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!!!!!  

Earth Science Vocabulary

Last year, I tried to help my third grade students with Earth science vocabulary.  It was difficult, but I tried to come up with some sort of visual organizer to help my students understand the vocabulary used by the regular classroom teacher.  Of course, I also brought in realia (hands on/touchable examples) of as many of the items as I could.

I'm sharing what I did, in case you have to do the same thing for your students.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words....

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

I really like the songs and videos available from Super Simple Songs!

They have two new videos available on You Tube for the song, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes".  The first one is the Learn It version that introduces the body parts slowly and clearly.  (It's easy for English Language Learners to think that "knees and toes" are all one word!  KNEESANDTOES! KNEESANDTOES!)   The second video is a little faster but still clearly sung.

 

The Learn It version is at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMQcwNZVUO8

The slightly faster Sing It version is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZanHgPprl-0&feature=youtu.be

And...for a bonus...colorful flashcards of the song are available FREE at Super Simple Songs' website.

Here's a link to the Super Simple Learning website and Super Simple's free flashcards.

Enjoy!  I can't wait to use these with my Kindergarteners and emergent English Language Learners.

Organizing My Thoughts and Supplies

I've been working at school getting my new classroom organized.  It's been a slow process, but it's coming along.  I have quite a stack of empty boxes outside my room now, so I'm seeing some progress.  (In fact, one of our staff members happens to be moving soon, so she carried a bunch of the empty boxes home with her on Friday.  I look at it as the ultimate in recycling!  I reused the boxes and now Mrs. Cheeseburger can use them.)

I thought of my friend, Mrs. Bluebird from Bluebird's Classroom, as I was unpacking and consolidating school supplies.  (She blogged recently about poor quality pencils.)  As Mrs. Pokey and I are the Queens of Scavenging in our school, other teacher give us extra or left over school supplies throughout the year.  We usually get a big bonanza each June when classroom teachers are packing up their rooms for the summer.

As I sorted extra pencils, crayons, markers, highlighters, glue sticks and dry erase markers, I had an inspired thought.  Why not let my English Language Learners make their own school supply kits to take home? Many of them are on free and reduced lunch and they are given beginning of the year backpacks with school supplies for school, but frequently don't have school supplies at home.  I'm going to give each student a gallon freezer bag and have them make their own homework kits.  We'll count out three pencils, one glue stick, one highlighter and a snack baggie of crayons. Then I'll have them make their own pack of markers.  I have a box of gently used individual markers, so it will be good experience for my students to listen and follow directions as we create our own marker packs.  For example:  "Everyone make sure you have a black marker.  Now find a brown marker and a red marker, etc."  I can assess their listening skills and make sure they know their English color words at the same time.  Bonus!  Plus, I will emphasize that there is no excuse now for the the claim of "I didn't do my homework because I don't have a pencil or markers or glue, etc."

Heh, heh, heh!  I love a good plan.

I Thought You Were Smarter Than That!

Hello!  I have been super busy.  Yes, I'm taking classes to add a K-12 Reading Endorsement on my teaching certificate.  I'm probably crazy as a loon to do so, but I consider myself a life long learner.  I took an online Phonics course (in a very abbreviated time slot) that really kicked my rear.  So much to remember in so short of a time!  I managed to finish it AND take another reading assessment class at the same time.  I'm enjoying a short break from my studies plus our spring break is this coming week.  I'm not doing anything fun, unfortunately.  I'm cleaning my house.  Ugh!  It needs to be done.  Scrubby scrub scrub!

Now, back to the title of this post.  On Friday, my fourth grade goofy boys  (Taxi Boy and California Kid) burst into my room at the end of the school day for their ESL class time.

Taxi Boy blurted out, "It's Friday!  Can we play a game??"

"Yeah!!" interjected the California Kid.  "A game!  Please???"

Now, I had already decided we were going to play a game, but I let them "convince" me that we would play a game.  I turned on my projector and calibrated my mini Smartboard.  Then I announced, "OK, we will play a new game called the Vocabulary Quiz Game."

Immediately, the two boys looked at me like I had two heads growing out of my body.  They chimed in together.  "Vocabulary????  That's not a game. Come on, Mrs. Gumby!"  ( Talk about two pouting boys!!)

