April Is Spring Fever Time!
January 1, 1970
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Welcome to Issue Three!
April Is Spring Fever Time!
“The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.” ~Mark Twain
April is a month full of promise! Even though the weather so far in the month of April has been erratic for many of us, the promise of spring is still evident. With a sense of renewal brought about by longer days, many teachers find the energy to accomplish more than usual. To help you spend your energy wisely, here is what you can find in this month’s newsletter:
• How to Combat Spring Fever
• How to Celebrate Earth Day
• How to Celebrate Poetry Month
• How to Access an Amazing Teacher Web Site
• How to Use Weather in Your Classroom
• How to Use a Word Wall
How to Combat Spring Fever
Rare would be the person who is not affected by spring fever during the month of April. Your restless students are certainly no exception. Instead of trying (probably in vain) to fight the phenomenon, spend a little extra time planning lessons that will make class enjoyable for your students. Here are some suggestions to consider:
* Be careful to build in relevance to make sure students are aware of the benefits of what they are learning.
* Consider using multimedia in your presentations to engage student interest. Music, art, video clips…whatever your students enjoy can be used to snag their attention.
* Sometimes tangible rewards can help students pay attention when they may otherwise be distracted.
* Challenge your students to beat their personal best on assignments.
* Challenge your students to beat each other in friendly competitions.
* If your subject or grade level is appropriate, arrange for your students to participate in a WebQuest project. To learn more, try www.webquest.org.
* Plan plenty of review sessions at the end of class so that students can see the relevance of what they are learning as well as the progress they are making.
* Allow more wiggle breaks when students are restless. A thirty-second stretch break every now and then is preferable to a loss of thirty minutes caused by distraction and boredom.
* One sure way to make your classroom a livelier place during the month of April is to present a silly fact each day for your students to think about, dispute, talk about, research, write about, and enjoy. For example, did you know these strange-but-true facts from www.amusingfacts.com?
1) In 1982, Larry Walters tied 24 weather balloons to his lawn chair in Los Angeles and climbed to an altitude of 16,000 feet.
2) In the spring of 1975, a baby in Detroit fell 14 stories and landed on Joseph Figlock, who was walking below. A few years later it happened again. Figlock and both babies survived.
3) The Canadian province of New Brunswick had a bloodless war with the US state of Maine in 1839.
You can search the many fact sites on the Internet by using the key terms, “fun facts.” Another good place to begin is with either of these sites: www.hightechscience.org/funfacts.htm and www.factmonster.com/index.html.
How to Celebrate Earth Day
In addition to joining the millions of others of us watching the Discovery Channel’s astonishing Planet Earth series and talking about what we are learning with our students, you can celebrate April 22, Earth Day. In recent years, the number of sites devoted to Earth Day celebrations has grown tremendously. There are many, many interactive sites and sites loaded with games especially geared for younger students, in particular. Just use “earth day” as your search term and stand back ready to follow the three “Rs” as you and your students reduce, reuse, and recycle.
How to Celebrate Poetry Month
April is poetry month. Celebrate it no matter what subjects you teach. One way to do this is to search www.poets.org where you can sign up to have a poem e-mailed to you each day!
How to Access an Amazing Teacher Web Site
For an amazing experience, go to www.teachertube.com. At Teacher Tube, educators from all over the country have posted their own instructional videos. There are hundreds of different classroom and professional development videos for students and teachers. One of the most amazing ones is Did You Know? by Karl Fisch. Expect to feel disturbed after watching it.
How to Use Weather in Your Classroom
An activity many students will find interesting is to check the weather in other cities, states, or countries. With just a bit of brainstorming and planning, you can incorporate this idea into just about any lesson topic. To check the weather in Paris, Mexico City, Moscow, or just about anywhere, use www.weather.com.
“Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow.”~ Alice M. Swaim
How to Use a Word Wall
One of the most helpful activities you can do with your students this month is to make a Word Wall. Although this is a popular activity with young students, it can be easily adapted to the needs of older ones. First, determine the terms in a unit of study that you want your students to know. Then, display them in a large format on the wall, on the board, in personal dictionaries, or in some other conspicious way.
Word Walls are successful activities because students tend to learn what you call their attention to. If you post the terms of a unit that they are studying in a conspicuous place, they will then learn them almost passively. Word Walls are successful because they focus attention, give ample opportunities for review, and are pleasant for students to use.
There are many ways to create a Word Wall:
• Post the terms you want students to know
• Post the terms and their definitions
• Use bright colors to help students retain meanings
• Post sight words that you want students to learn
• Post photos, drawings, or other illustrations next to the words
• Use the words in a phrase or sentence
• Use 3-D objects to help students recall the words
• Post frequently used words
• Post frequently misused words
• Post variations of words such as politics, politician, political
• Post root words and affixes
• Post words associated with an upcoming unit of study to generate interest
• Post words associated with your discipline
• Post words associated with standardized tests (imply, infer…)
• Post words that students themselves suggest
Keep in mind that while some words may be obvious to you, they may be ones that your students do now know. A Word Wall is a great way to bring these words to your students’ attention. For more information on Word Walls and how to use them in your class, go to
www.edhelper.com/word_walls.htm
“If Spring came but once in a century, instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake, and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change!” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow