July Teacher Talk

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

It's July Teacher Talk time.....The 4th of July is over.....Now all of you are into your laid back summer mode enjoying your well deserved rest. Sit down, sip some iced tea, or wine cooler and check out the blog tips and ideas from these educators.

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Tackling Tough Issues
By Retta London of Rainbow City Learning

Some tips for teaching and discussion of the upcoming election.
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Summer Writing Ideas for your Children

By Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

Calling all parents, summer is the time for fun and relaxation for everyone, esp the kids. However, you don’t want them to lose some of the writing skills that they learned during the school year. Here are some fun things to do to keep their creative juices flowing.

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The Art-Math Connection

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

Tessellations are the perfect vehicle to teach transformational geometry. Simple, step-by-step directions to teach geometry with art.

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5 Keys to STEM Challenge Success

By Kerry Tracy of Plans for a Better Tomorrow

What are the 5 most important things to know to conduct successful STEM challenges? Check this blog and video post to find out!

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Using Calendars: Number Fluency, Handwriting Skills, and Time Concepts

By Thia Triggs of Print Path

I have been using several calendar related tools and love the power they hold. Use of calendars and teaching about time is a functional and engaging activity to support number fluency, understanding of quantities, time related vocabulary, and building a perceptual map of time. Beyond that, it helps to promote character development around issues of waiting, and delay of gratification. 

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How Do You Plan to Model AAC?

By Susan Berkowitz of Kidz Learn Language

Getting started with modeling AAC use and using Aided Input with your nonverbal child who is beginning to use augmentative communication is easier if you plan your vocabulary in advance.

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Battling Summer Boredom

By Alison Monk of The Literacy Garden

Summer vacations are tons of fun and adventure. But, how about all those days at home? No need to get bored! Here are some great ideas to keep your kids engaged, interested, and active!

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The Beginner's Guide to Planning the First Weeks of School

By Jessica Zannini of Notes from the Portable

Are you planning your first two weeks to set students up for success? I had a few bumpy years that helped me learn my mistakes and help make these weeks the ones to get my classroom up and running.

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No More Keywords: Using the Operation Situations to Help Students Analyze Word Problems

By Shametria Routt of The Routty Math Teacher

“No More Keywords: Using the Operation Situations to Help Students Analyze Word Problems” is the first article in my Summer PD with The Routty Math Teacher blog series. In this article, I discuss the dangers of using keywords to solve math word problems, present arguments against the use of keywords, and offer a new strategy to refocus students' learning on critical thinking and sense-making. This is a must-read article for all teachers of mathematics as we begin preparing for the new school year. 

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So, What the Heck is Metacognition?

By Tracy Wills of Wild Child Designs

A reflection of a year-long investigation into metacognition with third and fourth graders, this post explores the use of a continuum to describe student thinking. A free downloadable version of the continuum is available for readers!

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Summer Writing Ideas for Your Children

By Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

Socrates Lantern

Calling all parents, summer is the time for fun and relaxation for everyone, esp the kids. However, you don’t want them to lose some of the writing skills that they learned during the school year. Here are some fun things to do to keep their creative juices. flowing.

                                                               

When I was a kid I remember having a pen pal in France that I kept in contact 

with for many years, I so enjoyed getting her letters, she understood English. Little did

I know that communicating to her in this manner would help to improve my writing skills. 

One year my students had pen pals from all over the world and they loved

hearing from them. They told me that they kept in contact with them throughout 

the summer. 

 Here are some penpal links:

 http://www.linguistic-funland.com/addapal.html

 http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/

 https://www.reference.com/family/can-pen-pals-

 kids-b5170517e3e3ff73?qo=cdpArticles

In this age of technology, your children are probably on the computer or their tablet

all thtime. If this is the case, you can encourage them to write a summer blog

about anything that they are interested in. You can help by giving them ideas 

and proofreading with them. 

There are many free blog sites that you can use.

 www.blogger.com

 http://kidblog.org/home/

 http://kidsblogclub.com/

Looking for some interesting topics, here are a few:

Going to camp.

A family camping trip.

Sports

How to do something

The family pet

How to play computer games.

Cooking

How to make a video game/Discuss your favorite game/Explain how to play.

Have the kids get together with friends or siblings to write a play about anything that interests them. After the play is written, they will need to spend some time rehearsing  and learning their lines, as well as making costumes, props and scenery.  When they’re ready, they can present the play to the family.  You can even turn this into a neighborhood event by making signs, posting them, and sending out invitations.

Great playwriting link for all ages.

http://www.teachkidshow.com/teach-your-child-how-to-write-and-produce-a-play/

  We all love a good laugh. How about having your children write jokes and make their

  own joke book.  They will need to decide what type of jokes to write. It could be 

  about current events, games, your pet, themselves.  Then you can have comedy night

  with family and or friends.

   Here is more information about joke writing.

   http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Good-Joke

 For those kids who are interested in journalism, a summer newspaper about things

 happening in the neighborhood would be a great activity. If there are a few children

 who would like to do this it would work very well.  You might have reporters 

 asking questions of neighbors you can trust. Decide what types of articles you’d 

 like, they could be about sports, a trip, a movie or tv show, crafts, comics, pets, etc.

 Check out these links about newspaper writing:

 http://www.timeforkids.com/homework-helper/a-plus-papers/news-story

 http://www.layers-of-learning.com/newspaper-article-template/

That’s it for now. These should be enough ideas to get you started. Have a great summer.

Deann

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Flower & Wave Graphic by Whimsy Clips

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This is part of our July Teacher Talk, so had on over to the other posts to see the tips/ideas from all of our educators.

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