Wow. It has been quite a while since I posted on here. My first year teaching was good, my second year teaching was great. Now, I'm looking forward to year three, because I know it's going to be the best yet.
I'm currently at an SDE conference. I'm so grateful my school allowed me this opportunity to learn what current research states about a variety of educational topics. Even just the resources alone have been worth it for me. Here are some of my favorite finds.
Math vocabulary for word walls with visuals and definitions, all common core by grade level.
http://www.ncesd.org/Page/983
INCREDIBLE List of various online teacher resources:
-scroll down to where it says: Teacher Resources: Classroom Instruction and Student Assessment
http://jc-schools.net/Default.asp?PN=Links&L=2&DivisionID=12691&DepartmentID=20039&LMID=825839&ToggleSideNav=ShowAll
Some great freebies from LeAnn Nickelson's website, ww.maximizelearninginc.com
I've heard her speak throughout the SDE conference and absolutely love her! Very inspiring and full of useful ideas and research-based strategies for all K-12 subject areas.
I also just started reading Teach Like a Pirate, by Dave Burgess. Excellent read so far. I'll share more once I finish it. 😊
I'm already looking forward to next school year. I know, it's June. 😳 However, this conference has been eye opening to the vast resources available and new tools and strategies. I'm attending a lot of PD this summer to refine and master the art of teaching. I have a new partner next year, who lucky enough is attending this SDE conference with me. We keep brainstorming ideas and I just can't wait.
We're going to "Wild About Learning" next school year. It should be a blast. 3rd grade will not just be an adventurous year for 2015-2016, it will be a Safari Adventure. 😍😍🐆🐅🐒
Until next time,
3rd Grade Adventures
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Successes and Failures: It's a Part of Teaching, and Ultimately a Part of Life
One thing I have learned from my first year teaching, is there will always be successes and failures. Almost every day there will be things I am SO excited about, or students I am SO proud of. Meanwhile, these same days I will experience serious frustration with students based on issues from behavior, not trying and giving up, or just overall inability to see others viewpoints, including mine.
Let's start with some examples:
Typically I'm not sarcastic with my students, like ever. But yesterday one of my kids just needed it. One of my students, I will call him the complainer for the purposes of this example. A student was called to go home early and my procedure for this is to have my two messengers (classroom jobs) take the student who is going home to the office. The complainer called out crying that he was messenger last week (one of the class jobs) and did not get to do anything. I just simply replied but saying, "well, I'm sorry that no one went home early last week." He then said, "well, it's not fair Ms. Rogovin. I should get to do my job." I was just overly or had to go to the office or anything last week. He didn't have anything to say to that. But the one thing I have learned from my first year teaching, is there will always be successes and failures. Almost every day there will be things I am SO excited about, or students I am SO proud of. Meanwhile, these same days I will experience serious frustration with students based on issues from behavior, not trying and giving up, or just overall inability to see others viewpoints, including mine.
Let's start with some examples:
Typically I'm not sarcastic with my students, like ever. But yesterday one of my kids just needed it. One of my students, I will call him the complainer for the purposes of this example. A student was called to go home early and my procedure for this is to have my two messengers (classroom jobs) take the student who is going home to the office. The complainer called out crying that he was messenger last week (one of the class jobs) and did not get to do anything. I just simply replied but saying, "well, I'm sorry that no one went home early last week." He then said, "well, it's not fair Ms. Rogovin. I should get to do my job." I was just over oint is, kids just complain about everything. Especially this one, but many of mine do.. which brings me to my next point.
I came to my school excited to teach a population of students whom seem to be similar to my childhood. The students are in a very well-off neighborhood in terms of financial status. Previously in college, my internship experiences were in very low SES areas, so coming to this school I was excited. I understand now why teachers choose to teach in low income schools. Of my 19 homeroom students (down to 19 because one left, that's another story), 11 students have an iPad or tablet that they bring to school each day. Some of them only bring them on certain days of the week, per parent request, but think about that percentage. I have watched most of these kids literally throw their tablet on the ground or almost step on it, or even just lose it in their desk (because its stuck between books and notebooks). I personally get frustrated with their serious lack of responsibility. I guess I tend to forget that they are 8 and 9. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE the BYOD (bring your own device) policy that my school has, and think it can be very rewarding educationally, but I do worry about how easily these kids are to drop and possibly break their devices.
Let's move to this post theme: successes and failures. Just this month here are a list of successes:
Successes:
Student growth on assessments, behavior break through with two students, students writing me notes they wrote at home about how much they are happy that I am their teacher, hugs from my students, every student mastering the concept of the day, FCAT class finally making progress, tutoring groups starting to achieve closer to grade level, students respecting me, finally catching up on making copies, getting lesson plans done the day before they are due, mapping out the next week days in advance, spending only 15 minutes after the school day in the building AND bringing NOTHING home, initiating a race at recess and of my 39 students only 5 beating me (fitness success for myself, but hey, it's a success!), and I could go on and on….
