Elementary Education Monthly Update
August 2018
Primary Connection (K-2)
- You're Finally Here by Melanie Watt
- If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff
- Back to School Rules by Laurie B. Friedman
- Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney
- Kindergarten Rocks! by Katie Davis
- First Grade Stinks! by Mary Ann Rodman
Intermediate Connection (3-4)
- The Teacher from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler (a classic)
- The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
- A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
- The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds
- The Sandwich Swap by Rania Al-Abdullah, Kelly DiPucchio
- First Day of School by Anne F. Rockwell, Lizzy Rockwell
Upper Elementary Connection (5-6)
- Each Kindness by Jaqueline Woodson
- It's Back to School We Go!: First Day Stories from Around the World by Ellen Jackson
- Decibella and Her 6-Inch Voice by Julia Cook
- The 6th Grade Nickname Game (a chapter book) by Gordon Korman
- Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
- The Top Ten Ways to Ruin the First Day of School (a chapter book) by Ken Derby
Classroom Management Tip of the Month
- Have a plan for teaching classroom rules and actually teach your students these rules
- Let students have input to the classroom rules
- Keep the rules simple and the list short
- Teach the consequences for rule infractions - and here is the important part - you must follow through
- Finally, enforce the rules and consequences for the first weeks of school - really enforce them.
It can be overwhelming to follow through on phone calls home or notes in backpacks, but you will have a smoothly running classroom if you stick to the routine. There are links to classroom management resources on the K-6 webpage. Click here to view them.
Social Emotional Resources
Angela Duckworth, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of the book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, is also the founder of Character Lab. Character Lab is a non-profit organization that teaches character strengths like self-control, curiosity, humility, and empathy though Playbooks which include videos, lesson plans, and worksheets. To view a detailed lesson plan, go to the website, click on a playbook and follow the link to build connections.
Tech in the Classroom
Poverty and Trauma in School
One suggestion to help students regulate when they arrive in class is to have a morning meeting. Some of the goals of morning meetings are to build community, trust, and to set a positive tone for learning for the day. This can be done in conjunction with lunch count and other morning routines. Bring calmness to the beginning of your day by bringing students to carpet (if they are little) or sitting facing each other. Students should greet one another, share (respond to a teacher chosen topic), participate in a fun group activity, and then practice academics by reading and discussing the morning message. This important daily social skill building activity usually lasts about 20 minutes per day, but the impact carries over into the rest of the school day. For more information on morning meetings click here.
Research/Articles
- Pull-out classes
- Cluster grouping of gifted students in general education classrooms
- Special education classes of homogeneously grouped gifted students
- In-class differentiation in the general education classroom
- Acceleration by content area
- Distance Learning or other online opportunities
- Acceleration by grade
In the past 25 years, the pull-out model is the most common in elementary schools. The strengths of this model include built-in opportunities for peer interaction, focus on in-depth study, and one instruction plan required for the teacher. The weaknesses of this plan are limited contact time, only having part-time differentiation of materials/curriculum, and lack of integration with regular classroom work.
How do you combat these weaknesses in your gifted ed classroom? Some research suggests a preassessment and compacted curriculum, conceptual learning, and student placement and progress. VanTassel-Baska, J., Reis, S., (2006). Gifted students should be allowed to eliminate coverage of parts of the curriculum they already know and replace that curriculum with more rigorous options. This allows gifted students to become more proficient in thinking and problem-solving. Conceptual learning is critical for a gifted learner's acquisition of big ideas and aids in facilitating inductive and deductive reasoning. Grouping for instructional purposes of the gifted student must be given close attention. In order for gifted learners to perform at optimal levels, the educational context must offer challenging opportunities to tap deeply into students' psychological states. Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, & Whalen (1993).
Read more about the Status of Elementary Gifted Programs 2013 by clicking this link. "Gifted education is more than just giving students a challenge in classrooms: Gifted programming positively influences students' futures." Lubinski, D., Webb, R. M., Morelock, M. J., & Benbow, C. P. (2001)
What materials do you use for your gifted education students? Do you create your own? Do you modify current resources? There are resources for elementary and early elementary at Mensa for Kids. The AIMS Center for Math and Science Education has a page dedicated to puzzles. These are challenging and fun. You can find this page here. The website byrdseed.com does have book recommendations and differentiation ideas for teachers.
If you are a general education classroom teacher, here are some do's and don'ts for your gifted ed and high achieving students.
DO - Let them work with partners. Give them choices in their extensions. Provide FUN things for them to do that is unrelated to what you are learning in class (they already know this stuff). Find out what they like and what they are interested in. Call on them for answers. Remember they are just a kid!
DON'T - Give them the same level of work to do when they finish early, Provide enrichment that takes away recess, lunch, PE, etc. Single them out in front of their peers by telling them how smart they are. Make them sit through an entire lesson they don't need. Ban books that are below their reading level. Give them extra work. (All of these don'ts seem like punishments to your gifted students - they need differentiation, not more and not the same as others).
What are your thoughts for differentiation for gifted education students in the regular classroom? How do you plan for pull-out gifted education time? What resources do you use? Share your ideas with others here on this padlet link.
Content Updates
Mathematics - All grade levels Kindergarten through 6th grade now have flip books completed for math! These flip books incorporate resources from other states departments of education, the mathematics learning progressions, and other reliable sources including The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the National Supervisors of Mathematics. To find your grade level flip book click here.
Science - The Kansas State Department of Education selected 15 science educators to participate in a program to develop master teachers for science education. Be on the lookout for another round of elementary educators to be selected for this opportunity. Are you looking for a resource to help with science implementation? This new resource is now available for educators. Check it out!
Cindy Hadicke, Elementary Program Consultant
Email: chadicke@ksde.org
Website: www.ksde.org
Location: 900 SW Jackson Street, Suite 653
Phone: 785-296-2749
Twitter: @iheartk_6