Friday, August 24, 2012

Beginning of Year for New Teachers

Tips on starting out the new year for new teachers who are getting  Back to School can be applied to the Primary and Junior grades as well. For example, the tip on standing at the door and greeting each student as they enter the classroom can be applied to any grade. You will find more Tips for the First Day from "Cybrary Man."

The Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum for Math is very comprehensive and divided by strand so it is easy to access if you don't have the printed copy. In fact the Full Day and the Extended Day Program for Kindergarten are listed with the Ministry of Education as a draft now.

Good luck to my fellow new teachers!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

First Day of School is fast Approaching!

I know teachers are wondering about their first day of school this year and are trying to come up with some new ideas to break the ice with their new classroom of students. I just read about a terrific idea from Mrs. Ratzel about how to get to know you and math by the numbers. Or there's a 'get to know me' by the numbers. For example, you would pick a number and give 4 possible answers that best describe that number with relation to your interests. Then the students must guess which answer is correct. Amber Caldwell explains this in greater detail.

Another great idea would be to create an Acrostic poem using the students' letters of their name. The object of this would be for the students to use descriptive words to best describe their likes/personality/hobbies. For example Mrs. Plumb > P is for Purple because that is my favourite colour...and so on- or more currently P is for Prince Harry who is one of my most liked royals; or P is for Phelps as in Michael Phelps the Olympian who won the most medals in the 2012 Summer Olympics.

A group activity would be a great starting activity. For example the students could work in groups to create a mural drawing. Another group idea in creating a mural is for each student to write using any font or shape/colour like graffitti writing to describe their favourite summer activities. Then each group would present it. Anyone else have any more ideas?