Thankful Thursday - Starting the day through attendance with a happy tone

How practiced is your "good morning students" speech? Here is a rough example of mine as a relief teacher:

 "Good morning. My name is Mrs. Edwin. I will be teaching you today as (teacher name) is home sick. You will notice that some things I do are the same and others will be a little difference, but together I'm sure we will get through an awesome day. Etc, etc. Thank you for having me in your class today, I am happy to be given the opportunity to work with you."

Believe it or not, I think that last statement is as important as the first few. I believe starting the day positively and acknowledging the students should be a basic part of our mornings. Let me give you a more personal at-home story to demonstrate my point.

I am not really a morning person. I can be when I need to be, but I prefer not having to be. My
husband discovered this quickly when he started work again after we got married. He would get up anywhere between 6am and 6:20am, early by some standards and not at all by others. I would drag
myself out of bed, as the loving wife, and make his coffee while he showered. The leftovers from dinner would be packed in his lunch containers and I'd sit with him during breakfast, wave as he left, shut the garage door, and return to bed. The first week or so, this routine was fine for me, but then my 'true morning colours' began to show. He would ask me to make his toast because he was two minutes late and I would grumble. He'd ask for mayonnaise to go on his salad and I would snap. He'd ask me if I was going to post that letter today and I would disappear into the bedroom and leave him to say goodbye to himself. Oh the joys of being a newly wed! He would argue that some nights he didn't sleep well, but he didn't snap at me. I would argue that I couldn't help not being a morning person. Finally, being Christians, we realised what was missing from our routine. Believe it or not, we hadn't started our days by praying together and thanking God for our blessings. For some, this may seem like a needless or foolish thing to do. For us, it is necessary. Each day, we wake up just a little earlier and mutter some prayers before dragging ourselves out of bed. Since starting the day on a positive note and setting my vision straight on my blessings, I'm suddenly a morning person! I haven't snapped once at him for the silly little things (does anyone else hate the sound of cereal being eaten?!). This just reminded me how important it is to start strong on a positive note.

During my final semester of university, in the first few weeks of one of our units, we were explicitly taught the benefits of being thankful ourselves and generating a positive atmosphere in the classroom. I have heard it said that for some students, simply arriving to school is an accomplishment for them, and they appreciate that being acknowledged by a grateful teacher. Some of these 'difficult students' were no problem in this class. How many of us incorporate thankfulness into our behaviour management plan?!

As I was thinking about thankfulness and starting the day right, it occurred to me an easy way to do this in the classroom. Finishing off my statement of what I am thankful for or why I am happy, I ask the students, "When I call out your name, can you please tell me what you are thankful for today." Depending on the age and how many days you have the students, you can change this up for age-appropriate language or a different question for different days. Responding to students' answers will also allow them to see that you are interested in them and perhaps have something in common. Here are a few examples that allow students to start the day focusing on the positive and allow you some insight into the lives of your students:

• List three reasons to be happy today.
• Tell me the best thing that happened to you on the weekend (or yesterday, or last week).
• Tell us one thing you are looking forward to (be prepared with a clever answer for the inevitable 'leaving school' or 'going home' if you ask this one).
• Share something you like about this school (again, there maybe a 'nothing' response, so could you get away with saying something like "I see. So you love getting out of the classroom? Is there something you think we could do outside the classroom today?")
• Introduce me to someone in the class and tell me something fabulous about them I might not know or find out on my own today.
• Who is your favourite teacher in this school and why? (And if you are their regular teacher, you could ban them from saying you are to encourage them to think outside the regular classroom. Otherwise, as a relief teacher, take some notes for the regular teacher so she can see what students appreciate about her.)

As a final thought, if you wanted the students to leave with a positive impression of the day, excuse them to get their bags by asking similar questions (you could also use this for feedback on your teaching or their learning for the day by creating appropriate reflective questions).

Want to know more about gratitude in the classroom? Bounce over to these pages for some additional info:

• Edutopia - Gratitude Can Fuel School Transformation: an article on the impact of gratitude in a school environment and how teachers can practice it.
• Great Schools - The Grateful Child: looking into the 'new science' of gratitude studies, how gratitude impacts children, and how children can be taught thankfulness (don't miss the little list on the left of nine ways to teach gratitude).
• Greater Good - Gratitude Activities For the Classroom: a great list of ideas to incorporate to develop a positive environment in the classroom (and a warning that these should take place only once a week to have the maximum impact).
• Archdiocese Chicago Catholic Schools - 3 Simple Steps to Building Resilience Using an Attitude of Gratitude: a short sweet article which links the desirable characteristic of resilience to gratitude.

