TpT Back to School Sale...

Teachers Pay Teachers is throwing a back to school sale.  Don't miss this chance to get products from all your favorite sellers at discounted prices.  This is a great chance to get all those products you have put on your "wish list" all summer :-)

Click HERE to visit my store. 

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Scores are in...

Test scores have come back, and I have to say that I am VERY pleased at how my students scores turned out.  I still have a lot of sorting and reflecting to do with scores, but still very happy overall.

Tomorrow is Test Day...

Tomorrow my students are taking the state math test.  They have worked hard all year and I am very proud of them!!!  There is nothing more any of us can do, and I do not look back on a single part of this year wishing or thinking I should have/could have done more.  I simply hope that they all are calm, and focused tomorrow.

Kids and Technology

I was so proud of some of my kids today!!!  We are doing this project for a science grant.  The kids have to do a ton of independent work, thinking, and are using technology like crazy.  The kids are working in small groups and each student has a specific job (team lead, data analyst, and communications officer).  So far they have had to research a company (3M) and create a slide show using haiku deck.  Haiku deck is quick easy way for kids to make a presentation.  (It is sort of like a Prezi...)

Today, the kids started to complete their experiment for the company.  The kids used their personal phones and ipods etc. to take pictures of the experiment during the day.  They are using Google drive to share their pictures and data with their group and the class.

My proud moment today...

As students finished the lab today a few of them brought me their devices to show me something.  Some of the groups had taken all their lab photos and used flipagram to make quick videos.  Some of the students even added music.  I never suggested to do anything like this, they just knew the technology existed and decided it would be fun to try.  What a cool moment for me as a teacher.  I was so happy to see them enjoying themselves and being creative with technology.  Some of the videos were really neat.  I just can't express how happy I was!

We are in test mood all over the building and the stress can be overwhelming, but moments like today make everything worth it.  It seems like a small thing to be proud of but it was awesome!

Rolling Through the Rock Cycle

Last week, we wrapped up our unit on rocks and minerals.  I played the rock cycle game with my students and they LOVED it.  The game got them up and moving around and they got a kick out their individual paths.  Some of the kids got stuck in one spot for multiple turns.  They did awesome and realized just how long it could take for parts of the rock cycle to happen.  I was very pleased with how well they did with the activity and unstructured nature of it all.

After the game, students used a comic strip website (pixton.com) to make comics depicting their individual journey through the rock cycle.  Students could be as creative or straight forward with their journey as they wanted.  The kids really enjoyed the comic strips as well.  Most of them had never used the program before and it took some getting use to, but they are kids and catch on pretty quick when it comes to technology.  ;-)

I have uploaded the PDF of my Rock Cycle Game to TeachersPayTeachers .  Check it out HERE.

Hunger Games - Final Round...

Our Hunger Games Competition has gone so well.  The girls won all three of the rounds so far.  Our forth and final round leading up to testing is not going to be girls vs. boys.  Instead, each student is going to be competing for themselves.  I have set a goal for each of my students.  If they are not are not currently on grade level than their goal is to get to grade level (no matter how many grade levels that is).  Students that are on grade level or above have a goal of increasing another grade level.  Their prize... once each student individual student reaches their goal they are exempt from homework for the rest of the year.  I hope that this final round is as successful as the rest have been.

Bulletin board used to track tributes

"Undercover" Mission

Hello All...

I want to make sure my students have the materials they need to succeed and we have recently added 2 new ChromeBook carts to sixth grade. However, in the crazy world of sixth grade, no matter how careful we are, accidents happen.  I have recently created a new DonorsChoose project in order to try and get covers for the computers.  I had so much support from friends and family with my project earlier this year and I am hoping that this one is just as successful.

I'm asking for donations of any size to help my kids. For the next week, any donation you make to my project will be doubled by Anonymous Donor (up to $100). If you know anyone who is passionate about education, please pass this along. Your donation will brighten my students' school year, and you'll get photos and thank yous from our class.

To have your donation matched dollar for dollar, enter the promo code

INSPIRE

on the payment screen. This awesome match offer lasts through March 16th.  

My students and I greatly appreciate your support.


The link to my project is below.... check it out if you have time. :-)

"Undercover" Mission 

Girls Won...

My girls pulled out a win in round 1 at the very last min.  I am very proud of them.  :-)  Round 2 started Monday.  I am impressed at how motivated they are staying.  I am really hoping the time they are spending pays off and fills in some of the learning gaps from along the way.   More importantly I hope the kids realize how much they are growing.  I want them to be proud of themselves and see that hard work pays off.

Some of my lower kids are doing so much better with their basic math facts.  They have been working so hard on Reflex Math and now Moby Max.  It is great to be teaching math and have the kids answer me quickly when I ask what is 8 x 6.  We aren't held up trying to solving math facts and counting on our fingers so much any more, making us able to tackle more of the grade level specific content.

Hunger Games Math Competition is in Full Swing!!!

The Hunger Games math competition that we started a few weeks ago is in full swing, and is going so well!!!  I am very pleased with my kids progress.  The kids are really getting into it and working really hard.  Over the last 3 weeks the kids have solved 19,540 problems, completed 486 lessons, and mastered 448 standards.  My girls are losing to the boys right now, but they are working hard to change that.  I am very happy with how things are going so far :-)

Hunger Games Themed Math Competition

It has been quite a winter so far, I have been sick with mono, broken my foot, and we are on our third or forth snow day.  All this "down time" has given me some time to work on school stuff. I use the word "down time" loosely since in a teacher's world there doesn't ever seem to be true down time during the year :-).  For me though this down time as come from less time at the gym, Christmas break and snow days.  During this time I found a program on the internet called Moby Max.  It is a math and reading program geared toward identifying student gaps and providing lessons and practice right in the same program. Best part of all, the basic version is free!  Although I am excited about the program I really struggle with how to get the kids motivated to want to participate.

My teaching partner and I have decided in order to get the kids motivated we are going old school...  BOYS VS. GIRLS.  We are using Hunger Games as our theme for the competition.  Each student is a tribute and earns tickets to a drawing to have a chance to shoot at a target for points for their team.  In our case being a tribute with your name in the drawing a lot is good thing, not a dangerous thing.  They earn points for their team through various means built into the program like percentage of growth.  Each student also can earn bonus points for certain amounts of correctly answered questions in the program.  Again, the program tracks this. We are still working on a few things, but I am very excited!