Well I have finally braved it and did it! I created my own class podcast.
I used the website http://www.podbean.com It is free to sign up for and depending on your file size it can remain free. If you need more space you can also buy more, either by month or year subscription. This is great for teachers since we are in the classroom 10 months of the year.
I have chosen to use my first go-around of the podcast to record my read-aloud novel study. This way if students have missed days of school they can go to the podcast and listen!
Feel free to check it out: http://missrakievich.podbean.com
About Me
- AshLynn
- This is my fourth year teaching and I have taught almost every subject from grades 4-9. My goal is to create independent and critical thinkers. Follow me on pinterest: http://pinterest.com/ashleerak/
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
A Profound Moment
There was a sad ending to this week at school. Our Principal's mom passed away from Alzheimers at a young age.
The day after being notified of the loss, I had my students write their own card and prayer for our Principal and her family. To start we talked about own experiences with death and what sort of things might we be praying for given the circumstances. The school I am at has a lot of First Nation students which seem to be, for the most part, more spiritual in these times. We were just about to wrap up our brainstorm session when one little grade 4 girl put up her hand and started talking...
"Sometimes when people die they think that that person will be alone and they worry about that. I hope that she knows that all of our family members and friends that have died are all keeping her mom company up in Heaven."
Now it took all my might not to start crying (my own grandma passed away from the same thing back in August) and what a thing to come out of the mouth of a 9 year old. So profound and genuine. These are the moments that renew our faith and remind us of the wisdom of babes.
The day after being notified of the loss, I had my students write their own card and prayer for our Principal and her family. To start we talked about own experiences with death and what sort of things might we be praying for given the circumstances. The school I am at has a lot of First Nation students which seem to be, for the most part, more spiritual in these times. We were just about to wrap up our brainstorm session when one little grade 4 girl put up her hand and started talking...
"Sometimes when people die they think that that person will be alone and they worry about that. I hope that she knows that all of our family members and friends that have died are all keeping her mom company up in Heaven."
Now it took all my might not to start crying (my own grandma passed away from the same thing back in August) and what a thing to come out of the mouth of a 9 year old. So profound and genuine. These are the moments that renew our faith and remind us of the wisdom of babes.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Hoarders
Watching Hoarders right now and it gets me thinking... you know those classrooms where teachers have millions of things from 30 years ago and its wall to wall paper, boxes, and books?
I wonder if they will do a Hoarders- Teacher Edition?
I wonder if they will do a Hoarders- Teacher Edition?
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Amazing Units for Cheap!!
Even though most who read this may not teach in Alberta, there is an amazing resource site you should check out.
Rodeo Chaps Link
They have every subject and every grade and then create a unit package that tells you which outcomes you are hitting for each lesson. Also, you pay for it, and you download asap and save it on your usb or hardrive and you have it forever! They also have unit study guides for the students and then provide the teacher with a corresponding exam! The site also offers novel studies, holiday booklets, and it is for K-9! Love love love it!
I have used this site for both grade 4 and grade 6 material and I have not been let down yet!
Rodeo Chaps Link
They have every subject and every grade and then create a unit package that tells you which outcomes you are hitting for each lesson. Also, you pay for it, and you download asap and save it on your usb or hardrive and you have it forever! They also have unit study guides for the students and then provide the teacher with a corresponding exam! The site also offers novel studies, holiday booklets, and it is for K-9! Love love love it!
I have used this site for both grade 4 and grade 6 material and I have not been let down yet!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
A bulletin board for every occasion!
I am a quote fanatic and this is one of my favorite quotes. Then I just realized that this quote will go with just about anything! I leave it up all year long on our hallway bulletin board. 
Sunday, November 13, 2011
A Bit of Humor
Every year I have my students create an autobiography so that I can get to know them a bit better. Here are some more of the humorous ones...
Literacy Centers
Friday, November 11, 2011
Report Card Time!!
Boo to report cards! However here are some things that might make it quicker and easier for you!
Growth as a learner comments
English Language Arts comments
If you have any other comments that you would like to share please do!!
Here is a sneak peak of the growth as a learner:
Growth as a learner comments
English Language Arts comments
If you have any other comments that you would like to share please do!!
Here is a sneak peak of the growth as a learner:
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Story Beginnings Rubric
Here is a rubric I created for creating exciting beginnings. This is what I work on first through the program Empowering Writers. Our school has chosen to use this for grades 1-6. However, it does not come with assessments.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Putting Things In Perspective
Sometimes as teachers we get in that rut. Especially if you have a larger class size than the norm and not the most responsible students. After a while of dealing with the same thing and not seeing a lot of progress at the start, you tend to get a little cranky.