So there you go, a few good reasons to be happy and thankful I hope? How many of you encourage thankfulness this far away from Thanksgiving?

Terrible Tuesday - Learning through our mistakes and making them acceptable

So this week I discovered something terrible. I had made a mistake. I had confused eligibility to teach with the approval to teach documents, so when I went into schools to make myself officially 'available for work' in NSW, I was told I am not in the system. Oops! With all my research and hours of reading, I had not realised there were two separate forms for two separate reasons and I needed both to get a casual job. Cue the strings as I return to my computer to write the humble email back to the other schools to admit to my mistake and keep them aware that I will be available soon.

A quote from Elementary Matters in an article on failure.

Let's be honest now. Mistakes are embarrassing. Students are fully aware of this when they stutter during a presentation and hear the giggles among their peers. However, taking risks is part of growth and mistakes are a part of learning. As a result of this, we have all come across those students who will not complete work, will not start work, or will constantly be asking for either help or approval. If you have the joy of multiple students with such inclinations, completing tasks can become quite the battle and your attention stretched thin.

Let me introduce my plan for attacking risk-taking, mistake-making fears. To start out the day (with a literacy lesson), I read a Dr Seuss book filled with nonsense words. Don't you love them? In fact, here's a whole list of books with nonsense words in them for your collection. The more dramatic the reading and confusion over the nonsense words the better. Make sure when you are finished (or finished certain pages) that you ask the students what has happened? Point out that despite these ridiculous, meaningless words, they can understand it.

Next, comes the challenge for the day. They are to go and do their writing (whatever that may be for the day, perhaps in a similar topic to the book read), but they are not to ask for help! Describe different strategies they could use to attack unfamiliar words. I am sure my younger students will forever remember me standing across the room saying "sound it out and try" and turning away to another student or task. Of course, there is a time for explicit teaching, but sometimes students learn just as much from problem-solving and taking risks themselves. Remind them they can use dictionaries or other texts in the room and if you have a focus strategy already this is a perfect opportunity!

Before the students think you have totally abandoned them, explain the purpose of the task. They are to write independently, proving their awesome capabilities, and experimenting with new words. At the end of the lesson (yes, warn them of this too), you will look through students work. The most amazing words which are spelled correctly will be announced and demonstrated for the class. The 'mistake' words which are mis-spelled will be re-used, because sometimes mistakes might not be great in one context but are brilliant in another. These words will be combined in a special class story, celebrating the risks they took during writing.

What story? You have no time for writing stories? Well, luckily for you, there is a teacher still awaiting approval in a new state, and she has nothing but time for developing handy resources. Just make sure that when you choose a nonsense word for the character's name that you are consistent and use the same word. I have made the spaces for her name red to make it easier for your. So here you go!

Wanting still more support for encouraging risk-taking in your class?

A quote from Neil Gaiman that is circulating pinterest.

Check out:

• Education Week - Students Not Taking Risks? Maybe It's Us and Not Them: A challenge to encourage risk-taking in the classroom.
• All Things Upper Elementary - Building a Culture for Risk Taking: An epic blog post with suggested activities and approaches for encouraging risk-taking.
• Edutopia - Making Friends with Failure: Ainissa makes the point that certain areas of the curriculum should actually encourage risk-taking and accept mistakes.
• Anxiety BC - Helping Your Child Overcome Perfectionism: A guide for parents which may also provide useful hints for teachers.

Do you have any experience with risk-taking or students who struggle with making mistakes? How about first hand experience with making mistakes and making ammends? Please share in the comments!

Thumping Thursday: Using body percussion to get students moving and musical

While your students may not be
'Stomp,' they may already be familiar
with body percussion.

As a musician, I love introducing music in the classroom. Lately I have re-discovered the beauty of body percussion. Need to re-discover it yourself? Here's the YouTube playlist I have compiled to inspire me. While our students may not be quite musically inclined or have the talent enabling them to perform a Stomp number in assembly, it's easy to see how much some students enjoy body percussion. See those girls doing hand claps during recess? That's body percussion right there! Add in a few masculine yells to a war dance and even the boys will get on board. In fact, when I introduced a combination of body percussion and yelling into a kinder room they didn't stop until they were sore!

So here's a small group activity to get them noisy, musical, active and engaged. I hope your rooms are somewhat sound proof or you may want to take it to the auditorium or outside.

