The Shouting Game

No, it's not when students forget to do the "silent cheer" when they win a round of Jeopardy, and it's not another Sentence Scramble run-around-the-room game, the Shouting Game is what happens when the students in this fall's Tiny Schoolhouse are frantic to share the correct answer on test review day. 

But they have absolutely no idea what it is.

When classroom review turns into an unexpected game of charades on the day when I think it will be a well oiled machine pumping out "Words to Know" and connecting concepts like 1-2-3, who forgot to do the homework, the teacher or the students?

Something to Hold

Recently, when my family returned from vacation, I explained to my daughter what souvenir means- to remember.  We bring something with us when we return from vacation so that we can remember the fun we had and the place we visited.  We treasure souvenirs because they are things we can hold that represent a time and place that exists in our memory. 

Teachers know the value of "something we can hold" and the link to memory.  We distribute handouts and encourage students to work with manipulatives. 

As the new school year begins, students from this summer's Tiny Schoolhouse will be called upon to remember the lessons that we learned, from grammar and phonics to basic study skills that lead to classroom success and confidence.

Remembering all they learned will be difficult in the face of the pressures a new school year brings- adjusting to a new teacher and classroom, meeting new classmates, managing the long school day and the demands of after school activities. 

At the end of these early days of the year, when it is still hot out and students are already starting the countdown to the first vacation, it is easy to slip into old habits- ignoring homework assignments, succumbing to classroom distractions, fear of failure. 

To encourage my students to continue their path to academic success I am giving them something to hold, a basic Study Skills Guide with tips on the most important (and most often forgotten) skills including:

• Keeping a neat notebook
• Listening and participating
• Working as a team member in the classroom
• Following directions
• Managing homework assignments
• Making study sheets
• Using class notes to study
• Staying confident
• Doing well

Tears and The Tough One

Years ago, a few weeks before the start of my first year teaching, everyone I met told me tales of "The Tough One."

"There's one in every class," teaching veterans, parents and peers who had never stood on the other side of the podium warned me. 

"Don't smile."

"Maintain eye contact."

"Take control."

"Show no fear."

"Show no mercy."

The list went on...

I began to imagine myself confronted by a classroom teeming with Tough Ones, the ring leader rallying the masses, leaving me quivering before the world's most terrifying 15-year-olds.

As it turned out, my first classes of students, many of whom had tough lives outside of the classroom, found school to be a safe place, a place to put the toughness aside, to open their minds and to develop new ideas and confident ways of expressing ideas. 

For the most part.

There were a few Tough Ones- a few particularly tough days.  But in my first year I, like so many teachers, learned that "The Tough One" always has a story.  She may be the weak one in her own home.  He may struggle with self esteem or confidence.  She may need someone to be kind and supportive- someone to listen before reacting; connect as an individual before assuming and labeling.

Years later, when I stepped into My Tiny Schoolhouse, full of First through Fourth Graders, I wasn't thinking about "The Tough One."  I marveled at the size of the desks and the fact that you have to remind the students how to use the lines on a page of notebook paper.

As the days went on and the children became more comfortable, our "Tough One" emerged.  He was the smallest, though he was not the youngest.

He did his best to bend the class to his will- he tried interrupting, getting out of his seat, in extreme cases, he tried taunting his classmates.

In the moment, you can start to forget that this child is between the ages of six and ten.  You can start to resent his attempt at taking over your classroom, your plans for the day.  You can be tempted to treat him like an adult, or an adversary.

What I learned with our Tough One this summer is that he is also the first to cry- when he loses a game or answers a question incorrectly. 

He is smart and he is scared.  And he is shy. 

As teachers- the new and the veteran- head back to school, I have my own bit of advice about the Tough One.  Think of him or her as the Sensitive One.  The one who needs your patience, your discipline and your professional attention. 

You may be the one he or she looks most forward to seeing each day.  You may be the one he needs on his side the most- to encourage, to motivate and to teach.

What about You?

