Five for Friday August 7th

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you for hosting, Kacey! Happy August! I bet we've all been busy, busy, busy with back to school and just things we want to finish up before back to school- but I hope you're taking time to enjoy the moments of this beautiful summer. Because you know it- before long...

Do we all have to do that?  For some reason it starts the year off on a paranoid note for me.  Anyway, here are some of my favorites for the week!

Back to school means LOTS of character education lessons for my students.  I love to fit these lessons in here and there, and EVERYWHERE. There's always time to teach kindness.  We teach by what we do, without taking any extra time, because those little eyes are always watching.  Plus, we all have those extra minutes here and there, lining up, before lunch... any of those are great opportunities to reinforce building kind hearts!

I made a Character Education Prezi that's free if you would like to use it.  I keep it up on the Smartboard just in case we have those extra  moments, or in case a particular "teachable moment" comes up during the day. 

I love my class to feel like a school family- and also learn HOW to be kind, caring, and thoughtful. Children (Adults... whatever- you fill in the blank!) are usually pretty self-centered.  Many times, they really need to be taught how to care for and think of others.  Here are a few lessons I found on empathy that were really kid-friendly and easy to understand.  I loved them!  Empathy is a hard concept to understand sometimes. 

As always, I start thinking about something and find LOTS of different quotes and things I love to go with it. So- let's go!

This is from ABC Schools.  As I reread it, I'm thought this would be an awesome faculty meeting idea... for teachers to put on students' shoes or other faculty members' shoes.  I kept thinking that if we as teachers had to live the lives many of our students do at home, we would be so much more understanding and patient.  

EMPATHY is the ablility to put oneself in another's shoes. To identify with and understand another's feelings.

Below are some students during a lesson on empathy. In this activity, students volunteer to choose a shoebox to open and put the shoes on from the box.  A written scenario inside each box tells about the person who wears the shoes. Based on the information given, the student has to "put themselves in that person's shoes," identifying how that person might feel.
The class then suggests ways we might show compassion to the person in the shoes.

That's a good lesson to remember anywhere you go throughout the day- in the car, when someone races by you and cuts you off, in the grocery store, or if someone just plain isn't nice to you.  

Here's a great video that explains empathy really well to older students, even adults. 

There are some different thoughts about whether or not children are empathetic by nature:

I think I can see both thoughts.  (Probably because I'm so empathetic, don't ya know!)

I guess, more importantly, whether children are born with empathy or not, unless it is modeled and put into practice by those around them, it doesn't really matter if they were born empathetic.  Children need to see empathy in action to take it on for themselves. 

This video is wonderful to share with the children.  It's on my Character Education Prezi, too.

I found this article about teaching empathy to children at Parent Further .

Bryant's Empathy Index for Children has some great questions that you could adapt for younger children or use for older students during a discussion about empathy.

To go along with the idea of seeing things from someone else's point of view,  I made  a Perspective and Optical Illusion Prezi that is FREE for you this week at my TPT Store! 

                    

It's a great way to show students how looking at things differently makes all the difference in how we see something.

 Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a great book to use to introduce children to the idea of seeing things from a different perspective.

Here is the video of the book.

                               

I found some great name writing activities, and put them together in my post at PreK and K Sharing this week. Some are ideas that I already use, some are ideas I can't wait to use, and some are FREEBIES I found on TPT.  You can pin them for later so you know where to find them!

Here are a few of the name ideas to show you.  I love this little poem, and I made a couple different styles for the kids to use. If you'd like a copy, just click the picture.  I have each child draw his/her picture on the bottom of the paper. 

After we read this name poem, I have the children turn it over, cut apart the letters in their names from two colors of names I  printed,  and make two AB pattern names. 



OR how about  this cute activity from totschooling!  This is an "I can't wait to try it," activity.  I think I may use this as a special RTI activity for some of my little ones who have an extra hard time spelling their names as the year goes on. 

Here is another fun name writing idea, that led me to another thought.   Write one letter on top of each strip of colored paper. Have students order the paper to spell their name and then practice writing those letters!  I'm so sorry, I cannot find the original link for this activity.  I just saved the picture a long time ago.  When I do find the link, I will put it in here. If it's your idea, thank you, and please let me know!  

This idea got me thinking, that if you know a sweet worker at a paint store, maybe you could get enough paint sample strips to have your students practice writing names on those!  Line the strips up and practice one letter on each strip, writing a letter in each shade.  You could punch a hole in the corner of the strips and clip them together with a book ring, so each student would have a colorful name ring.

You can find strips of color shades online, if you google "shades of color"  (well, duh!).  Here is one example at color.adobe.com.

Stop over to PreK and K Sharing for more ideas and LOTS of name writing freebies!

FINALLY, I have to share this article about my sweet friend Anne  from Common Core Connections. She and her son have developed AMAZING apps and were featured in this Binghamton University article. She is the kindest person, and I'm so thrilled for her.  She is a "real life" friend who actually lives near me!

Here is an example of one of her math apps called Math Word Problems, with a video to show it in action.

HERE it is on iTunes- with lots of other apps she and her son have made!

I am just SO proud of her- and did I mention there could not be a sweeter person?

