Introducing Greek Roots – Free Packet

On Monday, I had hernia surgery.  Since this was my second hernia surgery this school year, my husband has about strapped me to the bed so that I will recover fully and not push it too hard.  With all this time in bed, I have set out to try and finish making the vocabulary packets my students will need for the rest of the year.  I have completed two new ESL Vocabulary packets: Plants and Spring Holidays.  Over the course of the year, my ESL students have done 20 different vocabulary packets, including the topics: All About Me, In the Kitchen and Careers.

Next, I set out to revamp my template for my Word Work Packets in order to begin introducing my students to Greek Roots.  Since September, my students have completed 20 different word work packets on long vowels, consonant patterns, vowel patterns and beginning/ending patterns (like prefixes and suffixes).  Now that we have covered all of the big word work topics, I would like my students to start looking at the roots that make up our words.  For my nonnative speakers, this will be a great time for them to look for cognates with common roots!  So for the next 10 weeks, my students will be looking at Greek and Latin roots that show up in our words.  We are starting out with the Greek roots: phon (sound), photo (light) and graph (write). 

I have switched up the packet a bit to allow students a day to “Analyze” their words by looking at the roots and predicting the meaning based on those roots.

Then, on the second day, the students actually “Learn” about their words and this is the day we will use pictures, definitions, videos and real world examples to increase their understanding of the words.

I have kept the third day the same – giving students a chance to sort their words based on the root.  From my experience, I have seen how important of a skill sorting words can be in helping students really recognize what is going on phonetically in a word.

The fourth day is the students’ chance to write sentences with their words.  This is the same as the second day in my Word Work packets and the third day in my ESL Vocabulary packets.

Finally, I have kept the fifth day the same as my Word Work packets, giving students a chance to view and fix misspellings of their words.  This is a very important editing skills for students to practice, as well as a preparation for many standardized tests that ask students to find the misspelled word.

Like my ESL Vocabulary packets and my Word Work packets, each of my Root Word packets has 4 levels with each level increasing in difficulty, however the Root Word packets now have 12 words per level instead of 10.  For my multiage classroom, these 4 levels allow me to provide complete differentiation so that each child receives exactly what they need, while keeping us all pretty much on the same topic or word pattern.

Since the Greek Roots 1: Phon, Photo & Graph packet is the first in the series, it is completely free, so please feel free to download it.  If you’ve never used my vocabulary packets before, I have at least 2 free packets per series.  For ESL students, you can download School Supplies and Fruits and Vegetables completely free.  For Word Work packets (which focus on spelling patterns, but are geared for both ESL and general student populations), you can download Long I and L Endings completely free.

My vocabulary packets have made a world of difference for my students in reading and writing!  I am psyched to see how the root words affect their work.

Cloud Storage Saves the Day for Teachers and Students

For two years, I was the Technology Specialist at a school in Georgia. During that time, I amassed a large collection of websites that I use with my students. You can download my E-Book of Websites for the Elementary Classroom for free from Teachers Pay Teachers or Smashwords, or, you can check back here each week for the website suggestion.

Unfortunately, my computer has had a virus, which means that my computer had to be wiped clean so that we could start from scratch.  Yuck!!!  Fortunately, I rely almost completely on cloud storage.  I do have a few items backed up on a flash drive “just in case”, but everything of importance is out there in internet la la land.  Luckily, this means that while I may have to re-install a few programs, all of my files, pictures, and data are backed up.  To celebrate my luck, I thought I would share with you my favorite types of cloud storage.  These websites can be used for your personal and teaching files, but they are also a great way to have students back up their work without having to keep students working only on one computer, or ask students to bring in flash drives.

For anyone not familiar with cloud storage, this is a way of saving your documents on a large server that you can access from any computer, anywhere, rather than on a local disc or computer hard drive.  Most cloud storage offers you some for free, and then more at a cost.  I tend to be rather cheap and choose to stay within the free range and simply diversify my files.  Here are my favorite types of cloud storage and some facts, pros and cons of each:

1.  Dropbox – Dropbox allows you to download their app to multiple computers, which means that you can save the items directly into your Dropbox folder in exactly the same way that you would save files to your desktop or to a flash drive.  If you do not have access to the computer that your Dropbox is loaded on, you can upload files directly to Dropbox utilizing their website.  Dropbox starts you out with 2 gigabytes of free space and then you can “earn” more space in a variety of ways, including tweeting about their website.  You can also purchase more space, of course.

