Currently August

I'm linking up with Oh Boy 3rd Grade for Currently August.

Listening: It's a rainy Saturday. It's rained the last three days and I think we have one or two more. Sigh. Also, I've been on a Beatles kick, and my cat is running around chasing her tail. I think she has species confusion.

Loving: I'm loving my classroom setup! I love the bright colors and the way it all tied together. I've been super motivated to get things together for this year, and I hope it continues!

Thinking: I need to get cracking on planning the 7 Habits curriculum for 8th grade at my school, mapping out my year, and getting some lesson plans ready. I want to get my ISN finished before school, too!

Wanting: Is summer vacation ever long enough? I wish we had a few more weeks. I hope the few we do have left are nice and sunny--I'm losing my tan!

Needing: I have an ugly brown podium that I brought home to paint pretty so it matches my classroom. I need to get that done. I also need to get cracking on that planning!

1st day: I go back on the 18th for work days and the kids start on the 25. I have a lot of training sessions the next two weeks for various things though. Oh, August. You are not kind.

#myfavfriday 2014 Classroom Reveal

Setting up for the year and decorating my classroom is one of my favorite things about teaching, so it seems appropriate to post it for this week's

After spending Tuesday-Friday in my classroom this week, it's finally put together! Since they changed me from Enrichment to 8th grade math, I also had to move classrooms. I'm in a MUCH larger classroom, I have storage, and I'm not out in the boondocks anymore (my old room was in an annex), but I will miss how quiet it was out there and my huge floor-to-ceiling window.

I continued the owl theme from last year, but brought in more of the bright colors. I opted out of the lights around my room because they were a pain to put up and take down when I changed schools. I will miss them and their ambience, but it will be ok.

Panoramic view from my door

Calendar--I like to put up birthdays and obviously holidays etc. I will also post the school calendar and any other pertinent information here as well.

This worked out really well for me last year until supplies started going missing. I decided this year that I will only put supplies out when we need them, and only the supplies we need that day. It will be a little extra work for me, but it will save me $$! Supplies will go in the caddies. The bottom folders are their data notebooks for their data trackers. I had to move all of my bookshelves home to my apartment when I changed counties, and the other three bookshelves from my old classroom are now being occupied by things here, so I decided to only take three to school and some tables will just have to share.

Front of my room. I left the center empty because I am having a SMART Board mounted soon. CUBES posters and TEAM Posters displayed above and SWAG down the side.

SWAG is part of the Fab 5 (found on Pinterest but I can't find the Pin). Our principal always talks about Patriot Swag, so this is fitting :)

My main resources that I use and the homework wheel from Teaching Ninja above. I made it out of washi tape and a lazy susan. I used industrial strength velcro to hold it to the wall and I'm hoping that's enough. I'll add an arrow to the wall, give it a spin, and that's how we will determine how homework is graded that day.

Close up of the homework wheel

Front of my desk. I am in LOVE! I love to have my own corner and had been struggling trying to figure out how to place my desk so I can keep the kids out from behind it (I HATE that!). I forgot about my black table that had also come home from my old county and had been hiding under my guest bed. Yay! I also found this super cute chevron fabric at Hobby Lobby and used it to cover my desk. So cute :)

From behind my desk. Important binders (parent contact, Teacher Binder, Resources) in the crate.

The rest of my corner. I swear, that cart is the best investment I've made for my classroom. LOVE that thing.

This hangs on the cabinet behind my desk. One folder per day per block (left Filetastic and top of the right one) plus one folder for next week. This is how I stay organized. All of the papers for each day go in here so if I'm absent it's easy enough. The other folders are for things to copy, things to file, things to grade, things to put in the grade book, things to deal with later, and a MISC folder.

I've seen this done on Pinterest, but not in person. I put my two filing cabinets back to back, put some fabric and a border up and had an instant Vocab wall :) I'll put words on here for the whole unit then transfer them to the cabinets on the opposite wall to build the big word wall. Above the cabinets are the Properties of Equality and Properties of Real Numbers from The Enlightened Elephant.

Cozy Corner--I use this as a reward for students. The criteria varies depending on the week and my mood. 

Back Wall--I'm not sure what I will use this filetastic for--either extra practice or for workshop resources. Above it is my math mantra canvas. I'm going to really commit to Math Workshop this year, so I"m really excited about that, and I think the board is even cuter on the purple than it was on the brown last year. Above are the mathematical practices. I can't remember where I got them from, but when I figure it out, I will link.

