Assessment: Body Parts

One of things I assess with my Kindergarten and emergent English Language Learners is the names of our body parts.  (How can we expect our students to let us know that something "hurts", if they don't have the necessary vocabulary?)

After assessment, we sing songs like "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "Tooty Ta", play a body parts Memory matching game, read an easy-to-read booklet on body parts and play Body Parts Bingo.

My students like all of the activities, but Body Parts Bingo seems to be the favorite!  And...they especially LOVE picking up the bingo chips with my "magic magnet wand"!!  (If you don't have a set of magnetic bingo chips and wand, I highly suggest that you invest in them.  Children love using them and it makes for easier game clean up!)

My magnetic bingo chips and wand are some leftover ones of my Mom's.  She bought them at a garage sale in Florida.  I think she used them occasionally when she and my Dad wintered near Sarasota in February and March.  I found the box in my parents' basement after she had passed away and my Dad and I were cleaning.  Every time we use the magnetic chips and wand I think of my Mom.  I know she would have gotten as much of a laugh out of watching my students' fascination with the "magic" wand and chips as I do.

I had some body parts assessments with line drawings and clip art, but I just wasn't satisfied with them.  So, I spent some time on Google images and created an assessment using photographs.  It wasn't hard to create a table in Word and insert the photos.  I like the assessment so much more with photos rather than drawings! 

 

After I finished making my assessment, I took the same images and created eight different Body Parts Bingo boards.  Again, I used tables in Word.  It took a little time, but the result was worth it.  My students love the bingo game and we've played it several times.  I also printed out copies of the assessment and the bingo boards for my colleague, Mrs. Sunshine and her paraprofessional, Mrs. Foil.  I laminated the boards and assessment and sent them over last week.  Mrs. Sunshine is great about sharing things with me, so I returned the favor!

Here's a sample of what my body part bingo boards looked like after I finished them.  It wasn't terribly hard to make them and well worth my time.

B-I-N-G-O!!!!!  

Write, Write, Write

One of the things I do daily with my students is WRITE!

Many times my class periods are limited to 30 minutes and I have a lot to do within that short time frame.  I try to get in some guided reading as well as vocabulary front-loading and practice, etc.  However, we always write, write, write.

We use Writing A-Z and the Write Source for ideas, but every student has a writing journal for their daily writing.  Frequently, we use blank composition books, especially with the older students, but I found a great writing journal with prompts for my first grade students.  It is called "My First Writing Prompt Journal" from Lakeshore. 

 My primary students LOVE these!  I started using them second semester with my first grade students last year and sent them home at the end of the school year with the directions to finish the journals over the summer.  This year, I distributed the journals to my first graders on our first day of ESL.  One of the girls in my class actually squealed when she saw her journal because she was excited to get one of her own!  (Her older sister brought her journal home in May and completed it over the summer.)

What I like about this particular journal is the interesting and child appropriate writing prompt on each page.  We read the prompt together and then talk about the choices in the word bank below.  After a brief "thinking" time, I direct the students to trace with their pencils over the blue writing prompt words and then finish the prompt with a word from the word bank.  I also expect a period at the end of their sentence.  After they complete their sentence, then they may draw a picture to accompany their sentence.  Each child reads their sentence to me as they complete it and they may tell me about their picture as they draw.

I know the writing prompt journal doesn't allow for a lot of creativity, but my students do other journal writing in their classrooms as well.  Using the writing prompt journals in my ESL class time allows me to squeeze in some writing every day.  Plus, my students really enjoy writing in these journals and will ask me for them if I forget to pull them out.  You can't beat that, in my opinion!  I love it when my students have a positive view of writing...whatever it takes.  

Home Visits

I recently was a guest blogger on Raki's Rad Resources. I posted this entry there.  If you haven't checked out her blog, please do so...right now! 

Raki's Rad Resources

Home Visits:  Making Connections with Students and Their Families

            One of the most powerful strategies a teacher can use to make connections with students and their families is by making home visits. Over my past few years as an English as a Second Language teacher, I have made several home visits.   I have found that they take extra time and effort, but the eventual results are worthwhile.  In fact, I believe the “payoffs” are huge!

            One of my students was struggling to access an online student reading program.  After trying several notes back and forth with the child’s mother, I offered to make a home visit to see what I could do to help.  When I arrived, Mother and the three children welcomed me to their home.  They offered me a tray of traditional sweets and pistachios along with a cold can of Pepsi.  I sat and chatted with Mother for about 20 minutes before I began to work on their home computer.  It took me more than an hour of tinkering with several possible solutions to figure out why they couldn’t access the online reading program, but finally, it worked!  Hurrah!  We celebrated and then I waited while my student completed one of the online lessons.  I wanted to make sure she was successful before I left.  Mother observed how the online lesson was supposed to work so she could help her daughter in the future.  While we were waiting on my student finish her lesson, Father called on his cell phone.  He couldn’t be there in person to meet me, but he wanted to talk with me and to thank me for visiting his home and helping his child. 

            Another time I visited a family who lived in an apartment complex housing many families from the same country and culture.  As a teacher colleague and I along with our school district interpreter walked between buildings, a cry arose of “Teachers are here!”  Suddenly, doors opened and children streamed out.  They were excitedly yelling at each other in their first language while interspersing their conversation with the English words, “Teacher, Teacher!”  We were quickly engulfed by a crowd of children hugging us and saying our names. As we made our way to the apartment, we must have looked like a small parade to any onlookers!  The children of the family we were scheduled to visit thrust themselves importantly to the head of the group and led us to their home.  They escorted us into their apartment and sat down cross-legged on the floor.  We greeted Mother and Auntie and started our meeting.  During the visit, other children kept peeking in the open door of the apartment.  They giggled, whispered and waved to us as we talked with the adults of the family. 

            I’ve met many families and found that every one of them appreciated the time I’ve taken to visit their homes.  I’ve eaten a variety of food such as Latin American candy,  Middle Eastern pastries and cookies, spicy Asian hot wings and Somali sambusis (triangular shaped fried pastries filled with a spicy ground meat, onion and peppers mixture).  I’ve sipped hot tea, spiced chai, assorted soft drinks and unfamiliar fruit juices.  It seems to be a universal gesture from all of the families I’ve visited to offer the teacher a treat or drink.   I always try to accept graciously even if I don’t care for something because I know it’s important to my students. 

            Home visits have made a difference for me in how I relate to my students and their families.  Parents are always more comfortable communicating with me after they have hosted me in their homes.  I find now that mothers, fathers, “aunties” and others make the time to stop in my classroom when they come to school for Open House nights or when they come to pick up their children during the school day.  I see them at district meetings and cultural events and, yes, sometimes even at the grocery store, hardware store or the mall!  Without fail, they greet me with a smile, a handshake or even a hug (from the women).  If you have not tried home visits with your students, I suggest you try.  You may be pleasantly surprised at the positive results.