However, with all success comes failure. And that I have to recognize.
Failures:
You can be a pro on classroom management, but each class dynamics affect the style and even with two classes of 3rd graders, I have to know they need different things from me as their teacher; realizing some students may never fully understand the concept that you spent 2 hours teaching in class, 30 minutes teaching in intervention, and 30 more minutes teaching in tutoring, realizing that you cannot reach them all (you can try, but some kids come to 3rd grade so far below grade level that they may not make it to 3rd grade level by the end of the year), and probably the failure I believe to be the worst is the fact that I had a student leave my class the week before spring break.
More into this, this student, whom I have been working with in RtI for MONTHS left the school. I can't take full blame, because she does have two teachers, but the fact that she was in my homeroom really affected me. She was probably one of my favorite students (which doesn't help the situation), but she was one of my lowest students and we were making such amazing break throughs and progress with her. On Monday, we met with her mom about her progress in school. Although she has progressed, her latest test scores still show her at risk for failing the FCAT. Since 3rd grade is the year students are retained for failing the reading FCAT (mind you I don't teach reading this year), we HAD to give her mom a possible retention notice. This letter that her mom had to sign basically stated that it is possible that if your child does not make significant gains, they may be at risk for not passing the FCAT, which in turn would hold them back in the 3rd grade. The mom seemed to understand and was not upset and did not even ask too many questions about it. Then on Wednesday, two days later, I get the call that this was going to be that students last day. Maybe it's just because I'm such a sensitive person, but I literally started bawling. I was so upset. I could not believe that mom would pull her from our school this late in the year, thinking that another school would help her in a month and half before the FCAT. The first couple days were rough. I just was shocked, angry, and upset. I honestly don't think another teacher this late is going to help her child.
After that situation, things did get better. I was happy to have only 19 students in my homeroom. One less kid makes a big difference in my mind. I had an extra desk and was able to move it to give myself more space and room to organize my things.
Then, after spring break we got a new student! Not in my homeroom, but my other class. So now I have 20 in the other class and 19 in mine, therefore making me put the desk back because I now need 20 out. I really like the new student because she is sweet, quiet, and hardworking. She does her work right away, it's almost amazing to see because my other students are so reluctant lately.
Overall, I am still happy with my career. I just have to remember there will always be successes and failures in teaching. And in life. I think that is something I am just coming to terms with. I have always feared failure and even resenting it, blocking it out if it actually happened. Now, I have to recognize it and embrace it. I am learning from my mistakes. I am learning from my challenging experiences, both small and large. I enjoy being at work, and I think that is what keeps me going.
Let's start with some examples:
Typically I'm not sarcastic with my students, like ever. But yesterday one of my kids just needed it. One of my students, I will call him the complainer for the purposes of this example. A student was called to go home early and my procedure for this is to have my two messengers (classroom jobs) take the student who is going home to the office. The complainer called out crying that he was messenger last week (one of the class jobs) and did not get to do anything. I just simply replied but saying, "well, I'm sorry that no one went home early last week." He then said, "well, it's not fair Ms. Rogovin. I should get to do my job." I was just overly or had to go to the office or anything last week. He didn't have anything to say to that. But the one thing I have learned from my first year teaching, is there will always be successes and failures. Almost every day there will be things I am SO excited about, or students I am SO proud of. Meanwhile, these same days I will experience serious frustration with students based on issues from behavior, not trying and giving up, or just overall inability to see others viewpoints, including mine.
Let's start with some examples:
Typically I'm not sarcastic with my students, like ever. But yesterday one of my kids just needed it. One of my students, I will call him the complainer for the purposes of this example. A student was called to go home early and my procedure for this is to have my two messengers (classroom jobs) take the student who is going home to the office. The complainer called out crying that he was messenger last week (one of the class jobs) and did not get to do anything. I just simply replied but saying, "well, I'm sorry that no one went home early last week." He then said, "well, it's not fair Ms. Rogovin. I should get to do my job." I was just over oint is, kids just complain about everything. Especially this one, but many of mine do.. which brings me to my next point.
I came to my school excited to teach a population of students whom seem to be similar to my childhood. The students are in a very well-off neighborhood in terms of financial status. Previously in college, my internship experiences were in very low SES areas, so coming to this school I was excited. I understand now why teachers choose to teach in low income schools. Of my 19 homeroom students (down to 19 because one left, that's another story), 11 students have an iPad or tablet that they bring to school each day. Some of them only bring them on certain days of the week, per parent request, but think about that percentage. I have watched most of these kids literally throw their tablet on the ground or almost step on it, or even just lose it in their desk (because its stuck between books and notebooks). I personally get frustrated with their serious lack of responsibility. I guess I tend to forget that they are 8 and 9. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE the BYOD (bring your own device) policy that my school has, and think it can be very rewarding educationally, but I do worry about how easily these kids are to drop and possibly break their devices.
