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3 Things to Know about English Language Learners a Guest Post by Pearl Hong

Studies are showing that at least 10% of our classrooms in the United States consist of

English Language Learners (ELL) with 75% of these students being immigrants. Having

strategies to combat the language barrier may be helpful, but in order to be an effective

teacher to ELLs — understanding their background is necessary. Here are 3 things you’ll

want to know about your ELL students:

First. ELLs have emotional needs.

Imagine a time you’ve been placed in a setting where you’re completely clueless. The

smell, the sounds and noises surrounding you are all…foreign. For some, it may have

been a childhood experience of moving. Or some, it may have been an experience to a

different country. These are all feelings that could temporarily “freeze” the students

capability of speaking or understanding. Acknowledging that nerves, fear,

embarrassment are just a few of the obstacles your student is experiencing will help you

better determine instructional skills that will allow them to feel more comfortable. As a

result, the more comfortable your students feel, the more their performance and

participation level will rise.

Second. SIMPLE is key.

Whatever instruction you choose to use, KEEP IT SIMPLE. Their sense to see or hear

clearly might be held back due to the heightened nerves they may be experiencing.

Avoid using distracting font, clipart and unorganized structure in your materials. Even

when you think that one extra clipart is necessary, it may be the one thing that distracts

your student from understanding the content. Try using larger, clean font. SIMPLE is

key.

Third. Place yourself in your student’s shoes.

When I was working for a language company, we were provided subsidized lessons to

learn the local language. Taking those lessons was exactly what I needed to better

understand what my students go through everyday. Not saying you should take on a

whole new language, but maybe even something as little as using a language-learning

app, reading something in your second language (if you’re bilingual) or even watching a

video clip or movie in a different language with only English subtitles may be the one

thing you need to connect with your students’ needs. Trust me, this will help you grow

so much as a teacher to experience this first hand. Your ideas for better instruction,

creating lesson materials, seating ideas and so on will start overflowing once you get a

small grasp of what it’s like to have to learn and communicate in a second language.

About Me

Pearl Hong

-9+ years experience working with ELLs overseas and in the US

-Taught ESL to students from 10+ countries

-M.Ed in Teaching & Learning, 2016

IG: lets.talk.ell | TPT: Let’s Talk ELL | Blog: www.letstalkell.blogspot.com

Tips to Be a More Productive Planner for a Smooth Week of Teaching

Teaching is such a rewarding profession when you see the difference you’re making in a child’s life but it’s also a challenging job because there is so much that goes into being a teacher. Do you feel like there are never enough hours in the day? I do. Do you feel like your on a hamster wheel trying to keep up with everything we need to do throughout the school year? Yeah, me too. These are some tips I’ve found helpful in being a productive planner so I don’t have to take tons of work home or spend all of my Sunday (or weekend) planning the week.

Tips to Be a More Productive Planner for a Smooth Week of Teaching

Plan During Preps

As much as I’d love to go into the staff room or see which of my teacher friends also have preps so I can chat with them, I try to always utilize my prep periods to get as much planning done as I can. This is often challenging because my preps are only 30 minutes which isn’t much time once I use the restroom and fill up my water bottle. That’s why I try to plan one subject at a time and make lists for things I can’t do in that sitting.

Start Planning on Wednesday for the Next Week

I also try to start planning for the next week by Wednesday (sometimes even Tuesday). This may sound crazy but this gives me enough time to get all my materials ready, papers copied and anything prepped that I’ll need.

Use Lists

Write out a list of everything you need to do (like make anchor charts or find a hands on activity) and a list of all the materials you need to get out. I even categorize my lists by subject! That way I can make sure everything is taken care of for each part of our day.

Get Any Needed Materials Ready

I’m super fortunate to have a full-time assistant teacher that can help me prep materials and make copies so I utilize her to the max. I get all my worksheets or copies I need ready so she can copy. Then, I organize them by what day I’ll need them. Behind my desk, I have a file box that holds each day’s copies. I also pull out any physical materials I’ll need like our big book, math manipulatives and any tools for a science experiment. All of these materials have specific spots in my classroom so when I need them, they’re waiting for me!

