S.M.A.R.T. SpacesAre you struggling to find the right space for your Tactile Trackers or Wagon Wheels? Or are you having difficulty finding a place to put them so you can adjust the height to fit the heights of your students? We recommend using the lockers in the hallway, like Katy from Janesville! Students who lose their place while reading generally struggle with the smooth eye movements needed to maintain their place, so Tactile Trackers Wagon Wheels will help them develop this skill.
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Because Tactile Trackers and Wagon Wheels are teacher-directed activities, many S.M.A.R.T. teachers hang them near the bathroom and use them while students are lining up. This clever tip helps teachers monitor the activity, keeps groups small, and engages students during an otherwise boring wait time. Why are Tactile Trackers and Wagon Wheels so important? These fundamental eye movement activities help increase the stamina of students who avoid visual tasks, have a shortened attention span, or get tired easily when doing visual activities by encouraging the eyes to follow along as the student smoothly traces the line. Keep in mind your students will be at varying stages of development which transcribe into varying levels of abilities. Check out the different stages of development in the S.M.A.R.T. Pre-K CORE Guide.
Resources: Ever wonder what you can do at home to help support your child’s reading ability? We think you’ll be aMAZEd at this simple, fun, and developmentally appropriate idea! Grab the Legos and make a maze with your child! Then grab a small ball and see if your child can move the ball through the maze. The eye movements your child uses to follow the ball through the maze are the same eye movements they need when reading or doing a worksheet. Check out Eye Can Learn (https://eyecanlearn.com/tracking/) to see why tracking is so important to school success.
One S.M.A.R.T. Teacher, Alisha, makes Tactile Trackers that coincide with the units she’s working on with her students! Check out the fabulous Tactile Tracker she made to support her unit on plants; you’ll notice that it also has the parts of the plant labeled to introduce vocabulary.
One S.M.A.R.T. Teacher - Oct. '22One S.M.A.R.T. Teacher at Discovery Elementary in Waite Park, Matthew, lays out his S.M.A.R.T. Course in a serpentine fashion to maximize the space AND stimulation his students get by doing the activities. You will notice that each activity leads directly to the next to keep the students moving on the course. In the places where there is wall space, Matthew has placed Learning Ladders at varied levels to address the different heights of children and various content to address the diverse needs of all his students. This S.M.A.R.T. Teacher’s advice is: “Slow and steady will win the race. Stay true to what we have learned, and hold the expectations of each movement to the highest standard. Also have fun!! If you are excited the kids will be excited!”
Matthew is also a S.M.A.R.T. Teacher because he attended a S.M.A.R.T. Workshop 2 years in a row and gave us several laughs! We get excited when we recognize the names of educators in our registration as repeat participants. Educators who come back for additional workshops tell us they learn even more the second time and gain a much deeper understanding of the program. Is there a S.M.A.R.T. Teacher at your school who deserves to be recognized? Send their name, email address, and a brief description of what they are doing to mlrc@actg.org so we can feature them in this section.
If you use an assigned S.M.A.R.T. spot for movement breaks, check out the variety of Velcro shapes on Amazon to space students.
We have some fun and effective ways to make homework a little more fun using one of our S.M.A.R.T. Principles - Movement Anchors Learning!
Does it seem like your students have ants in their pants? Don’t wait until most of your students are antsy to take a movement break; it is a big mistake!!! Instead, when you start to see students squirm, provide a quick movement break to get their brains and bodies back on track. But some teachers are nervous about adding movement breaks during the day because they feel they’re taking away from their instructional time. However, the opposite is true! Purposeful, intentional movement breaks enhance instruction!
Time Saving Tips - Sept. '22Creating a music playlist can take a lot of time and feel very overwhelming. But, if you've been to a S.M.A.R.T. workshop, you KNOW how important it is to use music in the classroom. Music changes the mood of your classroom because it affects the nervous system. Music can bring on the "feel good" brain chemicals, raise or lower the heartbeat or blood pressure, and reduce anxiety!
Use music to set the mood as students enter the classroom, and we love the idea of having fun, upbeat music playing to greet them. Or Leslie in North Carolina used music to indicate when it was time to clean up. She chose a song that was 2 minutes and encouraged students to have everything cleaned up before the song was over. PSST, this technique saves you time too! Use music during a brain break with flagging tape streamers! Remember, purposeful movement breaks like this save you time when you use them intentionally to get students' brains back on track.
In Wausau, One S.M.A.R.T. Teacher, Megan asked the S.M.A.R.T. Mentors to help her set up her room during a S.M.A.R.T. Workshop. There are many ways to set up a S.M.A.R.T. Course, so we hope this short video will inspire you as you set up your S.M.A.R.T. Course! We set up the room as a way for the students to enter the room during morning arrival or after lunch while Megan is checking folders or helping students, which is why the students can go to their table spots after the last Creep Track. Megan can easily add Cross Patterning from the last Creep Track to Alligator Crawl to make a continuous circuit.
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AuthorSCheryl Smythe Archives
May 2024
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