#5Things -The Bucket List

July Blogging Challenge-Day 11

Happy Free Slurpee Day!  

For those of you who don't know what that is, its a frozen ice sold at convenience stores called 7-Eleven. So every 7/11 they give away a free Slurpee to each customer.  I got a tasty lemonade flavor and it made my summer.  There is one right down the street from my house and when I was pregnant with my son I craved Coke Slurpees and walked there every single day and got one!

Taking a cue from @druinok, I am also going to blog today about my Bucket List.  This should be pretty interesting for me at least since I've never really thought about what that exactly is!  I am probably not going to put them in any order just as they come to me.

#1-Go cross country skiing.  This is almost a joke in my family because for probably the last 20 years I've been saying I want to do this and just never do.  No reason, other than maybe the expense, but I'm sure if I put my mind to it I could at least try it out inexpensively.  Maybe the other reason is nobody wants to do it with me.  I've got to work on this one.

#2- Hike the entire Appalachian Trail.  I LOVE hiking, camping and nature.  I plan on doing this someday, at least in stages.  Maybe over a few years.  

#3-Get an RV and travel all over the USA.  Hmmm, I think I may be making our empty nest plan here...7 more years to go.

#4-I hate to say this but I do want to compete in bodybuilding one more time before I kick it.  Or maybe compete in a powerlifting contest.

#5-Cruise to Alaska.  Again, nature is my passion.  Whenever I want to go on a cruise, this is the only kind I can imagine and want to do.

I wonder if I did this correctly.  Is a bucket list supposed to be crazy things you want to do, or actually doable stuff?  My list might be too practical because I fully intend to do each of these things without question!

Technology Thursday

July Blogging Challenge Day 10

Wow 10 days in a row. I can't believe it and am happy that I made it this far!  

Today I am going to write about some of the things I've used in my class and like.  Oh and I can't find it right now, but at the end of the year our admin likes to give out little "awards" and I got the "Teacher who is on top of technology" award  :)

#1 So lets start with the Remind, formally Remind 101.  For those of you who don't know, Remind is a website that allows you to send reminder text messages to students/families without having to share cell phone numbers.  It is also a one way service, so they can't text you back. I used it to send out homework and let me tell you, the kids and parents LOVED it.  I had parents begging me to get all of the other teachers to use it too.  I will definitely be using it again this year.

#2 Next is Edmodo.  My kids love Edmodo and so do I.  I stated using it two years ago when I was flipping my notes.  I didn't use it as much last year because I wanted to try out our new textbook the way the lessons were  laid out the first year to get to know it better before flipping.  One thing I know for sure is that I am going to go back using Edmodo this year. The way I do my flip is really just record how to make the foldable or what notes to go into the INBs.  Plus I really like one of the new features they just introduced: Snapshot.  It is a quick way to give a common core assessment.  I tried it out at the end of the year and the reports were really useful.  I can't wait to use it this year for real.  I've archived my classes already so unfortunately I can't share any of the reports. :(

#3 XtraMath-This is a very basic "basic skills" (add, subtract, multiply, divide)  practice site.  It is free, gives good reports and I think it really helps my students in exactly what they need to practice.

#4 Socrative- This is one that I really like, but haven't used to its fullest potential.  We just got new wifi routers in my school about the middle of last year so I just started playing around with stuff like this in class since before the upgrade, it was hard to get all of my students up and running.  Another thing that sort of holds me back on these types of apps is that we are not truly a 1:1 school.  We have 10 iPads for math and science, and a cart for general use with about 20 more I think, and then about 18 laptops, but I have to share with pretty much the whole school.  Still, I like this app and I like using it for reviews more than I like playing PowerPoint Jeopardy games.  They have a game option called Space Race that my students really like.  It also works well for teams, so if i can only get a few of the iPads or laptops it still works.

#5 Thinking Blocks- LOVE LOVE LOVE this app.  I don't think its free anymore, it was for a time, but I do think its free on the browser at Math Playground. Which itself is a great website for math games!  Thinking Blocks is interactive bar modeling.  It has a ton of scaffolding and really teaches the bar model method.  I really liked that I could let kids "play" with it, then after they were done give them a similar problem and have them solve it on paper. It has a great carry over!

Those are my tried and true, but there are others that I am still playing around with that might have potential.

