Welcome to *~First Grade Lilly Pad*~ A place for elementary ideas for literacy and math centers, activities, crafts, and other primary fun times!
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Integrated Curriculum
Recently I had the delight of participating in a curriclum mapping day for our Common Core implementation. We decided to integrate our reading series, writing, science, and social studies so that they all correlate and address similar content to deepen the understanding of the content found within them. I can say, that I am so excited to implement our curriculum next year! I believe that our students will greatly benefit from this and I am thrilled to already have my year planned. It is a great feeling to know that everyone is on the same page and that at any point in time all I have to do is check our map and I'll know where I need to be and by when.
Have you ever done a curriclum map? Did it work out for the better of the students?
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Encouraging Student Reflection
Good morning! It has been a couple weeks since I have posted. Busy lives and all. I came across something this week. I was discussing different ways teachers encourage student reflection in their classroom. I got a few great ideas and I wanted to share them.
The first is a flipchart, that the students keep on their desks, that has 3 phrases 1) I got it and I can teach someone 2) I am having a little trouble but can keep working 3) I am confused and need help ***This by far was the coolest thing I cam across. For two reasons it is EASY to implememnt in every lesson and it was color coded so that students (it was used with Kinders) could associate meaning with color if they weren't yet able to read.
Another idea I saw was a post-it graph (as a frugal people I think this could get expensive, but you could laminate names and use velcro to make it reusable). At the conclusion of a lesson students would participate in invidual work and put their post-it where they thought they fell.
The final way I fould was called "2 stars and a wish" students have to actively think about their activities or lessons. They must identify 2 stars (2 things they liked or found easy about the lesson) and a wish (something they would change, needed more help on, or a new way to look at something). These all were wonderful ideas and I think we're (as teachers) always looking for new ways to encourage reflection, retention, and engagement.
I will post another helpful hint tomorrow.
The first is a flipchart, that the students keep on their desks, that has 3 phrases 1) I got it and I can teach someone 2) I am having a little trouble but can keep working 3) I am confused and need help ***This by far was the coolest thing I cam across. For two reasons it is EASY to implememnt in every lesson and it was color coded so that students (it was used with Kinders) could associate meaning with color if they weren't yet able to read.
Another idea I saw was a post-it graph (as a frugal people I think this could get expensive, but you could laminate names and use velcro to make it reusable). At the conclusion of a lesson students would participate in invidual work and put their post-it where they thought they fell.
The final way I fould was called "2 stars and a wish" students have to actively think about their activities or lessons. They must identify 2 stars (2 things they liked or found easy about the lesson) and a wish (something they would change, needed more help on, or a new way to look at something). These all were wonderful ideas and I think we're (as teachers) always looking for new ways to encourage reflection, retention, and engagement.
I will post another helpful hint tomorrow.
If you have any helpful strategies to help others with student reflection PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT! We're all in this together and if we collaborate those who benefit most are the students.
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