If It Was Only Colder Snow

Posted on 01/15/2012 by teachlearnlaugh

Living in the south, where it sometimes is warm enough to wear shorts in December, makes it hard for a midwestern girl to realize that winter is approching.  Today, however, has me dreaming of a white Christmas.  Today is misty and cold and all I can think about is “if it was only colder”.  The weather is teetering on the edge between rain and snow flurries.

I love snow.  I always have.  So during December, January and February, I want snow.  I want that fresh, clean smell that comes with it.  I want the quiet that comes with it.  I want the beauty of it.  I want to experience it and I want my students to have that same opportunity.

Short of arranging a field trip to fly out to Jackson Hole, Wyoming where I try to go each winter to get my snow fix, I at least have some snow themed fun for my students on our cold (below 50 degrees) winter days.

We are a Discipline-Based Arts Education  (DBAE) school so I do a lesson on Claude Monet’s Magpie painting.  We look at the painting, we discuss what we see in it and what makes it look cold. We use words to describe it and use those words to write about it.  Finally, after several days of looking at different elements of the painting, we paint it.  This ends our formal lesson on our winter theme.

For the more whimsical side of winter we turn to the snowman.  Children love them so watch them, read about them and we make them.  First we watch the movie “The Snowman” narrated by David Bowie and based on the wordless book by Raymond Biggs.  Later we recreate our own pencil drawings of a snowman.

This year we are going to read “Snowmen at Night” because I found a cute writing/art activity on Pinterest pinned by thefirstgradeblogspot.com  (if you don’t know about Pinterest, you need to explore it….so many cute teaching ideas!).

“What would you do at night if you were a snowman?”

In the science center we’ll use a science kit and make snow.  I am always amazed at how realistic it is…cold and soft.  We’ll  also fill a white dishpan with white packing peanuts and animals to find the ones camouflaged in the “snow”.

For pure fun we’ll make snowmen on a stick for a snack and rock angles on the playground. Years ago, when I taught kindergarten, we brought hats, scarves and gloves and made snowmen costumes out of white trash bags filled with newspapers and then took silly snowmen pictures.  My first graders are too big for the trash bags so we’ll bundle up in our jackets, hats and gloves and have a snowball fight with recycled paper snowballs and finish our snow play day with hot chocolate and fried biscuit donuts.

Snow always brings back childhood memories for me and maybe, just maybe, this will be the year when it actually snows and my students can begin their own memories of the cold, white stuff.

Related Article:

Bringing the Snow Indoors

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Stop, Look and Listen

Posted on 01/11/2012 by teachlearnlaugh

Back in the day when I was a kindergarten teacher, parents of young children would want to know what skills their child should have before going to kindergarten.  They were always a bit surprised at my answer.

The number one thing your child needs to know to go to kindergarten and be successful is………… how to listen.   They need to learn to be an active listener, not a passive listener. In a classroom situation an active listener stops what they are doing, looks at the teacher and listens.

The ability to listen effectively is a critical skill that we need throughout life.  Active listening is an important part of processing information.  Being an active listener helps a child be successful in school.  Being an active listener increases the understanding between what is taught and what is learned.

Active listening isn’t a skill children learn naturally.  It’s a skill that needs to be taught and practiced.

So, where do you start?  If you’ve been reading to your child, you’ve already started.  When your child tells you that you have skipped a page, you will know that they have been actively listening.  Read a new book and ask questions to check for active listening.

As soon your baby starts babbling you should start modeling active listening for them.  When your baby is trying to “tell” you something you should stop, look and listen.  Stop what you are doing and give your child your undivided attention.  Look by giving them eye contact.  Listen to what they are saying and let them know that you were actively listening by making comments on what they “said”.

Without realizing it, your child is learning to stop, look and listen when someone is speaking to them.  As they go through developmental stages, testing you and your patience, you can remind them by getting down on their level and gently turning their face to give you eye contact.

You as a parent can teach active listening skills much better than I can as a classroom teacher.  Put a passive listener into a classroom with 11-21 other children and it is difficult.  Much time is spent on teaching them to stop when you speak.  Once that is accomplished it is hard to sustain eye contact because there are other pairs of eyes that need to look so you know who is listening.

So you’ve been modeling active listening, your child has been practicing active listening, it’s time to go off to preschool and this is what I picture happening……….

It’s circle or morning meeting time and your child is sitting quietly watching the teacher, soaking in absolutely everything that is said or done, having an absolutely wonderful time.  In elementary school, your child will be the one listening, comprehending and retaining what is being taught.  They will not be the child playing with something in their desk missing information that is needed for comprehension, retention and success in school.

Be an active listener roll model and practice with your child.  Don’t be one of those parents that has to reteach at night during your family time because your child didn’t actively listen to what was being taught when it was being taught.