Check Files, Look at Last Year’s Planner, Search TpT

I love when I can look through my file and pull something that worked well the previous year. It makes it so easy to plan for the subject! For some lessons, I even try to write a sticky note telling myself what went well or what to change so when I pull it out the next year, I know how to adjust! I highly recommend using some kind of filing system for language arts, math and seasonal things.

It’s also helpful to check my planner from the previous year to see what time of year I planned certain units, projects or event special activities. I look to my previous planner for things like how long I’ll need for an activity for the 100th day of school or how many weeks my hatching chicks unit is.

When planning lessons, I always try to search TpT to find ways to give my lessons a little extra umph! Why reinvent the wheel, right? Using another teacher-author’s creation saves me time in making my own.

How do you make the most of your time so you can productively plan your teaching week? Share below!

Technology Programs You Must Try in Your Classroom

Hi! My name is Bailee May. You may know me as TalkTechyToMe from Instagram or Teachers Pay Teachers. This is my second year of teaching, and I have been teaching in the third grade. I absolutely love integrating technology into the classroom, hence my Teachers Pay Teachers and Instagram name. If you are willing and wanting to integrate more technology into your classroom my biggest advice for you is DON’T BE AFRAID. Integrating technology may be intimidating and scary at first, but as soon as you try it I promise it will be a game changer in the classroom. I am here today guest posting on One Kreative Kindergarten’s blog to share with you a few technology tips you can try in your classroom.

Epic! – The Online Digital Library

This resource is free for educators, and it allows access to over 25,000 of the best books, learning videos, and so much more. This has been one of the biggest game changers in my classroom. Just think about it Epic! + any device = students reading more books. When students have access to this resource at their fingertips, they thrive on reading books. The books on Epic! come with reading levels. You can create folders with grade level appropriate books for your students. This helps eliminate students from reading books out of their reading level.

One of my favorite things about Epic! is that they have audio and read to me books for our struggling readers. The read to me books highlight the words as they are being read aloud that way students can follow along word for word. The audio books are read aloud books but on the website, which allows students to make mental pictures as they listen. I can go on and on about this amazing resource. I am not being sponsored for this post; I genuinely think this resource is amazing! If you haven’t used it yet, go try it! The website to this resource is www.getepic.com. Here are a few of my students actively engaged reading books on Epic!.

Prodigy – Curriculum-Aligned Math Game

This resource is free for educators and has content from all major math topics. This resource is for Grades 1-8 and it is a great tool to use to help prepare students for any state test. When creating assignments on Prodigy you can relate it to one or more specific standards, and there will be questions generated based on the standard(s) you picked. You can see each student’s progress for the standards on the assignment. I use this website as enrichment for my students, or when I have those early finishers on a math activity. There are many ways to use this resource in your classroom. I have many students who go home and play this game. I absolutely love how engaged and excited they get about math. The website to this resource is www.prodigygame.com. Here are a few pictures of my students playing Prodigy.

Plickers

These cards are perfect for almost anything. They can be used for quick checks, exit tickets, or in my classroom, as lunch count. I use Plickers every morning to take lunch count because it made it easier. My school has to have my lunch list in alphabetical order and by lunch choice. Plickers made the ABC order work with ease. All I had to do is assign each numbered card to a student, then I use the app to scan cards and instantly it tells me what each student chose.

I use them also for exit tickets. It is awesome is that each card is designed differently that way there are no students who are tempted to peek at their neighbor. In the picture below I shrunk the Plicker cards by 75% so that they would fit in the Target adhesive labels. These cards are a simple and easy tool to use in the classroom for whatever fits your class best. The website for this resource is www.plickers.com.

Since I use a lot of technology in the classroom, I have had to make strict rules for my students to follow that way we can use it appropriately and more often. Here is a set of rules that I put on my classroom Chromebook cart. These have been helpful and good reminders for my students. The rules can be found in my TpT store.

There are so many technology tools I use in the classroom, and these are a few of my favorites! If you want to learn more about the different tools I use in my classroom, be sure to follow me on Instagram. I currently do not have a blog, but I am working on creating one. Being a guest on Danielle’s blog has me really excited to create one. I hope you guys have learned something new to use in your classroom. Remember DO NOT BE AFRAID! You never know what technology tool may suit your classroom the best. Just go for it!

