Have you ever noticed....

that the best lessons aren't really lessons?    We finished our unit on fractions and probability this week and  took our test (and rocked it!) yesterday, so today I wanted to give my kids a day to review and practice all the skills that we have been learning all year long.  I pulled out a bunch of  envelope centers - including Amy Lemons Spring Math centers,  and the Versa-Tiles.   They could work on any center or activity or work on their computers on First in Math.  I gave them the choice of working with a partner or by themselves.   I was surprised at how many chose to work alone.


They were so excited not to have a specific assignment,  and got right to work.   I loved listening to them talking to each other about math - reminding each other about regrouping,  multiplying, geometry etc.   My little techies were busy teaching each other the games that they were learning on First in Math.  If you don't use this program, let me recommend it to the tenth power!  Everyone works at their own pace,  the games have tutorials built into them,  and they can go as far as they want to go.   I had one little man come up and ask me to please, please, please show him how to subtract fractions.   He had an idea of what to do,  but was a bit confused about finding the least common denominator.   He had almost worked it out, which I found amazing.   I gave him a little guidance and after practicing a couple of times with me,  he had it.  

Here are some pictures of our day. I loved that so much different math was happening at the same time!

This is to that....Analogies!

We have had a LOT of testing this week!   Anyone else use c-scope?   They should have named it Test-Scope.   The ideas are pretty sound,  I just wish there was not so much testing.   Our district is working on that - and our new district math leader person has made a lot of progress in that area (have I mentioned I LOVE her?),  but right now,  we still have a lot of tests.   But we are managing to have some fun this week.

We have been having a blast making analogies.  We are using my analogy packet.   I honestly think this is my favorite product I have ever put on Teachers Pay Teachers.   My kids DIG it.   http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Huge-Analogy-Packet-for-Elementary-Kids

Today we played I Have,  Who Has - analogy style - which is part of my packet.   It took longer than a lot of other games but they were so thrilled when they got it.   It was fun to watch their thinking happen.   As with most exciting learning,  it was not quiet. 

After we played,  I gave each child half of a sentence strip and had them create their own bridge map analogy of ANYTHING they wanted.   We are studying animals and their characteristics and it was obvious when it came to their analogies.  I also loved how many of them chose a math analogy.    Most of them did a fabulous job with this.  

My super smarties love analogies so much they even found a website game to practice.   I find them on here all the time!
http://www.quia.com/cb/7146.html

Hope your day was great! 

Do you know Dojo???

My fabulous and amazing friend Jennifer introduced me to my new favorite classroom thing - classdojo.com.   Do you know about this?   OMWord - if you don't.... you need to.   I love this.   It is an digital behavior management system, that ROCKS.   It takes away the need for color changes and folder signing etc.   And it is totally easy, and totally free.

You just go to the website  www.classdojo.com , create a class (which is super easy to do) and get the students their "secret codes".   The students will log in creating their own user name and password (I just had them use their lunch numbers for both) and they can create their own little avatar. 

Once they are all logged on the first time you will have a class screen that looks a little like this....(with a lot more kids and fewer famous ones).

And you are literally ready to GO!

The website has some generic behaviors listed as positive,  "on task",  "working hard",  etc.   and a few negatives,  "off task", "not prepared", etc.   But you can very easily click - edit class- and add any behavior you would like.   I added hallway behavior,  showing kindness and compassion,  neat desk,  did not put computer away, tattling, etc.  

Then you just click on the name of a student,  and the list of behaviors will pop up.   Just tap the one that they are exhibiting and it will add a point for good behavior and take away a point for poor behavior.  

 

And each time you do this,   your computer will ding for a positive behavior and sort of groan for a negative behavior (if you have your speakers on).   You can display the screen,  or not - it's up to you.   I liked not having it displayed because then the kids did not know who it was,  so they were on alert.   It was honestly the best I have ever seen them behave because they wanted POINTS.

 

 

The super awesome thing about this is that there is a free app for iPhones, iPads,  Android phones and tablets.   I downloaded it on my tablet,  my computer and my phone.   That was I can easily use it from anywhere in my room, the hall,  the cafeteria, recess, etc. - just tap, tap, tap...

 

My students kept going back to check their points all day because they each have a computer,  but there is no need to do this at all.   They each can view a report each day or each week showing them exactly what their behavior was like.

 

 

They can see where they got points taken off and where they excelled .   Then they can write and reflect on what they want to be able to do the next week.   These reports can be run off or emailed to parents right from the site by simply clicking "share with parents".

 

Then you can decide what you want to do with these points.   I am thinking of just having them trade them in for our school currency, Mustang Money, on Fridays,  but others have created currency systems and certificates specific to Class Dojo.   The avatars are adorable - so they can be used to create a classroom bulletin board or award center as well.  I am thinking of  karate color belts for each level of points.  

 

I love this so much.   Especially in a time of RTI - when we are looking for very specific data.   It is very easy to simply print out a behavior sheet each day or each week for specific students to show how behavior interventions are working.   You can very easily add any specific behavior you are working on with a student to the mix and only record it for the student who is needing it.   I love the parent communication bit as well.   But mostly I love this because my students LOVE it and it is motivating and encouraging for them - plus so much easier to use than any other system I have ever tried.  What could be better??? 

