21st Century Skills: presentation skills

I saw a cute idea today for when students need to present to the class. My teacher called it a presentation stage. She used a cardboard box and cut a slit in the top and an open face in the front. In the slit she hung a string across the top so that she can clip papers in it. The stage frees the kids' hands up in order for them to hold notes or to point to the paper as they speak. No more awkward holding of the paper and trying to present! Here's what it looks like. 

21st Century Classrooms vs 20th Century Classrooms

I know there is much debate over Common Core.  I'm not here to discuss the details behind CCSS and the politics.  All I know is that our world is not the same as it was when I went to school.  As a matter of fact, it is rapidly changing daily.  Are our students prepared for these changes? Are our classrooms preparing students to be successful in the 21st century?  What are the 21st Century skills that our students need to be successful today? Click the link to see a list of 21st Century Skills.

Now click here to see a comparison of 20th Century Classrooms vs 21st Century Classrooms.  Which one are you? 

Comment below and let me know.  What are you doing to transition your classroom into the 21st Century? What do you need to make it possible? 

What's your Classroom Management Profile?

I am taking a course on Classroom Management through the WV elearns site to renew my certificate. As I am going through the lessons I keep thinking about how great the resources are that they are sharing with us.  I want to share those resources with you as well.  The first one is a link to a online classroom management profile.   There are four types of managers: authoritarian, authoritative, laissez-faire, and indifferent.   I am a authoritative manager.  What type are you? After you take the quiz, comment below with your classroom management profile.  Look for more classroom management ideas and resources to come.

Classroom Management Profile

Teacher Monthly Appreciation

When I was teaching, my principal always had a special little something waiting in our mailboxes at the beginning of each month.  She always had some cute saying to go along with it.  I decided to make some for my teachers each month as well.  I should have blogged about it sooner but since this is my first year of being a principal.  I've been a bit busy.  So here is what I have done so far:

August (First Day of School): A highlighter with this note

For September: a Caramel Apple lollipop

For October: A mini bag of candy corn (Not as creative as it could have been.) LOL

November: We had a state audit in the middle of November so that explains the theme.  I gave Three Musketeers Bars to everyone.

December: Each teacher got an ornament and a candycane.

And last but not least as I will be adding more as we go on from here is--

January: Each person received a packet of Lipton Soup

These could easily be adapted for students without giving them candy of course.  (We do not give candy in our state.)  I will make them a freebie soon so be on the lookout!

Differentiated Instruction Math Game: Superhero Flash Freebie

Last night before bed, my daughter asked me to play a game her teacher sent home.  At first I thought it is way to late to start a game tonight, but then I changed my mind.  She pulled out a baggie with a set of index cards.  Each card had a math fact on it that my daughter was going to have a test on.  Also in the stack were cards labeled BANG! The game was to put all the cards face up in a pile on the table.  On our turn, we had to say the answer to the fact on the top card.  If we answered correctly, we kept the card. If we answered incorrectly, we put the card on the bottom of the pile.  If the card up on our turn was a BANG card we had to put all of our collected cards back in the pile and start over collecting cards.  I thought this was a great idea of a game!! It has so many possibilities.  I created a Superhero version of this game.  Instead of BANG cards, there are WHAM and POW cards.  The instructions work the same though.  I also thought this game could be used to practice any skill the child needed to work on.  Every child's game would be set up for his/her skill needs.  Included in this freebie is the set of WHAM and POW cards as well as one sheet of blank cards that can be copied for use as needed.  Thank you Mrs. Carey for the great inspiration! (As usual!)  Click on the first picture to grab your freebie!

