Pins of the Week: pegs, collapsible playspaces, Mo Willems, book towers and an assessment wheel

Welcome to another week! I must admit I am super tired this week, but not too tired to find you lots of goodies via Pinterest! Get ready to be wowed!

Peg Letters

Read all about it here!

I recently bought a mega-pack of wooden pegs and have been undecided as to how to use them. Thanks to this pin from the Creating and Teaching blog, I know exactly how I want to use them! You could make up these simple vocabulary cards for anything at all and if you make generic lower-case pegs, you can use them for everything. Now to find some spare time to write letters on a whole bunch of pegs!

DIY Collapsible Play Space

Click here to go to the tutorial, stat!

Oh how I want one of these... for me to play in! This great tutorial from She Knows makes it look super easy too. I can just imagine one of these with a pile of pillows in the bottom being a favourite spot in the classroom for so many kids - and then it folds away at the end of the day! I am definitely on the lookout for a big ol' box now!

Mo Willems

Click here to go to the BookPage website.

I am a huge Mo Willems fan, and this Q and A session with him proves why he is such a genius! I can't even decide which of his crazy responses is my favourite! Love it!

The Tower of Books Challenge

Visit Michael's store here - tell him Little Green sent you!

Sick of setting boring 'read 40 books' challenges? Chances are your students are bored too. Enter Michael Friermood and his awesome Tower of Books Challenge! This challenge will have your students reading broadly and deeply and will provide a visual motivation in the form of a physical tower of 3D 'books' for them to create! If you are stuck for space, there is a 2D version too, so don't despair! As cool as the book towers are, the best part about this challenge is the reading lists. There are a number of options available, including an Australian authors list, which I collaborated with Michael to create. Yeah, I know it is a sneaky plug, but I promise I'm not making a red cent - I genuinely love this resource, and for a fiver it can be yours to love too! Be sure to check out Michael's other resources while you are there - he is one of my favourite TPT sellers.

Assessment Wheel

Click here for a clearer view of the wheel!

Do you struggle to decide how to assess your students' achievement of outcomes or standards? This handy wheel from the folks at Arizona State University can help you decipher the verbs used in the outcome/standard to determine where it sits on Bloom's Taxonomy. Not only that, it also gives you a bunch of ideas for how to assess at each level. Too easy!

I hope you've been as inspired as I have by this week's pins. Don't forget to visit me on Pinterest for more great ideas!

Pins of the Week: small space display, keys writing prompt, my favourite no, physical activity cube and fun bookmarks!

Ready for some inspiration? Excellent! Here we go!

Small Space Display

Click here for the source.

What a great way to display in a small space! This idea could be used for displaying information or student work. Love it!

Keys Writing Prompt

Click here for the source.

This is such a terrific writing prompt - write key-related story prompts (such as, "There was a 50/50 chance that this was the right key. I put it in the lock and hoped I'd picked the right one.") on tags; attach each one to a different key; place all keys into a large jar; have students pick a key and write a story to go with the prompt. The link takes you to a description of the activity and a long list of prompts you could use. The use of a physical key adds a tangible element to the task that would help students engage with the task.

My Favourite No!

Click here for the source.

This high school Mathematics teacher has come up with a great way to quickly assess where her students are at, give students opportunities to look for great mathematical work as well as find mistakes, and work through common issues - all in one task! The link will take you to a blog post at Math Coach's Corner that contains a video of this teacher in action. This technique could be used in other subject areas and with younger students as well, not just for high school Mathematics.

Physical Activity Cube

Click here for the source.

This fantastic idea comes from the Little Family Fun blog - make a cube with physical activities on each side. The cube can then be used to get kids moving, either in a PE lesson or in between activities. Kids will love the game aspect as well as the activities you choose to include, so it is a win-win situation!

Fun DIY Bookmarks

Click here for the source.

What a fun idea! Get your kids to pose for a photo as though they are hanging from a rope, then use the photo to make a bookmark! The link takes you to the Creative Family Moments blog, where you will find step by step instructions for how to make these bookmarks.

That's it for this week's pins. Please comment if you plan to use any of these ideas in your classroom and let me know how it goes!

Freebie Friday - KWL Chart Graphic Organiser

Hooray! It is Friday again, and time for another Little Green freebie! Your fabulous freebie this week is a KWL Chart Graphic Organiser, which you can download here.

Download your free KWL Chart here. 

KWL stands for 'Know', 'Want to Know', and 'Learnt'. Students complete the first two columns of their chart at the beginning of a new topic of study to reflect what they already know and what they want to know, then complete the 'Learnt' column at the end of the unit to show what they now know about the topic.

This sample shows an example of how KWL Charts can be used in Mathematics.

KWL Charts can be used in any subject area, and are a great informal assessment tool for gathering information about your students.

This page gives some ideas for using KWL Charts in different subject areas.

Now, I know my KWL Chart is not as fancy as the one I blogged about last week, but sometimes a simple format is what you need! If you do download this freebie, please don't forget to rate it - it only takes a minute and is a great way to give me feedback about what you like.

Before I sign off, I also wanted to hit you with a quick shameless plug for my first paid resource (Eek! Here we go!) on my Teachers Pay Teachers store: a cute set of 1-10 Number Posters featuring adorable owls on a green chevron background.

Get your set here!

A sample poster.

They cost a mere $3, which, I hope, is a reasonable price for what you get! Be sure to follow me on TPT so you don't miss out on any of my products! Ok, shameless plug over!

Enjoy your freebie KWL Chart and have a great weekend!

Pins of the Week - formative assessment, real life literacy, writing prompts, tabletop twitter and introverts!

An interesting beginning of the week here at Little Green HQ: an abscess gone horribly wrong, pain (so much pain), a trip to the doctor's, antibiotics and a few days on the couch prescribed for me. So, not much time to collate today's pins, but I am a trooper (a whiny trooper, but a trooper just the same), and I have pressed on to find some excellent pins to share with you today! Here we go!

Formative Assessment

http://goo.gl/4Ga0Fa

What a great idea for conducting a formative assessment of your students' grasp of your current topic! This links to a blog post from The Elementary Math Maniac, that gives several great ideas for formative assessment in Mathematics. Of course, the ideas can be used in a number of subject areas too, so a win for everyone!

Real Life Literacy

http://goo.gl/1MStRM

Don't you just love all those spelling and grammar mistake posts you see on Pinterest and Facebook? Don't they make you feel so smug about your own grasp of the English language? Have you ever thought about how you could use them as a lesson on proof-reading for your students? Laura Randazzo did, so she created a resource for us all to use, and it is available for download at Teachers Pay Teachers for a mere $3! Well worth the investment.

Writing Prompts

http://goo.gl/TJpyvQ

I do love a good writing prompt, and this one is sure to have your students inspired. Have them tell this story and watch them exercise their creativity.

Tabletop Twitter

http://goo.gl/scTMfP

Ok, so it isn't exactly Twitter, but it is a fantastic idea from Lori at Conversations in Literacy. Print out an excerpt from your current text of study that is sure to get students talking, glue it to a large sheet of paper, then have students silently write their thoughts and respond to the thoughts of others. Did I mention the word 'silently'? Sounds like a winner to me!

Introverts in the Classroom



My final pin of the day is an excellent video from TED by Susan Cain. As an introvert myself, I can attest to the validity of what she says in her talk, and her ideas for helping ALL students, not just the introverts, think more deeply and creatively are absolutely inspiring. Are you failing your introverts? Please, please, please watch this video to find out! You can find the video on the TED website here.

All these pins and more can be found on my Pinterest boards.

Well, I'm off to try to recover. Have a great week!