Parent Conferences Sign-Up

I always have a difficult time getting the paper sign up returned from students for Parent Conferences. Students forget to give them to their parents, parents toss them aside not realizing what it is, and who knows what else. Following the instructions of my wonderful ITF I used google forms with the add on of Choice Eliminator.

Choice Eliminator allowed me to have times listed for parent conferences and as a parent chose a time, it disappeared from the list. This made sure that parents had a specific time, they got to choose what worked best from the times that I had left and it was quickly organized in a spreadsheet for me.

I had one question that asked if they wanted to have a conference (yes or no), and I made this a required question.

The times were listed using the check box questions style, and I made it so it wasn't a required question (for the parents that didn't want a conference).

New year

   This is the start of my 9th year of teaching. How did that happen? I always forget all of the time that it takes to teach procedures and get students on a roll in the class. At the beginning of the year, i had a few new students to Gaston County. That means they don't know their lunch number to log into the computer. Ok, I got this. The next thing I know, two mores students come from out of state. More numbers to help students to learn. We finally get in a roll and a 4th new student from out of state arrives. Boy am I exhausted. The majority of my class didn't use their google log ins last year, so when they were working on their water cycle presentations, it was painful.
   Now that we are over a month into school, we are starting to get into the groove. Most students remember their username and password for the computer. Students are starting to remember their google logins. This is getting quicker and quicker.

Tips:
1. write log in information on an index card for students and teach them a safe place to put it
2. Procedures, procedures, procedures (the more you practice, the more they remember)
3. Remember your current students are not where your class was last year when they left you. It was a process the year before too, but sometimes we don't remember that.

New Teacher Organizer and Calendar

     Keeping myself organized as a teacher has always been a challenge. Over the years I've downloaded different teacher binders and created sheets that I've needed. Last year I decided I wanted to create my own that I could adjust it however I would like.  I've tried to come up with as many different organizing sheets that would be helpful to teachers of all grade levels.

     The calendar that I created can be printed front to back with a two page monthly spread, or a two page monthly spread with weekly spreads in between. Depending on what you prefer, you can download what works best for you.

I keep all of my organizing pages as well as my calendar in my Arc notebook system from Staples. If you want to see how the system works, check out my post on it.

Click on the picture to see the organizer and calendar in the store. 

FREE yearly calendar updates and 2 cute designs to choose from. 

Enjoy!

Pinnacle Top 10

Today is the last day of Pinnacle training for Summer 2015. My Top 10 Takeaways are:

10. PBL and STEM stations were so much fun!
9. People Machine ~ Fun icebreaker and activity to think about how machines work.
8. Google moments ~ Extensions are my friend. Extensity helps keep them all organized and allows you to turn them on and off as needed.
7. AppMazing Race ~ Its fun being silly, while getting to know everyone and learning new apps.
6. Creating a game is challenging. So many things to think about and plan for.
5. Open Inquiry ~ Great way to introduce Genius Hour and help get ready for research projects later in the year.
4. Badges. Students and Adults will work for badges.
3. Gamification. Turning learning into a fun game
2. I discovered that I become very competitive with Mindcraft. I've never played Mindcraft before and it was SO. MUCH. FUN.
1. I love the FOOD!!!! The snacks and lunch were AMAZING. Felt so loved and gained a few pounds.

3-2-1 (Pinnacle Day 1)

3-2-1 ~ Pinnacle Day 1

3 Things you found out

1~ My summer brain was not ready to begin training in July. :)

2~ There are many different frameworks for education, and I'm learning more and more about them.

3~ There are tons of different technology tools available and not enough time to figure it all out. 

2 Interesting things

1~ I didn't know anything about the 4C's before today. Look them up and see what you think.

2~ I like the Snagit screen capture tool extention from google. Very helpful

1 question you still have

?Where do I start planning for this year? 