Let's move to this post theme: successes and failures. Just this month here are a list of successes:
Successes:
Student growth on assessments, behavior break through with two students, students writing me notes they wrote at home about how much they are happy that I am their teacher, hugs from my students, every student mastering the concept of the day, FCAT class finally making progress, tutoring groups starting to achieve closer to grade level, students respecting me, finally catching up on making copies, getting lesson plans done the day before they are due, mapping out the next week days in advance, spending only 15 minutes after the school day in the building AND bringing NOTHING home, initiating a race at recess and of my 39 students only 5 beating me (fitness success for myself, but hey, it's a success!), and I could go on and on….
However, with all success comes failure. And that I have to recognize.
Failures:
You can be a pro on classroom management, but each class dynamics affect the style and even with two classes of 3rd graders, I have to know they need different things from me as their teacher; realizing some students may never fully understand the concept that you spent 2 hours teaching in class, 30 minutes teaching in intervention, and 30 more minutes teaching in tutoring, realizing that you cannot reach them all (you can try, but some kids come to 3rd grade so far below grade level that they may not make it to 3rd grade level by the end of the year), and probably the failure I believe to be the worst is the fact that I had a student leave my class the week before spring break.
More into this, this student, whom I have been working with in RtI for MONTHS left the school. I can't take full blame, because she does have two teachers, but the fact that she was in my homeroom really affected me. She was probably one of my favorite students (which doesn't help the situation), but she was one of my lowest students and we were making such amazing break throughs and progress with her. On Monday, we met with her mom about her progress in school. Although she has progressed, her latest test scores still show her at risk for failing the FCAT. Since 3rd grade is the year students are retained for failing the reading FCAT (mind you I don't teach reading this year), we HAD to give her mom a possible retention notice. This letter that her mom had to sign basically stated that it is possible that if your child does not make significant gains, they may be at risk for not passing the FCAT, which in turn would hold them back in the 3rd grade. The mom seemed to understand and was not upset and did not even ask too many questions about it. Then on Wednesday, two days later, I get the call that this was going to be that students last day. Maybe it's just because I'm such a sensitive person, but I literally started bawling. I was so upset. I could not believe that mom would pull her from our school this late in the year, thinking that another school would help her in a month and half before the FCAT. The first couple days were rough. I just was shocked, angry, and upset. I honestly don't think another teacher this late is going to help her child.
After that situation, things did get better. I was happy to have only 19 students in my homeroom. One less kid makes a big difference in my mind. I had an extra desk and was able to move it to give myself more space and room to organize my things.
Then, after spring break we got a new student! Not in my homeroom, but my other class. So now I have 20 in the other class and 19 in mine, therefore making me put the desk back because I now need 20 out. I really like the new student because she is sweet, quiet, and hardworking. She does her work right away, it's almost amazing to see because my other students are so reluctant lately.
Overall, I am still happy with my career. I just have to remember there will always be successes and failures in teaching. And in life. I think that is something I am just coming to terms with. I have always feared failure and even resenting it, blocking it out if it actually happened. Now, I have to recognize it and embrace it. I am learning from my mistakes. I am learning from my challenging experiences, both small and large. I enjoy being at work, and I think that is what keeps me going.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
First Post in FOREVER
Goodness it has been a LONG time since I've posted on here. I don't even know where to start. It has been such an incredible experience in my first year teaching. I absolutely love my job. Of course, I am writing this over Thanksgiving break, where I have the whole week off, but still, I do mean it.
I looked over my last post and literally laughed at how much has changed and how much I have grown and learned as an educator. I barely feel like the same teacher! I have finally gotten into a groove of things and figured this whole teaching on my own thing out! Let's go back to September…
September- To sum up the month of September, I would start with Soccer! I teach at a K-8 school and they needed a middle school soccer coach. Well, I did play soccer for 10 years of my life. And I did play soccer in college intramurals. And I do love soccer. And I already have no time for anything, so why not add something else to my list of accomplishments, right? I may be crazy, but I LOVED coaching soccer. I was the head soccer coach for my 5th-7th graders, (remember we don't have 8th graders yet so we include 5th graders in sports this year). I had 15 players who I think I learned so much from. I started with an assistant coach, but lots of changes happened at school and well, let's just say she was one of those changes. In plain words, she was fired. Not from coaching, but from teaching, which by default means fired from coaching too. So there I was, new teacher, coaching a group of middle school students, on my OWN. It was a challenge but a blessing. I met great students and amazing parents. I felt more connected to the school than ever and absolutely loved it. I taught them everything I know about soccer and we had a fabulous season. We only won 3 games, and went 3-9 for the season, but we still did good. We actually made it to the playoffs! We lost our first game, and ended our season, but we still did surpringly well despite all odds. We had 15 players, most who were 5th graders, most who have only played soccer for a short time or never before. And the other teams had been playing together for years, and were mostly 8th graders. 13 and 14 year olds versus 10 and 11 year olds is just not fair. But hey, we survived and even won a few games. It was a blast and I enjoyed it.
