Month: March 2024

Activity description: Phonics road maps are a board game for students to play in pairs or groups of 3. Students take turns rolling a dice, whatever number the dice rolls is how many spots they can move on the board. Each spot on the board has a word in it, when the students lands on it they must read that word. Then it is the next students turn. The teacher had different versions of the board with different levels of difficulty to continue challenging the students in their learning.  

Curriculum connections 

Big idea: Playing with language helps us discover how language works. 

Curricular competency: Read fluently at grade level 

Content: reading strategies – students are using phonic knowledge as a reading strategy to complete the word search 

Core competency: Critical and reflective thinking. I chose this core competency as students must reflect upon their knowledge of phonics and sound blending when sounding out a word.  

FPPL: Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story. 

Reflection linking to the pro standards for B.C. educators: The roadmaps received a high-level of engagement from the students, with one student even claiming they were his all time favorite! It is super easy to customize these boards to tailor to students learning needs and then to make them more difficult as a student grows. These are also great as they require minimal direct instruction, so as a teacher you would have some free time to meet with students one on one or in small groups. This aligns with the fifth pro standard for B.C. educators, which includes effective planning, as implementing these kind of self operating games can be a great way for teachers to plan for one-one or small group learning. 

Junie B. Jones” was a significantly important book series for me growing up; it was a transformative journey that began in grade one alongside my mom. Those early moments of reading together is what began my love of literature. Junie B.’s spunky personality and humorous adventures captivated me from the start, drawing me into a world where anything was possible. As I dove deeper into the series, the books began easier to read until i was reading them all on my own. Immersing myself in Junie B.’s crazy life and loving every laugh-out-loud moment. 

As I grew older, my connection with the “Junie B. Jones” series only grew. What started as a shared reading experience with my mom soon became a solo adventure as I discovered the joy of exploring books on my own. Always beyond excited to get a new one of her books. My favorite time reading those books would occur when I would find a particularly beloved book in the series, and I couldn’t wait to share it with my younger sister. Passing on the magic of Junie B.’s world and creating cherished memories of reading together. 

Reading “Junie B. Jones” wasn’t just a hobby; it was a bonding experience that brought my family closer together. Whether we were giggling over Junie B.’s silliness or discussing the lessons hidden within her stories, each book fostered connections that remain with me to this day. Through “Junie B. Jones,” I not only discovered the joy of reading but also the power storytelling holds when it comes when bringing people together.  

TIMEOUT TOOL

One tool that I learned in my assessment course is the Timeout tool, and I think it would be strong piece of formative assessment when it comes to reading comprehension. The timeout assessment is a 2 step assessment that checks students understanding at two different parts of the lesson. This way you can assess students’ comprehension in the middle of a book and spend more time on the first half if comprehension is low. If a student doesn’t fully grasp the content by the end of the lesson, the teacher can still see if their understanding has grown at all, and readjust their teaching style accordingly. 

READERS THEATRE

During one of my in-situs in grade ½ class I observed readers theatre. Students performed short scripts or excerpts from books they’ve read. This activity not only assessed comprehension but also promoted fluency and expression. The students even used props and headbands as costumes, creating excitement amongst the students. 

BOOK TALKS

It allows students to share their favorite books with their classmates through short presentations. This not only assesses their understanding of the book but also promotes public speaking skills. I participated in book talks as an elementary and middle school student. I was always to eager to share my book with the class and hearing everyone elses presentations had me wanting to read everyone else’s books as well.  

LITERATURE CIRCLES

I also observed literature circles during my in-situ in a grade ½ class. Students were organized into small groups of students to discuss different aspects of a shared text. The groups all read different books to suit that group’s learning needs. Each student can take turns reading and take on a specific role, such as discussion leader, summarizer, or connector, and share their insights with the group. 

INTERACTIVE QUIZZES

Create interactive quizzes using platforms like Kahoot or Quizizz, where students can answer questions related to the book they’ve read in a competitive and engaging format. I personally loved Kahoot in middle school and recieved massive engagement from my peers and I.

By incorporating these fun and interactive assessment methods into my teaching practice, I can effectively assess students’ literacy understanding while fostering enthusiasm for learning and reading. 