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Chatter Box

Posted on 11/26/2011 by teachlearnlaugh

Constant chatter can be quite annoying especially if you are you are trying to accomplish something that requires concentration.  Then, chatter just gets on your nerves!

But if you’re a young child, chatter is a good thing and its never too early to hear it and you can never get too much of it..  Studies have shown that when children hear a lot of chatter in their early years, they develop better language skills.  Obviously!  Your chatter is teaching them to talk in complete sentences and attaching words to objects.  Your child is watching every move you make because through your chatter you are the star that has their attention.  They have your attention.  It is a win, win for parent/child bonding.

Are you at a loss for words?  Don’t be.  All you have to do is just tell your child what you are doing while you go about your daily tasks.  They love to hear your voice.  In the beginning you’ll sound like a monkey but soon it will all start to make sense.  You’ll be rewarded with smiles, giggles and claps for your efforts.

Oh, and if you are reading this and your child is older, it’s never to late to start talking to them either.  It has its rewards too.

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Herding Cattle

Posted on 10/02/2011 by teachlearnlaugh

As a girl from Kansas,  I finally had the pleasure of attending a performance of Wicked at the Fox Theater in Atlanta.  The experience (besides the obvious….wonderful musical, stunning theater and great companionship) left me with cow thoughts.

Intermission………

We quickly head down the steps and follow the herd toward the sign directing us to the ladies’ and men’s rooms.  As we reach the main floor our numbers increase from all directions.   We’re bumped.  We move forward.  We’re bumped again.  We twist our shoulders to edge us closer.

Before we reach the second set of stairs we are funneled into 3 chutes, men on the right and ladies taking the remaining two on the left.  Twenty to ten, to five, to four, three, two and finally, single file to slowly make our way down the path.

Once at the bottom we are directed to an empty stall, much to our relief.  After we emerge again, we pass through the washroom, and we are directed back up the stairs.

“Enjoy the rest of the show”.

While I appreciated the organization and efficiency of moving large numbers of people, especially women, in a short amount of time I couldn’t help wonder……………

Is this how a cow feels?

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Got Milk?

Posted on 09/11/2011 by teachlearnlaugh

A few years back, my friend Edvique, started collecting Got Milk? ads.  I don’t know if her initial reason behind the idea was to encourage one of her children to drink milk but whatever the reason, they ended up with quite a large collection which they put into a binder.

Got Milk? has been around since the fall of 1993 and was produced for a California milk producer.  The first Got Milk? ad starred Sean M. Whalen as a radio listener trying to answer a $10,000 trivia question but can’t because he has a mouth full of a peanut butter sandwich but no milk to wash it down so he could speak.  In 2002 a USA Today poll named it one of the top ten best commercials of all time.

In 1995 the Got Milk? slogan was licensed to the National Milk Processor Board for their print ads.  Enter the celebrities.  All proudly wearing their milk mustaches.  All encouraging us to drink milk because it’s good for us.

I never had to encourage my children to drink milk.  Mom and dad love milk.  We drink it at home at every meal.  They wanted to be like us, it was the only drink offered to them at meal time, and they became milk drinkers.  When they got thirsty they would go to the refrigerator for milk and then my campaign began to encourage drinking water between meals. Between the four of us we went through a gallon of milk a day.  It was a fourth of my weekly food budget but was money well spent.

A few years back I realized too many of the students in my class were not getting enough milk or not drinking it at all.  They chose juice over milk with ordered lunches, sweet tea would be brought in with delivered food, fruit drinks were coming in lunch boxes and the saddest sign was stained teeth from drinking tea and sodas at mealtime.  So I borrowed Edvique’s idea and made my own Got Milk? book.  My students brought in ads for the book and we talked about the celebrities and what they had to say about milk.  We ended up with a large collection ourselves and it has had a permanent place in my reading center ever since. Recently I realized it needs to be updated because the only picture they recognize is Hannah Montana’s dad and Garfield.  Out with the old stars, in with the new (which, I am sad to say, most of them I don’t recognize).

Our celebrity book has evolved into our own Got Milk? ads.  One year I just couldn’t do the same lesson plans on “All About Me”.  I had to do something different and decided we’d make our own Got Milk? ads.  Getting the photo worthy milk mustache, not so easy. In the professional ads the mustache is painted on but that takes the fun out of getting one the natural way.  This year I finally figured it out and the students loved it!

