Five for Friday-July 4th Edition

                                      

I am linking up today with Doodlebugs Teaching for her Five on Friday linky party.  Please forgive the awkward layout of my post.  I have been trying to use the Blogger app on my iPhone for adding photos to my posts because it is so much easier, but sometimes the layout gets wonky and I don't know how to fix it.  Let's just say this post took me WAY longer to put together than it should have.  If you make it all the way to #5 you will find something school related.  Enjoy!

                                                           

We started our week in IL for a baseball tournament our youngest was in.  We stayed at Key Lime Cove Waterpark in Gurnee and played two games on Saturday and two games on Sunday.  We were knocked out of the tournament by the team we beat last weekend to win the championship.  We had a great time at the waterpark.  Only Ben, Cooper, and I went down Friday because my other son Drew had his own baseball tournament in Waukesha, so he and my husband (his coach) had a game at 8 PM on Friday night and another at 10 AM Saturday morning.  

Greg and Drew came down Sat afternoon in time to see most of Cooper's 2 PM game.  The plan was for Greg and Drew to stay Sat night and then head back early Sunday morning for Drew's game, but it ended up being cancelled due to rain.  We were bummed that Drew's team didn't get to finish our their tournament, but happy that we were finally able to all be together!

Ballon glove and ball

Big and little together

                                                         

This week Greg and I squeezed in a date night at this amazing restaurant Parkside 23 that comes highly recommended by a couple of my friends.  They try to locally source as much food as possible and they also have their own garden.  The food is amazing.

My husband had salmon and I had a chicken pot pie with sauteed kale

Between my son's 2 PM and 6 PM game we had an hour to find somewhere to eat. After driving around in the middle of nowhere for 15 min trying to find somewhere to grab a bite to eat we came upon The Shanty Restaurant.  Unbeknownst to us, it was featured on  Food Network's DDD.  The food was great and it was a happy surprise for us.

Last night was the opening night of our local 4th of July Civic Celebration.  My middle son went with his friend Brett and apparently they won this oversized Jamaican banana playing some sort of game and they have decided to share custody of said banana.  Hopefully Brett will just keep it.  LOL  Greg took my youngest to the park where they road rides and played games (and I'm sure my husband had a beer or three).  I gave them very specific instructions that under no circumstance could anyone bring home goldfish this year.  Last year we ended up with a bunch of scary carney fish.  There is nothing more disgusting than a grey goldfish.  Eww.  Seriously they all creeped me out big time.

Don't worry, be happy  

Last night my oldest and I were just not in the mood to hit the celebration so we ended up having dinner at Panera and then getting some FroYo.  I can't believe it's July and it's the first time we are getting froyo,  Shhhh don't tell his brothers we went without them. ;)

I think I love you Yo Fresh

And just to add something school related.  These are two books I got this week.  The first was a book recommended to me by someone on #sunchat.  My principal was nice enough to order it for me and have is sent to my house.  I wanted to read it because I will be doing Tier 2 Math RTI this year for the first time.

The second book is on conferring with students.  Improving how I do this is one of my main goals for this coming year.  Funny story, this book has been sold out on Amazon for weeks, I went to Barnes & Noble online the other day and it was sold out.  When I checked I found out my local store had a copy so I put one on hold.  I had until the end of business the night we went out to dinner to pick up the book.  After our date night I made my husband stop at Barnes & Noble so I could get it.  He had no idea what book I was picking up, but thought it was something for fun.  When he asked what book I got, I told him Guided Math Conferences.  I explained to him how it was not available on Amazon and he was like, Yeah that's because they probably only made a few copies, who would want to read that?!  I was totally cracking up.  Only a math teacher would get excited about this book, right?! He just does not get my hoarding problem healthy obsession with professional books.  I will be joining this summer Guided Math Conferences Book Study.  This will be my third summer of doing a book study.  In summer 2012, I participated in the Guided Math Book Study and last year I hosted the Minds on Math Book Study.  I do love a summer book study, it keeps me focused and I love to share ideas with other teachers and see how they implement math workshop.

Our plans for the fourth are to head to a pool party this afternoon.  I'm not sure that we are even going to see the parade this morning.  As a general rule, I am not a fan of parades, but if I can hang out in a tent having a bloody mary then parade I will watch.  Our friends we usually go to the parade with and watch from the elaborate bloody mary tent are not going this year.  Not sure if any of the boys will want to go.  

This weekend is the first weekend since mid May that we do not have a LAX or BB tournament so my husband and I have big plans for getting the house clean/organized and doing some yardwork.  I would like to get the house in order because we have another waterpark/bb tourney coming up, as well as, another weekend bb tourney and then it's time for our summer vacation. Can't wait! 

Hope you all have a wonderful fourth of July!  The weather today looks beautiful so I am excited to soak up some sun somewhere other than a baseball field!

Currently March 2014

I am linking up with Farley for her March Currently.