Common Core Elementary Math Progressions

First of all, a friend of mine directed to me a great resource on the common core which had math vocabulary lists for all grade levels.  This site is from a school district in Utah.  I had some concerns about one or two of the terms used on the third grade list because I couldn't find them in the standards documents.  The elementary math coordinator from their district told me that the majority of the words are common core. Actually, she believes they all are, but some did come from their math series Houghton Mifflin Go Math.  Honestly though, the site was great.  Here is the link. While looking through that site, I stumbled across a blog titled Tools for the Common Core State Standards.  It's author is Bill McCallum.  He wrote the article The Structure is the Standards.  This article is a must read for Common Core. So much great information, so little time!  Okay, now the reason I started this post in the first place.  On that same vocabulary search I found a site from the University of Arizona that published some draft papers that describe the progression of the mathematics through each of the strands.  The papers are labeled by grade level are very easy to read.  What I loved most about the papers though is the one or two paragraphs at the end of each one that explains how the math at the lower grades is setting the foundation for the math in the grades beyond.  It is very specific too.  Want to know why it's important to compose and decompose shapes? Read the Geometry paper.  Want to know why it's important to know algebra at the lower grades? Read the K-5 Operations and Algebraic Thinking page.  Here is an example excerpt from the geometry:

Where the Geometry Progression is Heading

Composition and decomposition of shapes is used throughout geometry from Grade 6 to high school and beyond. Compositions and decompositions of regions continues to be important for solving a wide variety of area problems, including justifications of formulas and solving real world problems that involve complex shapes. Decompositions are often indicated in geometric diagrams by an auxiliary line, and using the strategy of drawing an auxiliary line to solve a problem are part of looking for and making use of structure
(MP7). Recognizing the significance of an existing line in a figure is also part of looking for and making use of structure. This may involve identifying the length of an associated line segment, which in turn may rely on students’ abilities to identify relationships of line segments and angles in the figure. These abilities become more sophisticated as students gain more experience in geometry. In Grade 7, this experience includes making scale drawings of geometric figures and solving problems involving angle measure, surface area,
and volume (which builds on understandings described in the Geometric Measurement Progression as well as the ability to compose and decompose figures)   6/23/2012, comment at commoncoretools.wordpress.com.

Just for those teachers who sometimes ask, "Why do I need to teach this?" These papers answer the question.

iPhone Apps for teachers

This article I found today while researching the Common Core State Standards gave a very nice list of apps to use in your classroom.  I know life is busy right now, but check it out. These apps may save you time in the long run!

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/iphone-apps-for-classroom-monica-burns

Common Core: Why Change?

I laughed so hard watching this video during our opening staff meeting this morning.  As I listened to my executive director talk about the hidden meaning of the video as it pertained to us and education I drew my own comparison to common core and the changes we face.  I love the common core shifts and I believe for some it will be like this broken escalator.  We are used to one way of doing things.  We were taught one way and so we teach that way and when we are stuck we are now faced with the decision of moving on our own despite the challenge or remain where we are and go nowhere.  It also made me think of how we teach certain subjects--math in particular.  Many teachers resist the idea of giving kids the opportunity to use multiple strategies.  There is a fixation with the standard algorithm.  Amazingly enough, there are other ways to solve problems.  Just like in this video, we need to know more than one way out of a situation.  We need to know how to solve problems on our own and how to collaborate with others as well.  When we learn how to solve a problem using only one method, we don't learn the skills necessary to make application to other situations and solve more complex problems.  That's my thought for the day.  I felt the need to share.  I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions.

Classroom Pets?? Crayfish

Oh where oh where has my little "crayfish" gone???  Ok this is my 9th year in third grade and this has been the craziest crayfish year yet!  First of all, I've had almost all of my crayfish survive.  That in and of itself is a miracle.  I usually start with about 15 and because of survival of the fittest I end up with about 8 left.  This year I had 12 left.  Normally, I have kids knocking down my door to get one at the end to take home.  This year, I only had a handful.  I had no choice but to let my daughter take some home too.  She's in my class this year and has spent many a years hearing me tell her that she couldn't have one because they are for my students.  So, we took two home.  One, which we have name Clawless, (no wondering about that one) is safe at our house in a little container.  The other one which definitely has claws is at my house but the word safe probably would not describe it.  Yes, overnight, the little thing somehow got out of the container we had it in and is now somewhere in my home.  We didn't make this discovery until about 5 minutes before we had to leave for school this morning.  My wonderful husband is now at home looking high and low (mostly low) for "Maddie".  The story doesn't end there though.  When I finally made it to school, my very innocent custodian informed me that he found my crayfish.  I thought he was teasing me, but I came to find out that one of the ones left in my classroom awaiting a ride to another home got out and was down the hallway under a bench outside the first grade classroom door.  (Much to his surprise at 6am this morning!)  Craziness is the only word that comes to mind! LOL!!

