Math Training, Day 1

I get really excited when grade level specific trainings are offered in my district.  I get even more excited when they're in math (an area I want more professional development in) and when one of my dear friends, Mrs. B, is one of the trainers.  She's a wealth of information and I love learning new things from her.

I signed up for the three day training (Friday, Monday, Tuesday) with two other lovely ladies from my grade level.

Naturally, the school where the training is held is on the other side of town, so Mrs. H and I carpooled, which meant I saw her lovely face at 6:03 am.  Yes, that early.  The training was 7am-1pm.

Day One:

We got to the other side of town early (no traffic on a Friday morning, which is somewhat of a miracle).  We got there, found a table with three open seats (so our grade level could sit together) and once we were nice and settled, were told to move closer.  Sigh...I have perfect vision. I can see from the back of the room!

After we moved, the training started.  Here are the highs and lows:

Highs:

We learned some new strategies for teaching multiplication of fractions with manipulatives (washi or highlighter tape for models).

We got some tricky word problems that really require students to think. I'm excited to use them the first week of school.

We learned about some cool new virtual manipulatives, like this and this!  My favorite parts? Not only will it cut down on the frustration I feel when making models to demonstrate fraction by fraction multiplication, but they are both free.  

Lots of the information wasn't new, but rather reaffirmed that what Mrs. H and I did last year when planning math was appropriate for students.  We'd rather give them fewer problems but make them thoughtful, real world application questions that they struggle with to build perseverance. 

Not related to the training, but my grade level went out for a wonderful lunch at the Mac Shack afterward!  Gourmet mac and cheese? Yes please. 

Lows:

It's frustrating that when we are in a major budget crisis, the school district makes some questionable decisions.  i have absolutely no problem with teachers receiving extra pay for attending extra trainings outside of contract hours.  However, I took a pay cut and my insurance increased, but new hires get a $4,000 hiring bonus?  There are at least 22,000 employees in the school district, including a pretty competent math department, but they flew a presenter in from Florida.  So not only does the school district pay the presenting fees, but also lodging and food.  Plus the training is Friday & Monday, so the weekend has to be covered as well.  Isn't there someone already on pay roll who lives here that could have been paid to do the training?

We sat for six hours.  We didn't get to use the manipulatives til around 11 am, which meant four hours of sitting and listening.  I wouldn't do that to my students, so don't do it to teachers.  It was very obvious the two main presenters were used to sitting in offices all day by how they ran the training.  I need to move! I don't do well sitting still.

I ran out of food.  I brought snacks, then ate them quickly because I was bored of sitting.  I got hangry and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

We were promised two 15 minute breaks and only got one.

Our Tuesday training was cut, due to budget (?).  I was looking forward to the extra money, but after sitting through Friday's, I'm glad there's only six hours left.  Plus it means I have Tuesday to work in my classroom!

I'm hoping Monday's training is better.  We are supposed to be broken up into smaller rooms with our schools, so we'll see...

 

Try it Tuesday: In Kahoots with learning

I'm all about gallery walks and collaborative learning.  I've blogged about using cups as a response strategy and having students solve problems together for math review.  

However, I'm excited to take this to the next level with kahoot! 



I signed up for a free account and will create quizzes for my students.  They'll answer with the iPads and as a table group.  All they'll do is go to kahoot.it and log in with the code I give them (that I generate to go along with a specific set of questions.) 

It looks like this:

There is literally no way for them to mess it up other than typing in the code wrong.

From there, we'll make teams (usually the table teams since they're Kagan structured anyway).  From there, the game begins!  The quicker they answer will lead to more points for their team.    

Here's what a sample question looks like:

I'm also excited about using this to build metacognition for my students.  I can have them create questions for the class.  I can have them answer if the questions were too easy or too hard, and have them give feedback to me and to others.

In the fifteen minutes or so we played with kahoot, my brain began buzzing with possibilities.  This could be great for inspiring students to create really thoughtful, deep questions for one another about what they're learning.  They'll get to take charge of their own learning.

Will you be in kahoots with me this year to try something new to get your students excited about learning? 

Prioritizing (updated)

One of the most practical pieces of advice I read in a bridal magazine was to make a list of must have's, would like's, and can pass.  I made my list and had B to the same.  

Not surprisingly, our lists were quite similar.

My must have's include a pretty dress (within my budget), good food, an open bar, good photography, and a photo booth of some sort.  (We haven't decided if we'll be renting a photo booth or doing a DIY version.)

His must have's are the same, minus the dress and with the addition of having his friends and family there. 

I'd like to do a candy/dessert bar that could double as the wedding favors.  We don't really want to do beer koozie, bottle openers, or shot glasses (no offense friends who have done them) because they've been at every wedding we've been at recently.  He's not in love with this idea, so there will be more discussions until we can find something we both like as a wedding favor.

I started thinking about items that are in a traditional wedding ceremony and what the "typical" must-haves are...and I don't really like all of them.

An elaborate cake isn't really a priority.  We'll have some sort of cake and I'm sure it will have silly cake toppers, but I'd rather go the cupcake route.  We can have a few options and they're easier to eat.

I'm thinking some sort of display like this:

(I don't like the cake, colors, or cupcake designs...just the display).

I have no interest in a fancy aisle runner, much less a personalized one.  Ones I looked at were upwards of sixty dollars and let's be honest, there's no way to reuse that long piece of fabric that just got walked on.  

My favorite aisle runner? Chalk.  (Of course, venue & weather permitting)

Hearts:

Forever starts here:

Still as cute, but washes off in the rain.  Plus way more personality than the traditional aisle runner.

Another idea I'm indifferent about? A professional DJ.

One of the gems from DENSI 2015 was festify.  Basically someone will run the computer (festify pulls songs from spotify) and guests can vote on their phones as to what song comes up next.  The DJ (friend) can override the song choices and guests can be involved in a fun new way.  Plus none of our friends have used this before!  Fingers crossed it's still a free app when it's wedding season.

Things we've cut:

A unity candle and worse, the sand art version.  

We have two very inquisitive cats and a teething puppy.  We plan to have children.  This just get broken and make a very large mess.

Programs:

We're getting married in the off season to not only save money but so it won't be ridiculously hot outside (again, you're welcome guests!).  I toyed with the idea of programs that could double as fans, but if the temperature is in the 70 degree range, that won't be needed.  Truly very few people save programs so I don't think they'd be missed.  

Instead, I'll be crafting something like this:

(Thanks Buzzfeed for the image...and the {article})

I've found a smaller chalkboard version at Marshall's, so it shouldn't be too tricky.  Worst case scenario is I can buy a wood frame or old mirror and some chalk board paint to recreate this.

And for those that really like programs, they can take a picture and have it printed.

Disposable Cameras & Wedding Hashtags

My guests all have smart phones.  We've heard good things about Wedpics, which is a free app that we'll ask our guests to download.  Also, I don't know what is with the wedding hashtags for twitter & instagram, but I think we'll be skipping that.

Recently married folks, what were must have's?  What are things you skipped?

SKYPin' it up

One of the many social studies standards for our fifth graders is learning about the three branches of government.  While this has been one of my favorite teaching resources from Lakeshore, I have added to this kit over the years:

We read about the three branches, made a foldable, and did a 3D tour of Washington DC using Google Earth.  My partner teacher, Mrs. H, had a fantastic idea of contacting her cousin, Mrs. W who works for one of our nation's governors.

So, without telling our students, we enlisted the help of our school's digital coach to set up a Skype call with her.  It was a fairly easy process once we found all the proper cords and did a test run with the iPads.

We casually mentioned the upcoming Skype call to our students a few days before it happened.  Hey, we're calling Washington DC to chat about our nation's government.  No big deal, just a typical day in the fifth grade.

They brainstormed questions which ranged from incredibly thoughtful (Which branch of government is your favorite?) to a tad silly (Have you met the first dog? Mind you, the dog. Not the President or First Family, they were only concerned about the First Pets.)  Mrs. W was incredibly patient with them and answered all their questions.  They loved it!

Huge shout out to my partner teacher Mrs. H and her wonderful cousin for letting our fifth graders Skype it up and enhance their learning.

Thankful?

I'm having a bit of a rough time finding positive things.  We are under a lot of pressure at work from a lot of different angles.  Granted, it's no where near the tear-inducing chaos of last year, but still.

We are under pressure to perform well on Reading Rangers.  My students are reading independently and quiz frequently.  However, there's a few boys that aren't following my expectations and do poorly.  They are lower readers and need to read books several times.  They need to conference with a peer about the book.  However, they'll sneak out to the pod or sneak an iPad to quiz and often score 60% or 80%, which brings down our class average.  I am then talked to about why I'm doing so poorly and it's really not fair.  I've had a few times I've been called out for the lowest scores and while some find it motivating, I'm mortified.

I don't like coming in last and I certainly don't like that publicly announced.

My students have between 45 and 60 minutes a day of silent independent reading time with our Reading Rangers program.  During that time I'm pulling small groups or individual conferences, they are writing about what they're reading, conferencing with a peer, taking an AR test, or silently reading.

Other teachers will sometimes skip other subject areas to allow for extra reading time to inflate their scores.  I'm not sorry that I refuse to skip math, writing, or whole group reading to give them silent reading time.  They need instruction in all subjects.

We've started some new positive reinforcements and it's helped.  We are in a race to 100 100%s with another class and it's quite motivating for them.  I also started using classroom dojo to reward them whenever they score 90%, 100%, or complete a badge.  They are quite excited about that.

We're all overwhelmed at work and it's showing.  The amount of effort and care I put into my portion of planning is not necessarily being matched by others and that's difficult.  Things aren't getting done in a timely manner.  There's been some miscommunication and that's difficult.

I think we're all just ready for a break and luckily, Thanksgiving is right around the corner.  I am thankful for that!

The Raven, round 2

Last year, we did the Raven with students.  The lesson went fairly well, but I made some tweaks for round two.

This year, we did the entire lesson in 1 day instead of 3.  

In my district, Nevada day & Halloween fall on the same day, so the kids didn't have school on the 31st.  We celebrated on the 30th instead.  Those same lucky kids have off next Monday AND Tuesday because teachers have staff development.  I'd love a five day weekend too, but I'll settle for three.

Since the day before Halloween and their epic weekend can be a tad challenging behavior wise (and their costumes don't help!), I wanted a hands-on, engaging task before their costume parade.

I read the first stanza of the Raven after we reviewed elements of poetry.  They then did a close read on the rest of the poem with their neighbors and I think they did a great job!

We then watched two different video clips on Teacher tube.  We compared and contrasted the video clips before talking about the multimedia elements that contributed to the video's meaning.  

They had a great time doing this grade-appropriate Halloween activity!

Engagement Strategy

I usually type my lessons for the day into a smart notebook.  While this takes a good twenty minutes each morning, I think it helps our day flow smoothly.  I like to start my morning with everything fully prepared and loaded, leaving my prep free to conquer any numerous tasks or handle unforeseen emergencies without panic.

However, sometimes when I have a lot of instructions typed on the board, my students zone out.  They're ten, I get it.  I still go over the purpose for each activity and imbed some spiral review to remind them what they're learning and why.

So I switched up my strategy:

I read what's in black font and they read what is in another color.  This way they're actively engaged in the directions and if they forget what to do, the key parts of the instructions or directions practically jump out at them.

Plus, by only giving them a few words or a phrase to read, they aren't shouting over each other and they are able to read together (most of the time).

Prepping Notes

When prepping notes for families, I tend to make a template in word.  I like to make tables and use the fun features to jazz up the notes.

However, I still want these fun borders when I cut up notes, so I tend to organize the table like this:

Parts are intentionally left blank, that way I can cut along the edges

while still maintaining the borders of the note.

Just a friendly tech tip!

Classroom Library

This year is the first year I actually have to organize my classroom library.  I'm excited and a little terrified about this daunting task.

My expected end result is something like this:

But on a larger scale (and with a polka dot rug of course!)

I want to see what books are at my school and in my classroom before I begin hauling over boxes.  I want to meet my students and learn their book levels before stocking my shelves so I know what books to bring for which students. 

I did revise my checkout list:

Which you can snag for free here!  (Just please give feedback)

I will be organizing my library by AR level using this super helpful website.  To make my life easier, I am putting sticky labels on the inside cover with the AR quiz number, AR level, and a helpful return to Ms. Vice sticker (just in case).

I have some super cute striped bins that I'll be using to sort by AR level (and author).

Some other ideas for your classroom library:

1) Using plastic bins, color code for informational and literature.  

You can find bins at dollar stores, then use spray paint to make them match :)

2) You can also use these plastic bins to color code by AR, DRA, or lexile level.  That way students know which books are "just right" for them!

3) You can also organize thematically:

 

4) Use stickers on the spine labels to color code your books with your management system.  I'll be using AR levels but you can do DRA, lexile, author, etc.

Of course, you'll want to make your classroom library an interactive place where students want to be. 

One of my favorite ways to do this is with a quote wall:

Black butcher paper (or poster board), cute border, and metallic sharpies = perfect place for students to record their favorite quotes from their books.  In doing so, they're encouraging others to read that book as well!

I also want to make this print:

Because who doesn't love a Harry Potter reference?

Good luck!

 

Tech Tip: Video Streaming and Notetaking

With the Common Core standards, the integration of technology is crucial for students.  We have been reading informational text about monarch butterflies so I was thrilled when I found a video on Discovery Education about the topic.

I wanted my students to be accountable during the video so I had them set up a T-chart to take notes.  On one side, they wrote information directly from the video.  This included facts and information they saw or heard.  On the right side, they recorded their reactions to the information presented in the video.

I think they did a great job with our new strategy: 

Another tip I tried was showing the video twice.  The first time, they focused on the content.  The second time, they focused on the note taking portion and vocabulary words.  

They really liked the strategy and I can't wait to try it again!

Tech Tip: Silence is Golden

We finished our FOSS kit last week and due to testing, I had two days after the assessment with my final science group.