I am listening to Spongebob not by choice, but by default of waking up after my two youngest boys today.  I slept until 7:20 AM which is sleeping in for me.

I am loving my math workshop delivery model.  I really cannot say enough about how much I am loving it and how well it is going with my students.  I have really had some epiphanies lately about workshop that have made it go more smoothly.  I just want to let all you middle school math teachers know that workshop is not just for elementary.  I feel my students are getting much more targeted instruction to what they need individually.  Small group work time is going so well and I am impressed by my students every day.  I also love pulling small groups to work on targeted skills/concepts.  I need to start doing some math workshop blog posts.  I have so much to share.

When I think about the fact that Spring Break is only two weeks ago I have a hard time believing it.  Our break is ALWAYS the week after Easter except for this year.  I have no idea why our district changed the dates of break, but I am not happy about it at all.  The kids will be getting Spring Fever a month earlier than they should this year and it's going to make for a LONG 4th quarter.

I want Winter to exit the building.  This has been a brutal winter in WI (and most of the US).  We had a record four cold days in January.  Fortunately because of our super long school day with kids we don't have to make up any time.  YAY!  Our HS has to start 10 min early starting this coming Monday to make up the time.  I drop my son (who is a freshman) off most mornings so we will now be leaving at 6:50.  YIKES!

I really need a new blog design.  If you know of anyone reasonable and reliable please let me know.  Every time I find someone who looks promising it seems like they are months out from being able to design.  Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.  I also need a spa day.  Full on massage, facial, mani, and pedi.  I am really carrying a lot of stress in my neck/shoulders lately.  Teaching is STRESSFUL!

$332.76 is the amount of items I currently have sitting in my Amazon cart.  Most of them are books, a mix of professional and just for fun.  I also have some tea cups for our Keurig.  I will be placing some sort of order today because my youngest wants to order a Webkinz.  I assure you my total won't be $332.67.  Must move some things to saved for later.

Currently August- Where has my summer gone?

I'm linking up with Farley for her August Currently  I'm a few days late so I should be person 5000.  ;)

I cannot believe it is August already.  My summer has once again slipped right through my fingertips.  I cannot believe that I will be heading back to school for preservice days at the end of this month.  Students start school September 3rd this year.  I am enjoying my last bit of summer fun with a long weekend away.  I cannot complain because I have had plenty of fun this summer, including a weekend BB tournament in WI Dells where we had the best time hanging out with a bunch of other families at the Great Wolf Lodge Waterpark.

Listening:  My husband took my three boys fishing so I am chilling in our vacation condo listening to the air conditioner.  We weren't able to stay at the resort we always stay at in  Egg Harbor, Door County because it was already booked for one of the night we needed so we are trying a new resort that's located in Sister Bay.  It has been fun spending more time in Sister Bay because we always just passed through or went out to dinner at certain restaurants.  They have a beautiful marina area with a volleyball court and very nice playground.  After dinner last we walked down to the marina and hung out for a couple hours.  We've seen much more of Sister Bay than ever before.

Loving:  I am loving being up here because Door County is just one of my favorite places in the world. We have been coming up here since before we were married and have so many fond memories of spending time with the boys here.  We have certain restaurants that cannot be missed, but we are also exploring some new options.  Yesterday we tried a new place for lunch that was meh (we keep teasing my husband because he suggested it) and then last night we tried a new place for dinner that was really great.  The resort has an indoor and outdoor pool and tons of other amenities so the boys are loving the options from BB to ping pong, foosball, and many other things.

Thinking:  How blessed we are to be able to create these vacation memories with the boys.  It has been a super busy summer with BB for my two youngest.  The middle is on a select team that played several weekend tournaments.  We even had a LAX tournament a couple weekends ago for the oldest.  I had two days of meetings for math and lesson study training.  This past week I took a grad class on Workshop Model in Math.  Normally this past week would have been our vacation time, but my class met Tues-Thurs.  Greg had the whole week off  and even though he was under the weather he was able to take the boys to Six Flags (which shall forever be Great America in my mind) one of the days I was in class.  I'm so happy we could squeeze in this extra long weekend getaway before my middle starts FB (the night we get back) and the oldest starts the next week.

Wanting:  The continue to enjoy the rest of the summer without completely stressing myself out about getting my classroom set up and planning for the coming school year.  It's easier now that the boys are older because I can leave them home and go in and work on my classroom, but I still want to do fun things with them before the summer ends.  Cooper has been asking to go to the zoo all summer (poor third child hasn't been there in years, we used to have an annual zoo pass when the older two were little) and I need to make sure we get there.  Every summer I want to take the boys to Chicago on the train and every summer comes and goes without us doing it.  This summer is shaping up to be no different.

