Classroom set up

Today I spent a good nine hours in my classroom, rearranging bookcases, kidney tables, an easel and lots of books.  I set up my "what we're learning" board and typed up my welcome letter.

Did I bring my iPad to document any of my classroom? 

Of course not.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's pictures :)

And a shout out to 3M and Discovery Education for their surprise box of goodies.  Only a teacher would be excited about post-its, glue sticks and tape :)

Math Anchor Charts and Ideas

I love great math ideas.

Here's an easy center to make, it just requires sharpies, a plastic bag, some patience and old water bottle lids (yay upcycling!)

This center can easily be differentiated for any grade level depending on the operations that are used.  For fifth grade, I would use parentheses and all operations signs.  This would be great for making algebraic expressions, practicing multiplication and division, finding unknown values and using decimals to show place value.

Students could easily bring in lids to help you collect the supplies.

With the Common Core, fifth graders have to review geometric shapes and classify them into a hierarchy.  This is a great example of an anchor chart that could help students:

Before we go into 3D shapes, I would review 2D shapes on the geoboard.  Most classes have a set of the old plastic boards and rubber bands, but there is a great free app on the iPad that allows students to virtually manipulate geoboards.  As a bonus, you can expand the board from the traditional 5x5 to a much larger 10x10 board, allowing for more room to make shapes.  This app could be used as a formative assessment where you call out a shape (ex, right scalene triangle) and students make one to show you.  

Plus, there are different colored rubber band options with the app :)

This is a great freebie I found on another teacher's blog:

I've used it in my classroom and it's a great center to review number sense.

You can also use cups to review place value:

For a review of area and perimeter, you can use graph paper, markers and dice for this easy game of war.

Students roll the dice, then create the corresponding array.  Students must strategically place their array on the grid and try to stump their partner.  I like that this is a nice model of how repeated addition and multiplication are the same.

This can easily be differentiated for lower grades by having students add the dice rather than multiply them. 

This is another great (priced) TpT center that my students enjoy:

Plus, it's pink and polka-dotted!  Grab yours here for a buck! 

Happy math time!

Math rotations

I don't teach my math block in a whole group setting.  Last year, I had the privilege of working with the lowest academic math group which really pushed me to reexamine my practices as a teacher.  Since about half of my math class was filled with students with IEPs and nearly ninety percent of them ELL (English Language Learners) students, I thankfully had support from a paraprofessional (special education support staff).  

Since our students weren't successful in a whole group setting, we broke math down to 3, 20 minute rotations after our Number Talk during breakfast.  

Rotation 1: new material with me 

Rotation 2: review of content and word problem strategies with our para

Rotation 3: centers, manipulatives practice (or previewing the manipulatives), computer/iPad review or collaborative group work with an emphasis on the 8 math practices.

I was concerned with students developing their number sense and working knowledge of math. I was more concerned with reasonableness and strategies than the right answer (although that matters too).  

My groups were based on needs and behaviors.  They were flexible and students were on task a majority of the time (which is asking a lot for ten year olds at eight am).  If they made the decision to be off task, that's when they were assigned work sheets and tedious "drill and kill" activities.

My students were assigned a few problems nightly for homework in their notebooks.  I didn't give out worksheets.  They solved the problems and talked about them with each other and me during our warm up.  

I found this super cute anchor chart on pinterest and it would have been great to find last August!

I know other teachers had great success with pulling small groups on Fridays after giving formative assessments all week.  They would use that time to reteach concepts while other students worked collaboratively at stations, centers, computers, iPads, etc.  

Of course, after you've gone over the 8 math practices, it's great to have an anchor chart like this to remind students of your expectations:

Happy math time!

Bringing back the joy

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Discovery Educator Network Summer Institute (DENSI 2013) in the beautiful Burlington, Vermont.

My head is still spinning with all the amazing information about incorporating technology into my classroom to enhance student participation.  I'm excited to use the new apps to air stream from my iPad to my projector and turn my iPad into a document camera to capture student work while walking around the classroom. 

Perhaps even more exciting then the information was the opportunity to try new things and connect with some amazing educators from across the Untied States and from the Great White North (oh Canada).  In five short days, we did a flash mob, the Harlem Shake and the Denmazing Race.  I learned to milk a goat and geo-cache, both of which are obviously great life skills.

Perhaps the most important message I took away from the conference is joy.  Teaching is amazing. I'm blessed with the opportunity year after year to interact with precious young minds and help guide them to be thoughtful, articulate, considerate citizens.  Parents trust me with their most valuable gems and I get to watch them grow, learn and discover.  One thing I want to work on this year is putting joy back into teaching.  I want to make each day fun and have my students want to be there.  I learned about whole brain teaching from my super cool roommate and I love the idea of having my students communicate frequently with one another.  

I plan to upcycle a tissue box (once I have an empty one) into this cute student shout out box:

I can empower students to compliment one another and work on building a classroom community.  I'm excited for the upcoming school year and embracing more JOY in my life and my classroom :)