P/T Conferences

After conferences, parents often ask how to better support their child’s learning.  There are many additional things families can do to keep skills moving forward.  It is important to be mindful of students' interest levels while supporting youngsters’ intrinsic desires to continue learning.  A multitude of learning opportunities take place during the school day, with many teachers giving homework or practice to support learning each night.  We need to be careful not to overwhelm students or turn them off of learning.  We don’t want to force; we want to empower!  Empowering students to assume the responsibility for learning should be our goal!  With that said, below are some ideas to encourage learning outside the school day, on weekends, or even during spring/summer break.  Enjoy!

Reading:

Creating family reading time is one of the most important things we can do for early learners.  Reading is the “foundation of success” and is essential for all subjects.  Good readers activate background knowledge and are able to predict, infer, and question while reading.  Fluent readers can put themselves into the text, making self-to-text connections.  When reading stories together we should stop and ask questions, predict, place ourselves into the story, and ask, “What would you do?”

Sample Questions:

·                Describe the main character.  Where does the story take place?  When does it take place?

·                Name the supporting characters.

·                What do you think the characters are feeling?  Why do they feel that way?

·                What is the problem in the story?  How does the character deal w/problem?

·                Could the character do something different to solve the problem?

·                What is your favorite part of the story?  Why?

·                Have you ever read a story that is similar to this story?

·                Does this story remind you of anything in your life?

·                If you could come up with a new title for the story then what would it be?

·                How did the story end?  Would you change the ending?  Why/How?

·                What is the most interesting part of the story?  Why?

·                Did you learn something new?  Give 3 new facts?  How can you apply this lesson to your life?

·                What are the main character's traits?  How is the character like you/different from you?

·                What do you think will happen next?

·                Tell an opinion you have about the story.  Tell a fact from the story.

Set a purpose or objective for reading, and allow time to make connections, such as:  text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world.   It is important to have conversations to enhance comprehension skills and understanding of the material being read.  Simple “making connection starters” could include:

·         This story reminds me when I went swimming because…

·         This story reminds me of when (character from different story/chapter/etc.) made a new friend  because…

·         This story reminds me when my teacher did ______ because…

·         This story reminds me of when we went on vacation because…

·         This character reminds me of my neighbor because…

I am sure you can think of additional questions or connection starters.  Understand that it is not necessary to use every question or connection starter during your family reading.  Pick three or four that will enhance the reading experience.  The goal for family reading, besides great family bonding, is to support a natural transfer of skills into the child’s independent reading activities, enhancing comprehension, reading fluency and fostering a love of books. 

Spelling and Vocabulary:

Driving vocabulary - Attach three to five vocabulary words on the back of the driver/passenger seat in your car.  While driving, have your child read, spell, and tell the meaning of each word, using them in a sentence.  Change the words every week or two, but don’t tell them when.  Anticipation will increase excitement for new vocabulary words.  Have children keep a driving journal, keeping track of the new words they are learning.  Make sure the words are grade level appropriate and keep it fun.  You can also use this strategy to practice new spelling words.

Vocabulary practice/sentence building – Place words on index cards in two different piles – mix them up and see who can make a sentence.  Make a game out of this activity, creating a point system and the first one to 50 points wins! 

Label the house – Label some items in your house with index cards.  Environmental print supports immediate recall and enhances reading fluency.

Word of the week – Take a higher level vocabulary word and make it the “word of the week” in your house.  Use it in sentences, post it in the house, spell it together, and encourage them to incorporate the word into their writing at school.  Try to make it fun!

Spelling City - Practicing spelling was a challenging event in our household until we were introduced to Spelling City, which is a game-based program that provides spelling, vocabulary, and other language arts activities for K-12 cross-curricular word study.  The site offers a free or affordable premium membership that allows children to use their classroom generated spelling list within the program for motivational practice while providing immediate feedback to learners.   My children no longer complain when we ask them to practice their spelling words.  Give it a try; it might help your family as much as it has helped ours. 