Needing:  I need to make my August To Do List so I can hit the ground running when we get home from this vacation.  Something about my personality/psyche just cannot seem to function or be productive without making a to do list or thirty.  I don't know what it is about me, but if I make a list I am so much more productive and on task.  I need to prioritize what needs to be done for school/home to get us all ready for back to school.  This includes getting Cooper's bday parties planned.  What on earth was I thinking having a baby Sept 9th?!

Back to School Must Haves:  1) I am a bit obsessed with all school supplies so being a teacher is the perfect profession to feed my addiction.  I am partial to markers for some reason.  My love for Flair Markers can be traced to other teacher bloggers.  I also love Mr.Sketch and just got the 18 ct pack.  I do not like ball point pens and only like to write with Zebra pens.  My writing utensil of choice is a mechanical pencil or Pilot Pents which are actually gel pens.  Ballpoint pens are no bueno for me.  2) I also need a clean and organized teacher area to function.  I feel like it's such a battle keeping my house clean and organized thanks to the four males I live with, but at school I can completely control my teacher area organization and it makes me so happy and calm and content!  3) I must start every day with my Passion Iced Tea Lemonade.  I make it myself with Tazo tea I brew and Simply Lemonade.  I used to drink it at Starbucks, but found it's so much cheaper to make it myself and then I can have it anytime I want.

Minds on Math Book Study-Chapter 10 "Sharing and Reflection"

If this is your first time joining our book study please click on the button above and it will link to all previous posts.  Feel free to go back and add a link to any previous chapters.  You can link up your post on Chapter 10 at the bottom of this post.  Please visit the other bloggers who have linked up below and leave them comments.  Lots of great ideas are being posted on other blogs! Also check out previous chapters as links are still being added by other bloggers.

Twitter chat update:  Our first twitter chat for our book study Minds on Mathematics Using Workshop Model to Develop Deep Understanding in Grades 4-8 will be this coming Tues night July 30th at 7:00 PM CST, 8:00 PM EST.  We will use the hashtag #momathchat for our chat.  Please join in and feel free to invite any other math teachers.  Hope many of you are able to join in! If you have never joined a twitter chat please check out the following link explaining How to participate in a Tweet Chat.  Make sure you have a twitter account if you want to join the chat.  If you have any questions feel free to contact me.  I hope many of you who have been participating in our book study are able to join the chat and I would love for anyone curious about workshop model in math to also join in. Anyone is welcome to participate.

I am blogging early this AM because I have a grad class the next three days 8-4 on Math Workshop.  I'm really looking forward to being able to collaborate with my 7th Grade math team as we are all taking the class.  For today's post I will just be posting my thoughts on the chapter.  I did not have time to do a summary as I have been doing.

This chapter is so important because sharing and reflection is really key to making sure the learning "sticks" for students.  Metacognition gives students a chance to focus on what they learned and synthesize their understanding of the concepts.

The purpose of sharing is for students to think about their own ideas and to evaluate their thinking.  It's important for the teacher not to jump in and take away the student's chance of explaining his thinking.  We need to facilitate the students' sharing of ideas.

Reflection is the learner considering his own growth and progress as a mathematician.  The author gives some great reflection prompts on pages 162-163.  This reflection can be oral or written.  This reflection time is so important for the students to solidify their learning and to be able to justify their thinking to others.  This is such an important component to the workshop model and I can see how it is easy to run out of time when you only have a 60 min period (and some of you less) everyday.  I think I will need to have some sort of system in place to make sure we save enough time at the end of class for sharing and reflection.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this book study.  I have enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts and ideas.  Many people have posted new links to previous chapters that I still need to check out and encourage all of you to go back and check for new links so you can gain another perspective.  I hope you all are able to join our #momathchat tonight 7-8 CST.  I would also love for us to do some follow up posts this year as we implement the workshop model into our math classrooms.  I will continue to do blog posts as I develop this model in my classroom.

Minds on Math Book Study-Chapter 9 "Conferring"

If this is your first time joining our book study please click on the button above and it will link to all previous posts.  Feel free to go back and add a link to any previous chapters.  You can link up your post on Chapter 9 at the bottom of this post.  Please visit the other bloggers who have linked up below and leave them comments.  Lots of great ideas are being posted on other blogs!

Twitter chat update:  Our first twitter chat for our book study Minds on Mathematics Using Workshop Model to Develop Deep Understanding in Grades 4-8 will be this coming Tues night July 30th at 7:00 PM CST, 8:00 PM EST.  We will use the hashtag #momathchat for our chat.  Please join in and feel free to invite any other math teachers.  Anyone is welcome to participate.  Hope many of you are able to join in! If you have never joined a twitter chat  I will be sure to do a blog post (or link some resources) explaining how it all works.  Make sure you have a twitter account if you want to join the chat.

This chapter really gave me lots to think about as I plan to confer with my students this coming school year.  I did some conferring last year, but I didn't use a systematic approach and I did not do a good job of collecting data on students.  I collected data, but I don't think it was meaningful.

