"They All Saw A Cat" - Looking at Perspective

Teachers are always looking for those perfect books to read aloud in class. I often come across good story books in classrooms, from online reviews, and from my teachers college days! We read this book in Kindergarten and I absolutely loved it. "They All Saw A Cat" by Brendan Wenzel is a picture book that shows its readers how perspective can shape how we see something. The story follows this cat and how other characters see this cat. For example, when a mouse sees the cat, it is terrifying and huge with claws and sharp teeth. But when a person sees the cat, it is small and fluffy. It's a great story because the illustrations really express the underlying meaning. Even though everyone sees the cat differently, it still has four legs, two ears, two eyes, and tail. There is a lot a teacher can do with this story, even if it is used as a Minds On activity or a hook for a project. We used it in Kindergarten but because of the theme- Perspective -  I would use this story all the way up to grade 8 or even into high school. 

Wendel (2016)

Check this story out! It is a good one. 

Classroom Speeding Tickets

I found this idea when I was supply teaching in a Grade 5/6 classroom and I think it was an awesome idea. Do you have students who tend to rush through work without double-checking spelling or grammar? Or maybe you have assigned an elaborate project that they seem to have finished in one day? Sometimes you may have a student who rushed so fast to get the work done, that they missed several learning expectations. It is important to have a conversation with this student about their quality of work. In my classroom, I would prefer a student to request more time for an assignment instead of rushing through to hand it in on the due date. If this were to happen, You can give your student a "Speeding Ticket" for rushing!

Speeding Ticket

You rushed through your work and made careless mistakes. 

Please redo this assignment. Turn in this assignment along with

corrections by the following date.         Due date: _________

Remember that it is essential to collect both copies, the first draft and the new-and-improved copy of the assignment. This way, you can see how the student has improved. I always catch up with the student to see how they feel about both copies and ensure they understand why they were asked to redo the assignment. Hopefully this student learns the importance of quality work and how time and effort affects their success.