Writing:

Sports journal –  We are well into NCAA March Madness (Go STATE!) and your favorite team or players can provide many writing opportunities.  While watching a game, keep a journal of your favorite plays so that you can go back and try it on the court.  Simple sports writing prompts could include:

·         Have you ever dreamed about being a sports star?  What team would you play for? 

·         What is your favorite sports team and why?

·         Who is your favorite player and why? 

·         What are the 5 top plays from yesterday’s game?

Connecting to a child’s interest level will enhance likelihood that practice will be meaningful and empowering.

Family time capsule journal or scrap book journal – Keeping track of movies, family vacations, major news stories, special sporting events, birthdays, etc. in a family journal will make writing exciting.  You can add pictures and make it into a scrap book of memories and thoughts that can be remembered for years to come.

Writing for a purpose – Write a letter to a company that makes the best chocolate, game, toy, golf club, etc.  Maybe they will send you some free goodies as a thank you!  Write a letter if you are not impressed with a product.  I wonder if the CEO of the company will respond?

Popplet – Used as a mind-map, Popplet helps students think and learn visually.  Students can capture facts, thoughts, and images while learning to create relationships between them.  Check out a previous post – Popplet: Supporting son's writing homework - he loves to build!

Math:

As an elementary teacher, I focused on the students’ ability to understand math concepts and think mathematically. Unfortunately, some of my students had a difficult time because they lacked the ability to recall basic facts. They understood the process; however, they scored low on assessments due to simple computation mistakes throughout the problem.  I always encouraged my students to practice math facts for five minutes a day when they were at home.  Five extra minutes of intense practice per school day might not seem like much, but it adds up quickly. By the end of the year they will do over 900 minutes of extra basic facts practice!  Check out Edutopia - 10 apps for math fluency

Think Through Math - For the past couple of years, our building has been utilizing Think Through Math (TTM) as a supplemental tool for fourth and fifth grade students in conjunction with our district math curriculum.  We have found it to be extremely beneficial.  Think Through Math does exactly what its name suggests.  It provides students with opportunity to understand mathematical concepts rather than just getting to a final answer.   The uniqueness of TTM is that students can connect with a LIVE certified teacher when they are unable to solve a problem on their own.   They can also access the program from home!  TTM understands the importance of immediate support when a student is struggling with a new concept.  Connecting and interacting with a live teacher enhances the likelihood of student success, while taking their mathematical skills to the next level.  Check out a previous post for more detail about TTM. 

These are some of the additional learning opportunities I have used with my children or suggested to parents.  Please remember the importance of keeping things fun and enjoyable while empowering children’s intrinsic belief to be life-long learners.  Most importantly, don’t forget the need for family time, playing board games, riding bikes, putting together a puzzle and having rich conversations with your children, enhancing family relationships.

Enjoy your week as great parents and teachers!  

Just went to conferences... Now what???

After conferences, parents often ask me how to better support their child’s learning.  There are many additional things families can do to keep skills moving forward.  It is important to be mindful of students' interest levels while supporting youngsters’ intrinsic desires to continue learning.  A multitude of learning opportunities take place during the school day, with many teachers giving homework or practice to support learning each night.  We need to be careful not to overwhelm students or turn them off of learning.  We don’t want to force; we want to empower!  Empowering students to assume the responsibility for learning should be our goal!  With that said, below are some ideas to encourage learning outside the school day, on weekends, or even during winter break.  Enjoy!

Reading:

Creating family reading time is one of the most important things we can do for early learners.  Reading is the “foundation of success” and is essential for all subjects.  Good readers activate background knowledge and are able to predict, infer, and question while reading.  Fluent readers can put themselves into the text, making self-to-text connections.  When reading stories together we should stop and ask questions, predict, place ourselves into the story, and ask, “What would you do?”

Sample Questions:

·                Describe the main character.  Where does the story take place?  When does it take place?

·                Name the supporting characters.

·                What do you think the characters are feeling?  Why do they feel that way?

·                What is the problem in the story?  How does the character deal w/problem?

·                Could the character do something different to solve the problem?

·                What is your favorite part of the story?  Why?

·                Have you ever read a story that is similar to this story?

