Scare Cancer Away Kickoff Luncheon / Halloween

For Halloween, Hernando decided to Scare Cancer Away with a Spaghetti Luncheon sponsored by the Admin Team! For a small donation, staff could feast on spaghetti, bread, salad, and an assortment of desserts.

 

 

Students around the building were engaged in a variety of activities. Kindergarten students came dressed as cowboys and cowgirls to get a feel of what a rodeo is like. They got to eat popcorn, have pony races, learn how to lasso, and for fun blow some bubbles. A real cowboy came by to visit with his horse! Some second grade students were creatively decorating pumpkins. While some fourth grade students were making Peanut Butter Pumpkin Cookies, following directions to make witch cupcakes, and listening to stories relating to Fall / Halloween. Students were making inferences, talking about story elements, using measurement, and comprehension strategies throughout the fun activities their teachers had planned for them.

 



Math Songs

What better way to introduce, teach, and engage students in math concepts!

http://mathstory.com/mathsongs/mathsongs.htm

Look What's Happening in the 200 Building

The spotlight is on the 200 building and they have been busy! Students have been learning about The Revolutionary War, Facts about Bones, Feet Adaptations, Pumpkin Investigations, and much more. They have been busy writing, writing, writing from their journey out west to scary monsters. One class even took an idea from their cross-grade level meetings and taped students so that others could learn about vocabulary through their peers. Enjoy the pictures from the 200 building!

 

November Focus Strategy ~ Sequence

November’s Strategy Focus is Sequencing. This should be incorporated with the story of the week and in read-a-louds.

Sequencing, therefore, is a skill that students must learn in a fairly structured way. Students need to understand and recreate sequences of events. Students must learn to distinguish important events from less important ones. They need to understand cause and effect and plot development and the way characters change over time. These and other academic skills have foundations in sequencing instruction.

 Assignments made in reading and writing should be reflexive of the strategy being used that month. Please keep referring to the strategies that were previously taught: Compare/Contrast, Main Idea, and Literacy Elements.

 

Key Words: first, next, following, finally, first thing, right after, in conclusion, afterward, not long

Tips:
-          Sequencing tells when something happens.
-          Sequencing can order events or actions. It can also order settings, characters, feelings...  
-          Sequencing has a beginning, middle, end
-          Sequencing tells who, what, when, and where
-          Sequencing gives directions when telling how something is done.

Common Core Blast off Tip of the Week

The Florida Department of Education is excited to share weekly tips about the Common Core State Standards.

 English Language Arts

Elementary School

Students in second grade should be able to explain how specific images, such as a diagram showing how a machine works, help a reader understand informational text more clearly.  Be sure students focus on these types of features in text and can explain the story or article.

English Language Learners
For students learning English point out how distinct features, such as photos, varied print size and color, glossary and index, explain the meaning of a passage.

Student with Disabilities

Students with disabilities may need assistance processing visual images. Teachers may need to draw students’ attention to key aspects of images, diagrams, and charts (via highlighting, outlining, using arrows, etc.).  They may also reduce visual distractions by isolating the information presented and covering portions of the images or covering other information on the page.

Mathematics

Elementary School

Kindergarten students should be able to identify shapes as two-dimensional, “flat,” such as squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, and hexagons; or three dimensional, “solids” such as cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres.

Monitoring Class Noise Level with Technology

 

A short, sweet, fun, "yes, I needed that tool when I was in the classroom" post today....I couldn't pass up, the one above monitors the class noise level with bouncing balls...when everyone's quiet, the balls are still. Here's the link...

http://ictmagic.visibli.com/share/texdW3

 

And this one is called the Calm Counter Noise Dial...here is the link....

http://ictmagic.visibli.com/share/lNX91V

 



Getting Students to Pay Attention

As a teacher, I always had those students that would not pay attention. I had to try many different tactics to try and get them through a lesson. The rule of thumb is that the length of our lessons should be driven by the age of our students: the average age our students are in years is the average number of minutes they can maintain upper level cortex thinking during direct instruction. Our brains are wired to a stubborn timing pattern that coincides with approximately 10 minutes, meaning that every 10 minutes or so we must help shift our students' brains. I recently came across a wonderful article that gives practicle solutions to try with our students.

