As I look back on the year, I have had many energizing/successful days! I have also had plenty of days where I am completing exhausted. The days when I felt the most energized included:
*student participation
*student growth
*new ideas: from blogs or fellow teachers
*planning with my teammate
*center activities
*all of my technology was working correctly :)
*successful lessons
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Time flies!!!
Wow! This year has really gone by fast! It has been a great learning experience for me. This is my fourth year teaching...and I have taught four different grades! I really enjoy fifth grade. My students are able to do so much!
We recently took our first field trip to the Biltmore Estate. It was beautiful!! The Christmas decorations were up and are kids learned so much! They have been working in computer lab to create a brochure advertising the Biltmore Estate. They will also have an at home project that is due the week after Thanksgiving break. I can't wait to see what the kids bring in!
We have recently used wallwisher in class. It is such a great way for kids to put down their thoughts and be able to see what others have said. I am excited to turn in my pinnacle project. I feel like my kids have learned so much! My high group read the novel Fever 1793. We finished reading the book at the beginning of last week. My kids worked in groups to research and do a webquest on Yellow Fever. They have created a brochure that they will share with the class discussing Yellow Fever. I feel like I am really pushing my high students.
We recently took our first field trip to the Biltmore Estate. It was beautiful!! The Christmas decorations were up and are kids learned so much! They have been working in computer lab to create a brochure advertising the Biltmore Estate. They will also have an at home project that is due the week after Thanksgiving break. I can't wait to see what the kids bring in!
We have recently used wallwisher in class. It is such a great way for kids to put down their thoughts and be able to see what others have said. I am excited to turn in my pinnacle project. I feel like my kids have learned so much! My high group read the novel Fever 1793. We finished reading the book at the beginning of last week. My kids worked in groups to research and do a webquest on Yellow Fever. They have created a brochure that they will share with the class discussing Yellow Fever. I feel like I am really pushing my high students.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Staff Development
I conducted my first staff development this past week. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been planning what to do for my staff development. I decided to introduce kidblog to my staff. I had a few problems to occur during the sd.
1. Computers are sooooooooo slow and take a very long time to do anything.
2. Everyone should not try and register for kidblog at the same time.
3. Teachers can be the WORST audience!!!
I think for my next staff development, I will ask that only those who truly want to be there attend. Many of the staff are not 'computer savvy.' They are doing good to turn on their computers. I found myself repeating things several times and becoming aggravated by all of the side conversations. (I even paused several times for people to finish their conversations and they did not seem to get the hint.) Perhaps they would have been able to follow along if they were listening.
Don't we as teachers get upset when our students are talking? So why wouldn't the same rule apply for adults? I guess most of the teachers in the room have never had to stand in front of the staff to present something...that is the only reason I can think that they would act like that!
Hopefully, next time will go better!
I think we are all at the point in the year where we are stressed out, and need time in our rooms! I can't believe that parent-teacher conferences are only 3 weeks away! Where has the year gone??
1. Computers are sooooooooo slow and take a very long time to do anything.
2. Everyone should not try and register for kidblog at the same time.
3. Teachers can be the WORST audience!!!
I think for my next staff development, I will ask that only those who truly want to be there attend. Many of the staff are not 'computer savvy.' They are doing good to turn on their computers. I found myself repeating things several times and becoming aggravated by all of the side conversations. (I even paused several times for people to finish their conversations and they did not seem to get the hint.) Perhaps they would have been able to follow along if they were listening.
Don't we as teachers get upset when our students are talking? So why wouldn't the same rule apply for adults? I guess most of the teachers in the room have never had to stand in front of the staff to present something...that is the only reason I can think that they would act like that!
Hopefully, next time will go better!
I think we are all at the point in the year where we are stressed out, and need time in our rooms! I can't believe that parent-teacher conferences are only 3 weeks away! Where has the year gone??
Friday, September 30, 2011
One Month Down, Nine to GO!!
This past month has flown by! I have really enjoyed my fifth graders! What a big change to go from having a 2/3 combination to 5th grade! I feel like we are able to get so much accomplished each day!
