Funny Things Kids Say 2015-2016

I have really been dreading this week. Going back to work after this long glorious Summer with my babies is going to be much harder that I thought. Luckily two of them go with me and that does make it easier but my baby boy will be missed oh too much! 

Yesterday I was asked to come in and help with Kindergarten Assessments. It was only for part of the day and I was happy to help but again sad that my time home is over. It has been a while since I have hung out with the littles and but there innocent honesty and openness turned my day around. I love what I do and being around kids is why I do it. I want to start tracking all the funny things I hear and see at school. The moments that remind me why I am a teacher. A little online Smile File for everyone to read!

August 2015

At kindergarten assessments I was getting cuteness overload. So many nervous but excited little 5 year olds. One came to sit with me for assessments. We turned to the sight word portion of the assessment....

Student -  "I don't know any of those words." 

Me - "Well maybe you might" and I started pointing at different sight words. 

Student - Looking down, "Well I do know one word.... P - O - O - P." 

Me - "Oh really what does that spell?

Student - Paused a second. Looked me right in the eye again and said, "I think you know!" 

Engage NY Homework Calendar and GIVEAWAY!!

My first big Teachers Pay Teachers project is FINALLY finished! I worked really hard to get all of the calendars for 2015/2016 updated and ready for purchase. The students really loved my calendars last year and they were one of the most frequently mentioned items in my end of the year student survey. If you want to know more about why I use these homework calendars instead of the regular engage homework please see my earlier blog post that talks ALL about it HERE. 

My completed calendar bundle includes....

• 10 editable homework calendars for the 2015/2016 school year along with extras and answers keys.
 
• 1 show your work page that can be printed front to back and kept in the classroom for students to use as needed. 

• Parent Introduction Letter

• Student/Parent Expectations Letter and Online resources page. 

If you would like to check out my completely editable calendars for yourself visit my TPT store. 


The first 10 people who follow my blog and leave a comment with an email address will get the August calendar pack for FREE.

Engage NY Stations - S Station: Self Study

Objectives/Resources Used: The focus at S stations is for students to practice skills they personally need to work on. Last year this was my H station focus but I wanted something more because too many students were finishing. I am not sure if I am going to make this a daily rotation or more of a what to do when you're through option. I do not use Engage NY as much for this station because I have found that while the curriculum does go back to other standards it does not spiral through everything as much as I would like. To combat this I purchased a CCSS Spiral called Math Moves on TPT that allows students to practice all the standards each week.

You can grab a copy HERE. Students do 4 problems each day Monday through Thursday as a part of their morning work in their homeroom classes. Then on Friday's (and I do not do it every Friday), students take a quiz over the same types of problems they worked on all week. 

I have students write down what area or domain they feel confident in based on this assessment and I have them select an area they need to practice. Then during S station they select an activity based on that domain. I purchased this  math station pack and created folders for students to easily select. I set these up in the beginning of the year and did not have to do much upkeep. They have the answer keys inside and work pages along with a little example or short explanation of the skill. I also put fun games and other things I find in this area for students to pick from. 

Online Options: I would also like to have more online work happening in class each week so I am going to allow students to do Skoolbo, Xtramath, and/or Tenmarks.com during this station. 

Classroom Set Up: 

On my Station Board under S I write Self Study. I also have a carpet area where I keep all of my self study options grouped by CCSS Domain. This year I am going to add some online option packets that have the directions to get to all of the online places along with all the login information. Last year I posted it on the wall and students have the login info in their binders as well but they still seem to waste a lot of time getting logged in. 

Examples:

• Here is an example of the self study folders students can pick from. They have card pieces and worksheets to go with them. The students like these and do really well checking and grading themselves honestly.

Accountability/Assessment: Students can turn in their station worksheet and I can easily see if they did real math work or just wrote down answers. All of the online work allows me to see reports of what they did, how much time was spent etc. I tell the students though that this station is for their personal progress. They will see gains on their weekly math moves assessment and that will tell me if they studied or not. 

Engage NY Stations - H Station: Hands-On

Objectives/Resources Used: The focus at H Station is for students to do something more real world and more fun. This is my center like station but it is not just fluff. I use the Engage NY modules to help plan activities for this station. When I pretest students I assess not only the content that we will be learning but the content they should already have mastered from previous grades in order to be successful. In the beginning of each Module they list Focus standards and foundational standards. 

For the Focus Standards I wanted to have more all encompassing activities for students to apply their new learning. I found some awesome project ideas on K-5 and am going to use these to start of the year.