Just a little reminder of what we are talking about here!  

Growing Plants in the Classroom: Hydroponics!

My last science kit goes back to the science center tomorrow, but I have to admit we have had a blast with this one.  Usually, I grow bush beans hydroponically because that is what the science kit calls for, but this year, my bush beans weren't germinating so hot!  I decided to try all of the seeds that we germinate in our minisprouters to see if they could be grown hydroponically as well.  I must say.....they can be!  We have growing in our tanks bush beans, peas, corn, and sunflowers.  I know I'm nuts, but I absolutely get a huge thrill out of watching plants grow day to day.  Below you'll see photos of our plants from May 23 and then again from May 28.  AMAZING!  Also, if you closely you'll see tadpoles swimming around in the bottom of the bush bean and sunflower tanks.  One of my students brought them in to show the class so we decided to add them in to our science lessons.  Why not! It's all about life cycles anyways.  LOL

May 23, 2013 Sunflowers, Beans, Peas, Corn

May 28, 2013

May 23, 2013 Peas

May 28 Peas

May 28 Bush Beans

May 23, 2013 Bush Beans

May 23, 2013 Sunflowers with tadpoles

May 28 Sunflowers with tadpoles

Corn May 28

Close up of our tadpoles

End of the Year treats!

At the end of the year last year, I gave my students a cute treat! It was a bottle of water, a Kool-Aid Single serve packet, and a silly straw.  I also sent them to my daughter's class as well.  The kids loved them.  This was an idea I adapted from a Pinterest post.  Here are what my summer treats looked like:

  

 The single serve packets are actually meant for a 16 oz bottle of water so next time I will use the 16 oz bottles.  Click on the pictures above if you would like to download it free.

Test Incentives and a little before test FUN!

This week begins our state testing.  To get the kids pumped up and ready we had a pep rally for them last Friday.  We only have two third grades and two fourth grades this year so we were able to have some real fun!  All of our 3rd and 4th grade classes were assigned a color to represent their "team".  Each class from K-2 was then assigned one of our rooms to be part of our team for the pep rally.  Each team designed pennants that we hung up along our hallways and each third/fourth grade teacher made a sign for their team.  Our signs reflected our theme for the pep rally.  My theme was that we are going to light up the test!  We entered the gymnasium one at a time running through streamers to Katy Perry's Firework song.  Other songs heard were Eye of the Tiger, and We will Rock YOU.  Here's my sign:

I made for this week Test Incentives to pass out each day of the test.  I found the idea on Pinterest but I didn't want to use construction paper.  I decided just make them using the computer.  Click on the first picture below if you would like your own copy of them.  I was so excited to find on my desk when I came in this morning something similar from my second grade team.  The second grade teacher left a bag of candy for each day of the test with the following:

You were "Mint" to succeed---starlight mints

"CHEW" up the test---chewing gum

You are BURSTING with Knowledge--starbursts

Don't be an AIRHEAD show what you know--Air head taffy

Mine are similar to those.  They are:

Smarties Candy

Blowpops

Hershey Kisses

Starbursts

Gummy Fish or Goldfish Crackers

Crayfish, Crayfish, Crayfish!!

Check out my new classroom pets! Actually, they are part of our science kit curriculum from FOSS Structures of Living Things.  They are huge this time!  My students are loving them though.  Actually, they may be loving them too much.  Every time I turn around the kids are back at the tanks checking them out.  I'll post pictures again soon.  Right now we have 15.  I hope we have 15 still alive in the morning!!