Recognizing Student Achievement

I love recognizing the student achievement in my classroom. From hard work, a great attitude, to the most improved in a subject student achievement is important to celebrate.

There are many different ways to recognize students. Here is a small listing of a few ways I have used over the years in my classroom:

Phone Call Home
Calling home to parents at the beginning of the year is a great way to establish a connection with the families in your classroom. Random calls throughout the school year are especially important for families who you do not see on a regular basis.

Positive praise points
A simple kind word of recognition goes a long way to build character and encourage students in their learning. This is often the most effective and personalized way to acknowledge student growth!

Brag Tags
Brag tags are a fun way to recognize student behavior and learning in the classroom. Students can collect their tags throughout the school year or take them home nightly to share with their family! My students love earning these on a regular basis and it is a great motivator for helping in the classroom.

  

Points
Students earn points through achieving learning goals or through positive behavior with classroom management programs like classroom dojo. Have students compete against themselves so that they see improvement and gains throughout the year!

Before or After School Chats with Parents
Children love it when they hear their teacher proudly share about all the great learning they are doing in the classroom. Parents know whether or not their child's teacher understands them and they love to hear about their child's growth. Instant feedback is a great way to do this!

End of the Year Awards
Student awards at the end of the year are one of my favorite ways of celebrating student achievement in a tangible way for kids to take home and share with their family the growth they have made throughout the year.

If you want to check out the end of the year awards I use to recognize my students click on the link below!

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Welcoming Families To Kindergarten

Including parents in their Childs education is extremely important. Children feel more comfortable sharing about their school day when they know that their family understands what they area talking about! Parents feel more involved with the school and it becomes a more welcoming place.

I wanted to make a list of activities to invite parents in on a regular basis. Having something fun or exciting makes the activity a bit more engaging for families to want to participate. Our first invitation was for Stone Soup and we did not invite siblings as we knew the participation was going to be huge. Our suspicion was correct and our classes were bursting at the seams! In the future I will consider inviting younger siblings to help ease their transition into kindergarten!

The following is a list of the ideas that I would like to use in my classroom. Several of them I have used in my classroom already. I hope you find this list to be useful. As I come across new ideas I will be adding them.

Play Invitation

Invite parents to learn along with you as a natural part of the day. Some teachers do this quarterly, monthly or weekly. I know colleagues who have invited parents for the last 45 minutes of the day. Others invite them for the last block and I have even heard of a "drop in" style where parents are invited any time of the day to stay for 30-60 minutes at a time. "Welcome Wednesdays" and "Family Fridays" are two coined phrases I have heard of over the years to help parents remember when the visit days are scheduled.

Stone Soup

This is the very first family visit that we had in our class. Students bring in a vegetable and we made a soup together. During the last learning block, families were invited to eat with us and learn with us as we shared our soup! Click here to read about our stone soup experiences!

Games Day

Who doesn't love playing a game? Children love to play and harnessing this energy makes learning fun! Most games have many math concepts which support the math curriculum. Plus, the extra bonus of social/emotional development. Have families bring their favourite to play and swap for the afternoon with other families to learn a new game!

Puzzle Day

Families bring their favourite puzzle to school and build it together with friends. Share/swap with other families for a new challenge.

Math Event

Provide a variety of math games for parents to participate and learn along with their children.

Reading Invitation

Provide a wide variety of books from the library and invite parents to come in to read with their child a wide variety of books!

Baking Fun

Students bake something that they all can enjoy (we have many allergies in my classroom) and share with their visiting family members!

Class Concert

Practice a song or two and put on a concert for your families! Children love to perform and what can be better than an intimate concert? If you've already presented for an assembly, perform the same activity for the families!

Class Play

If your students have created a play, shown an interest in puppetry or love nursery rhymes this is a perfect opportunity to put on a show!

Inquiry Celebration

After an inquiry, students can show off all they have learned to their families!

Multicultural Food Day

Have families bring in a special food from their culture to share with others. Make sure they bring an ingredients list if there are allergies.

Build a Community

If your students have an interest in community helpers, 3D figures, maps or even treasure hunts this might be a big hit in your classroom! Have students create a community and show it off to others. This can be done with Lego, recycled materials or even as a mural that they create together. The options are endless!

Gingerbread Traps

The gingerbread man is on the loose in the school! Challenge parents to make a trap with their child in order to help catch him. When parents come the children can share how they created the trap with each other.

St Patrick's Day Trap

St. Patrick's is on the loose in the classroom! Challenge parents to make a trap with their child in order to help catch him. When parents come the children can share how they created the trap with each other.

Teddy Bear Picnic

Invite parents to a teddy bear picnic with their child. Bring your own food or make it a special event to share food.

Create Gifts

Teaching others to reach out to the greater community is a valuable lesson to teach even young children. We have hosted parents coming in to make crafts that we have donated to local senior homes in our community. Parents and children love to be a part of this and the seniors love to decorate their residence with gifts from our class! In the past we have made wreathes with patterned paintings of our hands and door hang decorations for during the holiday seasons.