2.  Copy –  Copy also allows you to dowload their app to multiple computers, allowing you to save the ite ms directly into your Copy folder.  You can also upload files directly to Copy utilizing their website.  Copy starts you out with 15 gigabytes of free space and then you can “earn” more space by referring your friends.  You can also purchase more space, of course.

3.  Google Docs – Google Documents, which has now been renamed Google Drive, allows you to upload your files directly onto their website.  This works very well with PDF and XLS (Excel) documents, but not always in Word and PowerPoint, as the formatting is often thrown off by their system.  However, the benefit of Google Docs is that you can create brand new documents right in their website.  Also, if you set your share settings correctly, you can have more than one person editing the same document simultaneously, which is  a great way to build lists and compile documents collaboratively.  Google Docs gives you 15 gigabytes for free, but this includes anything you have saved in your G-mail and Google + Photos.

4.  Photobucket – Photobucket is used specifically for photos and videos.  You can upload and organize photos and videos, as well as share them with others in either public or private (with a password) formats.  I have used this as a great way to share class photos with my parents while keeping them private.  Photobucket will give you 2 gigabytes for free if you use it solely on your computer, but if you choose to use the app on a tablet or phone, you can “earn” up to 8 gigabytes.

5.  Edmodo – In addition to being a great way to connect with your students and other teachers, Edmodo is a great place to store your teacher resources.  Edmodo offers you a Library and gives you unlimited storage space as long as each file can be no bigger than 100 MB.  In addition, this gives you the opportunity to share these resources with other teachers (depending on your privacy settings) and even better, to share them directly with your class.  I have used this multiple times to assign projects and internet scavenger hunts to my students.  This prevents the students from “losing” their homework, because they can always print another!

6.  Amazon Cloud Drive – Amazon allows you two different types of cloud storage.  First you have a Cloud Drive, which allows you to upload any type of file to it.  These files must be uploaded and downloaded via the website.  Amazon offers you 5 gigabytes for free.  In addition, Amazon offers a free Amazon Cloud Player, which is designed for MP3s.  You can upload 250 songs for free (and download more from their store).  You can then play these songs through their player, which can be played on your computer or a device.  I have used this in my classroom to create playlists that the kids listen to – straight from my computer - during silent writing and independent work time.  So much easier than bringing in a separate MP3 player or a bunch of CD’s.

7. LiveBinders – I use this website for my students’ online portfolios, but in addition, this is a great way to store and sort your resources into binders.  LiveBinders will give you 100 megabytes for free, and of course you can purchase additional space.

8.  Presentation Software: If you are trying to save Power Points, you may want to consider some other presentation software, like Prezi, or Powtoon.  These websites allow you to create presentations and save them on their own cloud storage.

 

What is your favorite cloud storage?

 

 

Weekly Lesson Plans: March 10 – March 14

Would you like a peek into what will be happening in my class next week?  Here is a copy of my lesson plans:

 

Every morning, my students come in and work on their nursery rhyme – this week is To Market, To Market.  Then they work on their differentiated vocabulary packets.  I have 2 Level 1 ESL students, who will work on Transportation this week.  Meanwhile, my native English speakers are working on  Prefixes.  After they finish their vocabulary, my students work on their math review sheets or their writing assignments.

Meanwhile, I pull reading groups.  Some of my students are still working on Reading A-Z books, but my Mister and Me group is getting almost finished with the book.  They will be reading chapters 11 and 12 this week and preparing for their final comprehension quiz next week.  One of my younger groups has just begun to read the non-fiction book Ice Wreck about Ernest Shakleton and his misadventures in Antarctica.

 

After snack and recess, my students each take a one minute math quiz – differentiated among 7 levels.  Next, my students work on their calendar books and their daily math. 

This week, all of my students will be preparing for their comprehensive trimester test by completing review sheets.  On Monday, we will also add our Math Idiom:  I’ve Told You a Thousand Times.   

Once students have finished their math tests, they will be finishing up their heat inquiry projects.  The students have chosen questions about heat like “How do we make fires bigger?” and “How does a microwave work?” and have been researching for 3 weeks.  Now students are working on creating Powtoon videos to teach their classmates what they learned.