I look forward to implementing the three-step approach as I confer with students.  I like the idea of breaking the session into research, coach, reflect/record.  I need to spend some time thinking about the best record keeping system to use while conferring.  I don't know if it makes sense to go digital or not.  Has anyone used a digital system for conferring?  I would be curious to hear about the pros and cons.  I am visualizing that if I used a paper system I would maybe have a separate clipboard for each class hour.  I'm not sure if I would want a separate sheet for each student or not.  I have my workshop class this coming week Tues-Thurs so I will have some dedicated time to focus on everything we have been reading about in our book study.

I do have to say that last year when I conferred with students the class was great about not interrupting. I would have each student come up to the front table to meet with me.  If someone was at the table the other students knew they were not allowed to interrupt for anything short of an emergency.  The students handled it just fine, but I really only conferred on days they were working on the computer based MATHia program.  Doing it this year during work time on challenging tasks might be a different story.

I think it will be important for me to set up the guidelines and expectations for conferring in our classroom right from the beginning of the school year.  What excites me the most is making a connection with each individual students, especially that small percent that rarely volunteer in class.  I will be able to gain valuable information and data that will help me personalize learning for my students.  I think that is one of the key reasons for implementing a workshop model in my classroom.  I'm getting so excited to see how this all works our classroom this fall.

Minds on Math Book Study-Chapter 8 "Work Time"

If this is your first time joining our book study please click on the button above and it will link to all previous posts.  Feel free to go back and add a link to any previous chapters.  You can link up your post on Chapter 8 at the bottom of this post.  Please visit the other bloggers who have linked up below and leave them comments.  Lots of great ideas are being posted on other blogs!

This chapter was full of practical ideas and advice for how to best structure student work time during workshop.  One thing that really spoke to me was being really explicit in letting students know the what, why, and how of a task.  When I have students collaborate in groups I will assign them certain problems.  I always give examples of what I am looking for and we typically solve a similar problem as a whole class before they work in groups.  I like the idea of taking the time to make sure that students really understand what is expected of them while completing the task.

I need to work on structuring myself during this time to be conferring with students and gathering data. I loved the questions posted on page 134 for when students become "stuck".  I need to not jump in and give them the answer, but help guide them to discover it themselves.  I think it would be great to have these questions on a clipboard as I walk around the room during work time.

The section on planning for groups was interesting and something I really struggle with.  I will obsess for way too long trying to figure out the "perfect" group design.  I need to be more flexible in using different methods for creating groups.  Last year my students either worked in partners or table groups.  Table groups would be 4-5 students.  I really need to spend some time reflecting on the size of groups and how often I change them up.  I am curious to know how often people change around their groups.  From a seating chart stand point I usually change groups once a quarter.

When we did MATHia (which is our personalized computer component) I would group students by what unit and section they were on so they were working with other students at the same pace as themselves.  These groups could change daily as the students would progress though the software.  I do have to say that my students loved being in these groups and also that they were always being changed up.  It was easy enough for me to do these groups by running a report and then just highlighting groups to sit together.  Students still worked independently, but had the option of helping each other troubleshoot of they needed it.

I definitely need to spend some time looking through the tasks given in the Carnegie collaborative classroom text and doing some differentiation based on content, product, or process.  I also find it interesting that Ward Hoffer has made mention several times that you need to have additional responsibilities for students to attend to if they complete the assigned math workshop task.  She gives examples of possible tasks:  additional practice, supporting others, reading about math, or practicing basic skills games.  I have previously used learning stations in my classroom with great success.  I plan on incorporating these as some additional tasks for when students finish their workshop tasks.

I am trying to figure out where Ward Hoffer sees working on homework fitting into this workshop model.  You could obviously have students start working on a homework assignment once the work time task is done, but she has not alluded to homework, other than talking about not spending too much of your opening time correcting homework.  I will really need to see where homework figures into this model.  Hopefully some of you will have thoughts to share on this.

Thanks everyone for commenting or linking up below.  This book study have been so great and I have loved reading everyone's comments and blog posts that have been shared.

Minds on Math Book Study-Chapter 7 "Minilessons"

If this is your first time joining our book study please click on the button above and it will link to all previous posts.  Feel free to go back and add a link to any previous chapters.  You can link up your post on Chapter 7 at the bottom of this post.  Please visit the other bloggers who have linked up below and leave them comments.  Lots of great ideas are being posted on other blogs!

This chapter did an excellent job of explaining the purpose of the minilesson portion of workshop and then also giving some great ideas of types of minilessons to do with your students.  I love the idea that your focus can vary from day to day when doing your minilesson.  The author gave some great examples of how to incorporate thinking strategies and the mathematical practice standards during this time.

I think that due to the fact that the minilesson is supposed to take ten minutes or less, it's really important to plan carefully what you want to accomplish during that time.  This is a shift from demonstrating procedures and showing students how to solve problems, to having them think like a mathematician as the teacher models reasoning processes and thinking.  We are using the minilesson to launch independent problem solving as students move into work time.

It's important for teachers to debrief with students at the end of the minilesson to help them take ownership of the problem solving process.  This is also a great time to implement some type of formative assessment to check for student understanding.  This formative assessment can help you decide if there are students that will need additional support to get started during work time.  That way you won't have students doing nothing during work time because they still aren't ready to complete the task independently.

Minds on Math Book Study-Chapter 6 "Opening"

If this is your first time joining our book study please click on the button above and it will link to all previous posts.  Feel free to go back and add a link to any previous chapters.  You can link up your post on Chapter 6 at the bottom of this post.  Please visit the other bloggers who have linked up below and leave them comments.  Lots of great ideas are being posted on other blogs!

I enjoyed Chapter 6 on the Opening.  I have always had a routine of students completing a warm-up while I circulate around the room stamping homework.  I know many times the warm-up might get cut out because of time or what we were doing that day.  I really need to make sure the opening is really setting the stage for what we are doing in class that day.  There are so many possibilities of what can be done those first five minutes.  The most important thing is that we want to get students engaged in and thinking about math.

I loved the table on page 95 where the author gave examples of how you can use the seven thinking strategies when working on a problem or when discussing a concept.  I really need to start implementing these thinking strategies as I continue to put greater emphasis on the Standards for Mathematical Practice in my classroom discussions (and workshop opening).

I think this chapter seems so obvious and common sense about the importance of the opening, but it's so easy for a busy teach to gloss over or skip this part completely.  We really have to establish this integral part of the workshop routine in our classrooms on a daily basis.  By carefully planning out those first few minutes of class we are sending a message to students about what we value, expect, and hope.

Thanks for joining in everyone!

Minds on Math Book Study-Chapter 5 "Discourse"

If this is your first time joining our book study please click on the button above and it will link to all previous posts.  Feel free to go back and add a link to any previous chapters.  You can link up your post on Chapter 5 at the bottom of this post.  Please visit the other bloggers who have linked up below and leave them comments.  Lots of great ideas are being posted on other blogs!

This chapter was filled with lots of great examples of how to promote effective discourse in your mathematics classroom.  It is so important to model for our students what we expect them to be doing during discussions.  One of my favorite sections in this chapters was on creating an atmosphere of respect for thinking.  I loved the example where the little girl said, "I disagree with myself".  We need to create a classroom culture where students take risks to share their ideas knowing that others might disagree or ask for clarification.  By inviting peer comments and questions students begin critiquing each others' work and thinking.

We need to be careful as teachers that we don't shut down the opportunity for great discourse by jumping in with an affirming comment, causing the students to stop sharing.  I know I have a habit of doing this and really need to work on keeping the discussion going by doing things like promoting questioning, inviting comparison, checking for agreement, and encouraging divergent thinking.  I like the idea of having sentence stems for students for students to explain their thinking of to respond to the ideas of others.

Taking time to uncover errors is another thing I really need to spend more time focusing on.  Students come to us with many mathematical misconceptions, some of which they hold on to very tightly.  It is worth our time and effort to analyze these errors which will lead to a deeper understanding of the concept.

Moving forward I see many strategies I will employ this year as I transition to math workshop.  I felt my students had very rich discourse this past year, but see so many areas where I can take them to the next level which will promote a much deeper understanding of the math they are learning.

Thanks everyone for joining our discussion on Chapter 5!

Minds on Math Book Study-Chapter 4 "Community"

If this is your first time joining our book study please click on the button above and it will link to all previous posts.  Feel free to go back and add a link to any previous chapters.  You can link up your post on Chapter 4 at the bottom of this post.  Please visit the other bloggers who have linked up below and leave them comments.  Lots of great ideas are being posted on other blogs!

I really enjoyed this chapter.  There were so many ideas that I really connected with.  I love the idea and completely agree that a learning community to be authentic is a culture you create in your classroom not a structure.  If we want students to behave like mathematicians then we need to establish a classroom culture where we treat them as such.  This was my big ah hah in this chapter.

This chapter has really given me a lot to think about as I plan to implement the workshop model in my classroom this fall.  I really agree with the author that you need to take some time the first few days of having students to create the culture of your classroom.  

My students worked in collaborative groups last year.  I was impressed with how well things went, but there is definitely lots of room for improvement.  One of the "yeah, buts" in this chapter was about about special needs students.  I saw some very impressive results in my special ed inclusion hours.  Students that would never raise their hands to answer questions would be able to discuss their answers as part of their small groups.  I really felt some students that I would normally never hear from if I taught to the large group, would give feedback in their small groups.  It was something to see.

I want to challenge you all to not underestimate what your students are capable of doing as far as collaboration goes.  I started out with my accelerated class because I knew they would do great and they did.  It took me a whole extra quarter before I finally jumped in with my regular classes (two of which are special ed inclusion hours).  I kept thinking it would not work in those other classes.  What I found was it worked great (maybe not as easily as with the accel, but great nonetheless).

This goes back to a previous chapter where Wendy Ward Hoffer spoke about all students being capable of brilliance.  We need to give them the tools to show us their brilliance and by building a strong sense of community in our classrooms we are doing just that.

Thanks for linking up everyone!  

Minds on Math Workshop-Chapter 3 "Tasks"

If this is your first time joining our book study please click on the button above and it will link to all previous posts.  Feel free to go back and add a link to any previous chapters.  You can link up your post on chapter 3 at the bottom of this post.  Please visit the other bloggers who have linked up below and leave them comments.  Lots of great ideas are being posted!

One thing about this chapter that perplexed me was the opening story about 7th graders rolling two dice to get the product and see if they were odd or even.  I am wondering if that was a typo because it seems more like a 2nd or 3rd grade task.  Did anyone else find that example to be odd for a 7th grade classroom?

This chapter was interesting for me because I feel like we have a very rigorous curriculum with deep and challenging tasks.  I have seen personally that you really have to have multiple entry points when you have a class full of diverse students with different ability levels and background knowledge.  I found these tasks worked so well in my accelerated math class, but were much more of a challenge for students and myself in my regular math classes.  All students do need to have access to these rich tasks so it's a matter of figuring out how give students the tools to be able to understand these challenging tasks.  I am looking forward to future chapters that will address these issues of how to use modeling, classroom discourse, and reflection to help with scaffolding these types of problems.

For those of you that do not have a strong curriculum with challenging tasks there are so many free resources available to you online.  You can check out my CCSS Pinterest board for links to many free common core resources where you will find challenging tasks.

Made 4 Math/Monday Made It- Classroom passes

This past year I decided to make some new passes for my classroom.  I had them coordinate with my pink, lime, blue color scheme.  I loved the way they turned out and laminated some extra so when they got all bent and curled from students manhandling them I could just throw them away and had new passes ready to go.

When a student gets called to the Main Office or Guidance Office they just grab the pass out of the bucket on my desk.  We use the Blue House passes during our last period of the day called Home Base.  During this time students are allowed to go to any teacher to get help.  For the encore teachers the students have the fill out a digital pass in advance and they don't even come to my classroom.  I check the digi pass list (on google as everything is at my school).  If students want to get help or need to see one of the other core house teachers (science, social studies, language arts) they just let me know and grab a blue house pass.  

I just realized that I could do a whole blog post on passes because in addition to those shown above we also have laminated library passes, yellow passes that have to be filled out, and student planner passes that the students fill out and teacher just initials.  Sometime this fall I will do a blog post dedicated to explaining our pass policies at the middle school.  

Here are some sneak peeks at a few upcoming projects I have in the works for Monday posts.  I assure you these projects are no further along than the photos I am posting today.  I feel by putting the pictures up it might motivate me to follow through on these projects I have had in the works for months (and some even years).

Please click on the links below the photos to join either of this great Monday link parties!

#Made4Math

4th Grade Frolics

July Currently

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Linking up with Farley for July currently.  Can't believe this is my second post of the day!  My middle son is in a BB tourney and he won his first game today.  YIPPEE!  My youngest was supposed to have a LL game this morning and it got cancelled even though we had no rain (well just a couple sprinkles). He has now had more games cancelled than he has played this season.

Looking forward to checking out what everyone else is up to this July.  The summer is flying by way too fast for this girl, but I am relaxing and having fun to the fullest degree.  Join Farley's link up.  It's a fun way to meet other bloggers.

Currently April

It is finally Spring Break and I could not possibly be any happier about it.  Especially since we are now in The Villages in sunny and warm FL enjoying ourselves immensely.  Everyone around here uses golf carts as the primary mode of transportation.  My oldest is 14 so he is old enough to drive the golf cart.  He is loving it and my middle who is 11 thinks it is so very unfair that he does not get to drive around.

Listening: to the sweet sounds of chirping birds and the wind blowing.  It smells and feels like summer here and I could not possibly love it more!  I am just enjoying breathing the warm air.  That may sound strange, but it is the honest truth.  I feel I need to soak up all the sun and warmth to get me through until mid June!

Loving: that Spring break is finally here.  Third quarter went so fast.  Usually it seems to drag on forever, but maybe because we are implementing a new curriculum and I finally feel like I am getting a handle on things, I feel like I blinked my eyes and *poof* third quarter was done (it actually ends next Tuesday, two days after break is over).  I am completely loving chilling at the pool with the boys twice a day and not having a care in the world (at least for the rest of the week).

Thinking:  Of how much I am enjoying my vacation.  I have already read two books over the first three days and I have two more I brought along.  I brought a bunch of education related books, but for now I am enjoying my novels.

