Anonymous Question Box in A Classroom

Anonymous Question Box in A Classroom

A way to let students ask important questions or make valuable comments anonymously. This lets the teacher's further classroom discussions!

The Anonymous Question Box

An anonymous question box gives quiet and shy students an opportunity to ask questions, or students that are struggling a chance to be vulnerable and express concerns. The box allows students to get the information/help they need without feeling singled out.

To get the most out of the box, we should follow some simple guidelines, which include:

• "Discussing the purpose and what both teacher and students gain from using the box.
• Placing the box in a prominent, but discreet, space in the classroom. The box should be easily accessible and noticeable without being distracting.
• Taking a few moments once a week to ask students to write and submit a question. All students are required to submit a piece of paper, even if the only thing they write is ''I have no question.'' This slight subterfuge allows students who do have questions to submit them without drawing attention to themselves.
• Reviewing the contents of the box daily and addressing them in class, answering those questions that I can immediately and using the rest to modify my curriculum."

https://study.com/blog/why-i-always-keep-an-anonymous-question-box-in-my-classroom.html

Problems in School

Not all students will feel comfortable enough with the teacher to confide in them, leading to a lack of communication. When there are problems going on outside of the classroom that the teacher is not aware of, this open communication is necessary for problem solving. Think, bullying. An anonymous box allows students to tell the teacher of any problems and concerns they may have, which may prompt an open discussion with the class about bullying.

A Simple Solution

The anonymity of the box gives students a voice, and the teacher a way to address personal and educational questions and concerns. Thus, giving the students more control of their learning environment.

Madison@NU

Five Literacy Sites to Explore

Starfall Learn to Read ... http://www.starfall.com/

 A great website ... started in 2002 as a free public service to motivate children to read using phonics (and phonemic awareness). This site is perfect for pre-school, JK, SK, grades 1, 2, and even English language development (ESL, ELL). It's easy enough for teachers or parents to get on the site and start to use it right away. Your kids will like it too. Shhh,  don't tell them they're reading.

FREE TumbleBooks ... 

https://centraliapubliclibrary.com/4377-2/

https://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/Home.aspx?categoryID=77

An online collection of read-along picture books for preschool and elementary school children and their families. Features adjustable online text and complete audio narration. Sentences are highlighted as they are being read and the pages can turn automatically.

iStoryBooks ... https://www.istorybooks.co/free-books.html

Visit the site and have your reader listen to and interact with an online reading of a book ... Lots of classics, versions of well-known stories, and newly written stories to choose from. 

Reading Games – Flash Learning for K-3

http://www.mrcpl.org/literacy/lessons/sight/index.html

Learn Dolch Sight Words: Try these Macromedia Flash Learning Games ... Brought to you by the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library - They have provided this easy-to-use site for students and teachers.  The focus is on READING ... Students can play various games like MATCHING, SENTENCE BUILDING, SIGHT WORD STORIES, PICTURE WORDS, and CREATE A STORY.  This is an interactive site that young students will have fun and learn.

The Literacy Centre – Early Childhood ...

http://www.literacycenter.net/lessonview_en.php#

A collection of early reading games (interactive/web based) for early literacy    development (K-1). Very easy to use and have success in your learning.

Courtesy of TP@OISE 

Make Your Own Bitmoji Classroom!

It's safe to say we have all seen/used these cute little mini-me avatars. Bitmojis are making their way into the classrooms! Teachers are beginning to include Bitmojis in their classrooms both online and offline to create fun and personalized experiences for their students. If you have to teach virtually, creating a virtual classroom is a fun way to keep your student engaged and interested in your online lesson. This is definitely a great way to help connect to your students virtually- your choices are limitless!  

  

There are so many different avenues that you can use to do this. Google slides is a great tool to use when building your virtual classroom. There are so many different classroom templates available online. You can fill your classroom with links to books, tutorials, worksheets, or videos. You can even create a virtual field trip for your students! 