I'm not going to lie...I was one of those cranky teachers 2 weeks ago. Then I started thinking of ways to change my crankiness...its not fun for me or the students. Now the students do usually admit that their behavior is poor, but then the next day the same 3 or 4 students still make the same mistakes.
I have had some pretty crappy things happen in my life lately. My grandma passed away in August, two of my friends lost their dads since the summer, my mom's two closest friends are terminally ill with cancer, and my pet rabbit also passed away. It really got me thinking of why do I sweat about the small stuff and worry about every little thing. All my life I have been a worrier and people always say don't sweat the small stuff and I always thought, "Easier said than done." Now, I think to myself that it has a lot more clarity and I am going to make a full effort to commit to that. Should 3 or 4 unruly students ruin my day? Nope.
Then I look at the clientele of a lot of my students. They come from single parent or multiple parent families, no rules at home, not a lot of money, and not a lot of genuine happiness that comes from relationships; their happiness mostly comes from materialistic things. It is no wonder these students are crying for attention. That is probably how they get it at home and since it has made me cranky they undoubtedly got the attention!
My goal till the end of November is to look and concentrate for the positive instead of looking for the same repeat offenders. I know this is our start-of-the-year intention but then we can get in that rut like I did. At the end of November I will reevaluate how I'm doing.
I will be logging my goal through the blog and if you have any interesting ways of implementing this please let me know and I will try them and post the result!
I'm not going to lie...I was one of those cranky teachers 2 weeks ago. Then I started thinking of ways to change my crankiness...its not fun for me or the students. Now the students do usually admit that their behavior is poor, but then the next day the same 3 or 4 students still make the same mistakes.
I have had some pretty crappy things happen in my life lately. My grandma passed away in August, two of my friends lost their dads since the summer, my mom's two closest friends are terminally ill with cancer, and my pet rabbit also passed away. It really got me thinking of why do I sweat about the small stuff and worry about every little thing. All my life I have been a worrier and people always say don't sweat the small stuff and I always thought, "Easier said than done." Now, I think to myself that it has a lot more clarity and I am going to make a full effort to commit to that. Should 3 or 4 unruly students ruin my day? Nope.
Then I look at the clientele of a lot of my students. They come from single parent or multiple parent families, no rules at home, not a lot of money, and not a lot of genuine happiness that comes from relationships; their happiness mostly comes from materialistic things. It is no wonder these students are crying for attention. That is probably how they get it at home and since it has made me cranky they undoubtedly got the attention!
My goal till the end of November is to look and concentrate for the positive instead of looking for the same repeat offenders. I know this is our start-of-the-year intention but then we can get in that rut like I did. At the end of November I will reevaluate how I'm doing.
I will be logging my goal through the blog and if you have any interesting ways of implementing this please let me know and I will try them and post the result!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Homework Tardiness
As a teacher, I am sure you all have those students who do not like to hand in homework and get every excuse imaginable as to why it is not handed in. You may also get tired of hearing those excuses and asking the same question, "Why is your homework not done?"
I came up with a form the students fill out. It has become part of our homework turn in routine. Those students who hand in homework put it in the Turn In Bin. The ones that do not have their homework grab one of my forms and fill it out and also put it in the Turn In Bin. This way you are still getting something from each student and it is so easy to keep track of who has done what!
Hope it works for you as it has for me!
I came up with a form the students fill out. It has become part of our homework turn in routine. Those students who hand in homework put it in the Turn In Bin. The ones that do not have their homework grab one of my forms and fill it out and also put it in the Turn In Bin. This way you are still getting something from each student and it is so easy to keep track of who has done what!
Hope it works for you as it has for me!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Blogging with Students
I have started blogging with my grade 4s. There is such a huge push for increasing our students' use of technology that I thought I would give it a try.
The site that I am using is http://kidblog.org/home.php It is set up for teachers to use with their students and is VERY user friendly. The major thing that I like about it is that you can change the settings so that you can approve every post and every comment. This ensures that no inappropriate content will go on it or posts that have no depth.
The biggest struggle I have had with blogging is that students at first used it as a chat room. It drove me crazy! This is why now I have my settings so that I have to approve comments and not just posts. It can also get time consuming if students are really into posting.
What do we blog about?
Usually I will give them a journal topic that is fairly open ended and then they can create a unique post title (which is also great practice for news articles or short story titles). Then I try and have them end their post with a question so that other students will want to comment.