Activity description: Phonics search is very similar to a word search except it uses pictures and words. The sheet is full of pictures and there is word bank that has a list of words for students to find. Students must read the word then color in the picture that matches it when they find it. There was a variety of phonic searches of varied difficulty levels for students at different stages in their learning.  

Curriculum connections 

Big idea: Playing with language helps us discover how language works. 

Curricular competency: Read fluently at grade level 

Content: reading strategies – students are using phonic knowledge as a reading strategy to complete the word search 

Core competency: Critical and reflective thinking. I chose this core competency as students must reflect upon their knowledge of phonics and sound blending when sounding out a word.  

FPPL:  Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.

Reflection linking to the pro standards for B.C. educators: I really liked this variation of a word search as i found it created more engagement amongst the students as they enjoyed coloring. The first standard in the pro standards for B.C. educators is “Educators value the success of all students. Educators care for students and act in their best interest.” It can be difficult to reach every student where they are at sometimes but UDL (universal desin for learning) is a great strategy to do so. The different difficulty levels of the phonics search served as UDL to meet each student where they are at in their learning and challenge each student. 

Retelling a story can be a difficult skill and story vines can be a fun and helpful way for students to practice summarizing. Students must plan their story vine, pulling out main events from the story. When explaining their story vines it allows students to practice retelling their story orally.  

A story vine is a long braid or rope decorated to tell a story. They summarize a story by showing/representing key events in a story in sequential order. As someone who loves arts and crafts I find story vines extremely engaging. 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story-vines-winnipeg-1.5040107

I found on article on cbc news of a teacher in winnipeg who used story vines to help bring indigenous culture into her classroom. Although story vines are not a traditional indigenous way of passing down knowledge, they align with oral traditions. In the article they Renee McGurry mentions that story vines “actually come from Africa, where they’ve used vines to create stories. She led the recent workshop for about 15 Winnipeg teachers, who got crafty at the community arts space and learned how to create story vines.” 

I think story vines are a super fun and creative way for students to summarize stories. It can be hard for students to learn how to summarize the key points of a story and this is fun and crafty way to practice, other than writing a summary. Story vines would be a great addition at the end of a novel study, especially for younger students, although I believe students of all ages would enjoy this, as I had a blast making mine. 

I made a story vine on the paper bag princess story, by Robert Munsch and this is what it looks like. 

Like I said I had so much fun making this and getting creative with the different materials to summarize a classic story.  

AI in the classroom

Zotero and other citation generators 

Zotero saved me in my first year of college! It is a super-efficient way of keeping track of sources when researching. Best of all at the end it will put them all into a bibliography for you. Before I used Zotero I used “easy bib” or “citation generator,” we were taught to use these in middle school to cite our work. I think it was a very valuable tool to learn how to use at a young age as citing my work became very important in my later years. Through learning about citation generators, I have learned other skills to help me in my research endeavors such as using bibliographies of articles to find more sources on a given topic.  

Would I use it as a teacher?

I would use it in a classroom as citing your work is a very important skill to have especially in older grades and post-secondary. however, in todays day and age it is unrealistic to have students cite by hand as there are so many tools out there.

Cube Creator

http://interactives.readwritethink.org/cube-creator?_gl=1*13w96sj*_ga*NjkyNDEyMDYyLjE3MDA1OTE5ODU.*_ga_PPJBE9BR3H*MTcwODQwNjg1OS4yLjAuMTcwODQwNjg1OS42MC4wLjA. 

Cube creator is a cool AI tool that could be used for many activities. When I was in grade 6 we made “all about me” cubes, where we decorated each side of a cube with our different characteristics, traits, likes and dislikes. Then the teacher hung them on the roof around the classroom. I enjoyed this activity and felt proud to have it hanging in my classroom. Cube creator provides a umber of templates already set up for mysteries or stories to be used for novel studies. However, this cube generator could be used for an activity like I did, or for many other activities. Some ideas I came up with were…

• – Class cubes (cubes with students names, either an entire class or by desk group etc) 
• – Story summarizer (1 side = characters, 1 side = setting, 1 side = conflict, etc) 
• – Literary elements (1 side = metaphor, 1 side = simile, 1 side = personification, 1 side = onomatopoeia, etc.) students would roll the dice and come up with an example of the given literary element