We're cray-cray for Anchor Charts!

I love anchor charts so much that I got my students to do it also hehe.

They made their anchor charts last week when we talked about parts of a newspaper. I grouped them into 8 groups, with 4 members each and asked to them to make a poster-type of chart that will show the parts of the newspaper. For the activity, they have to cut samples of headline, local news article and foreign news article (titles only) and describe each part.

Here are some of the anchor charts that they made.

They drew characters with speech bubbles. The characters describe each part of the newspaper. Clever!

I don't know why there's a dinosaur reading the newspaper. The headline in their made-up newspaper is actually 'Baha! Marami patay!' and the one who wrote it was actually was a Korean girl. Lol.

I think they got a little carried away with the decorations...

...and they made a pie chart showing the importance of each part.Awesomeness!

I wish I could make anchor charts as neat as this! And if ever you're wondering, yes, they drew cupcakes. For what reason? I have no idea!

Cute block letters!

Since our reading skill focus this week is comparing and contrasting, we'll discuss how to write a compare and contrast essay. So I made a (fugly..) anchor chart on how to write a compare and contrast essay.  I know it's simple but this is my first real anchor chart so you (and my students) have to bear with it..for now hehe.

Please don't mind that small boo-boo beside Paragraph 1 - I'll erase it tomorrow. :)












In case you're wondering, yes, that's a hanger haha. I'm thinking of how I can mount the cartolina other than using the masking tape. I might use magnets tomorrow.

That's it for today!

xo,
KC

Powerpoint Presentations Can Make You Dumb?

One of my never-ending resolutions is to minimize the use Powerpoint presentations in the classroom. Which for me is something very achievable because I only use them during the unlocking of difficult words part at the beginning of the lesson. My boss had suggested in the past to limit our PPT use because students can sometimes get used to flashy and animated words on a screen since most of the other subject teachers use them as well.

Not so surprisingly, I found out from this article that Powerpoint presentations can indeed make us dumber. The article is backed up by research and I have to say seems legit. However, I used one very simple  Powerpoint today in the same way I have used it in the past. It seems to me that we can't simply stop using the available technology we have. Technology is there for a reason - to simplify our lives and ultimately to improve the quality of it. 

It would be a challenge to stop using (and abusing) this technology, but it's not necessarily impossible. I guess this would be a call for me to be more creative in thinking out of box, and using more tangible objects inside the classroom. Which reminds of...anchor charts...and the lack thereof :(

Good news, though! The girls worked on their very first anchor chart for reading! I'll post them tomorrow, I have to check them first.

xo,
KC

P.S.
I like how blogging at this time can help me relax! Should do this more often hihi.

Teachers have a good memory

Yesterday was a very interesting day for me.

I went to a seminar on Reading Remediation in Ateneo, together with two co-teachers. Prior to the seminar, I didn't bother to go over the brochure my boss showed me. I just fill out the seminar form and had her sign it.

Our way to Ateneo was smooth-sailing. I was kinda sleepy and hungry, since I wasn't able to eat breakfast at home. At around 8am, we arrived at the venue. I ate a proper breakfast and had coffee. By 9am, our speaker arrived. And to my surprise, it was Mrs. Faicol, my NURSERY teacher in San Beda Alabang (back when it was still Benedictine Abbey School). Needless to say, I was shocked. 

She didn't recognize my face immediately, but when I introduced myself, she was utterly shocked too! She was at a loss for words and I couldn't stop smiling. I was so excited to meet her again after so many years. I suddenly remembered my nursery days. Back when nap time was part of the schedule haha!What amazed me even more is that she still knows pretty much everyone of my classmates back in nursery, which was almost 20 years ago. She even remembers my mom!

I should have read the seminar brochure so I could show her my class picture back in nursery, which I still keep in a safe place in my room. She would probably be even more speechless! My biggest regret though is not having our picture taken, for old time's sake. Oh well, maybe next time. 'Til I see you again, Mrs. Faicol!

xo,
KC

P.S.
I'll scan the nursery class picture on Monday hihi :)

Silent Bullying

With all the attention schools and media placed into bullying, it has now became a catch phrase, almost viral. Like memes and infographics. Nowadays, kids are being outspoken  about bullying incidents that it had become a challenge how to manage bullying complaints because there's just too many. 

It's even harder in our school since it's an exclusive school for girls. While boys are known to be very vocal and outspoken when it comes to this matter, girls keep silent and it's hard for teachers to detect bullying among them. With boys, walang personalan. But with girls, it's harder to end their petty quarrels because it gets too personal. Some even span for years.

"She looked at me in a mean way."

"She ignored me when I say hi."

"She doesn't want to be friends with us."

These are just some of the bullying complaints I get to hear every single day. And as much as I would like to address them all, unfortunately, there's only so much I can do. Do I really need to process everything? Or do i just get to focus on the more valid cases? 

What's even harder for the teachers is that the parents in our school are so involved. They're so sensitive to these things and it's hard for them to accept that their daughter is a bully too. To quote one parent, "My daughter is an angel."  --An angel? As in someone who is perfect and sinless? Uh, last time I checked, no mere mortal is perfect!

There will always be bullies. We can even be bullies to our friends without us knowing it. I talked to my girls about this last week and I told them to toughen up. The only way not to be bullied is not to become an easy target. And most importantly, to not be the bully, because bullies creates more bullies.