As if learning singular and plural weren't difficult enough with nouns that don't use the "+s Rule," along come you, your, and yours.

Personal Pronouns have received much attention in my Tiny Schoolhouse this summer.  For the Second Person Lesson, we also added in your favorite contraction and mine, "you're."

Full disclosure- when my husband and I first started dating, he swapped "your" for "you're" in an email.  We are both surprised we've lasted as long as we have.

So I am determined that this generation of students- as many as I am privileged to work with- will never, ever compromise an amazing relationship due to the misuse of a personal pronoun.

For this lesson, we began with a conversation, using "you are" in place of "you're" to get students used to what they are actually saying.

Often, younger students misunderstand contractions.  They can view contractions as new word forms that don't connect with their own speech and reading experiences.  In a way, contraction confusion mirrors math confusion when students don't understand the components of a contraction (2 independent words) and the function each word performs (for example, pronoun+verb).

To introduce and reinforce the contraction lesson and the case lesson, our conversation played with absurdity:

"That is you are cookie."

"Sally is inviting both of yous to her pool party."

On a speech level, all of the students were able to draw the syntactical distinction between "your" and "you're."  Success!

To take the lesson to the next level, we turned to the board:

Singular                                                    Plural

you                                                             you   

your                                                            your

yours                                                          yours

Students copied this carefully into their notebooks.  Next, we read each case out loud, in order.  Last, we closed notebooks and the class chanted "Singular: you, your, yours; Plural: you, your, yours" as I tapped each word on the board.

We wrapped up the participatory board lesson with

you're = you are

Students copied the "contraction equation" and drilled aloud.

To wrap it all together, students worked independently at home on a worksheet entitled "What about You?".

Looks like this group of kids will grow up to be lucky in love.... that is if they also have the good fortune of falling for grammarians.

Read It: Back to School

Back to School is a great time to establish patterns for student success and set the stage for a year of confidence and academic success. These last days of summer can prove essential to paving the way for a great year.

Promote early literacy and help ease children's fears by exposing them to books that present significant life events in an age-appropriate way.

Thanks to twitter moms and HarperCollins, I found a great list of recommended reading for kids who are nervous, or excited (that happens too!) about heading Back to School.

Back-to-School Books Back-to-School Sweepstakes

When a young child reads about topics that are significant, scary, or exciting in their lives, important things happen for literacy.

        1. Your child learns to see his/her life in a larger context- "what happens to me happens to others"-helping to teach empathy.
       
        2. Your child develops tools that harness imagination and creativity to help prepare for events.
       
        3. Your child understands reading as an information-seeking activity (in addition to an entertainment   activity), helping to plant the seeds of critical thinking and research skills that will lead to lifetime learning success.

There, They're, Their...

No worries, it's just another grammar lesson.  But this is one that, as I explained to my students, confuses some of the smartest adults I know.

Homophones can be tricky, especially for young students who struggle with Language Arts skills or have a weak foundation.  Most of these students rely on the "it doesn't sound right" method of determining word choice, structure and other basic grammatical elements of sentences. 

When it sounds the same but has a different definition and function, it's time to examine what each word means, how it is spelled and when and how it is used.

Enter our first lesson, that works in conjunction with Personal Pronouns: "There, They're, Their."

For this lesson we turn to some old school fundamentals:
Board Work
Worksheets
Drills
Memorization Exercises

Check back for samples of our "There, They're Their" activities and an update on how the class performs when test time arrives.

What are your tips for foundational grammar lessons?

Game Time! 
For a related topic (great for the older students in the class), check out this online Memory Game for common homonyms.

LevelUp!

Kids love video games, in part because they are able to observe, make determinations and advance based on their own actions.  Video games (the right ones, in moderation) can provide children the opportunity to use reasoning skills and gain confidence.

LevelUp is my classroom intervention that brings the best of a video game's energy and confidence building potential to classroom and homework assignments.

