School Supply Craziness

For any of you who already use the interactive notebooks in your classrooms you already know this, but for those who are just starting, a good amount of school supplies are needed on a regular basis to complete each of the pages.

These supplies are the ones my students use on a regular basis:

     ~ Markers (thin and thick)
     ~ Colored Pencils & Sharpener
     ~ Crayons
     ~ Highlighters (6 different colors)
     ~ Glue Stick
     ~ Tape
     ~ Ruler, Compass, Protractor
     ~ Scissors

First Year Supply Organization:

In my classroom I have these AMAZING cabinets that have all of these bins.  Each bin has it's own specific item that goes in it and each bin is labeled. 

Whenever we were working on putting a page together I would take out ALL of the bins that we needed and set them on my supply table.

So why didn't this method work?

#1: This way took up a lot of my time throughout the day, each of my 3 math classes on any given day could be using different supplies so I would have to change them out constantly. So instead of greeting students as they came into the room I was spending my time getting the supplies ready.

#2: Students would always forget to grab all of the supplies that they needed, so they would get up to get what they forgot during the lesson and would lose out on instruction.

Second Year Supply Organization:

After my first year I did a lot of reflecting on the interactive notebook, my pages, the process, distribution, etc.  The supply organization/distribution was enough to quit doing the notebooks but I knew they were working for my students.  So I found a different way to get organized.

I wanted to get some sort of bin that all of the supplies we use could go into but stay neat and organized.  I went out looking for a shower caddie because I knew they had sections.  I found these ones at Walmart for $0.95 each over the summer when they had the college stuff out.

This is what each of the bins look like after the supplies were added.  Each table (groups of 4-5 tables) had one and the students shared supplies. 

These worked out so much better then the larger bins.  The most difficult part was making sure the students kept them organized.  After me nagging them about keeping them clean they learned it was better to just do what I wanted then having to listen to me.

What I liked about this the most was that students NEVER had to get up out of their seat to get supplies, no more forgetting and no more loss of instruction. 

Mentoring, Meetings, and Student Teachers...OH MY!

I usually don't do posts that don't involve something I have done in my classroom but this post just had to happen.  It's venting/reflecting time...My absence from blogging makes me upset, but with everything going on this school year I just haven't found the time to sit down and write a post.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has been having a CRAZY school year this year? Any one?

I started this school year off taking on WAY, WAY to many responsibilities.  I had agreed to take on a student teacher this year, mentor one of my buildings new teachers, present at conferences (Raising Student Achievement was yesterday and it was so much fun!!), be the technical director for our theatre program, be a technology/differentiation coach for my building, and be a part of my Districts Improvement Team.  I think I have also attended what has felt like 500+ meetings in the past two months.

To put the cherry on the cake, pie, or sundae (which ever you may prefer) I found out in September I will be expecting my first child in May! Clearly this was a surprise, but never the less has been an exiting journey so far.

Do I feel over worked? YES... Do I feel like I never have a free moment to myself? YES... Do I always feel weeks behind with work? YES... Do I still enjoy what I do?  YES!

Why as teachers do we take on so many extra responsibilities? Why is it so hard for us to let some of them go?

I have come to the decision that I am going to let some of my extra responsibilities go next year and focus on my classes, students, new baby, blogging, and life.  Did it really take me getting pregnant to realize that at times I feel like a hamster running in a wheel and that for the past 7 years I haven't had much of a life other than work?   Yes it did, and I'm going to welcome the change next year with open arms :)

I'm interested in hearing how your year is going.  Please make me feel like I'm not the only one this is happening too!

Transformations

It has been a long time since I've written a post that I hope I still have readers?  I have so many posts to write to wrap up last school year. Hopefully I can get them all done in the next week or two, because I have so many exciting new things about THIS school year to report on! (We just finished week 3 of the 2013-2014 school year)

Mid year last year we did transformations in Geometry, but since I know it's a huge portion of CCSS for Geometry this year, I thought I would write about what we did since many are starting this school year off with it.

This page of our Geometry ISN covered Reflections, Rotations, and Translations.  The left page went over what each of them meant and had an example.

The right side had the definitions along with a practice problem for each type.

The students easily caught on to Reflections and Translations, but had a more difficult time with Rotations.  To get students to understand how rotations work and why a shape ends in the position it does took some time.

To help them see how shapes rotate I gave them the graph paper in the pictures and we drew different shapes on each graph.  I then gave them each a blank transparency and Vis-A-Vis marker.  Students placed the transparency over their graph paper, and traced the shape with the Vis-A-Vis marker. They would put their finger on the point of rotation and then rotate the transparency the correct number of degrees and in the correct direction.  The outline on the transparency shows the students where the shape will end up.  Then they would draw the shape on the graph paper.  After doing the four on the page, they felt a lot more comfortable with rotations.  Some no longer needed the transparency to do the work, while others relied on it a little longer.  By the end they were doing rotations without any problems.

Station Activities

At the end of each year I like to think about what worked and what didn't work for my students so I can improve for next year.  Since I'm the only Special Education Math and Science teacher for my building/district, I have the same kids for 3-4 years.  So reflecting back really helps because I can see the improvement in my students and myself from one year to the next.

So what I have found out about this past school year is that my students absolutely LOVE their ISN and Station Activities.  There are many things they enjoyed about this year but those are their most favorite, and are the most effective.  

Here is how I create my station activities.  At the end of each day I give my students an exit ticket, and the exit tickets are based on the current unit objectives.  Sometimes if I know my students will need to use a previously taught skills I will incorporate that into the exit tickets as well.  These formative assessments allow me to see where each of my students are at; what they know and what they don't know.  Based off of that information I create my station activities.  

For this example we were just starting to work on writing equations in slope intercept form and some of objectives were:

I can calculate the slope given a graph, table, or two points.  

I can determine the slope and y-intercept of a line given the graph of a line.

I can write an equation in slope intercept form given the slope and y-intercept.

My students were given the exit ticket after we went over the ISN pages and did some whole group practice.  When they were finished I checked them to see which problems they got right/wrong.  For this class I had students who got problems incorrect from each objective, so I created stations based on each objective.  

This time I assigned them specific stations they had to complete based on the problems they got wrong from the exit ticket.  If there was time they could go back and do the other stations for practice.  Other times I have had stations for a test review and each table had an activity based on each of the unit objectives.  When I do this they are expected to finish all of the stations.

The main reasons why I like stations is because they get the students up and moving around the room, it allows me to work with individual students, and lastly they get excited because it isn't just a boring worksheet.

**I used Expo Neon Dry Erase Markers on my black lab tables, they wipe away easily with a wet rag. If you don't have black tables you can use regular colored Expo Dry Erase Markers on tables or student desks.**  

Angle Sum Theorem

I've taught Angle Sum Theorem in the past but I felt as though my students didn't truly understand what it means or how it actually works.  They can tell you that all angles in a triangle add up to 180 degrees, but if you ask them how do you know it's true they couldn't give you a good reason.  I usually get the response of "because you told us it does".  UGH!  Not the response I'm looking for.

This year I was determined to find a way that would help them understand just how it worked, and I came across these two different methods.  I used BOTH.

The first method is where you give students three different triangles: Equilateral, Scalene, and Isosceles.  They color each of the angles in the triangle a different color and rip off the angles.  Then they have to join all three angles, and in the end they form a straight line which they know measures 180 degrees.

The second method we used is where each student again is given three different triangles: Equilateral, Scalene, and Isosceles.  They again color each of the angles in the triangle a different color.  They start off by folding the triangle to create an altitude. Then the top angle is folded down to the point where the altitude and base meet.  The two other angles fold in, showing all three angles lined up creating a straight line.

They liked the folding method because when they glued them into their ISN they were able to fold and unfold the triangle as many times as they want.  The ones that were ripped could only be done the one time.

Here are the left pages when they are finished.  

Unfolded Triangles

Folded Triangles

On the right side of their notebook we worked out several different types of problems involving the angle sum theorem.  We also revisited supplementary angles, vertical angles, as well as the different types of triangles and their characteristics.

Overall this page so far has probably been their favorite.  I succeeded in getting them to understand why the angles in a triangle add up to 180 degrees, and I no longer get answers of "because that's what you said".

Angle Sum Theorem(1)

Angle Sum Theorem Practice Problems Sheet