Category: Blogs

Curriculum Planning

Planning Your Curriculum

✦ Step back and get an overview of the school year’s schedule of activities.

✦ Create loose timelines and set your learning goals.

✦ Remember that your main objective, which is to foster learning, supersedes the importance of watching the clock. You must balance the two priorities of sticking to the schedule and honoring your learning goals.

Before School Starts

✦ Examine the learning competencies in your Restructured Basic Education Curriculum (RBEC).

✦ Look at the number of units in your textbooks or curriculum materials and determine how much time to allow for each unit over the course of the year.

✦ Count the number of chapters within each unit, merging those units that are identical, and determine how much time you can spend on each. Project the dates when you will probably begin a new chapter in the first unit.

✦ Determine how much time to allot for the lessons that will cover the contents.

✦ Jot down the learning activities you will plan within a sample day and within a sample week.

At the End of the First Week

✦ After the first few days of school, you may feelbetter able to estimate the length of time needed to complete the activities in your lesson plans. Assess whether you can stay on target given the time you allocated for each chapter.

✦ Factor in daily activities and special events as you prepare for each new week. Record in your plan book any upcoming school activities or other interruptions you should anticipate.

At the End of the First Unit

✦ Assess the effectiveness of your timeline again. Map out the chapters for the entire semester and the start dates in your plan book.

At the End of the First Semester

✦ Complete the process for the remainder of the year, noting down the start dates for each chapter.

✦ You could team up with a co-teacher to develop the schedule; you could discuss weight priorities, and check which of the competencies have not been sufficiently covered and which ones have been over studied.

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SPELLING GAMES FOR CHILDREN

The ability to spell well is a sign of literacy. Spelling is a skill of constructing words rather than memorizing them. A good speller predicts how a word is spelled based on knowledge of what is probable in English. Sadly, spelling is one of the most neglected subjects of study.

Spelling instruction is reinforced through activities that:

• Apply spelling words to daily reading and writing
• Build phonemic awareness and phonics skills
• Emphasize basic spelling patterns and generalizations
• Promote word analysis and build vocabularies
• Help students correct common spelling errors
• Develop student interest

A worthwhile spelling program includes the following characteristics:

• About fifteen minutes of daily instruction, five days a week
• Lists of spelling words based on spelling patterns or similar structures
• Use of pretest-study-test format
• A self-corrected test procedure
• A word-study strategy that is both visual and auditory
• Teaching words as whole units, not as parts
• An emphasis on teaching how words are spelled rather than on teaching rules

Immediate reinforcement, specifically self-correction, is essential. In fact, self-correction is the single greatest factor in learning to spell.

Enhancing spelling instruction with games sparks students’ interest. Although games do not involve real-world reading and writing, they serve to focus the players’ attention on the structure of words. This, in turn, helps to create visual images of the words, which students will then use as they read and write. Playing games fosters a positive attitude towards spelling, which is critical to improving spelling skills.

Spelling Games

1. Keep Climbing
   Materials:

• Keep Climbing game board
• pencils and erasers
• list of spelling words that progress from easy to more difficult

Preparation:

• Make a copy of the game board for each student.

How to play:

1. Ask for a volunteer to be the caller and give him or her the word list.
2. The caller reads out each word and uses it in a sentence.
3. As the caller reads the words, the players write them on the lines of their game board, starting at the bottom of the page.
4. After the players have written each word, the caller writes the word on the chalkboard so that the players could self-check. If incorrect, the players self-correct.
5. When the caller reads the next word, the players write it on the next line, or, if the last word had been spelled incorrectly, on the same line.
6. Play continues in this manner until one player reaches the top.

1. Word Detective

Materials:

• letter cards
• list of spelling words

Preparation:

• Copy a set of letter cards, making multiple cards for vowels and other letters that appear more than once in a spelling word.

How to play:

1. Use letter cards to build a spelling word, or ask a volunteer to build a word.
2. Have the players read the word and then have them turn around.
3. Remove a letter.
4. Have the players turn back around. Have them identify the missing letter and tell where it belongs. A volunteer may replace the letter.
5. You may have each player write a sentence that uses the word.

1. Copycat Words

Materials:

• word strips cut out into cards, each one approximately six inches long
• pencils
• scissors
• list of spelling words
• chalkboard and chalk

How to play:

1. Write a spelling word on the chalkboard.
2. Ask the students to copy the word onto a strip. Check their spelling.
3. Have the students say the word and spell it. Invite volunteers to use the word in a sentence.
4. Cover up the word on the chalkboard, and ask the students to cut apart each letter.
5. Have them say the word again and visualize how to spell it. Then have them rebuild the word using their letters.
6. Reveal the word on the chalkboard so that the students can check their work.

1. Pass the Pad

Materials:

• pad of paper and pencil
• paper bag
• music player
• index cards
• marker

Preparation:

• Write spelling words on cards, or have the children write the words. Place the word cards in a paper bag.

How to play:

1. Invite the students to sit in a circle. Play music while the students pass the paper and pencil around the circle.
2. Periodically stop the music and choose a word from the bag. Read the word aloud.
3. The player who is holding the pad when the music stops writes the word that you read.
4. The player displays the word and confirms its spelling with the word card. If the word is spelled correctly, he or she remains in the circle. If not, the player corrects the spelling and leaves the circle. He or she reads the spelling word the next time the music stops.
5. Continue playing until all the words have been spelled or until just one player remains in the circle.

