Braining Camp Math Resources

We did it!!!!  We made it to Easter Break and we finished virtual learning.  Our kiddos are coming back.  We are going to be able to settle in FINALLY as a school family.  Thank you all for everything that you have done and will do in the future. PVES is a wonderful place to work and it is because of all of you!

I know your brain might not be ready for math over break but I wanted you to know that in Classlink.  Through our Mpowerment Grant the whole district will now have access to these awesome digital math resources from Braining Camp!!!!

I am so excited for you all to try these out!  

• No need to login at all!
• Teachers can use them on their smartboards!
• Students can login on their devices! 

Here is a quick tutorial to get you started! I love that there are different mats for you to use with each tool. 

Check out the tutorial pages by clicking the image below! (They do take a bit to load.) Each tool has a tutorial that goes along with it.  If you are struggling with SmartINK...you can use the pens to mark up your math lessons! 

You can create links and codes to share out with your students!!!!  (Great for word problems!) Just click where it says share on the sidebar of the tool!   You also can click the lightbulb to get ideas to use in your lessons!   

Finally, there are webinars listed to help support you with the apps and building lessons for your students!

Ya'll check these out!  Super excited to see these in action in your classrooms! 

Social Emotional Learning

Hi All!  Thank you for another awesome week in PLC!  I love the talks we had about orthographic mapping. How fun to see this PLC activity already happing in the classroom! 

This week on the blog, I thought I would share some resources for Social Emotional Learning.  With our kiddos coming back, we need to keep in mind that this is another transition for them & with transitions there can be BUMPS in the road.

What is Social Emotional learning?  It is the ability to understand & manage emotions, set and achieve goals, feel and show empathy for others & build relationships. All of these skills can be supported in the classroom through morning meeting, books, games, and social stories. 

We all know that our students are going to need time and support with getting back in the groove of 5 days of in person learning. (Heck...we are too!) 

I know we have been using our SEL Slides during our meets this year but I wanted to share some more resources to help support you! 

I love this video and how it explains the importance of SEL in school, work and life!

Think about your class and your past classes.  Look over this poster.  Many of the "behaviors" that we see in our classrooms stem from poor Social Emotional Skills. 

Identifying the behavior and finding the social emotional skill that supports it will allow you to plan out a systematic way to address the behavior and provide support to the student. 

Love this list of SEL books!  There are so many good ones to add to your morning meeting or interactive read aloud! Click the image to head to Nourishing my Scholar and read about each of the books.  

During your morning meetings, don't forget about those morning check ins!   Here is a simple way to check in with your kiddos from Playful in Primary!

The Pathway to Success is filled with 25 ways to support social emotional learning in your classroom!!!!  So many goodies!  Love the journaling, the breathing cards & the focus on positive self talk. Click the image! 

Spend some time watching this video and making connections to executive function. Listening to these kiddos is sooooo powerful! Edutopia did it again! 

For those of you that spent time this summer on Conscious Discipline I love the Brain Smart Start!  The focus on being safe and disengaging stress through breathing is so powerful! 

Setting up a safe spot in your classroom can be super helpful to students struggling with Social Emotional Learning.  I love how this post has a goal of leading the students back to the class. 

So, as you begin to think about plans for after break, be sure that you are thinking about SEL and what you can do before our students come to have outlets in place for students that may need extra support.  

I can't wait until everyone is all back together again!  

Semantic Gradient & Vocabulary

Hi All! I am so excited to see you all in action with your blending boards!  Thank you to Chaunte for providing some training and to PVES for suppling ALL our teachers with their very own boards!

I know we are still finding our comfort zone with our small group reading but these blending boards are going to be sooooo helpful with high frequency word mini lessons, vocabulary & phonemic awareness!  

Remember with the Simple View of Reading, we need to ensure that our students have a strong understanding of decoding and language comprehension before we get to independent reading comprehension.

Our new blending boards will help support us with the decoding and word recognition part for sure. 

Let's talk Language Comprehension!  