Before we made the Got Milk? ad we watched two YouTube videos.  The first one was how to milk a cow with Farmer Jack and Fair Oak Farm’s milking merry-go-round because after all that is where it starts (I have since discovered a “milk the cow” app for the ipad).  I asked each child to  share a different fact about milk. I accept it all, even “cats like milk”, as long as they don’t repeat what someone else has said.  The object is to get them to talk about milk.  Then, finally, the fun part……I made really thick milk shakes with just vanilla ice cream ( 2012 update….Blue Bell Vanilla ice cream worked like a charm) and  whole milk…….not too much (I have tried online recipes, cool whip but this is the first year they all liked it).  For the photograph, I scooped the mixture on spoons and had them put the spoon sideways to their mouth and tip it up.  Can’t believe how well it worked…quick with results ranging from Zorro pencil thin mustaches to thick Charlie Chaplin mustaches.  After their photo session they had the choice of enjoying a vanilla shake or making it into a chocolate or strawberry shake (yes, syrup was everywhere…….next year, I pour).  I was even able to freeze one to save for an absent child.  Later, combined their mustache photo and milk fact, printed them and created one of our class made books which is available for checkout to share with their families. The book also contains websites to visit such as Got Milk? and Fair Oaks Dairy Farm which are both loaded with kid friendly activities.

This year made me realize why this activity is a keeper.

Are you wearing your mustache?

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The Soapbox Speech

Posted on 08/16/2011 by teachlearnlaugh

Ok, where is it?  My soapbox, the  high one, where is it?  It is time for my annual soapbox speech and I need to be prepared!

The new school year is about to begin.  Back to School Night is here.  It’s time for my speech………..

What are you teaching your child?

* If you and your child arrive at school after the tardy bell (remember, your child doesn’t drive, you do), you are teaching them it is OK to be late to work.

* If you let your child stay at home because they had a late night, you are teaching them it is Ok to cut class in college.

* If you let your child turn in homework late because they had a game or practice the night before, you are teaching them athletics is more important that academics.

* If you break the rules, you are teaching your child it is OK to break the rules, including your rules.

And the list goes on …………. remember, your child learns by watching you.  What are you teaching them?

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Brain Overload

Posted on 07/27/2011 by teachlearnlaugh

Do you ever have times when you have been given so much information, been asked so many questions and been given so many tasks to accomplish that your brain is just a scrambled mess and you just can’t think anymore?  This is the way my life has been lately Needless to say, the blog has been quiet.  I can’t sit long enough to pull my thoughts together to write an entry.  (Why, do you ask, am I doing it now?  Well, my bags are packed minus one item that is sitting in the hotel room safe waiting on security to come release it from lockup…….. What I did, I have no idea, but now I have some time on my hands.)

Yesterday I took a moment to pop into the session “The Power of Coaching Up”with Bryan Dodge.  The energy coming from the room, just drew me in.  I missed the beginning of the story but I think it went something like this……

He was coaching some sort of little league field sport, either soccer or football, and got tired of all of the sideline coaches…..yes, that would have been the parents.  At some point he invited the sideline coaches to come out on the field and show the little athletes the correct way to play the game.  He also invited the little athletes to become the sideline coaches.  The sideline coaches of course were struggling with their part of the roll playing but the little athletes had NO trouble taking on their roll.  They had watched that roll being played over and over their whole little league athletic career.  They knew just what to yell to those on the field.  “Pay attention, get your head in the game, kick the ball, they were wide open, what were you thinking, why didn’t you………” and so on.  After the experience the sideline coaching became more positive, less negative.

Hmmm………. This summer, have I become the student sitting in a classroom who just can’t concentrate? Does the teacher think I am ADD?   Is the teacher giving me so much information, asking me too many questions, and giving me more tasks than I can handle when all I want is to be left alone to unscramble my brain?

It’s something to think about.

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Stop, Look and Learn

Posted on 06/06/2011 by teachlearnlaugh

I heard an interesting comment on the John Tesh Show the other day……..a child’s vocabulary, when they enter kindergarten, is an indicator of how well they will succeed in school.

Simply said, this means children need experiences to introduce them to new objects or situations.  Seeing something, attaching a name to it………this is what increases a child’s vocabulary.

I’ve used several methods to teach Korean students English vocabulary.    They’ve enjoyed pictures in books and  I Spy games but the vocabulary they learned the fastest, understood and remembered were the objects they could touch.

“Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand.”

Think about it…why does your child know and understand the word “toothbrush”? Right, they hold it, they use it and they understand its purpose.  Help them attach more words to more objects outside of the house.  Take them to a flea market to look for rotary phones, vinyl records, butter churns and other items from days gone by.  Encourage them to ask questions about what they see.  Let them explore.

Did I mention walking around a flea market is free?  Free museums, free parks….free time to take your child out to explore the world around them.

Create memories.  Help them succeed.

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EarthKeeping 101

Posted on 04/19/2011 by teachlearnlaugh

This week I will teach my class how to help keep the earth healthy.  Not surprised?  Of course you aren’t ……Friday is Earth Day.  It hit me last weekend… Earth Day is next week…..don’t forget to get out the Earth Day folder…..decide what to teach……think of something new….work Earth Day in the same week with the Talking Tree, class pictures, egg hunt, Grandparent’s Day and a 3 1/2 day week.  Whew!  How will I get it all done?