Adults (and I mean the Baby Boomers) think that bullying is a part of childhood. Children who are bullied become stronger and tougher individuals as they grow up. There might be some truth to it. I was bullied before but I never let it affect me. I also bullied others (oopss...) and I learned from it as well. Experiences like these can either form us or break us apart, it depends on how you deal with it.

First PTC

My first Parent-Teacher Conference as a Class Adviser was better than I expected. I was actually expecting bickering, taunting, and probably some hair-pulling. Hehe.

But kidding aside, I felt that it went well. But I still get stumped when parents ask me "How is she in your class?" Do I say, "She's very talkative" or "She's got a lot of potential to be a news reporter because she loves talking too much". I know that parents would like to get a picture of how their daughter is in class. But how do I say it without sounding too negative, or like I don't know their daughter well.

Either way, whatever answer I give will always reflect how I teach and how I motivate the students. If  a girl is too talkative, probably she's bored. Or if she's not participative in class, then she might be too shy or maybe even be bullied. There are so many interpretations of a single answer to one simple question. And what's even more scary is I have to think on the spot. I have to recall some funny anecdote about their daughter, and at the same time think about her strengths (if there were any...haha!).

Talking to parents will always be part of my job. It's a reality that I have to accept. Hopefully I came off as professional and friendly, but not as someone parents can push around. I hope I established a positive image to the parents. And I hope this will be last PTC haha! I wish :))

xo,
KC

A Bad Case of Tamaditis

There are so many things that I want to do, but I just can't seem to make myself do it. Nakakatamad. I feel so drained at work that I usually find myself dozing off in the sofa in less than five minutes from the time I arrived home.

This is what I'm talking about. I couldn't even find the energy to change to my pambahay clothes. I sleep in my uniform, wake up after an hour, eat dinner, then go online, then sleep. I hate this cycle. Since I take naps in the afternoon, I don't get sleepy until very late at night. Thus, the next day, I'll be napping again. And the cycle continues. I'm happy it's weekend already so I can break off this very lazy-ass routine.

Because of my tamaditis, I even neglect exercising. I used to exercise three times a week. Mostly just cardio for about an hour. But even getting on the stepper machine is too much of an effort for me lately. More weight gain...here I come!

I thought of paying for a gym membership to somehow force me to exercise. But, alas, I'm not only lazy, I'm also stingy (broke) haha!

Maybe I'll just wake up early tomorrow and jog with my dog...or maybe I can just sleep some more :))

Happy weekend! xo,

KC

Resolutions

Wow. Who would have thought I'd survive the first quarter? One down, three more to go! Based on the lack of blog posts here for the past (ehem) three months, it's easy to say that I am BUSY, and whatever time I have left I spend for myself. 

So, let's start anew, shall we? :)

I came up with a list of resolutions that I am to achieve this quarter. These are the things that I would have wanted to have in the beginning of the school year, but wasn't able to due to many reasons (numerous class suspensions is one).

2nd Quarter Resolutions:

Anchor charts
I love, love, LOVE anchor charts. My only problem is that I don't think I can do them. I'm really not creative enough for these things.    Whenever I would write something on a chart paper, my OC-ness would always kick in, and I always end up redoing everything because the lines are crooked or my handwriting sucks.  I'm also thinking of a way how I can mount the charts. Since I teach three sections, I don't want to waste time and energy in doing three similar anchor charts. I also don't want to keep on using tape to post them on the board, since it will take too much time mounting them. I remember my elementary teachers would use big bulldog clips and a string to hang the chart on the board. Problem is, my classrooms don't have those little hooks for hanging. I could probably use some big magnets so I can post them easily. i want to be known as Ms. Anchor Charts haha!

I could probably do something like these.

But these would be too complicated for me!

More Independent work
I already did one center last quarter, and another one this week. Those days were a breeze for me! I also want to come up with enrichment activities that I could give my early finishers. Almost half of my girls are for enrichment, so most of them finish ahead of time and usually just chats afterwards. I want them to use their time wisely and invest in something they can learn from. I usually bring my girls to the library for independent seat works so that the girls who finish first may read a book. But I can't always bring them to the library, as much as I would like to. So I probably need to come up with early finishers activities, something related to vocabulary development so I can hit two birds with one stone.

This is from Fabulous Fourth Grade. I would have loved to see all task cards hehe. Someday I'll come up with my own. Dream big! :)

Intervention Group
I must admit that I kind of neglected the groupings by the end of the quarter. Though I closely monitor my Intervention Group every meeting, I would have wanted to make it more deliberate to see deliberate results. I will be starting with my after-school remedial classes next week and I'm hoping for the best :)

Attention Getters

My girls love to chat. A lot. They're girls, so what do you expect? Whenever the class gets noisy I just pause and wait for them to settle down. This worked well with my previous students, but the batch of girls that I have now are less sensitive to this (unfortunately). So I tried the whisper trick, which worked for a while. Then I also did the "Clap your hands once if you can hear me" trick, which also worked, though some would deliberately clap their hands repeatedly just to attract attention (mga KSP!). I need to think of more ways to grab their attentions to keep them on their toes. 

I also thought of doing time out cards. But I still need to read up on how I can actually execute this on a positive way.

I have to admit that the First Quarter was a blur to me. It went by too quickly but it seemed to me that it dragged on for months! Hoping for a better a Second Quarter and achieve my goals. I'll keep you posted! (I'll try...haha)

xo,

KC