September outside of soccer-
I don't remember too much details, other than this is when I started to get to know my students more. I started to learn more about the school, teaching, and honestly myself. I learned how much better of a teacher I became when I stopped pretending to be someone I'm not, and just had FUN teaching. That's exactly what I did, and I have not turned back. Not one day goes by where my students and I are not laughing at something. Not one day goes by where I don't get my students up and moving around. not one day goes by that I feel that I have enough time to do things! Lol! But I have made teaching and learning fun and enjoyable for all students. That is my ultimate goal, and so far I have accomplished it.
I actually use the things I learned in school, unlike what EVERYONE told me. Everyone kept saying what you learn in school you will not have time to use. They are CRAZY! And probably not good teachers. Oops, did I say that? Ha. But seriously. I use Kagan strategies for grouping, for activities. My kids LOVE Quiz, Quiz, Trade. They ask me to play it every day. They know how to do think, pair, share and stand up, hand up, pair up. The are competitors when it comes to I have, Who has, and they love playing Jeopardy versions of games for learning. I use the data from assessments to teach. I use exit slips. I enjoy teaching and my students enjoy learning.
More into October now-
We FINALLY finished changing students around and my class roster is SET and not changing, unless we get new students, but it's set for now. I have 20 students in my homeroom and 18 in the other class I teach for a total of 38 students! Of my 20, I have one ELL, one student on the ASD with Aspergers, one student being tested for memory issues and dyslexia, one student with extreme ADHD (I say extreme because it's more than just a diagnosis, its a lifestyle and not something this child can change himself), and a couple others who have interesting issues. I have 3 students with peanut allergies, which is CRAZY to me. I didn't know it was so common, but I have 3 in one class. I also have a few serious medical conditions that I have to be careful with. I absolutely love my students, even though they are a LOT of work to deal with!
The other class has 18 students, whom 11 are labeled gifted and the other 7 are currently being tested for gifted, or just have highest scores and were put in that class. That class is a handful, but I love them too. They are so much fun, because they keep me on my toes. I have to be careful of EVERYthing I say because they take things so literally and are so smart. Some of them could probably skip 3rd grade, but it's too late now, so they are with me. Now it's my problem to deal with their genius like behavior. To explain, I have THREE students who although we just learned multiplication and division, already know square roots and how to compute with them. For example, they told me that know what square roots are. I pulled them to a small group to find out if they were serious or not, and couldn't believe what I found out. I would ask a problem like, "what is the product of the square root of 64 and 81?" Immediately, like within 15 seconds, they could tell me 72, because 8x9=72. WHAT!?!?! Square roots are in the 8th grade standards. Yep, I checked. Anyway, these kids keep me working and finding fun ways to learn because they are very bright and intelligent and a basic 3rd grade curriculum out of a textbook surely won't work for these kids. Luckily, they have me as a teacher. And anyone that knows me as a teacher knows I would NEVER just use the textbook to teach. That would be a waste of time for ALL of us. Oh, and my gifted students point out textbook errors, test from the textbook errors, etc. They notice everything!
In math, so far we have covered:
-place value and rounding (taught them the awesome song- 5 and above give it a shove and 4 and below, let it go.. with hand motions of course!)
-graphing including line plots (we made a human line plot that was wicked awesome), bar graphs, and pictographs
-multiplication
-division
We use math manipulatives for as much as possible. I love it, the kids love it, it's great!
In science, we have worked on:
-energy such as potential and kinetic, light and heat energy, etc.
-investigating questions and basic scientific words and scientific method
-basic astronomy like what the earth and stars are, what is the sun, etc. 3rd grade doesn't cover the fun stuff like planets or earth and moon rotation and revolutions.. :(
NOW we are working on STEM Fair. Let me tell you STEM Fair, which stands for Science Technology Engineering and Math, is the EXACT same thing as science fair that we did as kids, except know we use the term STEM to allow for outside of the box experiments and projects. I think it's a little silly, but hey I love STEM teaching and learning, so in turn, I love STEM Fair. It was a HUGE challenge because in 3rd grade, the students do small group projects for STEM Fair. Which means, it must all be done in class. I wanted nice even groups, so for my homeroom of 20 students, I made 5 groups of 4. For the other class, I did 6 groups of 3. I thought it would be better for the gifted kids to be in groups of 3 anyway, more of a challenge. Now think about, the students had to come up with a topic, write the purpose of their project, hypothesis, materials list, variables, step by step procedures, data charts, and conduct the experiment and write conclusions in groups. All at the same time. With just ME in the room. I said, YEAH RIGHT! I knew that would be a disaster. I had just me for the first week of planning. Then by the 7th day when it was time to actually conduct the experiments, I invited parents to come help me. I created a Doodle online to have parents sign up on. A doodle is a website that is made for scheduling with a large group of people. I used it as a sign up sheet, so I could limit how many could come at a time, and so everyone can see when everyone else is coming. I ended up with between 2 and 5 parents in my room at a time. They were SO helpful. I could not have done it on my own.