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Planning for Outdoor Learning in Kindergarten

I love collaborating with my other team members in our Kindergarten team and love that we can plan together for our outdoor learning. We have a team of 14 staff members so this is a big collaborative effort!

Our Outdoor Learning Schedule:

40 minutes of outdoor learning first thing in the morning with staggered entry for small group instruction.

40 minutes of outdoor learning at the end of the day.

This schedule provides less transitions in our day for students. They only have to undress once during the day and get dressed to go outside at the end of the day. We do not go outside for a recess but have two 40 minute nutrition breaks where students eat and then often do gross motor activities to help keep them focused for the day.

During outside learning each teacher has a "role" where we sign up for specific learning centres to engage students and others are floaters who help with runners, behaviour management and any students who may need bathroom breaks etc. All classes have two teachers, so we usually ensure that one team member is at a centre and the other is floating.

As a team we collaborate on a learning template very similar to what we use in our classroom. We try our best to ensure we hit as many learning opportunities that we possibly can based upon the interests that we notice while we are outside learning together. The following freebie shows a basic template that we use in our classroom and what we try to purposefully uncover while we are learning together. Click on the image to see it!

Learning Centres on our Plan

Science & Discovery

Math

Language

Paint & Visual Art

Music

Gross Motor: Field vs. Tarmac

Fine Motor

Water

Sand

Blocks & Building Materials

At first, one team member took minutes and we documented what learning activities were being provided and which room was responsible for it. This member would print the page and post it in our shed as well as post it in our school conference for all the team members to print.  We found this very purposeful but often found that we ran out of time for deeper collaboration together.

Google Drive To the Rescue!

In response to this need, we found it valuable to create a shared google document and all team members bring an iPad to add their ideas during our planning. This has allowed all of us to input our contributions quickly and we can all glance at the activities quickly and then are more purposeful in our discussions. Our meetings have been able to be more focused and we are all happy that we can go home quicker at the end of the day!

How does your planning differ? I'd love to learn how other teams collaborate together!

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Four Frames Bulletin Board Set

I love creating bulletin boards that represent the learning of the children in my classroom.

Our old curriculum was very subject bound. At times we would have a writing, art, science or math focus on them.  I love the freedom of our new curriculum as it has changed to the Four Frames. There are so many cross-curricular links and I love being able to show that off.

One of my personal favourite ideas is to make a collage of current photos and collages we have made of the learning in our classroom. We have five different bulletin boards in my classroom so we use one board for each frame except we use two to separate demonstrating literacy and mathematical behaviours.

If you're interested in checking these out, click on the image below to pick it up from my store! There are five title pages and four pages with the corresponding expectations for each of the Four Frames. The titles are identical to what I have in the photos above but the expectations look better in the download.

I hope you enjoy it and find it useful for your classroom!

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Anti-Bullying Videos and Books for Primary Teachers

I am always looking for quick handy resource lists for special occasions or hot topics that occur in my classroom. I hope you find this list of anti-bullying videos and books to be helpful. It's a great resource list for teachers looking for ideas for pink shirt day!

Videos

Invisible Isabelle

This is a children's book about bullying. She has a unique style and her friends bully her because of it. She changes her appearance so much to fit in that she becomes invisible.

Pickles and the Bully

What do you do when you are very smart and cannot talk to solve a bully problem?

Sesame Street: Don't Be a Bully

An engaging video which kids can relate too.

Don't Laugh at Me

This is a song about how special and unique everyone is.

Sockhead Smith: Anti-Bullying Song

This has a short lesson and song to hep make children aware of what bullying is and how to react when being bullied.

The Meanest Girl in Second Grade

Zoe wasn't just mean, she was REALLY mean to others. A good lesson in bullying.

McGruff: Anti-Bullying Film

McGruff is on the hunt to solve a mystery.

The Playground is for Everyone

These kids learn how to take a stand against a bully who doesn't want them to play on the playground and it is an important lesson in sharing.

Books

Goose On A Roof

Goose has low self esteem due to being bullied by the other geese.

Bad Astrid

Astrid is unpleasant to others. She eventually reveals why she isn't nice to her neighbor and a friendship is born. This is a great conversation starter for young learners.

Clara and the Bossy

A story of what can happen when a friend becomes bossy.

Eddie Longpants

This story is great for sharing a story of acceptance and will start a great discussion on teasing with your students.

Fancy Nancy and the Mean Girl

Fancy Nancy faces a realistic problem and solution to a problem regarding a race. Teasing, bullying and sportsmanship are all covered in this simple book!

King of the Playground

Kevin faces a bully at school. After discussing it with his dad, he discovers a variety of strategies to solve his problem. 

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Burlap & Chalk: Alphabet Freebie

I am really excited to share one of my newest freebie from my store with you!

 I personally prefer like a calm, natural look in my classroom. I have found black, brown and tan colors are calming and that it helps students to focus throughout their day at school. 

Click on the image below to be able to download the alphabet labels for your classroom word wall. It can be used for any other variety of other activities you wish to use it for!

Alphabet Labels

 

If you like this, you also may enjoy the following similar products for a cohesive look, if desired.