Begin by standing the group in a circle. Explore as a group what sounds you can make using your body (and if you want, you can add voice and just ban 'singing real words' and see what they come out with). As the students explore different sounds, suggest they try making one sound different by changing speed, force, direction, etc. They can even change the way their hands sound by making them flat or cupped. Once you feel you have a variety of noises, start to describe and categorise them, especially by loud and quiet. For example, quite noises could be brushing their arms, rubbing their hands together, or scooting across the floor/ground. Bringing them back to the circle (as they may have moved around a bit by now) ask three people to start with a quiet action, repeating it in a pattern. After a few repeats, add another small group with another noise pattern. Remember, you may ask some to make noises, even if they are just saying, "do... do do... do do." This will add another layer to the music. Continue this until everyone is making a pattern. Congratulate them on creating a song together!

After completing this as a group, you may split the class into small groups to create their own body percussion songs.

As an extra exploration activity, you can play a variation on a well-known detective game. Send someone out of the room and nominate a student as the 'conductor.' They begin an action (body percussion) and the rest of the class follows like an orchestra. After this is going, invite the detective in to discover the conductor. In order to avoid detection when changing the sound, the conductor will usually only get away with a quieter sound or the detective will know what area they are in. Due to this, the best strategy is to start loud and get quieter and quieter until the actions are almost silent.

Repeat symbols

An an extension activity, you can begin introducing basic notation. Invent symbols as a class to represent symbols such as a clap, silence (rest), stomp, etc. Begin with simple beats and then begin to change speeds, etc. Problem solve as a class how you can show the same instrument at played using different timing or pitch, how to show dynamics (loud and soft), and ways of showing a pattern repeats (without actually writing it out 50 times).

Here is an example of musical notation from Music with Mrs. Dennis.
While creating musical notation with the students, you may start off with their own symbols
and slowly introduce a more formal approach such as this.

Timing Tuesday: Activities for those early finishers and how to present them

Pinterest addict as I am, I found this idea a while ago - challenge capsules. Heard of them? The idea is that when students finish early, they grab a challenge capsule to keep them busy and quiet enough for the rest of the class to continue working. Depending on your personal pedagogy and professional beliefs, you may choose to include additional activities or a bit of fun. As a relief teacher, I never know what grades I am going to be in from day to day. Considering this, I chose a range of open-ended questions and activities which range from word games to creative writing activities to poster designing. The aim is that these challenges allow for diversity in skill levels and will provide an interesting challenge for all. This freebie will be attached in this post, but first the all important question of how to present these challenges.

Typically, searching for the challenge capsules, you will see a picture similar to this:

This originated from Mrs Gold's Class and works fine. It's practical, quick and simple to put together and use. An idea from Teacher's Pet is to create challenges for different ability levels or grades and colour code them. This enables you to tell them 'grab a blue capsule' and know that they will be choosing an appropriate challenge. You could also do this for different subjects or types of challenges.

Then I came across a pretty variation (I thought on a blog, though I can't find it now! Lesson learned: always save amazing ideas as soon as they are spotted). Creating a candy dispenser for the capsules. Now I'm not one to say that everything has to be cute, so really throwing the capsules in a bowl would work just as well. However, I love the idea of a candy dispenser as candy can be a common choice of reward (not something I personally practice) and it adds a novelty value to the capsules, associating them with rewards. Here are three examples of D.I.Y. candy dispensers which could be used.

Made using a jar and chicken feeder, the decorative limitations barely exist. You can find the instructions over at U Create.

Again, this simple container can be decorated endless ways. I have seen spots, cartoon characters and holiday themes. Check out the tutorial at Tammy Mitchell Designs.

Here is a super easy one using three disposable cups! Twisting the top cup opens and closes the opening as well. Well  worth the try, this tutorial can be found at Heidi Swapp.

Enough ideas yet? I think not! Just in case the idea of challenges in capsules in candy dispensers doesn't get your creative wheels turning, try re-thinking the advent calendar. There are creative options everywhere online. In fact there are so many that I dare not try to cover them all, but I'll show you a few I love. Again, you can decorate as you like, whether cutesy or simple AND as advents often include multiple sections, you can easily group or label them according to subject, difficulty level, time required, etc. I've tried to keep the examples small or easily movable due to the constant moving of relief teaching. Click on the pictures for tutorials on the original page.

Sew it or use envelopes.
A Beautiful Mess

Matchbox drawers could fit dice
 and other small resources.
Creative "Try" Als

Shaped stacks of matchboxes.
All About You

Use envelopes as suggested or
write on the back of pretty paper.
Serenity Now

Reinvent or redecorate a
refillable advent calendar.
Rookie Mums

With brown paper bags, you
could even include small group games.
One Perfect Day

And finally, here is the freebie I offered to start with. Three pages of open-ended challenges to start you off. Please note that I did use the puzzles I found here, here and here.

