5th year in IPSF's Summer Enrichment Academy!

I can't believe this summer is my 5th year teaching with IPSF!  The Summer Enrichment Academy is an incredible summer program for so many reasons; kids LOVE the classes, parents are so supportive, fellow teachers are friendly and the IPSF organization is very well-organized.  I look forward to teaching in SEA each year, and I feel so lucky to be part of it!

This year looks a little different with schools being closed but we made it work via Zoom!  This year, I'm teaching "Success In Second Grade" for incoming second graders.  I've taught this class in previous years but trying to figure out how it would look in a virtual setting was a challenge.  I collaborated with fellow SEA teachers and figured out ways to cover the same skills in a fun and virtual manner.  Each "class" is 1½  hours and we meet each day for 3 weeks.  We start each class with ELA; covering phonics, sight words, grammar.  Next, we read a chapter of "The Boxcar Children" for our novel study, which leads into our writing.  I used PowerPoint and would share my screen to discuss the chapter and brainstorm ideas for our writing prompt.  I would also share sentence frames and vocabulary words to provide extra support to those who needed it.

After a quick brain break, we work on Math for the remainder of the class.  We also did a few Art projects throughout the session- mostly through directed draw activities.

I used PowerPoint and would share my screen to discuss various skills we covered.  We would discuss it, share examples/connections, and take notes in our notebooks (with my modeling).

We also did a few fun activities through Google Slides.  I made little projects for the kids that covered the new skills and gave them some creative freedom.  Our first week, we learned about quadrilaterals and polygons.  In this first project, they used these 2D shapes to create and write about a shape monster.  They also learned how to format within Google Slides; resize and rotate shapes, move objects, change colors.  When the projects were complete, I shared my screen (so they could see their classmates' final projects) and students talked about their Shape Monster and the shapes they used to build it!  We did a lot of sharing in our class, it's so important for students to practice their speaking and listening skills.  It was such a fun activity for the kids and I loved seeing their creativity!

"Zoom" into Distance Learning

Like everyone else in America, we've become quite familiar with using Zoom!  We use Zoom for staff meetings, parent conferences, small group meetings, read alouds, even our morning meetings.  My schedule is posted as the "header picture" at the top of our Google Classroom.  It makes it easy for parents to have a quick reference and see what time their child needs to log onto Zoom.  Wednesday's are school-wide planning days.  The workload is a little lighter, since it's usually a minimum day, and none of the classes have Zoom meetings scheduled.

In the classroom, we use the "One Note" app on our tablets to project and do work along with our students.  This has been really helpful to use during our Virtual Learning!  I can share the screen and we can still do our work together, only now we do it in small groups.  This is the brainstorming portion of our opinion writing unit.  We sent home packets with all the writing prompts at the beginning of the school closures. Each week, students grab the weekly packet so we are able to practice writing paragraphs.

Every Friday is Spirit Day.  Last week's theme was class colors.  We were "Miss Ross's Red Rockstars," because all my students have been such Rockstars with all their hard work at home.  I love the Spirit Days because the students come onto Zoom so much more excited and are able to connect with each other through wacky outfits.  The Spirit Day themes are simple so it's easy for families at home; hat day, beach day, crazy hair, polka-dot or stripe day, etc.

  

Sometimes, we play fun games at the end our Zoom meetings.  We've played different games like, I Spy, and Hangman.  My favorite game was the Virtual Scavenger Hunt.  I gave students different objectives and they had to walk through their house to find objects and bring them back.  I gave them open-ended prompts like, something round, something for your foot, something shaped like a cylinder, something that begins with the letter b, etc.  The kids brought back silly items and had so much fun! Of course, at the end, we talked about how to put everything back where they found it!

Google Classroom in Distance Learning

All of this Virtual Learning as been quite the learning experience for a lot of teachers!  I am so thankful that we used Google Classroom throughout the school year.  It was the perfect platform for us to use and great for the students' transition to Distance Learning.  They were already familiar with the layout and "turning in" assignments on GC.  Each morning, I post a "Daily Schedule" for students to see their daily assignments.  Assignments include reading a story in their reading textbook, practice pages in their workbook, ReadWorks assignments, journal entries and Google Slide activities.

I love ReadWorks because it makes it easy to differentiate the reading assignments.  The passages are leveled and the website is easy to navigate.  I can assign each group a different leveled-passage so students are practicing fluency at their own reading level.  After students read the passage, there is a set of vocabulary words and comprehension questions they complete.  For my lower students, I can give the option of an audio-assist, so the passage is read to them.  I also love that ReadWorks has a huge range of topics; each week we have a theme which has been helpful with integrating Science and Social Studies.  ReadWorks makes it easy for the kids to access too!  It posts directly to their Google Classroom feed so a direct link takes them to their reading assignment.  After they read, they complete the questions and click submit!