Classroom Tools

        One tool that I use is the ShowMe app for iPads, it is a free app and there is a way to create logins for each student (I haven't tried that yet). I've had my students just use them as white boards to work out problems in centers, show me their answers in large group settings and many other ways. One of my favorite is having students work out a problem and narrate how to solve it. This allows me to hear how students solve their work, as well as allows other students to hear how a peer solved it. I use this most often in Math, but I've also used it in Science. If you go back to my Ecosystems post, students used the app to take pictures of their Diorama, and narrate their presentation.
     One of the challenging standards in 5th grade is addressing the speaking part. So many of my students are nervous and don't like to talk in front of others. This tool has helped them get over being nervous and afraid and helped them feel confident in explaining their learning to others besides myself.
I hope you enjoy!

Human Body Systems ~ Paper Slide Video

   This month, my fifth graders have been studying the human body. We have gone through each of the systems, discussed the purpose and the organs involved. We also looked at how the systems are related to each other and how they work together.
   After going over all of the systems, I put my students into small groups and explained that they were going to create a paper slide video of they body system that their group was assigned. We started off by watching this youtube video on how to make a paper slide video.

After watching this video, we discussed what materials we would need, and what students would need to do before recording their video. I gave students time to work on their project each day until they were ready to record. Once students had their videos recorded, I put them into iMovie and then uploaded them to youtube. Here is our finished project.

What Does Teacher Leadership Mean to Me?

     When I first started teaching, I looked to all of the teachers on my grade level and on my hall way for assistance. I borrowed ideas, asked for help and shared ideas that I had as well. My grade level was crucial to my development as an educator. I can still look back and named all of the people that daily challenged me to always do what was best for my students and encouraged me to do more and more. 

     The past few years I've unknowingly worked myself into a leadership role for my school. If you would have seen me as a first year teacher, you would've never guessed it. My willingness to share awesome things that I'd discovered, led me into this role. I soon became a leader in my school and partnered with my love for technology. I was encouraged from by my administrator to join the Pinnacle group. 

     This year, I'm at a new school. My principal continues to push me to lead on my grade level and in the school. Thankfully, I've been welcomed with open arms and I continue to encourage other teachers to focus on students and do the best for them every day. 

     If it wasn't for teacher leaders in my schools that I've worked in, I wouldn't be where I am today. I probably would be completely burnt out. Don't get me wrong, I still get burnt out, but my fellow teachers continue to encourage me and challenge me to always find new ways and focus on the best for students.

    Teacher Leadership is a very important part of education. If we don't have teacher leaders, who will we follow? Who will challenge us? Who will encourage us? Where will we end up? Where will our students end up?

Math Practice

Basic math facts are so important for students. I noticed that many of my students lacked the memorization of basic math facts. I was introduced to xtramath.com from my children's teachers. They started working on xtramath as a part of their homework.

I introduced my students to the program, it is a free website to help practice the basic facts with students. It tracks their progress and shows them what they need to work on. Students earn a certification for completing all of their addition fact, then a different one for subtraction, multiplication and division.

I've already seen a lot of progress in my students with their mental math by knowing their basic math facts. It only takes 3-5 minutes each day for the students to practice their facts. The website can be accessed on a laptop, desktop, chrome book or an iPad. My students use our iPads and desktops in our classroom.

I hope you can use it to help your students improve on their basic math facts.   :)

Google Classroom

I absolutely love having Google classroom for my students. At first, it took a little time setting things up because I hadn't created a contact group for my students, but I didn't let that slow me down.

One of my favorite uses for classroom.google.com is for my students to turn in assignments. When I create a writing assignment, students can add their writing to the assignment and I can collaborate with them (this was very helpful with our Ecosystems projects) a lot quicker than it would be to meet with every group in person. I can add comments and look at their writing from my couch or at planning time. They can look at the comments and suggestions. We only have to discuss any information that still isn't clear. This frees up so much of my time. I can also quickly see who hasn't turned the assignment in, and remind them of the due date. 

I also love using the announcement portion to quickly and easily share websites that they can refer back to later. I've used this for math games to play to reinforce a specific skill. We have also used this to give links for coding sites and the order I would like them to try them in. 

Ever since I've gotten my hands on it, I've had hundreds of ideas of how it could be used in the classroom. I need to make a list of things that I want to do differently next year. 

My absolutely favorite part of the site is how easy it makes sharing documents with my students. Instead of my incoming files/email blowing up, it puts them neatly in a "classroom" folder in my documents, it is then inside a folder with the name of the assignment on the folder. I LOVE it.