In the afternoons, my partner teacher works on Writing and Social Studies.  This week students are continuing to work poetry using pieces of my Informational Writing Journal. In Social Studies, the students are completing their goods project, tracing back student selected goods like gummy bears and bottled water to their natural resources.  The students are just about finished researching and have begun creating Prezi presentations with their information. During this time, I work with a small group of first year ESL students, to give them extra support. 

Homework in my class is all assigned via Edmodo.  Monday and Wednesday’s math video links can be found on my collaborative math video Google Doc, which is always available to my students if they need to re-watch a video they have already seen.

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek into my plans for the week.  What’s on your plans this week?

Field Trips are Not Just for Fun

Recently, I had a student ask me, “Mrs. Raki, when do we go on a field trip just for fun?”  I giggled at the girl and said “Didn’t you have fun today?” (We had just left a pastry factory.)  “Yeah, but I mean a field trip where we don’t have to work!”  she told me.  “Oh, well that doesn’t happen with Mrs. Raki.” I responded.  “Yeah, I figured!”  she told me, but with a smile on her face, so I know she had fun after all.

My class has taken 3 field trips in the last 3 weeks.  Each trip was fun, but during each trip, the students had an assignment of some kind to turn in.  I am of the mindset that a school day should be a learning day.  I love field trips – can’t get enough of the real life learning.  Often, students learn more during a field trip than during a regular school day, but because they are having fun, they don’t realize how much learning is occurring.  However, I am always sure to include some sort of way for students to record their learning, so that they know that even though they are having a blast, they are still learning.  So, my students always set off on their field trips with a clipboard, a sheet and a pen to help them record their learning. 

Three weeks ago, we were lucky enough to go to the Amoud Factory, which makes pastries, cakes, cookies, bread, and ice cream.  The factory is locally owned and operated and was a great addition to both our heat unit and our economics unit.  Our students got to tour the entire factory from the receiving dock to the shipping dock, with many steps in between.  They were able to see bread being made, were able to roll their own petit pan (chocolate croissants), were able to see cakes being decorated and packaged and even got to taste chocolates and ice cream. 

The amount of concepts we were able to cover see was amazing.   For economics, we talked about the resources (natural and human) that went into the business, the process of assembly lines, how goods are produced, the importance of tracking sales patterns, supply and demand and how goods are distributed.  To help students understand these concepts, they completed a triangular Venn Diagram to compare and contrast consumption, production and distribution.

For heat, we talked about how heat can be used to kill microorganisms, how heat is used to help dough rise through the use of other microorganisms, how items are kept at specific temperatures in order to prevent the movement of microorganisms, how heated counters can be used to prevent the transfer of heat in food that has already been cooked and how insulation is used to keep food at the correct temperature while waiting to be processed.  To help students understand these concepts, they completed a Who, What, Where, Why, Why and How graphic organizer about how they observed heat being utilized.

Two weeks ago, we went to Credit du Maroc, a local branch of Credit Agricole, a large banking corporation from France.  We were able to talk with an executive about how the bank was formed and what services it provides for it’s customers.  The students were able to talk to the bank employees and talk about exchange rates and interest.  To help students reflect on their learning, they completed an Important, Interesting, Informative graphic organizer. 

 

This week, we went to the Habbous, a local traditional market or souk.  While at the Habbous, students went on a scavenger hunt to trace back how far a good had come from it’s original natural resources.  Students took pictures of what they found with a mini iPad and then wrote down a description of the item on their scavenger hunt recording table, categorizing each good into one of three categories.  Category 1 was goods that were identical or very close to their original form (olives, honey, lemons, cow skin rugs etc.).  Category 2 were goods that had been processed, but could be easily identified as their original form (wood boxes, straw baskets etc.)  Category 3 were goods that had been processed so much that you couldn’t identify it’s origin or it didn’t look at all like it’s origin.  (plastic containers, died wool carpets, leather wallets etc.) Here are some of the pictures the goods that the kids found:

Category 1:

   

  

  

Category 2:

   

    

Category 3:

  

  

  

Oh, and while we were there, we couldn’t help but stop by to see the camel head (outside of the place that sells camel meat) and get a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice!

  

 

What has been the best field trip you have ever taken your class on?  Do you have your students reflect their learning onto graphic organizers or through the use of pictures?  No matter how field trips are recorded, the learning that occurs during field trips is irreplaceable and very necessary.

