Reading Eggs

I recently stumbled onto a wonderful set of apps developed by the Reading Eggs team. Don't let the name fool you though. They have also designed apps for numeracy. 

Together with their apps, you are also able to create an account on their website, and follow each childs' progress. 

The apps are really great, and the kids in my class have thoroughly enjoyed working on them - in fact they will choose these apps instead of games!! Below is just a few of the apps that I have had the opportunity to work with:

• Eggy Phonics 1: Short vowel words

Eggy phonics allows you to create as many users as you need, which is really fantastic if you only have one tablet in your classroom. It will also show you the progress of each child, therefore allowing you to see where a child is struggling, and also giving you the opportunity to help that child. 

Once you have selected the child's name, you are taken to a screen which will have two options - words or reward game,

The words game, is a graduated level game. You start on level 1, and with the word cat. Once you have completed all 6 activities, you are then given a short reward and are moved onto the next activity. 

Activity one, is a simple match the word spoken to the correct picture, after completing this level correctly you must then spell the word - this gives you both the letter name and the letter sound. After completing these activities twice, you move onto bubble words - you have to pop the bubbles to spell the word. Your final activity is writing the word. You then earn a badge, and depending on how well you have done, you are awarded a certain amount of game time - you may use your game time straight away, or save it until you have a certain amount,

Eggy phonics begins with the -at word family and moves through the different families.

• Tap the Cat

Tap the Cat has various activities, ranging from Speak and Listen to Draw and Paint.

1.     Speak and Listen

The app will show you the word, and you then need to record yourself saying the word - great for those battling with a speech impediment.

2.     Smart Quiz

Here, you need to listen to the question and then select the correct question. This I find really useful when working on auditory perception skills. It begins with questions such as; “I can moo. Who am I?” It covers animal sounds and identification , initial sounds as well as associations and colour identification.

3.     Letters

The child must find the matching letters. This activity will help the child learn both the letter name and the letter sound.

4.     Writing

After writing the word, the child is then able to save their best attempt at writing the word.

5.     Sight Words

Take the bunny home to complete this very cute activity. Get the bunny to jump to the correct word until you have eaten the green carrot.

6.     Vocabulary

Matching the word to the picture – touch the word and then select the correct picture.

7.     Time to Rhyme

This activity begins with a good description of what rhyming words are. You are then given a sentence such as; On the house I see a ______ . To complete the sentence, you will need to choose the correct rhyming word.

8.     Draw and Paint

This is a fun activity, your child can paint 6 different pictures.

Eggy Words 250 HD

This is one of the favourites in my class. This is a variety of sight words, which appear on the screen on eggs. You need to touch the correct word. You can choose different speeds and levels. This is a great activity to help with visual tracking.

Eggy Add to 20

In this app there are various games to choose from; balloons, teddy, snowboard, sheepdog, memory and fishing. You are given a sum, and then need to choose the correct answer. With this app, the activities are all very different and require different skills. Some require you to find the answer, while others require you to work out what numbers will give you the answer.

 All of these apps are available in the South African App store as well, and are R24.99 each.

What to do for Mandela Day (18/06/2014)

So Mandela day is approaching, and we have all heard about the 67 minutes of doing something good in our communities, or for those who are less fortunate. Many of our kids are currently on holiday, but that is not a reason to let them stay at home and not get them involved. And for those teachers who are working, get your class involved. 

Lets create responsible citizens who give back to their society or community. But, what should we get them to do?

Teachers:

• Start a blanket/food drive for those who have no blankets or food - particularly in this cold weather. When you have collected a certain amount, get the kids to hand over the items.
• Collect food for the local animal shelter, or blankets. They are always appreciative of any donations.
• Run a soup kitchen from your school for the day - approach a local supermarket and ask them for donations, let the kids make the soup and hand it out. Get the parents involved for this one.
• Ask the kids to collect books, and donate them to a poorer school - you could also get the kids to read a story.
• Go pick up litter outside of the school grounds.
• Take the children to an old age home or an orphanage and let them read to the elderly or abandoned. 

Moms and Dads

• Get your kids to sort through their toys and clothes and donate them.
• Spend a day at an animal shelter and offer to take the dogs for a walk, or play with the cats. If you're feeling brave, help clean out the enclosures.
• Go pick up litter around your neighbourhood.
• Take some flowers, or bake something nice to take to an old age home or an orphanage. 

I'm sure there are many more things to do, these are just a few suggestions. And as long as we keep giving back and helping others, we will be living up to the expectation of Nelson Mandela, and hopefully contributing somewhat to the legacy he left behind.

For more information go have a look at, http://www.mandeladay.com/

Why I no longer use time-out in the classroom

As teachers we have all heard how important it is to establish discipline in your classroom. And it is! However, it is also just as important to know HOW to establish a culture of discipline in your classroom.

Too much, and you will crush personalities, too little and your learners will run riot in their  classroom. So, how do we establish a balance of just enough and what types of discipline should we be using.

There are various points about discipline that we are always taught use, one of these being consistency. But, does this mean consistency for the whole class? One punishment for one crime? I disagree.

Children are unique individuals, just as adults. We all have our own belief systems and our own morals, and so do children. We want to help these children develop their personalities, and develop their morals and belief systems, and in order to achieve this we need to give them the tools to help them achieve. And, so I no longer use time-out in my classroom.

Why? Well, when you think about it, what is time-out actually achieving in a work environment? Nothing. You are allowing that child to get out of the work they are supposed to be completing, you are almost rewarding them, and saying to them, don’t worry, you can come back to this later. Some children, may purposefully look for ways to get themselves into a time out. It prolongs task completion, and the child ends up resenting you, as they still have to do the work later on.

Yet, what other methods should we be using? Well, how do you get yourself to complete a task you do not want to do? We use rewards, if I finish this task, I will let myself read some more of my book, if I quit smoking, I can save up some money to buy that really expensive gadget I want.

And now, I would like to challenge you all to use this in your classroom. When you have a child who does not want to complete a task, put a positive spin on it. If you complete your maths work, you may have 5 extra minutes of playtime, if playtime is what they enjoy. If you have a child who enjoys reading, give them extra reading time. Reward them for good and stop punishing them for the bad behaviour.

I also just want to say, that time out does have its place. In the playground and at home, but let us stop using negative punishment in the classroom and start rewarding, and providing an environment in which to reward. 

Getting parents involved in their child's education Part 1 - ECD

It is important for teachers to be involved in their class' education, but more often than not our parents take a backstep. This can be immensely frustrating! We know that children benefit more from involvement from both parties, but we don't often see this. So how can we encourage this?

• Create a question box

Create a box with very simple questions in it. Every morning parents need to look at a question in the box and discuss it with their child.

• Stay and Play Day

Have the kids create invitations to their parents, and invite them to the school for an afternoon. Not only will this encourage positive relationships between staff and teachers, but will also encourage relationships amongst parents. This may be particularly helpful for new parents. Have some organised games prepared as well...

• Guest Speakers

Most parents sometimes feel intimidated by their child's education and may not know how to get involved. Have an information session, be open with your parents or get in a guest speaker to specifically discuss learning opportunities for parents.

Lastly, develop a relationship with your parents. Take some time and get to know them, they may just need someone to chat to.

How to show parents just how important reading at home is.

I can remember being read to from a very little girl, and then I started reading myself. I have always loved books, and a good book is a great form of relaxation for me. While this is true for many of us, many children grow up without books in their house and without learning to love books. So how can we change this? And, really how important is it?!

Well to start off with, tell your parents that they only need to do it for 20 minutes a day (I'll explain this just now). Make it fun though! Most of my experiences with children who do not want to read, are simply bored and uninterested in what they are reading. Take topical topics, their favourite show, favourite celebrity and let them read about that.Use the child's interests to allow them to foster a love for reading and books.
But now, back to the 20 minutes, a child who reads for 20 minutes a day, will by the end of their sixth grade have been exposed to 1 800 000 words! That is quite incredible!

Included is an infographic that details the above.

http://www.usd343.net/vnews/display.v/ART/5060992ac7eb2?in_archive=1

So next time you have a parent complain to you about reading homework, show them this!

Turn Your Class Into A Democracy

With the elections coming up we, as teachers, have a golden opportunity to turn our classrooms into a democracy and educate our learners about what is about to happen in our country.

It's real life, it's what mom and dad are talking about and it's important to learn about. So, how do we do this?

Use what you have in your classroom. And keep it simple. Maybe even decide on some new class rules. Or the themes that you want to use during the term.

Let's take the theme option for now. Give your class an option of themes, so, dinosaurs, wild animals, pirates, insects, books, pets, our country, food, shops and transport. That's 10 quite exciting themes, but you only have 4 weeks. Draw up a voting sheet with pictures and words for each theme. Download my example here.

Let your class vote on a Friday, and use the week before to explain each theme briefly (kind of like the way political parties describe themselves). Explain to you class what confidential means, and that it's their vote, and nobody else's.

On the Friday, set up your class as a voting station. Explain the procedure (maybe even include this as a schedule). Let them queue up outside, come in (they could even have ID books that you can make - see mine here). Stamp their books, take their fingerprint, and mark their thumb. Give them their sheet and let them go into a little cubicle to place their X. And then post their ballot.

Once everyone has completed this, bring them all into the class and explain that the themes with the most votes will be the theme for the term.

Take the votes out of the box, draw a tally table on the board.. And wait to see which themes will win.  

5 Tips to get you and your your child ready for the first day back at school

The first day back at school is looming and you have either heard lots of moaning about it or lots of “I’m bored!” statements! So how do you prepare your child for the first day of school or their first day back, here are some tips:

·         Get organised

Get all of your back to school shopping done this week. As an incentive, schedule your back to school shopping trip one morning. Write out a list and for the older kids, give them a budget to work with. Tell them they need to get what is on the list but stay within their budget. Remember there are lots of sales on at the moment. Go look at Woolworths, Jet, Ackermans, Pick n Pay and Edgars for your white shirts rather than buying them from the school uniform shops. And, don’t forget to label!!

·         Get back into a routine

Start easing back into a bed time routine, so by Tuesday night there are no major tantrums about having to go back to bed early. This will also help with the breakfast routine and getting up earlier.

Also remember, times are going to be a little different at school, so find out when your child has their snack and try to reprogram their tummies.

·         Set up a homework schedule

Find a place in your house that is free from distractions and TV and set this up as the homework area. Also set up a timetable for homework. Remember, this is the work that needs to be reinforced and the teacher is checking for understanding here.

·         Lunchbox Prep

Make up a weekly program for different lunches that you can do in lunchboxes. Peanut butter sandwiches can become very boring after a while! Look out for our lunchbox plan a little later this week!

·         Create a ‘Launch Pad’

So, when homework is done, place it all back into the bag, check to make sure everything that is needed is in the bag, or the launch pad so that it is ready for the next morning!