3-2-1 (A day late) and Day 1 Recap

In 2011 and 2012 I was hired to work for schools in towns I didn't teach in (in Pittsburgh after I had  just moved back to my parents 4 hours away LITERALLY only a week before in 2011, and in NC in 2012) the day before school started. I'm not kidding. It was Friday, school started Monday, and I went from sobbing about how I couldn't find a job to setting up a classroom in 2 hours. Insanity.

So how did I feel more prepared those years than this one? First day of school round 4 should have been the easiest yet! Sigh.

Between things being thrown on us last minute (typical), timing not going as planned (more typical), kids not having schedules and having to look them up (also typical), not being able to figure out how to work the built in locks in the lockers (UGHH! HEADACHE!), mixed in with all the other first day of school things, it was a mess.

Not to mention I forgot the adapter for my MacBook to use it with my projector AND my teacher binder at home. What. A. Day. Block 1, we didn't even get through all of the school paperwork let alone get to talk about my own class. Block 2 flew through the syllabus, but there wasn't enough time before or after lunch to do the activity that I wanted to do (Marshmallow Challenge from Sherri at Middle School Math Rules!), and Block 3 was "turned up" from lunch and never really got themselves in check. Of course that's my biggest class.

Didn't leave until 6 then straight to play practice until 9:45ish. I'm exhausted. 

Anyway, here's my 

 

3 things that happened this week:

1. I went to Pittsburgh to see my family :D My aunt retired from 30+ years in the school system this summer and my parents just moved my brother in at Pitt on Thursday, so we had a retirement celebration Friday night. I have only seen my aunt once since I moved two years ago, so that was nice :)
2. I got ALL of my copies and plans made for the first two weeks of school. WHAT!?
3. I started rehearsals for the next play I'm working on, and my high school best friend who also ended up down here in NC (same town, actually) was cast in it. Our first show together in 10 years. Yay!

2 things on my to-do list:

1. Sharpen my saw. Not a real saw. Talking 7 Habits here. I need some me time immediately
2. Get my apartment back in order. It's been kind of neglected. Oops

1 thing I'm looking forward to this week:

1. Friday. Kidding! Getting my classes into a routine and the schedule calming down. I like routine and there was just far too much chaos for me today. 

Back to School!

We started back for workdays this week, and I am worn out. I haven't gotten HOME before 9 any day this week, and today and yesterday were both after 10:30. Yoi.

I've been busy busy busy getting everything set up in my INB, in my classroom, and for SBG. I posted two new foldables in my TPT store tonight and finally got my data trackers updated there as well. I was also inspired by Ms. Rubin at Everybody is a Genius to create a more visually appealing syllabus. Here is the result:

Front--General Info

Back--SBG Info

I'm obsessed. I wish my teachers gave us fun looking syllabi like this!

My principal and the other two 8th grade math teachers are on board for piloting SBG in Math 8 this year full force, so I'm really excited about that. I will do a full post on that in more detail once things are up and running. Crossing my fingers all goes well on that front!

In the meantime, I finally got my class website up. Yay! 

More details to come when my brain starts functioning properly again.

Sunday 3-2-1 Summary

My last day of summer. Sigh. Part of me feels like summer flew, but other parts feel like the last day of school was so long ago. I spent this week in and out of my classroom and in and out of workshops. I have a few odds and ends things to finish up in my classroom, but I'm mostly ready to go on that front. Yay!

Today is my first go at the #MTBoS challenge hosted by Sherri at Middle School Math Rules. The challenge is to post once a week for the entire school year.

3 things I need to accomplish this week:

1. Make copies of my open house papers, first day papers, and data trackers for my kids

2. Plan workshop for at least my first unit since it is only about two weeks long

3. Write my syllabus! Eek! I hate writing those things.

2 things I am letting go of for now

1. Being an OCD perfectionist. It makes me crazy.

2. Worrying about getting everything done in time. Put first things first!

1 thing I need to remember

1. I cannot control everything. Sometimes it's ok to just let things happen as they are.

WOW: Workin On it Wednesday

Today I am linking up with Middle School Math Moments for Workin' On it Wednesday.

Workdays start next week. I spent today and yesterday in workshops about Standards Based Grading and the Stock Market Game. I have most everything I need ready to go for school, but here is what I am working on:

• My top priority right now is my ISN. I'm revamping some foldables and overall redoing how I am approaching things. Check out a sneak peak below.

• 7 Habits Curriculum: We have a 50 minute "Patriot Period" (flex period basically) each day and for the first quarter, we will dedicate 25min of this period to re-teaching the 7 Habits. I've been working on getting the 8th grade curriculum together.

• SBG update: The session I went to today was super helpful and I think I will have a much easier time this year. I'm updating my trackers to read "mastery" "developing mastery" and "no mastery" rather than a 1-4 scale. More on this later.