4 Strategies You Need to Take to Reach Your Goals in the New Year

I love the beginning of a new year because it’s full of promise as you reflect on the past year and think of where you want to grow in the future. If you’re like me, you start thinking of goals as soon as Christmas is over (I know, crazy right?). I admit I have a problem not working or thinking of what comes next.

When the holiday is over, I start to feel refreshed and recharged, ready to get the new year started! The first thing I do when I sit down to write my goals for the year is take out my goals from last year. I like to reflect on where I was a year ago and what I envision for the next year of my life. I find that most of my goals are similar only need a little tweaking for more growth. I’ve found there are 4 strategies to take to make sure you reach your goals in the new year.

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash

1. Be realistic. You can do anything but not everything.

When thinking about what you want to accomplish, be real with yourself and start small. It’s more motivational when you reach a smaller goal and can add to it for more growth. For example, if you want to exercise more but don’t exercise much now, instead of saying you’ll work out 5 times a week start with 2 or 3. By being successful at a smaller goal, you’ll feel more encouraged to then up your workouts to 5 times a week.

Also, be realistic with how much you can accomplish. You know your time commitments and know how much you can handle without getting overwhelmed and burnt out. If you overload too many goals, you could wind up not accomplishing anything.

2. Break your long-term goals up into short-term goals.

It’s good to have long-term goals for where you want to end up in the future that can’t possibly be accomplished in a day, week or even a month. These goals need to be broken up into mini or short year goals kind of like stepping-stones to accomplish that big long-term goal. It’s important to write the little goals down as a guide to how you will accomplish that large goal.

For example, you may want to start a teacher blog but have no clue about blogging. (This was me a year ago.) The end goal would be to have a teacher blog and short-term goals to achieve this might be taking a blogging course, planning out your blog posts on a calendar and writing a little something every day. Having concrete little goals makes the long-term goal less scary and more attainable.

3. Check in with yourself.

It’s beneficial to check in with yourself and revisit your goals. I must admit that I need to get better at this. (Maybe this can be a goal for me this year!) When you check in, you remind yourself what you’re working toward and the steps you need to take to get there. This holds you accountable throughout the year instead of writing down goals on January 1st and forgetting about them until the end of the year when it’s time to write new goals.

4. Let your goals be fluid.

When you check in with yourself, you can change your goals as they need to be changed. I believe that goals are meant to be fluid. If something isn’t working for you, change it! If you need to challenge yourself more, do it! This is your life and what you want out of it, make it your best year yet!

Have you thought about what your goals will be for the new year? Sign up for my newsletter and receive a template to help you organize and accomplish your goals!

#StopTeacherGuilt: How to Relax While You’re on Break

If you’re like me you’re always thinking of the next thing to do and never slow down (even on breaks). I often think of breaks as a perfect time to get more done and once break is over I don’t feel as rested as I should. Three inspirational teachers, Kelsey, Shana, and Jenna have started a movement called #stopteacherguilt. This movement is about teachers making time for things that are important in their lives and not feeling guilty if they’re not constantly planning or working on things for the classroom. With winter break around the corner, I’ve created a list of how to relax while you’re on break and to #stopteacherguilt when you’re resting and recharging.

#StopTeacherGuilt: How to Rest and Recharge during Break

Photo by Michał Grosicki on Unsplash

1. Make a List

Create a list of things you don’t have time for during the regular school year. Some of the things on my list are:

Move into/settle into my new house
Play with and train my new puppy
Read a book
Learn hand lettering
Bake Christmas goodies with my family
Watch Christmas Hallmark movies

Other Ideas:

Binge watch a show
Try a new recipe
Complete a DIY project

2. Make a Promise to Yourself

Make a promise to do one of the things on your list each day (even if it’s just to rest!) Here’s the important thing about this promise: don’t think of any teaching responsibilities, #stopteacherguilt!

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

3. Put Your Computer Down

I know, I know that’s not always possible and if creating a new product or starting a teacher blog is on your List of Things You Don’t Have Time For During School Time then allow yourself to use it, but only if it’s making your heart happy! Try, try, try not to check your school email. Parents’ needs can wait while you’re enjoying your well deserved time off. I have my school email on my phone (I know, total mistake right?) but I try not to check my messages until the day before we go back from break.

