Teaching Shy Students

Every class has students who play certain roles.  You have your class clown, your queen bee - the one everyone wants to be friends with, a rebel without a cause, shy students, plus a few other roles.  When I went through my training in undergrad, I was taught strategies to use with discipline problems,  gifted students,  English as a Second Language Learners, but I don't remember having a professor discuss ways to meet the needs of shy children.

Shy students were always a welcome addition to my class.  Probably because I had plenty of Chatty Cathy's in my class, so a few quiet ones help balance out the noise level.  There are a few things I've found through the years that helped my shy students come out of their shell:

*BEGINNING OF THE DAY:  Greet them when they come in the room with a simple, "Good Morning!"  Do not ask them questions, get in their personal space, or push them to talk to you.  For very shy children, it will be baby steps.  They may acknowledge your greeting by shaking their head, smiling at you, making eye contact, and eventually whispering hello.  It is a slow process.  Give them time to warm up to you.

*COOPERATIVE LEARNING: During cooperative learning activities, pair shy students with students who are a little bit more outgoing.  But do not pair them with a student who is over-the-top outgoing.  These students will overwhelm your shy ones.

*FOSTERING FRIENDSHIPS:  Ask shy students to run errands for you at the beginning of the year and send them with a buddy.  These quick trips give them a few minutes to get to know a buddy and hopefully make a new friend.

*LUNCH & RECESS:  With primary grades, the first few weeks of school, we draw names out of the bucket.  I have a bucket of boy names and a bucket of girl names. I draw 2 names out at a time. These 2 students are buddies for 2 days.  They sit by each other at lunch and play together at recess.  They can play with other buddy pairs, but they have to stay together for 2 days.  Every other day I would draw names again.  By the end of two weeks, each student has been a buddy with 5 students.  Hopefully, they will "click" with  one of the five students that they have been paired with.  **Please note:  I draw two names, I do not draw one name and let a student choose a buddy.  We've all had an experience once or twice in our life when we were the last one chosen.  Why give your students that experience?

*INSTRUCTION TIME:  Call on shy students when they either raise their hand or when you know the subject is their strength.  Overtime, they will build confidence by sharing when they have the correct answer and take more risks to share during other lessons.


There is a great article about shy students that you should read.  Click on the book to read it:

Staples new policy

Have you heard of Staples new policy for teachers?  Last year, when Staples had their sales on school supplies in July and August, the public was limited in the amount they could purchase of the sale items.  Teachers were allowed to purchase up to 25 of the items at the sale price, which was a big help!  With the new policy, teachers will get the sale price for the same amount as the public.  Teachers can purchase up to 25 of the item on sale, at regular price.  This amount teachers spend will be rewarded back in Staples rewards.

Here is how this will work:


I can't remember the exact sale price, but for example purposes, let's say that a package of loose leaf binder paper was/is on sale for 10 cents.  


2011 TEACHER POLICY:
25 packages of loose leaf binder paper = $2.50 
2012 TEACHER POLICY:

limit of 5 = 50 cents   

regular price - $1.99 X 20 packages = $39.80

$39.80 + .50 = $40.30

$40.30 - $2.50 = $37.80

Granted teachers get Staples rewards for the money they spend.  But, it's still $37.80 MORE coming out of my checking account.

I checked my Staples Rewards account to see how much money I've spent this year.  Since January 1st, which doesn't count all of the money I spent in the back to school sales, I have spent $683.79.  Granted, to a large corporation, this is a drop in the bucket.  But, if other teachers are as irritated as I am, eventually it will be felt on the corporate bottom line.

I initially heard about Staples great deals for teachers from teacher blogs.  I checked it out and loved what I found.  In the past, I shopped at Target or Wal-Mart for my back to school supply bargains.  Target and Wal-Mart are more convenient places for me to get my supplies, because I'm already there shopping for my family.  I was willing to make a special trip to Staples because of the bargains.  This new policy will not motivate me to make a special trip to purchase my supplies. I wonder if this new policy is going to be like the New Coke from the 80's . . . . a big flop! 

