The Water Cycle Song

I have been meaning to add yet another song to my ever growing list (of 3). A parent of former students was in my building a few months back and asked me if I still sang the song because her kids still remembered it. This is after five years for the older of the two children. So here comes the third installment to the tune of Oh My Darling Clementine.

Evaporation (do the reverse of raindrops coming down with your fingers like you would do in Itsy Bitsy Spider)
Condensation (curve both arms over your head meeting to together to form a cloud, which might look like an egg or o to some students)
Percipitation on my mind (here's where the raindrops can come down)
It's the water cycle, it's the water cycle and it's happening all the time (have the students rotate their arm around in a circle as if doing the backstroke)

Now you have the tune and the motions that allowed my second graders to learn the vocabulary of the water cycle. Just in case you need a visual here is the water cycle, thanks to the public photo area of Flickr.

Sharing Part 2

A way my teaching partner and I created more of that extremely valuable resource in school, time, was by bringing both of our classes together for read aloud. Two days a week she brings her class to my room and I read to both classes. She also reads to both classes for two days of the week as well. This allows one of us to have 20 to 30 minutes of prep time each day we do read aloud. One thing we have done to allow our students to practice reading in front of a group is to have two students each week (Very Important Person or Star students of the week) read a favorite book to the classes during one of my read aloud times. Then during my teaching partner's time one day we have students from both classes read their writing samples and stories they created to the whole group. Students really think about which of the writing samples they want to share and they enjoy receiving feedback from their peers. Very much like blogging. Let me know if you have any creative ways to build in more prep time.

2nd Grade Shared Files

Our district has set up a shared file system on the server for each grade. It's quick and easy for your IT department to do. Yesterday at a grade level meeting I was able to take the other members of my team through the process of locating and entering the folder. We then started adding work we had completed in different programs (mainly Word) to a set of organized folders I had put in place. Having three elementary buildings in my district makes it harder to share or even remember to share with the other two buildings. Technology makes it very easy to share documents. Now that we have put all this information in, it is important for us to take a look through it and see what everyone has included. Otherwise it's just a resource that sits there like so many of the workbooks, books, and binders I have sitting on my shelf.
What about non-computer based sheets you ask? The photocopiers out there now allow you to email yourself a copy of the sheet you just photocopied in a pdf file to your email.
The staff meeting I had yesterday was pretty valuable. Everyone was to bring in an activity that helps with differentiation in the classroom. Lots of great ideas that I will talk about in a blog at a later time. However, since everyone gave an activity we now have a red folder full of activities - but no time to look through them or choose what will work best. That's often the problem with professional development, load you up with all this information over a short period of time and you're off on your own. There is usually no follow through or activity to bring back. Anyone have any presentations you've been to where the presenter had some great way for you to learn it, but put it to use in the classroom?