Professional Development Week

Hi All! This week I am back to summer mode, but definitely thinking more about school. Last week I took a hiatus from summer fun to spend a week on professional development.

For the first three days I delved into the world of the Next Generation Science Standards. As a part of a STEM Specialist group with Kids@Science I was charged with going through our present science curriculum and seeing where engineering practices already reside and where our curriculum was lacking.

When I started my task I was overcome with the feeling that what I was doing was somewhat pointless. I thought to myself, "Why am I going through a text and materials that cover topics that will no longer be third grade when NGSS is implemented?" I thought this to be a waste of time. After resisting my task and being patiently led by the planning committee of our organization, I realized that what I was doing was a help to not only myself and other third grade teachers, but for whatever grade level that standard fell to in the future.

I became better at seeing the engineering practices in science and determining how to tweak lessons to give them more engineering tasks. I became more familiar with my text (we don't use it much... we use FOSS kits from Delta Education for most of our science curriculum). I found that I had been missing out on some rich informational reading material that will help students with not only their science knowledge but to reach their reading needs as well. So while I am not going to be teaching these topics for much longer, I gained valuable experience in what to do to move forward with my new topics and NGSS.

The last two days of my week were spent at the Orange County Department of Education with Julie Hull, the GATE Coordinator for OCDE. What an amazing teacher and professional development leader. The PD was focused on Differentiation for Gifted Learners. I don't teach identified gifted students, but I live with one and have many students in my class who need to be challenged and offered ways to meet their learning styles. This training was excellent.

We learned about the Depth and Complexity Icons (here's a fun video explaining them all) as well as the Content Imperatives from Sandra Kaplan's work. I have used these in my classroom before, but without a real understanding of how they enhance and enrich the students understanding of what they learn. These simple icons open up an amazing array of possibilities for student understanding and analysis. I can't wait to use them further in my class. I am going to start introducing them day 1 with the details icon.

After just one week of professional development and thinking about school, I am energized. I am excited to meet my new students in just a few short weeks. I am going to start that shift back into school mode, but not today... today I am going to enjoy my summer. I am going to play with my son, laugh with my friends and count my blessings that I have this amazing career that allows me this time, but also excites and challenges me every year!

Lego Stop Motion Movies DONE!

We finished our Lego stop motion movies! Last week we held a red carpet premiere night in my classroom. Yes, we had a red carpet! I rearranged the room to look like a theater. We had a concession stand with popcorn and bottled water. It was awesome! I have never seen so many people in my classroom. I am sure my dad (the retired fire captain) would have closed it down for overcrowding. But, we all piled in and watched our movies.

It was so cute. Some kids dressed in their finest. All were proud and anxious. No one had seen all of the videos except myself. I watched them all the day prior. So, this was truly a premiere.

The lights dimmed, the movies were cued and the crowd quieted. We watched all ten movies. People laughed, clapped, cheered and had a great time. It was a SUCCESS!

This was a great project. The kids had a great time creating. They worked so well in their cooperative groups. I learned a lot about how to make next year better.

We are taking our show on the road already. For the next two days we are visiting the 2nd grade classes and my groups are teaching their groups how to create short movies. I am hoping they will download the app on their devices this summer and practice. Having kids with experience coming to me next year will definitely make the process easier.

If you'd like to see our movies, go to my teachertube channel. You can view the videos and download them if you want. Enjoy the viewing!

 

Geeking Out!

Hi All!

We have 10 more days to go here in Huntington Beach, but we are still going strong. Today and tomorrow I am attending the Illumination Education Users Conference in Aliso Viejo. Who knew that data systems, assessment and common core could be so interesting? I certainly didn't.

Today I learned about implementing the common core standards from one of my favorite presenters, Jason Willoughby from Action Learning Systems in Pasadena. He is a wealth of knowledge on all things standards and assessment. He is also a hoot to listen to!

He also gave a great presentation about Action Learning Teams (aka Professional Learning Communities). He had some great insight about how to make the most of these meetings and how to use them to increase student achievement.

