This week's Works4Me, brought to you by the National Education
Association
includes:
1)Lunch with New Teachers, 2)Me In A Bag, 3)How to Learn
150 Names,
4)Questions from Colleagues, 5)Book Recommendation
1)Lunch with New Teachers
From Mary Gibbs-Lowe (Mgibbslowe@aol.com), a second grade
teacher at
Fleetwood Elementary in Mt. Laure, New Jersey:
"I ask new teachers to have lunch with me so we can share
ideas and
discuss any situations they are going through. The most
important tip I
can offer is to share ideas with new teachers when they
ask for help. I
have found new teachers to be quite creative and have
ideas to share as
well."
2)Me In A Bag
From Jan Formisano (janformisano@email.msn.com), a second
grade teacher in
Falls Church, Virginia:
"At the beginning of the year, I introduce myself using
'Me In A Bag'. I
put a few items that represent me in a large paper sack.
In my sack, I put
a paintbrush because I'm an artist, my favorite book,
my favorite food,
pictures of my family and my pets, my favorite CD and
a cookbook. The
children sit around me and I explain the significance
of each item as I
pull it out of the bag. This helps the kids get to know
me as a person.
Each child has a turn to bring in his/her own 'Me In
A Bag'. This gives
everyone in the class a chance to shine."
3)How to Learn 150 Names in a Week
From Donna Bailey (dmbailey@itrc.dciu.k12.pa.us), a health
education
teacher in Chester-Upland School District, Pennsylvania:
"I photocopy my seating charts onto transparencies and
put colored paper
behind them. I use a different colored paper for each
class. The charts
are magnetized and I leave them up on the blackboard
all year for the
students to see. I write their names on post-it notes
and place them on
the charts so that I can easily change them if their
assigned seats don't
work out. I make a copy of the seating chart and staple
it to a matching
colored folder so that the names of the students are
facing me. I use this
to take roll and call each student by name from the very
first day. This
system allows me to learn up to 150 names in a week!"
4)Questions from Colleagues
Question: From Virginia Healy (vhealy@yahoo.com):
"I would appreciate any tips on reducing electricity
costs for our school.
I know many schools are looking for savings."
Answer: From Jay Edwards (Obsbedia2@aol.com), a resource
specialist at
Hemet Elementary School in Hemet, California:
"Turn off the computers. Twenty-five years ago, classroom
computers were
all, but unheard of, but today, they populate nearly
every classroom and
are often left on 24-7. The monitors use the most electricity,
so take
advantage of the power saving mode and let the monitor
shut itself down
instead of just displaying a screen saver most of the
day. Screen savers
are fun and are an industry in themselves, but today
they're unnecessary.
Screen savers were useful in the old monitors to prevent
'burn-in', but
the modern monitors of the last fifteen years haven't
needed them."
Questions from the Worker Bees:
How do you make sure you use a nice balance of both fiction
and
non-fiction in your classrooms?
How do you find time in your day to plan time for kids to just read?
5)Book Recommendation:
From Julia Hanauer-Milne (Julia_Hanauer-Milne@msad51.org),
a 5/6 multi-age
teacher at Drowne Road School in Cumberland, Maine:
"The Girl With the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier is
a coming of age
story about a girl who works in Vermeer's household in
17th century Delft.
It is very well-written with one of those protagonists
whose behavior you
just don't always appreciate or understand. It is an
interesting snapshot
of the art world and household life during that time."
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