Boy Mama: FREE Retro Animal Bingo Game - Boy Mama Teacher Mama I have fallen in love with the graphics created by Revidevi. I purchased a bunch of the animal images and decided to create a freebie for you all. Here it is– Retro Animal Bingo! How cute are these images?? This retro animal bingo game comes complete with 4 different bingo cards and the calling cards (pictured above). And the best thing of all this game is FREE! If this is your first time visiting Boy Mama Teacher Mama, welcome! © Boy Mama Teacher Mama 2013 All Rights Reserved Like this: Like Loading...
8 ways teachers can talk less and get kids talking more If you do fewer teacher-directed activities, that means the kids will naturally do more talking, doesn’t it? Not necessarily. I have often found myself talking almost constantly during group work and student-directed projects because I’m trying to push kids’ thinking, provide feedback, and help them stay on task. Even when the learning has been turned over to the students, it’s still tempting to spend too much time giving directions, repeating important information, and telling students how they did instead of asking them to reflect on their work. Here are 8 ways teachers can talk less and get students talking more: 1. It can be uncomfortable to watch kids struggle to figure out an answer, but they need time and silence to work through it. 2. It’s easy to get in an instructional rut when you stand at the same place near the board all day long. 3. 4. A lot of the talking most of us do throughout the day is related to student behavior, and most of the time, we’re wasting our breath. 5. 6.
Printable Imaginative Play Mats picklebums.com I have long lusted after some of the gorgeous felted play mats like the ones you see on Etsy or in Steiner/Waldorf shops. But felting is not my thing so I’ve just admired from afar, until I got the crazy idea to make a printable one! I started with two very simple scenes – sea, sand and forest, and a garden with a pond and path. These are very simple play mats, with the idea to spark imagination rather than really direct play. Of course my printed play mats are not nearly as beautiful as the felted version, and since I only have a regular A4 desk jet printer they are limited in size, but that didn’t seem to bother Noah when I set them up for him to explore. I taped the sea sand and forest play mat to a larger sheet of paper and taped that to the table, just to give it some more stability. At first he hunted for all the Australian animals (don’t worry, kangaroos are not really fluro orange!) After a little while he wanted to try out the second play mat, this time with dinosaurs!
Modern Learning Environments – the underlying philosophy to success | Karen Boyes Speaker Modern Learning Environments (MLE) are all the talk in educational circles right now. Schools, around the world, are knocking out walls and creating bright stimulating classrooms with multi purpose furniture and giving students access to technology. On the surface it looks fantastic, however I am concerned that without a big pedagogy shift, students will be simply just learning the same way many teachers have been teaching – just in bigger classrooms with new furniture. MLE’s are so much more than the bright new furniture and the technology. When moving from a structured, and often heavily teacher-dominated classroom, to a less formal student led environment it is paramount students understand their role and responsibilities as the learner and indeed the learning process. Here are five considerations that are vital to address for success. Be clear on your underlying philosophy of learning. Do you believe all students can learn? Create a safe environment by redefining mistakes and failure
Printables from A to Z from Homeschool Creations The printables shared on this site are FREE of charge and you are welcome to download them for your personal and/or classroom use only. However, free or purchased printables are NOT to be reproduced, hosted, sold, or stored on any other website or electronic retrieval system {such as Scribd or Google docs}. My printables are copyright protected and I appreciate your help in keeping them that way. :) If you download and use some of my printables and then blog about them, please provide a link back to my blog and let me know ~ I’d love to see how you are using them! What's the difference between accuracy and precision? - Matt Anticole Scientists (and engineers) are used to taking measurements and working with numerical data. With numerical data, we can try to identify patterns hidden in nature. With those patterns, we can begin to understand, predict, and perhaps ultimately control the world that surrounds us. Because data is so important to scientists and engineers, sometimes they need to worry about more than just whether they are right or wrong. They have developed what seems like a secret language to help them describe their measurements in more detail. What is the difference between a Number and a Measurement? Taking a measurement requires you to use a measuring tool of some sort: a ruler, a thermometer, a graduated cylinder, etc. What is accuracy? What can change the accuracy of a measurement? While accuracy is easy enough to understand, it does have an underlying weakness. Be careful though, some people assume that if you write a lot of digits after the decimal point, the measurement has to be accurate.
