Standard III

Teachers Know the Content They Teach

Element IIIa: Teachers align their instruction with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study

Element IIIb: Teachers know the content appropriate to their teaching specialty.

Element IIIc: Teachers recognize the interconnectedness of content areas/disciplines.

Element IIId: Teachers make instruction relevant to students.

Element IIIa: NC Course of Study

"I can" statements are posted on the board above to show students and any visitors what we are working on for the week in writing, literacy, and math. In EL, the learning targets are posted. Students repeat the "I can" statement and we dig deeper into what it means our goal for the day is. Students release a pretend "target" towards the statement. In math, I explain our daily goal at the beginning of the lesson or the relevance of what they are learning.

Element IIIb: Content Appropriate Instruction

I analyzed NKT/AMC data to determine math interventions that would best benefit students' needs
I analyzed mClass/Dibels and progress monitoring data to determine literacy interventions that would best benefit students' needs. I also use this data to update my guided reading groups when necessary.
I offer stations that are differentiated so students can continue to practice on a skill that is appropriate for them as an individual.
I facilitate "math talk" to develop higher order and critical thinking skills among students.
I worked and collaborated with the kindergarten grade level team to create math lessons that are based off of students' interests (see below under standard IIId).

Element IIIc: Interconnectedness of Content Areas

EL was easily integrated with the 4 C's and the math, social studies, and science standards.

IMG_0701.MOV

Module 1: Toys and Play

Communication & Creativity: Students practiced their communication skills to interview each other on their favorite toy. Students could also explore toys within the classroom and had time to play with their peers.

Math & Science: Students sorted their toy based on the toy's properties, such as color, size, and texture.

Writing: Students developed their writing skills by drawing their favorite toy and labeling it.

Social Studies: Students learned how to be responsible citizens in the classroom by sharing toys with their peers and taking care of our classroom materials.

Module 2: Weather Wonders

Communication & Collaboration: In this module, students collaborated together to create an anchor chart that shows what is best to wear on a hot, sunny, rainy, or snowy day. Students also had to communicate and collaborate together to think of good activities to do that day.

Science: Students had to observe the daily weather patterns and record it in their research journals. At the end of most lessons, we would record the weather together as a class and the "meteorologist of the day" gave us the weather report. A video of the weather report would be posted on ClassDojo for families to see.

Writing: Students created a narrative about a rainy, sunny, hot, or snowy day.

IMG_3993.MOV

IMG_2471.MOV

Module 3: Trees Are Alive

Science: Students determined what made something living or non-living and how living things change over time.

Social Studies: Students learned about what living things need to survive.

Writing: Students were the authors and illustrators of several non-fiction texts that focused on how people and animals depend on trees. Students also got to research and write about different kinds of trees.

Literacy: Students learned about the main idea and supporting details of a non-fiction text.

Communication & Collaboration: Students collaborated to gather research about a specific tree and to create group notes that showed what that tree looks like, what it needs, and what other living things depend on it.

Art: Students created a collage of the tree that they wrote and researched about.

Technology: Students could use iPads to scan QR to hear an audio version of an informational text as a source of research.

STEM:

Students can utilize creative thinking to build a specific item using given supplies.

Promoting Global Awareness

Pen Pals in Namibia

We participated in a shared writing to write a letter to our pen pals. Our pen pals are a Grade 2 class in Rehoboth, Namibia at the school I volunteer taught at. Before writing, we learned about Namibia and its culture. I also showed them pictures of me in Namibia so they are aware of the connection that I have with the learners in Namibia and the teacher we are writing to. Students brainstormed ideas that they wanted to share with our pen pals and questions they wanted to ask to learn more about how we are alike and different. We also share pictures and videos so we can see what we do while we are at school.

"Dear Mrs. Britz's Grade 2 Class,

We live in North Carolina, USA. We have been learning about sight words. We learned a lot about weather. We learned about shapes. We have Burger King and McDonald's. Do you have neighbors? Do you have fire drills? Do you learn math? Do you eat different kinds of food? We love you!

Love, Miss Weidner's Kindergarten Class"

"Dear Miss Weidner's Kindergarten Class,

We live in Rehoboth, Namibia. Grade 2 is very hard work. Everyday we learn new things. This week we did synonyms and the 2x and 3x tables. No, we do not have a Burger King and McDonald's. We have a KFC and Debonair's pizza place. Yes, we also have fire drills. We have neighbors on our left and right side. We are the English class and there are the Afrikaans classes. We have 34 kids in our class. We love many different foods: barbeque chicken, macaroni, and lots of sweets. What different sports do you have? Is your city big? What fun activities do you do? We love hearing from you. Have a great weekend.

Love, Mrs. Britz's 2nd Grade Class"

"Dear Mrs. Britz's Class,

We love your singing and dancing. We play baseball and football. We play soccer. We live in Knightdale. It is small, but we live near Raleigh. It is big. We play Fortnite and with LOL watches/dolls. We play 4 corners. Do you play? Do you do Letterland? What sports do you play?

Love, Miss Weidner's Class."

Learning about Weather Around the World

Students got to go on an "adventure" with Jack and Sophia in our EL Module 2. Students became weather experts so they could determine what would be the best to wear in order to prepare for the weather. In Unit 2, students learned about how the weather is different all around the world. This idea was reinforced when we found out that it was winter here in North Carolina while it was summer in Namibia where our pen pals are located. As a result of this learning, students had to help Jack pack for different kinds of weather since he was traveling to places that was experiencing a different season and weather elements.

Holidays Around the World

The Kindergarten team each taught about a holiday that is celebrated in different countries around the world. I taught about Mexico. Students learned about celebrating Christmas in Mexico and Epiphany (Three Kings Day). Students also got to make a pinata. Students traveled to other kindergarten classrooms to learn about holidays in Italy, Israel, and Australia.

Element IIId: Making Instruction Relevant to Students

IMG_5168.MOV

For our collaborative planning, I created word problems that would be relevant to the students. I had the subject matter include student interests, such as the Avengers, LOL dolls, and a short video starring me! Additionally, I integrated literacy by reading aloud fictional text, such as Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin. I also had students take time to think about what they notice and wonder about pictures that had them in it, then we had to solve a word problem using students in the class. Students got to experience why math is relevant and how we can apply it to the real world (or even with our favorite toy or movie character!). Students also utilized 21st century skills to collaborate and problem solve with a partner to solve the word problems using manipulatives.

Google Sites

Report abuse