Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Big smiles before school...excited for St. Patrick's Day....

A little dazed and confused after three hours in a school lock down due to a situation nearby involving the police, a SWAT team, and a man refusing to come out of his house...

Money Saver

One of the math skills in first grade is understanding place value and being able to identify the quantities of hundreds, tens, and ones in given numbers. I saw these jumbo place value magnets on the Lakeshore Learning webpage and really wanted to have them so that I could help my students to better visualize place value. The price of the set is $39.95. I called the store to see if the items were in stock and unfortunately they were not. I was hoping that I could use my teacher discount or a special promotional coupon, but no such luck. They are able to special order catalog/internet items and without an additional shipping cost, however coupons still do not apply.

I decided to get crafty. 

I am a big fan of magnetic strips that have magnet on one side and allow you to peel away paper on the other side and stick it to something. I make a lot of magnetic "manipulatives" and visuals because I find them versatile and easy to use on the whiteboard which is a magnetic 

surface.

I purchased some large sheets of craft foam from Michael's Arts and Crafts store. Each sheet was $ .99 and I needed three different sheets for the project (blue,  yellow, and green). I also purchased a roll of magnetic tape from Joann Fabrics for about 5 or 6 dollars. 

I cut 3 5"X5" squares in green and drew  1/2"X 1/2" gridlines.

 I cut 1 5" X 5" square in blue, drew horizontal lines every 1/2" and then cut 10 long rectangles every 1/2 inch (rectangles measure 1/2" X 5"). 

Finally, I did the same with yellow and

 cut the rectangles even smaller into 1/2" X 1/2" squares. 

I put magnets on the back of all of the pieces and now have virtually the same math product for a fraction of the price. Considering the small amount of magnet I used and the low price of the foam, this project cost less than $5.00 altogether. I will use the rest of the magnet tape for other projects so I am only including the approximate cost of the portion I used for this project

 when figuring the total cost. 

With all the budget cuts and freezing of funds that we are experiencing, it is nice to know that there are less expensive alternatives to all the great educational products out there. Making these place value magnets myself definitely saved money and it was not very time consuming at all. I even made an extra set to send home with a student who wanted some extra practice.

Open Ended Problem Solving

UPDATED

Problem solving encompasses an important set of skills for young learners. For students, being able to find a solution to a problem and explain how they came up with their answer utilizes higher order thinking skills especially when the problems posed have many possible solutions. These types of problems require children to be creative with their answers and provide them with opportunities to think outside of the box. 

I recently started a session during math which I call "whiteboard review." During this time, we focus on whatever num

ber is that day's date. For 

today, our focus number was 26. We use this number to do a variety of math operations and then culminate with an open ended problem to solve. Each day we do the following:

• write addition or subtraction equations that equal the date
• write the date in tally marks
• tell whether the date is an odd or even number
• draw the date in tens and ones (we use rectangles for groups of ten and circles for ones)
• ***"purchase" candy using the number of cents that matches the day

*** The last activity is the newest that I have introduced and the kids really like it. I purchased three types of candy at the store; a Hershey bar, a pack of gum, and a Tootsie roll.  I put magnet strips on the back so that they can stick to the whiteboard. Under each type of candy I listed a price. 

Tootsie rolls: 1 cent

Gum: 5 cents

Hershey bar: 10 cents

**3/17/09 Candy types have changed since I last posted, but I wanted to update with a photo**

I wrote the problem on the board and change the amount of money each day to match the date:

I tell my students they should spend the exact amount of money that they have. The problem gets harder as we get closer to the end of the month. When we began, the solution was simple. On the first few days of the month, there was only one way to solve the problem each day. As we reached numbers like 10, there started to be more possible answers and it is interesting to see how the kids think it out and how they come up with all the possible solutions. It was actually a nice progression so the kids could get used to what I was asking before the solutions got complicated. 