Wizenworld-This is a game that has different levels and a Legend of Zelda type feel to it.  You are on a quest and have to defeat monsters who give you math problems.  Very cute, my  10 year old son likes it, and now that I'm teaching 5/6 it may have more potential for me!

Nearpod-I feel like this is a really good tool, especially since I am going to flip again this year and I feel that it would work good at a station or center if I can only grab a few iPads or laptops. I haven't really used this to the fullest yet either and the only way I've used it was when I bought stuff made by Cathy Yenca (@mathycathy) which I highly recommend!

That's it for now, I'm sure I will have more that I can add to this list after playing around the rest of the summer!

#eduRead Wednesday!

July Blogging Challenge Day 9

I can tell this is going to become one of my new favorite chats and I am thankful for the "topic" to help make this blogging challenge a little bit easier.

I liked that this week's article, Even Geniuses Work Hard by Carol Dweck, gave us ideas on how we can help our students to develop a growth mindset by creating a growth mindset culture in our classrooms.
I'm pretty sure the ideas are not really new, talk about successful people who didn't start out so successful (Edison, Disney, Einstein, etc), create a goal and a plan on how you will reach it, praise the effort not the answer and showing progress with things like a pre/post test.
The idea that I really liked was grading for growth.  She talked about a school that instead of giving a failing grade, they got marked "Not Yet".  I love this!  I'd also like to take this a step further and for a C grade mark "Almost There!"  I don't like when kids are satisfied with a C grade.  Since I allow students to retake quizzes and tests, I am going to do this.  This way they don't get down on themselves when they see a low score or bad grade.

I'm looking forward to the chat tonight!  If you haven't participated yet there is still time to read the article and join in the chat tonight at 9pm!

Information Overload

July Blogging Challenge Day 8

One of the nice things about summer is I get to spend a little more time reading my Twitter feed, scrolling through Pinterest,  and reading some PD books.  The problem with this is my mind is ready to meltdown right about now!

There are a few stories that I found myself drawn to that really wear me out.  The first one is the anti-charter school movement.  Now, I completely agree with a lot of what the anti-charter people say, however, my school is a charter school and I love it.  We are public, we have to follow all rules and regulations just like any other public school, we can't turn away kids even though we do have a cap on the number of students in our school (we use a lottery system-and I've seen it being drawn...its pretty cool!) and we have special ed students.  We are a small school and we really work together as a big family.   I think we are definitely needed in our community and we serve our community well.

The next is this article http://teacherunderconstruction.com/2014/06/28/advocacy-in-the-age-of-colorblindness/ which led me to other articles and a lot of nasty racism talk.  This is a tough subject for me.  I am a white teacher in a school with 0% white students.  I don't even want to give an opinion like the ones in the first article because it doesn't seem like there is any valid argument to the the author's statement: "Another irritating argument includes that “it doesn’t matter what color a teacher is, as long as the teacher is good, that’s all that matters.” That is completely missing the point of the importance and benefits of students of color having teachers who look like them (see: Study: Minority students do better under minority teachers, Why students need more Black and Latino teachers). Yes, all teachers regardless of race can be trained to be effective teachers of black students, but black teachers can “be more adept at motivating and engaging students of color.” Additionally, by having students of color see people who look like them in successful positions, it can help prove to them that they can hold such positions too. Also, comments such as “color doesn’t matter,” is possibly one of the most racist statements one could make. By saying, “I don’t see color,” or “color doesn’t matter,” is basically saying “I don’t see your experiences, your stories, your struggles. Those elements of your identity and life don’t matter to me.” Colorblindness is not justice, equality, or being a good teacher. Colorblindness is ignoring the very issues that your students need you to fight against."


However, I know many parents who are white with black kids, either through mixed marriage or adoption, are these people not good parents? Its something I don't get. I want to agree with the statement that if a teacher is a good teacher it doesn't matter what color they are. I know that when I went to high school one of my best and favorite teachers was African American. He had a lot of influence on me even though I didn't look like him! I just knew that he cared about me and my classmates and that was all that mattered. But then again, what do I know, I'm white so my situation is totally different. I just know that I love my students and want them all to succeed. I refuse to believe that I can't help them do that.


Next up is grading. In theory I am 100% for standards based grading. I am not ready to take it on all by myself. I am reading and studying everything I can about it to hopefully start to transition slowly towards it. I've already started last year with giving retakes on all tests and quizzes. Tonight I am going to join in on the Global Math Department's conference Standards Based Grading, Where to Start and How to Go Deeper and hopefully this overloaded brain will get something out of it!