Other Games

• Move and Form a Word
• Roll It, Say It, Spell It
• Hidden Words
• ABC Hop

Communication means interacting with others to promote understanding and achieve a result of some kind.

There are three areas that matter in communication:

• words – what we say
• tone – how we say it
• body language – how we look when we are saying it

Advantages of Face-to-face Communication

• People can “see what you mean.”
• Eye contact helps you establish if the other person is listening and understanding.
• Your body language can help him believe what you are saying.

Disadvantages of Face-to-face Communication

• You can give away your true feelings.
• You might “wear your heart on your sleeve.”
• The other person may not understand the words you use.
• He may not like the way you are saying the words.

Tips on Listening

• Give your full attention.
• Do not assume what the other person is going to say.
• Do not waste listening time formulating what your response will be.
• Show by eye contact and an interested expression that you are paying attention.
• When listening on the telephone, do not allow distractions in the room to interfere with your listening abilities.
• When on the phone, let your caller know you are listening by making verbal indications such as “M-mm, yes, okay . . . .”
• Make notes if appropriate; when on the telephone, for example.

Types of Questions

1. Open questions – These questions will help you the most. Who, what, when, where, and why are the opening words to questions that will give you specific information. You cannot answer Yes or No to an open question.
2. Closed questions – These questions will give you the answer Yes or No. They begin with Can you, Will you, Did you, etc.
3. Specific questions – These questions clarify facts. These are often used to get numbers, dates, addresses, etc. (For example: Your address is . . . ? and Is the number . . . ?)

Tips on Receiving Calls

• Cultivate a pleasant and interesting telephone voice.
• Greet your caller with “Good morning/afternoon!,” state your name, then ask “How may I help you?”
• Make your caller feel “wanted” by making him aware of who is speaking and by asking him his name—we all like the sound of our own names!

Tips on Taking Messages

• It may be that the person your caller wants is not available. First ask him if you can help. If you can’t, offer to take a message.
• When telling your caller that you will take a message, you should do just that! Say, “I will see that . . . gets the message,” or, “I will pass the message to . . . ,” not “I will get him/her to phone you back.”

The Stages of Preparing Your Letter

1. Planning
   You need to identify your objective in sending the letter. For example, is it:

• to give information?
• to promote an action?
• to clarify something?
• to rectify a situation?
• to promote your school?

1. The Structure of the Letter

• Letter length should be only one page.
• Try to keep the length of sentences to not more than twenty words each.
• Paragraph length should be no more than four sentences each.

Structure your letter around the following:
1. Greeting

• “Dear Sir/Madam” is used if you do not know the name of the person to whom you are writing.
• “Dear Dr./Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss” is professional and less formal. Ms. is quite correct if you have no indication of marital status.

2. Introduction

• In the first introductory paragraph, say why you are writing and mention the date of correspondence received from them, if any (“Thank you for your letter of 10th June 2007.”).

3. Information

• This is the main part of the letter when you deal with the subject at hand. Decide on the most logical order of the information. Use paragraphs and, if necessary, use sub-headings for each new subject.

4. Action

• Your letter should say what action is required, when it needs to be acted on (give a deadline), and who should take the action
• Actions should be achievable.

5. Conclusion

• This paragraph enables you to personalize your letter.

III. Writing the Letter
Writing your letter should be easy as ABC: Accurate, Brief, and Clear.
1. Accurate

• Check that your facts are accurate.
• Make sure names are correctly spelled.
• Use words accurately and appropriately.

2. Brief

• Be brief—keep it short. Your reader’s time is as precious as yours. You don’t want to spend hours writing a letter—he/she doesn’t want to spend hours reading one.
• Short sentences are easier to understand.
• 4% of readers understand a 27-word sentence at the first pass.
• 75% of readers understand a 17-word sentence at the first pass.
• 95% of readers understand an 8-word sentence at the first pass.
• Try to keep sentences to less than twenty words.
• Use short words and phrases. The effect is greater.

3. Clear

• Your letter will be clearer if you have used a heading, paragraphed the information in a logical sequence, and used simple language—not jargon.

1. Punctuation

• Commas are used to separate nouns in a sentence.
• Semicolons are not widely used in the modern letter. It is better to start a new sentence.
• A colon is used when listing information.
• The apostrophe indicates ownership or is used when one or more letters are omitted.

1. Layout

• Develop a “house style” or set of layout rules so that letters from your school will have a uniform appearance and consistent style. You may use different (but still stylistically connected) layouts for different types of letters.

1. Checking

• Checking letters for accuracy before presentation for signature is important for the administrator.
• Check the layout (Does it look attractive? Is it evenly spaced?), the punctuation and spelling (Are they accurate?), and the names/titles/addresses (Are they all correct?)
• Do not use just your computer’s spelling checker to gauge accuracy. It will not pick up on words that are correctly spelled but wrongly placed.
• Read the letter aloud or get someone else to read it out to you while you check your own copy. It can be difficult to see errors in letters you have typed yourself.

Make sure you have the correct number of copies.