Punctuation: Make it a Daily Effort

There are many ways to include punctuation tips and practice into your daily teaching practice. As students come in each day, make sure there is a sentence on the board or chart paper that needs editing. As they come in, they put the sentence into their daily edit books and use the correct punctuation. You can also create a package of punctuation worksheets whereby students complete 1 or 2 a week as you so request.

Another approach I like to use: When you're reading with the class, stop and ask why the author used a colon or a comma etc. This ensures that your students understand the purpose punctuation.

Do you teach phonics?

There's nothing wrong with teaching phonics, but, and I mean BUT, it's all in how you teach it. Even the gurus in the publishing world put out some pretty confusing messages. Consider Fountas and Pinnell for instance. There's no denying that much of what they produce is quite good. However, be smart and use your flexible common sense when using their resources. Don't assume they know it all, in fact, you've probably worked with students more often and longer than they have so again, I remind you to use your common sense.

I was scanning one of their phonics resources and under long vowels - specifically U they list the following words as having the long u sound: use, cube, huge, tube, clue, glue. I ask you, does u REALLY say its name in tube, clue and glue? Not at all! Sounds more like an 'ew' sound!

No wonder kids get confused with phonics! All vowels CANNOT be classified under long an short. Let's just look at a for a minute: bad (short a), lake (long a) call (?) car (?) ball (?)

So what do we do? What great teachers have always done! Teach the sounds that vowels make, then teach the sounds that vowel combinations make. Don't get locked into the long and short of it. Do what's best for young learners, which means, don't confuse them.

Here are the free worksheets that address the sounds that vowels make. And well I'm on the topic, I might add that many vowel and vowel combinations sound the same. There's NOTHING wrong when it comes to classifying vowel sounds by the sounds they make and not by the letters, it actually supports better learning. For instance a learner could classify the following words in the same category: blue, flew, too, shoe, do, you.

Have a thought or two? I'd love to hear from you.

A Second Chance to Get it Right? Hardly!

Classroom management is everything! Many so called voices of authority throughout the educational jurisdictions will tell you something a little bit different. They'll tell you that great instruction will have your classroom management or discipline issues magically disappear.

I can assure you and I am a bit of a veteran, you need both and if you don't have exceptional classroom management strategies, you can be guaranteed to have problems and eventually you will develop a big dislike for the entire educational profession.

So what advice do I have for you? Well, aside from reading my articles on effective classroom management here it is in a nutshell (and believe me, I'm not trying to make it sound simple, it takes sincere comittment and follow through consistently to get it right).

1. If you say it, mean it.
2. Don't say it mean.
3. NO power struggles ~ nobody wins.
4. Use an assertive/progressive discipline plan.
5. Always respect your students and they'll respect you.

Teaching is most often about good relationships.

Teaching can be a worthwhile career, especially if you get it right. Afterall, why do so many of us still like it? And oh, yes, I too have taught at intercity schools!

New Worksheets!

Well, I said I'd work to add more worksheets this summer and here they are! A new science category for Kindergarten to 2nd grade. Be sure to check out:

• The Five Senses


• Life Cycle of a Frog and Life Cycle of the Butterfly


• Part of a Plant


• Living and Non Living Things

Your feedback by way of comments is most appreciated. For those of you who like me are enjoying the summer vacation, the best to you! I'll keep plugging away at worksheets and you can be sure that I'll share them with you.

Summer Learning

2 Steps backwards and 1 forward. I've been teaching long enough to see how much some students slide over the summer. I have merely one tidbit of advice to all parents. Let your child read to you this summer, read to them and ask good questions that demonstrate comprehension and higher level thinking skills. What does this look like? Well, when you buy books for your children, make sure that they're at their instructional level - not ones they can read with ease or that they struggle on every word with. Books that for the most part, they need some help. As for questions, avoid the yes/no type. Think about asking questions like:

'Why do you think the author ended the story that way?'
'What advice do you have for the author about this book?'
'What character really made this story and why?'

Help children understand point of view, ask questions that make them think about point of view.

For a few more questioning tips on books, check out these.

Math Rehab!

This week a fellow colleague/teacher shared with me how he remediates in math. He uses some interesting terms to ensure that students get the big idea behind the math concept. So, for instance let's say the concept is integers and the 4 operations. There's an exit ticket which is essentially a quick test with the basic questions about the concept. If the student miss the boat, in other words they can't add/subtract/multiply and divide with positive and negative numbers. They are put into math rehab. Math rehab provides them with some extra time to learn the concept. Math rehab will occur with additional homework or a few missed recesses. Sure makes the kids pay attention as they want their exit ticket.

Not a great year? Kids getting away on you?

With summer holidays just around the corner, maybe it's time to reflect on this year and start acting and learning from those reflections. Teaching is much harder that it seems. Some teachers just get it and others really have to work at it. One of my colleagues asked what my secret was. I'm not sure I have a secret, I do know that I have high expectations for both learning and behavior. If I say it, I mean it and I don't say it mean. The other piece of advice I often give is to read a good book on classroom management. Harry Wong's is a favorite of mine, why not give it a whirl this summer?

See also, functional behavior assessments and behavior contracts for additional support.

Here are another few staples of mine:

• Show respect, when you give respect, you will get respect -- most of the time.


• Encourage the student, boost their confidence, show you care and provide them with the attention they so need for acting appropriately.


• DON'T in power struggles, DON'T show anger. DON'T retaliate.
  Understand that inappropriate behaviors are a cry for attention.