Saturday, April 20, 2013

MY, OH, MY OH! IDEAS FROM OHIO!


Sentence Structure  (Lisa Ruff)
Make the love sign with your hand. 
  1. Your thumb is the capital.
  2. Your pointer finger asks if it makes sense.
  3. The little finger is a reminder for the punctuation mark at the end.
  4. Check to make sure you LOVE your sentence.  You need all three fingers to love it!

Rock You Cheer  (Kristen Reed)
Start off pat, pat, clap, clap, pat, pat, clap, clap…
(Child’s Name) did a good job!  Good job!
(Child’s Name) did a good job!  Good job!

Popcorn Cheer  (Kristen Reed)
The teacher says, “Assume the position” as all the children squat down on the floor.  The teacher points quickly to each student and she/he jumps up and yells “POP” and then squats back down.  After pointing to every child say, “EVERYBODY!” and they all jump up and say “POP!”

Walking Feet  (Christina Venrick)
(Tune:  “Are You Sleeping?”)
Walking feet, walking feet,
To your chair, to your chair.
Show me that you’re ready.
Show me that you’re ready.
Are you there?
Are you there?
*Children try to be in their chair by the end of the song.  You can change it to tiptoe, walk backwards, giant hops, etc.  You can also change the chair to their “square” or another space.

Freeze  (Lori Nutter)
Teacher says, “Freeze.”
Children freeze like ice.
When the teacher has their attention she says, “THAW” and the kids whisper, “Like water,” as they move and swirl.

Let’s Stop and Signal Our Success!  (Amanda Workman)
Use a positive behavior traffic light.  Students start on the green light.  Positive behavior is acknowledged by moving up to the yellow light and then to the red light.  When a student gets to the red light they choose a cheer from the bucket.  Everyone says, “We are going to stop and signal your success!”  Then everyone does a cheer for them because we love showing off positive behavior!

That Was Easy  (Mindy Neal)
Parent helpers work with students on word lists.  When a student passes a word list they get to press the Staples “That Was Easy” button.  The kids are excited to press the button and this allows the teacher to multi-task by being able to keep on teaching while being aware what the child did.

Environmental Print  (Erin Terry)
Use the “Pizza Hut” song by taking pictures of restaurants in your community and displaying them on an interactive white board.  Add other important places in your community, such as the library, park, school, etc.

I also got to present at the incredible Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children Conference in Indianapolis last week.  Loved, loved, loved those teachers!!!  Here’s a song that Rachel Calvert shared

I’m a Little Fireman  (Rachel Calvert)
(Tune:  “I’m a Little Teapot”)
I’m a little fireman on the go.   (Pretend to drive a truck.)
Here is my helmet.                  (Touch head.)
Here is my hose.                  (Pretend to hold a hose.)
When I see a fire hear me shout,   (Hand over forehead.)
“Turn on the water.  Put the fire out!”