4. Leave Your Planner at School

Now, this might not be realistic and I will admit that I do take time to plan over breaks but if you can, leave it at school. If you can’t, only dedicate one day to planning and then put it away for the rest of your break. I like to enjoy the first part of my break, mostly because I am usually so burnt out and ready for a recharge that I can’t even think about planning until after I’ve given myself a break. This year, I’m going to try my hardest to plan before so I don’t have to work at all!

5. Make Time for You and Enjoy Your Break!

Join this wonderful #StopTeacherGuilt movement! What will you do to make sure you rest and recharge over break? Comment below!

Why You Should be Differentiating in Your Classroom

Differentiated instruction is such an important aspect of a successful classroom. In any grade, there is always a range of students’ capabilities. Some students flourish in some areas and need support during others. Some students need hand-holding throughout all subjects and others need a challenge. Differentiation can give students the extra support or challenge they need to never stop learning and never give up.

Differentiation: An Overview

By definition, differentiation is the “development from the one to the many, the simple to the complex” – Merriam Webster dictionary.

When teachers differentiate instruction, they tailor the lesson to the students’ needs by taking a concept they want their students to learn and providing support to lower students or a challenge to higher students.

Helping your Struggling Students

Your struggling students benefit a ton when you differentiate instruction because they are the ones who need extra help. They’re the kids who seem to be lost, don’t know the instructions, or guess to try to get by. There’s nothing wrong with this type of student, they just need you to hand-hold a little more.

How to help your lower students

Model more than you would for the average student
Do more examples together
Work in a small group (with students at a similar level)
Take the content and make it simpler
Make it hands on

Challenging your High Students

Your high students can greatly benefit from differentiating instruction because they need a challenge to continue to grow. These are the kids who are raising their hands, know what to do before you tell them and could easily get bored because they already know everything you’re going to say. These kiddos need a push to reach a higher level.

How to challenge your high students

Give higher level thinking assignments
Talk less, model less, give less examples – set them free to work on their own
Work in a small group (with students at a similar level)
Let them be helpers to students who have trouble – sometimes students learn more from peers
Make it hands on

When to Differentiate

Differentiating is tough, I’m not gonna lie. Taking a concept and splitting it up so it’s taught at all students’ levels seems like a lot of work and honestly, it is. That’s why I’ve chosen to focus on differentiating during reading and math.

My lower school team uses guided reading as a way to teach reading. I learned this teaching strategy when I got my credential so I was familiar and comfortable when I started teaching kindergarten. If you have a strong program (we use Fountas and Pinnel) and materials then it’ll be simple enough. Now, guided math is a different beast. This is my first year using guided math and I am just starting to get the hang of it. (That’ll be another post for another time.) What I’m learning this year while using a guided math is to differentiate by tweaking the curriculum program we have so I’m not making more work for myself.

Differentiating is such a magical tool that can really help students grow and flourish if you put the time in to set up a system, create the lessons and work with your kiddos in small group settings.

Do you differentiate in your classrooms? What tips would you give a beginning differentiator?

Projects: An Alternative to Homework

Calling all teachers: do you give homework? I’ve been giving weekly packets since I became a kindergarten teacher 4 year ago. I do like that while students are doing their homework, they are practicing what we’ve been learning in class and are given an opportunity to show their parents what they’ve learned or what they struggle with. However, I feel that students should be exploring the world and using their hands to learn instead of completing worksheet after worksheet. That’s why this year, I’m sending home monthly projects.

Monthly Projects

Monthly projects are given in place of one of my weekly homework packets. They are designed to reinforce certain skills or concepts we’re learning but in a hands on way and so parents get involved. After each project, students present to their classmates about what they did and what they learned. It’s so precious to see kindergarten students get excited about their learning and put on their grown up voices to share what they did with their friends.

Projects By Theme

I created these projects to go along with a theme depending on which month the project is assigned in. For example, this September, my students completed an “All About Me” project so we could get to know each other on a deeper level.

This chart shows the name of the project, theme and what content area students are working on while doing the project.

Projects and Family Involvement

What I love most about projects is that they involve my students’ families. In our “All About Me” project, parents helped their child by finding pictures of them as a baby or as a family. During the “Great Candy Investigation”, families worked with their child on different activities revolving around candy. This type of “homework” is more engaging than the typical pencil and paper work. It’s something students will remember as they grow older. They won’t remember the worksheet, they’ll remember the activity.

