Leap Day!

Here are some ideas I came up with for celebrating Leap Day in your classroom! 

Links mentioned in the video:

Coloring book

Origami Frog

Sorry for the Accidental Hiatus!

Whoops! It is so typical of my life, that within two weeks of committing to update this blog every Thursday, Real Life would say "Nope, you can't do that!"

Quick recap on life since my last post: Started working at Target (so I can pay for school), went to Kappa Delta Pi Biennial Convocation (where I met some incredibly awesome teachers, including Dorina Sackman,  Alex Kajitani, and Joel Laguna, and where I heard an excellent talk from Shanna Peeples - the 2015 National Teacher of the Year!!!!), have been fighting an awful chest/head congestion thing, and I've taken 4 Midterms!!! So much homework lately!!!

I created a Professional Website for my Technology Class. It's not quite finished, but it is live! I'm also working on a Webquest for third grade students. Also in progress: Biology Lesson to actually teach to real 1st graders, real math lessons for tutoring a real 3rd grader, a Math Toolkit for Multiplication, an online social studies unit for third graders, editing a worksheet I created several years ago to fit a group project for Bio, and building an imaginary insect (also for Bio).

I will be posting photos from my trip to Convo soon. Good night and Stay healthy!

Life Science Worksheet I created for 1st Graders

I just really want to post this so I can easily access it in case I want to talk about it later this week! ;)

Awesome Acrostics

As a pre-student teacher, I have had to teach many lessons to my class. One of the first lessons I taught, back in 2012, was on Acrostic Poems. I shared an alphabet book of acrostic poems (Animal Acrostics by Michael S. Maydak) and taught a mini lesson on how to write them. Here is the worksheet I created to make it easier to teach:

Here's the poem my class wrote:

Elegant
Avian (there was almost a tie for America)
Glorious
Legendary
Eyesight

Independence Folders

Another thought I've had for my future students is Independence Folders.

Independence Folders will be Accordion-style folders with tabs, or 3-ring binders with tabbed dividers  - it may be based on student choice, maybe not, I haven't decided yet.

This is even fancier - I think it was
sold at barnesandnoble,com

My "fancy" plastic accordion-style folder
that I use for handouts and homework

They will be kept in a special place in the classroom and will always be accessible to students - I will make sure that my Sub Plans state that students have access to them, especially if they are in a not-obvious spot.

The sections will be labeled in a way that makes sense to each student - we will have a day at the beginning of the year that includes the setting up and instructions for using them.

Independence Folders feature self-directed activities that cover subjects we are studying. Students will be required to complete a specific number of activities per subject per quarter, some activities may be required, and some optional.

They will include [specific] website exploration with a related recording sheet/log; math drills; charting weather, health, growth, milestones, special events, number of books read; science experiments; etc.

Connecting Social Studies and Math

I had to find an activity that involves mathematical ideals from a non-Western culture. I used Tangrams for my report, but, I decided that I would LOVE to have kids "travel around the world" during Math class (maybe all the other subjects too.)

A Trip to China during Math

Adaptable to any grade level - 

I would setup each activity as a center, quads of students rotating through, at least a week long
I have included a photo and a very brief description. (Each has thousands of resources online)

Tangrams (1 square, 1 parallelogram, 5 triangles in various sizes that form a square, and are used to make pictures)



Congkak (a version of Mancala with 7 pits to a side - and 7 seeds/shells in each pit)





Abacus (Ancient Calculator)



Mahjong (I might do this as a computer station and let kids play the solitaire version, as a Mahjong set is quite expensive and the game can take a long time.)
 

Counting Rods (red is positive numbers and black is negative)



Do you have any other ideas?

Long time no post!

It feels like it has been ages since I posted! 

It probably has, and I should be studying right now anyway. 

School, SCA stuff, Kappa Delta Pi, and Life in general have been keeping me pretty busy.

Last semester I took a Curriculum/Practicum class.

I learned a ton and I had a really awesome Professor.  She had us design a Superhero, we were supposed to wear our costume to class, but, she had to cancel class that day, so we never wore our costumes. However, my mom took photos of me ready to fight bad grammar! My youngest sister designed my logo - which is a G and an Interrobang, my favorite punctuation mark! She also drew a really awesome Comic book cover of Grammatica and included a few panels in the comic book. :) 

In my high school drama class, my group wrote and performed a skit based on a meeting of
The National Organization for Women Super Heroes (NOWSH). We made Grammatica a member too!
(I was Key Girl - the Keynote speaker who held the Key to the City, etc,)

We spent half our time in the classroom learning how to create lesson plans and how to teach a direct lesson, and half our time working with real students!!!  I was in a third grade classroom!  I was there mostly for Lunchtime/recess (they get 20 minutes of recess per day - total :( ) and Math.

We got really good at writing Essential Questions.
One that is important to my developing pedagogy:

What does it mean to be a community member?

One of my assignments was to respond to a chapter in our book any way I wished.  I decided to go the artistic route (Anyone surprised?)

I also had to design my own Learning Hierarchy, 

it is inspired by William Glasser's Choice Theory.

My final project was to teach a lesson to my third graders. 

I had to wear a costume and make the lesson different than what they would normally do. (I don't have any photos of my outfit (Maybe when there is no longer any snow on the ground I will have my mom take some and I'll add them to this post.) As luck would have it my lead teacher was subbing for the principal so she had a sub in her classroom, it was a really weird dynamic in the classroom that day. (She was an ineffective teacher for many reasons I am not getting into now!)

 I became Grammatica's twin sister - Mathematica! 

Mathematica's Magic Words (for this Lesson): Qi Sept Septum! (The number 7 in Chinese, French, and Latin)

Wand swishes in a giant invisible 7.

