Monday, August 31, 2015

Idée pour enseignantes - petits verres de plastique




Voici une façon amusante de pratiquer des concepts essentiels.

J'ai acheté ces petits verres rouges au Dollarama. 

J'ai utilisé un marqueur permanent Sharpie pour écrire à l'intérieur de chaque verre.

Concepts:
Pour les élèves plus jeunes, ces verres peuvent être utilisés pour associer la lettre majuscule à la lettre minuscule. Ce jeu aide les jeunes à mémoriser la forme de chaque lettre, tout en ayant du plaisir. 

Pour les élèves un peu plus vieux, ils peuvent pratiquer les multiplications.

Quand un élève trouve une paire, il continue à jouer. S'il ne trouve pas de paire, il perd son tour.  Quand un élève trouve une paire, il place les verres dans une pile comme l'image ci-dessous. À la fin du jeu, le gagnant est celui ayant la pile la plus haute. 
Que du plaisir!!!


Que feriez-vous avec des petits verres 
comme ceux-ci?


Tuesday, August 25, 2015

TEACHER TIP - plastic cups



Here's another fun and simple teacher tip.
You can buy those red cups at the Dollar store.

Use a Sharpie to write in them.

For younger students, they're perfect to practice matching uppercase and lowercase letter. 

For older students, they can be used to practice multiplications. 

When students find a match, they stack the cups and play again. The winner is the person with the highest pile.


What would you do with these cups?


Sunday, August 9, 2015

5 ways to emPOWER students





5 Ways to Empower Students

 in the Classroom



Empowerment, what a strong,

 influential word
 and when you eliminate the prefix and the suffix, power remains.  



What is power?  
How does it make you feel? 
For a student learning in a classroom, it can define the difference between success and failure.  Empowerment by all definitions basically is a combination of providing useful tools, information, motivation, opportunity, responsibility, and a voice, which are key factors in obtaining a positive outcome.


Many times, students find themselves lacking certain aspects of empowerment and in return, a loss of interest occurs and failure soon follows. For example, let’s say you were making a cake, and the most important ingredient is flour, and you didn’t have it. Are you going to be able to make that cake? Of course not, and just like the ingredients required to make a cake, empowerment also requires all ingredients included in the recipe in order to be successful.


Teachers’ personalities vary from classroom to classroom, and subject to subject, but they all have that one common goal, to teach. A student on the other hand, their first priority is not to learn, they may like school and want to be there, however, I’m positive it’s for other ulterior motives, such as friends, social activities, and fitting in. This in itself creates an obstacle that teachers need to overcome.  



1.First day of school,
 bait them like a fish 


First day of school is the most exciting day of the year, with the exception of the last. Students are fresh, lively, and eager when they enter the classroom. You, as the teacher have approximately 5 minutes to grab those students’ attention, and retain it, which means you better have a plan.

There is nothing more boring than sitting down at your desk and the only introduction to the class is “Welcome to Algebra, here’s your textbook, and by the way I’m Mrs. Smith”. Right at that singular moment, interest and excitement, is completely eliminated, especially if a monotone voice accompanies that sentence.

Your mission, as a teacher is to immediately bait those students of yours with enthusiasm and adventure, similar to baiting fish with a worm. This term is referred to as an enticement and is accompanied by gestures such as interaction with your students. Move around, tell jokes, hype up projects and engage them into the conversation by allowing input and questions. 
Getting students involved and eager to continue is the first step to empowerment.



2.Put the boring tools away

One of the specific downfalls to teaching is limitations and expectations delivered from the educational gurus of the industry. Certain standards are set in place and teachers must follow those guidelines, in order to retain their employment. That’s understandable; however, teaching doesn’t need to be boring for you or your students in order for them to learn what is necessary.

For example, technology is advancing at whirlwind speeds and students love technology. As much as we hate to admit it, standard textbook, pen and paper teaching is not always fun. 


It’s time to set aside the old and move on to the new. Engaging students in technology by combining the required specifics of the class with an interaction to computer programs will not only fulfill the requirements of standards, but will also boost the imagination and creativity of the student. In otherwise, keeping them engaged.

PowerPoint presentations are a good example of pairing a required report with an unlimited resource. Students can and will explore their freedom to create, meaningful, expressive presentations to impress their peers. This empowerment feature is called pride. They are taking pride in something they have accomplished. It’s a tool they can utilize on their own, or as a team project.



3.Know your students strengths 
and weaknesses

Generally, teachers are fairly keen to what each of their students excel at and struggle with. And of course, most tend to focus on the areas a student is lacking; however, it’s equally important to allow a student to exhibit his/her strengths as well.

Students are excited to demonstrate qualities they are familiar and comfortable with, therefore, let them shine. This will in turn boost their confidence and give them a sense of identity and worth.

A fun and helpful exercise that I find beneficial is placing students in groups, with each student having a specific skill that they excel in. Present a project as an experiment. Let the students decipher who will take on certain tasks according to their heightened skill. What was the presumed outcome? An Individualized accomplishment took place, not a group effort because they didn’t have to depend on anyone else for assistance.

Now, reverse the scenario. Assign students a task which they are not comfortable with, or are lacking knowledge in. Have them work in groups as they did in the first exercise, emphasize the importance of communication, assistance, and team work. Hopefully, at the end of this exercise you will have witnessed, students working together, building confidence and motivation, and assisting their peers in overcoming boundaries. For a student, there is no greater empowerment than succeeding where they thought they could not.



