r-Controlled ar, or, ore: Phonic-copter to the Rescue

In our classroom we use the fabulous Scott Foresman Reading Street program, and this week our literature has been Tara and Tiree: Fearless Friends.  

It is a heartwarming tale of two devoted canines who rescue their master after he falls.   The theme of the unit being animals to the rescue and community helpers that provide lifesaving services.  The phonics target for this week is r-Controlled ar, or, ore.  I decided to combine the two ideas and create...

Phonic-copter to the Rescue

The activity integrates the phonics target with the theme of rescue workers.

r-controlled ar, or, ore phonic-copter activity

I selected words that could provide a hazard and words that could be used to aid in a rescue.  As an extension students were asked to locate the r-controlled words in sentences.

i.e.

The goose that landed in the tar pit was harmed and unable to fly away.

The barge hit a sharp iceberg close to shore.

The ship blew it's horn to during the storm and lit the torch to light the way.

Greater Than and Less Than Math Lesson

Math Time!

We studied comparing two numbers and the students learned about two new math symbols!  We called them alligators or crocodiles and used these fun learning tools, created so students could actively engage in tactile, concrete examples.

Scenario: The Alligators are VERY hungry animals and are always looking for more food.  The alligator jaws open wide to the pond with the most fish, while the tail of the alligator points to the pond with less fish.

 Students set up their individual boards and recited their comparison just like they read a book, from left to right.

Another mnemonic: student hold up their left hand and make an L with their thumb and pointer finger, have them now angle those finger into an acute angle (build in a fun little story as to why their "L" is getting sloppy).  Guess what, their "L" has now turned into a Less Than symbol.

Urban/Rural Social Studies Lesson

I simply adore how these dioramas turned out.  The students added personal touches artistically and collaborated in teams to create a visual representation of urban and rural communities.

The students had marvelous explanations to reinforce their choices.

Urban Diorama created during a Rural/Urban Social Studies Lesson

Our incredible students enjoyed the Jan Brett classic, Town Mouse Country Mouse, and we made compare contrast venn diagrams together on the InterWrite board.

Volunteer Experiences

Sunday School Teacher

I followed developed lesson curriculum for a first grade sunday school classroom, and taught first grade students through fun activities which included crafts, puppet readings, and coloring pages.  The class was a handful, but allowed me to utilize some fun strategies to control our volume level and regain focus on the lesson through songs and clapping patterns.

America Reads, America Counts

I volunteered for this program because I value early development of reading and math before  students fall behind (I later learned that this is commonly known as Response to Intervention).  I volunteered my time to a Kindergarten classroom in Missoula and went in twice a week to support students who needed additional support in reading and math.  Most of my time went to one-on-one support, with some small group lessons.

Flagship Volunteer

After my 300 block I volunteered to support an additional Flagship class.  I worked to develop the "curriculum" and lessons for the class of third and fourth graders.  I initiated the classroom management strategies and incorporated lessons about the cultures that correlated to the foods from around the world that were being cooked.  I selected appropriate music from the featured nation/culture and lead class discussions that generally lead to comparisons between our culture and the feature culture and or what they liked about it.

Community Garden Field Trip

I organized a walking field trip to our community garden and we had a spectacular time!  Wish you could have joined us?  Here are some pictures to help you share in our garden exploration.

 We took a walking field trip to our community garden which we used to integrate into Social Studies lessons, math graphing, and writing.

 Tomatoes...Mmm

 The lovely lads and lasses were able to experience harvesting their own strawberries.

 

 Artichokes

 Peppers and Pumpkins

Most of our crazy, amazing students.

Science Methods

In the science methods class we were given tasks that were engaging and forced us to think deeply about student learning and apply techniques and skills that were interdisciplinary.  Below are pictures of  one example of my endeavor to delve into experiments and create experiments the way I anticipate some students may.

The experiment involved a science journal which incorporates writing, which is becoming a high priority in schools with Common Core Standards.

Goals

C&I 200 Gols: 

1) To develop professional relationships with teachers, principals 
2) To develop my teacher voice, and become a more confident speaker in front of students of varying ages. 
3) To learn basic techniques to transition between lessons and how to move through lessons over the course of a day in the classroom.


 

C&I 300 Goals:

 

1) To become even more comfortable in front of the students.

 
2) To practice some classroom management strategies in an after-school program, which will likely be a feat  since students have been in a classroom for over 6 hours already...which makes it a marvelous opportunity to develop useful management strategies.
3) To develop lesson plans that coincide with our Flagship class Mission Statement. I aspire to incorporate multiple aspects of cultures around the world while sharing folktales, games, music, and food in a fun and engaging environment.

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C&I 400 Goals:

 

1) I hope to be able to incorporate more of my teaching philosophy into lessons I teach.

 
2) I hope to learn useful strategies to refocus students attention in a positive manner without singling out students for undesirable behaviors.

 
3) I plan to use more UDL in my lesson plans to create lessons that are engaging for all students.  I hope to plan a variety of lessons that incorporate varied technology and manipulatives appropriate for students with differing learning preferences.