Days & Months of the Year

Classroom Schedule Cards 

This includes 128 cards plus blank ones you can add text or your own images!

Math Bin Labels

 

Classroom Jobs

Square and rectangular options included. 

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Valentine's Day Online Songs & Videos for Kids

Look no further for a handy list of Valentine's Day songs and videos perfect for young children! 

I hope you find this to be a useful list! 

Online Songs

Online Stories

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Learning With Learning Buddies

Having learning buddies is a great way to foster friendships between students in different grades in a school and helps encourage a community.

1. Read library books together

2. Read home reading books or levelled books together

3. Go on a letter hunt in the school for hidden letters.

4. Go on a letter hunt in and around the school for letters found naturally in buildings or in nature and take pictures of them.

5. Go on a environmental print hunt in and around the school.

6. Create a puppet play together. Older students can write the script and the younger kids can create the puppets.

7. Create art to display around the school for a school event.

8. Educate the school about the environment by creating posters together.

9. Write letters to each other.

10. Create a presentation for an upcoming school assembly.

11. Spend some time "getting to know" about each others grade. What do you learn? What do you like to do? What do you find challenging?

12. Write some poetry about an approaching holiday.

13. Create a Mother's Day or Father's Day card together.

14. Create your costumes together for an upcoming concert. Older students can help the younger students do tasks much quicker than it would occur independently.

15. Fill in an "All About Us" booklet where they spend time getting to know each other about their family. What they like to do. Special occasions that they love. What they cannot do yet... etc.

16. Older students can scribe letters for younger children for their pen pals! They also can read the letters to younger students, if it is difficult for some students to read.

17. Solve simple math problems together to learn new strategies.

18. Play math games to support fluency in math.


What are your favorite activities that you engage your students with during their learning buddy time?

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Poem of the Week for Kindergarten and Grade One

I love shared reading.

One of the biggest problems that I have found over the years is finding poems that are differentiated enough that I can find copies that are easy for my high readers and have enough visual supports provided for my lowest readers or my students who are just learning English.

This is why I wrote this poetry set. Each poem has 4-5 versions of the poem included. Some have very little picture cues while others have many visual cues for those who need it.

They are great for kindergarten and first grade students.

Benefits of Shared Reading
Integrating themes and interests, with simple sight words helps students develop their confidence in their ability to read!

These poetry sets have fun activities included to help engage students by integrating math and literacy centres which are already included for each of the poems in the sets.

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Festive Lessons To Engage Students

I am very excited to be able to share these holiday season lessons with you to help give you ideas to make this holiday season special in your class! Several Canadian teacher-bloggers have gotten together to share some of our favourite holiday activities which we use to help to keep our students engaged. I love how there are multiple lessons included in this link up which that can be adapted to suit the needs of various grade levels and that they are provided by a variety of teachers.  I hope you can use some of the many ideas contributed through this link up as you plan this holiday season for your students.

Making the months of December engaging for kindergarten students can be a challenge when they are all excited about the upcoming holidays and having a break from school. I do many of the following activities every other year. Below is a list of ideas to use to inspire learning but it is too big to be able to do everything all in one year!

I have rarely found a child that does not love cookies. The taste of gingerbread is sometimes new to students but over the years I have found many kids enjoy it!

Writing Activities
Usually we read at least 3 different versions of a gingerbread book and often watch a video or listen to an audio read aloud. There are so many variations that it is easy to expand this into many areas of the curriculum.

• Which is your favourite, video, audio or the book version? {media}
• Write about your favourite part and draw a picture of it.
• Who is your favourite character?
• Write the recipe to share with your family.
• Write a list of toppings to add to the cookies we will make.

Baking
As a class or in small groups we use our measuring skills, learn about cleanliness, different ingredients and health foods. We always end up making one huge gingerbread man. It is fun to be bakers and learn about how they are a community helper! We put it in the oven together and he mysteriously disappears.

Gingerbread Hunt
On the stove top the gingerbread man leaves a poem for the children to try to catch him. We visit different parts of the school each day looking for clues (cookie crumbs left on the floor which are from the big cookie) and end up finding new clue each day. It is quite an adventure and the kids LOVE searching for him. There are many different hunts that can be found online. I have made my own which we use each year. Every year he "mysteriously" leaves for another school but is generous to our students as he leaves behind gifts of gingerbread "babies" to share in the principles office.

Poetry
In all activities in our class, we try to make sure that we can hit as many different curriculum expectations as we can to get the maximum benefit for our students. Shared reading, choral reading and eventually independent reading are fun ways to engage students with poetry. Math graphing and supporting subitizing skills is always beneficial. Writing words from the poem, probability and even a fun bean bag tosses which add a reading component are always a hit with our students. I alternate between two poems throughout the holiday season. Click on this link, or on the image below, to see the poems I use and the various activities included!

Do you have any other fun engaging gingerbread activities that you love to do with your class? I'd love to hear about it! Leave a comment below.


Check out these other amazing blogs for festive lessons to engage students written by some amazing Canadian teacher-bloggers! There are lessons and ideas for a wide variety of grades included in this blog hop!

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