Stop Telling Your Students To “Pay attention!             

http://www.jensenlearning.com/news/students-to-pay-attention/brain-based-teaching#more-1009

Lesson Study Group

 

This is Hernando Elementary Schools Lesson Study Team:

Mrs. Fehrenbach (Teacher On Special Assignment),

Mrs. Balint (3rd Grade), Ms.Jefferson (4th Grade), and
Mrs. Hughes (3rd Grade)

 

We spent the day with Dr.Chew learning all about Inquiry Based Learning. Inquiry encourages thinking and involvement in the discovery process. It’s the process by which students think to figure things out on their own.   Inquiry labs encourage thinking over following procedures. To simply determine if a lab is inquiry, just ask, “Does this laboratory provide opportunities for students to think?” If so, then it is an inquiry lab.

 

The goal of education is to create well-rounded students who can make decisions. Inquiry provides them with opportunities for them to recognize patterns, see connections and make relationships.  The SUMMIT (Standards for Understanding Math and Science by Inquiry and Technology) Grant gives teachers the opportunity to learn how to go about teaching math and science with inquiry.

Dr.Chew explained of Tommy A,B,C.....you are about to board a plane and are delayed because a bolt came undone.....

• Tommy A  just picks up the bolt and acts like nothing is wrong.
• Tommy B puts the bolt back in place and tightens it.
• Tommy C puts the bolt back in place, tightens it, and figures out what is causing it to come lose.

 

What kind of Tommy's do we want our students to be? Students can not think to make decisions because we are always giving them to much.

 

What is Science?

Dr.Chew

 

Experiment Time:)



Making a Pendulum that went back and forth 5 times in 5 seconds with only the material given to us!

Building A Foundation of Learners

As with any structure, program, or instructional design, it is easy to get into a routine when using Daily 5. Creating I-charts, using the ten steps to independence, and launching the first six weeks of Daily 5 require the same process each year. Many teachers have used Daily 5 for one or more years and have become proficient at it, while others are in the beginning stages and are doing the best they can. Whether you find yourself an expert with Daily 5 or in the novice stage, one thing is important to remember… don't forget the foundational elements. What are the foundational elements?

• Trust students -- It is imperative that we believe our students CAN do it and we set high expectations for them. Children will rise to the expectations we set.


• Provide choice -- Would you prefer being told what to read, where to sit, and what task you have to complete first? Or, would you rather have a choice? Children are no different! Giving children the ability to choose empowers them and helps to create a self-motivated learner.
  
• Nurture community -- A positive classroom environment enhances student ownership, confidence, and pride. It creates the "we can do it" attitude!
  
• Create a sense of urgency -- Always provide students with a purpose for what they are learning. This helps them understand the why, which leads to viewing the task as important and worthy of time and effort.
  
• Build stamina -- Regardless of their age, students must gradually build their stamina before being released to full independence. You may notice that your class builds stamina much faster than you thought, but if you let them go too quickly in the beginning, it won't last long term. Take your time and go slowly… it will pay off in the end!
  
• Stay out of the way once routines are established -- if you are constantly walking around, supporting your students by saying "good job" or "I like how you are reading so quietly", they won't know how to sustain when you eventually go work with small groups and individual students. Trust them, give them space, and let them build their stamina without continual praise from you. By staying out of the way you will help them become independent readers and writers.

Without a foundation, a house would not stand strong. Without the core foundations, Daily 5 behaviors will not sustain.



Reference:
From the Daily 5 Site: by Allison Behne
Boushey, G., & Moser, J. (2006). The daily 5. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Reading Strategies Website

ReadWorks is an excellent resource for teachers that need specific lessons that target reading strategies. On this site you will find research-based and classroom-proven instructional practices, curriculum, and open-access online technology. You may have to register to get some of the materials but it's FREE:)

http://www.readworks.org/

Look What's Happening in the 100 Building

Wow! There are so many wonderful activities taking place around the 100 building that includes: family scarecrow projects, descriptive writing, stamping high frequency words, graphing, main idea & details, compare & contrast, to celebrating Clifford's & Johnny Appleseed's Birthday's! See for your self!