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