The Classroom Collaborative Podcast

Deedee and Adam sit down to chat with Shannon Olsen, second grade teacher turned best selling children's book author!

Shannon is the author behind the children's books:

Deedee and Adam get together to chat about what they've been up to, plans for the upcoming year, and goals they've set for themselves. A few reminders for teachers to take care of themselves are also included!

Find more from Deedee & Adam:

In today's episode of the Classroom Collaborative Podcast, Deedee and Adam sit down with the creative genius that is Jerry Kolber!  

Let's Talk about Classroom Behavior!  We have heard from countless kindergarten teachers and first-grade teachers about how classroom behaviors are more prevalent in schools. In this episode of the Classroom Collaborative Podcast, Deedee is joined by special guest Brandie Rosen. 

Deedee and Brandie discuss a few practical ideas to include in your classroom to help students become more independent and self regulating.

Brandie has spent the past 25 years as a special education teacher, administrator, and teacher coach. She has mentored 1000s of teachers, built district-wide programs, and trained teachers both nationally and internationally in creating classrooms that work for all students. She has worked with students with and without disabilities from preschool through high school. She provides training in classroom management, behavior,  and all things special education.   She is passionate about creating professional development for teachers that is practical, meaningful, and most importantly, makes their lives easier.  She has also created online courses and memberships in classroom management, special education, and behavior management.

You can learn more about Brandie on her website:

Elementary teachers in summer!   How are you taking a break and how can you fill your teacher bucket?  Adam and Deedee talk about some professional learning opportunities for kindergarten and first-grade teachers.  They offer suggestions on books to read and conferences that will get them excited for next year!

Learn more about The Educator Summit by going to:

Deedee and Adam chat about Adam's kindness movement that has spread globally.  His #betheyellow message challenges people of all ages to create brightness wherever they go!

Deedee and Adam continue their discussion on the Science of Reading. Specifically, they discuss blending and segmenting best practices.  Deedee was asked by a kindergarten teacher if teachers should include alphabet cards that include the key sound picture (mnemonics) on the card to practice blending and segmenting.

Listen in to learn about how to make your instruction more efficient and more effective.

Learn more and download the free file mentioned by clicking:

How Much Time Should a Phonics Lesson Take? Deedee and Adam discuss an article by Tim Shanahan where he answers the question about the length of a phonics lesson and best practices.  Deedee and Adam talk about phonics instruction AND application in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms through the lens of the Science of Reading.

High leverage routines will have students actively apply phonics skills while practicing blending and segmenting. By making your lessons more concise and explicit, you can shorten the time spent doing low-yielding activities.  A few tweaks to your routines will result in amazing results.

Deedee and Adam continue to talk about the Science of Reading and specifically get into the differences between sound walls and word walls in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms.

Read more about sound walls vs word walls:

Deedee and Adam discuss the Science of Reading and how it affects leveled texts in kindergarten and first grade.  Many teachers continue to use guided reading as part of their small group instruction or intervention instruction.

Deedee and Adam chat about the texts we select to use in our classrooms.  They offer tweaks to instruction that will help teachers align their practices closer to the ideals outlined with structured literacy.

Read more about the difference between Leveled Texts and Guided Reading:

Deedee and Adam discuss social-emotional learning with Elizabeth Coller.  Elizabeth is a kindergarten teacher in California and teaches in a Montessori-inspired charter school that emphasizes the importance of social-emotional learning from elementary school to high school.

Elizabeth shares some classroom environment strategies that will change the way you approach classroom management and building classroom community.  Through teaching, practice, lessons, and modeling the classroom becomes student-led with peer-to-peer accountability.  This frees up instructional time so the teacher can then focus on instruction and the curriculum.  Come and get inspired by what you hear!

You can find Elizabeth Coller on:

Teaching writing to PreK, kindergarten, and first-grade students can be challenging. Deedee is joined by the author of Patterns of Wonder, Whitney La Rocca as she simplifies the process and offers advice to primary teachers!  This is a must-listen episode!  You can find Whitney's book on Stenhouse Publishers or on Amazon.

Is homework appropriate for kindergarten? In this episode, Deedee and Adam share ideas that allow students to practice essential skills as homework, but it feels like play... because it is!  They will discuss some ideas that primary teachers can use in their own classroom with kindergarten and first-grade students that are fun.  Games are a great way to activate learning and they encourage more time on task.

Instead of homework, try these instead:

Deedee and Adam chat with Edna from Boddle Learning.  What is Boddle Learning?  It is a free 3D math game that makes learning fun and personalized.  This is not just for kindergarten!   Boddle Learning has curriculum-based learning for K-6 students!  Best of all... it is free for teachers.

Teachers have control of the math games and activities that students experience.  