Here's a great tutorial to get you started:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ZiClcIYJs

Teresa@NU

Literacy can be fun, Really!

Here are 4 more Literacy sites to explore - whether you're a teacher, a tutor, a parent, or just a smart child looking for something educational and fun online, here you go, enjoy!

Television Tunes ... http://www.televisiontunes.com/

Do you want to have some fun remembering the good old days ... well, do it with your kids.  Go to the website and hear all-time favourite theme songs (good quality not midi) and challenge your kids to figure them out.  You can also be challenged to figure the latest TV Tunes.

ABCMouse ...  www.abcmouse.com

ABCmouse.com curriculum in a carefully designed program of more than 450 lessons in six levels. As your child completes each lesson, he or she is guided to the next one and is motivated to continue learning by ABCmouse.com’s Tickets and Rewards System.

You get the first month free and then it's about $8 per month. Fantastic site and very easyfor parents to use (and teachers too)

Storybird – Artful Storytelling ... http://storybird.com/

Storybirds are short, art-inspired stories you make to share, read, and print. Read them like books, play them like games, and send them like greeting cards. They're curiously fun. You can embed them in a blog or wiki ... you can even make them into books (you pay for this feature). All in all, the website gives you tutorials on how to sign-up, setup a class, use the program, and produce good looking stories.

International Children’s Digital Library ... http://en.childrenslibrary.org/

What a wonderful site - It provides free access to children's books from around the world. The ICDL collection includes 4469 books in 55 languages. Check it out!

R.C.@OISE

DID YOU KNOW?

DID YOU KNOW?

Four out of five children are afraid of being fat.

Both boys and girls have concerns about their body image during adolescence. It has always been an issue, but with the rising influence from the internet and social media, the message of body image positivity has twisted into an unhealthy one.

"The 'Instagram face' definitely makes me think of getting lip fillers... it's crazy how much it makes me rethink my appearance." - Alec, 21, Womenshealthmag.com

In the first month of COVID lockdown, Instagram was the second-most-used social platform, which means we could be staring at, and evaluating, our faces more than ever.

"Every single day I was looking at videos and images of girls with 'perfect' faces and IG model bodies over and over, so over time when I looked in the mirror I couldn't help but compare myself." - Alexis, 26, Womenshealthmag.com

Could social media and platforms like Instagram be bringing out deep insecurities in girls and women fighting with body positivity? Or has social media reached a level that is creating internal issues that would not otherwise exist?

DELIA@NU

Aiming for Sticky Learning

Aiming for Sticky Learning.

 

 

I remember being in sixth grade, my marks were finally reflecting how much hard work I was not putting into my schoolwork. I was no longer getting away with good marks by not studying or paying attention in class. I had to finally work hard! So that's what I did, I worked my butt off in class. Before every test, I would study really hard, get good grades and…that's it! Mission accomplished. Getting good grades was the only thing that mattered to me in school. It mattered because it made my parents proud and it made me feel smart. However, if you asked me "what did you learn last week?" after a unit was finally done, chances are I'd be staring at you dead in the eyes with no answer. I could never remember what I learned because the information was never more meaningful or important to me, then getting good grades.

 

Education should be focused more on growth mindsets. It should be a place where students can discover their skills, passion, and talents. There will be times where you fail but the goal should always be to learn, whether you are learning from your mistakes or striving for the best. This happens when sticky learning is the goal. As educators, our goal is to provide knowledge in a way that becomes meaningful and interesting to the student because let's face it, the brain does not pay attention to boring things! So, practicing simplicity when teaching or giving examples that the learner is already familiar with or even striving for unexpectedness in student's learning, may help them want to want to learn more, become more interested, and it may help them remember what is being taught. 