My biggest struggle is trying to make sure that I meet the needs of all of my students. I teach two blocks of reading. Within those two blocks, I have 56 students. Out of the 56, I have about 10 that are reading at least one grade level below, if not more. How do I make sure those students feel successful and are able to succeed in fifth grade?
We have started a corrective reading program called SRA. I am hoping that this will help those students in need. We also started classworks this week. I also work in small group with those students on their assignments. Does anyone have any other suggestions?
I also have some students that are WAY above grade level. I have worked with our AIG teacher to come up with a challenging curriculum for the year. We started a new word study program called Wordly Wise. It seems to be going very well, they really have to use high level thinking skills with the vocabulary words. My high group is also starting novel studies next week. We will start by reading one of my favorites, Number the Stars.
I am now trying to figure out what I need to do to challenge all of my kids that fall in the middle. I am using various websites to enrich their learning throughout the day.
I would love suggestions!
Thanks! :)
My biggest struggle is trying to make sure that I meet the needs of all of my students. I teach two blocks of reading. Within those two blocks, I have 56 students. Out of the 56, I have about 10 that are reading at least one grade level below, if not more. How do I make sure those students feel successful and are able to succeed in fifth grade?
We have started a corrective reading program called SRA. I am hoping that this will help those students in need. We also started classworks this week. I also work in small group with those students on their assignments. Does anyone have any other suggestions?
I also have some students that are WAY above grade level. I have worked with our AIG teacher to come up with a challenging curriculum for the year. We started a new word study program called Wordly Wise. It seems to be going very well, they really have to use high level thinking skills with the vocabulary words. My high group is also starting novel studies next week. We will start by reading one of my favorites, Number the Stars.
I am now trying to figure out what I need to do to challenge all of my kids that fall in the middle. I am using various websites to enrich their learning throughout the day.
I would love suggestions!
Thanks! :)
Thursday, August 25, 2011
First Day of School
WOW!!! The first day of school went by so fast! Does anyone else have problems sleeping the night before the first day of school??? I can never sleep!!! So many things running through my mind! I am so excited to be teaching fifth grade this year!!! I had most of my students show up for open house!! (That is a first!) I also got a new student this morning! That puts me up to 29 students! We will make it work! So excited to see what this year brings!
:)
:)
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Pinnacle Presentation-Google Earth
Today I was able to practice my presentation for my staff. I really liked using livebinders to organize the links and documents! I am the person that has to practice before hand. In my mind, I had all of these great things that I was going to say. Once I got up to the front, I forgot to say some of those things! For my staff development, I would make notes for myself, to make sure I stay on track and mention everything that I want to. I am also lucky enough to have another pinnacle leader at my school, I will use her as a resource to help me field questions during my staff development.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Staff Development
Throughout the year, I will have to do a total of 4 hours of staff development. I have a wide array of adult learners on my staff, from the very tech savvy, to the person that needs to be lead by hand. I think that it will be a challenge for me to keep all of the staff interested. I think that I will use my tech savvy staff to help a peer! I will also send an email before the staff development, with any handouts. I think that if the teachers have a peek at what they are doing, it might spark their interest and hopefully they will be engaged during the staff development. I also know that it is important to give everyone time to 'play' with the item being presented.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
My Classroom vs. Mooresville Classroom
The classrooms in Mooresville were able to buy laptops for all students in grades 4-12! This is incredible! I can only imagine all of the awesome things that are taking place...all the possibilities that are available to those students! They are able to follow the ISTE standards and go above and beyond what ISTE has put forth! :)
In my classroom, I have two desktops, two laptops, document camera, and smartboard. We have very limited extra time to use in the computer lab. I think if all students had access to a computer, it would totally change the way we teach! Students would be in charge of their own learning. They would be given a topic and told to use the computer to find the answers! Instead of looking up the answer in a textbook, you can find the answer instantly on the internet.
In my classroom, I have two desktops, two laptops, document camera, and smartboard. We have very limited extra time to use in the computer lab. I think if all students had access to a computer, it would totally change the way we teach! Students would be in charge of their own learning. They would be given a topic and told to use the computer to find the answers! Instead of looking up the answer in a textbook, you can find the answer instantly on the internet.
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