Now for Social Studies, let me remind you our fun situation. Our school scheduled 60 minutes of Social Studies a day, and did not provide a curriculum for us. Meaning no textbooks, no pacing guide, no way to know what to teach, etc. We went to the county's pacing guide and used that for guidance. We have covered directions, map skills, government including 3 branches and different levels of government, and recently started the 5 Regions of the US Unit. This is fun because it is a LONG project. We started with the West and will move into all the regions. Eventually, once we finish all 5 Regions, the students will do projects on a region of their choice. We are hoping to do Powerpoint or Prezi projects with them. Our students are 8 and 9 years old, so this may be a challenge, but they can definitely do it. I'm excited for this part to come, even though it probably won't be until February or March.
Overall, I still LOVE teaching. Next month we only have 3 weeks of school before Holiday break. I am looking forward to all the fun festivities before the holidays, but we still have a lot of content to cover. In math we are going to my favorite math concept, but probably the hardest to teach: FRACTIONS. In science we are finishing up STEM Fair and then starting properties of matter.
Hopefully it will still be 2013 the next time I post… :)
-Michelle
I looked over my last post and literally laughed at how much has changed and how much I have grown and learned as an educator. I barely feel like the same teacher! I have finally gotten into a groove of things and figured this whole teaching on my own thing out! Let's go back to September…
September- To sum up the month of September, I would start with Soccer! I teach at a K-8 school and they needed a middle school soccer coach. Well, I did play soccer for 10 years of my life. And I did play soccer in college intramurals. And I do love soccer. And I already have no time for anything, so why not add something else to my list of accomplishments, right? I may be crazy, but I LOVED coaching soccer. I was the head soccer coach for my 5th-7th graders, (remember we don't have 8th graders yet so we include 5th graders in sports this year). I had 15 players who I think I learned so much from. I started with an assistant coach, but lots of changes happened at school and well, let's just say she was one of those changes. In plain words, she was fired. Not from coaching, but from teaching, which by default means fired from coaching too. So there I was, new teacher, coaching a group of middle school students, on my OWN. It was a challenge but a blessing. I met great students and amazing parents. I felt more connected to the school than ever and absolutely loved it. I taught them everything I know about soccer and we had a fabulous season. We only won 3 games, and went 3-9 for the season, but we still did good. We actually made it to the playoffs! We lost our first game, and ended our season, but we still did surpringly well despite all odds. We had 15 players, most who were 5th graders, most who have only played soccer for a short time or never before. And the other teams had been playing together for years, and were mostly 8th graders. 13 and 14 year olds versus 10 and 11 year olds is just not fair. But hey, we survived and even won a few games. It was a blast and I enjoyed it.
September outside of soccer-
I don't remember too much details, other than this is when I started to get to know my students more. I started to learn more about the school, teaching, and honestly myself. I learned how much better of a teacher I became when I stopped pretending to be someone I'm not, and just had FUN teaching. That's exactly what I did, and I have not turned back. Not one day goes by where my students and I are not laughing at something. Not one day goes by where I don't get my students up and moving around. not one day goes by that I feel that I have enough time to do things! Lol! But I have made teaching and learning fun and enjoyable for all students. That is my ultimate goal, and so far I have accomplished it.
I actually use the things I learned in school, unlike what EVERYONE told me. Everyone kept saying what you learn in school you will not have time to use. They are CRAZY! And probably not good teachers. Oops, did I say that? Ha. But seriously. I use Kagan strategies for grouping, for activities. My kids LOVE Quiz, Quiz, Trade. They ask me to play it every day. They know how to do think, pair, share and stand up, hand up, pair up. The are competitors when it comes to I have, Who has, and they love playing Jeopardy versions of games for learning. I use the data from assessments to teach. I use exit slips. I enjoy teaching and my students enjoy learning.
More into October now-
We FINALLY finished changing students around and my class roster is SET and not changing, unless we get new students, but it's set for now. I have 20 students in my homeroom and 18 in the other class I teach for a total of 38 students! Of my 20, I have one ELL, one student on the ASD with Aspergers, one student being tested for memory issues and dyslexia, one student with extreme ADHD (I say extreme because it's more than just a diagnosis, its a lifestyle and not something this child can change himself), and a couple others who have interesting issues. I have 3 students with peanut allergies, which is CRAZY to me. I didn't know it was so common, but I have 3 in one class. I also have a few serious medical conditions that I have to be careful with. I absolutely love my students, even though they are a LOT of work to deal with!