I told them to just give it a try.

Our ESL unit recently received the Vocabulary Quiz Game from Lakeshore Learning.   Here's a link if you would like to take a look at it.     It's similar to Jeopardy in format.  I let the boys choose their five categories from the following:  Definitions; Multiple Meanings; Antonyms; Prefixes and Suffixes; Using the Word; Homophones; Contractions; and Figures of Speech.   As they got to choose, the boys started to warm up to the game.

                         

I told them I would be Team Mrs. Gumby and they would be Team California/Taxi.  We would see who could win.   We played two games and they won both games.  (Yes, I let them win.)  There was a lot of fist bumping and cheering coming from my room as the boys "defeated" me.

The funniest thing came when they were leaving my room.  Taxi Boy looked at me, wrinkled his nose, and said to me, "I thought you were smarter than that!"

 I smiled at him and said, "Wait until next time.  I might just "skunk" you!"

He looked at me and said, "Hey!  Is that an idiom??"

Hooray!  He finally figured out what an idiom is!  It's taken me seventeen weeks, but he's starting to get it.

Yes, I am smarter than you think I am, Taxi Boy!  Wait until our rematch after Spring Break. 

Malapropism Strikes Again

Yes, the English language is complicated.  I see my students struggle every day to conquer the twists, turns and peculiarities inherent in the language.  They work hard, but sometimes the results are inadvertently funny to listen to.  I try hard not to laugh but to model correct usage/pronunciation instead.  

Here is an example of an inadvertent malapropism from one of my students.  It was shared with me last week by my neighbor, Mrs. Cheerleader.  She and I share a student, Taxi Boy.  Taxi Boy LOVES to talk and talk and talk.  Mrs. Cheerleader had Taxi Boy and a girl, Quiet Mouse, in a reading group.  They read a non-fiction book about eagles and were discussing the information found in the book.  The text in the book was about how eagles catch their prey with their sharp talons.  Next to the word "talons" was the word "claws" in parenthesis.  Mrs. Cheerleader asked Taxi Boy and Quiet Mouse what talons meant.  Quiet Mouse wouldn't respond, but after some thought, Taxi Boy piped up.

"Talons!  I know...like 'America's Got Talons'!!!"   

Mrs. Cheerleader had the hardest time keeping a straight face as she explained the difference between "talons" and "talents"!  When she told me the story after school, she and I laughed so hard we nearly fell over.   

Yes, indeed...America's Got Talons!  

Egg Drop...Hold the Soup!

Thursday was an exciting day for the second graders at Cheerful School.  Yes, it was the day for the Egg Drop!  An egg drop in case you aren't familiar with it is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) project.  For our egg drop project, the second grade students had to design a container to hold and protect a raw chicken's egg from breaking.  The containers were tossed off the roof of our one story school and on to the asphalt playground by a very brave guidance counselor, a courageous instructional coach and a hard working parent volunteer.  (Note:  Mrs. Gumby was NOT on the roof.  I am afraid of heights!  Ugh, ugh, ugh!)  Other parent volunteers opened the containers after the toss to see if the egg inside was unbroken, cracked but still intact or "scrambled" while another volunteer recorded the data. 

Here's a Teacher Tube video clip of a similar egg drop at a school.  This is not my school. However, it is a great way to demonstrate an egg drop.

Egg Drop Video on Teacher Tube  

The students were required to make their egg drop container at home with their families. The containers could be no larger than one foot wide by one foot tall.  Plus, the containers had to be disposable after the conclusion of the egg drop.

However, it's difficult for our ESL parents to understand long or involved directions in English, especially when they're written in idiomatic language.  After talking it over with my student Happy Girl, I decided to make the egg drop container an in-school ESL class project.  Happy Girl and I read over the directions and highlighted important words.  We talked about raw eggs and what we could use for the container.  We brainstormed ideas on how to cushion the egg.  I also rummaged around in my cabinets and found a small box, styrofoam and felt.  I knew I had some air cushion packing pillows from a recent shipment of hockey safety equipment at home and promised to bring the pillows in to school.