And then I remember….EarthKeeping 101 happens every day in my class!  Did I make up the term “EarthKeeping”?  In trying to come up with a catchy title, I thought I did, but there are many before me using the term.  If you go to my favorite search engine “Dogpile” and type in “Earthkeeping” and you will find pages and pages of results.
My first grade definition of EarthKeeping is “housekeeping on a larger scale and taking care of where you live”.  My favorite adult version is the one I found on “Timberland“. “Earthkeeping is a simple challenge and common commitment to be environmentally responsible. “Earth”—where we all live, plus “keeping”—our way of keeping it great. Earthkeeping is straightforward, practical, common sense. It means taking actions that enable you to be a good steward of the earth. Earthkeeping is the products you use, like those made with environmentally conscious materials or made by eco-conscious companies. Earthkeeping is planting trees, greening your community, recycling and other things that better the environment. Earthkeeping is taking a stand on issues that affect the environment, like climate change.”

So the challenge is to take the components of the adult definition and bring them back down to an elementary level to teach our students to be a “good steward of the earth”. Like everything else we do, we are setting the foundation for better understanding for the future.
Appreciation – If you aren’t taught to appreciate something, what would motivate you to want to take care of it?  Appreciating what our planet has to offer in nature…….animals, natural resources, land forms, plants…..it’s the first step.

Respect – If you appreciate something, it is so much easier to respect it and then you want to protect it.  Teaching respect is more than just saying “yes, ma’am” and “no, sir”.  It’s learning to acknowledge the personal space of people, animals, and plants and not to harm them.

Reduce – Does every child need a copy of every worksheet?  No!  Rethink worksheets and start scanning some of them to use on interactive whiteboards.    Reduce time at the water fountain with 5 second drinks. Explain to them WHY you are taking these steps. Before long they will be telling you how they reduced their usage of something.

Reuse – Reuse is one area where teachers are the pros! How many times have you said “don’t throw that away, I can use it at school?”  (Curse the toilet paper industry for figuring out how to eliminate the paper tube! ) A couple of other ideas for reusing in the classroom…….the cure for pencils, crayons and erasers on the floor that find themselves being swept out at the end of the day is to provide a lost and found in the classroom…….reuse powdered laundry scoops for holding water for watercolor projects or planting seeds………teach your students to use the backs of worksheets to express their creative side while they are waiting for others to finish assignments.

Recycle – Teach what can and cannot be recycled in the classroom. Place bins at each table group so the children can get in the habit of recycling from their cut and paste activities.  At the end of the day empty them in the school’s recycling container.  Let your class see you recycle and recycle and recycle………………

Simple classroom EarthKeeping habits can start the process for a generation of environmentally conscious adults………and by the time they are adults, the Earth is really going to need them!

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I Am Not A Fan, I Am

Posted on 04/10/2011 by teachlearnlaugh

Confession time…..I am a teacher and I am not a fan of Dr. Seuss.  No one ever gave me a book!  I didn’t grow up with Dr. Seuss and I just never learned to love him.  But I do appreciate him for what he has done for millions of children.

Who can argue with “I am Sam, I am” for an emerging  reader?  If you visit the Seussville website (one of the most entertaining websites that I have visited in a long time) it will tell you that in in 1957 The Cat in the Hat was published and teaches children to read. Short vowel words, simple sight words and rhyme….music to a teacher’s ears!

Rhyming is so important to reading readiness.  If you know how to read the word “at” and can rhyme at, cat, mat, bat, sat, rat, fat, hat, then you have just increased your reading vocabulary by 7 words.  If you can spell “at” and can rhyme the other 7 words, then you have increased your spelling vocabulary by 7 words.

It is never too early to introduce your child to rhymes.  When both of my children were babies I would make a game out of changing their diapers.  After the necessities of wipes, powder and a clean diaper I would take their feet and softly bump their bums to “rub a dub, dub, three men in a tub”.  I think it started because one of their bathtub toys was the 3 men in a tub.  Regardless of the reason, they knew it was coming and it always produced a smile and giggles.

I am a fan of Elosie Wilkin books, so as y children became toddlers we read Eloise Wilkin’s Mother Goose, alot! Unfortunately, many children come to kindergarten with very little nursery rhyme knowledge. They teaching rhyming!!!!  It’s important!!!!!  Read them to your child!!!!  And while you are reading feel free to make comments!!!! “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall…..I hear two words that rhyme. Wall and fall rhyme.  Can you say them?…etc.”  Then after a few readings you can ask them what two words rhyme.  You are helping them to train their ears to listen for rhymes!

Rhyming is an important reading skill.  Your local library and bookstore are full of rhyming books for young children. You really don’t have an excuse for not reading them to your child, especially if you want them to be a good reader.

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