 

Sometimes a student can become a victim to blocked practice when the information is not interesting enough, which then promotes the opposite of sticky learning. However, imagine spiraling the curriculum? Kristin Philips, a school principal, does a really good job with explaining this and she helps refresh the goal for teaching. Teaching is not a checklist of the curriculum; some subjects need a lot more time and repetition in order for students to truly understand what is being taught to them. By spiraling the curriculum, teachers are returning to key concepts like multiplication or division, many times throughout the school year. The goal is for students to learn effectively by making sure the knowledge sticks, and because these concepts are "end of the year" goals and not expectations that are to be strictly learned by a certain season or month, to teach them over and over again might not be such a bad idea. I believe this concept is especially helpful for students who may take longer to grasp information, for this may give them a chance to excel and progress in their learning. It can help students like me, go beyond the idea of just getting good grades, but to actually learn something for a better reason. If possible, spiraling the curriculum is definitely something I would love to try in my teaching experience. Going back to my grade 6 experience, if my teacher spiraled the math unit "Area and Perimeter", who knows, I might have actually understood it, remembered it, and I would've been way more prepared for it in grade 7. With that being said, be inspired to "try something new, no one will die!" - Kristin Phillips.

 

Linda @NU

Book Exchange Box

The Book Exchange Box

                             

The goal of the book exchange box is for children to give a book that they have already read and take one that they have yet to read. This sparks the creativity of a new way that children can read stories that are of interest to other children. It allows the children to choose a story they enjoyed reading and put it into the box for another child to read. Depending where the box is located, it can also build on the community as you get to meet many people you have not yet seen or spoken to before. 

When I first heard of the Book Exchange Box, I always thought of how much of a great idea it was for children in the communities. Although during COVID I don't think people are still using this idea, hopefully once it surpasses this idea will be up and running.

Nicole@NU

More Literacy Sites for You to Explore and Have Fun

During Covid Times, teachers need sites for students to explore and stay excited about learning.  Here are a few more for you to check out.  They are FUN to play, but for the teacher, you can rest assured that the students are engaged in real learning.  Check this next bunch of sites.

Ramo Games ... http://www.ramogames.com/

Story Online ... http://www.storylineonline.net/

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) makes this site possible ... you've got famous people reading story books to kids.  The stories are good and the reading is fun for kids.  Close to 20 books now available for kids to click and follow along. 

Spelling City ... http://www.spellingcity.com/

The SpellingCity website has over 42,000 words with customizable sentences and definitions ... Have fun!

Fractured Fairytales ... www.youtube.com

This is one of my favourite sites to visit ... the power of YouTube for fun and creativity.  Type in the search bar: Fractured Fairytales – familiar fairytales with a twist!

Enjoy - brought to you by:  B.B.@OISE

Invented Spelling: In Wich Way Is It Benafishul?

Inventive spelling is argued to have a beneficial impact on children's writing and confidence to explore new words that they otherwise would not due to the fear of incorrect spelling. While it may be proven to be effective in the short term, could it be effective in the long term? I believe there are both positives and negatives to this approach. There are ways in which I can see this being beneficial, but there may be some long term negative effects that we should consider.

In terms of being beneficial, it builds confidence in students and shows them that they can be adventurous. However, we must ensure that, as teachers, we will guide them in the right direction if we were to use this method. This is where teaching students constructive criticism is important. If we let them get inventive when spelling, we must also make sure that they understand the right way of spelling the words. So we must provide criticism for the students in a positive and effective way so that they learn the right way of spelling while also being adventurous and confident in their efforts. 

A negative that I can see to this approach is that it creates an unproductive mindset in children during the years in which the foundation of their grammatical growth is formed. It gets them in the habit of constantly needing reassurance even when they "take risks". This is because it teaches them that if they misspell words when trying to spell them correctly, then they always need to check with the teacher if it is right or not. This habit could then translate to other homework they have in other subjects. It may become difficult for them to be confident in their answer until they are assured that they are doing the right thing. So while it creates confidence in risk-taking, it may not allow for confidence in their choices. 