The other class has 18 students, whom 11 are labeled gifted and the other 7 are currently being tested for gifted, or just have highest scores and were put in that class. That class is a handful, but I love them too. They are so much fun, because they keep me on my toes. I have to be careful of EVERYthing I say because they take things so literally and are so smart. Some of them could probably skip 3rd grade, but it's too late now, so they are with me. Now it's my problem to deal with their genius like behavior. To explain, I have THREE students who although we just learned multiplication and division, already know square roots and how to compute with them. For example, they told me that know what square roots are. I pulled them to a small group to find out if they were serious or not, and couldn't believe what I found out. I would ask a problem like, "what is the product of the square root of 64 and 81?" Immediately, like within 15 seconds, they could tell me 72, because 8x9=72. WHAT!?!?! Square roots are in the 8th grade standards. Yep, I checked. Anyway, these kids keep me working and finding fun ways to learn because they are very bright and intelligent and a basic 3rd grade curriculum out of a textbook surely won't work for these kids. Luckily, they have me as a teacher. And anyone that knows me as a teacher knows I would NEVER just use the textbook to teach. That would be a waste of time for ALL of us. Oh, and my gifted students point out textbook errors, test from the textbook errors, etc. They notice everything!
In math, so far we have covered:
-place value and rounding (taught them the awesome song- 5 and above give it a shove and 4 and below, let it go.. with hand motions of course!)
-graphing including line plots (we made a human line plot that was wicked awesome), bar graphs, and pictographs
-multiplication
-division
We use math manipulatives for as much as possible. I love it, the kids love it, it's great!
In science, we have worked on:
-energy such as potential and kinetic, light and heat energy, etc.
-investigating questions and basic scientific words and scientific method
-basic astronomy like what the earth and stars are, what is the sun, etc. 3rd grade doesn't cover the fun stuff like planets or earth and moon rotation and revolutions.. :(
NOW we are working on STEM Fair. Let me tell you STEM Fair, which stands for Science Technology Engineering and Math, is the EXACT same thing as science fair that we did as kids, except know we use the term STEM to allow for outside of the box experiments and projects. I think it's a little silly, but hey I love STEM teaching and learning, so in turn, I love STEM Fair. It was a HUGE challenge because in 3rd grade, the students do small group projects for STEM Fair. Which means, it must all be done in class. I wanted nice even groups, so for my homeroom of 20 students, I made 5 groups of 4. For the other class, I did 6 groups of 3. I thought it would be better for the gifted kids to be in groups of 3 anyway, more of a challenge. Now think about, the students had to come up with a topic, write the purpose of their project, hypothesis, materials list, variables, step by step procedures, data charts, and conduct the experiment and write conclusions in groups. All at the same time. With just ME in the room. I said, YEAH RIGHT! I knew that would be a disaster. I had just me for the first week of planning. Then by the 7th day when it was time to actually conduct the experiments, I invited parents to come help me. I created a Doodle online to have parents sign up on. A doodle is a website that is made for scheduling with a large group of people. I used it as a sign up sheet, so I could limit how many could come at a time, and so everyone can see when everyone else is coming. I ended up with between 2 and 5 parents in my room at a time. They were SO helpful. I could not have done it on my own.
Now for Social Studies, let me remind you our fun situation. Our school scheduled 60 minutes of Social Studies a day, and did not provide a curriculum for us. Meaning no textbooks, no pacing guide, no way to know what to teach, etc. We went to the county's pacing guide and used that for guidance. We have covered directions, map skills, government including 3 branches and different levels of government, and recently started the 5 Regions of the US Unit. This is fun because it is a LONG project. We started with the West and will move into all the regions. Eventually, once we finish all 5 Regions, the students will do projects on a region of their choice. We are hoping to do Powerpoint or Prezi projects with them. Our students are 8 and 9 years old, so this may be a challenge, but they can definitely do it. I'm excited for this part to come, even though it probably won't be until February or March.
Overall, I still LOVE teaching. Next month we only have 3 weeks of school before Holiday break. I am looking forward to all the fun festivities before the holidays, but we still have a lot of content to cover. In math we are going to my favorite math concept, but probably the hardest to teach: FRACTIONS. In science we are finishing up STEM Fair and then starting properties of matter.
Hopefully it will still be 2013 the next time I post… :)
-Michelle
Saturday, August 31, 2013
First Post in a While...
Sorry for my lack of posting! Goodness have I been busy! I survived my first TWO weeks of teaching on my own! I still absolutely love my school, team of teachers, and of course my students. It has been a whirlwind of emotions. All good ones. Except for just extreme exhaustion. I spent at least 10 hours at school every day in the first two weeks. Most days I was there at least 12 hours, from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm. That is my new goal, to stay at school less hours each day to prevent burn out and just overall physical exhaustion.
It's currently a Saturday night. I was writing lesson plans for the past two hours. Good thing is since I have to write both Math and Science plans for the week, and my friend and I both teach both subjects to the same grade level at the same school, we can share the planning. She wrote the math plans and I wrote the science plans. I feel so accomplished now that I got it all done! Woohoo!