Wanting:  For this vacation to never end, but at least for traffic to be less sucky on the way home than it was on the way down.  It was Ok until south of Atlanta and then it was a slow moving parking lot for much of the way.

Needing:  Nothing but great memories of the time we are spending together as a family.  I will take less arguing from my boys every time we go to the pool. You know what they say, three's a crowd so there always seems to be one odd boy out.

Advice:  If you haven't already started a blog I say "Go For It"   I would tell you to blog regularly, but then I would risk being called a hypocrite because I cannot seem to keep up with blogging regularly myself.  I am still hanging in there and hoping to get caught up this summer.  Ha Ha!  We will see.


Join Farley over at Oh Boy 4th Grade for the April Currently linky party.

Currently January

I cannot believe that a new year is just around the corner.  I am joining  the linky party over at Farley's blog Oh Boy 4th Grade.  I am wishing all my followers a very blessed and hopeful 2013.  May peace, love, and joy be yours in the new year.

First 12 in the Last of 12 Linky Party

I am joining this fun linky party that looks back at my first twelve posts of 2012:  First 12 in the Last of 12 Linky Party.  Please feel free to create a post of your own and join in.

1)  2012 New Year Resolutions  1/2/12  

2)  After School Routine Checklist  1/5/12  This is my most viewed post having been viewed over 75,000 times!  It was repinned over 1300 times from one pinterest user that pinned it.  I have no idea how that happened, but I get visitors to my blog every day looking at that post.

3)  Finally Posting my Vista Print Order  1/7/12  This post was all about the goodies I created over Christmas break last year.  I spent hours creating everything seen there including the first five minutes and last two minutes of class posters.

4)  Currently January  1/9/12  

5)  A Day in My Life School Edition  1/17/12  This was a fun link party to look at what a day in the life entailed.  It was so fun to read everyone's posts and see how different things were run in different schools.

6)  Teacher Workday  1/21/12

7)  Formative Assessment In Class √ Ups  1/28/12

8)  Help!  1/30/12  This post was about was soliciting advice for opening a teacher store and maybe now a year later I will finally get around to it.  YIKES!  I did get a new MacBook Air for Christmas so I have absolutely no more excuses (other than lack of time).

9)  February Goal Setting  2/1/12

10)  Homework Linky Party  2/5/12

11)  Currently February  2/6/12

12)  Tag I'm It  2/9/12

Currently December

It's hard to believe it's December 1st.  I still never even posted photos from Thanksgiving!  I am having a wonderful Christmas prep filled weekend.  I made some chocolate dipped pretzels and pretzel, rolo, m&m candies this morning.  They have all been eaten already!  I cannot keep up with these boys.  :)

Greg and the boys got our Christmas tree last night and it is in the living room waiting to be decorated.  The lights are up outside (I think that's the earliest he has ever gotten them up).  I plan on decorating the fireplace mantel and the foyer tomorrow.

In between all the Christmas prep I need to grade quizzes this weekend.  All four of my classes took a quiz on Friday and now I need to grade them all so I can hand them back Monday?

Hope you are all having a fun and enjoyable weekend!  I am linking up with Farley for her December Currently.  Join in one of my favorite monthly linky parties.

First Day Activities

As a teacher, what you do the first day/week really sets the tone for your classroom.  The most important thing I want to convey to my students those first few days of school is that my classroom is a fun and safe place and I am teacher with high expectations for all.  A few years ago I finally decided that the first day with my kids I was not going to talk at them all class period.  For one thing, my throat would be so dry and sore by the end of the day I could barely talk.  For another, I could just picture the thought bubble above every student's head as I droned on and on about expectations, procedures, and grading.  The video above perfectly sums up what I imagine my students' hear that first day due to information overload from seven different teachers.

I did a post about Welcoming Students to a New School.  I want my students to have a positive first day of school no matter what.  Some students come in completely confident, energized, and excited for their first day of middle school.  Others arrive nervous, upset, and overwhelmed.  I want to demonstrate to my students that my classroom is a safe place where everyone belongs.  I try to build that sense of classroom community from day one.  My teammate Linda who teaches Social Studies does the most fabulous job of creating a classroom community.  Last year she had students do bucket drops for each other.  That was a ton of extra work, but she took in and our students really enjoyed and appreciated it.