Resources

My Monthly Projects Resource is a growing bundle, meaning if you purchase now, you get a deal because it’s priced low and as I add more projects to the resource, the price goes up. Check out my Monthly Projects Resource here.

Or check out the Monthly Projects I’ve already created through clicking the pictures!

Do you send home projects in your classroom? What types of projects would you and your students enjoy?

Classroom Jobs: Give Students Responsibilities

My students absolutely LOVE to have responsibility. They’re always asking what they can do or if they can help, which is why I love my classroom jobs. Each week, students get a new classroom job where they can be responsible for a certain part of our class. Some jobs have a lot to do and others get little action.

Classroom Jobs for Students

Each year, I try to come up with a job for every student to do each week. I like when everyone has a job, even if the job is “substitute” or “on vacation” because it makes it easier to switch and manage the jobs. My jobs are hung on a ribbon that hangs near the front of my classroom. I clip a clothes pin with each student’s name on each of the jobs to keep track of who is responsible for what job for the week. When it’s time to switch jobs, I simply rotate the clips around the job display.

This year, my jobs include:

Board Eraser
Caboose
Calendar Monitor
Hand Sanitizer Monitor
King or Queen of the Jungle (which is our jungle equivalent to Star of the Week)
Librarian
Lights Monitor
Line Leader
Lunch Monitor
Messenger
On Vacation
Paper Passer
Place Value
Substitute
Table Wiper
Teacher’s Assistant
Weather Reporter

Items you might want for your classroom job system…

Classroom Job Specifics

I’ve organized this list into jobs that have a lot of activity (busy jobs) and jobs that are more low key (slow jobs).

Busy Classroom Jobs

Teacher’s Assistant: This person helps out whenever I need some extra help. I have them do things like turn on my SmartBoard, help the paper passer and anything else that might come up where I need to pick a student to do a special job.
Star of the Week: Self explanatory, they are the star all week! Check out my star of the week Jungle resource here.
Line Leader: Front of the line.
Caboose: Back of the line.
Hand Sanitizer: This person gives each student a small squirt of hand sanitizer before snack and lunch.

Librarian: The librarian puts books away. I have two purple bins that students put their books in when they are done with them. Each book has a sticker color that correlates with a color on a bin in the library. The librarian matches the book sticker to the bin sticker and places the book inside the bin.
Lights Monitor: Turns the lights on and off.
Paper Passer: Self-explanatory
Table Wiper: Helps wipe the tables off at the end of the day. No germs in my class!

Slow Classroom Jobs

On Vacation: This person gets to take a break for the week: no job!
Board Eraser: The board eraser gets to erase the board or SmartBoard after a lesson.
Messenger: This person delivers any messages or items to other classrooms or the office. Also, if a student needs help going to the office, they can bring them there.
Lunch Monitor: Checks to see if all lunch boxes are put away after lunch and before we go home.
Substitute (depends on if a lot of students are absent that week): This person does a job if a student is absent.

The other jobs are specific jobs to circle time so they are relatively busy since they have a job to do each morning, but their job is done once circle is over. Read about my circle time routine here.

Classroom Jobs Chart

My classroom jobs hang in a chart. Student names are on clothes pins and all I do each week is circle their names around the classroom jobs chart! Super easy to manage and everyone gets to do each job!

Resources

Check out my bright chevron classroom jobs resource here. Of if you have a jungle theme like me, check out the jungle jobs here!

What kind of jobs do you use in your classroom?

Transitioning to NGSS Science Standards: Tips and Freebies

Has your school adopted the new NGSS science standards? Mine has and this year, we are creating our own curriculum to fit with these new standards. My team has come up with ways we can best teach these standards in a fun and engaging way, without breaking the bank. We’ve combined a few different resources and come up with some of our own ideas to create a unique curriculum to teach our students.

What are the new standards?

Kindergarten topics:

Motion and Stability
Earth Systems
Energy
Weather and Climate
Living Things
Engineering Design

You can check out the all the NGSS standards through this website.

Teaching the Standards

I’ve pulled together a few resources to help in my transition to NGSS standards without spending too much money. The two main resources I’ll be using this year are Better Lesson and an interactive notebook that my team and I found on TpT.