I learned something else from Jason and he didn't even intend to teach it. When we walked in, he had a QR Code on the screen. By scanning it, it provided us with his presentation electronically. I had seen QR Codes before and had even seen some information about using them in the classroom, but I never really got it. Now, I get it! I have all sorts of ideas for using them now. Back to School Night, a scavenger hunt for my students with research questions, etc... I found a cool website that will generate codes for free called QRSTUFF.COM. My son and I have been playing with it and having so much fun!

Another great presenter was Ben Starr from Illuminate. He taught us more about our Gradebook component. Wow, I wish I had known some of those tips and tricks earlier this year. It would have saved me a lot of time. I am ready for next year!

My absolute favorite presentation of the day was with Annie from Illuminate. She showed us how to analyze our test data using M&M's. Yes, that's right... the candy. Using each color of M&M's you look at a different aspect of your data. It was AWESOME!



As difficult as it was to prep for two days out of my classroom this week, the work was all worth it!

The Truth Comes Out

It's taken me a little while, but I will finally confirm the truth.

I was nominated for Homecoming Queen at Chico State. I didn't win, but it was fun being nominated.

I do play women's roller hockey. My team is in first place and we have play offs next weekend. I love it!

#3 was the lie. I have traveled a lot. I've bern to Mexico, 22 states, Europe, Canada and I've lived in Ireland.

Congrats to those who guessed correctly.

It's my spring break starting tomorrow, so I'll be back soon.

Two Truths and A Lie

Hi! I'm linking up with Flying Into First Grade for her "Let's Get Aquainted Linky". This time it's 2 Truths and a Lie...here's the scoop:

How it works:
Think of 3 things about yourself or your life. You should make 2 of them truths and 1 of them a lie. You can list them on your post in any order. Do NOT give the answer yet in your post. People will try to guess your lie in your comments. So, remember to be very creative so that it's hard for people to get it right. At the end of the week you can share the answer in your comments from the post or include it in a post you make at the end of the week.

Here are three things about me:
 1. I was nominated for Homecoming Queen of California State University, Chico by my sorority sisters.

2. I play women's roller hockey on a team called Victorious Secret and have also played co-ed ice hockey at the facility where the Anaheim Ducks play.

3. I have been to many places in the US, but have never traveled outside the United States.

Well, there they are... which are the truth? And which is the lie??

Be sure to go link yourself up and comment on the two links before yours. HAVE FUN!

Currently March

I am linking up this month with Currently... can't believe it's already March!

Listening - NCIS Los Angeles: Trying to get through all of the programs recorded on my DVR. I never seem to have enough time to watch TV. I tend to do more listening to TV than watching because I am usually multitasking. Makes me have to use the rewind button more often than I would like.

Loving - My son just started playing flag football. We had our first game last night. SO FUN! There was a DJ spinning tunes at the field, a food truck from one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, and a great football game to watch. Another reason to love Fridays!

Thinking - A dear former family just lost their dad/husband. I had both the daughter and son in my class in separate years. I really hate cancer and can't understand how so many people who are otherwise healthy, wonderful people can end up fighting this disease.

Wanting - There is never enough time to relax and recharge after all of the work is done. I am going to celebrate with some great friends tonight, which is sure to recharge my spirit some.

Needing - After looking for paperwork to refinance our house in my office closet this week, it has become very clear that I need to take some time to organize the paperwork.

Love, Like, Hate - it is really tough to find words that start with J!

Lego Stop-Motion Movies Part 1

This year I went on a grant-writing spree! I wrote one grant and used it multiple times (with Kids in Need Foundation, Donors Choose - Disney and Chevron both funded, the Assistance League and Huntington Beach Educational Foundation) to get 10 iPod Touches with protective cases to create stop-motion Lego movies with. We use them for other things as well, but that was the driving force behind the acquisition.

I hatched this idea when I enrolled my son in a Lego stop-motion movie making course through our city parks and recreation department last summer. He went for a few hours each day for a week and came away with a pretty cool finished movie. One night at home he pulled the app up on my phone and in a matter of minutes he showed me how to make a movie of my own. The wheels started turning. I thought it would make a great project in my class that would incorporate many standards and the kids would love it!

Fast forward to today. I am learning this process as I go, so I am sure I will refine my plan as I go and revamp it for next year, but I am going to share our classroom progress toward realizing our movie making dreams.

