Arnett Elementary
Hello Everyone!! My name is Stephanie Eby and I am a 1st grade teacher at Arnett Elementary. Arnett Elementary is a small school composed of about 300 students (grades P-5) located in the Erlanger/Elsmere Independent School District. My class is usually composed of many abilities ranging from children reading on an upper grade level to children with severe autistic tendencies and ADHD needs. I try to design my curriculum to make sure every child is successful.
Book Selection
The book that I chose to use as a resource for this class is entitled 40 Active Learning Strategies for the Inclusive Classroom, Grades K-5 written by Linda S. Green and Diane Casale-Giannola. This book will be a great fit for me because it offers some new ideas to help differentiate instruction for children with special needs. As a 1st grade teacher, I have found that I never get a classroom filled with students right on grade level. Most students are either above or below grade level, so I am constantly looking for ways to accommodate all of my students using different learning styles and group instruction techniques.
Effectively Engaging Students
As a 1st grade teacher you never get a chance to sit down. The students are constantly up and running and constantly inquiring about many things. I try to make my classroom as engaging as possible. The ideas listed below are just some of the ways that I keep my classroom up and moving.
1. Everyday Math
At Arnett Elementary we use the Everyday Math series to teach our math units. Everyday Math is a spiraling math program that introduces many basic concepts at once and eventually spirals back to each concept to add more detail. Everyday Math is very engaging for students. This program allows the students to use manipulatives and play games almost everyday and then relates the concepts to real life experiences. Everyday Math keeps the children up and moving instead of sitting at their desks working on workbook pages.
2. Rubrics
Each quarter I have designed "student friendly" rubrics for the children to use to record their progress in the subjects of Math and Language Arts. The rubrics were designed to correlate with the new KY Standards. Each quarter I introduce the children to each rubric and as they master the concepts they get to color in the blocks on their rubrics. This gives the children a 1st hand look at their strengths and areas of needing growth.
3. Literacy Groups
Every week a literacy group is conducted in my classroom. Each literacy group is different in the idea that each group works on a different literacy skill. Some literacy groups might be designed to practice fluency, or maybe word families, or comprehension review; whatever the strategies I try to find a "hands on" game or activity to incorporate with the lesson or have group discussions that includes active participation from the whole group.
I definitely understand how you never get to sit down. I teach kindergarten and it is so important to keep them engaged. I like the Everyday Math games, concepts are reinforced and it provides additional practice in a fun way.
ReplyDeleteStudent friendly rubrics are really important. I took professional developments last year on rubric design and it helped out so much in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to the physical rigger of the primary. I am a second grade teacher and I feel like the day flies. I never have time to even check email. I wish we had Everday Math but we use a text that is similar and very hands on. I think it is what is best for all children even older students.
ReplyDeleteI also chose the 40 Active Learning Strategies book as my text. I just got it in the mail yesterday and it looks great so far. I Love that it gives so many resources that you can use right away in your classroom.
ReplyDelete