Last Day Of School

As our students rolled out for the last day there is always a bitter sweet feeling. Most last days of school we will usually have only a couple of children come in because our last day is always a 60% day. We also realize that for some the reason they come is because they truly do love their school and teacher. I pray for all our students as they enjoy their summer break and all the adventures that come along with summer as a child. I pray for their safety as they venture out these next few months to different places and vacation spots. Finally, I pray they come back in August with an excitement for learning and keep that joy through May. Happy Summer!!

Loving the warm weather!

Trying to keep students focused during the end of the year activities has become quite a challenge. As we are preparing for state testing, I decided to bring the crew out to review some skills. I selected 10 different skills to work on. Each skill got its own area on the sidewalk. Students pick and chose the order they answered their questions. It was nice to be out in the sunshine after the cold and rainy weeks we have gone through. All I can say is 9.5 days of school left and we are all ready to tackle summer full force. 

Math & Science Stations for 4th Grade

Math Stations with a little bit of Science?  I am trying to do more and more math and science stations during my class.  I would love input from others that teach upper elementary grades. Years past I have simply had students work in groups of 4 on similar projects.  This past school year I am began doing 20 min. stations.  I have 2 hours to teach both Math, Science, and Social Studies, though Social Studies would not get taught each day as the other two subjects did.  I tried to use the B.U.I.L.D. Math method, and idea I got from Mrs. Thompson's Adventures In Teaching Blog.  So, this is how my stations worked and the resources I used in each station.

Station 1 :  Basic Fact Practice. (flash cards, games, etc...)

Station 2:  Science:  (guided notes, research project, hands on activity)

Station 3:  Math game to go along with skill being taught. (Deck of cards, board game, dice, etc...)

Station 4:  Usually some type of reading to go along with weekly Math skill.  Most of the time I would use Dyna Math magazine by Scholastic that was purchased for us by our PTO.  Most every skill was found in the magazines throughout the year.  Other times I would use the text for students to read and practice.  I did make students break up the reading and read sections of it to the group.

Station 5:  Technology.  I would have 2 students working on my Mimio Board with some type of interactive activity that also went along with the skill and two students on the 2 classroom computers that I assigned a Mega Math game (This is a site full of games that goes along with our HSP Math series) or a Study Island assignment.

Station 6:  With the teacher.  This is where I get to meet with each student.  Usually this may be using Accelerated Math or one on one with somewhere the student is struggling.  It is also where I can challenge my higher level students.  

The stations usually begin on Tuesday after I have gone over the skills for the week on Monday.  Tuesday and Wednesday we go through the centers.  Thursday we come together as whole group and find out where more understanding is needed.  As I said, each station I limit to 20 minutes, which never seems like enough time for them to finish.  I would love to hear input on what my fellow teacher peers from around the world do. So, let me know!!

Collecting Data to Drive Instruction:

When it comes to collecting data on what your students have mastered, what is the best resource you have found?  How do you do this at your school?  Do you use an app, software, or an online tool to help you collect data from students?  I am currently looking for a better solution.  I created the following using Excel.  I give students a pretest at the beginning of the 9 weeks and end of the 9 weeks and look at the data.  I would like to do it on a more weekly basis, but I don't feel as if I have time to plan due to keeping up with data or vice versa.  I would love a better solution or is time always going to be an issue as a teacher (which we know it will be).  Your input is greatly appreciated!!  Sorry for the blurry picture below, but it was the best I could post.  

I have really been enjoying our Solar System unit in Science.  Since I only teach Math, Science and Social Studies, I have been trying to do a better job of incorporating language arts into my content.  The students had just finished a poetry unit in their Language Arts classes so I had each student to pick a type of poem and a planet of their choice to create a poem about a planet.  Their information in their poem HAD to come from the resources they used.  If they did an acrostic poem and could not find a word to go along with their letter the had to find another way to say something about the planet by either using a synonym or wording the information differently.  They also had to illustrate their poem. I was so happy with the outcome I wanted to publish their poems in the hall.  My idea was to make my class door the sun and then put the planet poems in "planet" order from the sun down the hall.  As I began the adventure of decorating my door, my ELA teaching partner asked me if I was decorating my Dr. Seuss door.  Confused, I told her no then explained my idea.  She then explained that ELA teachers wanted the doors to be decorated for Dr. Seuss's birthday.  Needless to say I was heartbroken because I was so excited with my Solar System idea.  After a little pouting and fussing I figured Dr. Seuss had to have a quote about stars or something.  My student teacher, Brooke,  discovered, "There's No Place Like Space".  Yay!!! I was so happy with the quote she found during a Google search.  So here is how I was able to keep my idea and celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday at the same time!! My student teacher and I really enjoyed putting this together and the students are excited about their poems being placed in the hall.  Check it out!!

The Door says "There are 8 planets that circle the sun
and soon you'll be able to name everyone." -Dr. Seuss

 

 

 

 

The students really enjoyed this.  I loved reading their poems and really liked to see their creativity in their illustrations.  There are many more poems I have to display.  I look forward to reading each and every one.

 

 

Class Dojo!!! It is Awesome!!

I really enjoyed blogging through the summer.  As soon as school started....well, if you are a teacher you understand.  I must hand it to the teachers that can keep up with it all.  Common Core changes have really kept us busy at our school.

But here is what I want to share:
An awesome website that could be the answer to every teachers problem in dealing with classroom behavior!

Class Dojo:  Great Classroom Behavior Manager

It is a totally free website.  Setting your class up is simple.  You can assign students a private number where they can go home and change what their avatar looks like.  The next day, the class can see their new avatar. The students love it!

Another perk of Class Dojo is the fact that parents can check behavior daily via phone or computer.  The parents can see the percentage of positive and negative dojo's students receive.  Class dojo even individualizes behavior so parents can see why the child has negative dojo's . Examples include, disruptive, unprepared, etc...). You can also add your own behavior tags to personalize it to your classroom.  Another great thing is that you can leave comments to parents on what specifically the child did to receive a negative or positive dojo.  This is great for documentation purposes.  I can use it on my projector and keep it on my whiteboard when I am not using the projector for anything else.  If I am using my projector or Mimio, I can easily click on the Dojo window that is open and bring it up to add or take away dojo's.  When giving positive and negative dojo's, Class Dojo gives a postive and negative sound to go along with the dojo.  If students get loud in the classroom, I immediately start giving postive dojo's to students who are on task and the students get quiet immediately.

One of my main concerns was how to keep up with dojo's when students were in the hall, cafeteria, etc...Dojo can do this also.  If you have a cellphone, you can pull the website up and as you add or take away dojo's from your phone, it keeps up with it on the website.  When student's return they can see if their dojo's have increased or decreased.  I usually tell them in the hall, "That is a positive Dojo for Sally for walking quietly in line." or "Joe, you get a negative dojo for talking in the hall and being out of line".

We have worked out a reward system.  When a child gets to 10 dojo's per day they are rewarded with a prize, if they get 50 in a week, they get a larger prize on Friday.  

The students love it and I have seen a lot of them work hard to get their dojo's.

The parent's love it because they can see how their child behaves through out the day and see comments on behavior.

Teacher's love it because it is great documentation when behavior arises that must be dealt with on an administrative level.  (Reports can be printed and sent with the child if child is sent to the office.)  It also shows students immediate rewards or consequences and brings them back to being on task without me having to say a word.  

If you have any questions or problems when you start using Class Dojo, because how can you not start using it, emailing the owners of Class Dojo from their website has always been a positive experience for me.

I was excited to see this linky.  Since this is my first I hope I do it right.  Thanks to Ms. M I can share 4 new things I will try for the first time this year.  With Common Core coming along it seems like a season for something new in all aspects of teaching.

Ms.M's Blog

What will I try that is new to me and my class this year?  Well, lets see!

1. Anchor Charts!!  

Though I have used these once or twice through a year with my 4th graders I had not used Anchor Charts as much as I did when I was teaching a younger grade.  I really plan to put major emphasis on anchor charts this year.  I really feel that this will help my students continue to see and refer back to past lessons, skills, and give them a visual reminder of the content they have learned.  I have came across some really great teachers that use anchor charts and, thanks to Pinterest, I have found some wonderful anchor charts I hope to use this year.  My favorite blog on anchor charts belong to Tabitha and Chloe from Math Workshop Adventures . They have a huge assortment of anchor charts along with activities they use in their classrooms to go along with their anchor charts.

2. Mimio Capture

I wrote a grant and have had the Mimio for about a year and a half in my classroom, but I haven't had time to sit down and hook up the Mimio Capture part if this interactive board.  When teaching summer school this summer I decided I was going to pull it out and use it and WOW!! What an awesome tool I have now to go along with my new anchor chart craze.  Not only can the students and I create an anchor chart on the white board as I am teaching a skill to them, but when we finish the anchor chart, I can print it out for them to have a copy of it in their binders.  I was so excited about this new piece of technology that I just could not contain my excitement!!

3. B.U.I.L.D.

Thanks to one of my favorite blogs Adventures in Teaching, Cassie has given me permission to share her B.U.I.L.D. idea that is being used in her classroom.  It is a way of using the Daily 5 in a math class.  Though I have blogged about this before, I am still finding ways to incorporate this in a 4th grade classroom.  I have come up with a few things that I have shared in a previous post, but still would love to hear more ideas and suggestions on the topic.

4. STORIA

Oh, how I love this new app from Scholastic!  What a great way to bring content area reading into a Math/Science/Social Studies classroom.  This can be downloaded onto a computer, iPad, and "Coming Soon" to Android devices.  What I love about this more than any other reading app is that not only can the students read from their computer or iPad, but they can also choose to have Storia read to them.  Some books are also "Enriched Ebooks" which allows students to play games and answer questions while reading the story.  I downloaded the book Count to a Million which is an enriched ebook and my Summer School students absolutely loved using it, answering the questions about place value, and playing games while reading the book.  I can not wait to use this app in my classroom for the upcoming school year.

Well, there you have it. My 4 on the fourth that is 2 days late. I Hope I have shared something that can help other teachers and I look forward to seeing how other teacher bloggers will inspire me on this great little linky party!!  Thanks Ms.M!!