You can check out the awesome projects options they have HERE. My plan is to have 1 or 2 options a month for projects that align to the standards we are working on. Students at H can work on this throughout that time. 

I really want the students to focus on revising and editing their work and also getting feedback from their peers. I want to work on teaching them to critique each others work and build a community of positive communication and hard work. I got this idea from the book study we did over Summer break and it is one of my goals for this year. You can read more about my goals and what I did this Summer HERE.

Classroom Set Up: 

On my Station Board under H I write whatever they are working on today. "Multiplication Game, Fraction Pizza's, Million Dollar's Project" etc.. I have table in my room where I also store games and activities that I use all year. I also have a bin where I put the activity or options for the week.  

Examples:

Module 1: Place Value/Rounding/Addition and Subtraction

• Projects:
• August: Subtraction is an area I know without assessment that the students will struggle. (In my opinion subtraction is the hardest concept to master!!) For the first month of school I am going to have students do a "Spend a Million Dollars" Project. There are many variations of this available all over TPT. I found a few free ones that I am going to base my project off of. I like the simplicity of this one HERE. I may break down and buy a really cute one but I am trying to avoid it!! Students will have all of August to complete it. 
• September: How will you use math when you grow up (Future jobs project).
• Along with the ongoing project I will always put out some other short fun activities for students to do. They really like math mazes and crafts. I always do a place value block party craft. I like this one I purchased on TPT a few years ago.
  
  You can grab a copy HERE. 

Module 2: Metric Measurement

• Projects
• October: Research, Graph, and Convert Measurements of tall buildings around the world.

Module 3: Multiplication and Division

• Projects
• November: Thanksgiving Dinner Project
• December: Gingerbread Dream House Project

Module 4: Geometry

• Projects
• January:

Module 5: Fractions

• Projects
• February:
• March:

Module 6: Decimals

• Projects
• April:

Module 7: Customary Measurement

• Projects
• May:

Accountability/Assessment: This is not a daily must finish station. Students should only be spending a little time here each day and can dedicated more time when they have finished their other work. I do strategically place my hard workers at this Station first because I know they will get everything done.

I am thinking about creating a board where students can just mark progress they are making on the projects. Students love this station and like to show off the work they complete here. I do check to make sure they are completing it correctly and help them learn to work with each other on this as well. 

Engage NY Stations - T Station: Toolbox Builder

Objectives/Resources Used: The focus at T station is for students to build their "Toolbox". I call their math notebooks their toolbox because it holds all the strategies, vocabulary, and examples they need to successfully tackle the math work. If there is not a notebook page for that day I assign a math journal or vocabulary page. 

Classroom Set Up: 

On my Station Board under T I write notebook page, vocabulary, or math journal. I have a "Toolbox" Table where I have an example notebook already finished showing the students how they should lay out their notebook page. I also have vocabulary wall at this station and post math journals here as well. There are scissors, glue, and a trash can at this station. Students are not allowed to decorate their pages with colored pencils unless all of the other station work is complete. 

Examples:

• I found some amazing interactive math notebooks aligned to the engage lessons on TPT that you can get HERE. Students are always a day ahead in their notebooks so that they have pages prepared and ready for the small group lesson. I started doing this because I love the interactive notebooks but I hated waiting for students to cut out the pages and get them in their notebooks. Some would always be done right away while others took forever. It wasted to much time.
• For math Journals I have used many different resources. This year I would like to try the k-5 journals for 4th grade. I used them when I taught Kinder so we will see how it goes. You can check out K-5 (they have a lot of awesome stuff) HERE.

Accountability/Assessment: Each day when we meet in small group I can see if the students completed their notebook the day before. If they did not complete it they do not get a chance to add that page and must instead write all of the items on their paper instead. 

Engage NY Stations - A Station: Assessment

Objectives/Resources Used: The focus at A station is to assess previous learned content and allow students to use math talk to build strategies and reinforce skills learned. At this station I use the Engage NY Exit Ticket from the previous day's lesson. Depending on the skill I may have them work alone or with their groups using math talk. If they are working alone they can discuss the answers together after. 

Classroom Set Up: 

On my Station Board under A I write the page number of the Exit Ticket they need to complete and I write Alone or With Groups. For this station students use their own materials and must sit at a seat to work away from other stations. I do have a table area just for this station so when they are working in their groups they know where to go. 

Examples:

• For Engage NY Lesson 1 the Exit Ticket is 1.A.12 so students will complete the exit ticket and then discuss their answers with their group. 

