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This lesson has the opportunity to build community in the classroom. Students share something personal with their fellow learners and the teacher. Involves both reading and writing and diversity and could be a great lesson to start the beginning of the year with.

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Today I'm sharing one of my favourite tasks for building community in the classroom. Students are able to share an important aspect of themselves (the story of their name) with the class and with me, their teacher. Through this task we are also working on important skills, like reading comprehension, writing, and reflection.

To begin, I asked my students to write any name they wish they had on a sticky note. They then placed it in a mason jar.

I read my class the story "The Name Jar" by Yansook Choi.

We stopped at several points in the story to predict, make connections, infer, and ask questions. At one point, we paused in the story so that students could journal about the name they wrote down on the sticky note earlier:
- Did they choose their own name? Or another?
- Why?
- If you chose another name, where did you hear that name before?

At the end of Day 1, students were given homework.

(Stick around to the bottom of this post for a chance to get your own copy of this sheet.)

I make it very clear, that while names all have meanings, your family may not have chosen your name for that reason. They might not know the meaning, and you can choose to look it up with your family if you wish. I also focus a lot on nicknames and your own feelings about your name. While I've never taught a student in foster care, or one who was adopted, I do think it's important to mention that this could be a touchy task in those situations, so be sure to know your students first, and modify as needed.

Students use the homework task, and the journal write from the previous day, to write "The Story of their Name". Some possible options to include are:
- who you are named after
- the meaning of your name
- a name you'd rather have
- your feelings toward your name
- nicknames you may have
- the person (or people) who chose your name
- how your name was chosen

This piece of writing is then self, peer, and teacher edited, and a "good" copy is made.

I found this excellent step-by-step self-portrait from "Art Projects for Kids". I modified the task so that instead of drawing the left or right side of their face, they would draw the top half.

Students find that folding their page into quadrants as she suggests is very helpful. Under the document camera I demonstrate each step, and students copy, adapting to their own facial features. Each student gets a mirror to look in to help them personalize.

The final pieces are put on a bulletin board for display. Students also coloured in a bubble letter version of their names to complete the display. (I used the font KG Red Hands Outline for this.)

Once we've completed the task, the last job is to reflect on our work. I pulled some elements from our Arts Education curriculum (very relevant regardless of where you teach) for students to self-assess on. I've used the proficiency scale language our school has moved to for all reporting.

A few students found it helpful to complete their reflection while looking at the finished product on their bulletin board, but most didn't need this.

Want a copy of both my homework and reflection pages? Follow the image or button below to grab your copy.

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Today I'm sharing one of my favourite tasks for building community in the classroom. Students are able to share an important aspect of themselves (the story of their name) with the class and with me, their teacher. Through this task we are also working on important skills, like reading comprehension, writing, and reflection.

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Combines mental health education with media literacy. Students will be in groups and learn one specific topic about mental illness. They will conduct research and then apply media literacy components to create a presentation and share with their classmates.

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Students are to create their ideal city with the given materials. they must keep in mind the prompts made by teacher. "How would your community change if the population grew?"

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TikTok --> Somebody, Wanted, But, Then. Teaching students how to add important/key information when summarizing by using the prompts.

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Shows students how to do proper research. Game where learners have to be able to spot 'fake news' to win.

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Create your own (fake) news empire by playing Fake It To Make It, a simulation-style, social-impact game about how fake news is created and distributed for a profit.

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This podcast is about the proper way to incorporate teaching poetry in the classroom. Teachers should focus more on the oral literacy strand when teaching poetry, as it is a performance rather than something that students should be reading.

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‎The Joys of Teaching Literature: Video Poems to Watch in Class: Performance and Poetry Film on Apple Podcasts

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‎Show The Joys of Teaching Literature, Ep Video Poems to Watch in Class: Performance and Poetry Film - Sept 9, 2022

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How to create an interactive Bitmoji classroom. Could be helpful for online learning, or you can teach your students to navigate this as well!

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How to Create a Bitmoji Virtual Classroom Using Google Slides

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Prompts students for proper narrative writing or writing reflections on books. Characters, setting, problem, solution.

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Explore - Find your favourite videos on TikTok

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Discover the latest TikTok videos on our Explore page. Stay up-to-date on the latest trends and explore your interests here!

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Students explore the world of blogging. gain important skills to become educated consumers of this online data piece. Informative writing tool or media literacy.

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Writing Lesson: Better Blogs | Education World

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Kids in grades 7-12 gain information literacy skills, practice persuasive writing and become educated consumers of this digital medium.

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Using specific letter sounds, students will need to make multiple words out of the prompted phonic. Most useful for younger grades.

