Finally...A New Post

So... I know I haven't been faithful with my blogging, but I have a good excuse :)  Ok, so no excuse is a good excuse.  Let's call it a reason instead.  I changed jobs during the month of October, and I am just now starting to get settled into my new position.  I am now a Math Coach for 5 schools in our system serving grades 4-9, and I had no idea just how exhausting it was going to be!  However, I am learning so much and will have even more to share with your about my experiences.

Tonight's post is all about using iPads/iPods in the classroom.  My position is funded through a grant that also put iPad and iPod labs in the schools for teacher and student use.  Therefore I have been doing a tremendous amount of research on using these in the classroom.  I spent some time in an 8th grade math class and we (the teacher and I) conducted small groups during the period.  The iPods served as a great easy was to engage students in quality mathematics, without a ton of prep time from the teacher.  Many of our teachers are planning to use the labs for this purpose.  During our small group rotations, I taught the students a partner game, the teacher taught a lesson, and the third group played an app related to the topic of study.  I was very pleased at how well the students at this age level were engaged in learning. While many of the elementary classrooms I visit conduct small groups on a daily basis, small groups was new to this middle school classroom.  I look forward to more opportunities to experience this type of student engagement in the middle and high schools!

If you have access to iPads/iPods for student learning, the resources below are very valuable:

• Apps4Edu:  This first site is a search engine for quality education apps and someone has done all of the work for you.  All you have to do is choose your criteria. 
• iPads in the Classroom:  This site has compiled iPad resources that others have put on the web into one place. 
•  Jasztalville Blog:  This is a great blog on apps for the classroom.  

I would love to hear how others are using these iPods/iPads in the classroom!!  

Newspaper Math

Here is a fun activity for students to complete while practicing math skills.  The students must find 5 decimal numbers in the newspaper then use the numbers to complete a series of math questions about decimal place value.  I hope you enjoy the activity!  My kids loved it so much that we are doing it again :) 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Newspaper-Math-with-Decimal-Numbers

I am a slacker...

but only in blogging :)  The first weeks of school absolutely drain me, and to make matters worse I am always "volunteering" myself for extra activities.  I am sure none of you can relate to the inability to say "no" to extra work.  This summer I spent three days in the lovely city of Montgomery taking part in a workshop on developing math curriculum guides for advanced students based on the new Common Core Standards. Part of my requirements to be paid for this workshop, and yes I did say paid...was to create activities for gifted or advanced students, and those activities were due this past week!  So I have been working extra hours to get these finished. These activities are for your kids who already know everything you are about to teach on a specific topic.  Or it may be a child who just masters the concepts much quicker than most of your other kids.  As a part of differentiating your instruction, it is important that these students do not get MORE work, they just get different work.  So my post tonight is to share with you a set of Fraction Thinker Keys that I developed to help those students who are ready for a challenge in fractions.  The ideas behind this activity is that the child should be able to work on this independently, with minimal guidance from you.  It is meant to deepen their understanding of fractions.  This is the first set of thinker keys I have created, so I do not profess it to be FANTASTIC, but I do think they are pretty fun and I hope your kids will too! 
If you are new to thinker keys (like me) here is a great informational piece by the thinker key creator:  http://www.tonyryan.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/Thinkers_Keys_Version1.pdf

My Fraction Thinker Keys...free on TpT: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fraction-Thinker-Keys

Blessing!!
Mrs. J

After School Engineering Club

This year I am starting an after school engineering club that will meet each week.  Over the past few weeks I have researched a variety of curriculum to use for our club meetings.  I really like the Engineering is Elementary and the Time to Invent curriculum.   The Engineering is Elementary curriculum is quite expensive, but explores a variety of engineering fields.  The Time to Invent curriculum is free, but you do have to purchase supplies.  Have any of you ever conducted an engineering club?  If so, I would love some feedback on how you ran your program.  For the rest of you who might also be interested in this after school club, here is the free teacher's guide to the Time to Invent program:   http://timetoinvent.org/activities/  I hope to hear from some of you!! 

Latitude and Longitude Game: Message in a Bottle

I didn't make this game, but I love playing it with my kids.  It is Message in a Bottle and is great for practicing Longitude and Latitude.  I hope you enjoy it!  Mrs. J
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/reproducibles/profbooks/MessageinBottle.pdf

Branches of Government

I survived the first week of school!!  It was an exhausting, but fun week.  I love my class this year, and can't wait to see how much their minds grow!!  This post is a link to graphic organizers I made several years ago to go along with Ben's Guide to Government.  They correlate with the 3-5 grade Branches of Government information found at:  http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/government/branches.html

The graphic organizers are FREE on TpT. 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Branches-of-Government-Graphic-Organizer-for-Research

I hope you enjoy these!!  Mrs. J

Classroom Designs

I wanted to post these when I first started my blog, but I never got around to it.  These are photos of my Hollywood themed classroom for this year.

Classroom 2011-2012

I am also posting pictures of last years Sports themed classroom...I am not sure why I changed it, but it was WAY too much work!  The Hollywood theme will stay for a while! 



Classroom 2010-2011