The simple things in life

I often think that the cute ideas I get from Pinterest are more fun for me than for the students. I tend to get way more excited about an activity than the students. When I started teaching mid year last year, the students were super excited to do the matter flip book. They were getting to color for the first time in who knows how long. It is funny how simple things can get us excited. I think we often try to do the amazing things when really we can do simple things and the students will enjoy them just as much.

Guided Reading

My reading class struggles with tracking where we are on the page. A class does not go by without a certain student blurting out "I don't know where we are." To combat this problem I went to my favorite resource, Pinterest. I found several ideas from 4th Grade Frolics on things the students can use to better track. The two that I chose to bring to my  class are drink stirrers and the glass puddles for vases. The puddles are more popular because they magnify the words. You can find other ideas here.

Imagination and Transitions

At my school transitions happen at least once an hour. This can  make teaching a bit tough. We try to come up with ideas to keep the children quiet in the halls. This past week as I was walking my class out to recess, I came up with a silly idea. I pretended that I was wearing a hot pink hat with large purple feathers. I told the kids to keep quiet because I did not want the principal to discover that I was wearing a hat in school. This kept them pretty quiet at they went to and from recess. Sometimes I forget to use my imagination at school but here was a great chance for me to show the kids that I can be playful and silly too.