Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Teacher Appreciation Week

Hello there!
        For those of you who do not know, Teacher Appreciation Week is here! This celebration is from May 4th through May 8th. Those days are designated for teachers, those who teaches and inspires many individuals. During this week, students, administrators, and even parents often do something special for the teachers, whether it is to bring them gifts or to put together a potluck celebration. In my opinion, teachers do not receive as much credit as they deserve, so I think this is really nice for teachers to be recognized for the set days. Below are some really cool decorative classroom doors, and various gifts that could be provided specifically for Teacher Appreciation Week. I will also provide a link that will show more decorations.




Here's a link that will provide more door decorations: http://www.skiptomylou.org/2013/04/26/teacher-appreciation-door-decoration-ideas-2/

Here are a few gifts that are dedicated towards Teacher Appreciation Week, which could also become handy in the classroom! These gifts could be made by teachers as well! Teachers appreciate other teachers too!





I hope you enjoyed this post!

DaVonna Edgerson
xoxo

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Homophones

Hello there!
This blog post is all about homophones! Here I will provide an anchor chart and a couple of activities that can be done in the classroom! Homophones are one of the trickiest reading skills for students to comprehend. With that, it is very important that the lesson you provide for the students is very in-depth and clear.

xoxo
 DaVonna Edgerson

Here's a copy of a homophone anchor chart. It explains what a homophone is, and also provide examples.

This is an activity that the students can do. The students would be required to pick a pair of homophones. They would then write their homophone in the two boxes, and do an  illustration. This is a fun activity that would get the students engaged in the lesson.
This worksheet could be use for an assessment, testing the students' knowledge of the correct meaning of the word. Whatever the picture in the middle is shown, the students' would have to color the corresponding word.
This is just a list of more homophones.

Teacher Threads

Hello there!
This blog is primarily for lesson plans, bulletin board ideas, and activities that could be useful in the classroom. However, I thought it would be a great idea, and very helpful, to include a few pictures that showcases an example of appropriate teacher attire. As an educator, it is vital that you dress appropriately to where nothing would be distracting to the learning environment of the students. For the ladies, when wearing dresses and skirts, it is important to keep the length of them in mind. Male or female, dressing comfortable for the classroom is a must. Teaching is not a "sit at the desk" job. It requires a lot of movement, getting down to the students' eye level, and sometimes it could get even messy. Below are a few examples of appropriate outfits for the classroom.

xoxo
  DaVonna Edgerson

Female:






Male:




Here's a link that could be helpful: http://classyinaclassroom.blogspot.com/

Thursday, April 16, 2015

SWBST Foldable

Hey there!
This is a post regarding a fun activity that could be helpful towards a lesson plan about summarizing. This foldable could be done in the classroom as a whole, or individually. I recommend the teacher to initially read a story to the class, and then do the foldable. This activity will allow students to understand, and identify the different areas in the book that are needed to summarize appropriately. Below is a picture of the foldable that I created. I did my foldable based off the story Cinderella. Under each flap is an explanation of what that section represents. Behind the foldable, the student would combine all of the written text that is in each flap. This is what creates a successful summary.



Here's a link that could be helpful: http://booky4first.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html

xoxo
 
    DaVonna Edgerson






Summary

Hey there!
This post is regarding a lesson that I did over summarizing. I created this lesson to teach students how to successfully create a summary over a story! The picture below shows the visual/ poster board that I made for the lesson. If you look on the poster board, you should see a hand. I thought this was a cute idea to use when teaching them the five elements that you'd need to create a summary. The acronym for the five elements are Somebody Wanted But So Then (SWBST).
S- Who is the main character in the story?
W- What did the character want?
B- What was the problem?
S- How did the character try to solve the problem?
T- What was the resolution to the story?

Using this acronym, the students can be very successful when writing a summary to their story.

Here's a link that could be helpful: http://www.teachingsuperpower.com/2012/07/summarizing.html

Please excuse the mess. It was raining that day.

xoxo
DaVonna Edgerson

Monday, March 9, 2015

Colors

Hello there!!
 This posting is about a lesson/activity over primary colors! This fun activity can be used to teach kinder or first graders what primary colors are, and what different colors they can create when they are mixed together. Before starting this activity with the students, I highly recommend that you, the teacher, briefly explain what primary colors are. Once the students have an idea of what are or aren't primary colors, the fun can begin! The objective of this activity is to show the students how primary colors can create new ones when they are mixed. It is best that the class is broken up into groups of three or four at the most. Each group should have a paper plate with a dollop of each primary color on it, a paint brush, a cup of water to clean out the brushes between colors, and a paper with a triangle drawn on there. On each side of the triangle, a circle should be drawn. Also, at each point on the triangle, a primary color needs to be labeled there. Use the pictures below for any clarification, if need be.
     To get the activity started, the students should paint one of the primary colors in each circle. Each color has its own circle. Once that has been completed, the students will take turns mixing a primary color with another, to create a new color. Please see the pictures below for a better understanding of my explanation. Do this to each circle, and be sure to remind the students to observe the change in the color. After this has been done to every color, a discussion would be nice to see what they students learned from this activity. I really hope you enjoyed this post!

xoxo

   DaVonna Edgerson

This is what the paper should look like, along with the paint on the plate. Each point of the triangle should have its designated color.


This is showing the student painting one of the primary colors in one of the circles.

The student is painting the other circle yellow.

This is when the student starts mixing the colors. Here, the student mixed yellow and blue. You can see the color changing to green.


This is the same thing happening with the colors, yellow and red. The color orange is now forming. 

This is the blue circle.


The student added red, so that the color could be changed to purple.

This is the final product of the activity.
Here is a link to a video about primary colors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu44JRTIxSQ

Monday, March 2, 2015

Black History Bulletin Board

Hello there! Although Black History Month is done and over with, I still think it is a good idea to post a bulletin board over Black History. I made this bulletin board at a local elementary school for volunteer hours. Even though we are not in the month of February, it is very important that the students know the history of the individuals that made a difference in the world. Here, below, are pictures of several African Americans who made history. Under each picture, there is a piece of information that describes what each person role was. This bulletin board could even be used as a game, or the "ticket" out of the door for lunch or something. The teacher could ask the students to tell her who did what, and lift up the flap to see if they are correct or not. I hope you all enjoy!
xoxoxo

     DaVonna Edgerson



This site can help with identifying some African Americans, and their role towards the world: http://thekulturekidz.com/