Knowing Mrs. Pokey's two tutor level students might need help as well, I emailed her at her other school and updated her on the project.  She thought it was a great idea and promised to look through her craft items at home for additional materials.  On Monday, we combined our materials and students and started to work.  At the end of the period, all three students had a student designed container for the egg drop.  As we worked, we encouraged our students to talk about their designs and containers.  It was a great way to facilitate authentic conversation and vocabulary! 

Finally, the great day arrived!  On Thursday afternoon, all of the second graders had to announce to the others how they designed their egg drop container.  After the explanation, one of the brave folks on the roof of the school tossed the child's container from the roof!  Some containers shattered, others exploded on impact while still others floated down gently via parachute or bounced. 

However, I am happy to report that all three of our English Language Learners were sucessful with their egg drop containers.  Three unbroken eggs!  Three unbroken eggs and three very very very proud young "engineers"!  Hurrah!

Popping with Sounds

Pop, Pop, Pop!!

Our Kindergarten teacher shared a super game/activity kit from Lakeshore Learning with me this week.  I tried the Pop and Match beginning sounds and ending sounds kits with my Kindergarteners and first grade students.  They absolutely loved these game kits.  I found the kits to be a great way to talk about basic vocabulary words as well as practicing beginning and ending sounds in simple CVC and CVCC words. 

However, by far the BEST part of the activities (in my students' opinions) was getting to use the really cool dome shaped  die "poppers" that come with the kits!!  (The "poppers" remind me of the die rolling device found in the board game, Trouble.)  As students take turns playing the games, they get to press down on the dome of the "popper" to roll the die inside.  It's definitely a sensory and kinesthetic buzz for some kids.  I can't wait to try the next set (medial sounds kit game) after Spring Break!

Pop, Pop, Pop!!

 

Skip-Bo Junior

As I said in my previous post, I really love using games with my English Language Learners!  This week we tried a new game called Skip-Bo Junior.  Wow!  My kids had a blast with the game and much laughter was heard in the room.  My older students (upper elementary) especially got into the game.  You would have thought we were in Las Vegas or something! 

Skip-Bo Junior is wonderful game for teaching the concept of sequence, especially numerical sequence.  We discussed "sequence" before the game and we came up with examples (alphabetical order, months of the year, days of the week and numerical sequence of one through 10).

 

But, I had to laugh at the comment of one of my older students!  After we had talked about the rules of the game and reinforced the idea of numerical sequence of 1-10, Pretty Nails Girl looked at me and piped up.

"Mrs. Gumby!  Are we learning vocabulary words???"

Oh yes, my dear...Mrs. Gumby is sneaky that way!  Heh, heh, heh!

In Skip-Bo Junior, each player is dealt a stockpile of cards and then attempts to win by playing all the cards on building piles in numerical sequence from #1 through #10. The first player to get rid of all of their stockpile cards first wins! Skip-Bo Junior is great fun for ages 5 and up, and comes with simplified game rules and appealing, kid-themed graphics.

Clothing and ELF Learning Videos

I like using videos when I teach.  With English Language Learners it helps to show students pictures, especially with vocabulary work.  Recently, I discovered ELF Learning.  They have some great videos posted on their ELFTube and also YouTube.

(Additional note on Jan. 11, 2012:  If you want to join the ELF website "community", you need to use a different web browser than Internet Explorer.  I used Google Chrome at home.  Internet Explorer would NOT work for me at home last week nor for Mrs. Pokey at school today. If you don't care about joining the "community",  just access the  ELF videos through YouTube.)

This week, I started a clothing vocabulary unit with my Kindergarten and first grade students.  I created an assessment using photographs from the Internet.  (Google Images is a useful tool for finding appropriate pictures.) Then, I pre-assessed the students' knowledge of 23 clothing words and will post-test them with the same assessment at the end of the unit.

ELF Learning has three very nice videos on Clothing.  Here is the first one.

The first one is a simple flash card type presentation of 24 clothing words. (The only one I didn't use in my assessment was "rain boots".  It seemed redundant to me to talk about "boots" and "rain boots".)  The other two videos use the same vocabulary words but add sentences and phrases.

Clothing flashcards, words are repeated


My Clothes 1 with sentences and phrases


My Clothes 2 with sentences and phrases


Good luck!  My students really are enjoying these videos.  I hope your students do, too.