The Blog is Back Baby!

8:00 and I just got home.... Need to eat supper and study with Ainsley, so I'll keep it short! Technology has not been a very good friend of mine lately... Had to reset all the class iPads and have a crash course in pushing apps to the kids. I still haven't gotten it down. Trying to teach how to use digital books and reinstalling apps was very time consuming. I am also trying to learn the digital and media components of the "Wonders" reading program. Aptly named because I wonder a lot while trying to teach it. Had a meeting yesterday trying to get a grip on a web based reading program called I ready. I also stayed after today until about 5:00 helping a colleague learn some iPad basics. Honestly ready to unplug for awhile! My kids are still wonderful...very patient and graceful toward me when I take 30 minutes to accomplish something I planned to spend 10 minutes to do. Signing off... Tomorrow is another day!

First Full Week: In the Books!

     I didn't get home until late last night, so here is the latest from room 124! 

 

        Here is the beginning of a thinking map! Kids were stressing about spelling, but I assured them right now we get ideas recorded and we will proofread later!

     My kids' response to "How do you like literature circles?"

     He was so proud! He asked me to take a pic with his map...sorry it is so blurry!

     Illustration of Fudge scaring Mrs. Yarby with his brother's gorilla mask!

     Love the quality of these questions!

     Learning the language! Word wizards did an awesome job finding tricky words and making them something we could understand!

     It has been a great week. I think a lot of procedures were established and rapport was built! Going to try to get some planning done so I am not behind next week! I need to figure out how to assign digital content and task lists specific to each student's level of instruction and figure out how to show the kids the process of accessing digital books from two programs our school librarian has purchased! In the beginning phases of collaborating with a local artist to use inking to create the Virginia landscape as our Native American ancestors saw it before arrival of Europeans.... Lots of meetings next week... Installing a new program to insure what apps can be downloaded on class iPads, learning to use a individualized reading program, and helping a colleague learn to use the iPad she has with her speech clients.... Maybe I need a nap!!!

Teaching on my Toes!

     A great day! Still haven't taken the first stamp yet! The kids also worked on lunch manners and got the fifth and final card for extra recess! It's amazing to watch them self modulate. They are a very caring group and everyone seems to watch out for each other. Who could ask for more?

     We began a superpower writing prompt today and used the app "SimpleMind+" to map out the framework. Success all around! This is a great, free app that one of the computer gurus in the county shared. 

     We also finished up the group literature circles and I was very impressed with the finished products. I will post a picture tomorrow. We will continue doing the circles for every two chapters we read in our book. The next time, kids will get different jobs! 

     Social Studies is growing on me! We are using interactive notes (adapted a bit). Kids are marking the text, then we illustrated each paragraph. They really are able to recall well when we use acrostic type memory helps. I am really staying about 3 seconds in front of them and despite lots of prep work, I feel like I am learning as I teach! 

     So blessed to having such an enjoyable group of students. So grateful!

Welcome to our World!

An awesome day!!! My kids are such a blessing! We tried literature circles today! Everyone had a job and then like job people got together to work on accomplishing tasks. We had  question creator, illustrator, word wizard, and connection maker in each group. We are using it with the book, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. I will post pics of work tomorrow, but I was just so excited to see them so excited and hear the conversations going on around our room! Tonight was busy... Had praise team practice and then came home to four dead ducks. :( Mark and I researched and think it sounds like botulism. I have two more sick that we are trying to rehabilitate... A reminder to me that students and teachers are whole people even though we only work together in an educational capacity. You never know what is going on outside the walls of your classroom, but I pray some of the lessons learned in my classroom can be extended and applied to make every part of a child's life better!

Hmmmmm...

     Today's adventure was a test of patience, and not with the kids!

     Technology aaaaaaccckkk!!!!

     I taught the students the sol on Virginia and the surrounding states. I had created, scheduled, and made accessible an Interactive Achievement quiz to assess it. In a perfect world, the kids would log on the app and take the quiz. Period. But in both groups the passwords were not working for half the students. A quiz that should've taken 15 minutes ended up taking 45! I have tried to have plan B,C, and D in place and went through those today. It is frustrating, but it tried to stay calm and troubleshoot (probably drove Amy Hash and Jude Raffeiner crazy). We made it, but it was less than optimal.

     My blog dream - a great pic of students using technology will just have to be a goal for tomorrow. I hate planning and having to abandon or adjust what I had planned, but it is a necessity - in my classroom at least! And tomorrow is another day!

Have I mentioned my kids are awesome??? 

     So first, here is the background info.... I am teaching fourth this year. I told my students after 10 years in third, I finally passed! I had a 59% pass rate in 2013-14 in math. Yes....ouch.... Although I believe there are multiple reasons several of my kids struggled...and I cannot stress enough how proud I am of this score...I watched the kids take an incredibly high level, tough, and looooooong (4 hours) test. But numbers being what they are, my administrator proposed a move. So now I teach language arts and social studies for fourth graders.... A change for my twentieth year in the classroom.

    When starting a new curriculum (New SOLs) it is a pretty massive undertaking. The year is spent trying to not only teach, but stay enough ahead of the instruction that you are actually instructing! There are a million things you need to make, organize, and master. So my kids have been wonderfully patient as I undertake this! 

     Confession....I do not enjoy Social Studies..... I am trying to love it, but so far we are just covering pretty dry geographical info. I was directed by a colleague to use interactive notes and foldables. Maybe these will be a catalyst to my teaching passion! I feel like a newborn colt trying to stand...wobbly! I always use these types of experiences to empathize with my kids...so many of them feel this way much of the time...

     In reading, we are actually ahead of my original plans, and these students are really keeping me hopping! We started a new reading series, Wonders, this year. It is always a challenge to learn a new program as a teacher...last week one lesson was an epic bore...I apologized to the kids...they agreed it was "lame-o." I do however like some of the basic procedures...especially collaborative conversation. The students have actual rules for sharing, listening, and adding ideas. I was amazed to see how well they followed directions. 

     My classroom is blessed to have 1:1 iPads for students! Today we got them out and used the dictionary.com app to find definitions and synonyms. We also used a gradient colored SMARTBOARD to chart shades of meaning. Advanced material...but the kids were successful! We tried out some apps McGraw-Hill created for use with their program. Kids loved it! I also used the iPads for individual white boards using Screen Chomp. These are valuable tools and my kids do so well with them.

     With so much going on, behavior hasn't even been on the radar...everyone is too busy to test limits! I am sure the honeymoon will end, but I appreciate the cooperation right now!

     Ok...enough blabbering.... Please feel free to post comments, suggestions, or advice!!! I deeply appreciate all the insight and suggestions I am given! :)

Captains log...Day 3!

Sweet! Huge thanks to Melina Easter! I tried blogging last year, in fact it was one of my professional goals. I ended up with no readers...which was ok...so I quit. Trying my hand at it again! I love the idea of sharing, networking, and synergy to become the best educator I can...defined by student success and growth...with the tiniest emphasis on scores and the main one on facilitating the development of independent, productive learners!