Accountability/Assessment: One quick check I have in place is level checks. We use level check a lot in small group by holding up fingers to show what level they feel they are on. Level 3 means that they feel they have mastered the skill and are ready to move forward no problem. Level 2 means they feel they understand the skill but need a little more practice with it before moving on. Level 1 means they are stuck and don't know how to move forward on their own. 

For A station students turn in their Exit Ticket in to the basket level they think they are. Level 3 is a green basket, 2 is yellow, and 1 is red. I can try to quickly check the work when stations are over and students are doing their problem set. 

Engage NY Stations - M Station: Math Mastery

Objectives/Resources Used: The focus at M station is to build fluency. I use the fluency activities from the Engage NY lessons. If there is a Sprint that is the only activity they will complete that day if there is not a sprint I use the activities to create my own problems for students to complete on their personal white boards. 

Classroom Set Up: 
On my Station Board under M I write the page number of the Sprint or I write Whiteboards so students know what they need to do. I have a small area of the classroom dedicated to M station. There is a small bucket of timers (teach and model how to use appropriately or the timers will drive you crazy!), whiteboard markers, and a space where I can write the problems for Whiteboard work. 

Examples:

• Sprints: For 4th Grade Module 1 Lesson 1 there is a Sprint. Students set the timer for 3 minutes and complete Side A of the Sprint. They discuss how the patterns they noticed and if they have time they can try and beat their time on Side B or do this at home that night. 
• Whiteboard Work: In Lesson 2 there are 3 activities listed. Skip-Counting (reviews 3rd grade standard), Place Value, and Multiply by 10. I try to take a little from each activity or focus on a skill I know students need to practice. Here is a sample of what I would write on the board.

      1. List the multiples of 3 to 36. Read your list forwards and backwards with             your group then discuss the patterns or tricks do you notice?

            *Try saying them again without looking!! 

      2. Use your place value chart template to show the numbers using disks and           write the number in standard form below it. 

                5 tens

                3 tens 2 ones

                4 hundreds 3 ones

                *4 thousands 2 hundreds 3 tens 5 ones. 

      3. Fill in the blanks to make the sentences true. 

                 10 ones x 10 = 1 ________

                 10 x ________ = 2 hundreds

                 10 x ____ = 2 thousands

                 *10 x 10 thousands = ___________

Accountability/Assessment: One quick check I have in place for M station is for students to put a dot next to the task or question they had the hardest time with. After stations are complete I can easily see what skill we need to discuss or reteach most. 

Engagey NY/ Guided Math Stations: Updates and Details

My first station post was WAYYY back from last October. As always I have changed and tweaked some things since then. I just wanted to share some of those updates here. If you missed that first post you can read it in all it's lengthyness(not a word..) HERE. 

My first project for Summer was to redo my station board for back to school. I really love how it turned out just need to keep it safe (which is hard in this wild house I live in) until I can get it to a laminator. It already had tomato juice dropped on it which will bother me forever and no one else will probably ever notice....

How I use this board in my classroom:

I teach 3 rotations of math so I needed something that I could easily use to organize my students for all of my classes without taking up too much space. My 4th grade team and I gave each rotation a color since we do not switch by homeroom but by mixing the students up as needed. Those are the colors you see at the top. Green is my first class that comes in, then blue, then red. 

Within each rotation I do 2 groups for centers/small group instruction. Those are indicated by the lighter and darker colors and the 1/2. Group 1 comes to small group for the first 30 minute rotation while group 2 starts in stations then they switch. I put all of my students names on the board with white board marker (I change them as needed usually once a week). Wherever there name is on the board that is where they start stations. I usually have 23-30 students per class and try to evenly split them for each group so in each station I have 2-4 students max. This has been the key to successful stations in that they are small enough groups that the students are quiet and stay on task. 

The bottom row with the colored boxes is where I write the objective or task for each station. I go over the stations but having the tasks written out allows the students to see what they need to get done without having to remember everything. They can go to the board if they forget or were maybe distracted when I explained things. 

Behavior: 
The most important thing in implementing stations is establishing clear norms and expectations from the beginning. The first week of school we practice each station as a whole class and we create norms together. What things do we need to do in the station? What do others need to do so that it goes well? How do we use the materials and tools? 

Once we have created all the norms students get a copy for their math notebooks and I post a large copy next to our station rotation poster. The students LOVE stations and I use that to my advantage. I give and take away class points ("smilies") for class behavior and we have a competition each week. The class that gets the most earns the title "Classy Class" and they get a reward like extra recess, dance party, pick their seats etc. Any class that fails to earn points or loses a lot of points will lose stations for the week. They hate this! Many times when a class loses stations they come back with a bang and earn that Classy Class title right away. 