Also, it puts students in the mindset that they will always be rewarded greater for trying than succeeding. This is not the right mindset to have as a student because while trying is a part of learning and should be rewarded in its own way, succeeding as a student and learning that there are right and wrong answers is more important. If a student is asked the question "what is 1+1?" and they respond with "3", then we should not punish their effort for trying, but at the same time, we have to let them know that their answer is incorrect. Therefore, while effort is important, it is also important to ensure that the students are learning that there are correct answers and that they should aim for them. 

Antonio@NU

Literacy Sites for Fun & Learning

As a group of educational tools for furthering your child’s ability in another language, I think it might be a great resource, however as a substitute for a parent absolutely not. There’s something special about your child seeing the words as you read them and pointing at the pictures that can’t be replaced.

Dial a Story (Toronto Public Library) ... www.tpl.ca/dial-a-story

Dial-A-Story is exactly what it sounds like. You call a number, enter the age of the child and choose between stories offered in 15 different languages.

Here are a few more sites worthy of being explored, especially duirng Covid-19 times.

Handwriting without Tears ... http://www.hwtears.com/hwt

Dance Mat Typing ... http://www.rogers2.smmusd.org/teachers/type/

Funology – The Science of Having Fun ... http://www.funology.com/

Room 108 ... http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/108.html

Room 108 is a Primary Education Site for Students and Teachers. There are over 1900 pages of Kids Games and Teacher Resources for children learning. A great resource for Grade One and Kindergarten Games! Click for a site directory. Lots of Free Worksheets and Free Educational Resources for kids in Elementary Schools.

W.K.@OISE

The Buddy Bench

    The Buddy Bench          

Can you remember a time when you were in school when your best friend who you always played with was away? Or maybe everybody was playing in their own little groups and you just didn't have anyone to play with? Were you new to the school and didn't know anyone? Or maybe you just wanted to play something different than what your friends were playing?  It's not the best feeling, and with kids being so excited to be outside at recess, busy catching up on all the important things kids do and talk about it is easy to miss a fellow student being left out of the joyful chaos. A space that is usually filled with excitement and energy can end up being very lonely for somebody who has nobody.

So what is The Buddy Bench?  

The Buddy Bench is a special place in the schoolyard where a child can go when they want someone to play with or talk to but don't have the courage to approach their peers. If they feel they need a friend they can show this by sitting on the bench. This sends a signal to other students that this student needs someone and encourages other students to eliminate loneliness and fulfill the idea of inclusion. The bench helps children build their social skills and strengthen their self-esteem while giving them opportunities to communicate and even create new friendships! They develop empathy skills, collaboration and cooperation which are all long-lasting life skills that will benefit them in their futures. 

The underlying goal of The Buddy Bench is to promote positive interactions among students and offer opportunities to build positive relationships. It strengthens the sense of community and deepens the feeling of belonging. A Buddy Bench is a definite asset to any playground!

Lisa@NU

                                                                                                                                                        

Teachers Pay Teachers

Unlocking the Power of the World's Educators

TpT is the go-to place for educators to find resources, knowledge, and inspiration they need to teach at their best. They offer more than 3 million free and paid resources, created by educators who understand what works in the classroom. Their marketplace is growing every day to meet the evolving needs of the PreK-12 classroom. When educators get the resources and support they need, they're best equipped to inspire our next generation of learners.

 

I found this resource very interesting because as educators we always try to find new ways of creating activities for our students, so having this tool will be very useful and beneficial to us now and the educators in the near future when working in the field.

 

TpT Resources are used by a wide range of educators including:

·      K-12 classroom teachers

·      Instructional Specialists

·      School Administrators

·      Speech Language Pathologists

·      Early Learning Specialists

·      Homeschoolers

·      Tutors

·      Parents

 

Website: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/

 

Chukwuadinula@NU

Twitter: Social Media Teacher

Twitter is a social media platform. Beginner teachers could use it to build their online teacher profile. Teachers could use twitter to build a community with other teachers online, post and share ideas about any lessons, resources, activities, questions, strategies and many more things. It is a very good platform to showcase their work. For example, teachers could take pictures of their activities/lesson they do every week and post it online in the twitter account. The teachers could also tag their principal, school board or school if they have a twitter account. 