Any more ideas for early finishers? Any creative beings out there have another possible way of presenting activities? Please share!

Social Sunday - Beginning with 10 ice-breakers

I have no amazing statistics to show how many teachers are in the same boat as me, but I struggle with learning names. Usually I find the boys easy and get them all down in the first day or two. The girls seem to have some evil plot to make it as difficult as possible though! I get the single red-head down easy, and the girl with the unexpected accent doesn't take too long. Then I find myself sitting at the front of the class looking over 10 blondes and 7 brunettes with constantly changing hair styles and try to find something memorable about them. At first this was a serious struggle for me, but with practice I have been able to cut down my time to learning everyone's names in two, maybe three days. However, as a relief teacher I may only get one day.

Let me digress for a bit and tell you a story about my memory. As teachers, most, if not all of us, have heard about the multiple intelligences or learning styles. During college, I finally discovered an unusual technique that worked wonders for me. I could recall information, but always struggled with facts. Every Monday afternoon, usual classes would be cancelled and we were required to go to a short session of our choice to learn different skills. I chose a short course known as 'mempics.' The music tutor at the school had discovered this himself and was passing along the skills as a useful way to ace exams. We began by creating a list of 20 totally random words. We then created a very simple image to represent that word. Getting into this we discovered that concrete words like 'cat' were easy and obscure words like 'blue' took more imagination! We joined these images together, varying the size, length and direction the illogical 'sentence' took. We repeated this process a few times, sticking to the same pattern and saying the words out loud. We then placed the paper away to be quizzed. As a group, we discovered that we knew each of the 20 words in order, both forwards and backwards. Then something strange happened, the tutor started to throw numbers at me. I would envision the 'sentence' and be able to tell him which word aligned with each number!

With this knowledge of how my personal memory can be strengthened (both through graphics and verbal repetition), I set out to discover a list of ice-breakers I can use in a classroom to strengthen my ability to learn names. I have included links below, so you may follow them to find further ideas and personalise your own list.

1) 2 Truths and 1 Lie
           Perfect for introducing yourself to the class. Write or tell three facts on the board. Two of them truths and one of them a lie. They may be fun, crazy facts (I have eaten spicy bullfrogs in China), relate-able facts (I have a dog called Pookie), or classroom related facts (I am here to make sure you stay in your seats and don't make a noise). If you couldn't pick my lie in those examples, please check your pedagogy! Each of these kinds of facts will accomplish a purpose though with the crazy facts making you appealing and new, the relate-able facts making you human and safe, and the classroom related facts setting standards in a fun way. You can have the class vote publicly or silently.

2) Our crazy facts AKA Secret lives
          This one may be better suited to older students or diverse groups in order to keep their facts diverse. The aim is to have everyone write down something that is true, unique to them, and unknown to most, if not all, of the class. For example, I could write "I have eaten intestines and I liked them," "I laugh when I ride roller-coasters," or "my dog is so clever it knows the difference between his toys and kids toys." (Yes, I love my dog!) Once the students have all passed in their secret facts (this may take a while, so perhaps have this activity running simultaneously with another), have the class try to guess who each fact is about. This is great for learning names as there will be a lot of pointing, name use, and a memorable fact to associate with each student.

3) Letter to class mates
          This is another bonding experience for the classmates. Have each person choose a classmates name out of a hat. Depending on the group and how close they appear to be, you may want them to play a game with their partner/s first so they have at least one experience to write about! Each student then writes a letter to their partner. The challenge is to make it as positive and encouraging as possible while still ensuring it is true. This also practices their letter writing skills, so as a legitimate literacy exercise it can be worth some time. Again, be prepared for those who find this easy and finish early. If those who are struggling didn't get a game with their partner, you may give them the option if their partner finishes early. Such letters may then be short and sweet and contain compliments on how a person plays. "I liked playing with you. It was fun. I liked that you got the dice for me. You explained the game well. Thank you." I know many first graders who could write statements such as these! At the end of first period, or the activity, you can dismiss the students or have certain students move on by passing them their letters (reading in front of the class could serve as a confidence boost or unwanted attention, so use with your discretion). This can help to draw a class closer together, set a positive tone to the day, and teach you some good things about every student.

4) Create a time capsule of today
          Begin the day by presenting the students with one goal: "Today, we are building a time capsule." You may provide each child with an envelope or have a box sitting at the front of the class. Begin with a project which involves them sketching or describing themselves or their week and ensure every piece of work is named. They could write letters to themselves, add samples of work from the day, calculate how many days it will be until a certain year or birthday, etc. It enables you to delve into history, literacy, a bit of art and math. Individual envelopes may also be decorated (and clearly NAMED) which gives a quick visual clue to help remember names when needed. Though you wouldn't be relying on these the whole day, they help to get the memory going to start with. Having the work all in one place also enables easy access for marking purposes and easy access for the permanent class teacher to look back on.

