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1.14.2016

Global Reading

Hello my name is Kelly and I am a Year 4 teacher from the UK. I blog over at the Daylight Explorers and I am reallyy excited to be here on the Global Glitter Tribe blog. I love books. I love sharing books with the pupils I teach. I love sharing books with fellow teachers. So it is with great excitement that I share some wonderful picture books that help us explore our wonderful world.

Firstly an absolutely charming wordless picture book called 'The Chicken Thief' by Beatrice Rodriguez. 


This book was originally published in France and can be used by pupils of all ages. I love the way it gets children thinking about stereotypes and I think it is a great text for developing storytelling with pupils. Rabbit, Chicken and Bear live in the forest when one day Fox kidnaps Chicken! The rest of the story follows the pursuit and eventual resolution. It is a lovely story which develops the children's skills of using inference and deduction. 

The next text I want to share is 'The Arrival' by Shaun Tan.

 'The Arrival' is a migrant story told as a series of wordless images in a graphic novel. The pictures are stunning and tell the story of a man who leaves his family in an impoverished town to emigrate to a new land. Each picture examines a different part of his story, the places he goes and the people he meets. This is a moving story that will allow you and the class to explore a wide range of issues linked to immigration. 

My next books gets children thinking about the world as a village. In 'If the World Were a Village' by David J. Smith and Shelagh Armstrong the reader gets to explore the world as if it were of a village of 100 people. 

I love the idea of this story. It is very hard for children to imagine the world as a whole but when you imagine it is a village of 100 people it starts to become easier for children to understand. For example of the 100 people in the global village: 61 are from Asia, 13 are from Africa, 12 are from Europe, 8 are from South America, Central America (including Mexico) and the Caribbean, 5 are from Canada and the US and 1 is from Oceania (an area that include Australia, New Zealand and the islands of the south, west and central Pacific). I have taught lots of children who will love the numbers involved in this very engaging presentation of a global village. 

'At the Beach: Postcards from Crabby Spit' is an Australian picture book by Roland Harvey that was introduced to me at a local Literacy conference. I immediately fell in love with the illustrations and the way the story is told through a series of postcards. You know you can get those books that cause children to pore over the illustrations to find every single detail? Well this is one of those books. Children will love the humour and the challenge to find a multitude of objects hidden within the pages. 


Finally comes a story by Mitsumasa and Masaichiro Anno from Japan called 'Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar' which is a great book for those mathematically minded among you. 

The simple text and illustrations tell the story of factorials and is great for talking about multiplication. I am a big believer in using books across the curriculum and I think this is a great addition to any Maths lesson.
 


Thank you for reading about this small selection of books from across the world. It would be wonderful if we could build up a list of recommended books so please do share in the comments!

Kelly the Daylight Explorer

12.30.2015

Blog-oluions 2016

As you know we are a group of 13 bloggers from all across the globe and, as much as we all love blogging, we all have our struggles with it too!
To help get our blogging game back on track and focus our minds for the coming year we are inviting you to link up with us and share you 'blog-olutions' for 2016.
It's really easy to take part- copy the image above and paste it into your post then write about;
1 thing you will strive to do every month on your blog
2 things you are hoping to do with your blog in 2016
3 linkys you will be joining in with in 2016
Then head back here, link up and read some of the other posts- who knows you might find some inspiration amongst other's blog-olutions!

12.20.2015

Lessons Learned from Using Technology with Students

Hello everyone! It's Suzy Palmer from On the Go Teacher Mama and I am beyond thrilled to be the blog admin this month. I was thinking about how I'm a global teacher and I realized that because of technology we all can be global teachers! I've done Skype book projects with classrooms in other places, "met" teachers via social media from all over the world, shared resources with people in other states and countries, and this is all because of technology. We live in an exciting time and our world is shrinking because of the connections we can easily make with people from other cultures around the world.

Technology is amazing and changing faster than we can keep up with. In the past 5ish years I have added an interactive whiteboard, 24 iPads, 5 student computers, 2 laptops and a desktop computer to my classroom. I have had to learn how to use each piece of equipment, teach my students how to use it, and then take it to the next level. I have learned some major lessons along the way that I'd like to share with you.

Don't even start to think that I am some kind of tech genius or something. I'm not. However, what sets me apart from other teachers is my fearlessness. I'm not afraid to TOUCH ALL THE BUTTONS to figure things out. I'm not afraid to try new apps or programs. I'm not afraid to ask for what I want or need. I'm not afraid to lose control of my classroom and put the learning back in the hands of the students. Stepping out of your comfort zone is how you learn and grow.

Technology is awesome but things will go wrong, be glitchy, or crash. The internet will go out sometimes. That app will have too many ads or in-app purchases and will distract your students. You will screw up. I promise it will be ok. Your students will still love you, BUT you should always have a backup plan.

The next lesson I have learned the hard way. We're busy planning, prepping, grading, collecting data, dealing with parents/admin/colleagues/behavior problems and it is so tempting to just give the kids that awesome new app everyone is talking about. Or, your lesson zoomed and you need to fill a few minutes, so just show a quick youtube video about your topic. Maybe your students are doing research and you want to show them how to do a google search on your interactive whiteboard. As much as you want to just go for it, you always, always, always need to preview the content, apps, videos, and sites you give students. Take a few extra minutes and play with the apps. PUSH ALL THE BUTTONS! Watch the whole video. Always freeze your interactive white board while you search or go to any site you aren't 100% sure of. Check things out for yourself. A colleague of mine was teaching about 3-D shapes and used Google to search for rectangular prisms. She didn't freeze her screen first and what popped up? Boobs. She was mortified and in those situations you just can't move fast enough to get that off the giant screen in front of your precious students' faces. Lesson learned.