Missing supplies

If you asked any teacher to list his/her top 10 frustrations with delivering instruction that teacher would probably say students not having needed supplies at the top of the list.  It is a challenge to begin a math lesson when 19 out of 21 students have a pencil.  Or you are in the middle of explaining some new creative assignment that involves scissors and glue, and five students raise their hands to tell you that they can't find their scissors.  UGH!  Do you let them sit there and watch the other students do the assignment? Do you make them take the assignment home to complete and a note to the parent?  Do you ask your students to share their supplies with their classmates?  There are several ways you can look at this.  From a parent's point of view, they feel like they sent in the needed supplies at the beginning of the year so, why should they have to buy more?  Are you creating an enabling situation when students are continually rescuing a student who doesn't have his/her supplies or are you building a sense of community?  I feel it's important that we teach our students about responsibility, but Rome wasn't built in a day.  Is it realistic to expect 100% of your students to have their needed supplies everyday?  How many times have you asked the teacher next door for cotton balls, red construction paper, brads, or some other supplies you need for the lesson you are teaching that day?  It has happened to me more times than I care to count.  Thankfully, I've always taught next door to teachers who graciously share their supplies with me. So, if I'm a grown adult and don't always have all of my needed supplies to teach my lessons, is it fair for me to get frustrated with my students when they don't have theirs?  No, I don't think so.  How do you solve this problem?  Do you just throw up your hands and give up?  No, that's not the answer either.

First of all, you need to set a realistic goal.  Wouldn't it be great if you could count on 80% of your students always having their supplies to complete their assignments 100% of the time?  More than 80% is a bonus.  This means with 25 students, you can count on 20 students.  What do you do with the other 5?  You have "Oops" supplies . . . "Oops!  I forgot I need to bring more pencils to school.

One of the weekly jobs for your students is "supply manager".  When you begin an assignment, list what supplies will be needed, and have your students get out those supplies.  Students who don't have all of their needed supplies will raise their hand.  Your supply manager will give "Oops" supplies to those students. This way you don't have a long line and noisy students getting the needed supplies.  At the end of the lesson, your supply manager collects the "Oops" supplies.

Put a colored piece of tape on your supplies so your supplies are easily identified when it's time for your supply manager to pick them up.  I love the new colorful duct tape.  

The tape also comes in patterns which is great if you have a thematic room.

You can get a free copy of the supply labels by clicking on the picture below:

There are different ways to encourage your students to become more responsible.  If your class is divided into teams, give team points to each of the teams who have the needed supplies.  Another idea is to add an extra minute to your 30 minute Friday Fun day for each assignment that exceeds your 80% goal.   If more than 80% don't have their supplies, subtract that many minutes from Friday Fun Day. 

Favorite Picture Book

Every year, no matter what grade I teach, I read the book, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs.  I always read this story the first week of school for two reasons.  First of all, it is my favorite story which I tell my class. This builds a personal connection with my students.  I have found this book is a wonderful resource for conflict management.  What class doesn't have a few conflicts, right?  Just like my students have conflicts with their brothers and sisters, at some point this school year, they will have conflicts with a classmate or two.  Learning to solve conflict is an important life skill.  I point out that in the original version of The 3 Little Pigs, it seemed like the wolf was the bad guy.  But, when we read this version, it seems like he was just a little misunderstood.  The pigs were jumping to conclusions about him because they didn't know the wolf's point of view. He didn't seem so bad after all, after we heard his side of the story.  I assure my students that when we have conflicts, it is important that we listen to both sides of the story.  Never assume your side of the story is right.  A little truth can usually be found in both versions of a story.  Having the text-to-self connection helps with conflict management.  I highly recommend all elementary teachers share this book with their class at the beginning of the year.

For other picture book ideas, visit Jeannie @ Kindergarten Lifestyle's picture book linky party.

Have you heard of Skin It? & a Giveaway & Blog Roll

My daughter just introduced me to something new.  It's called Skin It.  I just placed an order and wanted to share the information with you.   Here's how their site describes skinit:

WHAT IS A SKINIT DEVICE SKIN?

PROTECTION BY DESIGN

Skinit device skins are the easy way to protect your electronics and personalize them at the same time by using a thin protective "skin" applied directly to the surface of your device.

Each skin is made from a flexible, super-strong, vinyl material from Premium Quality that has been specially crafted to perfectly fit every corner, cutout and curve of your device - providing the ultimate in custom lightweight protection from everyday bumps, scuffs and scratches.

And best of all, when you're ready to change up your style it's easy, simply pull off your old skin and replace with a new one, no mess, no residue.

This is the design I ordered.

Click on "my" computer above to visit their site.

They have free shipping for orders over $35.  My cover was $30 and the iPhone cover I ordered was only $15.  You can personalize your cover, too.  My daughter's iPad cover is going to have a picture of her guinea pig on it.  Too cute!  It cost $35.

There is a new member of our TPT family who is doing something unique.  If you become a follower of his store he will donate money to an education fund that was set up after an earthquake damaged his school.  Here's what Chad wrote:

A Giveaway...With A Twist

In lieu of a gift certificate giveaway, I wanted to try something a little different.

As some of you have read on my introductory forum post, I teach in a county in rural Virginia that was deeply affected by the east coast 5.8 magnitude earthquake of August 23, 2011.  The epicenter was about 2 miles from my high school where I teach math.  In those 30 seconds, we lost 2 out of our 5 schools including my school and one of our 4 elementary schools.  I am currently teaching in one of about 25 trailers placed on the parking lot of our old school.  Needless to say, it has been quite a year, but the community has rallied behind the schools and we are getting used to our "new normal."

This past Sunday, Alan Jackson played a benefit concert for our school system.  $152,000 was raised.  I have a link to a video and an article regarding the concert on my blog (link below) along with some pictures.  Extending the charitable feelings and instead of offering a gift certificate, I would like to offer you a very easy way to help.

I am going to donate $1 to the education foundation set up for earthquake relief for every 5 people to follow my store from now until June 1.  I want to set a lofty goal of 50 followers, but who knows...

I want to thank you in advance.

Chad

Click on the picture above to go to Chad's TPT store.

Click on the schoolhouse to add your blog to my blog roll.

Fluency Center: Sentence Shuffle

I recently added a new fluency center to my TPT store.  You know how your students practice reading real and nonsense words.  With this center, they will make real sentences and nonsense sentences.  I'm sure there will be plenty of laughter with this center because your students can make some silly sentences.

Directions:

1. Put the cards into 3 stacks by color.

2. Choose one card from each stack.

3. Arrange the cards to make the cards into a sentence.

Hint: Find the card that begins with a capital letter.

4. Read the sentence. These sentence can be real sentences or nonsense sentences.

5. Choose 3 more cards and read the sentence.

6. Keep doing this until you've used all of the cards.

7. You may shuffle the cards and make new sentences if

you have time.

8. Write 3 of the sentences you made on the worksheet.

This packet comes with:

A center sign

There are two different pages of nouns.  The nouns have a different frame around the word.  There is a colored version and a black and white version.  Copy the cards on card stock and cut apart.

There are two different pages of verbs.  The verbs have a different frame around the word.  There is a colored version and a black and white version.

There are two different pages of cards that give more information.  These cards have a different frame around the word.  There is a colored version and a black and white version.

Students shuffle the cards and put the stacks on the correct spot on this sheet.

After making and reading sentences, student will choose 3 sentences and write them on this page.

This packet is aligned with K, 1st, and 2nd Common Core Standards.

This packet is available at my TPT store for $4.

Click on the picture to go to my store.

Hop over to my blog buddy, Michelle's blog, No Monkey Business.  She has a Saturday Spotlight feature with freebies!

click

Swat it!

What do you do with bugs?  Swat them, right?  Here's a fun activity to use with my "Buggy for Reading" packets.  You can also use this with other lessons, too.

When you meet with your reading group, give each student a copy of this:

This is from my primer packet.

First, give your students time to read these sentences silently by themselves.  Then you  let each student read a sentence or have partners read a sentence together.  

Ahead of time, write the sentences on sentence strips.  Choose two volunteers to play "swat it".  You give the volunteers a swatter (fly swatter with a square cut out of the middle).  You give them a clue such as "I'm looking for a word that rhymes with fan."  The first volunteer who covers the word with their swatter wins a bug.  Bugs are my incentive program.  You can get a free copy here:  B.U.G.S.  Sometimes you will give them clues that may work for more than one word such as "I'm looking for a word with a long vowel." 

There is also a writing extension for this lesson that can be given as homework, used as a center or given as a handwriting lesson.  

You may get a free preview of this packet by clicking on the bug:

This packet is available at my TPT for $5.

This packet is on the Primer level.

It is aligned with Kindergarten and 1st grade Common Core Standards.

These packet have the same type of activities, but at a different level:

Add caption

This packet is on the Pre-Primer level.

It is aligned with Kindergarten and 1st grade Common Core Standards.

This packet is on the First level.

