read-aloud - to make sure they are making appropriate connections to the content. Concept muraliing works as a way to show kids how to do something in the form of a visual representation. I want to use this in the class anytime it can help because I know many students will be visual learners, and for others, it will enhance or solidify their learning experiences. (http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/balancedliteracydiet/UserFiles/Image/Photos/bld_photos/00034/P02.jpg) Graphic Organizers I believe are used in most classrooms because they organize the information for students, helping them process new and older concepts or data, along with feelings about them. We spoke about affective learning, which i...

Because my focus for my 10 lesson plans is mainly on reading foundations, Chapter Four is very useful to me (Working With Words). It was good to learn more about the expected phonemes students are to learn and how to approach spelling. It used to be difficult for me not to correct children with their spelling of words they felt they knew, even they were proud of their work, but by God's grace, I am able to see all of that as part of the learning and growing process. It's somewhat the same way in Chapter 5 (Writing: A Multidimensional Process) because it explains that the writing process as far as writing stories and essays and such should be like a skeleton with tissue and muscles and tendons and flesh all being grown on it. That's the image I got. They're in essence going to relearn the process a dozen times as they progress through the school system, getting better and better at it and filling in the gaps and refining their craft.  I also like the concept of using po...

WORD WALLS (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/236157574189921499/) This is a practical way to store word wall words. I like practical. I am more prone to use this because it is a definite space saver and it's easy to use them again for the next school year if I want to. (http://teacherytidbits.blogspot.com/2014/02/bright-ideas-interactive-word-wall.html) I like this one because it's more interactive, as the students will get the lists and take the words they need and put the rest of the list back for others to use. We can add a whole bunch of words without worrying about how much of the window or wall is being taken over.. Since word walls are for high-frequency words for the most part, it makes sense to use all the words from one of the Fry lists, depending on what grade level is being taught. (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/236157574186918353/) I like this because the students get to add their little drawings to the words that will help them remember its meani...

The terms that I was least familiar with in the first three chapters of our text are: anecdotal record keeping: I am a person who makes a lot of lists, and they help me a lot to remember things and get things done. The anecdotal record keeping is something that I would want to use to keep lists and quick notes about what actually works in my classroom and details about the kids that will help me to get to know them, connect with them, and help them do their best. language experience approach: This is somewhat like a formal think aloud done by the student in order to progress through to the writing process in a structured way. This is good for those times when students say they cannot think of what to write or how to start writing. When they verbalize their relevant or seemingly irrelevant thoughts and share their experience, they are constructing the framework for their writing. morning message: I really like the idea of doing this because it's taking advantage of so many opp...

Hello, I'm Keiza ("kay-zuh") and this is my second educational blog. I have a personal one too but it's not really up and running yet. I'm a wife and a mother of 3. I'm getting my Elementary Education certification, preferring to teach anywhere from 1st to 3rd grade. I am so glad that we have Dr. Steffes as our instructor. I usually learn a lot from her and I know she has high and realistic expectations. I still have a lot, lot, lot to learn though and I still have about 11 more classes before student teaching. I am also glad that all the assignments for the blog posts are already set up so we don't have to guess, and that the syllabus and content in D2L is so detailed. I like the idea of the scope and sequence (not saying it will necessarily be easy to construct) because it puts everything together and gives the big picture ideas. Beginning with this, to me, is like creating an outline for a big essay so that you can stay on track. Very useful.