Better Lesson – This website is amazing because it has a TON of free lessons and resources. In searching this website, I found a teacher whose lesson plans I will mainly stick with this year. Her name is Joyce Baumann and she has 10 kindergarten science units all packed with experiments and activities. Check out her page here!
Interactive Notebook – I’ll be using this interactive notebook as an additional component to the experiments and activities I found through Better Lesson. This resource is from The Barefoot Teacher and comes with 6 units that go along with the new standards.

I’m using a mix between these two resources along with some creations I’ve made to make this transition as smooth as possible. I love teaching science and I am thrilled with the change in standards!

Another free resource I will incorporate is Mystery Science. This website also has many interactive activities and experiments.

Example Unit

Check out my plans for my first unit in science! This freebie includes my overall plans, bullet points for each lesson, and interactive notebook pages that coincide with the experiments in Better Lesson.

My 5 Senses Curriculum Freebie

Other Resources

What resources do you use to teach the NGSS standards?

Give Students Responsibility: Clean Up

Do you feel like you’re constantly picking up after your students in order to keep your room tidy? Why don’t you get the students to help?! My kinder students LOVE to have responsibilities. It makes them feel like they’re adults and they love being helpful. I organize my room and supplies so students can independently keep things clean. That way, when I give them responsibilities during clean up time, they put things away to my satisfaction, eliminating the need for me to clean up after them.

Room Organization

My first tip is to spend some time in the beginning of the year showing students where things belong in your room. I set my room up in sections. I have a writing center, listening center, word work area, math area and of course a free play section. Having sections in your room make it easier for students to know what things belong where and where they can go when they need a certain material. Check out my classroom reveal to see exactly what my room looks like!

In the beginning of the year, I give a classroom tour. During my tour, I show students what they can find in each area of the classroom.

Writing Center: paper, markers, extra crayons and colored pencils and our sharp/dull bins
Listening Center: iPads, passwords, headphones
Word Work: word work center materials, extra whiteboard pens/erasers, whiteboards, magnets, cookie sheets
Math: math manipulatives, puzzles, any math centers we’re using
Free Play: toys, the kitchen, blocks, Legos, dress up etc (this center is always the toughest to keep clean)

Within each station there is a system of how students can independently keep things clean and organized without my help.

For example:

Writing Center: I have a sharp and dull bucket. Students know when they have dull pencils or colored pencils, they put them in the dull bucket. Then, students can grab a sharp pencil or colored pencil in this area.
Listening Center: Students keep their headphones in a pocket of a shoe organizer. The pocket has their name so they know exactly where their headphones belong.
Word Work, Math and Free Play: Everything in these sections are labeled with a picture of the real classroom item. This helps students know exactly what should go where and what they can expect to find in certain spots.

Storage Organization

My second tip goes along with the last bullet point: label, label, label (and with real pictures). It is especially important to label with pictures if you teach kindergarten because they likely can’t read yet.

I also try to put things in bins or boxes to make it easy to stack and fit as much as I can in a small amount of space.

Some things I have in my classroom that you might want to try for your storage organization:

(Affiliate Links)

Classroom Jobs

The last tip that has saved me lots of clean up time is to give students classroom jobs that specifically help clean up certain things.

Librarian: The librarian puts books away (pretty obvious). I organize this by color coding my library. Each category of books has a color and the librarian knows where to put each book because the label on the book bin has the same color. Once students are done reading their book, they put the book in one of two purple bins. The librarian puts the books in the purple bins away whenever they have some free time.
Scrap patrol: This person is in charge of making sure all the scraps are picked up off the floor and tables. I make sure to tell this person that they do not have to be the person cleaning but they can give friendly reminders to their classmates and help out whenever they can.
Lunch monitor: We keep our lunch boxes in two blue bins. When it’s time to clean up, the lunch monitor makes sure every student has taken their lunch box. I’ve had too many students forget their lunch box in the blue bin and it stays overnight getting very yucky and stinky.

Check out my bright, chevron themed classroom job set by clicking the picture! Or click here if you’d like a jungle theme!

These tips have helped my sanity in keeping the classroom clean but also not having to clean it all myself. Kindergarten students are very capable if you give them the right tools to be successful.

How do you keep your classrooms tidy?