Snow Day! (Almost)

Well, halfway. There is no snow to be seen as of yet. We had an early release at 1 o'clock, yippie! Now I'm getting all cozy and building a fire before settling down to pay it forward in a way....

"Pay it forward?" you may ask. Yes, pay it forward. The internet has provided me with so much inspiration on my newest school project this year, math journaling, that I thought I would share what I have done to maybe help someone else out.  Last year we used power points and cloze notes which was all fine and dandy but just didn't feel like me. Some people said I was crazy when I mentioned journaling and sometimes with the cutting and pasting it can seem a bit crazy but after a few go arounds and getting organized it has defiantly paid off. My students enjoy journaling because they have a book that they have created. I also find that they actually use it as a reference where as before the notes ended up in the trash or lost in their binder. If they are smart they will take it to 6th grade with them; I won't hold my breath on that one though. So, here is everything I have done so far. Feel free to use anything you like :-)

I have 2 journals. One for my homeroom one for my second period. Some people have one that they plan their journal out in. I tried that and decided that it's just too much work. I like letting it flow and adding what is needed as we go. Plus in my mind if you are typing out pages you already have a guideline for how everything is going to play out. 

 My title page. One the first day of school we set up our notebooks. Each student was able to decorate their own title page however they wished; it just had to include their name. We then set up our table of contents, there are 2 pages front and back of this, and finally the math journal contract. I found this online and apologize to the person who I owe credit to because I have lost the link.

Place Value- Sometimes things were fill in the blank and we filled them in together. 

 I am flipbook obsessed and love making them for some odd reason. Luckily my kiddos love them too.

 Decimals

 We paused decimals to hit on multiplication for a bit that way we could continue with the multiplication of decimals. I am thankful to have a great teammate who comes up with journaling pages too.

 Notice the lattice multiplication at the bottom. Oh my gee, I LOVE LATTICE MULTIPLICATION! If you have not used it before you need to seriously check it out. It makes life so much easier.

 Distributive Property

 Word Problems

 Ordered Pairs

 Graphing

 Stem and Leaf

 Mean Median Mode and Range

 For this page I handed out different objects to different groups IE frogs, coins, beans, etc. Then we found the mean, median, mode or range for each so that they would have a worked out example.

 Circles

 This one didn't turn out quite like I had plan because I got lazy. Originally I planned to use a brad and two pieces of laminated paper on the top half of the page to create a space where they could make the different types of angles. I took too long debating whether or not the brads were going to pull through or mess up the rest of the pages. Instead we just drew pictures of each of the types of angles and left it at that.

 Triangles

 Isosceles is my favorite, my little ice cream cone

 Variables

 Order of Operations

And that leaves us off to where we are now, order of operations land whose page came off of pinterest land somewhere. If I can figure out how to add downloadable worksheets so that you could print them off. If anyone could explain this to me that would be grand! My students math journals are a lot more colorful. They have time to color and add drawings while I am often running around helping my students who need help cutting or writing. 

This is how I store all of my things for journaling. During the back to school sales I picked up these pencil cases for 10 cent each. Inside of each there are scissors, colored pencils, crayons and a glue stick; everything they could possibly need for journaling. Each box is numbered for a reason. Originally they were unnumbered and each period would just grab a box. This ended in disaster and boxes being super messy and missing materials on a daily basis. Nothing is more annoying than someone complaining of a messy box or missing material when they were just as guilty of creating a mess themselves. Now boxes are numbered so they grab their according box (each student has a number based on their place in the alphabet). This makes them responsible for the box. If the next period finds a messy box it is easy to pinpoint who it was and their task is to then come in at the end of the day and straighten up all of the boxes to make sure they have all of the needed supplies. No one wants to do this so it has yet to be a problem. 

Last but not least is my RI creation. I decided to make a "math quilt" type of assignment. Students have an assignment list that goes with the quilt page. They have 5 weeks during RI time to complete the assignments. As each assignment is completed they color in the corresponding number on the quilt page. I am hoping this cuts down on the "Ms. Jenkins, what do I do nowwwww?!?!?!" questions that seem to happen every day during this time even though there is a list on the board. When I am working in small group it makes it very hard to re-direct someone and keep my groups attention. You all know how it goes, or perhaps I'm the only one with that problem! There are 23 assignments that are all kept in a crate (pictured below) and numbered as to what assignment it is. Smaller tiles blocks equal smaller assignments and larger blocks equal larger more difficult assignments. I anticipate this to last 5 weeks or so (hopefully) which is great because that means I do not have to plan for RI for the next 5 weeks! Go me! The other big bonus to this is that I used leftover worksheets from this year and last year so that I did not have to create anything new. 

Wedding Crafts *updated*

I swear every time I blog I have to apologize for it being so long. I'm not quite sure who it is I am apologizing to, I suppose it's myself more than anyone since it's my own life record; an online diary of sorts. I Pinterest and look at so many crafty teacher blogs and think to myself, "How can they do it?".... I mean seriously, how can they do it? Most people also have kids. I can't seem to find time outside of school work to write down all of the things and moments that I don't want to forget. To all of you who manage to do this, I salute you! Tonight I am putting grading and my classroom aside and doing some "fun" stuff (aka playing the game of procrastination).