Close-up of the workshop board. The activities spell MATHS--Math Journal, At your seat, Teacher's Choice, Help Desk, and Skill Practice

Data Wall--I know I am going to do a data wall, but I'm not sure how I am going to display the data. I want to do it with the I Can statements and data trackers, but the format has yet to be determined. I'd love to talk data walls and SBG with someone out there!

Above--Respectful Team Talk posters from Mrs. Hester. I wanted them to match, so I made my own, but the questions are all from her. The "Today..." board will be the focus. It will display our I Can statements for the day as well as our standards for the day. Down the right is LEAD. Hobby Lobby still hasn't gotten in an E, so right now it is just LAD. 

I just realized I didn't get a picture of the other canvas. It says "Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you see the world."

We are a 7 Habits school, so here are the 7 Habits posters I made for my room. They are available in my TPT store.

Paperwork station--turn in papers, late work, and absentee binder. Word wall will be on the cabinets above here and down the rest of the wall above the computers. I have made labels for each of my cabinets, but the laser printer at school wasn't working properly today, so I couldn't get them printed.

There you have it! I'm so excited about this room. I just love it! 

New Products

Just a quick update before my classroom reveal tomorrow *squeals of excitement*

I put together a set of I Can statements and vocabulary words to use for a Math Focus Wall or Word Wall. They can both be found in my TPT store.

Vocabulary

I Can statements with Learning Targets 

I Can Statements without Learning Targets

I Can statements directly align with my Data Trackers. There is a set with and without the Learning Target numbers. Vocabulary is color coded by unit to match the I Can statements as well. I'm excited to get these laminated and added to my wall :)

I also put together a chart for my kids to keep track of whether they have mastered something at a glance. This will go in the front of their data notebooks in class.

Monday Made It--Classroom Signs

Skipping out on Made 4 Math Monday since these aren't necessarily "math" related and instead joining 4th Grade Frolics for my first

I wanted to do these all last year, but never got around to it with all of the other craziness of switching jobs mid-year. Without further adeiu....

SWAG signs. I got SWAG from Pinterest, but I cannot for the life of me find the post. I used it all last year. It stands for Sit up straight Watch the speaker Ask questions and Give snaps. All are self explanatory except G. We give snaps whenever someone makes a positive contribution to class--not just for right answers! It helps keep us participating and motivated. I painted some canvas, printed out the bubble letters then traced and cut out of sparkly chevron scrap book paper that I found at Hobby Lobby and just could not say no to.

These will hang on my wall in my classroom. The W was still wet, so it isn't finished here. I wanted to get this posted.

My school uses the acronym "LEAD" as well. Each morning on the announcements the principal says "Remember each day we want you to LEAD. You never know you can LEAD until you try!" Lead stands for Listen to others, Engage yourself, Accept responsibility, and Do your best.

I ran out of space on the A and the L is all crooked, so it's not as pretty as I would have liked, but not much I can do sadly. They were out of E's but will get a truck tomorrow, so I will hopefully be able to finish then. These will also go on the wall in my classroom. I covered the canvases with scrap book paper then hot glued a painted wooden letter on.

In my absence, I have gained some hippy-type qualities. I've gone vegan, I oil pull, I try to use natural EVERYTHING in my home, I'm going to do oil diffusing in my classroom...it's gone a little far. It all kind of started last summer when I took Hot Yoga on Long Island, and when I got hit with a few rough patches between August and the present, I've looked at what I learned there to get me through it. Mainly, I've used mantras. 

Around testing time last year, I had the idea of getting my kids to write mantras to keep them calm and motivated during the test. Unfortunately, the schedule was too crazy to get this done as I hardly saw my kids for the last two week prior to testing. About a month ago I was at a 7 Habits committee meeting at school and suggested we have the kids write mantras for that. I knew I wanted one in my classroom as a generality as well, but hadn't really started trying to write one or looking. Wouldn't you know it, while I was browsing through my Blogger subscriptions I saw A Sea of Math posted one. It's perfect. So I painted another canvas and wrote it on there. Naturally, I didn't give myself enough space to fit it. It wouldn't be me if I planned ahead. Sigh.

I started out by drawing 1x1 grids then diagonals through each to create a chevron pattern. I then used painters tape to block them off. In retrospect, I should have painted the whole thing white THEN done the grid, but hind sight is 20/20.

I then painted over the entire thing white so the colors would have a good base. Again, next time I will paint white THEN grid and tape.

I peeled back the paint and had pretty zig-zagged chevron :) I could still see the lines, and there were a few spots where the tape wasn't quite even so I painted over it with white in those spots.

(Terrible picture quality) I used a sharpie paint pen to write the words from the Mantra. The light is bad, so it's hard to see in the picture, but it's not bad in real life. 

