Book Study: Similes, Metaphors, and Classroom Community

Hi, Teaching Friends!


This week's topic for the Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites book study is "Metaphors, Analogies, and Similes".

A metaphor is a great way to give your students a word picture that will deepen their understanding. Even before you formally teach the words metaphor or simile, I'll bet you use them in your classroom. Do you teach your students the Goldilocks Strategy for choosing books?  That's a metaphor! By working from something they already know (too hard, too easy, just right), you're giving your students a memorable, useful tool that they can pull up and use a whole lot faster than most other ways you can teach book selection.

{If you don't know about the Goldilocks Strategy, check out this great article!}

I had an "accidental metaphor" that developed after we read Kevin Henke's Lily's Purple Plastic Purse.  In the story, Lily brings a purple plastic purse to school for show-and-tell, but is so excited about it that she just can't keep her hands off it, or stop shaking it to hear the coins jangle inside it.
Have you ever had a student like that? Pretty much every K-1, right? :)

Shortly after we read it one year, somebody had her hands in her desk fooling with something brought from home. The student next to her said, "Is that your purple plastic purse you've got in there?"

Now, that cutie knew how to use a metaphor! That phrase quickly became part of our classroom culture, a quick way to address a distracting behavior in a low-key way.

This teacher's no fool ... I know a useful metaphor when I hear one, so every year after that I'd casually introduce it as needed after we read Lily's story. I also came across a cute purple change purse at a garage sale. After a while, I could just point to the purse (sometimes even just look at it!) to redirect the behavior without disrupting the flow of instruction.

So, that's got to be my favorite classroom metaphor.

What's yours?

You can visit the linky party at by The First Grade Parade  to read what this chapter's host Cara Carroll has to share, and then follow the links to read what other blogger's are saying about similes, analogies, and metaphors.


                                              


Happy Teaching!

Book Study: Manipulatives, Experiments, and More!

Hi, Teaching Friends!

I'm back on track with the Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites book study. Talking about the material in our current chapter is just preaching to the choir! In the primary grades, our days are (hopefully!) filled with "Manipulatives, Experiments, Labs, and Models".

Every chapter in this book has a set of "Theoretical Framework" quotes. Here's my favorite from this chapter. It says it all. There is no downside to having students learn by touching, feeling, modeling, and getting real with the real stuff!.

A few years ago, a district I was teaching in was gifted, blessed, granted or let's-be-honest, burdened with a new science series. Science materials for the lower grades had previously been sparse and dated. But this new series, well, we were going to love this one, we were told. [Have you ever been told something like that? Be suspicious. Be very suspicious.]  The materials we received were extensive. Written materials, that is. Multiple kinds of workbooks with not enough space for first graders to write their answers. Huge hardcover text books with several hundred pages in them. It took forever for some of my students to find the right page and then if they let go of the book for a second it would flip shut. The books were too big and too expensive to leave in their desks, so we stacked them on the windowsill. When we wanted to use them, no student was strong enough to lift more than two or three books, so passing them out became yet another procedure. To their credit, the books were very pretty - wonderful pictures. There was virtually nothing hands on for us to use.  Wow, let's get excited about science, right?  So sad. By the way, the entire series and all of its burdensome components have since been resold to the publisher. Whew. But what a waste of time and money.

Sorry to rant, but that experience was a perfect picture of what learning in a primary grade classroom shouldn't look like! There's a time and place for texts, and written responses and evaluations, and very definitely for read-alouds and curriculum-based craftivities. But keeping The Real Thing first and foremost is the strongest route to creating learning that lasts.

So, gleaned from Pinterest, here's a mini-album of what hands-on science learning might look like in your classroom this spring. Some of these are projects that have been around a long time, but consider that may seem been-there-done-that to us is often something that your little learners have not yet experienced, but will always remember. I've focused on plants because so many of us teach about them in the spring. I'm taking the route of The Lazy Linker on this post ... you'll find all of these ideas on my First Grade Science board.

Just for fun, plant in unusual containers, like this ice cream cone. Other ideas for fun and economical planters: empty egg shell halves (plant with grass seeds and send home at Easter), empty egg carton sections, empty Keurig cups (also a good starter for a discussion of recycling!), or an old CD case. This is also super easy for kids to carry home, unlike plants in cups, which I fear often end up upside down on the floors of school buses. :(

Or, just put the dampened seeds in a plastic bag and tape them to your classroom window. This teacher used beans, which is a great choice because of their fast growth.