Now onward to today's post, a wedding craft! It's getting so close! You want numbers you say? Try 157 days or 5 months, 5 days, 22 hours, 52 minutes from this exact moment. Truthfully, it is all making me a bit nauseous and I am ready for it to be here. After 2 years of planning I feel like I am running out of creative steam. There is good news; so many things are DONE. Lets make a list, lists always make me feel better.

Things that are done:
Venue
Preacher Man
Cater
DJ
Cake
Favors
Table Decor (almost, so close it's going on this list for my sanity)
Honeymoon night is booked
Photographer
Hotel Blocked
3 out of 5 Bridesmaid dresses ordered/shopped for

Things that need to be done:
Song list for DJ
Cake choice needs to be made
Final tasting with cater
Flowers
Bridal Party Gifts
Parent Gifts
Alcohol needs to be purchased
Final payments to be made
Mens Attire

Whew, what a list. I am sure that I have forgotten things on both ends of the to-do's and the have-done's.

Over the weekend Grant and I managed to get a few things made. We worked on creating our table numbers. Overall we have a vintage theme going on so when I found slate roofing shingles a few weeks ago in an antique mall I knew that I could find a purpose for them and somehow turn them into table numbers. For $2 a piece I couldn't turn them down. They were also fairly large, 18 x 9 so I was able to cut them into four 9 x 4.5 inch rectangles so I got 4 times the bang for my buck. Here they are all stacked up ready to be cut. Sorry for the crummy pictures. It was a last minute decision to capture it all so the iPhone had to do the trick.

 Step 1 was using a chalk line to mark off where to cut.

 2. After they were cut they had to be washed up and laid out to dry.

 Our little slate houses.

 Next I used contact paper to cut out a stencil. To do this I printed off the numbers to the size that I wanted on regular printer paper. I suggest not using anything that is to narrow or curly as those curls can be hard to cut out. After we had all of our numbers printed out we laid them over the contact paper (sticky side down, with the covering still on) and used a razor blade to cut out the numbers. Doing this gave us a stencil that wouldn't wiggle around and that we could place once and leave until we were done.

Here is Grant placing the stencil.

 Sticky side goes down, you know that already of course! Make sure to really press down the edges so that the paint does not bleed through.

 Start applying thin coats of paint. Layer coats of paint until you get the desired color that you are looking for.

 Notice our edges are not perfect. That's ok with me as it goes with the look we are going for but I am wondering if there is a way to get better results. I think that because the slate is bumpy a perfect seal did not form between the contact paper and the slate. Experimenting with a different type of paint might achieve different results. I used an acrylic paint but I am wondering if light coats of spray paint would work well and then you would skip the bleeding. Just food for thought.

I am so excited to see these put together with everything else. It will be here before I know it!

Update: SO I decided to try the spray paint idea. SOOOO much easier and faster. Turned out much nicer as well. See :-)

The numbers are much more crisp and instead of spending an hour to apply several coats of paint it just took one go around of spray paint and all of 5 minutes to do. I would highly suggest this version over the hand painting.

Back to School

I seriously cannot believe it is time to head back to school tomorrow! The good news is that my classroom is all set up and ready to go. This year was SO much easier compared to last year. It is amazing the difference a year makes. I feel like I spent most of last year getting down my own personal routines and finding the perfect spot for things. At first I had so many things spread out and eventually everything found a "home" that was more useful. I believe I blogged a bit last year about organization and boy did it help. I spent most of the summer on Pinterest. I am more than slightly obsessed to say the least. This year my classroom is Pinterest based. It has been so wonderful to virtually peek into classrooms and see how other teachers do things. This year in my room the good things stayed and I improved (or tried to) others. Here's a little peek into my classroom :-)

The "Smart Cookies" board is the same as last year. You can find better pics in my organization post. It is my "What can I do, I'm all through" board where I put worksheets and activities that can be completed once they are done with their classwork. My Twitter/Facebook (I haven't decided what it is based on) board is new for this year. Throughout the year I will post questions for students to answer. I laminated the word bubble cards from Walmart (88 cents!) so they are dry erase. On the left is a section for birthdays and the blank spot on the bottom will be the lunch menu. The blue oval to the left is a "no name" paper holder that is conveniently above the recycle bin. I've decided this year that I am NOT hunting down the owners of no name papers and after they are up for a few days in the recycle bin they will go. After that they will just have to do it over. My thought is that after re-doing work so many times names will be put on papers! In September we are supposed to be getting tables, hip-hip-hooray! Bye bye desks, I cannot wait to see you gone :-)

 

This bowl is on my bookshelf, I think you can barely make it out in the last picture. I decided this year to really try to reward positive behavior so I am trying a ticket system. Students can earn tickets for good behavior and they go in the bowl. I plan to pull 5 tickets each Friday for my reward earners. Rewards this year are coming in the form of coupons that I found on, you guessed it, Pinterest! They are everything from homework passes, lunch passes, stinky feet passes (no shoes) and basically other things that cost me nothing.

