Sunday, April 15, 2012

A Wonderful Week...

This week has been busy in a lot of unusual ways.  My student teacher continued her total teach, so I worked on all kinds of projects for next school year.  This was my first year in kindergarten, so I have spent a lot of the year reflecting on how to be a more effective teacher next year.  I made a lot of graphic organizers to use next year.  Here are some pics.


This one is an idea from Kim Adsit's website.


This one is for our families lessons.  The pieces that you I used are from Kim Adsit's Family Fun Unit on TPT.



More Kim Adsit inspired graphic organizers.


A Story Map
 
We also had our annual Parent/Student Academy on Thursday night.  It's a night where teachers and community members teach classes to parents or students.  The parent sessions range from how to create a budget to how to make healthy meals.  Student sessions are fun things like manicures or kite making.

One of my fellow kindergarten teachers and I taught a parent class about helping their child with reading strategies at home.  It went really well.  The parents seemed quite happy to know more strategies to use at home that mirrored what we use in the classroom.  I was so happy to wear my strategies apron that I purchased form Lesson Plan SOS.  I don't have a picture of me in it, but maybe I can ask a friend to snap one tomorrow.

One thing that we discussed in my session with the parents was how to help their child retell a story.  I use this graphic organizer with my kinders to help them retell a story, so I showed it to the parents who attended.


I provided the parents with a smaller version to take home with them.  This is the same one that my kinders keep in their book boxes to help them remember how to retell.  You can download it here.

Basically this method of retelling a story shows young learners that they start by telling the "Who", "Where", and "What" is in the story.  That is why there is these three circles at the top of the chart.  I made them into circles so that readers can touch each one as they retell.

Then the reader tells four important parts of the story.  That is why there are four circles on the square, once again for the reader to touch each one.

Last, the reader completes the retell by telling what happened at the end.  The red reminds the readers to STOP at the end, rather than 3/4 of the way through.

I was also blessed to conduct the District Teacher of the Year interviews on Tuesday night.  I am the current district teacher, so it was a joy to interview such talented teachers in my district.  It was also nice to not be the one being interviewed this year.  Phew!

Okay, that's all for now.  If you would like the words for these organizers, just let me know.  They're nothing fancy, so I didn't know if anyone would want them.


6 comments:

  1. I wish we did a parent night like that! Sounds great!
    Vickie

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow Erica! You have been busy!! I love the idea of having a parent night - I would love to teach our parents some reading strategies - it's so much more effective if they're getting something consistent! I'm jealous of all your organizers! Mine are getting rickety and I'm going to remake all of them this summer!

    Nicole
    Rowdy in Room 300

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your parent night sounds great! I like your retelling strategy poster. It looks like it would really be helpful for students. Love all your posters you made. Great job!

    April
    Wolfelicious

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for all of the great ideas!! My student teacher will soon begin her total teach and now I know what I'll be busy making! =)
    Bobbie


    The Daily Cupcake…A Kindergarten Blog

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your parents are lucky to have great teachers with awesome resources for them! I am envious of your extra time to make those graphic organizers..I have had those same ones pinned for about 2 months now and have made no progress towards actually making them:) Maybe this summer, maybe....

    Kelly
    Kindergarten Kel

    ReplyDelete
  6. Super cute blog design! I'm your newest follower.

    Selina
    http://classroommagic.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete