Did You Know?

Greetings, Apples,

Welcome back from summer vacation and welcome back to reality! My summer turned out to be a "working summer" with many projects both at school and the District Office, including moving my classroom.

Obviously, moving is a complete pain in the you-know-what, but it did give me the opportunity to revamp a few parts of my classroom that needed a face lift.

One of my new spaces this year is the "Did You Know?" board (from Pinterest, obviously…). With the  movement toward the new Common Core standards in California, students are expected to read more non-fiction texts than ever before. I loved this fun, attention-grabbing board as an idea to excite kids to read more non-fiction. If they have an interesting fact for me, I ask them to write it on an index card with their name and the source of their fact. I change the board about once a week, and if the kids haven't submitted anything new, I put up a fact of my own.

Here are a couple of our fun facts…

So, Apples, what are you doing to incorporate more of the Common Core inside your classroom?

Miss H.

Summer Goals

Greetings Apples,

I am so sorry I've been away for so long! I won't waste your time with excuses, but here's a quick rundown of what's happened since we last met:

• STAR Testing
• Open House
• Report cards / Creating classes for next year
• Packing up my classroom to move

Oh, and…I finished my Master's Degree! Here's a picture from the big day:

April and May were packed with activity. I felt like I constantly had something to do or somewhere to be, and I am thrilled to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Summer break, here I come!

That being said, I still have a pretty busy summer ahead of me. I have fun things planned (a couple of small trips, beach days, and a birthday I don't want to talk about..), but I also have a Summer To-Do List of projects I hope to accomplish while I have free time.

Work? In the summer? I know, but I try to accomplish a few "bigger" tasks when I don't have all of the daily demands of the job to deal with. Here's what I hope to accomplish before I go back to the grind:

1. Fill in gaps in my Smartboard math lessons. I have created a lot of Smartboard math lessons over the past few years, but I want to fill in gaps for the lessons I am missing (mostly toward the end of the year when I begin getting tired and less diligent.) I also am trying to scan in my workbook to correct on the board, as well as create progress monitoring quizzes throughout the units to take advantage of my Smart Clickers.
2. Learn our new ELA curriculum. Our district adopted a new Language Arts curriculum to align with the CCSS. Obviously, I won't be able to read every single thing that comes in my new kit (the amount of items I am getting is insane!) but I'd like to get a general feel for how this program works before the kiddos come back.
3. Create a new teacher binder. I have decided I want something more specific for my planning needs. I am working on creating pages in Microsoft Word that are unique to how I like to write out my plans, and I hope to put together a binder where I will also have space to carry things like a copy of Bloom's Taxonomy, my Year Plan, and the CCSS for easy reference.

Those are my main goals, though in my head, I will also create and implement every cute idea I've pinned on Pinterest in the last six months (I wish..)

What are your summer goals? Do you tackle any big classroom projects or block out work until your email starts dinging incessantly in August?

Miss H.

Book Projects

Greetings Apples,

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have a relatively large number of GATE students in my classroom this year. One of the "extras" I have available in my class for these students (and any other motivated students looking for something different to do when their classwork is done) is a binder filled with book projects.

Book projects are various independent study projects that a student can do to illustrate a particular book he or she read and loved. When I began teaching, I was given a huge library of teacher materials that I had no time to read through and process at the time. I dedicated a chunk of time this past summer going through these materials and marking the things that were useful to me. One common theme I began marking were these reading projects. I ended up creating a binder of book project choices from which kids could choose something that interests them. The projects are totally optional and are completely driven by the student - they select the project, the book to use, and write out a rough draft for me. Once I approve the rough draft to see they are serious about completing the project, I give them whatever supplies they need to complete it.

Here are the word documents for the project options in the binder: https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0BwdTV-aIHkLpcUxHRW9RckZpMTQ/edit?usp=sharing

Below are some student samples of book projects. These book projects were created by my GATE students after finishing reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler for our book club.

"Story Quilt"

"Advertisement Poster"

"Design a Board Game"

"Diorama"

Below are a few more student samples. The first is the "A New Cereal on the Shelf" project a student opted to do while our class was reading Island of the Blue Dolphins. The second two cereal boxes were book projects two students opted to do after finishing independent reading books they both enjoyed.

"Dilly Dally Dolphins" designed for Island of the Blue Dolphins

"Magic Candy Flakes" designed for The Candy Shop War

"Owl Treats' designed for Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The Capture

If you have something similar in your classroom, let me know about it! I'd love to expand my project selection. If you start trying book projects in your classroom, let me know what are your class' favorites! (Our most popular are "A New Cereal on the Shelf" and "Design a Game.")

Miss H.

Feel Good File

Greetings Apples,

When you are a student teacher, you are absorbing as much information as possible about everything you need to run your own classroom. But there are little things that cannot be taught or fully understood until you actually are solely responsible for your own classroom.  One of my master teachers along the way taught me to keep a "Feel Good File" to reflect on after those tough teaching days.

So often, when dealing with children, parents, colleagues, and administrators, it is easy to hear about what you are doing wrong, rather than what you are doing right. If you allow yourself to wallow in the negative for too long, it can be really emotionally draining.