Basically, language comprehension is understanding and making sense of the spoken language. Remember the ROPE!  

Along with our blending boards, we can also support the Simple View of Reading by explicitly teaching the  vocabulary from texts that we are using in small group & large group reading.  

Mrs. Allen shared this awesome vocabulary activity that I think would work perfectly in your small group reading.  It is called Semantic Gradients!

• This activity helps to broaden and deepen the students understanding of related words. 

• It helps student distinguish between shades of meaning.

• It enhances students vocabulary! 

It is pretty simple.  Choose 2 words that are the opposite of each other and place them at either ends of a line.  

Choose 5 synonyms for each word. 

Create a bridge/line in between each word and add the synonyms to connect the words.  

Students can also take the words and place them on the bridge between the words and discuss their reasoning.  

Allow time for them to discuss the relationship between the words.  

Check out this example below!

This activity can be done with Book vocabulary too!  

Teachers can choose a specific vocabulary word.

Use the text to create a list of similar words. 

(Place your word in the center of your bridge.).

You can read more about this activity over at Reading Rockets!

I SOOOOO see paint samples for this activity!!!!  Instead of a bridge create a ladder!  I can see these put on rings for students to use during their independent writing time.  Click below to see this free activity on TPT.

OMGOSH!  How fun is this!!!!  I love the idea of kiddos using What's my Word game after they have engaged in semantic gradient activities!  Grab the FREE activity sheet and read more about this activity and others over on Education to the Core!   

Getting your students to be comfortable with "playing with words" will support their decoding, encoding & vocabulary!  

Spring Break!

Happy Spring Break!   

U ALL have MORE than earned it!

Thank you for working so hard this entire school year.  You have rolled with the punches and come out on top.

I hope you all find time to unwind and relax with family and friends!

Below I am putting together some fun ideas to help  you make the most of your time off...if you need it! 

 

50 TIPS for SELF Care for Teachers!

So MANY great ideas here like...

Belly Laughing (Ian keeps me laughing all the time!) 

Sleeping with a Weighted Blanket (This is on my list!) 

Plant something (Gonna try this for sure!) 

How about these fun and inexpensive ideas for spring break?  A picnic sounds amazing!   I also am going to declutter and learn how to sell on Facebook Marketplace! 

How cute are those mason jars?????? OMGosh....and the little succulents in the egg shells!

Check out a new place to eat!  SOOO many yummy choices below!

LOVE this place for farmhouse furniture!  

How about 33 of the Best Beach Reads?

This list could go on and on but I am sure you have some things on your list too!

Enjoy this much needed time of rest!  

VR Headsets and a Spring Break TRIP!

Spring Break is getting close!  Next week would be a wonderful time to take your class on a field trip!!!!

With our small groups, VR headsets would be a great activity to bring learning to life. (Yes, we will have to sanitize them after each use.)  As you are planning your lessons for next week, book a time with myself or Mrs. Harkey to check out the headsets for your students.  We have tons of adventures that will help you develop your students' schema!  

Remember schema plays a HUGE role in making inferences and that reading strategy supports our priority standards! 

Check out this video all about inferences!

Our Park View PTO was able to purchase 2 class sets of VR heads sets.  They are located in our media center and are ready to be checked out!  

Here is a quick refresher!

What is Virtual Reality? 

Top 10 Reasons to Use VR in the classroom!

What is Google Expeditions?

Check out this LIST of Google Expeditions created by MGSD!  When planning your expedition think carefully about your science and social studies standards.   

Use Command F to search for a specific topic. Scroll through the green highlighted expeditions and choose one that will fit your needs.  

How do you check out VR for your class? 

• Simple head to our Park View Prime and scroll to slide 48.  There you can check out a class set or a small group set of 10.  

• Be sure to book a time with your IC if you need support.

• Head to the library and make sure that the tablets and VR headsets are charged the NIGHT before!  It is SIMPLE!  Just plug them in. 

