I can safely say that I am back…and with a freebie!!!

Well, mid teacher summer is here and I think I can safely make a dip back into the bloggy pool.  At least the shallow end anyway.  I taught second grade this year at a different school…It was an eye opening experience to say the least but I learned as much if not more than my students did.  The one thing I learned is that kids are so much more capable than we give them credit for, they just need the right motivation.  This was most evident when I was teaching writing and constructed response answers.  One goal I had this year was to get kids writing coherent answers to short answer questions.  I hated having fourth graders come in and not be able to effectively answer a question.  So I started basic and we worked on restating the question.  Simply lifting part of the question and placing it in your answer.  Second graders stepped up let me just tell ya.  They felt so grown up when I told them “guys, fourth graders don’t even do this as well as you!!!  My strategy for teaching this was the acronym RUN.  We read the task and placed a rectangle around the do word (i.e. describe or summarize).  Then we would underline the key words in the question to place as our restated portion of the response.  Then we would put any numbering or labels in our answer and get to writing.  Click on the pic for a free copy to use in your classroom.  With repeated practice and scaffolding, even my approaching students were able to write a constructed response answer. 

And students NEED TO BE KIDS.  I tapped into that as much as possible this school year.  We did a lot of GoNoodle Indoor Recess Mix…They begged for brain breaks and Popsico! 

My students would go gaga for these and the mega mixes allowed for the boys who don’t dance, you know the ones, to get up and get at it!  Go Noodle is a resource I will use no matter what grade I teach!  It was a great school year, a humbling learning experience and I am already turning this new school year over in my mind!!!  I hope these resources get your wheels turning as well. 

Happy Independence Day!!!