The last lesson is about persistence and problem solving. You will encounter problems with technology right in the middle of your lesson. Don't freak out! Don't give up! Don't panic! Take a deep breath, take a moment to work on the issue. Let your students see you work on the solution because that is an authentic learning moment for them too. When things aren't working perfectly I calmly ask my students to be patient while I try to fix it. I talk through it out loud so they can hear how a person tackles a problem. They need to have a model in their lives for working things out and not giving up. At the same time, you'll be tempted to immediately jump in and fix the problems on their devices for them. STOP! Show them how to fix something so you won't have to the next time. Train a couple of "expert" students to fix minor issues so kids will ask their peers for help instead. Teach your "experts" to show how to fix something and not do it for the other student. Allow them to work through their problems while asking guiding questions. Let them become the persistent problem solvers the world needs.
That's all I have for today. I hope this post inspires you to try new techy things with your students! Check out my blog for more technology related posts!

On The Go Teacher Mama

12.13.2015

The December Linky!

The Global Glitter Tribe Monthly Link-up for December!

                                                     

Welcome, welcome, welcome! It is time for December's link up! I am super excited that you're here with us to check out all of the amazing content that these bloggers are delivering to you!

TO PARTICIPATE:
  1. Save the image above
  2. Save the Global Glitter Tribe logo
  3. Edit the photo using a photo editing app or PPT
  4. Post the graphic with your awesome responses to your blog 
  5. Link back to our blog with with the logo
  6. Comment on the blogs of two people before you and one person after you!


WHAT'RE THE TITLES ABOUT?

Staple Recipe: 
What's one thing you're known for making during the holidays OR something someone else makes that you just can't wait to get a taste of?

Holiday Read Aloud: 
What books call to you during the holiday season?

Integrated Technology: 
Share a techy tip or wish list with us!

New Find: 
What's something new you've discovered recently that you're excited about?

Engaging Books: 
Share a book that engages your age group!

Snow Day Plans: 
What's one thing you love to do on a snowy day? Don't have snowy days? What do you like to do during a winter vacation? Not on winter vacation right now? What do you like to do during your seasonal break that you're enjoying?




12.12.2015

On the 12th Day of Giving GG gave to me….12 Days of Giving linky

It has been amazing to feature some amazing freebies over the past 12 days!
Thank you for all of your support. We hope you have found some useful freebies which have maybe made your last couple of weeks in school a little less stressful!

Global Glitter Tribe have put together a very festive freebie to celebrate the season across the globe. 
Click on the links below to go directly to these amazing FREE and festive products!



Don't forget you can link-up your own blog posts all about YOUR freebies by clicking and adding the in-linkz too


Oh and 1 more thing…. YOU HAVE ONLY A FEW MORE HOURS- simply follow the steps and enter to WIN some amazing festive products!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Winner will be notified on 13th December-
'Tis the season for giving after all! 

12.11.2015

On the 11th Day of Giving GG gave to me….12 Days of Giving linky

We are so excited to be featuring some amazing freebies over the next 12 days!
Click on the pictures below to go directly to these amazing FREE and festive products!


"Merry Christmas! This freebie includes:
*Identifying Verbs
*End Punctuation
*Contractions
*Missing Addends
*Comparing Numbers
*Addition with Regrouping
*Subtraction with Regrouping
*2-Step Word Problems"

'This is intended to use as a fun way to reinforce word problem solving skills. I recommend cutting and laminating the task cards. Children could write their names on the cards so you know who has answered which problems. Once the word problem is solved then children place the task card into the basket with the correct number on it. All word problems total 14, 15, 16 or 17


This pack contains-
*16 word problem task cards 
*4 number cards to use on baskets



THIS IS A WINTER THEMED PRODUCT NOT CHRISTMAS SO CAN BE USED WITH A RANGE OF RELIGIONS AND CULTURES'



Don't forget you can link-up your own blog posts all about YOUR freebies by clicking and adding the in-linkz too


Oh and 1 more thing…. simply follow the steps and enter to WIN some amazing festive products!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Winner will be notified on 13th December-
'Tis the season for giving after all! 

12.10.2015

On the 10th Day of Giving GG gave to me….12 Days of Giving linky

We are so excited to be featuring some amazing freebies over the next 12 days!
Click on the pictures below to go directly to these amazing FREE and festive products!
 "I am SO thankful for all of my wonderful Techie Teacher followers! So here is a FREEBIE for you :)

This is a pack of three different holiday activities:
1. Making Words Sheet (How many 3+ letter words can you make from the word "Christmas"?)
2. Mystery Words (fill in the missing letters)
3. Holiday Word Search"

This is a forever freebie brought to you by 6 members of the Global Glitter Tribe. A link to each of the 6 products is available below- by using all 6 products you can provide your students with a more rounded view of the festive season for FREE! 


Don't forget you can link-up your own blog posts all about YOUR freebies by clicking and adding the in-linkz too



Oh and 1 more thing…. simply follow the steps and enter to WIN some amazing festive products!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Winner will be notified on 13th December-
'Tis the season for giving after all!