December Teacher Talk

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

It's December and time for our holiday version of Teacher Talk. Getting ready for the holiday festivities or just looking for some great ideas. You don't want to miss what these creative educators are doing this month.

If you're interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies and/or our blog linky, sign up here....The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative. If you decide to join, be sure to mention one of our names.

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Connect Kids to the Real World with PBL

By Retta London of Rainbow City Learning

What if you could connect your units of learning to current events without missing a beat with meeting the standards? Find a way to accomplish this here!

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Qi Gong and Emotional Well Being
By Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

This past summer, I developed a love of Qi Gong which is a mind-body-spiritual practice that enhances our mental and physical well being by integrating posture, movement, correct breathing, self-massage, sound, and deep focus

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Beware of Creating Sweeping Generalizations

By Charlene Tess of Charlene Tess

Be careful not to say way more than you meant to say when comparing adjectives and adverbs.

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Recycle Drinking Straws Into Christmas CreationsBy Margo Gentile of Margo Gentile

Make a beautiful Christmas tree plaque using only drinking straws and paper! Teachers and students will enjoy making these and giving them as gifts. Learning happens incidentally-lots of math, "engineering", and language skills involved.
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An Ideal Gift
By Gini Musmanno of Reading Spotlight

It costs not a penny! It's so easy, and it fills everyone (teacher included) with genial feelings! Perfect at this time of year, or anytime! Give this gift to your students.
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Finding Success With a Challenging Class
By Marcy Howe of It's a Teacher Thing

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My Favorite Teaching Things
By Michelle Webb of Teaching Ideas For Those Who Love Teaching

My favorite things to use in my classroom.  Simple tools to make a teacher's life easier.  Pleasures perfect for teachers classroom gifts. 
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From a Wanna Be Organizer
By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

Okay, I admit it. . . I'm a wanna-be organizer. I'm envious of those classrooms (and homes!) that never have piles. Here are some tried & true tips for what has helped me (attempt to) tame the chaos.

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Please check out the tips from all the members in this link-up. You'll find 
some fab ideas.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sound Reference Desk Charts

By: Laurie Fyke @ Primarily Learning

Preschool – Grade 2

Available in Print Letters

 or Sassoon Font

These 4 Phonic Sound Reference Charts provide a visual reference to connect letters and sounds... following the same sequence as programs like Jolly Phonics. It's a comprehensive phonics resource for both staff and students! Unsure of the sound or alternate spelling? Just check out the graphic for the phonetic clue. 

1.  The Transparent Alphabet Chart 

·       Once these sounds have been taught, the child is able to hear and say the sounds to blend (read), and segment (write) words.   The sounds have been presented in the same order as programs like Jolly Phonics.

                                                                           

2.  Alphabetical Order … A B C…  Beginning, Middle, and Ending SOUNDS … (short vowel sounds)

·       Children often learn the Alphabet Song at an early age… saying the letter names... not the sounds those letters represent. Initially, the sounds are more important than the letter names.  This chart provides the alphabetical sequence of letters and the sounds they represent with a visual reference. (short vowel sounds) 

·       A beginning, middle and ending reference for each sound has been provided.  The children will notice that some sounds are not used at the end of a word. 

3.  Long Vowel Sounds, Digraphs and Alternate Spellings

·       The long vowel sounds are digraphs!  The opaque alphabet is more complicated as seen by the alternate spellings provided for each sound.

·       Beginning, middle and ending spellings are for provided for /ch/, /sh/ and /th/. 

4.  More Spellings

·       The English language is a very complicated language to spell because it is comprised of so many other languages.  We have a variety of additional spellings to familiar sounds.  These sounds need to be taught and learned through repetition… as the child learns to read and write the new sounds.

These Charts are an excellent resource for:

§  Students,

§  Reading Specialists,

§  Title 1 Teachers,

§  Special Education Classes,

§  Classroom Teachers

§  and Parents.

Have fun learning!

Laurie @

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You might like: 

Sound Books	SASSOON Font
FREE! Assessment – phoneme/grapheme	SASSOON Font
FREE! Letter Sounds mp3	SASSOON Font

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December Teacher Talk

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

It's December and time for our holiday version of Teacher Talk. Getting ready for Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza and New Years, or just looking for some great ideas. You don't want to miss what these creative educators are doing this month.

If you're interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies and/or our blog linky, sign up here....The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative. If you decide to join, be sure to mention one of our names.
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The Quiltmaker's Gift: Anticipation, Generosity, Reading Lesson Ideas & A Freebie!
By Tracy Willis of Wild Child Designs

In this post, I use a picture book, "The Quiltmaker's Gift" to unpack our thinking about protagonists, antagonists, theme, conflict and persuasive talk and writing. This includes an idea for a motivating Generosity Challenge, too.
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Holiday Musings
By Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

For some of us, this is a joyful time, but there are many who are alone, and unhappy.  Some have no money to buy gifts and others are out in the cold with no homes.  It breaks my heart realizing that some people feel alienated from their families which can lead to depression and in extreme cases, suicide. Our kiddos aren’t immune, they see what’s going on and may not know how to deal.  
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The Great Homework Debate Comes Home
By Retta London of Rainbow City Learning

Thoughts on the place homework has in real life. What makes homework authentic and a part of lifelong learning?
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Hour of Code is coming: My top 5 web sites/apps!
By Lisa Robles of LisaTeachR's Classroom

My top five programs/apps for coding!
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Identifying Learning Disabilities in English Learners
By Rebecca Olsen of 2livNearn

Distinguishing between the second language acquisition process and a learning disability can be tough, even for seasoned professionals. But it’s not impossible to tease apart the two in order to make appropriate educational decisions for students. Click to find out more!  
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How Many Ways Can I Use This Toy?
By Susan Berkowitz of Susan Berkowitz

If you're gearing up for holiday gift giving, here are some tips for ways to build language through play.
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Wiggly Kids: 5 Easy Ways to Improve Thinking & Remembering! 
By Thia Triggs of Print Path

Researchers have found evidence for the use of movement tools, but there are some children with whom these tools have the opposite effect.
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Geology Rocks!
By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

Teaching Next Generation Science Standards is easy with the help of theater arts! Students explore the various aspects of earth science while reading, speaking, singing, and dancing about the concepts!
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Bring History To Life With Informational Texts
By Michelle Webb of Teaching Ideas For Those Who Love Teaching

Tips on how to use more informational texts with your students.
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Click on these links and they'll take you to each post. They're all part of our December Link Up....

An InLinkz Link-up