Students Created Videos – Made Possible by Mini Ipads

This year I am the luckiest teacher in the world. I get to teach at the best school ever – International School of Morocco, with some of the best, most creative, teachers ever. Each time I walk into someone else’s classroom, I get inspired and we just seem to spiral great teaching ideas off of each other. It’s a wonderful place to teach, and since we are all collaborating, it’s a wonderful place for our kids to learn – a teacher’s dream, right? I have tried and tried to convince the other teachers to create blogs of their own to spotlight and share some of their amazing ideas, but everyone is super busy. Instead, they have each agreed to let me spotlight some of their ideas right here on Raki’s Rad Resources. So, each Friday night, I will be posting an ISM Spotlight.

This year, the International School of Morocco invested in 6 mini iPads.  We have 3 mini iPads upstairs split amongst Year 3 – Year 6 and 3 mini iPads downstairs split amongst Year 1 & Year 2.  Additionally, each classroom, including the nursery and reception classes have full size iPads.  We use the iPads (full size and mini) for a large variety of activities, but one of the best ways is to have students create videos.

When students create videos, they work on all of the same skills that you use in writing – brainstorming, creating (drafting), revising, editing, publishing, knowing your audience, focusing your topic, including enough information, etc.  However, with video creation, you also talk about things like animation, backgrounds, fonts, formats, embedding, and how long your audience will stay around to watch.

Videos can be used to talk about all of the genres of writing: re-telling common stories, sharing information (or teaching others), persuading others to do something, telling original stories or even reciting poetry or songs.  Here are some examples of videos that have been made by ISM students.

These three videos were created by Year 1 and Year 2 students, re-telling the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff.  They were created using the Puppet Pals app.

 

These three videos were created by Year 3 – Year 6 students, to teach other students about math topics.  They were created using the Explain Everything app.

 

 

 

I use this planning sheet and rubric when my kids are working on their math videos.  Stop by next week for more information for what is going on at the International School of Morocco, or click on the banner below to find old ISM Spotlight Posts.

 

TESOL Teaching Tip #49 - ESL Students Need Real Life Experiences to Learn Vocabulary

As a teacher at an International School, many of my students are English Language Learners. Even my native English speakers are living in a non-English speaking country. Due to my unique teaching position, I have had some readers ask for tips on teaching English Language Learners. Here is this week’s Tuesday TESOL Teaching Tip:

 

ELL Teaching Tip of the Week: Use Regalia and Videos
I have had lots of teachers tell me that their English Language Learners don’t “get” the vocabulary they teach.  The first thing I ask them is “How many senses have your students used to understand their words?”  This generally gets me a puzzled stare as often teachers only “explain” the meaning of a word, meaning that students have used their sense of hearing only.  Additionally, they have heard probably 10 – 12 words, or which they truly understand 5 or 6.  This does not lead to good understanding of a vocabulary word.
Let’s use the example of the word wrench.  A student who doesn’t speak English well doesn’t know what a wrench is.  So you explain to them. “It’s a metal tool used to tighten nuts and bolts when you are building or fixing things.”  The underlined words indicate the words they probably DON’T understand if they don’t understand the word wrench.
Hmmmm…… So what is a more effective way of teaching students what a wrench is.  In all of my ESL Vocabulary Packets, I include a suggested daily routine for teaching vocabulary.  On Monday, it includes introducing students to the words with as many REAL WORLD examples as possible.  So, when we are working on the Tools Vocabulary Packet – Monday is the day to bring the toolbox to school and pull out the real wrench.  Don’t have a real wrench?  What about a video showing how a wrench works?

  Using either of these two methods, students have now touched, seen, heard about and maybe smelled a wrench.  Additionally, they have hopefully connected the word wrench to the corresponding word in their home language and noted it down on their vocabulary sheet for further reference.  The possibility that they will remember this word has gone up exponentially.
While it is more prep work to ensure our ESL students have these real world examples, you will find that the more real life examples they have, the more understanding increases, allowing them to connect what they know with knew knowledge and increasing the spiral of learning.



Do you enjoy the weekly TESOL Teaching Tips? Would you like to view an hour long presentation on this topic? I recently presented on Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners at the Everything’s Intermediate Expo. Now you can grab the presentation for just $3.95 from Teacher’s Notebook.


Find more TESOL Teaching Tips here, and come back every Tuesday for a new tip!