This is definitely still a work in progress but I think the more we use it the more disciplined their posts and comments become :)
The site that I am using is http://kidblog.org/home.php It is set up for teachers to use with their students and is VERY user friendly. The major thing that I like about it is that you can change the settings so that you can approve every post and every comment. This ensures that no inappropriate content will go on it or posts that have no depth.
The biggest struggle I have had with blogging is that students at first used it as a chat room. It drove me crazy! This is why now I have my settings so that I have to approve comments and not just posts. It can also get time consuming if students are really into posting.
What do we blog about?
Usually I will give them a journal topic that is fairly open ended and then they can create a unique post title (which is also great practice for news articles or short story titles). Then I try and have them end their post with a question so that other students will want to comment.
This is definitely still a work in progress but I think the more we use it the more disciplined their posts and comments become :)
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Great k-9 website!
Whether you are a teacher in Alberta or not, the public school district in Leduc has a great website for meeting your ict outcomes in every subject!
Just visit http://engagingstudents.blackgold.ca/ and then click on which division you are on the top tool bar. Then pick your grade and subject!
Just visit http://engagingstudents.blackgold.ca/ and then click on which division you are on the top tool bar. Then pick your grade and subject!
The advantages and disadvantages of being an APPLE school
In Alberta there are I believe around 40 APPLE schools. This is a government funded program that comes to your school for three years and then it is up to the school to continue it on their own.
Obesity is a huge problem across the world and the APPLE program teaches schools ways to be healthier and more active.
Once a month our staff meetings are only on how we have done being an APPLE school. This past Thursday we met in the gym and learned new DPA (daily physical activities) we can do in the gym or classroom with our kids. Part of the learning was doing them ourselves! In this one game you had to throw a rubber die across in your circle and whatever number your thumb was on when the music stopped, you had to do the exercise that was correlated with that number. Well my group kept landing on jump squats and oh my lord I was sore the next morning! It still hurts to move!
If you want anymore info. on APPLE schools or DPA ideas let me know!
Obesity is a huge problem across the world and the APPLE program teaches schools ways to be healthier and more active.
Once a month our staff meetings are only on how we have done being an APPLE school. This past Thursday we met in the gym and learned new DPA (daily physical activities) we can do in the gym or classroom with our kids. Part of the learning was doing them ourselves! In this one game you had to throw a rubber die across in your circle and whatever number your thumb was on when the music stopped, you had to do the exercise that was correlated with that number. Well my group kept landing on jump squats and oh my lord I was sore the next morning! It still hurts to move!
If you want anymore info. on APPLE schools or DPA ideas let me know!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
My classroom guinea pigs
I decided last year to get a class pet...well it turned into two pets actually. I had got a guinea pig and then I was told they thrive better when there was two of them. So lo and behold we have Pancake and Acorn.
I cannot believe the benefits to having a classroom pet. It teaches them kindness and responsibility. Every month I have 4 new zoo keepers and they are in charge of cleaning the cage, feeding, watering, and brushing. It is amazing how the behavior students tend to "smarten up" when I take out Pancake and Acorn and start placing them on desks.
I also actually applied for a grant through PetSmart and I receive a $30 gift card each month for guinea pig essentials. This is a grant they offer for teachers with classroom pets.
For my students' writing journal today they wrote about which guinea pig they would rather be: Pancake or Acorn and then had to write why. They then had to write about what they would see from the cage and what they would want to change in the classroom as a guinea pig. Some of the responses were incredibly cute!
I cannot believe the benefits to having a classroom pet. It teaches them kindness and responsibility. Every month I have 4 new zoo keepers and they are in charge of cleaning the cage, feeding, watering, and brushing. It is amazing how the behavior students tend to "smarten up" when I take out Pancake and Acorn and start placing them on desks.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Literacy Centers
I love love love literacy centers!
I use this site to change up things monthly. Even though it is for grade 2 I easily adapt it for my grade 4s.
http://mswinston.com/Monthly%20Ideas.html
I use the task cards for my "Jump Into Writing" station and I have them complete 2 per week. Then the poems with prompts I use for the station, "Poetry Pals."
I use this site to change up things monthly. Even though it is for grade 2 I easily adapt it for my grade 4s.
http://mswinston.com/Monthly%20Ideas.html
I use the task cards for my "Jump Into Writing" station and I have them complete 2 per week. Then the poems with prompts I use for the station, "Poetry Pals."
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