 

I hope you will give it a try and let me know what you think!

 

 

 



FIVE FOR FRIDAY!

 

 

Happy Friday Everyone!   We had an amazingly fun week!  It went so fast.   We have had so much fun working on fractions and The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo.    Here are so photos from our week.   First,   we were blessed to become the new family of this sweet little guy - Patches!  He belonged to a sweet friend of mine that is moving - so she asked us if we would be his new family.   We were thrilled.   I have never had or even touched a guinea pig before this little guy.   He is so stinking sweet and cuddly.   He is a GREAT classroom pet.   Just so no one thinks I am crazy... the hedgehog was just a visitor (who has returned to his real family) - we are NOT crazy pet collectors!

 

April being Poetry month, we used Patches as our subject and wrote LOTS of poems about him - cinquain, acrostic, and just plain silly.   Here are a couple of cute ones!

 

 

We have been having a blast reading Judy Blume books.   My kids have cleared the whole Judy Blume section out of the library - I think they all chose at least one book.   This week we have focused on The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo.  We have been using Amy Lemons unit - which is fabulous.   The kids LOVED this story.  I only have 11 copies of this book - so we used it as a partner read unit.   They took turns reading to Patches.   He seemed to enjoy the story too!

This is a picture of my birthday balloon a couple days ago -... my birthday was March 7th.   This thing has been hanging out up there for more than a month with no signs of coming down anytime soon!  How weird is that?   I have never seen a balloon hang on for so long.   Must have been some super helium!



 

 

This is my favorite picture of the week!   This little pup - Stuffy - was my best friend for my entire childhood.   He is missing his ears,  chewed off my childhood dog, Strudel.   His back is stitched up with green fishing line, from the time my sweet grandpa took him into his room on a silver tray to lovingly perform restuffing surgery on him.  He is stuffed with bitty Styrofoam balls, childhood wishes, dreams and tears.   Just looking at him can bring memories rushing back to me at warp speed.   My daughter Eden has recently discovered him and is in love.   I found him like this in her room this afternoon.   I sent up another thank you to God for sending me this baby girl!

 

 

Have a blessed weekend!

 



 

 

Five For Friday

The best thing I can say about this week is that it is over!   I hate to say that,  but it was just not that great.   The highlight was the Loof Lirpa (see Pranks and Poetry post below).   Other than that,  it was all about being QUIET for testing,  and then yesterday I had to leave school because the stomach bug came a-calling for me...OMGoodness.   That was awful.   I was better by about midnight,  but every muscle in my body hurts from getting sick so violently.   I feel like I have been hit by a car.  

But here is some randomness from my week....first up, my son Grant coloring.   This might not seem like big shakes to you,  but my sweet boy does not like to sit still and do anything.  We are trying out some new diet restrictions and some new homeopathic medications and we are seeing some new things with him - makes me very happy!

Next is my little girl - Eden, in her new Smockadot dress.   I love it.   You can't tell,  but it has her intials on it.   I got it for a steal on their deal of the day on Facebook.   I love a deal!  She was so cute in it,  she kept twirling around.   After 3 sons,  it is so much fun to have a daughter!  She brings a sense of balance to our family that was definitely missing before she came along.  

April is Poetry Month.   My teammate Jill and I decided to challenge ourselves and make the kids write at least one poem a day for the entire month.   We wrote some hilarious couplets, and then poems about the Loof Lirpa,  about Hermit Crabs (we had two visiting),  parakeets (I took my birds to school this week - we are studying animals),  and today we ended our Freckle Juice Unit with a BioPoem about Andrew Marcus.   I loved this!   They did such a great job.   I changed up the template we usually use a little to make it work.  

 

I was a little sad to finish our Freckle Juice Unit.   The kids had so much fun.  They are now begging to go to the library and check out Judy Blume books.   Next week we will move on to Amy Lemons', The One in the Middle is a Green Kangaroo unit.   I know they will love that too!   Today we finished up by doing my cover art graphing activity and creating our own cover art.

 

This afternoon we made Amy Lemons fraction pizzas!   It was really fun and made it very clear to me who understands fractions and who still needs a lot of work! 





 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Freckle-Juice-A-Novel-Study

 

I can NOT wait to go to sleep tonight.   Once my little peeps are tucked in, this tired mommy is out!

 

Testing days....

stink!  I don't even give the test - but still,  I hate them.   Two days with NO break all day.  Our whole purpose is to make ourselves and our kids invisible for two days.  We were asked to stay off the internet to protect bandwidth for the high school students who were testing - so no streaming,  no games,  no Google - that was so difficult for my little techies! And our weather has been awful - so indoor recess on top of it.  I don't mean to be a whiner,  it was a million times worse for the teachers giving the test,   but I am praising the Lord we have specials tomorrow and lunch in the cafeteria and a regular schedule! 

Our day wasn't much to write about - although we did write some cute couplet poems.  But I wanted to share this cute little picture of Eve - the hedgehog.  I am babysitting her while her family has their floors redone.   She got a bath tonight - and loved it!

Knowing tomorrow will be a better day!