In the Classroom

Even though I don't exactly teach lessons everyday, I've still been trying to come up with tools and visuals that will enhance the lesson that's taking place.  For me, it's been much easier to come up with these ideas after I see the lesson in action and can think of how it could be better or more effective.  The main thing I've been focusing on for Dinah's classroom is visuals!  First of all, it's my thing!  Second, the majority of the classrooms I've seen here DO NOT use visuals!  They rely on what's in the book and if there's nothing, there's no visual.  For kids who are learning English as their second--or third--language, visuals help so much.  Here are some of the things we've implemented so far:

Prefixes rap with prefix and suffix definitions, and an interactive prefix/suffix chart!

These vocabulary flashcards have been a huge hit!  It was Dinah's idea to hang the wire right across the room where the kids could reach them.  The kids use them to quiz their friends at recess and I always catch them looking at them and reading the words to themselves.  They even copy the pictures in their journals.  Simply having constant visuals has done wonders for their vocabulary learning! 

With the ReadingA-Z.com subscription (thanks to a special donation by Aunt Lisa!! :)) I printed a bunch of books that the kids used for their 2nd grading period book report project.  I'm hoping to print more from different levels (Levels I, J, & K actually equate to Grades 1 & 2 in America) because we have such a wide range of English reading abilities in our class.  Plus, I think it would be great to have displays like this of all the A-Z levels for the new library!  (BIG news about that coming soon!) 

In our room, we now have a book box full of books from various donations I've acquired and my purchases from 'Booksale': a cheap, secondhand bookstore chain  where I probably spend way too much of my living allowance on books for the kids...

 

New class pets!  

The kids found them in our "Resources box" (which was apparently empty) a couple days ago.  I convinced Dinah to let us keep them there for a while since the kittens are so little.  I'm also hoping the kids will learn some empathy for animals by taking care of these cats and not "throwing them" (ie throwing them away like trash) like I hear about people doing way too often.

We started this morning by buying the mama cat some spaghetti that she basically inhaled!  We're planning to bring her some milk, too.