It works well in my Tiny Schoolhouse, where students range from First through Fourth Grade in the same classroom.  Students who finish assignments early and well, both in class and at home, are offered the chance to grab a LevelUp assignment and earn an extra 5 points on their next test.

I was surprised when a Second Grader- and my shyest student by far- asked for a LevelUp assignment after hearing me explain it to a Fourth Grader who finished the classroom exercise early.

She embraced the day's LevelUp assignment (see below) and, as it turns out, our Fourth Grade speed finisher shied away from the challenge.

LevelUp: Writing Celebration

Write 1 paragraph about your favorite holiday.
Use at least 3 Proper Nouns
Use at least 6 Common Nouns
Circle the Proper Nouns
Draw a square around the Common Nouns
Underline the Subject of each sentence

Family Stress Saver, School Success Maker

De-Stress Your Morning Routine - Parenting.com (Page 4)

You can tell this tip came from Ann Dolin who wrote the book on homework- literally!

Dolin, via Parenting.com, explains to parents that creating a space in the house dedicated to homework, school supplies, and daily necessities, helps to "De-Stress" mornings for families during the school year.

This suggestion does more than that. It gives parents and children the opportunity to double check that everything is complete and ready the night before school, and gives students enough time to finish forgotten tasks like homework assignments, school paperwork or gathering Show and Tell items.

Arriving to class well prepared is one of the single most important ways to get and stay ahead. Preparation inspires confidence.

Preparation sets the tone for a great day- for student and teacher!

Thanks, Parenting.com, for insight on this connection between parent involvement and student success.

Sentence Scramble

Since it's summer, we've played quite a few Grammar Games- from Pronoun Polka to weekly review Jeopardy, with mixed results.

The class is starting to embrace game play, with some of the youngest students rising to the challenge in unexpected ways.  Our First Grader who struggled with spelling during the academic year is sweeping the Spelling Words category.  All of the students are learning how to take risks, win, and lose with respect and confidence.

Our newest game is the Sentence Scramble, like a living grammar version of Mad Libs.  There is no winner (perhaps their Language Arts teachers in September!) but it's physical, fun and educational.

How to Play Sentence Scramble

Supplies:
12+ large cards (or 8.5X11 sheets of paper)*
Thick Marker

Directions:

Lay the Foundation

On the first card, write SUBJECT
On the second card, write VERB
On the third card, write OBJECT

Hand out the cards to three students (they can be winners of a previous challenge, first volunteers to raise their hands, students who turned in homework on time, etc).

Students with cards scramble to form the structure of a simple sentence:

SUBJECT        VERB       OBJECT

Shout it Out

Students call out sample Subjects, Verbs, and Objects

Write each word on a card

Scramble!

With the first 3 students in place, place word cards on table/desks

Create teams of 3 from remaining students 

Shout "Scramble!"

3 Member Groups form sentences:

Stand behind the SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT students and hold cards high above heads

Each student shouts his/her word to share the sentence with the class

Pronoun Polka

First Person Pronoun- Right hand up
Second Person Pronoun- Drop to the floor
Third Person Pronoun- Left hand up...

Mix it up with the common and proper nouns
Proper Noun- Right leg out
Common Noun- Left leg out

It's the Pronoun Polka and today was fun!

It's Personal!

My students are still buzzing from yesterday's World Cup Final.

Today we chanted "I, me, my, mine" with all the gusto of "GOOOLLLLLL." 

Personal pronouns are coming along well so far.  We kicked off the lesson with First Person and Second Person.  A First Person "It's Personal" worksheet followed with special bonus activities for the Fourth Graders and other students (inclding two star Second Graders) who finished early.

Much of today was an old fashioned lesson with students copying information from the board into their notebooks.  We spiced it up by chanting and clapping to store those pronouns in our brains.

We'll see how it turns out this Friday when we have our first unit test, "Nouns and Company."

Gaming It

From Tic-Tac-Toe to Jeopardy, students love games.  They are a great way to break up the monotony (and let's face it, sometimes drilling phonics can be monotonous), build teamwork skills and demonstrate what they have learned in a fun way that provides an instant reward.