·                Does this story remind you of anything in your life?

·                If you could come up with a new title for the story then what would it be?

·                How did the story end?  Would you change the ending?  Why/How?

·                What is the most interesting part of the story?  Why?

·                Did you learn something new?  Give 3 new facts?  How can you apply this lesson to your life?

·                What are the main character's traits?  How is the character like you/different from you?

·                What do you think will happen next?

·                Tell an opinion you have about the story.  Tell a fact from the story.

Set a purpose or objective for reading, and allow time to make connections, such as:  text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world.   It is important to have conversations to enhance comprehension skills and understanding of the material being read.  Simple “making connection starters” could include:

·         This story reminds me when I went swimming because…

·         This story reminds me of when (character from different story/chapter/etc.) made a new friend  because…

·         This story reminds me when my teacher did ______ because…

·         This story reminds me of when we went on vacation because…

·         This character reminds me of my neighbor because…

I am sure you can think of additional questions or connection starters.  Understand that it is not necessary to use every question or connection starter during your family reading.  Pick three or four that will enhance the reading experience.  The goal for family reading, besides great family bonding, is to support a natural transfer of skills into the child’s independent reading activities, enhancing comprehension, reading fluency and fostering a love of books. 

Spelling and Vocabulary:

Driving vocabulary - Attach three to five vocabulary words on the back of the driver/passenger seat in your car.  While driving, have your child read, spell, and tell the meaning of each word, using them in a sentence.  Change the words every week or two, but don’t tell them when.  Anticipation will increase excitement for new vocabulary words.  Have children keep a driving journal, keeping track of the new words they are learning.  Make sure the words are grade level appropriate and keep it fun.  You can also use this strategy to practice new spelling words.

Vocabulary practice/sentence building – Place words on index cards in two different piles – mix them up and see who can make a sentence.  Make a game out of this activity, creating a point system and the first one to 50 points wins! 

Label the house – Label some items in your house with index cards.  Environmental print supports immediate recall and enhances reading fluency.

Word of the week – Take a higher level vocabulary word and make it the “word of the week” in your house.  Use it in sentences, post it in the house, spell it together, and encourage them to incorporate the word into their writing at school.  Try to make it fun!

Spelling City - Practicing spelling was a challenging event in our household until we were introduced to Spelling City, which is a game-based program that provides spelling, vocabulary, and other language arts activities for K-12 cross-curricular word study.  The site offers a free or affordable premium membership that allows children to use their classroom generated spelling list within the program for motivational practice while providing immediate feedback to learners.   My children no longer complain when we ask them to practice their spelling words.  Give it a try; it might help your family as much as it has helped ours. 

Writing:

Sports journal – While watching a game, keep a journal of your favorite plays so that you can go back and try it on the field.   We are well into the football season (Go Lions!) and your favorite team or players can provide many writing opportunities.  Simple sports writing prompts could include:

·         Have you ever dreamed about being a sports star?  What team would you play for? 

·         What is your favorite sports team and why?

·         Who is your favorite player and why? 

·         What are the 5 top plays from yesterday’s game?

Connecting to a child’s interest level will enhance likelihood that practice will be meaningful and empowering.

Family time capsule journal or scrap book journal – Keeping track of movies, family vacations, major news stories, special sporting events, birthdays, etc. in a family journal will make writing exciting.  You can add pictures and make it into a scrap book of memories and thoughts that can be remembered for years to come.

Writing for a purpose – Write a letter to a company that makes the best chocolate, game, toy, golf club, etc.  Maybe they will send you some free goodies as a thank you!  Write a letter if you are not impressed with a product.  I wonder if the CEO of the company will respond.

Popplet – Used as a mind-map, Popplet helps students think and learn visually.  Students can capture facts, thoughts, and images while learning to create relationships between them.  Check out a previous post – Popplet: Supporting son's writing homework - he loves to build!

