Today's graphic looks at science in general, rather than just chemistry. It's in a similar vein to the Rough Guide to Spotting Bad Science posted last...
Ting!!! the bulb lit in my head as soon as I read the topic. “Now that’s something I can always write on“, I said…
Do you teach English or ESL using songs? Check out 3 ways to use songs to make grammar fun in your classroom or tutoring session!
I have posted before about the end of the school year and how I sing camp songs with my kiddos. They love it and can't wait for the end of April to start singing these crazy, silly, hysterical songs! It has become a much anticipated tradition! Here are a few I recently learned and my students love! 1. Alligator This is serious fun here, folks! Dramatize the first call and response part and then really let loose with the craziness on the "alligator" chorus part. You can see it in action on the youtube video below the music. 2. Big Camp Mambo I love (almost) anything with syncopation and this one has it in spades! 3. Boom Chicka Boom This is the first one I always teach them and I can't tell you how much they LOVE it. The sillier you are, the more they will love it! We start with the traditional while performing a patsch, clap pattern, then we do their favorite "styles": Girly style (high voice, pretend to fix hair, put makeup on, fan your face, etc.) Muscle Man (make bodybuilding gestures and use "Arnold" voice.. y'know what I mean!) Underwater (speak the chant and move pointer finger up and and down on lips very fast) Baby Style (a goo goo ga goo goo ga... high baby voice) Barnyard Style (I said a moo chicka moo... I said a milk chicka moo, chicka milk, chicka moo) Surfer Dude (I said a dude chicka dude.. I said a whoa, chicka, narly, chicka wave, chicka dude) Opera Style (use your imagination) Grandpa Style (use your imagination, yes, again) Parent Style (I said a room, go to your room... I said a room, go to your room, don't come out until next June) Star Wars Style (OH, they LOVE this one and I always end with it! I said a zzzzt chicka zzzzt... I said a Luke I am your Father, join the dark side chicka doom.. end with "Jedi" instead of "uh huh" and "Dark Side" instead of "oh yeah" and then I end with "The Force Be With You". WINNER!!!
Song Index
Hi folks, I hope everything is going well. Here’s a workout to develop your left hand reading the exercises 1 to 8 of the Ted Reed’s Syncopation, something that will keep you busy durin…
On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, arti…
50 Metaphor Example Sentences in English. Metaphor Example Sentence. What is Metaphor Definition and Examples
Problem: I would love to study poetry with my class but I'm not sure how to go about it. Solution: Read on! Here is a way to structure a week-long study of poetry: Preparation -
Source for comic: Wrong Hands by John Atkinson Buy a copy of his book: Abridged Classics: Brief Summaries of Books You Were Supposed to Read but Probably Didn’t
Looking for fun activities to explore the art of poetry and use it to support language learning? Try these simple and fun activities!
Loch Lomond
Writers have the ability and responsibility to bring joy, hope and change to the world. Myths and archetypes are powerful tools for transformation. The Virgin’s Promise and the Heroine’s Journey are alternative narrative structures that can breathe new life into the stories we tell
I’m going to tackle this in parts. “Into” versus “in” “Into” versus “in to” Sample sentences “Into” Versus “In” When you use in, you’re indicating position. Her phone was in her pocket. When you use into in a sentence, you’re indicating movement; an action is happening. She stuffed her phone into her backpack. “Into” Versus
Use our book title generator to generate unique and fun book titles for your stories. Plus see our mega list of over 160 random book titles.
Learning to write songs can be a rewarding experience. To make your songs better you need to understand some fundamental things. This page was created to help Songwriters write better songs. In doing so the songwriter is better equipped to express the message better.
