As the article reads in article written by Joanne Walsh on the Ophea website, “There are few areas where diversity is more apparent than in a Health and Physical Education class. Students enter classes with vastly different and varied skill sets, levels of confidence and interests”. The article further reads: “It is a challenge to […]
Update on the blog
I’m sure that the regular visitors to this blog have noticed already, but I am taking a temporary break from my regular school-day postings to the blog. But don’t be discouraged! There are nearly 800 past entries, and great differentiation ideas can easily be found by sorting the entries using the subject areas links in the menu above. Even more, I am working on a new project that will debut on this site in the near future and I am very excited to share the news with you soon. So, enjoy browsing through the past blog posts and stay tuned!!
Book reports in the bag
I have featured lessons from 4th Grade Frolics in the past because teacher Tara always has such innovative ideas and is always sharing great work samples with her readers. Today, I was poking around on her site and found an idea that fit so beautifully into our month’s theme of literacy: book reports in a bag. As I read about the requirements for the assessment, I not only thought about how motivating the “work” would be for kids, but immediately noticed [read more…]
CEREAL BOX REPORTS
Looking for a novel way for students to share favorite reads with peers? How about trying this cereal box book report idea from 3rd-grade teacher Mrs. Snyder found on her blog, Snyder’s Scoop? This clever educator not only had learners create boxes as part of their report but let them shoot commercials to “advertise” key elements of their [Read more…]
MAKE-YOUR-OWN STUDY TOOL
Master P, I love your vocabulary idea! What a neat idea for honoring student individuality while inspiring students to get their work finished. This teacher differentiated homework by giving all learners the same [Read more…]
WRITING CHECKLISTS FOR ONE, SOME, OR ALL
Today’s idea is a post I created on my professional blog, PaulaKluth.com, for Autism Awareness Month two years ago. I initially used this writing checklist idea for a few students on the spectrum, but you could use this tool with all of your learners. They may be especially useful for those of you [read more…]
Charlotte & Wilbur for all
Thank you so much to the wonderful mom who clued me into this great modified Charlotte’s Web unit over on Miss Kolis’ Classroom Blog. Wow! This post is a treasure trove of ideas for the teacher who wants to teach this book in a differentiated classroom. You will find graphic organizers, a comprehension journal, visuals to [read more…]
Analyzing text
Teaching Channel has done it again. They have produced yet another great video on differentiating literacy instruction.
Don’t believe me? Click on over to this short piece (5 minutes) on analyzing text. If you teach ELLs, you will find the differentiation focus of this video to be especially helpful. This is a Grade 5 example, but teachers in many [read more…]
Hamburger helper
There are so many reasons to love Reading Rockets. They have great articles, tips for teachers and even lesson plan ideas. I usually share their articles on this blog, but today I am sharing one of their many fabulous lesson ideas-the paragraph hamburger.
What is a paragraph hamburger? Glad you asked! It’s a writing organizer that visually outlines the key components of a paragraph. As you teach the elements of a good paragraph (topic sentence, detail sentences and a closing sentence) you show students that each one forms a different part of a tasty [read more…]
Daily 5 details
I could not feature differentiation and literacy all month long without a mention or two of The Daily 5. I chose this post from Setting Up for Second because it is so visual and detailed that even novices would be able to replicate the materials and format by reading this classroom/lesson description.
So many aspects of this structure allow students to learn in their own ways. For example, students have choices throughout the process of [read more…]