 (Mrs. Schroeder or Mrs. Harkey can help you with this!)   

VR is a perfect opportunity to bring learning to life!

Leveled Readers and The Science of Reading

Hi All!  I was going through some books in the PLC room.  We have a ton of leveled readers in there from MClass and it got my brain thinking about how we can use these readers in our classroom but still hit the Science of Reading.  

Here is my thinking!

Before Reading: Use the GRADE Text List that Jemma shared earlier this year.  Find the appropriate level for your students based on the quarter. 

Choose a leveled text from your grade level band. 

Go through the text and look for sight words and decodable words.

• Use these words to front load for students before the lesson
• Quick Coding these words for your students would be a powerful way to model how to decode them. 

Grab your LETTERLAND manual: Focus on phonics skills that need to be in place for the text.

•  Prepare short mini lessons that may be needed to support students with words they will encounter.  

OMGosh!  This Phonics Slide Show would be a great resource for your mini lessons! 

Front load any vocabulary that may be needed for students to understand the story. 

• Check SCHEMA on new words
• Front load with nonfiction or videos or pictures
• Give students time to share what they know about the words. 
• Don't forget a vocabulary sort!  

• HELLO The SCHEMA stick!

Keep in mind, with a predictable text you will need to help students attend to the text first.  

• Cover the pictures with large post-its
• Help students identify high frequency words/heart words 
• Model how to decode/break a word into syllables
• After reading, discuss the predictable parts and scaffold for students to be able to use in browsing bags.
• Encourage students to extend on the predictable pattern and write another page for the story!

During reading, if the text is too difficult, don't fret, don't fear!

• Read the text to the students and encourage them to follow along!
• Have them read only the short passages and U read the more challenging pages.
• You DON'T have to complete the whole text in one day.
• Use your F & P prompting guides to focus in on higher level comprehension once DECODING is in place. 
• Break it into parts & add GRAPHIC Organizers

• Focus on comprehension through the discussion that you have with your students.  
• Make connections to past texts

After Reading:

• Let them add these books to their browsing bags or buddy reading time! 
• Encourage them to write about their reading
• Provide nonfiction or fiction texts in browsing boxes that will connect to the text they just read.
• Nonfiction text lend to report writing or research
• Encourage your kiddos to hop on Pebble Go and research!

We can talk more in PLC!  I would LOVE to hear your ideas. 

I can't wait to support you with this!!!!! 

Stick & Split

Hi All!  I am so excited to write this blogpost!  I have the coolest site to share with you.  Alisan Royster, our math coach,  shared this site with the coaches on Friday.  It is called Stick & Split. HELLO...NUMBER Sense and engagement!

We all know that number sense is so important because it encourages students to think flexibly about numbers and promotes confidence!  Students that lack in number sense often struggle with the foundation needed for simple mathematics.  

This game is amazing!!!!!  I love how it builds on the levels and keeps you engaged.  

What is Stick and Split?  Stick & Split is a truly simple game that provides much needed practice with number sense!

Children as young as 4-5 can learn from playing this game but it is ideal for students ages 6-10 years old.  This game teaches students multiplication and division without memorization.  During the game, students will convert numbers into numbers.  They do this by either sticking numbers of the same size together (multiplying) or by splitting the numbers into certain parts. (dividing)  

Check out this video to see sticking and splitting in action!

Alisan put together a slide show for us to look at in PLC next week.  I am so excited for you all to check it out. 

But for now...here is how you play.   

Stick & Split allows students to work on multiplication and division at the same time. It starts out very simple and then begins to build in complexity.   

🧠 Research shows that the more we "THINK" about something the more likely you are to remember it.  This game defiantly keeps you thinking about how to stick or split numbers to make the desired amount.  

I 💙 that the directions are simple.  The menu is hidden in a way so that students don't get lost down that rabbit hole. 

The game provides feedback for the students after each level.  What more do you need?

I can't wait for you all to try it out!  

I'll keep this short and sweet!  Check out this 5 year old in action!