Hello Fellow Bloggers!!!!
SUPER Teacher Here
I wanted to take a few moments and share the crazy yet
productive week that I have had.
I had the opportunity to attend 2, yes 2, professional development
Seminars.
I found both of them to be very informative and fresh with inspiration.
The first one, on Monday afternoon,
was initiated to celebrate
Literacy Week 2013.
We received training on the
It is a cooperative style of learning that stresses the
importance of teaching
vocabulary as well as the
effectiveness of cross-age reading.
Monday, all of our upper grade classrooms
"buddied" up with lower grade classes and we met
for the first time this Friday
afternoon, yes I am still talking about the same crazy week. :-)
Each of my 5th graders was paired
with a 2nd grader and they worked together through a fun five step process that includes the following:
1. Watch Together - Big Buddies and
Little Buddies sit together as a whole
group and watch one of the Martha Speaks
episodes.
2. Talk and Play Time - All buddies then have the opportunity to interact by discussing questions
about their favorite parts of the
show and how they feel the show relates to them. They also participate in a game or activity (provided by the program) that
reviews the key vocabulary words.
3. Read Together - Next, the Big
Buddies read a picture book to their Little Buddies.
The 4 special vocabulary words are
embedded in the story.
4. Write Together - Each of the
Little Buddies are provided with a lesson journal
that the Big Buddies help them
complete referencing the story and
how it could relate to them.
5. Wrap-Up - The last step of the day
is to review the special words and can include songs, chants or the sharing of
journal responses.
One Word? Impressed
My
students matched up with their Little Buddies and did a fantastic job. It was so
rewarding for me to watch them do what I do all week long. I would definitely
recommend linking up with another grade for reading and learning.
Also,
did I mention that our school has all of the sessions separated into small
totes complete
with
books and activities. Yes, my school ROCKS!!!
Ok,
that is what I learned on Monday and implemented on Friday afternoon.
Now
let's fill in some of the days in between......
Tuesday
- normal day.....ummm, what is that, really?
Wednesday
and Thursday were WOW days!
I
had the opportunity to attend a two day Singapore Math Seminar.
Another
Word? Impressed Again,
I,
being a Math lover found everything that was presented to be something that
I wish I had learned back when I was in elementary school. Our presenter was awesome and really knew how to speak to a room full of teachers. That, my friend, is not an
I wish I had learned back when I was in elementary school. Our presenter was awesome and really knew how to speak to a room full of teachers. That, my friend, is not an
easy task. I hope to post some of the
actual things that I learned later on.
If
you get the opportunity to attend a Singapore workshop, do it.....
So,
that, my friends, is my week in a nutshell.
Hopefully you can kinda see why I feel like I have
super powers this week. Of course, the craziness of this profession is what
keeps
us going, right?
'till next time friends......Blog ON!