Police Printable Pack ~ Free Early Learning Printables Awhile back I shared a lapbook that we put together on policemen, but Kaleb wanted to learn about them this week, so I revamped the printables for us to work on together. I’m going to have one happy boy this week! Here’s a peek inside the new Police Printable Pack! The Police Learning Printables include two separate downloads, one geared toward younger Preschoolers and another for Kindergarten. You’ll find word and letter tracer sheets, early writing strips, find the different object, and beginning sound cards along with a few other fun pieces ~ the Clip & Learn Wheel, dot-to-dot, a fun craft and more. You can download the Police Printables here. Books to Go Along Find more helpful {and free} Early Learning Printables on my website. Enjoy! Visit these great companies! Share and Enjoy
The Educator with a Growth Mindset: A Staff Workshop I had the great privilege of facilitating a staff workshop on growth mindsets for the teachers and staff at Carlos Rosario International School and more recently at ISTE 2015. Participants were given access to the slide deck in order interact with the slides and resources during the workshop. What follows are the activities along with some of the resources used during the workshop. It began with the viewing of a few “inspirational” videos. Exploring the Characteristics of Growth v Fixed Mindsets Online resources were provided and small groups (prearranged prior to the workshop based on teaching disciplines) were asked to explore and list the characteristics of both growth and fixed mindsets. They provided with a link to this The Educator and the Growth Mindset Thinglink (which contains lots of linked resources). They were also given: The participants were asked to bring their own devices. They were then asked to flip their tarps. Like this:
Free Hungry Caterpillar Printable Seems like party season because I know so many people planning parties and especially birthdays! I miss crafting and party planning, so I have taken on a few projects from different parties to keep me busy. A few weeks back, Erin asked me to help her create printables for her son's 1st birthday party. I am in love with the theme and will probably use it for Cindy's second birthday party [let the pinning begin]! It has sentimental value for us too. But the party theme is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Here is the caterpillar printable on my flickr account. She is so adorable. I also created a printable for all of the junk food available Here. And then Cindy's favorite part of the book where the caterpillar eats through the fruit. And one where all the fruit is lined up RIGHT HERE Erin used them to make labels for the food! So, if you are planning a party or need these for a classroom activity, please feel free to use it and be sure to share what you did with it!!
The Power of Twitter: Personalized PD At Your Fingertips | The Golden Age of Education Have you ever wanted to be in two places at the same time? Do you often feel as if you’re being pulled in three directions? In my roles as teacher, technology staff developer and father of four I frequently feel this way. Saturday was a good example of this as there were two education conferences in the NY Metropolitan area that I really wanted to attend, but family responsibilities prevented me from going to either of them. However, Twitter made it possible for me to “be” in three places at once! Long Island Connected Educators Summit 2015 (#CELI15) Teachers’ College Reading and Writing Project 88th Reunion (#TCRWP) Learning NEVER Stops on Twitter The awesome power of Twitter allowed me to participate in both conferences simultaneously while at my son’s snowy LAX practice. Six Take-Aways From My Personalized PD Session on Twitter: This is just a little taste of what I learned in one afternoon of riding hashtags. Like this: Like Loading...
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Free Unit Study Lesson Lapbook Printables Materials and information may be used for your own personal and school use. Material may not be used for resale or shared electronically. © HSS 2006-2014 HSS The How’s and Why’s of Going ‘Full STEAM Ahead’ In Your Classroom | EdSurge News EdSurge Newsletters Receive weekly emails on edtech products, companies, and events that matter. Giving children the tools to succeed in a rapidly changing technology-based economy is the key to ensuring their future success. Making sure kids are excited by science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts hasn’t been America’s strong suit, but with the “STEAM” movement, we have a shot at engaging kids like never before. What is STEAM? STEAM, an interdisciplinary spin on STEM that includes an “A” for art, is an integral part of influencing kids’ interest in STEM by allowing kids to explore these subjects through hands-on making. The STEAM movement has inspired new school systems, companies and organizations to create new and engaging learning experiences that have captured kids’ interest. Kids yelling about the Pythagorean theorem sounds like the STEAM movement is doing something right. Looking to find STEAM projects for your kids? But...