5) Self-portrait
          Students would be glad to start the day with something creative often and it can be paired with written words to become a multi-literacy task or presented to the class verbally (don't forget that speaking and listening is a literacy skill too). During the writing/presenting, students should explain how this picture represents them or how they constructed the picture. If it is a realistic self-portrait, how did they make it accurate? Was there a mirror, photo or friend involved? If you ask for a symbolic picture, this opens up the world to a much broader range of responses. Such an open-ended task provides diverse and interesting expressions of self with explanations which will remain with you all day and give you insight into the personalities in your class. If going symbolic, make the most of modelling before the activity to show students how you could represent yourself (an animal, a cartoon with strange characteristics, a food, or a country even?) This will help to jog their thoughts, see the range of possibilities and catch a glimpse of the human you are.

6) Weekend writing
           This is often a usual class routine on a Monday, so if you have first day in a class on Monday, it is a logical choice that is familiar with the class. Often younger grades will draw a picture and write a few sentences about what they did. If you would like to change it up a bit you could ask them to write one or two truths and make the rest a tall tale. Again, this could become a guessing game.

7) Web of connections AKA Spin a classroom web
          Have the class stand or sit in a circle. Before class, make sure you have met a few students and found out something about them (which we are all in the habit of doing anyway, I hope). Holding a ball of string, introduce yourself, saying your name and something about you. Say the name of a student and a fact about them, such as what they did last week or even what they had for dinner last night. Keep hold of the end of the string and throw or roll the ball of string to them. They then say their name, something about them, another student's name, and something about them. Make sure they keep hold of a bit of the string as they pass the ball of string on. By the end of the activity, the string will have formed a web and everyone will have two things shared about them and their name said twice. If this isn't enough, have the web untangled and sent backwards (nice way to clean up) or start again. You could also try compliments or questions. For example, I could start the game with "My name is Mrs. Edwin. I am honoured to be your relief teacher today. Tom, what is your favourite animal and why?" Tom would then answer and ask another student a question.

8) Class interviews AKA Microphone mania
          Similarly to above, the purpose of this activity is to encourage connections and get to know something about the students, as well as their names. You may begin with roll call and ask each student a question. That student may then choose to ask you a question (or once you are done you can open the room to questions from anyone, but then be prepared for the usual, dominating students to pipe up). As you endeavour to discover useful information about your students, think about questions involving strengths, school friends, favourite subjects, pets, and interests that you may be able to relate to. Alternatively, you could have the class ask you questions, then have each student pair up with a partner and interview them. At the conclusion of the interviews, they each give a short 'news report' on their partner. As such, this activity could develop more fully into a lesson on news reporting or interviewing skills. If you are going to make this into a larger theme, you could talk about truth, questioning, accurate rephrasing, presenting and body language, and even craft microphones or video cameras (or whip out the real thing or ipads if you are blessed enough to have such access).

9) Mini class mural
         How miniature this is will be up to you and your resources. Students may get a square or even a puzzle piece. Their task is to make their name and identity clear on whatever they receive. Make sure you have time to speak to each student about their piece of art and use their name. Again, I love this activity as it allows both visual and verbal association. At the conclusion of the activity, students may help put the puzzle together. If you are feeling creative, you could have done this before and written a message on it before taking it apart for the students. This will allow them to see the message once complete. If the teacher is away for some time, you could easily take a piece out of the puzzle, take a photo of it and send it in the mail along with their puzzle piece and a note from their class.

10) Write a story together
          I love that this activity can be used whether your resources include a digital notepad, story creator, the whiteboard, or a pad and pen. Start the story with one sentence and include your name. For example, "One day, Mrs. Edwin took a walk through the city park when she noticed large bubbles in the middle of the lake." You can then invite a student to come forward or have them dictate the next sentence to you, but they must include their name. Continue until every student has their name in the story, ensuring the last few students know they must conclude the story. This material could then be used to examine parts of a story, sentence structure or numerous other literacy concepts. Alternatively, you could then take your story and turn it into a drama, having each student play their role. In order to reduce the chaos arising from 25 students running screaming around the classroom, you could utilise the freeze frame, having small groups re-enact appropriate segments of the story. Again, depending on the resources available to you, you could then take photos of the freeze frames and create a class picture book.

That concludes my top ten favs for ice-breakers. What do you think? Do you have favs that aren't on the list? Do you have a different approach to one of these same ice-breakers?