I feel like I could rename my blog, "TeachingWithoutATextbook." That's literally what we have been doing. The textbooks FINALLY arrived though. I have the teacher editions and student editions in my possession now at home. We do not have them in our classrooms yet because they are not done sorting and stamping all the books. We should get them by Wednesday of next week. For now, I have to scan and make copies of everything for my students to use.
Social studies has been fun- I taught my students my Continent song to teach them the 7 continent names. We also made compass roses and did a kinesthetic learning activity where the students had to practice facing North, then facing different directions as I called out the direction. This was fun for both me and the students! The way all teaching and learning should be! We also made the flip book foldable of where I am- using our school, our street, our city, our country, and our continent. At the end of the week, I had my students sing the Continent song in small groups and I gave each of them a sticker that said "Ask me what the 7 continents are!" Next week we are going to work on actually knowing the location of the 7 continents and being able to label them on a map. I love the map skills unit. I am looking forward to continuing it!
In math we have been focusing on place value. I have learned quickly that my students are very knowledgeable and curious. They all do not stop asking questions. I had to make a classroom policy of waiting to raise their hand until I stop talking. I literally would say two words and 5 students hands would go in the air with questions. I am glad they are so interested, but they kept asking questions of what I was about to say! It has been fun teaching without a textbook for math. I printed math sheets for them to complete and most of them were definitely above 3rd grade. I plan to challenge my students all year long, especially my second group because they are the advanced and gifted class.
For science, we have been doing basic explorations of science terms. We did a predictions lab using counters. It is basically like a flipping a coin activity, but with red and white counters. We also did a observations lab where students were given an object with a partner and had to observe and describe their object in great detail. Then we did a communication activity. This was super fun. I wish I took pictures. I put up the student offices (two file folders stapled together to give each student privacy). I gave each student their lab sheet and a brown paper bag that had an object in it. Each student had a different object. The students had to observe and describe their objects. Then I had the students come to the front of the class and describe their object. The other students had to guess which object was the students object they were describing. It was a fun activity because I had a ton of totally different objects like: gator pom poms, a band-aid, a highlighter, pink gator hat, a tiara, a costume tiger ears, etc. Anyway, I am exciting to start teaching more science content next week! We are starting our energy unit!
I am completing donors choose projects this year. I did one for a projector and got it funded! Now I am working on one for a classroom iPad. I hope I can get this one funded too!
I can tell this year is going to be great. I have such a great team of teachers to work with who are filled with tons of ideas. It's amazing because all four of us have similar teaching philosophies and want to make learning fun, enjoyable, and differentiated for the students. We have a great school that backs us up on these philosophies and a great administration who believes in us! I am really loving my first year and could not be happier.
Hopefully I will have time to post more often next week.
That's it for now!
-Michelle
It's currently a Saturday night. I was writing lesson plans for the past two hours. Good thing is since I have to write both Math and Science plans for the week, and my friend and I both teach both subjects to the same grade level at the same school, we can share the planning. She wrote the math plans and I wrote the science plans. I feel so accomplished now that I got it all done! Woohoo!
I feel like I could rename my blog, "TeachingWithoutATextbook." That's literally what we have been doing. The textbooks FINALLY arrived though. I have the teacher editions and student editions in my possession now at home. We do not have them in our classrooms yet because they are not done sorting and stamping all the books. We should get them by Wednesday of next week. For now, I have to scan and make copies of everything for my students to use.
Social studies has been fun- I taught my students my Continent song to teach them the 7 continent names. We also made compass roses and did a kinesthetic learning activity where the students had to practice facing North, then facing different directions as I called out the direction. This was fun for both me and the students! The way all teaching and learning should be! We also made the flip book foldable of where I am- using our school, our street, our city, our country, and our continent. At the end of the week, I had my students sing the Continent song in small groups and I gave each of them a sticker that said "Ask me what the 7 continents are!" Next week we are going to work on actually knowing the location of the 7 continents and being able to label them on a map. I love the map skills unit. I am looking forward to continuing it!
In math we have been focusing on place value. I have learned quickly that my students are very knowledgeable and curious. They all do not stop asking questions. I had to make a classroom policy of waiting to raise their hand until I stop talking. I literally would say two words and 5 students hands would go in the air with questions. I am glad they are so interested, but they kept asking questions of what I was about to say! It has been fun teaching without a textbook for math. I printed math sheets for them to complete and most of them were definitely above 3rd grade. I plan to challenge my students all year long, especially my second group because they are the advanced and gifted class.