Math:

As an elementary teacher, I focused on the students’ ability to understand math concepts and think mathematically. Unfortunately, some of my students had a difficult time because they lacked the ability to recall basic facts. They understood the process; however, they scored low on assessments due to simple computation mistakes throughout the problem.  I always encouraged my students to practice math facts for five minutes a day when they were at home.  Five extra minutes of intense practice per school day might not seem like much, but it adds up quickly. By the end of the year they will do over 900 minutes of extra basic facts practice!  Check out Edutopia - 10 apps for math fluency

Think Through Math - For the past couple of years, our building has been utilizing Think Through Math (TTM) as a supplemental tool for fourth and fifth grade students in conjunction with our district math curriculum.  We have found it to be extremely beneficial.  Think Through Math does exactly what its name suggests.  It provides students with opportunity to understand mathematical concepts rather than just getting to a final answer.   The uniqueness of TTM is that students can connect with a LIVE certified teacher when they are unable to solve a problem on their own.   They can also access the program from home!  TTM understands the importance of immediate support when a student is struggling with a new concept.  Connecting and interacting with a live teacher enhances the likelihood of student success, while taking their mathematical skills to the next level.  Check out a previous post for more detail about TTM. 

These are some of the additional learning opportunities I have used with my children or suggested to parents.  Please remember the importance of keeping things fun and enjoyable while empowering children’s intrinsic belief to be life-long learners.  Most importantly, don’t forget the need for family time, playing board games, making a snowman (yes, snow is just around the corner), putting together a puzzle and having rich conversations with your children, enhancing family relationships.

Enjoy your week as great parents and teachers!  

Let’s call it “practice” or an “opportunity” to showcase learning!

Homework is a hot topic with many different philosophical beliefs.  Learning is becoming a 24/7 endeavor for students, especially with respect to technology that is readily at their hands.  So, is homework necessary?  I do believe there is a place for strategic “practice” outside the school day.  When I was teaching, I would ask students to finish their “opportunity” at home.  It was their “opportunity” to showcase their learning for the day!  The word “homework” tends to have a negative connotation, whereas “opportunity” or “practice” can empower learning and learners.  I understand that it is just a word; however, it is a powerful word, and changing our mindset can transform traditional homework assignments into empowered practice. 

Watch this inspirational Youtube video via Rick Wormeli:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMJ-vEl4WB8&sns=em

-              We call it practice in our classroom.

-              Homework has emotional baggage… between parent and child or child and teacher.

-              Give different practice for different levels of readiness.

-              Homework is formative in nature

What percentage of a student's grade should homework be counted toward? Should I give the same homework assignment to each student in the class? And if a student demonstrates mastery, yet doesn't turn in homework, is it accurate to give them a lower grade for the course? Rick Wormeli (Fair Isn't Always Equal) offers his take on the burning issue of homework.

As a staff, we watched Rick Wormeli’s video and organized dialogue with respect to our homework beliefs and expectations.  We asked the questions: 

·         How do we give feedback on homework?

·         What do our parents think about homework?

·         What do our students think about homework?

·         What do teachers think about homework?

·         What is the roll of homework?

These questions, along with academic research and watching videos like the one above, truly shape our conversations about after-school learning.  We want students to be motivated and empowered to learn outside the school day.  Throughout the year we will continue to analyze our philosophical beliefs and discuss methods to enhance our current procedures. Continuing to find ways to make after-school learning more relevant and differentiated for learners of diverse readiness levels is vital.  We plan to utilize the attached chart as a guide to generate conversation in our never-ending quest to improve student engagement.  Alternatives to Traditional Homework

Homework conversations are not just isolated to my career as a building principal.  I am experiencing these conversations as a parent of two school-aged children.  They both receive appropriate practice that is congruent with their developmental level; however, my son doesn’t enjoy homework.  Can you believe it?  The son of a principal doesn’t enjoy homework!  It definitely can be a challenge for him, particularly reading and writing assignments.  He becomes very frustrated, not because he is unable to do the work, because he thinks it is boring.  We try to make it a game and provide some incentives from time to time.  We always “talk it up,” showing excitement when he brings it home, giving accolades for his efforts and breaking assignments into chunks so it isn’t as overwhelming.  His homework is appropriate (needed practice), focused on skill building, and the assignments seem to connect to student interests and ability level. 

