Logical Poetry

Hello, my name is Kim, and I'm a clutterholic. Seriously, I try to fight against the clutter, and it wins every time. I got this tip from  Sarah Carter  to have spots for "Today, Tomorrow, & Soon" for my copies that I have printed. In Computer Science Discoveries, I haven't been having them use computer at all for "unplugged" lessons so I have something printed for each day. For Math 6, I'm on a more day to day basis, seeing what the kids need. I never did use those exit tickets on the top tray. On a similar note, I've also been trying out my own take on Sarah's  Unit Dividers  (the yellow sheet) but I'm not sure if I'm a fan of them yet. We just put them in yesterday, as well as one for their iReady diagnostic results, but my 6th graders struggle so much with following my directions to put them in that I might just switch over to a unit page and be done with the whole mess. We'll see, I might just keep using them the rest o...

Ohh INBs. I love/hate you. All of the papers to set up this year's notebook 6 pages? No problem! I bet we'll have time to get started on the Unit 1 handout, too! WRONG. I decided this year I'd make sure each student's notebook has their name on it with Sharpie before leaving the room (I monitored Sharpie usage.) But many students asked for me  to write their names, creating a long line & time suck I didn't prepare for. Especially in my classes over 30, which happen to be after lunch and more rambunctious anyway. They only got 3 pages done. Inside cover, Table of Contents, and the Syllabus page. At least we made it through the syllabus? It did remind me, though, why the TEEM notebooking people use a printed Table of Contents. One student used about 3 or 4 lines per item to write in his table of contents. Margins going almost to the middle of the page. Not going to lie, I was horrified but unsure of how to proceed with him. So I think I may end up us...

Today was a great day!  The kids loved the aluminum boat activity. I'm not sure if I would ever do it in a 1st period class again (3 minute passing periods are a bit ridiculous for stuff like this) but if I had this as the last class of the day or before lunch/prep, then yes.  Doing the visual pattern with my Math 6 was also great. I had a few kids tell me that it was their favorite class of the day and that they had fun. I did have quite a few students who went against their initial judgment of what they noticed because they thought "This is math class, I can't say it looks like a castle." Yes you can! Do it. I think it looks like a castle too! Yes there's math in it but that doesn't mean you can't put down the other stuff you notice. I realized while talking to my husband last night, my main goal for the year is to instill a love of math for my students. I really don't care about test scores too much (I mean I do...

This year, my goals are: Blog at least once a week, reflecting on what went on in my classroom Tweet a picture from my class each day using #teach180 Aim for no more than 50% teacher talk    I'm still working out what I'll be doing exactly for notes. I have interactive (composition) notebooks from the TEEM grant, and I want to incorporate the AVID strategies I learned about last week (10-2-2, reviewing notes to maximize retention, etc.). I'm thinking the setup will be something like this:  Super rough sketch Of course I also have Khan Academy & iReady to account for. I've already got a notebook printable for students to track their iReady scores but I haven't done anything for tracking Khan Academy yet.  I may just let that one go for this year and track it online since it's pretty simple there for students and teacher.

I'm doing brand new things for the first day in my classroom this year. It's exciting, but nerve wracking as well! For my Math 6 class, I'm going to be doing a visual pattern  and going over Growth Mindset. I'm really excited because I've done this before, but never on the first day of school. For Computer Science Discoveries , I decided to just go with what Code has listed in the curriculum, "Building an Aluminum Boat." This is where my nerves are all going toward, because I've never done anything  like this in the classroom, especially on the first day, but I think it will be worth it. I'm still trying to decide if I want to have my students in groups of two or three. My CSD class is up to 40 students, and even with as large as my classroom is, trying to organize that many desks with clear pathways is a challenge. Only 4 more days until school starts!

Shown here: something I actually got from TPT and the pattern block blackline The past 3 weeks have been busy, busy. I had TEEM (Teaching Early Mathematics to English Learners) for 8 days. We focused on fractions, and I got some really good info about teaching fractions to my students. Pattern blocks, fraction strips, and number lines forever! I made my kids at home do some of the activities too.  Then I went to the AVID Summer Institute. It was a good reminder why I need to do notes  in my class, in addition to the fun, hands on stuff.  I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I'm going to include the summary & questions in the composition book I get for TEEM, but I've seen a few examples online I'll try to replicate & modify as needed. I've heard a lot of good quotes, but my favorite has been one I heard at AVID: "You can't do everything, so do 1 or 2 things well."  It often feels like I am expected, either by others or myself, ...