I will be working in my classroom tomorrow and Thursday, so I will post pictures of these hanging beautifully in my room :)

Completely unrelated--I want to do a data wall. I tried the poster board thing last year and it was ok, but not what I want. How do you do data walls in your classroom? It's so hard to find good examples for middle school math!

New Things :)

Update!

I'm feeling very motivated right now, so I finally went ahead and made my own banner and logo. They aren't the best because I haven't dabbled in Illustrator since I was in high school, but I'm pleased :)

I also started a Facebook page! You can find it here. Go like me and check out my TPT store :) 

#MyFavFriday Data Tracking 2.0

Ok, I'm going to give this another whirl. Maybe I can keep up with it this time.

I was home bound last week due to an unknown plague, so naturally I decided to take it easy by getting ready for next year. I'll be back in 8th grade teaching traditional math--no Math I HOORAY!!!! Even better? My best friend will also be teaching 8th grade math right next door, so I really couldn't be happier :)

I posted last summer about data tracking. The system worked well until I switched schools and positions and wasn't able to keep up since it was mid-year. It worked well for the kids and for me, but I needed to do some tweaking. I wanted to really narrow down the learning targets so they were specific and I needed a better way for myself to keep track. So here we have Data Tracking 2.0!

I started by mapping out the curriculum in the way I want to teach it. We use the Big Ideas book at my new school, and their sequencing just makes no sense to me. After I decided what order to teach things in, I isolated the standards and wrote I Can statements for each. The units are big and will more than likely have multiple tests and quizzes per unit, but I am ok with that.

First...The student edition.

This is the same format as last year, but with the new skills and sequencing. Students will rate and date at the beginning of the unit. 4 is they can do it without ever making a mistake and could teach someone else, 3 is they aren't perfect but they usually don't make a mistake, 2 is they know how to get started but get stuck sometimes, and 1 is they don't know how to start at all. They use the far right chunk to graph as a bar graph. Each time we test or quiz they rate date and graph in a different color. The goal of course is growth. This helps the students, their parents, and me see exactly where they need assistance. It's great for parent conferences and has reduced the number of kids who come to me saying "I need help." "With what?" "All of it." *blank stare from Miss A*

The new part (which I love love love!!) is the teacher half of the data tracking. 

This is printed as a two-sheet spread that goes into a three ring notebook. Student names across the top, learning targets down the left, and their score from 1-4 goes in the box. Since this is SBG, the grades change based on performance, so be sure to use pencil! Since they rate and date in their folders, I am still able to look back if necessary for parents/admin/students/myself to see how they have progressed, but I just have their current level of proficiency/understanding in my grade book. I think this will make things much easier!

This is available as a bundle in my TPT store here. 

It's testing season!!

I have really dropped the ball with this blog! Switching schools, learning two new grade levels, developing curriculum, snow, test prep..AH! I can't believe it's the end of April. This year flew, and THE EOG IS COMING!

My new position is a remediation/enrichment position. I teach "the bubble kids." These kids have a history of doing well on the NCEOG, but either just barely passed or just barely missed the cut on the 12-13 test. I LOVE IT! These kids are motivated and want to do well. It was a little bumpy at first because their schedules unfortunately say "math remediation" which has its own stigma in the eyes of a middle schooler, of course, and my class is during Encore, so they've all had to give up a more "fun" class like art or PE in order to be in my room. Fortunately I'm such a bundle of energy I've been able to make it less of a drag in their eyes and many of them have come around. If only I could get them over this homework barrier. Sadly, this position is only until the end of the year, and in the fall I will be moving to the other end of the building to each 8th grade math again. This makes me really sad because this is the perfect position for me, and my administrators/colleagues have frequently told me how pleased they are with how I've approached things. Traditionally, this class has been a workbook class. PASS! 

Since my last update (details on all in later posts):

In 6th grade:

• We wrote expressions relevant to our lives regarding our family sizes, ages, birthdays, etc.
• We created various graphs to show data about US presidents including their ages, when they died, length of term, number of children, etc

In 7th grade:

• We bought cars and homes, got jobs, got married, and started families (what!?)
• We took our significant others on dates to Chili's
• We designed our own zoos, drawn to scale

In 8th grade:

• We made a giant clothes line to compare and order real numbers and estimate irrational numbers 

• Designed our own album covers and wrote lyrics for math songs

I am loving these 21st Century Math Projects. They're awesome for the type of classroom I'm in. I'd love to continue using them next year, but it's much easier to implement when your biggest class is only 11 and you aren't the only math teacher responsible for their success. They're a little on the pricy side, but super engaging. LOVE!

In other news, I've been nominated for a Liebster, but I'll have to blog about that later.