4.Reward the positive, 
avoid the negative

Wow, what a concept!
Focusing on positive results and rewarding for such, builds confidence, self-esteem, and the willingness to continue. On the other hand, by constantly pointing out flaws will create an adverse effect on the student, causing them to feel useless and unimportant, and therefore losing empowerment.


For instance, a student that continuously tries, but is having difficulties grasping the concept of an assignment will more than likely turn in less than acceptable work. As a teacher, you understand the frustrations with shoddy, unimpressive work. With that being said, attempt to find something of value with the assignment, and emphasize the strengths of it, offer suggestions to help correct the issues that are unsatisfactory.

If the student understands that you appreciate his/her attempts, along with helping them improve by using positive influences, instead of negative, they won’t view the constructive criticism as a threat.

Words like – The concept is great, maybe you can add (blank), or, I really enjoyed (blank), I think it would be great if (blank). Try avoiding words like “but”, “can’t” and “not” or any other similar, negative words. Keep in mind, you are trying to empower your students, not bring them down to where they might feel inadequate.



5.A teacher’s word is final, but let your students lead sometimes

A teacher’s role in the classroom is to be the leader. Assignments, projects, and deadlines are all dealt out by you. However, if instructions are constantly given without flexibility or choices, then how are your students ever going to learn to think for themselves?

Of course, there are boundaries that require being followed, but that doesn’t insinuate that your students can’t have a voice. Encouraging participation and ideas generate leadership. Leadership is empowering. By allowing a student to make a choice, or present suggestions that you might or might not accept, will build up the desire to achieve and build confidence because they were heard. 



In conclusion, the purpose for these 5 ways to empower students in the classroom is to generate a future of successful adults. Learning can be hard enough, especially if students aren’t enthused or self-gratified. Empowering students in the classroom will not only make their educational years fulfilling, but will also empower the teacher as well, knowing that they were a success with their students.



Thursday, August 6, 2015

FREE BOOKMARKS

Who doesn't love a cute bookmark?

These are perfect for
 BACK TO SCHOOL and they're 
FREE.

Simply print and laminate!

Give each student a bookmark to start the school year.

Click on any picture to download
Boy version

Girl version



I also have FREE bookmarks for the 100th day of school. Click here:





Scrappin Doodles

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Signets gratuits


Voici des signets gratuits pour vos élèves. J'ai préparé deux modèles: un pour les filles et un pour les garçons.

Vous n'avez qu'à les imprimer,  les laminer et les offrir aux élèves comme 
petit cadeau.

Cliquez sur n'importe quelle image pour télécharger la ressource GRATUITE.




Pour d'autres activités sur la rentrée scolaire, cliquez ici: 






Scrappin Doodles


Flip Books - Love'em

Let me tell you about Flip Books...they're great!

I just love them!
Why? 
Because they're different, hands-on, interactive and very CUTE. 

Kids love them too!
They can be displayed on a bulletin board or placed in a center. 

Some Flip Books are filled out by students and others are informative. So students can keep them in their desk as a tool. 

I love creating flip books!

Here are a few of my creations:

ALL ABOUT ME
This one is perfect for
 back to school. 


Father's Day


Seasons


Food groups


Apples

Each flip book can be printed on white paper and colored by students OR you can print them on colored paper. You choose!

Have FUN!





Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Mini-Soccer Balls


I received these balls in Vegas.
 I know, that's pretty cool, right?
 Here's the story...
While I was there for the Teachers Pay Teachers conference, I met Ellen Shrager from Minute by Minute Spanish with Ellen.
Minute by Minute Spanish with Ellen Shrager

 She's very nice and it was fun meeting her. Anyways, she's the one that gave me the balls. She actually sells them in her store. I love them! They're perfect for learning activities.

Each ball has approximetely 26 colored spots on them PLUS 6 black spots. Using a black Sharpie, you can write anything you want on them.
- letters
- numbers
- countries
Or whatever you can think of that matches your curriculum. 


How to play?
It's pretty simple!
Students are divided in 
groups of 2.
 They take turns tossing the 
ball underhand. When they catch the ball, they must look under their thumb to see what is written.

If it's a letter, they can name a word that starts with that letter. If it's numbers, they can look under their index finger and thumb to add or multiply those numbers.





This is so much fun!
 My kids love it!


Saturday, August 1, 2015

TEACHER TIP - Windmill

TEACHER TIP - BEGINNING SOUNDS


This is so easy to make!
You will need a few windmills
I bought mine at the 
Dollar Store. 

Choose letters that you will add on the windmill. (see picture)

Divide the class into 
groups of 2 or 3.
Students take turns blowing
 on the windmill.
 When it stops turning, the letter that is at the top of the windmill becomes the BEGINNING SOUND.

Here are a few ideas to work on beginning sounds or letter.
- Name 3 to 5 words that start with the letter.
- Write 3 words that start with the letter.
- Name classroom items that start with the letter.

Incorporate MATH
You can also ask students to tally and count how many times the windmill stops on each letter. Then they can compare their results.

Math vocabulary:
- more than
- less than
- equal
- altogether
- total
- difference

See you soon!

Did you see this Teacher Tip: