Summer School's in Session

As my title suggests, we're back in school! Honestly though, after spending a year in a big, crazy, school, this feels more like camp. There aren't many kids (about one class per grade) and we do an hour of community building, almost 3 hours of instruction, lunch, then almost 2 hours of instruction. It's a lot for the little ones, but it's only 4 weeks and you know they're bored after hanging outside in the heat for a couple of days of summer break!

Preach

So this week we are just observing other teachers, getting together our vision of our classroom and a classroom management plan, and having courses at the school about a variety of things. Monday, we officially start teaching with pre-made lesson plans. We're using these for a week and a half or so before we start writing our owns. They also give us a unit overview so our lessons aren't completely random!

After 11 days at Institute, I'm feeling tired, but not overwhelmed...yet. I had a heck of a day though. Our dorm fire alarm went off at 5:45, which coincides exactly when I was going to get up and get ready. I sat outside in our pajamas for a bit, but they pushed back our bus departure time, so that was good! Then after being at school for 7 hours, we had 3 hours of class. In the last hour, the power went out and we had to go to a different dining hall for dinner. Mixed blessing because the walk was further but the food was great ;)

Me this morning, BEFORE the fire alarm

NOW I'm trying to figure out this whole "finish my masters degree and actually graduate and get certified" thing. I have a little over a week left of my online class and then I. AM. DONE. FOREVER. (or at least until I get the notion that I want a PhD hah!) It's just a pain trying to navigate how to apply for a Florida license and then transfer it to Tennessee by the time I start on August 5. Time is creeping up on me! Well, wish me luck for Monday. That's when my collaborative group of 3 starts teaching a small group of first graders and we hit the ground running. But first: the weekend. Hooray!

Multiplication Workshop Lesson

Hi everyone! I wanted to share my lastest supervisor observation because the kids LOVED it and I was super excited about that =] If I haven't told you before, we have 3 or 4 supervisor observations and 3 mentor observations per semester. It's a lot, but it definitely is making me step up my game!

So I was doing a lesson on multiplication and really wanted to do more of a workshop/inquiry-based type of lesson. I found this blog post about using anchor charts and was *iNsPiReD* to try something we did in a math class I took on-campus at UF.

I started the lesson by giving the students a multiplication word problem and telling them to solve it in their math journal two different ways. Then we talked about some of their strategies, developing their vocabulary. They had the traditional algorithm, partial products, and repeated addition. We also added arrays and the inverse operation. Then I put them in mixed-ability groups of 3 and gave each group a sheet of chart paper, markers, and a word problem. They wrote as many ways to solve it as they could think of and explained their thinking.

We taped them to the walls around the room and each group had a set of post-its. They rotated around and decided as a group one compliment per chart and any questions they had for other charts. Eventually they got back to theirs and got to read what everyone said! Then we went around as a class and everyone got a chance to answer questions on their charts. Here are some of their questions/comments. I was SO impressed!

 The kids were engaged the whole time and really developed their vocabulary! I think it stretched their brains to think of multiplication deeper instead of just an algorithm. One more observation down, four to go!

Thanksgiving Break and Final Observations

Can you believe it's already December?! It's still about 70 degrees outside, so it doesn't QUITE feel like December yet, but still, my calendar says it's December so it must be so.

We only went to school for two days the week of Thanksgiving and it was really nice having a little break. We had tons of family come over and we ate more food than I thought possible! But that's ok, because I ran my first 6K that morning! I was super proud of the fact that I didn't have to stop to walk, even if my time was a little slow.

Before and after pics with my mom (who runs much faster than I do)

Back at school, I had my final observation and taught a lesson on identifying the theme in a story. I was very happy with how it went- after a morning pep talk, the kids were absolute angels (thanks kiddos!) and it all went according to plan (which happens, um, never).

I wanted to share a resource that I used at the beginning of my lesson on theme. It's called Wing Clips and it's an online database of short movie clips that are all categorized and all clean for school! I showed one clip and modeled how to identify the theme of the clip, then I showed another clip and had the students identify the theme and three supporting details that helped them find the theme. So fun! You could use these to teach mood, theme, topic, anything!

Such a great resource. Check it out!!

This upcoming week is going to be very exciting. I have my interview with Teach For America on Wednesday and it's going to be all day. I've been preparing for that and making sure I have everything ready! Then I'm going to Atlanta on Friday after school for the weekend to visit with a friend. Who knows? Maybe I'll be living THERE next year!

Prefix and Suffix Flipbooks

Hey everyone! How crazy has the last week been for you? It's been really crazy for us! We had a short week (only 4 days) and SO MANY OBSERVATIONS. My mentor teacher had an observation on Tuesday and one on Thursday and then she observed me on Friday. We also had a Thanksgiving feast with our kids on Friday with vegetable soup in the crockpot, cornbread, fresh fruit and berries, and cookies. So yummy!

One lesson I did this week was about affixes- prefixes and suffixes. This is important for fourth grade to learn new words they come across in their reading. We used flipbooks to teach the affixes. Have you ever seen these?

One side of the flipbook

Reverse side of the same flipbook

These are actually two flipbooks stapled back to back. This is how you make them:
1) Get some colorful paper- we had three pieces of paper per student (all different colors).
2) Cut each piece of paper in half lengthwise.

So much paper involved

3) Fold the pieces of paper different lengths, like the picture below. We kept one as a model while folding and folded the rest to match it.

Pictures are really needed to explain this part!

4) Stack the pieces of paper, one inside another, like a Russian doll, and then staple across the top.

Booyah

5) Staple two books back to back so you can do prefixes on one side and suffixes on the other.

Once the books were made, each student wrote a prefix (or suffix) on each flap with the definition under the flap above. We did all of these together. Then they went to different spots around the room to read their independent books. As they read, they had to find one example of each in the book and write that, along with two examples they could think of, under the affix. They had a total of three examples per affix and then we went over everyone's and talked about what examples we found.

Sometimes we fit two on one flap.

The examples for mis- and non- are on the yellow.
The examples for un- are on the other side of the orange.

I love these flip books! They're great resources for the kids to keep and a lot of fun to make. I just used the list of affixes from the standard for Florida, but you can do whichever ones you need. I would recommend making them for the kids ahead of time and then having them fill them out. Also, I wrote sideways, but it would probably be easier to write normally. Live and learn, right?

This week we only have two days of school! Two days of school and five days off? Can we do this every week???

Decimal Activity

Happy Veteran's Day! We have the day off, and I've used my long weekend to recover from a cold. I had to use my first sick day this year on Friday, but I'm glad I did because Friday was the worst day of it and I was able to just sit in the bath tub and watch TV all day. Hehe, but some good news came to me Thursday night. I applied for Teach For America and was notified that I was invited to a final interview! I was just hoping to have a phone interview, but to find out that I can skip that step was so nice! So I have a final interview in December and will know the first week of January if I'm accepted. It would be really nice to know where I'm going by January- we'll just have to wait and see.

Eeeeeek! haha

Now that I'm starting to feel better, I thought I'd share a little activity I did with my kids last week. We're learning about decimals and they're expected to know through the thousandths place and how to pronounce them properly (which is something I have to be careful about, myself!) They really like using their dry-erase markers on white boards, so we came up with this:

So simple, but so much potential

Did you know you could put any worksheet in one of those protective sleeves and kids can write on them using dry-erase markers?! This changes everything. We did some practice like "Write the number one and three tenths" or "Write a number with a '4' in the hundredths place", etc.

Then we did a fun activity where everyone writes a number on their sheet, then passes it to their right. The next step is to write the number in word form, then pass to the right. The next step is to write in expanded form, then pass to the right. The fourth person has to check that everything is correct. Then you start over!

I have such great handwriting

You can mix this up in a bunch of ways. Sometimes we had the fourth step be "write an equivalent decimal", sometimes we made them stop at hundredths, sometimes they could go through thousandths. You could do this with normal place value, too! So many options. And when they're done, just erase!

Maaaaaaagic

I'm definitely going to be using these protective sheets for more activities. Hope you are enjoying your Veteran's Day weekend. We have four days this week and then two days next week before Thanksgiving break. Time is absolutely FLYING by!

Election Day 2012

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you enjoyed your extra hour of sleep this weekend- I know I did! It really threw me off this morning, though, because I kept thinking I was late with the sun being up already. No complaints here, though!

So for all of you who have been living under a rock, tomorrow is Election Day 2012. It's such a great opportunity to teach our students about democracy and how an election works and we have been doing some fun things building up to tomorrow. One really great website we've been using is actually a website made by a school. Check it out! They have a lot of really great resources and we used the quiz as a fill in the blank for the kids to do while we went through the powerpoint of how a president is elected.

Pop quiz: who are these men?

I also liked the link they had to the Scholastic website about the election. They have so many activities and lots of information! This would be a great thing for the kids to explore.

Can you SEE the potential?!

We talked a lot about the electoral college. This website is EXCELLENT to look back at previous elections. You can see all the way back to 1789- ha! It's neat though to see how close each election was. We also gave each student a couple of electoral college maps to color in for what the polls are saying now and one to color in Tuesday night as the votes roll in! I'm going to join in the fun ;)

This website is too much fun to play with!

It's so demanding: COLOR ME IN!!

Finally, a great activity to integrate reading has been doing research on the candidates. We gave each student a one page biography on President Obama and a one page biography on Governor Romney. The kids had to read each and highlight examples of the 7 Habits (being proactive, thinking win-win, putting first things first, etc) that show leadership. Don't you just love integrating subjects?!

We will be wearing red, white, and blue and anxiously awaiting the results tomorrow! I will also be showing off my "I Voted" sticker (hooray for early voting) and hope you'll do the same!! Happy Election Day, friends =]

Mission to Space

We had quite an exciting day yesterday- we went to space! I had to teach a lesson for my mentor teacher and my UF supervisor to observe, so I decided to teach math. We're working on geometry and drawing shapes from different perspectives and I wanted to try something creative, so my mentor teacher and I came up with an activity for the kids where they went on a mission to space!! Bear with me, this is a long post, but worth it!

Here's how we did it: I reviewed how to draw perspectives and how to imagine a solid shape when looking at a net, then the kids partnered up and were given a brown paper bag and a ziploc bag of cube legos.

Doesn't that clip art look intense and awesome??

Inside each bag, they had rolled-up instructions and 10 numbered clues. These were their instructions:

• You are on a mission to space with your shoulder partner! You need to find the planet Perspectiva because it has a special resource called Shapino. The United States needs this resource to replace gasoline and they want you to get it!
• You'll need the clues found in your "Mission Pack" to help you complete your mission and avoid danger. 
• You will complete all calculations in the "Mission Log" (your math journal) when answering each of the clues. Be sure to write down the clue number and work in order, beginning with clue #1. 
• After each clue, you will eat an energy capsule (an M&M), which you will find in your Mission Pack. Use the tools in your bag, along with the cubes to complete your mission. Good luck Space Cadet!

Rolled up instructions and then a stack of numbered clues

After repeating some important instructions (next time I would write these on the board), they got working and had an absolute blast! Using the clues, I had them identify their spaceship, land on a planet, identify another spaceship, find their resource, calculate how much to bring back, and then fly home. They had to turn in their data to mission control (me!) and if it was complete, they were paid (with a mini milky way) haha. I like to think I'm funny ;)  They also had a checklist to assess themselves with, giving themselves 1 point for drawings, 1 point for calculations, 2 points for written responses, and 1 point for working cooperatively. I used this as the rubric for scores out of 5. Here's an example of one of the clues, just to give you an idea.

The biggest thing for this lesson was for them to draw a certain perspective of a solid shape,
 like from the top, front, or side.

Let me tell you, the kids love love LOVED this activity! Their favorite parts were the M&M energy capsules (duh), getting cubes to build the shapes with, and all the different clues. The first clue was to make a shape out of a cube net to create a walkie talkie. I have to share this picture because these boys were using them the whole time! And hey, the more engaged the students are, the fewer behavior management issues you'll have (obviously).

It says Walkie Talkie and has a keypad and an "answer" button! haha

 You could do something like this with any subject or topic! Just make a mission somewhere with individual clues, even incorporate other subjects, like science. My fourth graders LOVED it, which meant my supervisor and mentor teacher LOVED it, which is great news for me!! We'll definitely be doing more missions in the future!!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

When I posted on Monday, I thought I would be back in the classroom by Wednesday, tops. Well, it is now Thursday night and I will not be seeing the inside of a classroom until Monday at best. While many of you would be jumping for a week off (and don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed the down time), I have spent the week checking my email every five minutes, doing course work that isn't due for weeks, explaining to my professor why I won't be able to post about trying something new this week, and racking my brain thinking about what I should have done different in my last placement and questioning whether I did the right thing in leaving early.

Well, after worrying and worrying, I finally came to my senses and went to the Lord with it. I did a little quiet time and scripture reading and, hey, what do you know, look what just happens to be one of the verses I read:

"I wait for The Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for The Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning" - Psalm 130:5-6

A verse about waiting. And of course, once I finally gave all the control over to God and stopped worrying, I woke up to an email saying that a school in Ponte Vedra will take me for the semester, maybe the year =]  They want to put me in 4th grade Gifted, which I'm very excited about! One reason my supervisor thought my last placement wasn't a good fit was because she thought I'd do better in upper elementary, so boom, let's do it. May have to rename the blog..... I'll keep ya updated ;]

In Defense of Inclusive Classrooms

I know I just posted yesterday and you're all freaked out by my over-productiveness (a real word?) but I just had to share this sweet story that happened today. It definitely showed 1) how great children can be and 2) how important it is to have a mixed group of kids.

We were doing a math lesson and the students were supposed to work with the person next to them with some cubes to solve a couple of problems. We didn't plan out who was working with whom and just wanted to see how they worked together. Most of the partners worked well together, but one pair really impressed us. The boy and girl paired up were at different ability levels- the boy had repeated first grade and struggles with many assignments. The girl is on grade level and understood this particular lesson very well.

I was walking around and saw that on his turn to solve, he didn't get the right answer. Instead of taking the cubes and just "doing it myself" as I expected a second grader to do, she encouraged the student by saying "That's really close, but not quite right. Go ahead and try again. I know you're smart enough to get it!" A couple minutes later, he had tried again and found the right answer. He was grinning ear to ear and she was saying "There you go! I knew you could do it!"

Such an inspiration. Let this be a reminder that it is so important to have a mixed group of abilities because without that, you don't have moments like this one! This was a win-win situation because both students felt encouraged and confident and both improved their understanding. Inclusive classrooms for the win!

Three/Thirty-three

Oh. Baby. What a week. I appreciate Friday afternoon sooooo much more than I used to! But I've had a great time and it's been an absolutely wonderful week full of learning- and I think the kids learned some too ;)

Biggest thing I learned? The three/thirty-three rule. It's something our principal says and it means that the first 3 weeks of teaching and planning will decide how your next 33 will go. Such a great reminder! Now is the time to set up the room; teach the procedures, rules, expectations, and discipline; plan the curriculum; and begin assessments. I can already tell that living with 3/33 in mind will help immensely come October, February, April, and other super busy times!!

For fun, here are some pictures of how our classroom is set up:

The kids started in pods, but now we're trying a U-shape

These are our computers and manipulatives along the back wall. Also some bean bags for reading, and our own bathroom!

My own desk(!) and the classroom library with bulletin boards just waiting for student work

The front board and a glimpse at our behavior system (pocket chart on the right)

 Some of the things we did this week were fun: read-alouds, writing activities, get-to-know-you activities, practicing procedures, and time on the computer. Some of the things we did this week were less than fun: math and reading probes (basic assessments for us to see where they are), FAIR assessments, sight word assessments, and STAR reading assessments. Yes. First week and we're already testing to get a baseline. Just a glimpse into 21st century education! I taught a little blurb on social studies, did a read-aloud, did some assessments, and monitored the kids. Definitely not sitting back and observing this year! Woohoo!

So to wrap it up, I love my kids, I'm learning a ton from my mentor teacher, my team is great, and I think I'll go back next week ;) I'll leave you with this picture, hopefully you'll love it as much as my kids did. Haha!

Ms. Douberly in second grade!