In this episode, you will hear the history behind this start-up that has gotten the attention of AT&T and Google!  You can learn more about Boddle by clicking:

• Boddle Learning

You can find the show notes and transcript by clicking:

Deedee is joined by Marsha McGuire to discuss fine motor skills in kindergarten.   Marsha shares some ideas that every teacher can incorporate into their daily instruction that will strengthen students' fine motor skills.

Grab your exclusive Podcast Free file:

Deedee and Adam discuss some of the pros and cons that surround redshirting in kindergarten.

SOURCES: 

Deedee and Adam chat about the upcoming Teacher Road Trip.  This is a series of teacher meet-ups that will be hosted by some amazing sponsors.

• Fort Worth Tailgate:  June 7
• Atlanta Tailgate: June 11
• Nashville Tailgate: June 14

Teachers must register at:

Adam and Deedee chat about the #betheyellow movement and the worldwide celebration called Make Someone's Day Yellow!

Deedee and Adam chat with Hilary Statum.

Hilary is a teacher out of Tennessee!  In this episode, Hilary discusses her life in the classroom while balancing pregnancy, motherhood, and life!

Here is where you can find Hilary

Deedee and Adam talk about ways to take learning outside!  The weather is starting to get warmer so why not take the kiddos outside!

In this bonus episode, Deedee and Adam discuss the upcoming event of the summer - The Educator Summit!

I am thrilled to announce that I will be a featured presenter at The Educator Summit!  The Educator Summit is a three-day virtual conference with over 30 sessions presented by nationally recognized educational leaders.

As an attendee of the summit you will receive:

·  Over 30 hours of on-demand professional development sessions

·  The ability to watch and replay to all of the sessions until September 27, 2021*

·  Certificate of attendance (please check with your district for their requirements)

·  Exclusive VIP free products that have been created specifically for this event

*30 days for The Keynote Speakers

Check out all of the event information and keynote speakers by going to:

Deedee and Adam talk about a few of their favorite teacher-related YouTube channel recommendations for teachers.

Here is a list with links to their channels:

Deedee and Adam discuss ways to support not only your multilingual students but all of your students through 5 specific strategies that were discussed in the Edutopia article.

Read this article for yourself by visiting:

Deedee and Adam talk about ways to increase the writing your students do across all of the subjects.

"Writing about content material facilitates learning by consolidating information in long-term memory."

Professor Steve Graham from the Teachers College at Arizona State University

• Having students write down what they understand about a topic, helps to identify gaps in their understanding.

Here are a few of the suggestions that were listed in the article:

• I "wonder" journals
• Travel journals
• Low-stakes writing
• Student-created magazines
• Creative writing

Read this entire article by clicking:

Deedee and Adam chat with Katie Mense about her new book, Yani, the Yeti.  Katie shares about the process she went through to self publish her first children's book!   Katie offers her tips for finding an illustrator to make the story come to life.

Deedee and Adam chat with Ryan Nevius from Illinois ASCD.  Every year, this is a massive Pre-K and Kindergarten conference that is going virtual this year.  Ryan shares how nimble they needed to be to bring amazing content to teachers everywhere!  Learn more about this conference by clicking.

Deedee and Adam discuss ways to check for understanding digitally.  Back in 2015, an article was written for The Reading Teacher, but it seems like it was made for 2020-2021!  Teachers today have expressed how challenging it is to keep students engaged during distance learning.   Some of these tools may help improve student involvement while also providing great feedback around student understanding.

Here are a few of the tools Adam and Deedee discussed:

Deedee and Adam discuss an article from The Reading Teacher on text selection and integration.  The article titled, "Five Steps Towards Successful Culturally Relevant Text Selection and Integration," walks teachers through the changing demographics and the need for culturally responsive pedagogy.  Here is some information that you might find helpful:

The Reading Teacher Vol.71, NO.3 pp 295-307  November/December 2017

Websites with Book Lists

Deedee and Adam sit down with Cynthia Kaye to talk about the exciting new learning platform from Alive Studios called Zoo Camp! Students learn letters and sounds with live teacher instruction and engagement. HINT: Adam is the teacher!

Learn more:

Deedee and Adam continue their discussion on how to help students who are struggling to learn to read. They discuss the Orton-Gillingham approach to instruction. Join them!

They discuss how using the science of reading and orthographic mapping to teach high-frequency words to move students away from memorization and guide them towards mastery.

Read more about the Science of Reading Lesson format by going to:

Deedee and Adam discuss how to help students who are struggling to learn to read. They discuss the Orton-Gillingham approach to instruction. They discuss how using the science of reading and orthographic mapping to teach high-frequency words move students away from memorization. 

Read more about the Science of Reading Lesson format by going to:

In today's podcast episode, Deedee and Adam share some play ideas teachers can use in their classroom. You can incorporate a few play ideas while still teaching!

About the Podcast

The Classroom Collaborative Podcast is a show about teaching, classroom, and education. We tackle new classroom tips and tricks in every episode.

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