Create little greenhouses for your plants. The beads of water that will form on the walls of the cup will introduce the topic of the water cycle.

Fruit and veggie scraps will often re-root ... no extra costs for you! This post has some ideas about pineapples, avocados, and green onions...

... and here's more, this time using carrots, sweet potatoes, and a few others. Planting in water is a great way for students to observe root growth.

Observing root growth is a great segue to learning about capillary action. I've done this experiment with celery, daisies, and chrysanthemums, but how cool this is with cabbage leaves! The "wow" factor is right there your face, and it's the kind of learning that keeps students begging for more.

In all of these mini-experiments and projects, the students are right in there doing the work ... and when they're the ones doing the work, they're also the ones doing the learning!


I hope that you've found something here to inspire you to keep your teaching fresh and interesting with manipulatives, experiments, labs, and models. Thanks for stopping by! This chapter of the book study is being hosted by Mrs. Jump's Class. Head over there to read what Deanna has to say, and to link up to lots of other bloggers who are also sharing their thoughts!



                                    


Happy Teaching!

Book Study Bliss: Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites

Hi, Teaching Friends!

Have you noticed lately how many teacher bloggers are admitting to being nerdy? Even the ones who you know really aren't? ;)


Here's my nerdy confession: I am somewhat of a geek for professional books. I love to read them, and I tend to keep them forever. I've always wanted to be part of a book study but couldn't get anyone else interested. The one time we had a book study at school, it fizzled like a wet firecracker after the first few chapters.


So I am Very Excited  to be embarking on a study led by a terrific group of bloggers who also like to talk books and teaching. I even love the title of this one, Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites.

 

Boo to the trend toward worksheets that seems to be rearing its head again. {it's that old swinging pendulum thing...}  I know that active teaching is physically demanding and handing out worksheets isn't.  I know that probably every teacher has had moments of wishing her classroom was at least a little bit quieter at times. { True confession: I may have occasionally let Writing Workshop or silent reading time run beyond the scheduled time because they tend to be the quieter times of the day! Wild and crazy, huh? } 

And I also know that some districts/administrators require some sort of written accountability piece from each student for everything you teach. Seriously, people, in K/1??? Does your school require this?

All that being said, we all know that both the research and our own classroom experience show that the best, long-lasting learning is active, not passive. That's why I'm kind of uneasy about the appearance of  all these no-prep resources. Some of them are games, or surveys, or "semi-active" learning that at least includes interaction and conversation. But in my opinion far too many of those new resources are just plain old worksheets fancied up with cute clipart, but worksheets nonetheless. I don't think that's the best use of our students' learning time.  A little bit of paper and pencil here and there is one thing, but too much of it takes the fun and excitement out of learning.

That's the underlying premise of this book. But the great thing is that the author, Marcia Tate, goes beyond the research to the reality, with very specific suggestions for including active learning throughout your day, regardless of what you teach.

Chapter One focuses on the importance of conversation. That's where I found my *aha!* connection: Think-Pair-Share! It's one of my favorite strategies to keep children actively listening and processing information. When my students come to the rug, they sit with a "Rug Buddy", a partner that changes every week or two. Students expect there to be times when they will "turn and talk" to their buddy, in response to whatever I'm reading ( "How does this character feel? How do you know?", "What do you predict will happen next?", etc.) or teaching ("Explain to your partner how you would add these three numbers", etc.).  This expectation keeps them listening, and the pause to review consolidates their learning. 

The twist to my use of the Think-Pair-Share strategy was the last step. Sometimes, I'd ask a student to share what his or her partner had said in their conversation. Voila! It's an easy way to provide multiple opportunities to talk, listen, interpret, process... and understand and remember! And most of the time that learning is going on, the teacher's mouth is closed and the kids are doing the talking.

I love that so many bloggers will be sharing their reactions to this book!  The linky today is being hosted by Elizabeth at Kickin' It in Kindergarten.  Visit to find new ideas for keeping the dendrites growing in your classroom!

Happy Teaching!