In my summer school classroom, with First through Fourth Grade students, games are posing more of a challenge than I expected.  During the school year, my Second Graders beg to play Jeopardy and love working together for the win.  Their teammates become their cliques.  They burst into "We Will Rock You" as soon as they see the categories on the board, and they huddle up each time they hear a question.

Here, it's a bit different.  Summer school students struggle with confidence.  They fear failure because many have failed, time and again, during the year.  They are afraid to lose, to compete, to take a chance. 

Older students who answer questions correctly when younger students don't start to feel guilty.  One Fourth Grader offered to give his points to a First Grader who missed a 100 point Spelling Word.  A Second Grader refused to play when he realized he was losing ground to First Grader.

As a summer school teacher I want everyone to succeed.  I tell students that learning is winning and when they return to their classrooms with their peers in September they will be the leaders of the pack because they are well prepared.  One tough year does not mean they will have another.

Today we learned that winning feels great but losing is just as important.  When we lose we learn that we need to study a little harder, be confident enough to take a chance.  We also learn that our friends don't abandon us when we don't win and that we will always have the opportunity to try again. 

When we lose we become better winners- respectful, gracious, kind.

By the first day of school, no one will remember the score of today's game.  They will remember that they had fun and their teacher let them play.  hopefully they will remember to shoot their hands up when they know an answer and speak in clear, strong voices. 

If we all do our jobs this summer, my students will also remember to give all of their classmates a round of applause on game day and a pat on the back on report card day.

Ouch! Time for Phonics

Today in my tiny schoolhouse, my First through Fourth Graders took a look at a good old friend, phonics.

Like all old friends, phonics has a past.  And not all of it is friendly.

When I first started student teaching, whole language was all the rage.  Students were encouraged to look at the whole word, to move beyond memorization and rote and to embrace literature in its fullness, as a way of not only learning to read but learning to love reading.  Phonics was outmoded and not useful.

Whole language sounds great on paper.  Who doesn't want to teach children to love reading?  Who wouldn't love to dive right into a book instead of standing in front of the classroom making parrot sounds and drawing lists of letter pairs? 

But can a child really love reading before he or she can break it down enough to be able to replicate it idenpendently- when a page is full of words never learned?

Can students communicate the great ideas that books give them (books they are read and books they read on their own) if they can't write clearly, spell well and understand how words work?

And, as the education research group, Halcyon House recognizes, isn't memorizing whole words just as much rote memorization as drilling vowel and consonant pairs?

Phonics is staging a comeback and it's nice to see our old friend again.  It's important that we teachers understand, and explain to our students, that phonics facts are tools.  The parrot sounds we make, the hangman lines we draw, all of these images, sounds and ideas empower students to go on their own to discover, to read, to learn. 

Today we learned "ou" and "ow."  We saw comic book "Pows" and sat on the couch. 

Then they wrote in their writing journals about their weekends.  One of our Fourth Graders noticed that journal doesn't follow the "ou" sounds like "ouch" rule. 

There is an exception to every rule in our language.  There are many starts and stops on the road to a lifelong love of and facility with reading. 

My students are home working on "power pairs" and spelling words.  Tomorrow they will give speeches about their favorite books.

Together, our class will look at the whole of language- the sounds and symbols that make language work, and the ways we use language to capture the sounds and symbols in our minds and hearts.

My Tiny Schoolhouse

When I was offered a job teaching Language Arts summer school to First through Fourth Graders I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. 

When I found out they would all be in the same room, I had to give it a try.

Teaching three levels in one classroom makes me feel a bit like Miss Stacy, the teacher in Anne of Green Gables.  Only my kids won't have slates.  They will want to watch You Tube clips.

They will also need to learn how to communicate in a world where information is constantly coming at them and events and ideas can change lives in an instant.  They will have to learn this faster than my generation ever did (and I'm not that old!).

They will also need to learn how to spell...

Where to begin?