Accountability: 
A lot of people ask me how I know the students are completing the tasks at the stations and that they are getting them done correctly. I have had students turn in their station work or keep it in their binder. I created a station tracking and reflection sheet for students to use. It allows me to quickly see if they got their work done and that they understood the tasks. I made some aligned to each Engage lesson but I also made a general one that could be used for any lesson. You can grab your own copy HERE. 

I do not think it is necessary for students to write down and turn in all of their work but it is good to have something that you can check periodically to make sure. For the most part the students do what is expected in stations. There may be only certain students who have to use the sheet until they can prove they get their work done. I know I will never be able to check the station work every day for all 80 students but checking weekly or randomly keeps the students on their toes and getting things done.

I have created a short blog entry to explain each station and have given an example of what it looks like. I am going to add pictures and more info. as the year goes on.   

M - Math Mastery

A - Assessment 

T - Toolbox Builder

H - Hands-On

S - Self Study

Thoughts for 2015/2016

First things first can I just get an AMEN on how beautiful Summer time is??? We have had an amazing break from school and even with the Arizona heat we have had a cooool time. Still have one more vacay to Utah before August. 

Disneyland and Huntington Beach

 Waterpark

Creekin up north and Fireworks (look how tan we all are)

Anyways back to work. I just wanted to share a little background on what I have been reflecting on lately for school going in to next year. I feel like when I post about it it gives me some accountability. 

For my masters class we had discussed how one way distinguished teachers are set apart is how they are not fixated on one magical approach to instruction. They search for new ideas and change their methods to meet the needs of their learners. They have a large toolbox of strategies and are comfortable interchanging and working on their instructional practices. I instantly thought of my mindset with stations. My first year I was fixated on perfecting the system and as soon as I felt it was perfect I wanted to change it more. At first I felt like I would be doing a disservice to my instruction if I keep changing things but now I feel like that is what will help me grow in my teaching and meet the needs of my ever changing classroom. 

This Summer I have been meeting with other teachers from my school working on our Gifted Endorsement. We were doing a book study on An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students by Ron Berger. The book was.. eh but meeting with everyone and discussing the content really helped me hone in on some strategies I want to bring into my classroom more. I know classroom community,  real world/ project based learning, and more student led critique and discussion time are what I want to add to my brain while planning this Summer. 

I feel like last year my stations were really going in the direction I wanted. Then I went on maternity leave and when I returned it was like starting over. What I loved is that my students missed the stations and wanted them back! I did end of the year surveys and the 3 things mentioned most for good reasons were stations, the hw calendars (the sub did not use the calendars), and my Thanksgiving project. The not so positive things mentioned most were that I left for too long and that sometimes I yell (eek). So going in to Summer I knew these were the areas I wanted to focus on. 

Now that it is the middle of July the pressure is on (from myself...) to get working. I am also going to try and reflect more on this blog so I have a better reference to my ideas and how to develop them more. What are your Summer reflections and goals for next year? 

Math Station Guide and Reflections Page

First I must talk about my squishy perfect little handsome man! Kannon Scott Rowlan was born December 2, 2014 at 8:12pm. He weighed 7lbs 8 oz and was 20.5 in long. He is almost 3 months old now.

He is seriously the happiest baby EVER! I am so so in love with him! I must admit that after having him and finally feeling like a normal human being again I felt a little teacher guilt. It was REALLY hard working and being pregnant. I feel like my students got my worst (and yet they still loved me anyway <3). I love being home but I also will be excited to finish the year with them as my real self! 

While home with my studly I have still managed to get a lot of work done. My new project has been these awesome station guides aligned to the Engage NY Lessons.They help students move through the stations and also stay accountable during this work alone. There is a place for them to do the work for all 4 stations and on the back there is room for the application problem and a reflection area. I have not had the chance to use these personally as I am on leave but my substitute LOVES them. She hasn't even tried full blown stations but she says the kids like having the paper to use for notes and they keep in their work binders for support. 

I have made Module 4 Topic A Lesson 1 for FREE on TPT for anyone to try it out. You can get that HERE

I also created a general page that can be used with any Grade/Module/Lesson You can get that HERE for $2.

If you like what you see please let me know what you think!! I am not done with Module 4 in it's entirety but this is something I plan on adding to throughout Summer as well. 

:)