First, I showed the students examples of stop-motion Lego movies. I chose some from YouTube that were so amazing they made my head spin a little as well as some that were very rudimentary and more like what I expected to see from my class. We talked about what made them good, what mistakes we saw (seeing someone's hand in a shot), and what we could realistically expect from ourselves this first time out. One of the most amazing stop-motion movie creators we explored was from Michael Hickox. We also found some good tutorials on YouTube. 

The next time we met, we talked about the stages we would go through to create our movies. We made this anchor chart to show what we needed to do in each stage.

We were ready to start preproduction. Since I have 10 iPods and 30 students, we decided each production team would be 3 people. We talked about choosing teams in which you get along with one another, share similar creative interests and you can make good behavior choices while working independently. The students did a great job breaking themselves into groups. We recorded our production teams and posted it.

The teams met and made circle maps of story ideas and elements they'd like to include in their movies. We talked about what they could realistically include and I urged them to keep this first effort simple. After a few work sessions, each team shared their story ideas with one another. Groups had to have characters, setting, problem and resolution outlined.

At this point, students were ready to start with the movie making. I conducted a whole-group lesson on correct use and care of our iPod cameras and tripods (see below - I found these on Amazon.com for less than $4 each). I showed them how to turn them on, open the Stop Motion Studio app and how to use it. I created a short video to demonstrate the basics and then let them explore. They created small sets and practiced taking photos, moving objects and adding sound (either dialog or sound effects). This free exploration taught them a great deal about how to set up the camera angles, lighting, sound and how to work together as a group.

I knew I needed to have a plan for storage of each team's Lego items, camera and other movie making materials. I bought dish bins at Target and labeled them for each team. These allow for easy storage and use when we are working on our films.

Dish bins from Target numbered for each production team

 

Our next step is to create storyboards, write the scripts and build our sets. Legos are coming in from home, being borrowed from friends and culled from the classroom Lego bin. So far, the Lego costs have been minimal. I did purchase some of the new Lego Friends small sets with the girl Lego figures in them to capture the interests of the girls in my class a bit more. They were already Lego enthusiasts, but they really like these sets aimed at them. I am anticipating needing to purchase a few more large platforms to create a base for our sets, but other than that, I think we will have everything we need.

Look for part 2 coming soon!

 

What's New in the Nest...

Well, I have been absent from here for a while. It wasn't a conscious decision. I, like most teachers/moms/people I know just got busy.

A lot is happening in my little corner of the world though. My class is starting our Lego stop motion movies using the iPod touches I acquired through grants from the Assistance League of HB, Disneyland, Chevron, Kids in Need Foundation, Huntington Beach Educational Foundation and a classroom donation. We are using Stop Motion Studio and iMovie to help us make these fun projects. We are going to have a red-carpet premiere in May for our parents and families.

We just finished our second round of Benchmark testing for our district. I am proud to say, my student showed improvement and I am a proud teacher! We learned from our first Benchmark and made some changes to our game plan and it helped! We still have a ways to go, but we are making great strides toward mastery of our standards.

I just installed Apple TV in my classroom. I love that I can show my iPad on the SMARTBoard and instruct students using apps and other iPad tools. We can also listen to music, watch instructional videos and tap into other great instructional materials.

I started using SMART Response Clickers in my classroom over a year ago. However, I never really started using them until last week. I had the opportunity to attend a training class at CCS Presentations by the awesome Nicole. I learned so many great things I can do with the clickers. They have now become an integral part of my instructional plan. The kids love using them and I love having data throughout the day to drive my instruction and make decisions about student knowledge and outcomes. If you haven't seen what these can do and how they can help you and your students, you should really check it out! Here is a video that will give you an idea of what it's all about. So awesome!

Well, that's about all... I will try not to stay away so long next time. Just having fun doing my thing! 

Parent Teacher Conferences & Help Wanted

Well, I survived parent teacher conferences last week. It is such a long process, but so valuable. It is tough to make every parent feel like you are there just for them after having the same conversation 30 times. But, I think I did it well and hope that my parents came away with as much inspiration and pride in their kids as I did.