We are having a study group soon with our grade level to put an order in for our school to buy apps- and you can bet these are on the top of my list for all of us at school.  

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for stopping by!

Five for Friday July 31

I'm linking up with Kacey for Doodle Bugs Teaching for  Five for Friday! As always, thank you for hosting, Kacey!

I made this simple little back to school journal that I use as we begin Writer's Workshop. If you would like a copy, just click on the picture below.  I did a page or two as a whole group, but then worked on some pages in my small groups.  I love activities like this in the beginning of the year in small groups, because they are very non-threatening. They give me a chance to get to know my little ones better and just listen to their stories as they draw and write.

 I found these wonderful freebies from Common Core Galore and More.  They are CCSS Cheat Sheets- all the standards on one page- one for Math and one for ELA- for all grades!  I made one for my lesson plan book last year with all the standards on it, but the font was so super tiny- I love this more.  It's great to include with your lesson plans, and you can even highlight the standards that you are going to be working on for the week. They are awesome!

                  

As the new school year approaches, I wanted to share again how much our kindergarten team has loved using ESGI as an assessment tool. I was so excited to be able to meet some of the wonderful people from ESGI  this summer in Las Vegas. I finally got to meet my friend Melinda in real life. You can just tell the quality of this ESGI program from the quality of the ESGI staff.  Everyone was so kind and helpful- and I have to say, the ESGI booth was the place to be!  It was hopping with stars!  I met Heidi Butkus and Deedee Wills there ( to drop names... ) because both of them are friends of ESGI, whose assessments are offered with the program.  It's saying a LOT  when you are in LAS VEGAS, and the place to be is the ESGI booth! But, that's the truth! 

Our kindergarten team is in the process of creating all new report cards, and creating new assessments for ESGI.  That is one of the beautiful parts of ESGI, assessments are provided with the program, but you can also create your own (easily, I might add!) to match your report card assessments perfectly.  Here's a little explanation of the beauty of ESGI!

I know that we all have running records, benchmarks, and other "tests" that we must give to our students. Some are useful, some- not so much. A few years ago, I think all of the us in our district felt like all we were doing was assessing, which was taking away from our teaching time.

This past year, our district bought ESGI for our kindergarten team to use, and it has saved us so much time. ESGI is an online assessment tool that lets you choose the assessments that fit exactly what you need- or let you create your own. You give the assessment right on the iPad (or computer) and the data is stored there- forever- to be accessed from where ever you need it.

No paper, no mess, no losing anything, no looking for the assessment sheet you need for this child or that child.

The data is available in all different ways at the touch of a finger. It's usable and practical. And the kids lovvvve doing it with you. It's like a game for them.

That is my favorite part of ESGI. It was created by a kindergarten teacher, Greg Gorman - and you can tell. ESGI has all of the components that a teacher would think, "It would be great if..." It generates flashcards for areas a student needs extra help with that you can print.

It creates parent notes to inform parents about areas they could work on at home. YOU don't have to do it. It is done!

I KNOW! And just when I thought it had everything I could think of, they added MORE.

I'm in a Kate Middleton kind of mood, so let's see how Kate feels about ESGI, shall we? Here is my Kate Themed Review! 

Yeah, it's pretty clear...

I would imagine a conversation with her would go something like this:

Me:  "Kate, what if you could NOT  use ESGI to easily and effectively assess your students?"

Kate:

Me:  I know!  Me, too!  Now, how do you feel knowing that you CAN use ESGI- and even try it for FREE for 60 days to see how well it works for you?

Kate:

Me:  Oh, I'm so glad!  Now, how do you feel about people who don't want to give it a try?

Kate:

Well, she's a woman of few words, but I think her point came across loud and clear.  

I posted ALL about the benefits and some examples of what ESGI offers HERE. If you want to learn more about ESGI and to get a free 60 day trial of the software, click here. If you like using it and want to purchase the program, you can use my special PROMO CODE B1119 and receive $40 off your purchase for the first year. The price is usually $199 a year, but with the promo code, it will be $159 for the first year. Check with your administration because they may be able to purchase it for you. They can use the code and get it for $159 for the first year, too.  It's a great time of the year to try it out. 

This week I found a few wonderful reminders for the new school year that I wanted to share. Here is a little picture story for you.  

When your day starts like this:

And keeps going like this:

Just remember...

And remember that, no matter what else happens in the day, we LOVE teaching children. 

And if you are putting your students first, teaching what they need to learn, having fun with your students, and enjoying your days with them, then you are doing something right!  If something isn't working for you or your students, you can find something that will be just right for all of you! Don't be afraid to try new things!

And when it comes to  adults, remember...

But...

In other, less fancy, more harsh,  words...

Finally, for sticking with me through all these picture stories of the week, I wanted to share my Fun in Fall Prezi with you for FREE this week at my TPT store.  I put together lots of videos and links that you can use with your class on the Smartboard for Fall! I use it so many times- for actually teaching (lots of science) and for making those "extra minutes" throughout the day productive.  

I'd love you to leave me some happy feedback on TPT  if you can use them! Enjoy!

This one is for the United States...

And this one is for my friends in Canada!

                                      

Thank you so much for stopping by!