Luckily from my summer job I had a million plastic containers like you get out of candy/toy machines so that is what they went in.

I managed to bum the bookshelf from another teacher who no longer had use for it and I am working on turning it into my math game station. The small bags will hold card games and the bottom will be other file folder games. Around my window I added some signs from http://www.technologyrocksseriously.com The website is AMAZING and I wish I had room for each and every one of them. My TV cart also houses my inside recess goodies. Seeing this picture reminds me that I have yet to go through it to see what's left. Let's just hope it doesn't rain tomorrow and we don't need to use it. My clip chart I also talked about in a previous blog and is now set up for both classes.

 

I finally made curtains for my windows. Once they were up and suspended by fishing line I realized one panel was put on backwards so the pattern is wrong. It is not worth the hassle to take it all down and switch it. I am pretty happy with them for the 15 dollars worth of fabric and 10 minutes worth of sewing they took.

 

OH OH OHHHHH! I almost forgot to tell you about my amazing FREEBIE! Our school bought us electric pencil sharpeners that are AMAZING and soooo QUIET. It doesn't take much to make me happy. Haha.

 

One last thing... I updated my mailboxes to make them more fun and colorful.

I have a few more things to share but didn't think to get pictures of. I seriously cannot believe that tomorrow is the first day of school. Hopefully this year will go just as well, if not better, than last. I look forward to meeting and getting to know each of my 43 (10 less than last year!) students tomorrow.

To everyone else who is about to or has started the 2012-2013 school year I wish you the best!

Ms. J

Finally!

We made it! Actually now we are past it but lordy be we finally made it to the one year mark! I am just so excited to actually be able to plan and be crafty. After waiting a year and a half to be able to do anything I am just so ready to begin and I know the time is going to fly by! I have collected all of the jars that I need to make my favors now I am just waiting for peaches and blackberries to come in so that I can get started. I have also gone Pinterest crazy! If you haven't checked it out yet you should! I am going milk glass crazy. I just love it. At first it just started as collecting for center pieces but now that I am getting to know the patterns I would like a collection.

I suppose that it all for now I just wanted to yell WOOHOOO we are getting married in less than a year!

And They Flew

How bittersweet endings are... Today was the last day of school for my students and it was one emotional roller coaster ride for us all. I cannot even begin to say how amazing it is to think of how far they have all come and how hard they worked. That in itself brings tears to my eyes all over again. The willingness to learn has such an impact on a child's education and while I did have to poke and prod some along the way I am confident that they are all going on to 6th grade prepared for the challenge.

We celebrated with ice cream floats and a movie. We talked about our favorite adventures together and how proud they were of themselves. Finally at the end there were so many tears that it all has become a blur of my wonderful students hugs and I'll miss yous. When last bell finally rung I walked out with my 3rd round students and it really hit me that it was all over. I would never truly have a "first year" again. Yes, I may end up teaching different subjects or at new schools but I know that I will never have an experience quite like this again. I really could not have been more blessed this year. Don't get me wrong, we had our share of ups and downs. There were times when I wanted to throw in the towel and quit. There were even a few seconds of "Why did I choose teaching, isn't there something easier?".  All of those things have been replaced with happy memories and student success's. I suppose it's similar to how they say once you have a baby you forget the pain, you revel in their beauty and the world is right again.

For a fleeting moment this afternoon my world was perfect. I was basking in the glow of success and pending summertime. Reveling in the fact that I HAD done it. Somehow, I had survived my first year with no major battle scars. Then changes started happening and before I knew it I was being told that I just might be moving to language arts/social studies. Same grade but different subject. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy language arts but I sooooooo want to stay in math and science. I HATED, yes capital HATED, math until this year. Teaching it has been so wonderful. I love the rules and steps to reach a calculated answer. There is one right answer but so many ways to explore to get there. Science, well I have always enjoyed science. The projects and hands on experiments are so much fun and of course my students love it. More than anything it is heartbreaking that all of my hard work and hours upon hours of diligently planning are about to be thrown out. My ideas of how to build upon what I have and improve lessons. Plans for experiments and hands on math lessons.... Potentially all gone. Not to mention that I have spent thousands of dollars on math and science books and supplies. Luckily those things are mine to keep but it's dreadful to think that they were only used for a year.

I suppose the sensible side of me is trying to reason with the overly emotional side of me and is trying to say that it will be okay. That in light of all that is going on with the economy I do have a job. That in itself is a blessing. In the end I will do whatever I am asked to do. If it means regrouping and re planning then so be it. I can learn to love language arts and social studies as I do math and science. I CAN do this....

The teacher
said to the students:
"Come to the edge."
They replied: "We might fall."

The teacher again said:
"Come to the edge,"
and they responded:
"It's too high."

"Come to the edge,"
the teacher demanded.

And they came –
and the teacher pushed them,
and they
Flew.

Almost There

She held her grief behind her eyes like an ocean and when she leaned forward into the day it spilled onto the floor and she wiped at it quickly with her foot and pretended no one had seen.