Saturday, June 14, 2014

Wrapping Up a Great Year and Wordle Bookmarks!

My last day of school was on Tuesday, and I have to say that I just had my best year of teaching ever.  I LOVED my 1st/2nd grade combo class.  Over the course of the year, I saw kids become readers, and kids who came in as "readers" become true thinkers of text.  Our class discussions were rich and meaningful, and because my students were chosen for their ability to work independently, I was able to differentiate my instruction more than ever, and saw amazing growth in my students.  It was teaching Nirvana.  So, it was with a heavy heart, but with a smile on my face, that I said goodbye to my little darlings on Tuesday.  Sigh.

We spent our last few days celebrating all of our hard work.  This year I used the balloon popping idea, and my students really loved it.  We popped one balloon every day for the last 7 days of school.  It really built up a good amount of anticipation, and kept everyone's behavior on track.  Click on the pic below to get some idea of how to put your own balloon countdown together from my friend Jessica, over at First Grade Nest.


Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial

We also worked on our End of the Year Memory Books.  These came out beautifully, and kept my students content and busy for the last two weeks of school.  My students took a lot of pride in their books, and were so proud to carry their little suitcases out of the door on the last day of school.

I did something a little bit different this year, and put a Wordle cloud in their book.  I had never made one of these for my students before, and they just loved it, and kept thanking me.  It was so sweet.  The week before, the kids played SCOOT and left one adjective describing each person on that person's paper. (Amber Polk at The Adventures of a Polka-Dotted Teacher has a form that you could use to gather words for each student - SCOOT style!)  I used those papers (and added a word or two of my own) to make each child's cloud.  Then, I just printed it out on some white card stock. It was super easy, and didn't take as much time as I had feared. Here are some pics of their finished books.


Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial

Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial

Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial

I loved all the labels this student used in her writing.

Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial


Brag Alert! My heart burst with pride when I read this from the book pictured below, " I loved that Mrs. Rios made all of us thinking readers." Mission accomplished!

Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial

Selfishly, the "My Teacher" is my favorite page.  I love to read what the kids say about our year together. 

Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial

Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial


Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial

Ok, I know this post is already running long.  But, it is about to get even longer.  As I was putting the Wordle clouds together.  I had an epiphany.  I purchased chapter books for all of my students as an end of the year gift, and I thought, how great would it be if they had a Wordle bookmark?  So, I set off to see if I could do it, and it was super easy!  I don't have a template, but here is how I put them together.


Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial


Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial

Important Note: To make any of the words larger in your Wordle, type them in multiple times. I type the student's name the most times, so that it will be the biggest.

Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial


Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial


Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial


Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial


The strategically placed heart above is to spare you from having to look at my broken thumbnail.  I swear I broke every nail on my hands the last week of school.  End of the Year is Brutal!


Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial


Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial


Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial


Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial


Mrs Rios Teaches: End of the year activities and student gift | Wordle Bookmark tutorial

Looking for more fun end-of-the-year ideas? Follow me on Pinterest!

Whew!  That's it! I hope everyone who is already on vacation is enjoying some well-deserved rest.  For  those of you who are still teaching, hang in there!

Nicole


18 comments:

  1. I really like your idea of the wordle and the bookmarks ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Saray! I am so glad you like it, and hope you will give it a try with/for your students.

      Nicole

      Delete
  2. What a great idea! How cute :) Thanks for the great, step-by-step directions. I'm definitely going to make these for my students next year.

    ~Jessica
    Joy in the Journey

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jessica, I just stopped by your blog and really enjoyed your post on using Tagxedo!

      Nicole

      Delete
  3. I love this! Going to have my kids do this And pass out for Valentines day next year. How did you take a "screen shot"? I have a pc laptop. Would be very interested :) jessicaandjoshfisher@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay, Jessica! I am happy to hear your are going to try it out. Screenshot is in the accessories on my pc desktop. You might have to "Google it" to find out how to do it on your particular laptop.

      Nicole

      Delete
    2. I use the snipping tool to save a wordle as a jpg on my computer...

      Delete
    3. I know this was originally asked a year ago, but on my Dell, I can "take a screenshot" by pressing the "Print Screen" key, then "paste" it onto the document. Maybe this will help someone who is just finding this through Pinterest like I did! :) Love this idea, by the way!

      Delete
  4. How do you make the name bigger so that it stands out?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kathrina, to make any of the words bigger you just type that word in more times. The words that are typed the most are the biggest! Hope that helps.

      Nicole :)

      Delete
  5. how did you leave your name at the bottom with the cute heart?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I will start working on the bookmarks! They are so perfect!!! Thank you for the great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love this! Thank you for the idea!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi! I love this idea! I was also wondering how you put your name with the heart at the bottom?

    Thanks~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Since I popped the screenshots of the Wordle Cloud into a Powerpoint, I could just add a text box centered underneath, for my name.

      Delete
  9. Which cloud generator did you use? My wordles are not coming out like yours

    ReplyDelete
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