The past few years I have done this Number Activity for the First Day  in all my math classes.  Our classes that first day were always between 20-30 minutes long so my typical plan for day one was:

• Introduce myself
• Three part student intro:  Name, previous school, one summer memory
• Pass out the first assignment of the year, "Getting to Know You"
• Very quickly highlight the supply list (most important that they need a binder ASAP in addition the normal supplies)
• Play the Number Activity
• If there is any time left they can begin the "Getting to Know You"  which is due the first Friday of school

Another very fun and engaging activity I plan on doing this year is an activity I learned about during my initial Carnegie training called "I can relate".  Everyone stands up.  One person begins by making a statement and as they are talking someone else jumps in and says "I can relate" and explains why they can relate.  After a person speaks they get to sit down.  The person standing and talking keeps talking until someone else pops in with "I can relate".  It was a fun activity.  For example, someone said something about Spanish and I said, "I can relate because I double majored in Spanish and Eled".  At that point another teacher jumped in and said, "I can relate because I got a D in Spanish".  It just keeps going until everyone has sat down.  Some of the responses are quite comical.  People try to jump in because they do not want to be the last person standing.  I think it would be fun activity for the first day and it would get every student up on their feet and everyone would participate.  Has all the elements of a perfect icebreaker IMO!

The first days/weeks of school are all about establishing routines and procedures.  Consistency in expectations will help your students to quickly understand what you expect and value in your classroom.  It is up to you as a teacher to let your students know what your expectations are.

Linking up with Fun in First for the What's Your Favorite Back to School Activity?  link party.

Also linking up with The Caffeinated Teacher for her First Day Plans link party.

Preparing for School Linky Party

Everything was purchased at Mardel.com.

I know I am little late to the party, but I was in math training all last week (I have tons to post about that coming up).  I am joining Mrs. Crouse over at 6th Grade All-Stars for a linky party about preparing for school.  I am going to share this sneak peek of goodies I purchased for my math room decor.  I plan on using much of this for my new Math Focus Wall.  I cannot wait to get into my classroom and put all the ideas I have swimming around my mind onto the wall.  If you are a follower of my blog then you most likely know that my classroom color scheme is pink, lime, and blue.  I decided this summer to add some touches of zebra to my color scheme.  The file folder holders are my favorite item that I purchased.  I am excited to    get into my classroom in a couple weeks and get going on the math focus wall.

What grade do you teach?  7th Grade Math and I absolutely love it.  If I were to teach anything else it would probably be 6th grade math.  Math is definitely my favorite subject to teach.  I taught 6th grade my first 7 years of teaching and I taught everything, except science which is my least favorite subject.  I blame my college biology professor from turning me off from science for life.


What was the greatest advice I received during my first year of teaching?  I don't remember any specific advice as my first year was a LONG time ago.  I do remember getting lots of great ideas from other teachers I taught with.  I also remember what a blast I had with my class and my coworkers my first year of teaching.  We had so so much fun! I used an incentive system called privilege points (two of my team members had this system) and my kids would do ANYTHING if it meant they got privilege points.  It was a great classroom incentive system.


Do you have a checklist you follow when preparing your classroom?  I did a blog post on the After School Routine I try to follow everyday so I come to school the next morning all set to teach.  As far as getting my room set up for a new year I have a much more extensive list that would probably overwhelm you as i overwhelms me every August when I look at in and see what I still have to do.  I will do a post on that soon.  I find having a list is extremely helpful so you don't forget the "little things" that are so important.  I will tell you that my categories for my list are:

• Bulletin Boards/Decor
• Organization (think of looking around your classroom at every single piece of furniture or space you decorate and make a list of what needs to be done
• Hook-ups (of the electronic variety)
• Summer Projects
• Lesson Planning
• Back-to-School

What are some must haves in your classroom that you cannot live without?  First and foremost would be my SMARTBoard.  I love my organization systems like using Day Files for materials that need to be handed out and Class Hour Files for keeping track of absent work.  I also could not live without my two Paper Sorters for organizing all the paper copies I make.   I cannot live without my Lesson Plan book to keep me on track with my pacing.  If we have a half day or some type of assembly I put a post-it note on that day so when I go to write my lesson plans, I realize we have a schedule change.  I have found that keeping my previous year's lesson plan book is an invaluable resource to watch my pacing and also I always put notes in my book after teaching a lesson if something needs to be modified or if it took more or less time than planned.  That is so helpful when planning the next school year.  This year my old lesson plan book with not be helpful at all because we have a brand new curriculum we will be following so nothing will be the same.  In this post you will see photos of my Lilly Notebooks.  I take either the small or large one to every meeting I go to if I do not bring a computer with me.  Who says school supplies can't be adorable?!  I also love am very particular about what I write with.  I am very particular about my writing the writing utensils I use in my classroom.

I cannot express the depth of my love for Flair pens.

I have the twelve pack, but now I want those other 6 markers!

Pink and turquoise are my faces, big surprise. ;)

What is something that all teachers should have in their classroom?  I think the most important thing all teachers should have in their classroom is a system of clear and well established routines and procedures.  The more systematic your classroom procedures are the more easily students will develop routines for how to do things in your classroom, thus saving precious minutes to be used on instruction instead of other classroom tasks.  Students crave consistency and well defined expectations.  Setting these up from day one and spending time the first several weeks of school going over them daily will sow the seeds for a classroom that eventually can run itself because everyone knows how to do things efficiently and effectively.