More to come!

Sorry I have been avoiding this blog! There is more on the way...thanks for checking in anyway:)

Gifts for the teacher...

As a companion to the last post, I have put together a list of gifts teachers like to receive. However it is my clear message that teachers do not expect gifts at Christmas. A small thank you at the end of the year is a very sweet gesture for a year of service but not all teachers celebrate Christmas and even those who do would not like to find that families are stressed about gift-giving. I worked with a teacher once who told families plainly that she wanted nothing but if families felt inclined she named a charity she valued to receive a gift in her name. Most of us are shy about the topic....talking about it makes it feel like you are expecting a gift. We are not.

1. Anything made by your child (I have a vast collection of child-made gifts and works of art I treasure)
2. Something made by your family (baking, jam, a frozen meal or a craft)
3. Something for the classroom (something the school board wouldn't normally provide)
4. Gifts cards for school supplies or books
5. Fancy school supplies
6. A gift card for a bottle of wine (gift cards are safe as not all teachers drink and they can at least use it to purchase for people they want to treat....oh, and kids should not bring liquor to school)
7. A surprise homemade lunch one day
8. A subscription to a magasine for the classroom
9. Flowers are sweet and can decorate the room before the winter break
10. An after or before school team of student helpers to tidy and polish the classroom so it is clean after the break
11. A gift of your time to help in the classroom when you are needed

Oh, and for the record...teacher love anything the kids choose for them and I try to always write a thank you note but most teachers would rather you saved your time and effort and cash rather than send"

1. Mugs (our cupboards are filled as are those of every staff rooms)
2. Chocolates (I ate about 5 lbs worth last year and I wish I had never received them)
3. "teacher" trinkets (ornaments, plaques, key chains). Yes they are cute but they end up in a box full of mugs in the teacher's garage)

What teachers would give for Christmas

It's holiday shopping season. Here is a teacher's list for what every kid should get for Christmas:

1. A globe (I love that there are interactive ones available)
2. Paper and notebooks of every shape and sort
3. Pencils, markers, crayons, pencil crayons and all the stuff that goes with them
4. A good, age appropriate dictionary and thesaurus (and teach them how to use them)
5. A desk of his/her own
6. Books...any and all you can afford to give
7. Creative toys like blocks and build-it games
8. Socks and underwear
9. A tickle trunk (if you don't know what that is, google Mr. Dressup...he'll change your creative life)
10. Board games that you need to play as a family
11. Nothing that makes noise or needs batteries
12. Experiences and memberships
13. Time with you (the best gift of all)

Oh and remember...kids only care if things are new if you show them that new is better. Shop for gently used stuff and you are teaching your kids something wonderful that will shape their whole life in a positive way.

Celebrating success

So this post is a milestone for me...it represents the 100th consecutive day of blogging. It has been hard. Hard to be disciplined. Hard to have something interesting to say. I succeeded and now I can cross this item off my bucket list. How to celebrate?

My milestone made me think about how we often we celebrate birthdays and holidays at school. Why don't we celebrate achievement instead? or at least more often.

I celebrate with the kids in my classes in the following ways:

• A project sharing day (we play games we made, read the books we wrote, do the dance we choreographed "just for fun", we say something nice about work other people did)
• A games afternoon because we have been working too hard for too long
• A walk in the yard to celebrate the end of a science or health or gym unit
• A certificate making party to honour those who contribute to our class
• Enjoying a film version of a book we read
• An awards ceremony with categories like best paragraph, best presentation, neatest work, dictionary master, etc...just make one for every kid!

As for me...I will be celebrating by buying myself an awesome book at a school fundraiser tonight and maybe having a beer when I get home;)

Now that my 100 day challenge is complete, my posts will be less regular but I think that should improve the quality of what I write.  Topic suggestions are always welcome. Thanks for reading.

Smart board technology

I just got back from a Smart Board workshop! Awesome possibilities.
Have you used one? What a great way to make any lesson interactive and endlessly repeatable.
The school at which I am currently working has three (two in classroom and one on a portable stand) but I have not had the inclination to use them as I was unfamiliar with how to get started. Now I am hooked and wish I had one at home!
I plan to download the software and get working on lessons and do an extensive search of the pre-made resources on line.
Here are the advantages as I see them:

• Kids can get up and get in the lesson
• We can manipulate and save our lessons so we can refer back to them
• The internet (like You Tube) can be pre-searched in safety and parts added to the lesson ahead of time
• Everyone can see what you are manipulating
• We can load kids' work and play with it
• My office could be paper free? Really? Yes please
• I can load my lessons on a memory stick and take them anywhere there might be a Smart Board

Get trained! Get going and promote the value of this device at your school as fund raising can directed to equipping classrooms.

Using a child's weaknesses as strenths

Teaching at any level is a challenge when kids are poorly behaved, reluctant to learn, distracted and/or generally disinterested in what you are doing (I teach FSL...I am mostly teaching stuff they are not interested in!).  But these "weaknesses" can be skillfully turned into tools for you to use in reaching this child.

The Poorly Behaved Child: This child is usually poorly behaved for a reason. Try to find that reason but also reach out to that child in a non-threatening way. Offer an alternative assignment, take time to chat about something that child enjoys and show him/her that you are more than just a task-master judgement-passer

The Reluctant Learner: This child may be lazy, may have an undiagnosed learning challenge, and/or may just not want to be bothered with you. This child is to be praised and praised often. Share a story of when you goofed off and gently throw in how awful it was later to be behind everyone else. Try to get this child to come up with a project he/she might be interested in doing

The Distracted Learner: This child needs to be baited with a project he/she cannot help but get into. Use his/her interests and strengths and ask him/her to do something "fun".

The Generally Disinterested: This kid usually needs a challenge...so challenge him/her. Suggest something then throw in the idea that it might be too hard. A bored, disinterested student will likely take some delight in proving you wrong

The funny things kids say...

A friend was sharing a funny story about having to say the word "teabag" in front of Intermediates...if you've taught them or parented one of them, you know why they were a tizzy. It got me thinking about how many funny things go on in a classroom. Just this week my Grade 4s were all worked up when the word ASS appeared randomly in a word search grid.

Here are some of my favs:

• A Junior kid wrote a lovely paragraph for a colleague about horses, spelled "hores". The last line was about his dad wanting some
• I left a school after an LTO assignment and months later when a kid saw me again he said "Oh, Madame, I was so worried." I guess he thought I was dead.
• My Dad was a university prof and he had an undergrad hand in a paper about GORILLA warefare
• I had a kid turn in a reflection on his day...it concluded with him going to TORTURE...I think he meant to his tutor

What are your best "kid talk fails"? Post them in the comments.