It is aligned with 1st grade and 2nd grade Common Core Standards.

Collaboration

Wikipedia defines collaboration as: working together to achieve a goal.  

As teachers, we know it when we see it, when it comes to our students, but what does collaboration look like when you are working with the teachers on your grade level?  There are different models that work with different teams because teams, like classes, are made up of people with different personalities, experiences, and skills.

Personalities can be the glue that holds a team together or it can work as a wedge to drive people apart.  It is helpful if you know and understand each person's personality on your team.  There are many ways to define personality and the internet has quizzes your team can take to define theirs.  Just like we want "common language" among grade levels when teaching phonics, "common language" of personalities is beneficial, as well.  You can google personality tests and find several types.  My favorites are:

click

click

Another helpful thing to discuss with your team members is defining each person's thinking style when making a decision.  As a team of teachers, you make many decisions together in a school year.  Some examples are: "Where are we going on our field trip?"  "How are we going to split up our duties?"  "Who is responsible for ordering the supplies?" Edward de Bono, in his book, 6 Thinking Hats,  created a tool that is used to look at decisions from different perspectives.

The red hat thinker looks at problems using intuition, gut reaction, or emotions.

The black hat thinker is your "Devil's advocate".  This person looks at all the bad points of a decision.  This person is an important member of the team because he or she will point out all of the weak points in a plan so you can try to fix them ahead of time.

To read more about this, click HERE.

As a team, you need to discuss what collaboration will look like on your team.  Remember there are different models.  What may work for the grade level above you, may not work with your team. How will you divide up the duties and responsibilities?  How will you communicate so everyone is on the same page?  

With the school year soon coming to a close, this is a great time to do some reflecting about your team.  What worked well?  What needs some improvement?  Remember a cohesive, effective team is always evolving.

Here is a form you can use when you need to make a team decision:

Memorial Day Ideas

Here are a few Memorial Day activities you can use with your class.

Song: You're A Grand Old Flag

Video:  History of Memorial Day, also has a clip by President Obama

3:56 minutes

Song:  This Land is Your Land (with lyrics)

2:17 minutes

America the Beautiful (with lyrics)

2:48 minutes

Here's a free sneak peek at my Memorial Day packet.  

You can purchase my Memorial Day packet for $3 at TPT.

Click on the picture above.

Phonics Relay Races

Do you have a class that has too much energy?  You've heard of Race for the Cure, this race will cure something a little different.  Phonics Relay Races can help with the wiggles, irritability, and limited attention span that students seem to magically "catch" around Halloween, Easter, or other sugar-fest holidays.

To play:

1. Divide your students into groups.  If they are particular wiggly the day you decide to do this, you need to have more groups so they will run more often.

2.  Students line up in straight lines behind a line.  Beside each team is a different colored bucket.  Each team is assigned a bucket.

Dollar Tree has these buckets for $1.

3.  The race part of this activity involves students running to a hula hoop that is at a designated place, finding letters that are lying inside the hula loop, bringing the correct letters back to their team and putting the letters in their team's bucket.  Each team has their own hula hoop.  P.E. teachers usually have hula hoops that they will loan you.   You can use letters used for bulletin boards or foam letters like these:

You can buy foam letters like these in the baby bath tub supplies at Target or Wal-Mart.

4.  The teacher will give clues for what letters the people at the beginning of the line needs to find in the hula hoop.  After giving the clue, the teacher will say "go", the student will run to the hula hoop, find the correct letter, and put it in their bucket.  

5.  The winner is decided at the end.  The team or teams that have all the correct letters in their bucket is/are the winners.

The great thing about this game is it can be adapted to any grade level.  Examples of clues:

*Clue #1:  This letter is the sound you hear at the end of the word "globe".

*Clue #2:  These are the letters you hear at the beginning of the word "chain".

*Clue #3:  These are the 3 letters you hear at the end of the word "coming".

*Clue #4:  This is the sound you hear in the middle of the word "zap".

You can also make this game into a Math Relay Race game.  It can be adapted to any grade level.

*Clue #1:  What is the answer:  12 + 3 = ___

*Clue #2:  What is the answer:  How many sides does an octagon have?

*Clue #3:  What is the answer:  4 X 8 = ___

*Clue #4:  What is the answer:  How many minutes are in a quarter hour?

This game burns off excess energy while reviewing skills your students have studied.  It's a WIN-WIN!