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Posted by Amy | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 06-21-2010
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All my bags (boxes) are packed and I’m ready to go (on vacation).
I’m standing here outside your (my) door.
I hate (love) to wake (hug) you to say goodbye.
But the dawn is breakin (reports are done) and it’s early morn (won’t be tomorrow when I wake up).
The taxi’s (my car full of stuff) is waiting. He’s blowin’ his horn (is stuffed to the gills).
My room has been pack and materials shoved to the corner for summer cleaning. Reports are done and I’m off for a break. Sort of. I’ll be training teachers for a few weeks and blogging on my personal site.
I shall be sporadically blogging here during the summer and shall see you in September.
What a great day! I got to spend a lovely day with my SIOP cohort — a wonderfully dedicated group of educators who’ve committed themselves to spending at least 1-2 times a month with me, such that I can fill them up with theories, activity ideas, and push them to question their teaching philosophies and methods. As usual, we thought and laughed a lot.
Here are some websites that I’ve visited recently:
I was introduced to this service by my good friend and teaching neighbor JT. Potential political biases aside CNN provides a short and informative news clip for students each day. The news stories tend to stay away from politics and instead typically focus on national and international happenings. Today’s clip, for example, is on the Tennessee Floods. What I like best about the student clips (typically 11 minutes long) is that they stop periodically to ask the students quiz questions and provide them with student friendly quick fun facts. Now, Carl Azuz, the anchor is no Anderson Cooper…but it’s hard to look that good at 43! For those Anderson fans, take the Anderson Cooper quiz.
2) Shodor (a national resource for computational science education) has a fabulous collection of free interactive math tools. Aimed at Gr. 3-12 math and science teachers, this site has lessons, an online dictionary, and best of all — online tools. Comparing fractions, for example, has a lesson and this online fraction comparing number line java applet that can be manipulated.
3) The Poetry Archives is a great resource that I rely on when I’m looking for a classic poem. I like to use Emily Dickinson poems, for example, when I teach description in writing and visualizing in reading. I know that I can depend on this site to provide me with simple printable versions of the poems and are easy to copy for the students to use in activities.
4) This Science hotlist is an easy place to start when looking for online clips, demonstrations, and lessons.
I shall leave you with a Mr. Duey fractions clip…you can be sure that the cohort discussed Vanilla Ice a bit today…reminded me of Mr. Duey. Enjoy!
1. I’m absolutely loving the weather today…summer is around the corner. Apparently it’s supposed to rain this weekend but I’d rather dwell in blissful ignorance and pretend that this weather will last right through the end of the year. The weather inspired my math buddies teacher friend and I to take our classes outside for math buddies today. Our math equation — 4 clipboards + 4 mad minutes + 50 kids + 4 pencils + 2 teachers + random children from other classes running around during their normal recess + other teachers yelling, “hey, get out of that area” = a rockin’ math buddies relay race that the kids love. Engagement = 100%!
2. My Send a Problem worked really well this week, as we reviewed events leading up to the American Revolution. Following up that with a sort had my kids SIOPing away in Social Studies this week. One students shared this week, “are we going to do more of those activities where we work in groups and practice our language? I like those.” Nice!
3. Words from my mouth several times this week: “Been there, done that…yes, I’ve been in grade 5 below…let’s just skip the whole trying out that trick part and get to the part where you just do what I want you to do.” Humor goes miles with my class. We’re really enjoying one another which makes implementing my SIOP activities quite easy.
4. I recently started our Historical Fiction book club and students self-selected from a choice of books. Many chose My Brother Sam is Dead — a phenomenal Newbery Honor book. Undaunted by the length of the book and small font of the type, my students have been coming into class, doing their graph-in, and immediately chatting with each other about the book. Another great event that started this week is me being called over every moment the students notice some Social Studies in the book…imagine their surprise that our Reading Workshop ties into Social Studies! Are there ways that you can integrate your subjects?
5. I’m busy coloring checkers boards for the homophone checkers game I’m creating this weekend…I’ll have to let you know how that goes!
In honor of some of my favorite bloggers who do the same, I share my ‘Five on Friday.’
1. What perfect timing that Train’s Soul Sister was the last song I heard before getting out of my car in the driveway this afternoon. This is one of the songs used in trailers for ‘one of my shows’ Nurse Jackie. Jackie puts up with nothing…this arrogant and totally capable nurse…one of those people you want to be on shift if you come into the ER because she’ll tell it like it is and you’ll be fixed and out. Even if it is with the name and number of the ambulance driver’s dealer. And who doesn’t like watching Peter Facinelli with his tweeting obsession.
2. By chance I had Tori and Dean on while writing this blog post and they recently went on an RV trip across the US…and stopped at The Big Texan in Amarillo, Texas…just one of my absolute favorite stops on our Route 66 car trip across the US this past summer…but I didn’t try the 72 oz steak contest !
The Big Texan: Route 66 Road Trip 2009
3. I enjoyed a great session with a school this afternoon teaching different SIOP activities that focus on interaction and increasing the language domains in a lesson. One activity I shared was a people hunt…a scavenger hunt for people who can answer a question on a student page. A student can only have another student solve 1 question on their page, so students have equal opportunities to talk. Before using the activity, students make a class list of of appropriate sentence starters that they can use when asking for and receiving responses.
4. I’ve made it through the 5 days following Spring Break…and need to spend the next 5 days cleaning up my kitchen counter which currently houses stacks of unopened mail (this week’s), half-full coffee cups (from midnight work sessions), and *beverage* bottles (from stepping into the kitchen, looking around, and needing a *beverage*.) But that’s not it. There are 2 (yes, 2) of the infamous teacher bags sitting on the kitchen floor. Now let me tell you about these 2 teacher bags (although I KNOW I’m preachin’ to the choir). These are the bags that get packed at 3:00 full of ‘work to be done at night’, get dragged into the house (because we have grand plans to catch up), and which get dragged back to school the next morning unopened (because we were too tired to pull ourselves off the couch to open the bag). At least there are 2 bags this week which means my hunched shoulders will be equal in size and no one shoulder will be lower than the other.
5. My favorite quote of the week:
Me: So Cinderella didn’t know the prince was talking about her because she felt so little of herself that she could not conceive of the idea that the prince was speaking of her (and not the injured bluebird) when he said that he just had to stop when he saw a beautiful creature having trouble.
Student: Or maybe it was just because the prince called Cinderella a creature.
Comments from our classrooms? Could be…but no, they were comments made by commentators of tonight’s rockin’ Russia-Canada hockey game. I won’t go on (well, maybe I will) about just how awesome the game was…beautiful plays. Whew!
On the other hand, these comments COULD come from our classrooms, couldn’t they?
“What an effort!” — the effort our students put into the quality work they produce each and every time they’re asked.
“It’s the work in the corners.” — after a great activity involving movement and interaction in which students joyfully and cooperatively huddle together in the corner of the room creating a masterpiece.
“They like their team.” — observations made as a cooperative learning team works together, no questions asked, no negotiations necessary.
“Look around – they’re on their feet.” — the enthusiasm for learning cannot be contained…enough said.
One can hope, can’t we? May our passion, skill (and desperation) bring us success!
“The growth of any craft depends on shared practice and honest dialogue among the people who do it. We grow by private trial and error, to be sure — but our willingness to try, and fail, as individuals is severely limited when we are not supported by a community that encourages such risks.”
Are there ways that you can integrate your subjects?