My master teacher, Mrs. M, told me that she has a file folder where she tucks away positive notes, kind thoughts and uplifting emails she has received from parents and kids along the way. Then, on a particularly rough day, she can pull out the "Feel Good File" and immerse herself in the good to shake off the bad. I didn't totally understand the need at first, but regardless, I began to hang on to the sweet notes and pictures I was receiving from families in my classroom.

Now … I totally get it! I won't always be able to make everyone happy with the way I run my classroom, but if I ever feel like I am wallowing too much in the negative, I can pull out my "Feel Good File" and remember all of the good things I've done and all of the positive, supportive families I've been fortunate enough to have in my classroom along the way.

Do you do anything to ward off the bad day blues?

Miss H.

My Students Need Your Help!

Greetings Apples,

I was so inspired by the incredible educators at the CUE conference and what they are doing with technology in their classrooms, that I sat down the first night and wrote my first project proposal for DonorsChoose.org.

For those of you unfamiliar, DonorsChoose.org is "an online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need.  Public school teachers from every corner of America post classroom project requests on our site, and you can give any amount to the project that most inspires you.  When a project reaches its funding goal, we ship the materials to the school.  You'll get photos of the project taking place, a letter from the teacher, and insight into how every dollar was spent.  Give over $50 and you'll also receive hand-written thank-yous from the students."

I am asking for donations of any size (even $1) to help my kids.  For the next week, any donation you make to my project will be doubled!  If you know anyone who is passionate about education, please pass this along.  Your donation will brighten my students' school year (and many new students' for many years to come!), and you'll get photos and thank yous from our class.

Here is my classroom request: Excited Explorers Seeking iPads

To have your donation matched dollar for dollar, enter the match code INSPIRE on the payment screen. This awesome match offer lasts through March 24, 2013.

My students and I greatly appreciate your support,

Miss H.

The Home Stretch

Greetings Apples,

I realized I haven't talked much lately about what's going on with graduate school. I'm nearing the end, which is both very exciting and incredibly overwhelming, as many things are due in a very short period of time. (Whenever I feel completely stressed trying to balance my responsibilities at work and my deadlines at school, I check my district's salary schedule to peek at my pay increase next year!) I have a little more than half of my thesis done, and I am slated to walk in the commencement ceremony on May 17th.

As I am preparing to participate in my school's commencement ceremony, I have been reading a lot about the various traditions depending on the degree being earned. It is all very interesting, and I had no idea there were so many variations of caps and gowns, as well as what they all stood for.

Here is how my university explains the clothing traditions:

Significance of Hooding
The history of academic dress reaches far back into the early days of the oldest universities.  Gowns were worn for warmth in unheated buildings frequented by medieval scholars.  The most outstanding feature of all academic costume, the hood, originally seems to have had three uses: as a head covering, as a shoulder cape, or, when hanging from the shoulder, as a bag in which alms could be collected or provisions carried.

In institutions of higher learning, the gown is generally black in color.  The style of the sleeves denotes the various degrees: the bachelor's degree is signified by full-length pointed sleeves; the sleeves of the master's degree are oblong in shape and extend well below the knee, the arm coming through an opening at the elbow; and the gown of the doctoral degree has bell-shaped sleeves that may be worn open or closed.  The gown worn by one retaining a doctorate is additionally distinctive by facing down front with velvet of the color characteristic of the subject to which the degree pertains; three bars of the same material are found on the sleeve of the gown.

I have a meeting on Tuesday to order my master's hood (light blue in color to signify a Masters in Education) and tassel. A friend of mine who graduated from the same university last year was kind enough to loan me her cap and gown so that I didn't have to spend money on something I would only wear for about two hours. (Thanks, Amanda!)

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, Apples!

Miss H.

CUE Conference: Day 2 Highlights

Greetings Apples,

My brain is on overload right now, so I am just going to give you a list of great (and mostly free!) websites I learned about today. Some of these are well-known, but others I hadn't heard of yet.

Edmodo - classroom social media site / classroom website
Khan Academy - academic tutorials
Education Place - e-manipulatives, games, glossary, and graphic organizers
Sync.In - student collaboration tool
Quizlet - interactive flashcards
Study Jams - short, interactive video lessons on a variety of topics
A Maths Dictionary for Kids - an animated, interactive online math dictionary
Apperson Prep on YouTube - educational math videos (in the same vein as BrainPOP, Max and Morty teach you math.)
Math Train - same idea as the Khan Academy videos, but they are student-created by kids at a school in Santa Monica.
Math TV - math tutorial videos
That Quiz - math test activities

We also watched some great stuff about how to teach keyboarding to elementary school students to prepare them for the Common Core shift. That presenter recommended Micro Type as a tool for effectively teaching keyboarding.

I also saw another great 6th grade teacher from SDUSD present about incorporating technology into her math class. She had the brilliant idea to use Google Earth for teaching geometry, area and perimeter. Her students located their school on the app, studied it from a bird's eye view, outlined geometric shapes they observed, and used the ruler in the Google Earth app to measure the sides of buildings to figure perimeter and area.

Enjoy!
Miss H.