Now, two more weeks until Winter Recess! I can't wait. I have several books waiting for me on my Kindle. I am afraid to even peek at them for fear that I won't be able to put it down and focus on anything remotely school or holiday related. So, I must hide the Kindle from myself. The fact that I can access it from my iPad, or iPhone is just going to be a test of my willpower.

We are working on stories in class right now. The kids are having a great time trying to save Santa who has found himself stuck in their chimney. My kids have great imaginations, but they don't seem to be putting them to their full use on this one. I am reading attempt after attempt to push or pull Santa by his feet or arms. Jumping on him seems to be another favorite strategy. I am having trouble getting them to think outside the box and create interesting and imaginative solutions to this problem. Last year's class was pouring butter and oil on Santa, using vaccuums, toilet plungers and Nerf guns. How do you all inspire your kids to be imaginative and creative? I tried modeling my crazy ideas in a parallel story about getting a cat out of a tree because I didn't want them to copy borrow my ideas for their story. The stories will be great, just not as great as I know they could be. Any and all ideas/inspiration to help this struggling teacher would be appreciated.

Until later... happy holidays and let the countdown begin.

Currently November

I can't believe it is already November. This year is flying by. Our first trimester ends at the end of the month and then it's conferences. I feel a little stressed that I won't get everything done that I need to accomplish before then, but all I can do is keep plugging away. Here's what's up with me right now.

Spooky Science

For the past 6 years I have been doing Spooky Science on Halloween (or the closest day to it if it happens to fall on a weekend). It is a favorite among kids and parents alike. I started out with a kit I purchased from Steve Spangler Science. Each year I replace items that have run low or add things to it that I find.

When the students arrive in the room I have my science lab set up in the front of the room. A black, plastic cauldron is "smoking" in the front of the room and they are hooked. I ask them to predict what is making the cauldron smoke. I get all sorts of responses... a candle, a fog machine, dry ice...

From there, I show them the small glass bowl in the cauldron with water and dry ice in it. I hand out a fact sheet about dry ice and we learn all about dry ice, its properties and how it changes from one state to another. We learn about sublimation (how it "melts" from a solid to a gas) and how it's made.

Next, we move into dry ice experiments and demonstrations. I have kids come up and warm up metal spoons as much as they can. As a class we talk about friction and rub our hands together to create heat. Once our spoons are warmed up, we place a small piece of dry ice in the spoon to create Singing Spoons.

Since I teach third grade, many of the activities I do are demonstrations, but I try to have the kids participate and experience as much of the fun as possible. My next demonstration is showing how the gas being released can create bubbles. I show this in several ways. The first is with a beaker full of warm water, dry ice and bubble solution. The bubbles erupt from the beaker. Kids love to come up and get a handful of the bubbles to hold and watch the gas escape when they pop.

The second way that I show how the gas is released is by making BOO BUBBLES. I use a special container from Steve Spangler Science. I blow bubbles using the gas and bubble solution. If the students wear gloves or put the bubble on fabric (like their shirts) they won't pop. The oils from our skin are not a happy environment for the bubble, so putting them into students' hands won't work. The kids love getting their own personal BOO BUBBLE to examine.

Another favorite demonstration is when I make a crystal ball using a large, smooth-rimmed bowl, warm water, dry ice and a towel soaked in bubble solution. By creating a bubble across the top of the bowl, the gas releases and fills it pushing it up to look like a crystal ball. It is very dramatic and fun! Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of this year's crystal ball.

Lastly, we made Atomic Slime and talked about how molecules look in a liquid or gas state and how they link together when it becomes a solid. We mixed an atomic slime mixture with cross linker solution and shook. The liquid turned into a semi-solid solution. The kids got to see how it glowed due to phosphoresence with a black light. They got to take a sample of the slime home with them.

The day was a blast. The kids learned a lot of science and had a great time. I did, too!

I'm a Believer

I'm not a big fan of change. Some might even call me a lot little set in my ways. Our District has rolled out a new data system in the past year and a few months. It is from Illuminate. Now, being on the District Tech Committee, it is my responsibility to learn these new systems, embrace their use and get others as "excited" as I am about them. It was a rocky start last year and this year wasn't much easier. With roster errors, students changing and all of the rest of the difficulties that come with the new year, it was tough to be the cheerleader that I needed to be.

