We live in a world where there can never be enough #kindness!  

Disagreeing Respectfully
Many of us know that our students need good role models and examples of how to disagree respectfully.  My new activity,  which is free right now,  is a quick guide to Disagreeing Respectfully.  Feel free to download and leave feedback! 

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Instructional Games for Learning:




Everyone loves a good game!  Think about the game shows we watch and how we become addicted to cell phone games and video games.  Now, imagine how much your students must love games as well.  Instructional games will engage all learners in the content and reinforce those essential words or concepts they need to go to the next level of instruction.







The picture above shows a  set of IHWH Game Cards for Earth Science, these cards can be printed in color or black and white (I provided a sample) and can be printed 1, 2 , or 4 to a page.  It just depends  on what is available to you.  I personally like 2-­‐4, so  they can be stored in ziplock bags.


There are several ways to use this game to engage students.   

How You Play the Game:
Option 1: 
  • The first suggested way is to introduce a unit by playing the game before they have been taught the content.  This is an excellent way to get an idea of what your students know and what they don't know. 
  • Give each student in the classroom a card.  Then, have one person in the class call out their card and the students work  together to put all cards in order.  This leads to discussion, engagement, and each student  sees a visual representation of the word before you have even taught  the unit.  
  • To make this even more engaging, you can time the class and have them work throughout the unit to beat their own time or another classes time.  Great for competition.  
  • This would also be a good activity to throw in when the class gets dull or before the test as a review.
Option 2: 

  • Use these cards by printing multiple sets for student groups or centers.  Have the groups work to put the cards in order. You could also send these cards home with kids that need some extra study time.

These are just a few ways to use these game cards to make learning fun and engaging for all students!  They are available in my store for Physical Science, Civics, Life Science, American History, Earth Science, World History, English, and World Geography!

Puzzles for constant content review (think CENTERS) (Earth Science PuzzlesLife Science Puzzles, and Physical Science Puzzles)

Timeline Relays (Google for Digital Classroom and Paper Versions) and Writing Activities  (American History Part 1 or Part 2 Timeline RelaysCivics Timeline RelaysWorld History Part 1 Timeline Relays)

VISIT MY STORE AND FOLLOW TO GET UPDATES WHEN NEW RESOURCES ARE ADDED 


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learnedlessonstpt@gmail.com 
Thank you for your support! --Learned Lessons 

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Start the New Year off right with a Mega Bundle
Save money and time with these excellent deals to start the new year off right. 


Full Curriculum Mega Bundles in Print and Google Classroom Link Option for the following courses: 
-Ancient World History
-Early American History
-Louisiana History 
-ELA
-World Geography Civics
-Free Enterprise / Economics
-Modern American History 
- Modern World History
-Life Science
-Physical Science
-Earth Science






Spiraling Instruction Best Test Prep and Remediation Strategy 

Spiraling, Spiral Learning, Spiraling in Classrooms

Handouts & PowerPoint

Spiraling Instruction During 2nd Semester 

Getting Ready for Testing


Gone are the days of cramming for a test the night before and then throwing away all the flashcards and notes.  With high stakes testing and standards that build off of each other yearly, we must ensure student retain the information from week to week, month to month, and year to year.  Students are often left with holes in their learning due to failure to "get it" or failure to "retain it".  Both of these problems can be addressed through SPIRALING instruction.  To do this, the following must be implemented:  

Standards and data must be analyzed
Plan with a purpose 
Instruct differently for groups of students based on their needs 
Review and re-evaluate readiness through small assessments
Apply new knowledge in meaningful ways like projects and real life scenarios or readings.
Learn from your practice.  Keep notes on what worked and what didn't. 

Below, I will outline what spiraling is, why we should make it part of our daily planning, and a few strategies to plan for this daily in your classroom.   

What Is Spiraling?

  • Remediation of skills and content throughout the year, rather than in chunks when the unit is taught. We must move away from focusing on just getting all the content covered. We must also look at ways to continually connect the content and review the content for long-term retention.  
  • Taking the knowledge and skills we teach throughout the year and continually embedding them into daily instruction and ensuring we build on the these skills as the year progresses. You can do this in so many ways, but centers or projects are the best methods for social studies and science because they constantly expose the students to the content previously covered.  
  • Looking at data and determining in which skills or content standards students need extra assistance and making sure you reteach these concepts throughout the year.  Again, this could be done in centers with a small group with which you focus on direct instruction.  
  • Reteaching and continuously making the content relevant for long term memory as opposed to teaching one unit and then moving onto the next without continuously evaluating and building from the learning content. 

Why Spiral?

  • Ensure students retain and reflect on the skills and content they have learned throughout the entire year. 
  • Build from student mastery of content, and as the year progresses, have use skills spiraled into lesson to go deeper and make more meaningful to students. 
  • Reteach and readdress skills in which students are weaker, and ensure mastery of content. 
  • Keep information relevant instead of just reviewing for the test the week before.  Spiraling throughout the year is proven to be more effective. 

Strategies for Spiraling (How Do I Begin?)...


Standards and data must be analyzed! Know your data!  Make sure you have a list of which students need which skills or which topics the students performed badly. I have some great I Can Student Self Assessment of Mastery packets for Science they make great learning logs that can be used to find weaknesses.  
Plan with a purpose!  Create a calendar and schedule for the month to ensure you are planning for review on content and skill deficits. Ensure you embed this into your lessons plans daily using your calendar and data list to group students.  Planning is key! 
Instruct differently for groups of students based on their needs 
Review and re-evaluate readiness through small assessments! Monitor student progress with frequent and varied assessment methods.  Reevaluate your calendar to ensure content and skills are applicable to student needs. 
Apply new knowledge in meaningful ways, like projects and real life scenarios or readings.

Learn from your practice.  Keep notes on what worked and what didn't. 

Resources that will help you Spiral Instruction: 

  • Project Based Learning is vital way to ensure students are constantly taking the skills they have learned and apply them to real life situations over a period of time.  Projects usually take anywhere from 2-9 weeks and require students to take the content and skills learned and apply then to a project with key check points along the way.  
  • Using centers as a conduit to spiral content and skills into instruction is a fantastic and engaging method to set up your spiral stations.  You could ensure that one station is dedicated to prior content learning as a review station.  This would allow student to regularly review previously learning content in meaningful ways.  Game Cards, Puzzles, Scavenger Hunts, and Anchor Chart review activities are all excellent ways to bring old content into your new lessons. 
  • Daily or weekly mini-lessons 
  • Mini projects such as Biography Cubes or Geography Continent Activities 





So, don't spiral out of control, SPIRAL content into your already fabulous lessons.
--Another post by Learned Lessons Teacher Material

Resources to support spiraling in MY STORE include Anchor Charts, Game Cards, Timeline and Sequencing Activities, Choice Boards, Biography Cubes, and many other activities to make learning engaging and fun!  

VISIT MY STORE AND FOLLOW TO GET UPDATES WHEN NEW RESOURCES ARE ADDED 


https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Learned-Lessons

learnedlessonstpt@gmail.com 
Thank you for your support! --Learned Lessons 

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