What Worked Successfully

Today I substituted in a school I had not been to in a very long time. It's still a great place to teach. But it was a tough class. They were fifth graders. Fifth graders have wonderful and varied personalities. These students were grumpy, chatty, active, attention seeking, snide, and selfish. The saddest was the child hiding like she was in preschool.
        But, the positive part was getting them to cooperate lining up for gym and lunch. I explained what I wanted them to do by steps. I told them I would send them back to their seats if they were noisy or pushy in line. Then I had a student give the directions to the class again in her words. Unfortunately I had to follow through in sending students back to their seats and returning the line back to the classroom a couple of times and they were a little late for gym.
        By the end of the day when I had room to move the seating, I had the opportunity to sit with students in different groups. It was great to have time to talk with them and for us to get to know each other. I hope I am back soon.

What Day is It? Calendar Activities

What Day Is It? Teaching with a Calendar

Classes for young children provide needed routine while teaching children about their immediate world. There are many activities that make using a calendar at home fun and educational. Whether for homeschooling or extending learning from the school day a calendar is an exciting tool for many interest topics.

There are at least five exercises that parents can easily incorporate into the family’s daily routine. The exercises open the door for discussions about science, community, math, reading and writing topics.

·         Reading and writing. Typical daily exercises begin with talking about or copying a morning message. The morning message goes something like “Today is ______ (day of the week), _______ (month), ______ (date), and ______ (year). Today we are going to ___________________ (activity).” For example: “Today is Wednesday, October 8, 2014. We are going to walk to the firehouse.” If your child is a preschooler she may learn what letters look like, how the letters take up space on a page, how letters form words and words make sentences. Many teachers are partial to correct modeling. But be careful to keep it fun. Don’t pressure your child to be perfect. Capital letters at the beginning of sentences and period stops at the end can wait until the end of Kindergarten of first grade.

·         Numbers and number sense. Each day has a number. There are seven days in a week and twelve months in a year. Each day the child can learn a different number. She can also learn the concepts of yesterday and tomorrow. She can count how many days have passed and how many days left until a special event such as a birthday or holiday.

·         Science and exploration. Besides discussion about the year, seasons, months, weeks and days, a calendar activity can stimulate discussion about weather, change, health, the outdoors, weather events, natural disasters, the sky, the sun, clouds, rain, snow, hibernation, migration, flowers, food, nutrition, insects and other bugs, observing changes and making charts to record them like a scientist, asking questions and developing experiments like a scientist.

·         People, places and things in the world around me. Using a calendar activity can stimulate discussion about birthdays, holidays, celebrations, family, community, city, state and country, jobs, important people, games, rules, feelings, belonging and citizenship.

·         Sports and arts.

This is a general list of topics and activities. Future posts will show how to build on themes suggested by the calendar. Is there anything you have a desire to see in more detail?