Hello Everyone!! 2014 is almost here! We are staying home, safe and sound in our living room this year! I am so happy!! We had a houseful of love and laughter this past week with both boys and friends here, and frankly, I am pooped!! It feels good to not have to cook, clean, dress up, and be "on" for a few hours!! But at the same time, I miss them already!!! I do, finally, have a minute to show a couple of pics from the week before winter break. One of my favorite days was our Grinch Day. We love celebrating the special message that Dr. Seuss illustrates in this infamous story! Here are a couple of pics! The kids went all out with grinchy green spirit! The grinch sent some sweet little elves to check on our kindness and make sure we learned from the story! Jolly, Joy, and Jingle made their debut and will probably hang around throughout the new year!! A yummy green snack was mysteriously left for the kids!! This amazing team really gets into every celebration!! I also wanted to share with you something our room moms made for our classrooms!!! The kids brought gift cards to clip onto this amazing snowman tree!! We have the best room moms around!!! When we get back from winter break we will be studying the historically significant and amazing life of Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the World. I put together a little unit about her, integrating social studies and ELA. Here are a few pics from the 17 page unit. For your own printable unit on Eleanor Roosevelt, click here!! Another thing we will begin studying is the science concept of living and nonliving. I have shared a mini unit on this topic before, but I revamped it a bit, so I'm offering it again! Here are a few pics from the 9 page unit. For your little living/nonliving unit click here!! I hope these little offerings will help your 2014 get off to a good start. Stay tuned for a little somethin' somethin' later in the week!! Till then, be safe and warm tonight. Welcome 2014!!! Joyfully! Nancy
In this six part series on How to Teach Spelling, this third post discusses and provides teaching resources for teaching the eight conventional spelling rules.
It amazes me how much class size affects my teaching and my students. I started the year with 31 students. I just lost my second one at the beginning of this week, so I'm down to 29. I've had 2 kids out all week on long vacations and 2 more out sick. So I've had a class of 25 ALL week!! It's been a big difference. Even though the ones gone are little angels and I still have all the hard ones, it really makes a BIG difference!! Our district and researchers keep telling us that class size doesn't make a difference but I have to beg to differ with them. It makes a HUGE difference in first grade. With a smaller class I can spread myself out more- work with more kids, more often, for longer periods of time. We can get more done- 25 kids take less time to finish an assignment than 31. With all the activities we do in first grade through out the day it can really add up. With less kids, fighting for my attention, I can give more attention to those that really need it. During class discussions, there is more participation by more kids. The shyer kids start to open up. It just feels more like a close knit community rather than a big city. I can hardly imagine what it would be like to teach less than 20. What a dream!! Back to reality. Our school has been doing training in SIOP this year. It stands for Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol. You can find out more HERE. It actually is training in teaching English Language Learner but our school does not have a very high percentage of ELLs. We actually have only 3 out of 180 in our grade level. But the SIOP model is really best practices and a great review in how to teach better. With the new common core our principal thought is would be a great help. We've had to do lesson studies and just finished one yesterday. Our team did ours on Synonyms. It's great to collaborate and work together as a team developing and analyzing a lesson. Here's a practice page we used and a cute song we found. I don't know who to give credit for the song but our kiddos really liked it. Click HERE if you'd like to grab a copy. Hey, believe it or not but it's FRIDAY tomorrow- again! Gotta love FRIDAY! I hope you all have a GREAT one.
I have always LOVED teaching parts of speech. Maybe it’s my love of singing and dancing (which can easily be added to these lessons), or maybe it’s my love of sorting (perfect for teach…
Here is a list of comma rules with examples and explanations.
Comma Rules! The comma separates the structural elements of a sentence into manageable segments. In this lesson, you will learn 8 important rules for using comma in English.
I created three sorting mats with boats that have either AM, IS, or ARE on them.
This Strega Nona: Retell Song Lyrics Worksheet is suitable for Kindergarten - 2nd Grade. Need a fun way to retell a great story? Here are song lyrics that retell the Tomi De Palo classic, Strega Nona. There are two songs, the first tells the story of Strega Nona (sung to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?") and the second warns Big Anthony about the pasta pot (sung to the tune of "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush").
