0.4 Reading/language arts kidspiration in the elementary school  (Page 2/3)

There are several websites that give examples and templates of each subject. For Reading and Language Arts, the resources available will help with different writing skills, reading activities, and word identification. Below are several websites from schools and experts who have worked with Kidspiration for teacher inspiration.

How to use Kidspiration in the Classroom: http://www.northcanton.sparcc.org/~elem/kidspiration/presentation/handout.html

Kidspiration in the classroom

Teachers can integrate Kidspiration into every aspect of their curriculum because it allows for incorporation of visual learning throughout your lesson plans. There are several ways to use Kidspiration in the classroom when teaching Language Arts. Kidspiration provides a variety of helpful ways to organize stories, work on phonemic awareness, learn how to write more efficiently, and many more options. The Kidspiration website also makes it easy for classroom teachers to attend to their state standards because there is a“standards matches”page providing every state’s standards.

http://www.inspiration.com/Standards-Matches/Kidspiration

Kidspiration provides students with visual learning that is proven to improve their conceptual knowledge of subjects. The different views allow students in the classroom to see things in pictures and words using graphic organizes and in integrated writing view they build on letter and word skills. The symbol categories are aligned with K-5 curriculum so they are always focused on relevant information. Kidspiration is innovative because it combines student’s visual thoughts with written expression. The symbols are paired with their words to strengthen student’s literacy.

Some potential problems could be students need to be familiar with how the program works in order to learn it efficiently. A teacher would need to have a lot of time that they could dedicate to using the Kidspiration program so students become familiar with what the icons mean and are able to use it on their own successfully. Teachers also need to know the answers to the lesson they are teaching because Kidspiration does not correct wrong choices made. Students and teachers are responsible for making all of the corrections on the website.

Notable examples

•The official website provides several good examples of how Kidspiration can be introduced and utilized in the classroom. A good example is called“Writing my First Report”, this lesson provides students with the opportunity to organize their thoughts and begin the writing process. The students are asked to read a book about and animal and then they are asked to create a web including where the animal lives, what it eats, how it moves and how it reproduces. Students fill in these categories and use them to organize and develop a simple essay. After the“picture view”is complete switch to the“writing view”and the teacher aids students in creating complete simple sentences.

http://www.inspiration.com/LessonPlan/Writing

•Going on a Bear Hunt Story Investigations Activities- In this example there are several different Kidspiration graphic organizers that relate to one another. The teacher starts by reading several different versions of the fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Students are going to compare and contrast versions of the same story, describe characters and setting, and use supporting details to identify and describe main ideas, characters and setting. The first activity involved a simple character template which is used to describe the character in Abuela and the Three Bears. The students then read“Somebody and the Three Blairs”and complete a comparison stories template. The students have an opportunity to be creative and create an alternate ending to the stories. The finally Kidspiration tool used is the story element activity where they combine skills to compare and contrast setting, characters and plot.