Take, for example, the 10th of the month. Possible solutions include:

10 Tootsie rolls

2 packs of gum

1 Hershey bar

5 Tootsie rolls and 1 pack of gum

The students draw representations, shapes, letters, and words on their whiteboards and they came up with the coding of H for Hershey bar, G for Gum, and T for Tootsie rolls. I write all their ideas on the board in the code: 

10 T

2 G

 1 H

 5 T & 1G

My favorite part is that no two whiteboards look the same. It is not like asking for the solution to 2 + 2, it allows for more creativity and individual differences.

I also have large cardboard coins that I purchased at the Learning Palace that I use with the problem as well. I laminated the coins and put magnet strips on the backs, so that they too, can stick to the whiteboard. When I tell the students how much money they have to spend, I ask them to show me different combinations of coins that would add up to that number of cents. This is a great way for students to practice recognizing coins and adding mixed coins (both first grade math skills).

I started this activity at the beginning of February, but I do not want it to get old and boring, so I added a little motivation by telling my class that I will purchase different items for the month of March and that I will give away the candy on the last day of school in February to students who consistently demonstrate responsibility and appropriate behavior at school. Next month, I might get different types of candy or possible change the amounts that each costs.

At Home with Math

In getting ready for conferences tomorrow I was trying to prepare some simple math games that I can teach to and send home with a few families so they can help their children with math skills at home. I came across this great site called At Home with Math. My favorite part about the site is that the information is presented in the exact same format in English and Spanish (yay!) which is terrific because one of my students who struggles in math has a mom whose primary language is Spanish and this saves me the work of translating the documents. They will contain the same images as the documents in English which is important when sending information home in more than one language. The documents, although written in different languages, should look the same and one should never be of a lesser quality than the other.

This site offers 10 activities (with extensions and alternative versions) that parents can do with their children at home. What is great is that the math activities incorporate typical household activities and materials such as cleaning up toys, junk mail, coupons, and sharing which makes them easy to incorporate into daily routines.

I always feel conflicted about giving families extra "work" to do at home, but often I find that parents enjoy these kinds of activities and are very interested in helping their kids and they appreciate suggestions. Often parents want to help but may not know how or what kinds of skills they should be helping with.

I am going to print out packets in both languages to have ready for a few of my kiddos tomorrow. I think when informing parents about what skills their child needs to work on, it is always helpful to provide examples of how to practice and to give parents materials to use so they can go home with a plan!

Metabolic U-Turn Diet

Although most of my posts are about teaching, I did intend for my blog to touch on fitness as well since staying physically fit and healthy is a big part of my life. 

Every summer I work with a wonderfully talented trainer named Daniel Iverson. Daniel is a certified personal trainer who owns Portland Adventure Boot Camp for Women. Daniel is hardcore and his camp is fun and extremely effective. With all the rain and crummy winter weather in Portland I always put on some weight during the school year and then hop on the bandwagon to fitness during the summer. Daniel helps me get in great shape and I am always thankful to him when I do my back to school shopping!

Daniel introduced me to the metabolic u-turn diet which is a great way to drop some extra lbs. This is a diet that lasts for only 7 days which I use when I have gone overboard in the indulging area so that I can get back to my baseline weight. Here are the rules:

• Eat a minimum of 4 meals a day
• The daily total for active carbs (total carbs minus fiber) should be less than 20 grams for the whole day
• Eat 15-30 grams of protein at each meal
• There is no set limit for fat/calories. In fact, eating fat at this point HELPS the process
• Try to eat a lot of fibrous veggies
• Drink a TON of water
• Take a multivitamin daily
• Take one gram of fish oil (in capsule form) with each meal

Foods you cannot eat:

• bread
• sugar
• alcohol
• certain nuts (peanuts & cashews)
• fruit
• pasta
• pastries
• crackers
• starchy foods

Foods you can and should eat:

• cheese
•  chicken
• eggs
• fat/oil
• fish
• lobster
• pork
• shrimp
• steak

Carbohydrates that are okay:

• asparagus
• broccoli
• cabbage
• carrots
• cauliflower
• celery
• cucumber
• garlic
• lettuce
• mushrooms
• onions
• peppers
• radicchio
• radishes
• raw brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, walnuts
• spinach

My typical daily meals are something like this:

Breakfast: Premier Protein chocolate shake (from Costco) & Light Babybell cheese

Lunch: 1/2 can of chicken with 1 tsp. mustard in endive cups, 1 light string cheese, additional vegetable like baby carrots or edamame

Snack: 1 cup lowfat cottage cheese

Dinner: 5 or 6 large sea scallops sauteed in 1 tbs. butter, 2 vegetables such as zucchini, mushroom & spinach, mashed cauliflower with garlic and butter, or broccoli & cheese

This is not a diet that I adhere to all the time. Rather it is a food plan that I follow when I feel like I need to get back to being a healthier eater.  I have done this a few times and even with some cheating (gasp!), I have still be able to drop a few pounds. After having a houseguest last week and eating out at restaurants almost every night, I was not feeling too healthy. I started the metabolic u-turn on Monday and have dropped about 4 pounds since then. I know my weight gain was temporary, but this diet plan helps me to make sure I get back on track and don't keep that extra weight on for too long.

Parent Teacher Conferences

This Friday I have 9 parent teacher conferences. This year, the format is a bit different and we were only given one day to conference rather than two. This means that rather than conferencing with all parents, we had to select only the students that we have concerns about and invite their parents in for conferences. The rest of the families are invited to come in and visit the classroom during an "open" time that goes from 2:00-3:50 with the stipulation that if they arrive and the classroom teacher is already speaking with a parent they should wait outside the classroom.

Since this format is new, I am not sure how it will go. 

I always find it challenging to speak with parents about concerns and student issues. As a professional, I always strive to mention positive aspects about a child before mentioning anything of concern or anything "negative."  I won't say that I beat around the bush per se, but I do think that when I describe misbehavior I work too hard to soften the blow and as a result the parents don't take the matter as seriously as I do because of the way I present it.  When you are facing the people in the world who love this child the most, it is hard to say something that makes you feel like you are criticizing their pride and joy.

I know that it is my responsibility to inform parents of what goes on while their child is at school because if I don't tell them they have no other way of knowing, yet there is a fine line with regards to what can be said. You cannot just blurt out anything, you have to craft your description to make the parents feel like you are on the same team, rather than judging them or working against them. You don't want them to feel as though it is their fault that there is a problem or that you think there is something wrong with their child, yet at the same time you want to be open and honest about any problems that exist.

This can be especially difficult if a child is experiencing a really tough time with academics, particularly when it comes time that you are requesting permission to evaluate the student for special education services. 

As a parent, would you rather have your child's teacher tell it to you straight, even if it might be negative/hurtful/embarrassing/rude/blunt or would you prefer a teacher that is tactful even if that means you may not get the most accurate picture of what is happening in the classroom as the teacher tries to spare your feelings?

Book Club

I started a book club at my school as a way to build teamwork and comraderie among our staff. Although we really enjoy choosing new books to read and discussing a variety of texts, we mostly enjoy the time to get together on Tuesday afternoons, enjoy some snacks, and chat with other adults! 

We have shared children's literature and read:

• Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv
  
• The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo and Bagram Ibatoulline
  
• Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison
  

We just finished a book called The Zookeeper's Wife which is based on the true story of a couple/family living in Poland during World War II who own and operated a zoo. The story was really interesting and provoked many deep discussions relating to the horrible discrimination against jewish people during WWII and the unspeakable horrors they dealt with. Not only is it horrible to think about what happened to the jewish families, but just as bad to realize the impacts on the defenseless animals.

Today, for our last meeting, we viewed the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." I highly recommend the film. It was not based on a true story, but was very touching. 

"Set during World War II, a story seen through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences."

The coolest part of our book club is that we can run it as a one credit graduate course through Portland State University called "Teachers as Readers" and we only pay $50.00. Technically, there is an instructor, however we are on our own to decide what we want to read, when we want to meet, and how much we read each week.  We run the class in accordance with the trimesters at PSU and typically meet 8-10 times for about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes each week. The class is fun to take and there is no pressure if someone has to miss a meeting or doesn't read all the weekly assignment. I more often find that group members read MORE than the required reading because they are so into the books!