I see many school Boards using twitter now. It is even beneficial for the teachers that their work could be recognized by many people. Twitter could also be used to connect with families. For example, Even the parents could also look at their children's work and what is happening in their classroom daily/weekly. There is also a message option in twitter where teachers could send reminders to the parents.

Brought to you by: Veitheky (Vee)@NU

Toy Theater: Learn, Create and Play

On October 6, I was introduced to this website on my first day of placement, with Peel District School Board. Since the class I am currently in is being offered online throughout the year, the teacher found this site for the children to play activities while they are learning. I thought this site was very interesting, and I decided to try some of the activities out.

I tested out the math activities which consist of multiplications, shapes, fractions, etc which can be accommodating to each grade in Primary/Junior level. The site offers activities for different subjects, such as, math, reading, art and music. These subjects provide students a fun way to learn and have fun with technology. Since children's contemporary culture consists dominantly of digital culture, teachers need to adjust their lessons to meet the students' interests. 

The teacher in my placement classroom provided the students with this website, and we noticed this site really enhanced the students' understanding of the lesson for that week, which was patterns.

Here is a sample of some math activities offered on this site:

For future teachers or current teachers...even for parents/guardians with children, I highly recommend this site for a new and advanced way for young people to learn, play and have fun while doing so!

Website: https://toytheater.com/category/teacher-tools/virtual-manipulatives/

Amrita@NU

Introduction to Flipgrid

 

Flipgrid is an accessible and interesting technology program that I was first introduced to in the Foundations of Literacy class here at Niagara University. It is a way to engage students and allow them to respond to topics through the use of videos. 

Flipgrid can be used across all ages and grades. How it works is that the teacher creates and posts a topic, and the students respond with a short video clip. They are also able to view the responses of their peers, which makes room for discussion. It is another fun and free resource to use to engage students, while teaching through online learning.

 

For the purpose of our class assignment, we used Flipgrid to create a read aloud for a story book we chose on an issue of social justice, diversity and/or equity. All of the responses were great, and it was interesting to see how everyone made theirs so unique and fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U2ONzmwQ6c

Brought to you by: Alexandra@NU

Don't Re-Invent the Wheel

Does this sound like you?  Hybrid learning is out and virtual learning is back, at least in my school district. With one week left before school, there isn't a lot of time to recreate the wheel for distance learning. So, now I'm looking at all of those worksheet resources that I use and trying to figure out which ones I can convert to Google Classroom resources.  

Although this sounds difficult, let me tell you that I have found a very simple way to prevent myself from reinventing the wheel. So, I am spending this week turning assignments into things I can use in Google Classroom. 

Check these out ... It is self-explanatory; Teachers, you need some support? - Once on the site, you'll see so much more than I've given you below.  Here are the links:

Top 10 Reading Websites for Elementary Students:

http://www.rakisradresources.com/2013/07/top-10-reading-students-for-elementary.html

 

Top 10 Writing Websites for Elementary Students:

http://www.rakisradresources.com/2013/08/top-10-writing-websites-for-elementary.html

Top 10 Math Websites for Elementary Students:

http://www.rakisradresources.com/blog/category/math

Brought to you by: Leonard@OISE

SymWriter 2

SymWriter 2 is an accessible writing program that has widget symbols appear above words as they are selected/typed, thereby allowing users to easily understand their meaning and learn new and challenging vocabulary. Users can also select or create environment grids, which contain button-like cells that can display either words or short sentences with or without widget symbols, along with individual letters and action commands and so on.

This program can be used by educators to support students in a variety of ways. This includes using grid activities to assist slower writers in beginning to write independently through the use of key words, phrases and sentence structures. Furthermore, this program can be utilized by students with physical impairments through the usage of switch controls, which can be either simple buttons that are pressed with an individual's body parts, or through the use of eye gaze technology. This allows students to not only complete written tasks, but also express and record their wants and needs. The text, symbols, and background can also be switched to high contrast colours to help support students with visual impairments.