Stock Market Game

I went to an extremely short (too short, in my opinion) workshop today on The Stock Market Game (SMG from here on out). I called my mom on my way this morning:

Me: "Remember that game we played in middle school gifted where we traded stocks and I absolutely hated it?"
Mom: "Yes, what about it?"
Me: "I'm on my way to a workshop about it because I want to use it in my classroom this year."
Mom: "You're kidding."
Me: "I suddenly see the value in it. Funny how things work like that, isn't it?"

I HATED SMG. Like, REALLY hated SMG. I can't remember if it was 7th or 8th grade, but it was the bane of my existence and it made me hate going to my gifted seminar. The only thing I do remember about it is that my mom told me to invest in Hershey and I think I quit after about two or three weeks because it was way over my head. Honestly, it is probably still way over my head because I am more than likely one of the most financially illiterate human beings on the planet. I'm hoping this will be a learning experience for all of us.

If you are not familiar, here is how it works:

Students are split into teams of 3-5. Each team gets a login and an imaginary $100,000 to invest in a portfolio. They can invest in any stocks they want, but cannot invest more than 30% in one stock because they need to diversify. They can buy, sell, and trade as often as they would like, but the goal is to make the best investments and have the most valuable portfolio. They compete amongst their classmates, regionally, at the state level, and at the national level. Winning teams are somehow rewarded in various capacities. You can participate just in the fall or spring, or you can participate for the full year from September through April.

So how am I going to use this?

I think once a week it will be the "Teacher's Choice" for math workshop. When we get to functions, we can look at stocks. When we get to systems and linear equations, we can look at stocks. When we get to scatter plots, heck we can look at stocks! All the while, I will never hear "When am I going to actually USE this!?" It will be glorious and hopefully my students will hold it in a higher regard than I did in my middle school angst.

Check it out! North Carolina lets its teachers participate for free, but other states vary. The facilitator told us that most teachers spend as little as 30-60 minutes PER WEEK on this. Really? That's absolutely doable! It would be great for a "when you finish" activity as well. You can spend as much or as little time as you want on this, and I can see the kids really getting into it if they start investing in things like American Eagle, record labels, Bojangles, etc. It's relevant to them and to the real world. I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes and keeping you all updated.

Monday Made It

Happy Monday! It's the last Monday of summer. How sad! Next Monday I'll be in my first workday. BOO! Where did summer go!? I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics today for Monday Made it! I've been working on everything that is not crucial, of course, so now I'm panicking about getting things done. I'm way too obsessed with my room looking cute. I need to get on track!

The wall behind my desk is BORING! I didn't know what to put up, but I know I wanted it to be bright and colorful. Enter Sudoku! I haven't been into school to print, laminate, or put it up, but I will be doing that tomorrow. For now, here's a sneak peak :)

The black numbers will be the "given" numbers. Each square will have velcro so I can adjust from week to week. Students will have to hand in their solutions on Thursday, and on Friday, I will put the white circles up to show solutions. Each week a student gets the sudoku correct, their name will go in a drawing for a prize such as sit in the cozy corner, listen to music, extra points on a test, etc. The bottom picture is the first two letters of the "SUDOKU" bunting I'm going to put up because I've become obsessed with bunting lately. That brings me to...

I wanted my name across the front of my desk, but I didn't want anything huge. Enter more bunting! I'll post pictures of it hanging once I get into school tomorrow :)

Bunting, chevron, and polka dots. What has happened to me? Am I becoming a southerner?

I don't want to post pictures until everything is completed cleaned up, but I did start on my notebook today! I've been making foldables galore and it's making me giddy. It's the little things, right?

How are you spending your last week of summer? Don't forget to check out my TPT store for my updated data trackers, word wall, and I Can statements! 

Summer is Fading

I woke up Friday morning and realized I only have a week left of summer. My stomach sank, and my boyfriend foolishly told me that I've been doing school work for the past month, "so what's the big deal?"

 Sure, I've been neglecting my apartment's organization (though I've kept the important parts clean, there is stuff EVERYWHERE right now), and done nothing but plan, prep, and re-plan for school to start, but there's a difference between me doing it on my own time and when I'm at school and doing it because I have to. I don't know what it is, but I will sit all summer and prep for the next school year like nobody's business, but as soon as school actually starts, motivation goes out the window. What's up with that?

So anyway, I talked about power standards in my last post and updated my data trackers and I Can statements then bundled. They can now be found in my TPT store YAY! :) I also updated my vocab because I changed from giraffe to dots and chevron. I'm going to hold out on posting about the other things I've been working on for Monday Made It tomorrow :)

Now in the next week I am hoping to at least get my first semester or first marking period of my INB completed. I have to get cracking on the 7 Habits curriculum for 8th grade too. So much to do, and so little time! AHH!!!

Click the image to see this product in my TPT store :)