In a profession where individuals are isolated in their work, spending most of the day with children/students, it is so refreshing to have time with adults and time to focus on professional development and the personal enjoyment of reading great books. Happy reading!

Books Books Books

I have been reading a lot of about culturally responsive teaching as well as diversity in education and have gotten some new books from the paperbackswap.com. These are books I am currently reading (I always seem to be reading 3-5 books at once) and I am really enjoying each of them. I actually already finished The Glass Castle and it was a terrific story that provided me with a lot of insight with regards to what the home life of the kids I teach might be like. I feel like sometimes I have a disconnect with my students because I can't relate to their situations, but this book helped me to have an idea of what makes some families tick. It was a quick read and I finished it in about a day because it was so good. 

The other books are professional development type texts that I enjoy reading to gain different perspectives on my students and my teaching strategies. I am trying to become more culturally aware and sensitive so that my instruction meets culturally and linguistically diverse student needs. 

Oh Happy Day!

If you are a teacher, surely you will understand when I say that there are days when I go home feeling like a failure. Whether the kids are a little too squirmy or you can hear the crickets chirping after asking a question, every teacher has those days.

    

 Today was not one of those days. 

I invited one of my students to eat lunch with me because I know she needs extra attention. We chatted about High School Musical and she made good connections about friendships when I asked her if she would rather be friends with Gabriella (the nice character) or Sharpay (the not so nice character). I know that she enjoyed the experience and it made her feel good. So it made me feel good.

I started teaching my class how to tell time today and we worked on telling time to the exact hour. The kids were excited to learn about time and they ALL got it. Even the kids who struggle with math got the correct answers and it feels great when that happens! Tomorrow they are going to make their own clocks to use individually because they love to have something in their hands to work with. I will post pictures and instructions (tomorrow?)

My coworker and I are planning an incentive for kids to practice sight words over spring break and we are putting together some game packs that the kids can take home to practice their words. We are going to have a lunch party for all the kids who practice their words daily (or most days) during the time off from school. We are using gallon size plastic zip lock bags and including some sight words on card stock, directions for many different games, internet sites with additional games, a letter to parents explaining the incentive, and a calendar for the kids to check off when they practiced.  I am having fun planning how to make learning sight words fun and exciting for kids and I am looking forward to seeing their improvement!

After school, our EBIS (Effective Behavior and Instructional Support) team met to discuss the kids who are struggling in reading. Most of those children are in my reading group because I teach the lowest group. I was SO PROUD to see that 4 of my students who were not meeting benchmark in January have gotten over the 20 correct words per minute benchmark in oral reading fluency. A couple were even in the 30's! Woo hoo! My class works incredibly hard and it is such a wonderful feeling to see that all the hard work is paying off and their scores are improving. Most of all, I want to instill in my students a love for reading, but we have those necessary benchmarks we have to meet as well and it is great to see them getting closer and succeeding!!

Classified Employee Appreciation Week

This week is national classified appreciation week. I have 5 instructional assistants that work in my classroom throughout the week. Three of them trade off throughout each day and work with the student in my class who has Down syndrome. The other two help out during math time to support students who are struggling.

It is an amazing help to have other adults in the room to support learning, answer questions, and check/correct student work. It also gives me the flexibility to work with a small group myself or to have one of the assistants take a small group so we can support students who need additional instruction. I am so appreciative of the helpers I have that I wanted to do something special for them.

I went to Michael's Arts and Crafts store this afternoon and found some great items on the dollar rack. I got some blank cards and a cute "thank u" stamp, an assortment of list notepads with magnets on the back, and some small tins with crayons on them. I filled the tins with M&M's and am going to let each IA choose which notepad they would like. I also wrote each one a note in the card to let them know how much I appreciate them. I bought three bags of M&M's from KMart which were on sale for 3/$7. Each tin and each notepad was 1.00, the notecards were 4.99 and the stamp was on sale (25% off) and cost about 6.00. Altogether I spent about $30 which isn't a lot, but I think it will make the IA's feel special and that is my goal!