Rabbit's Name - Epta (Greek for Rabbit)

I had the kids play a gross motor game that makes them sort themselves into groups of a certain number and use their bodies to form a specific thing (like a dragon or a car). Then they sat down and I turned my students into Mathemagicians. They each got a special magic want (I found black pre-sharpened pencils with white erasers!) to use for the lesson. 

I had them help me with a magic trick (that ended up being way above most of their abilities - although it should have been review.) 

Magic Trick:

1. Pick a number between 2-9
2. Multiply your number by 3
3. Multiply your new number by 3.
4. Your new number should be two digits, take those two digits and add them together,
5. Subtract 2 from that number and you have the Magical Number we are working with today!

I pulled a rabbit out of my hat holding a number 7 in its paws (the rabbit was made of craft foam - I will try to remember to take a photo of that too.)

Next, I shared with them a magic way "do math without really doing any math," I called it The Magic Square.  I had them fill in this chart with their magic wands. 

I asked them if they noticed any patterns in the magic squares. (They found some really interesting ones - I love how kids think!) Then we used them to find the multiples of 7. 

I gave them a new sheet and asked them to fill in the Multiplication Wheel (we did the first one together,) 

This part was interesting - I didn't tell them how to come up with the answers for the wheel, it was amazing to me how many of them did not use the magic square, but counted on their fingers instead! When they were finished I also had them color all the odd numbers red - which made it easy to determine if 7 is odd or even. When they were totally finished they were allowed to check their answers by peeking inside my magic hat (where the answer key is located! - again I will add a photo when I remember!)

The very last thing I did was give them a reinforcement activity that was optional. 

Classroom Management Musings

Some thoughts I've had lately for my classroom, that build on my Family Homes idea. I really want my classroom to be a safe and welcoming place for my students, and to develop a strong sense of community.
Each student will be part of a Family, and each Family will have their House and mailbox (as in my earlier post), the Families will do some projects and activities together, but there will be other types of groups in my classroom as well.  Students will be sorted into Math and Reading Groups based on their level (skill and speed) that fit with the Neighborhood/Community Theme.

Math Groups: Lemonade Stand, Bake Sale,  Rummage Sale (if I need more than three: Apothecary - as in soap or lotions, or Car Wash) Each Math group will have worksheets or assignments that help them calculate what they would need to operate those types of fundraisers (and perhaps really do them)

Reading Groups: I haven't quite decided, but I'm leaning towards types of trees - Oak, Maple, Pine, Willow, etc.  I would prefer to have pre-decided names for these groups because I feel that spending an entire class period picking a group name is a waste of time and at least one person in the group will resent or hate the group name for the whole year, you can also end up with some ridiculous names. I distinctly remember my first grade reading group naming process. (Yes I am weird and have a freaky memory for really dumb stuff). One of the boys suggested that we be The Runny Noses, one kid said The Tigers and a girl said The Punky Brewsters. Thinking that I was clever AND that it would never get picked, I suggested Punky Noses. We voted and there were three kids who adamantly wanted to be The Tigers and the rest of our group (about 6 kids) picked Punky Noses. The teacher put the Tigers into their own group  and we stayed Punky Noses for the rest of the year. 

General Seating Arrangements
4 desks pushed together to form a table. Each seat numbered 1-4. Each Table given a letter. Each student assigned to a specific seat (probably with a name tag taped down - if I have fifth graders their names will be in Cursive!) Classroom supplies will be organized into bins/cups/stacks corresponding to each Table. Each seat number will have specific jobs for certain things. So, for example, if we are going to do something that uses crayons, scissors and paper, it will be the person in seat 1 at each table to get their Table's container of crayons, container of  scissors, and enough sheets of paper for everyone at their table, Seat 2 people will have to make sure there isn't anything left on the floor, Seat three will organize and put things back in their container and Seat 4 will put the containers back where they belong.

Diffusing Lemon Oil in your classroom can help your students in multiple ways

My mom's hobby involves working with essential oils (to make salves, lotions, and balms) and she shared this link with me: http://anandaapothecary.com/aromatherapy-essential-oils/lemon-essential-oil.html
It says this about Lemon Oil 

Lemon oil's aroma is warming, enhancing and invigorating, and studies have shown it to have antidepressant effects. Lemon apparently has a significant effect on one's ability to concentrate: During a university study in Japan, various essential oils were diffused into an office. When Lemon was diffused, 54% fewer errors were made, with Jasmine Oil, 33% fewer errors, and with Lavender Oil, 20% fewer. Diffusion of essential oils was found to increase test scores by up to 50% when diffused into study and test-taking areas. In addition to its uplifting and clarifying nature, emotionally, lemon is considered an opener of the heart. It is said to alleviate fears of losing oneself, bringing trust and security.

Bad News and Classroom Plans

First, the bad news, according to my calculations (aka sitting down with my program requirements and my current transcript) I have at the very least 3-4 semesters left of school (plus certification tests) before I officially become a teacher.  (I say officially, because a certain young man, who turned 8 this past Saturday, said, "Why are you going to school to be a teacher? You are already a teacher. You teach me lots of things.")

Regardless, I am still making plans for my future classroom.

One plan is to have Families/Houses within my classroom.  4 or 5 (or 6?) depending on how many students in my class, each with a different color. Kind of like Hogwarts and kind of like the Ron Clark Academy. I'm not sure yet how students will be "sorted" into their Families, but one thing I will definitely have is this:

Acrostic Poetry Lesson

I had to teach a lesson in my Human Development and Learning class.

It is a poetry lesson aimed at 4th graders.

 Here is the Lesson

<---Page 1

Page 2--->

The Worksheet I created