Then I have my books. I've done a few posts on my reading list, but they include real books and ebooks. I have found that I love reading novels and fiction on my Kindle app, but non-fiction, PD type books not so much. Do you feel the same?

I guess that's it, but it is enough to make me feel overwhelmed.  Don't get me wrong I love every minute of it.  I just hope I don't burn out too much before school starts!

Shopping!

July Blogging Challenge-Day 7

Today I read blogs and was very inspired! There are some great things being shared and posted and again I am so grateful to be involved with it.  However, I am pretty exhausted and just can't think of anything good to blog about.  So I will just share some of my purchases from today.  I decided to hit the Office Depot for the penny sale.

I ended up with the index cards, pencil top erasers for a penny each, then some colorful pens (the flairs based on reading the blogs this week!) and some super cool washi tape!  I never bought/used it before, but since I want to do my classroom in a comic book/superhero theme, I figured it will come in handy!!

Standards Sunday

July Blogging Challenge -Day 6

Chapter 2 is titled Whole Number Multiplication and Division and these are the standards it addresses:

Numbers and Operations in Base Ten
5.NBT.2 
Explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a number by powers of 10 , and explain patterns in the placement of the decimal point when a decimal is multiplied or divided by a power of 10.  Use whole number exponents to denote powers of 10.

5.NBT.5
Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.

5.NBT.6
Find whole-number quotients of whole numbers with up to four-digit dividends and two-digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division.  Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.

Operations and Algebraic Thinking
5.OA.1
Use parentheses, brackets, or braces in numerical expressions, and evaluate expression with these symbols.

5.OA.2
Write simple expressions that record calculations with numbers, and interpret numerical expressions without evaluating them.

5.OA.3
Generate two numerical patterns using two given rules.  Identify apparent relationships between corresponding terms. Form ordered pairs consisting of corresponding terms from the two patterns and graph the ordered pairs on a coordinate plane.

As I read these standards my mind is flipping through images of foldables I've seen on these topics.  I am so glad I decided to use  ISNs again this year.

Again I get so excited to be going back to basics.  I feel like in 7th/8th the students still struggle with this.   I  wonder what are the reasons for the struggle?  Is it because students don't master the basic multiplication facts in 3rd or 4th grade?  Or do they not get enough practice?  It going to be very interesting to have the time to investigate this. One thing I'm going to do this week is get a head start on my investigating.  My niece and nephew are going to be spending a few hours everyday with us while my sister works, this means I will have a 6th grader, 5th grader and 3rd grader in my house :)  You can bet we are going to be doing some math this week!

Standards Saturday

July Blogging Challenge-Day 5

One of my priorities this summer is to get to know the 5th grade standards inside and out.  I have to really learn the 6th grade standards as well, but they are closer to 7/8 which I already know, so I'm focusing on 5th first.

That being said, I think I will dedicate my Saturday and Sunday posts to exploring these standards!

I like the way our textbook lays out the curriculum, so even though I may not be following it lesson by lesson, I will be using the organizational plan it lays out.  First up in 5th grade is Whole Numbers.  The standard addressed in all 4 lessons of this chapter is:
5.NBT.1- Number and Operations in Base Ten
Understand the place value system.
1. Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left.

The gist of this chapter is going to be learning to write numbers in standard and word form, reading numbers by periods, learning place value and expanded form, comparing numbers and rounding numbers.

I remember my son struggling with this last year.  I ended up making him a foldable at home for periods that he used when doing his homework. I was happy that he was able to use it in school during classwork.
I can't believe when 7/8th graders can't read bigger numbers.  I know that it makes them feel incompetent as well.  Why is this a skill that doesn't "stick"  This is just another reminder of why I am so excited to be teaching 5th grade this year. The buck stops here, they are not leaving me without this basic knowledge!!

My immediate instinct is to start lesson planning, going through each lesson in the chapter.  However, this year, I really want to embrace backward design and math workshop. What do I want these kids to be able to do after this chapter is done and how can I get them there. What can I get them to create, or what real world product can they make from learning this stuff?  I wish I had the answers right now to blog about, but this is going to be a year that I work very hard for my salary!
I may end up editing this post when I find some answers and as always I would love comments!  I know most of the #MTBoS are higher grades, what would you wish 5/6th grade teachers would do?