Mrs. Thompson's Teaching Tools

  As students develop, they have genetic and environmental factors that play a role in their development and learning styles.  These play a large role in determining the most effective ways in which they can learn academic content. “ The best academic outcomes for children, according to a seminal article by Diamond (2010), can be achieved most efficiently and cost-effectively through addressing children’s social, emotional, and physical development, as well as academic skills” ( Davies et. al, 2016).   With the three students I had complete the learning inventory, I have one EL student who had a very high score in visual learning. This is an example of their learning styles being connected to their non-cognitive skills. “ These visual tools help ELLs grasp new ideas, access previous knowledge and gain confidence in using the new language (English)” (Why are visual tools important…, 2023).   EL students benefit greatly from visual support to build vocabulary, and as a...

Freckle Education       Freckle education is a digital program that allows students to access reading, math, social studies, and science information.  Teachers can purchase the program for twelve dollars a month. Freckle Education is a Common Core-aligned program with resources for math, ELA, science, and social studies for K-8 that adapts to individual student skills” (Kakkar).  For their reading library, students take pre-assessments that determine what their independent reading levels are. Then, it provides articles and texts at the independent and instructional levels, along with questions.  When students answer questions, they earn coins, and can go to the "store" to purchase things for their avatar. Teachers create rosters and can assign grade level standard work; however, the program will also provide the standards-based information at a reading level if the teacher desires.  For the math portion, it works similarly with pre-assessments and...