It was tough to be able to see their work with all of the writing and workbooks being at home.  And I wanted to assign activities that were more fun for the students and gave them some hands-on practice.  Or as much as they could do virtually!  I took a lot of practice pages that we normally use from TPT and converted them onto Google Slides.  The kids complete the assignments and then click "Turn In" so I can see their work.  They really enjoy these types of assignments.  Some assignments prompt students to type answers, and others prompt them to match words or pictures.  Instead of cutting and gluing to sort, they click and drag!

Another kid-favorite was the animal report!  Students researched a zoo animal and filled out a report.  I posted a few links to use (National Geographic, kiddle, etc.) and they wrote 8 facts into their journal.  I taught them how to change the fonts and colors too!  After they finished typing their facts into the matrix, they could go back to change their text boxes.  All the reports were so colorful with lots of detailed facts and animal pictures.  They really got creative and loved the whole process of researching, typing, and editing!

Staying Connected in Distance Learning

It's no secret that one of the most important parts of student learning is the class community.  With school closures forcing us into Distance Learning, I wanted to ensure that my students still felt connected to our classroom and the strong community we had built!  Getting mail is so exciting when you're a kid.  Over the past few weeks, I've sent little things in the mail for students to let them know that I'm still here for them.  I got so many ideas from teacher-bloggers that I follow on social media!  Most of them were from Megan Fadal's TPT store.  The first week, I sent these postcards just to say hello and let them know that they were deeply missed! 

Another week, I sent a "top secret" math message to my students.  They had to solve the problems to figure out the secret message.  They LOVED this! I got so many happy parents messages with cute pictures.

The most recent mail I sent to my students was this "Flat Stanley" activity.  I didn't send the QR code with the story read aloud because the 2nd Grade classes at our school do a Flat Stanley unit and I didn't want to step on their toes.  Instead, I sent it with a "Bitmoji Bingo" card.  Students do the optional activities "with me."  Parents send me pictures to share with the class on our picture document that's in our Google Classroom.  It's a wonderful way for students to feel connected to me and a fun way to see each other's adventures!

This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week.  We did a drive-through parade in our school parking lot.  The staff stayed in our cars in our assigned parking spots while families drove through the parking lot in our regular school-valet line.  It was an amazing event but made everyone miss being together!

Space PBL

For our first PBL project, we dove into our Space PBL and learned about our solar system.  Students learned all about the patterns of the sun, moon and stars.  We took a field trip to the OCC Planetarium as our starting event. 

The phases of the moon can be tough for children to understand.  I made this tangible foam board (found on Pinterest) for students to see the Earth's view of the moon at each phase.  They put their head in the middle and rotate it.  It helps show how the lit part of the moon is the side that is facing the moon.  They would help each other rotate, they loved this!  

We also used Oreo Cookies to show what the moon looked like at each phase.  They had so much fun turning the cookies into moons.  They were so precise with their crescent, gibbous, and quarter moon shapes!

For the final product, students worked in groups to create their own planet.  They gave their planet specific characteristics; size, climate, colors, number of rings and moons.  Individually, they wrote a paragraph describing their planet and illustrated the design and colors.  In the Art Studio, groups made a model of their planet out of paper mache.  They also made a Flipgrid video talking about their planet and its specific characteristics.  At Open House, the models will hang and families will be able to scan the QR Codes to see the group videos! 

These are some of the fun mini-projects we did as part of our PBL.  The students loved making the Fan Books.  Each planet had it's own page with the planet facts.  They loved coloring the planets to match the actual planets of our solar system!  We also integrated our Spanish and Art classes into our projects.  In Spanish, students made these flip books.  In Art, students worked in their groups to create a paper-mache model of the planet they created!

Hands-On Math

My school uses Bridges for our Math curriculum.  Bridges is different from a lot of other curriculum.  The lessons are very engaging and have lots of hands-on practice, which is great!  It really helps students gain a deeper understanding and build a strong number sense.  Using Bridges has been a big adjustment for me.  The TE's are difficult to follow and the online component is tough to navigate.  Bridges also has very little workbook pages.  I'm constantly pulling other resources to give students more written practice.

Some of the lessons are Work Places, which are little "games."  I'll use continue to use these during Math Rotations.  While I'm doing the lesson with one group, other students will work on their Chromebook or review a previous lesson with a Work Place.  In this Work Place, students draw a card with a ten frame and given number.  They have to find how many more to 10.  This is meant to be a partner game where they verbally tell their partner the missing addend.  After playing this with a partner, I made a recording sheet so they could play independently and get some practice writing the equations.