For science, we have been doing basic explorations of science terms. We did a predictions lab using counters. It is basically like a flipping a coin activity, but with red and white counters. We also did a observations lab where students were given an object with a partner and had to observe and describe their object in great detail. Then we did a communication activity. This was super fun. I wish I took pictures. I put up the student offices (two file folders stapled together to give each student privacy). I gave each student their lab sheet and a brown paper bag that had an object in it. Each student had a different object. The students had to observe and describe their objects. Then I had the students come to the front of the class and describe their object. The other students had to guess which object was the students object they were describing. It was a fun activity because I had a ton of totally different objects like: gator pom poms, a band-aid, a highlighter, pink gator hat, a tiara, a costume tiger ears, etc. Anyway, I am exciting to start teaching more science content next week! We are starting our energy unit!
I am completing donors choose projects this year. I did one for a projector and got it funded! Now I am working on one for a classroom iPad. I hope I can get this one funded too!
I can tell this year is going to be great. I have such a great team of teachers to work with who are filled with tons of ideas. It's amazing because all four of us have similar teaching philosophies and want to make learning fun, enjoyable, and differentiated for the students. We have a great school that backs us up on these philosophies and a great administration who believes in us! I am really loving my first year and could not be happier.
Hopefully I will have time to post more often next week.
That's it for now!
-Michelle
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Meet the Teacher and FIRST day of school!
AMAZING! and EXHAUSTED! Those two words sum up everything. I absolutely love my students and their families. I am in a totally different demographic than I am used to, but so far, I am loving it! The families are very involved in their child's education, which is fabulous! Today went as smoothly as it could. I even did my favorite team building activity. However, I made it a STEM group project instead. I did the spaghetti noodle and marshmallow tower building activity. However, it was set up like a science lab where they had to plan, execute and write a lab report after. To include math, the students had the following prompt.
"You have $400 to split between your team. Each marshmallow cost $10. Each spaghetti noodle cost $5. How many marshmallows and spaghetti noodles can you use to build your tower. Your goal is to use the least amount of money and build the tallest tower possible."
The kids LOVED it! Here are some pictures I got that do not have any kids in them...
"You have $400 to split between your team. Each marshmallow cost $10. Each spaghetti noodle cost $5. How many marshmallows and spaghetti noodles can you use to build your tower. Your goal is to use the least amount of money and build the tallest tower possible."
The kids LOVED it! Here are some pictures I got that do not have any kids in them...
Enjoy the pictures! I only did this with one of my two sets of classes. Remember, I teach math and science twice to two different homerooms. Tomorrow, I plan to do this activity in the other class! Can't wait to see how the other group does this! :)
Also- two things that made my day.
1. This amazing letter I received first thing in the morning... ( I grayed out the childs name and parent signature)
2. We FINALLY have our school copier up and running! And get this, it actually can HOLE PUNCH and STAPLE things for you! My life just got 3248370592798374 times easier! Since we don't have textbooks yet, I literally made math packets of the textbook so we can actually start teaching content! So excited!
GREAT day overall. Can't wait to do it again tomorrow. And I only spent 12 hours at school today. Hopefully I can get this down to like 9 or 10 on average, but 12 hours seems to be the norm for the past week. :)
Hope everyone else had a great day!
-Michelle
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Meet the Teacher Tomorrow!
This weekend I finished setting up and decorating my classroom! Thanks to the help of my amazing fiancé, and two of my best friends, we all made my classroom completely adorable! I absolutely love how it turned out. I decided against posting anymore pictures on here, those of you who know me personally can just go view my Facebook album. :)
Anyway, tomorrow is Meet the Teacher! I am so excited and a little bit nervous for it. I cannot wait to meet all my wonderful students! I am only nervous about meeting the parents. Although I have worked with parents so many times throughout working at camp, I am still nervous about tomorrow. I have a really cute professional outfit picked out for tomorrow and I hope that will help parents to see that I am not just a young teacher, but a professional one.
I'll have more to say tomorrow I'm sure, once I have met all my students and parents.
Here's to 3rd grade teaching adventures! :)
Anyway, tomorrow is Meet the Teacher! I am so excited and a little bit nervous for it. I cannot wait to meet all my wonderful students! I am only nervous about meeting the parents. Although I have worked with parents so many times throughout working at camp, I am still nervous about tomorrow. I have a really cute professional outfit picked out for tomorrow and I hope that will help parents to see that I am not just a young teacher, but a professional one.
I'll have more to say tomorrow I'm sure, once I have met all my students and parents.
Here's to 3rd grade teaching adventures! :)
Friday, August 16, 2013
SO TIRED
Yep. I'm exhausted. I spent 11 hours at the school today. Luckily, tomorrow I have some help in my classroom. I still have a LOT to do. It's coming along, but I want to wait to post anymore pictures. I should be done decorating wise by tomorrow. I'll post pictures then :)
My brain is tired. Hopefully I'll be done with everything soon.
I did finally make a list of what I need to do before Monday. It's two pages long. On normal size paper. :(
Well, here's to 3rd grade teaching adventures!
My brain is tired. Hopefully I'll be done with everything soon.
I did finally make a list of what I need to do before Monday. It's two pages long. On normal size paper. :(
Well, here's to 3rd grade teaching adventures!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)