(We departmentalized the science kits, so I taught the FOSS landforms kit to each of the four 5th grade classes.)

We tried a new strategy with our video streaming.  We watched "Thar She Blows", a short video clip from Discovery Ed on the eruption of Mt. Saint Helen's.  

The first time we watched, I had the students just watch for content.  The second time, they wrote down the crucial vocabulary words they heard.  After the second viewing, we made a list on the board:

The third time we watched, I turned off the sound.  Yes, we watched the video without sound.  The purpose was to allow the students to "be the expert" and narrate the video, using the vocabulary words.  They did a pretty good job with being the volcano expert.

I'll definitely be using this silence is golden trick again!

Crossin' My Fingers...

As I previously shared, I didn't get the performance zone coaching position I applied for.  After the news broke, there were a few mopey hours (I'm human) but I realized it wasn't meant to be.

So I kept going and kept researching new opportunities.

Yesterday I submitted my application to be a technology/digital coach.  I love my tech tools and (appropriately) integrating technology into my lessons.  I'd love to spend my days working with other teachers and helping them make the most of amazing web 2.0 tools and integrate technology into their learning activities.

This morning, I worked on my application to be a literacy coach.  Clearly I love reading and would be focusing solely on helping teachers with their small and whole group instruction.  I'm submitting that application when I go back to the district office next week (I have Monday night classes).

I also emailed a few leads about a librarian endorsement and if RPDP offers the right summer classes, I can be a librarian next year (if I have six hours on my provisional license).  Worst case scenario and none of the classes I need are offered? I'll take them next year and spend one more year in the classroom...perhaps in primary? I've heard second grade is pretty fun...

I love that I have a few different venues that I'd be completely happy with.  I'm also slightly terrified that it's mid-March and I don't know what I'll be teaching/doing next year.

(If that uncertainty wasn't enough, I'm meeting with a Realtor on Friday because I'm going to be purchasing my first home...scary steps!)

I'm crossin' my fingers that everything works out as it's meant to.  As long as I'm in some capacity working with reading and technology, I'll be just fine :)

Word Work lessons

Since I have the upper half of the grade level for small group reading, I focus on word work rather than phonemic awareness.  My students aren't learning to read, they're readers.  So our focus is on those irregular word patterns and nuances in the English language that must be explicitly taught to students (especially my English Language Learners).

We've worked on irregular past tense verbs and silent letters, so I created power points.  Our word work is only 5-10 minutes per reading block (sixty minutes) because that's what my students need.  Word work and fluency practice takes no more than fifteen minutes (combined) so the remaining forty five minutes are spent reading, writing, publishing, blogging, sorting, creating, analyzing, comparing, contrasting, or meeting with me for our literature circles.

I've posted my weekly lessons on TpT for a dollar each.  You can edit them if you don't like the font I used or you can download the free font here.

Happy reading!

Expository Writing, Part Two

As I previously blogged about, our grade level is working on expository writing.  We split Europe into four parts and each class took a different section.

The students researched using internet data bases such as culture grams and recorded their research in their writing notebooks.

I was excited to get Northern Europe not only because my heritage is from England and Ireland, but because many of my students have read Lois Lowry's Number the Stars, so they were thrilled to get to create brochures on Denmark and Sweden.

Our hallway:

My wall:

(I had some great student helpers!)

My fabulous team members' walls:

Close up of our brochures:

We printed maps from Crayola's website and of course I used polka dot ribbon to connect brochures with the countries!

As an added bonus, one of the fifth grade classes won first prize in the door decorating contest for Reading Week!  We hung the medal in the hallway to share, since we did a thematic unit together.

They had such a wonderful time creating these brochures.  It's nice to see them so excited about what they're learning :)

Expository Writing

We started using the expository nonfiction writing unit in Being a Writer, but it simply wasn't meeting our needs.

This week is reading week and we are doing a travel theme.  

Our grade level was assigned Europe, so we are having our students research different European countries.  Instead of writing a paper, they're making travel brochures and loving it!

We reviewed text structures:

Then brainstormed research questions for each:

We went over a very simple organizer for note taking:

For this project, my students are required to use one print and one digital source.  My librarian shared Culture Grams with us.  I taught my students how to access this from our school's library site.  I like that we have access to different data bases and they're kid friendly!

We went over the outline of the brochure:

I modeled a thinking map about Ireland:

From my thinking map, I modeled writing research questions and then determining which text structure I'd use for my written response:

From there, I set up our hallway decoration using the map my awesome neighbor drew:

Norway, by the way, has a very difficult coast line!

We split Europe into four parts and I got Northern Europe.

Tomorrow we're finalizing our brochures and then our hallway display will be up to date!  I love how excited they are to research and learn about different places.