I Did It!
Saturday, August 10, 2013
I am quite certain no one is following my blog, but I'm kinda ok with that right now. I still have so much work to do to get the blog lookin' good. Tonight I figured out how to add my TpT badge. Did you notice it? Not only did I add the button, it actually works. Go ahead. Try it. I'm pretty proud of myself.
Thursday, August 08, 2013
School doesn't start here for another 3 weeks, but I'm starting to panic. I realized last night that I have A LOT of work to do. I will be teaching Grade 6 in the fall, but I won't have to move classrooms, so that's a bonus. TpT, WBT, and Pinterest are all wonderful resources, but I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed by everything that is available to me. I think I need a holiday.
Isn't this subway art adorable?
Isn't this subway art adorable?
Back to School Free Subway Art Printable @ Sweet Coconut Lime
Friday, April 26, 2013
What a week! The weather in southern Alberta has been gorgeous. We've waited a long time for spring to arrive, but with the warm weather also comes squirmy kids and a hot classroom. We did get a break on Wednesday when we relocated to the cooler basement to allow the painters to come in and do their thing. The new paint colour makes the room bright and airy. I won't be missing the Smurf blue that's for sure :) I might go in on the weekend and put up a few posters ... maybe.
I love technology ... when it works! I lost two Social Studies classes this week because we had computer glitches. A couple months ago our school eliminated the computer lab and replaced it with laptops on a trolley. So, if you want to use the computers, you just sign out the trolley, roll it down to your room, and away you go. This worked really well for the first two months and then this week we had issues. The students couldn't get onto the internet and that made my New France Webquest a huge disaster. After two days of rescheduling, I was done with the idea of doing a webquest. We went over the answers as a class and filled in the missing information. The school days are running out and we're on a schedule. We gotta move on!
This leads me to my last thing - Britain's Influence on Canada in the 1600 and 1700s! Aren't you excited? Probably not and I totally understand if you aren't. Chances are the kids aren't either. Well, that's what I figured when I planned my next section in Social Studies 5. I decided to start with a Reader's Theatre script. There are 5 speaking parts: Narrator, France, Britain, Acadians, and Cornwallis. I tied a little art activity in and posted it on TpT.
You can check it out here:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Britains-Influence-on-Canada-1600-1700s-Readers-Theatre-Activity
I wasn't planning to put it on TpT, but when I was searching Canadian History, I noticed there wasn't a lot there. Maybe this will help someone out.
Have a fantastic weekend!
Top Priority Teaching
I love technology ... when it works! I lost two Social Studies classes this week because we had computer glitches. A couple months ago our school eliminated the computer lab and replaced it with laptops on a trolley. So, if you want to use the computers, you just sign out the trolley, roll it down to your room, and away you go. This worked really well for the first two months and then this week we had issues. The students couldn't get onto the internet and that made my New France Webquest a huge disaster. After two days of rescheduling, I was done with the idea of doing a webquest. We went over the answers as a class and filled in the missing information. The school days are running out and we're on a schedule. We gotta move on!
This leads me to my last thing - Britain's Influence on Canada in the 1600 and 1700s! Aren't you excited? Probably not and I totally understand if you aren't. Chances are the kids aren't either. Well, that's what I figured when I planned my next section in Social Studies 5. I decided to start with a Reader's Theatre script. There are 5 speaking parts: Narrator, France, Britain, Acadians, and Cornwallis. I tied a little art activity in and posted it on TpT.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Britains-Influence-on-Canada-1600-1700s-Readers-Theatre-Activity
I wasn't planning to put it on TpT, but when I was searching Canadian History, I noticed there wasn't a lot there. Maybe this will help someone out.
Have a fantastic weekend!
Top Priority Teaching
Sunday, April 14, 2013
I knew it had been awhile since I last posted, but I was SHOCKED to see how long it really was. I have no excuses. I need to get in the habit of posting. I need to start with one night a week as my blog posting time. If I start with one post a week and get really good at that, then I can move on and try two posts a week. Be patient :)
Here's what my students have been up to:
Math 4 - We are finishing up multiplying 2 or 3-digit numbers by 1 digit. Honestly, I was scared about teaching this. I wanted to provide the kids with lots of strategies and I wanted them to be able to explain the math behind what they were doing, but I wanted to go slow enough so they didn't get overwhelmed and frustrated. I found this great FREE resource and used it as my starting point.
http://bridges1.mathlearningcenter.org/resources/blog/201110/multi-digit-multiplication-strategy-posters
To help the kids stay organized I had them create a top tab foldable. After we learned about each strategy, they did an example in their organizer.
The kids have done amazing with the strategies, but I'll find out for sure on Tuesday when they write their test.