Overall, this program can help exceptional students learn new words, increase the quantity and quality of their written work, and become less dependent on others for writing assistance.

 

Reference: https://www.widgit.com/products/symwriter/index.htm

 

Presented to you by: moneill@NU

Literacy Fun

Reading Comprehension Stories

Literary short stories and informational texts from diverse cultures with questions to test comprehension and close reading skills. 

Read and answer online or print a text and quiz worksheet.

The graded reading includes a range of fiction and non-fiction stories appropriate for classrooms of learners at varying reading levels. 

Kindergarten... https://wordville.com/K1Reading/KstoryList.html

Gr. 1... https://worksheetsplus.com/Reading/more1stGrReadingWorksheets.html

Gr. 2... https://worksheetsplus.com/Reading/more2ndGrReadingQuiz.html

Gr. 3... https://worksheetsplus.com/Reading/more3rdGrReadingQuiz.html

Gr. 4... https://worksheetsplus.com/Reading/more4thGrReadingWorksheets.html

Gr. 5... https://worksheetsplus.com/Reading/5thGrUpReadingList.html

Visit this website to start having fun ... https://wordville.com/ReadingComp/index.html

Brought to you by: Craig@OISE

More Online Math Games for Ontario Teachers

Got Kids Games 

https://gotkidsgames.com/GotKidsGames%20Math%20Games%20By%20Grade.html

Free Online Math Games by Grade Level

ONTARIO CURRICULUM content is in red after each title

Click a RED TAB to see ALL the math games for that grade

Pick a game title to play free online ... have fun learning.

Brought to you by: Brett@OISE

Math Resources and Interactive Math Games

Great site for the Teacher who needs some kind of online one-stop shopping experience.

http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/maths/index.html

Click the website link above and then practice the math skills … The games are fun and you will learn things very easily!  

Brought to you by Colin@OISE

Online Math Class: Math Playground

 

Math Playground

https://www.mathplayground.com/

Here's a site for all you teachers who need some MATH to teach with your ONLINE STUDENTS.  You can have them play these games AFTER you teach your lesson.  Yes, we call them games because that is kids' language.  If you tell them it's work, they won't engage.  If you tell them to go have some fun, bingo - you have them playing and practicing math.

Math Games 1:  http://www.mathplayground.com/games.html

Math Games 2: http://www.mathplayground.com/games2.html

Logic Games 1: http://www.mathplayground.com/logicgames.html

Logic Games 2: http://www.mathplayground.com/logicgames_2.html

Thinking Blocks: http://www.mathplayground.com/thinkingblocks.html

Math Arcade: http://www.mathplayground.com/ASB_Index.html

Word Problems: http://www.mathplayground.com/wordproblems.html

Math Videos: http://www.mathplayground.com/mathvideos.html

Math Tools: http://www.mathplayground.com/math_manipulatives.html

You can select the games you want your students to play by GRADE:

First Grade Math Games: https://www.mathplayground.com/grade_1_games.html

Second Grade Math Games: https://www.mathplayground.com/grade_2_games.html

Third Grade Math Games: https://www.mathplayground.com/grade_3_games.html

Fourth Grade Math Games: https://www.mathplayground.com/grade_4_games.html

Fifth Grade Math Games: https://www.mathplayground.com/grade_5_games.html

Sixth Grade Math Games: https://www.mathplayground.com/grade_6_games.html

You can select the games you want your students to play by TYPE:

Math Games:  https://www.mathplayground.com/math-games.html

Logic Games:  https://www.mathplayground.com/logic-games.html

Math Arcade:  https://www.mathplayground.com/ASB_Index.html

Story Math:  https://www.mathplayground.com/wordproblems.html (Word Problems)  

Math Videos:  https://www.mathplayground.com/mathvideos.html

All Games (Math Topic):  https://www.mathplayground.com/game_directory.html 

Give your brain a workout and have fun learning!

Brought to you by M.E.@OISE