My son’s teacher has also implemented an interesting Team Approach to completing homework assignments.   The process is differentiation with student choice being at the forefront of many practice assignments.  My son is even excited about receiving points.  I imagine that his teacher is modeling enthusiasm surrounding this approach and it is catching on with her students.  My son is also enjoying the choices involved within the spelling practice.  It is giving him ownership over the practice, where he is assuming responsibility for his own learning.  The extra effort seems very empowering and I applaud the teacher!  My only suggestion would be to change the word "homework" to "practice," but it is a difficult thing to do when the word is so embedded into our culture.  All in all, my son seems to be off to a nice start in 2nd grade in regard to nightly homework... I mean... practice!   

The debate will carry on and homework will continue to be given to students.  Children need to be assigned practice and activities to build skills; such as memorizing facts, spelling, word study, etc.  My suggestion to all educators and parents is to provide targeted and differentiated practice, allowing for choice and empowering students to assume responsibility of their own learning.

Remember to embark on all homework decisions with a basic question:  Is it good for children?

Have a great week!

Popplet: Supporting son's writing homework… he loves to build!

Used as a mind-map, Popplet helps students think and learn visually. Students can capture facts, thoughts, and images while learning to create relationships between them.  This is how it helped our family:

My son is a typical 1st grader who loves to build.   Many times I will get home from work to see an extra-large airplane made of construction paper on the living room floor.  He loves getting cardboard boxes to build space ships or jetpacks.  Lego’s are a fan favorite at our house (side note, the Lego Movie is a must see, great movie with a better message).  He enjoys the 3 in 1 Legos, creating multiple possibilities from the same set.  I would say his top building game is Minecraft on the Ipad.  The creative and building aspects of Minecraft allow players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D world.  Extremely exciting for a 1^st grader!  It is all he wants to talk about.   Unfortunately, as much as he loves to build, the opposite is true for homework. 

Homework can be a challenge for him, particularly writing assignments.  He becomes very frustrated, not because he is unable to do the work, because he thinks it is boring.  We try to make it a game and provide some incentives from time to time.  We always “talk it up,” showing excitement when he brings it home, giving accolades for his effort, and breaking assignments into chunks so it isn’t as overwhelming.  His homework is appropriate (needed practice) focused on skill building and the writing assignments seem to connect to student interests and ability level.

Over the mid-winter break he received a writing assignment that was challenging, lacking interest to even start the homework.  He was asked to write about his hero, directions were clear and expectations were appropriate for his ability level.  With that said, it was like pulling teeth to get him motivated (not that I have ever pulled teeth… I’m sure it isn’t easy).  He picked his hero, that was a great conversation (made my mom happy, see his Popplet below); however, he had no interest in putting his thought into words.  We tried to create a brainstorming web to organize our conversation, had no interest.  Can you believe it???  The son of a principal has no interest in his writing homework… actually, reminds me of myself when I was a child. 

So, I introduced him to Popplet.  He loves to build, figured this might be helpful… building his mind-map using technology.  His attitude quickly changed, using the app to “build” ideas was exciting (or at least more acceptable than writing).  I even think he had fun!!!!  Check it out:

He did all of the typing, with limited help w/spelling, then copied onto provided sheet without complaining.  

Finished product:

Popplet is a great brainstorming tool that motivated him differently than other strategies we have used.  Of all the tricks... this one worked (at least for this assignment)!  Check out the website if you are looking for a new way to motivate your new writers... at home or at school!  www.popplet.com

As a final thought, if you are required to give homework (my HW philosophy is for another post), make it as exciting, purposeful and relevant as possible.  Be mindful to the amount you are giving.  Try to create homework experiences that motivate your students.    Differentiate your homework based on need and allow for choice.  Please, please, please… do not provide busy work that students (families) might resent, this will only hinder your goal of creating an excited life-long learner. Provide homework that will strengthen your classroom teaching and support student engagement, empowering them to learn. 

Have a great week of teaching!!!! 

Keith Howell