Then came the gradebook function. It was an optional rollout. But, for those on the Tech Committee, optional meant required. I wasn't a fan. It wasn't what I was used to, but I soldiered on. I have to admit though that I was keeping my grades in two places... on the new "optional" online gradebook and my trusty old computer-based gradebook. Hedging my bets as some might say.

Now we are being introduced to phase three... our online report cards. They look just like our old report cards only we can do them through Illuminate and our gradebook is supposed to automatically link up and populate the report card fields. I was a skeptic, but after today... I am a believer.

I have completely changed my tune. I am an Illuminate gradebook and report card convert. All it took was my trusty trainer Ben to show me the light. He helped me link my standards and assignments to the right fields on my report card and with the touch of a button, voila, my report card was almost done. What a time saver!

So, when your District asks you to have faith and try something new... remember me and that sometimes, it does work out the way they say it will.

Red Ribbon Week

Today we had to create a slogan and poster for Red Ribbon Week. My little owlets did a great job. Here is their submission.

You Say It's Your Birthday...

My friend over at Ms. Fultz's Corner is turning 30 on Friday! She is giving all of us the presents. Go to her blog and enter to win some great prizes. Christi is the wonderful blogger who designed the OwlSeeYouInThirdGrade blog. She is super talented and a great help in the world of blogging. Help me wish her a happy birthday by visiting her site and entering!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTI!

Teaching Subject and Predicate

Every year, teaching subject and predicate is challenging. Students choose every noun in the sentence as the subject and have difficulty with those predicates which contain helper verbs rather than action. This year, I got a crazy notion to go deeper into the standard and teach complete versus simple subjects and predicates. It is my hope that by teaching this, I will inspire my students to write more complex and complete sentences. I have found that the best way to learn this is through repetitive practice using student generated sentences. So, I set out to have my students make a subject/predicate pumpkin.

Prior to this activity, I had taught simple subject and predicate and created an anchor chart with the students. The students had practiced this skill in classwork and homework. Then we learned complete subject and predicate and practiced that, too. We added to our anchor chart to learn the difference.

Finally, as a culminating activity to this section of study, I gave the instructions for our sentence strip pumpkin Here are the instructions I gave the students:

We started writing on our sentence strips. After the student wrote a sentence on their strip that followed all of our requirements, they brought it to myself and my parent/student teaching helper to have it checked. If it was correct, they got a new sentence strip. We made a paper chain with the strips and put them on our board to make our pumpkin. Below the pumpkin you can see our anchor charts. The students were excited to write a lot of sentences to make the pumpkin bigger. They would have kept going, but I needed to call the lesson to a close for lunch. Students like to go to the pumpkin and point out one of their sentences in the chain.

It was a fun project that added some holiday flavor to our walls. So, for now anyway, we are moving on from subject and predicate... although I know we will be back!

Donors Choose Rocks!

Such an exciting week! Last week I submitted a grant to Donors Choose. My project, "Lights, Camera, Stop-Motion: Student-Created Lego Movies" asked for iPod Touches for my class to make movies in class. To my surprise, Disney fully funded it in less than a week. My iPods arrived earlier this week. Donors Choose encouraged me to submit another project because Chevron was looking to fund projects for Orange County teachers. I asked if I could submit the same grant again (since I wanted more iPods for my project). They said I could. So, I did... and guess what... Chevron came through for me and fully funded three more iPods for my class tonight. I am now up to 5 iPods! I am overwhelmed with the generosity of these companies. My students are going to have such a great time making movies! I definitely encourage all of my teacher friends to submit projects to Donors Choose. It's easy and you might just get something great!

Questioning My Methods...

This summer I made a trip to the bookstore to get the Daily 5 and CAFE books. I'd heard so much about them. While there, I picked up another book that peaked my interest... What Really Matters in Fluency by Richard L. Allington.

My District has used DIBELS for many years and I have relied heavily on those results. I have used the scores, in conjunction with others, to choose which students get intervention, how students are doing with reading progress, and to drive reading instruction.