Science 5 - We just started our section on clouds. After introducing the topic with a RAN organizer activity and a short BrainPop video, we were ready to make our own cloud. This was my first time making a Cloud in a Jar and my principal surprised me with an observation, so I had my fingers crossed that it would work. Guess what? It did work and the kids were engaged the whole time! You gotta love that :)
I can't wait for my kids to make the cool cloud viewfinders next week. I'll post pictures, but until then you can check out the website:
http://www.windows2universe.org/teacher_resources/cloud_viewer_web.pdf
Top Priority Teaching
Here's what my students have been up to:
Math 4 - We are finishing up multiplying 2 or 3-digit numbers by 1 digit. Honestly, I was scared about teaching this. I wanted to provide the kids with lots of strategies and I wanted them to be able to explain the math behind what they were doing, but I wanted to go slow enough so they didn't get overwhelmed and frustrated. I found this great FREE resource and used it as my starting point.
http://bridges1.mathlearningcenter.org/resources/blog/201110/multi-digit-multiplication-strategy-posters
To help the kids stay organized I had them create a top tab foldable. After we learned about each strategy, they did an example in their organizer.
The kids have done amazing with the strategies, but I'll find out for sure on Tuesday when they write their test.
Science 5 - We just started our section on clouds. After introducing the topic with a RAN organizer activity and a short BrainPop video, we were ready to make our own cloud. This was my first time making a Cloud in a Jar and my principal surprised me with an observation, so I had my fingers crossed that it would work. Guess what? It did work and the kids were engaged the whole time! You gotta love that :)
Check out Laura Candler's website for a FREE PDF copy:
http://www.lauracandler.com/filecabinet/science/CloudinaJarDemo.pdf
I can't wait for my kids to make the cool cloud viewfinders next week. I'll post pictures, but until then you can check out the website:
http://www.windows2universe.org/teacher_resources/cloud_viewer_web.pdf
Top Priority Teaching
Sunday, February 24, 2013
I forgot to mention that I made my first sale on Teachers Pay Teachers!! I walked away with 60 cents. I wonder what I'll spend it on :)
Top Priority Teaching
Top Priority Teaching
Teachers Convention 2013
Thursday and Friday were spent at our Teachers Convention. There were lots of great sessions to choose from. Here were my picks: Engaging the Brain, Manipulative Madness, Newsday Tuesday, Science Inquiry Not Through Worksheets, and SmartBoard Tricks of the Trade. They were all very well done. Engaging the Brain had lots of helpful information that I can put to use tomorrow when I start Whole Brain Teaching with my grade 4 math class. Manipulative Madness introduced many math games. Here's the Black Out board I made with an idea I got from that session:
It's a simple partner game. First, students need to randomly place all the numbers on the grid. Then, they roll 2 dice. They multiply the 2 numbers and cover the product on their board. You could have them write the multiplication statement over top of the number instead of just crossing if off. Players can play against the clock to see if they can get all of the numbers covered in a certain amount of time. I decided to focus on the 4-9 times tables, so I bought some wooden craft cubes from the $ Store and wrote the digits 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 on each side. Since I printed the boards in colour, I'll laminate them so I can reuse them. I can't wait to try this out with my kids.
Top Priority Teaching
It's a simple partner game. First, students need to randomly place all the numbers on the grid. Then, they roll 2 dice. They multiply the 2 numbers and cover the product on their board. You could have them write the multiplication statement over top of the number instead of just crossing if off. Players can play against the clock to see if they can get all of the numbers covered in a certain amount of time. I decided to focus on the 4-9 times tables, so I bought some wooden craft cubes from the $ Store and wrote the digits 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 on each side. Since I printed the boards in colour, I'll laminate them so I can reuse them. I can't wait to try this out with my kids.
Top Priority Teaching
Monday, February 18, 2013
It took w-a-y longer than I expected to get my Teachers Pay Teachers store open, but it's finally done. I had major issues when I tried saving my files as PDF, but thanks to many Google searches and help from the TpT tech guy, I was able to figure it out.
Top Priority Teaching
Here's a sneak peak of the 3 products I have posted for sale on TpT:
Robot Love Division Word Problems with QR codes - It's a Freebie!
Switch Ya! is a great activity for any grade level/subject.
It gets the kids thinking and moving!
Will It Light? is another QR code activity.
It's a great opener to the Electricity & Magnetism Unit in Science 5.
Until I can figure out how to add a badge, here's the link to my store:
Top Priority Teaching
Thursday, February 14, 2013
I must admit I didn't get too creative this year with Valentine's Day. My school planned an afternoon of Multiple Intelligence activities for the students instead of classroom parties, so I felt that I was covered. I did have my 4/5s complete a quick Valentine's Day Tweet activity at the start of Language Arts class. I found the idea on a Journey of a Substitute Teacher's TpT page. The students were only allowed 140 characters (including spaces and punctuation). I asked them to write a love message to an inanimate object (XBox, iPad, hairbrush, hockey skates ...).
Top Priority Teaching
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