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Teacher ✨ The Young Educator on Instagram: "PHOGGLE FREEBIE 🌈😍 FREE COPY BELOW ⏬

🙌🏻 I wanted to add an extra FUN and ENGAGING phonics activity for my kiddos to practise manipulating sounds to create words! (YAS purposeful fast finisher activity!) 

🌈 I will swap in and out graphemes as we learn them!

Want a FREE copy? 🥰
💜Follow me @theyoungeducator 
⬇️ Tag a friend below
✈️ Share this post in your stories and tag me! (Send me a screenshot of your stories if you’re a private account 🥰)

#phonics #daily5 #literacyideas #phonemicawareness #readingstrategies #teacherlife #classroomdecor #classroomdisplay #elementaryteacher #aussieteachers #iteachtoo #iteachfirst #beginningteacher #graduateteacher #teacherspayteachers #teachersfollowteachers"

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1,561 likes, 479 comments - theyoungeducator on June 20, 2022: "PHOGGLE FREEBIE 🌈😍 FREE COPY BELOW ⏬

🙌🏻 I wanted to add an extra FUN and ENGAGING phonics activity for my kiddos to practi...". 

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Teacher ✨ The Young Educator (@theyoungeducator)

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Single point rubric maker

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Presentation Session Student - Pear Deck

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Pear Deck is on a mission to help teachers create powerful learning moments for every student, every day — using the tools you already know and love.

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Critical thinking about themselves as people, along with their classroom. Builds classroom community while also learning about empathy.

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Recognize and understand the multiple dimensions and complexity of identity. Use this mini-lesson to learn how to challenge and avoid stereotypes and identity-based bias.

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Fun, interactive way to work on student vocabulary. Students must finish all sections of the 'game' to break out of the escape room.

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Breakout EDU - Educational Games for the Classroom

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Breakout EDU gamifies learning to create an engaging and empowering experience for students of all grade levels.

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Using the abbreviation "CUPS" learn how to edit work, and what to look for when writing.

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@rockinresources
Writing Tip ✍️ #teachingtips #teachingwriting #lessonplans #classroomideas #teachersoftiktok #teacher #tiktokteacher #tiktoktaughtme #writersworkshop #interactivenotebooks #elementaryschool
♬ original sound - Rockin Resources

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Students create their own persuasive ads using a 3D cereal box. Students can examine other ;real' cereal boxes and then come up with a theme and message for their own.

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CEREAL BOX BOOK REPORTS! #teachingideas #bookreport #elementaryreaders #elementaryschool #teachertok 

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@rockinresources
CEREAL BOX BOOK REPORTS! #teachingideas #bookreport #elementaryreaders #elementaryschool #teachertok
♬ original sound - Rockin Resources

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Use these prompts to guide higher level readers into thinking critically about the story.

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I really love to teach guided reading groups. It is always interesting and you really get to see how every student is unique in how they learn and process all the information. I like to see them make progress and move up reading levels and also REALLY comprehend what they are reading on another level. Amazing.

I know many teachers may have struggled with this question before like I have...What do I do with those high readers? In second grade they are just not quite ready to start literature circles, but the daily small group guided reading is too slow and boring for them.

I try to do something in between. I still want to meet with them to make sure we aren't missing an important piece of their reading instruction, but I also want them to become independent and really connect with their reading.

Here are a few ideas that I have used for those readers that are really ready to move beyond the small group guided reading.

I create a reading passport for these students. We put their picture on the front. Every time they finish a book, they add the title to their passport. In the passport, they can keep track of how many fiction and nonfiction books they read. This passport can be used for all levels!

I meet with the group to introduce their book and have the discussions about predictions, unusual vocabulary, and any connections we might have. Then they go on their own to read as a group to the assigned chapter and complete a portion of their Book Club Notes. We always discuss ahead of time what the expectation is and what portion of the notes I will be looking for at our next meeting. They love the independence and take this very seriously!

I also like to provide something more for some of my other groups that are working above level, but not ready for this much independence. I just continue with our regular guided reading groups, but have them use a small bookmark to add their thinking and summarizing. I have a fiction or nonficiton bookmark. I add this to their book bag and they complete a portion at a time and bring it back to group for our discussions.

Sometimes I need a few reminders about asking those higher order thinking questions...for all my groups! I like to keep this list of question starters in my guided reading binder to help me remember to push them to think about their thinking!

I can't wait to really get to work in my guided reading groups!

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Guided Reading...for those high readers!

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I really love to teach guided reading groups. It is always interesting and you really get to see how every student is unique in how they le...

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Let student's spin the wheel to prompt their guided reading questions. This can be used for individual novel study check-ins.

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