Recently, I had begun to question how much information the DIBELS assessment is really providing. This book confirmed my thoughts and shed light on how little the DIBELS assessment really measures reading fluency, as it is widely defined, and how much it actually measures speed and accuracy of reading.

Reading this book has caused me to question many things about my literacy instruction and believe even more in the teaching methods outlined in the Daily 5 and CAFE books. I am transitioning from the traditional basal reader program to the Daily 5 and CAFE effective immediately.

I started out the year trying to do a hybrid of the basal reading program and Daily 5/CAFE. I wasn't sure that I could justify my use of the Daily 5/CAFE program to parents and administrators if I was asked. After reading this book, I have more than enough researched-based information to justify my choices to anyone who asks.

So, tomorrow I go in armed with information and determined to give my students what they need to become more confident, successful readers. I know this won't be an easy road, but I think for the sake of my students, it is a road worth taking.

Currently - October

I am linking up with Farley for Currently for the first time. I love reading these, but I haven't been able to get mine posted earlier. I hope this gives some of my blogging friends a chance to know me better.

I actually just finished reading My Father's Dragon to my class. They loved it! Kids always seem to pass it up because of the dated cover, but it is awesome and so much fun!

Technology for Teachers

I love technology! Finding ways to use it in my classroom and to make the job of teaching more fun and manageable is the greatest thing in the world. This year I am looking for more ways to integrate technology into both my teaching and management.

Last year I was fortunate enough to be awarded a grant to purchase SMART Response Clickers. They are awesome. I used them a little last year, but I am going full force this year. The kids have a great time using them and I love the instant feedback I get right on my computer. I use question sets I find on the SMART Exchange website as well as question sets I create to go with what I am teaching. My favorite thing about my SMART Response Clickers is that every kid has to respond, every time. No one gets skipped, no one can hide and there is no pressure to answer before your neighbor.

My iPad 2 is another one of my favorite tools to use when I teach. I love my SMART Board, but don't enjoy being tethered to it. I tried using an Airliner tablet, but never really got the hang of writing on it and not having a frame of reference of where I was on the board. I took advantage of an inservice opportunity at the Orange County Department of Education last year and learned about an App that has made my iPad an invaluable tool. It's called Spashtop. Using Splashtop allows me to mirror my computer screen on my iPad. I can hold my iPad and operate my computer and SMART Board from anywhere in the room without wires. It is awesome! I can move around, interact with students all over the room and make lessons dynamic. Check out their website and see if this would be a good solution for you and your teaching.

Pinterest came through for me again! I found a pin for Remind 101 and I am singing it's praises. This App allows me to use text messages to communicate with my students' parents. In this day of instant communication, using text messages helps parents and students stay updated and informed quickly and efficiently. I like Remind 101 because it keeps my phone number private and makes texting easy. I can schedule texts for future delivery, too. I am looking forward to using this a lot this year!

I am hoping to use our school's new N-Computing system this week with my students. Six computers running off of one tower. So far, I love it. The clean design and lack of hardware and cords everywhere has really improved my classroom decor. After we have a chance to use them this week, I'll weigh in on how they function.

Have a great week!

It's Been A Wild Ride

Wow, what a crazy start to the year we've had. My class hasn't changed much, but everything around me was in flux until today. I started the year with 33 bright and shiny third graders on my roster. Thirty-two arrived ready to learn with one no show. Now, after hiring a new teacher and creating several combination classes and moving about 70 students from one class to another, I have 28. This is the smallest class I have taught since the days of true class size reduction. It is a dream. There is floor space in my room once again.

So, after all of this movement and turmoil, Back to School Night is tomorrow. To say I am behind on my preparations is an understatement. I just finished my presentation, have to make copies in the morning and still have lots of things to hang in my classroom. I am confident pretty sure that it will all get done. How's that for positive thinking? 

Even with my nerves about the event, I am excited about Back to School Night. I worked hard this summer to decorate and prepare my classroom. I have gotten wonderful feedback from parents and students alike.  I can't wait to stand up in my beautiful, organized room and talk with all of my wonderful parents about my plans for their students this year.

I'll post pictures soon... after I get it all together.