K-1 IPSF Summer Enrichment Academy

This summer is off to a great start!  I'm thrilled to be teaching 2 classes in IPSF's Summer Enrichment Academy.  I am teaching "Fly Into First Grade" in morning and "Kinderfun" in the afternoon.  I'm using animal themes to guide instruction. This first week was all about jungle animals; our read alouds were about jungle animals and our writing/math activities were centered around jungle.  The next week is farm animals, and the last week will be ocean animals.

I wanted to do a fun activity on the first day so students would have fun and feel comfortable in their new classroom.  I also wanted a stress-free activity to allow me to talk with them and get to know them individually. 

 

We made July calendars for our new month and dot-painted fireworks.  I did this activity with both classes and changed it slightly to adapt to their developmental needs.  The first graders wrote all the numbers in the calendars and cut out their stars.  The kindergarteners traced all the numbers and used star stickers.

We also do a lot of writing to get students ready for the school year.  My first graders have a journal and each day, we write a response to the read aloud.  We check our writing with the checklist on the bottom of the page to ensure that we used an uppercase at the beginning, finger spaces, etc.  Self-checking is a great skill for students to make a habit!  My kindergarteners are working on handwriting and drawing a matching picture. 

Open House (1st Grade)

I've always had a love for Open House and the excitement that it brings.  This year was extra special for me.  Can you believe that I've never done my own Open House?!  In my first few years of teaching, my schools in DSUSD didn't do an Open House.  And as a long-term substitute, the Open House that I "hosted" was mostly done by the actual teacher.  This was my first time planning the activities, and arranging the classroom the way I wanted. 

 Here is a panoramic shot of the whole classroom.  I hung student work on every inch of the classroom!

Fact Family Jellyfish and Dr. Seuss art hung from the ceiling.  Our Fraction Robots hung on the window blinds.  On the left Math wall, I displayed a project the students did on Google Slides.  Each desk has students' Timeline project and a folder with their work.

I hung plastic table cloths to make a smooth surface over the cabinets.  The students' Symmetrical Portrait was a family favorite.  I also hung a shape project students did on Google Slides.  The right cabinets have students' final writing piece for our Opinion Writing unit.

The ELA wall is where our anchor charts usually hang.  Last minute, I needed a small activity to fill the space.  Students wrote about why school "rocks" and showed off their best dance move!

The Shape Monsters were a fun project to wrap up our shape unit.  Students created their own monster and then wrote about its' attributes.  Last, they recorded a FlipGrid video where they showed their Shape Monster and read their writing.  The QR code on the wall took parents to the FlipGrid videos!

These were projects from our Architect STEAM project.  We researched famous structures around the world and students worked in groups to build models of them!

Plants PBL (1st Grade)

Our school requires 3 PBL's each year, 1 in each trimester, and we did a plant PBL for the 2nd trimester.  The Essential Question was about parent vegetables and their similarities/differences with the offspring vegetable.  Each group had their own bell pepper seeds that they planted.  After the seeds started sprouting, we transferred them into bigger pots.  We studied bell peppers, planted the seeds, and tended to the plants until they sprouted into new vegetables that we could study and compare to the parents.

 

Throughout the trimester, we studied plants through various experiments.  In the picture below, we planted Lima Beans and were able to watch the process of the beans sprouting through the "greenhouse" sandwich bags.

We also incorporated Writing and Math into our Plant PBL.  Students did an opinion piece about their favorite vegetable.  Students also collaborated with their groups to create a vegetable garden.   They were given a garden space and had to figure out where they could 6 tomato seeds, with 6 inches of growing space.  They used the tables to sketch out their plants, then transferred their design to a poster.

  

This was one of my favorite PBL's because the students were so engaged throughout the entire project.  Students were so curious and really learned to worked together (we had a few lessons about taking turns and how to be a good teammate).  And it was cute to see students take ownership of our class plant; making daily observations and taking turns watering it at recess!

Storms Research Projects (1st Grade)

To wrap up our weather unit, we did a research project that studied the different types of storms.  Students worked in groups of 3-4 students to gather information about their assigned part. Each student was assigned a specific question; what causes a storm, where do they happen, etc.  They typed their findings into a matrix via Google Classroom.

I differentiated by providing different research materials.  For my students who needed extra support, I gave them an outline that listed facts for each part, so they could research in simpler terms.  For my students who needed a challenge, I gave them online articles and informational texts, so they could research their part on their own.

After students completed their part of the matrix, they presented their research via FlipGrid.  Each group recorded a video where they read their research.  At Open House, parents read students' research (the completed matrix) and scanned QR codes to watch their child's presentation video.