We Wanna Be Eggsperts!!!
My Donors Choose Project was Approved!!
Here is the link to my site. If you are interested in helping out or if you know anyone who is, please forward this on! My students will be so excited to have these Eggsperts added to our classroom!
Who knew it could be so simple!?
After seeing a post on two different educational blogs about the DonorsChoose website, I decided to check it out and man, oh man am I friggin' excited about what I saw!
As teachers, we face many challenges in doing our jobs. (Lack of art supplies, not enough technology, limited copies, just to name a few) This website offers teachers a chance to create a "wishlist" of materials or technology needed for their classrooms and offers the public a chance to give back by purchasing or donating to these teacher created wishlists.
I believe Whitney Houston said it best when she sang, "I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way..." This website is speaks to this lyric. To teach them well, you need the means to do it with. So many teachers are struggling with limited resources and not enough pay to fund their classroom endeavors. I can't tell you how many times I have had to spend my last 10 dollars just so my students could participate in an M&M data and probability lesson or some other engaging lesson that requires funding, however small or large.
I already created my first wishlist, or project, as they refer to it on the Donors Choose site. This is a wonderful opportunity to get the things you need for you classrooms and for non teachers to give to something so worthwhile.
So, go TODAY and create your first project or donate to someone elses project! If you aren't a teacher, go DONATE and make some teacher's day!
As teachers, we face many challenges in doing our jobs. (Lack of art supplies, not enough technology, limited copies, just to name a few) This website offers teachers a chance to create a "wishlist" of materials or technology needed for their classrooms and offers the public a chance to give back by purchasing or donating to these teacher created wishlists.
I believe Whitney Houston said it best when she sang, "I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way..." This website is speaks to this lyric. To teach them well, you need the means to do it with. So many teachers are struggling with limited resources and not enough pay to fund their classroom endeavors. I can't tell you how many times I have had to spend my last 10 dollars just so my students could participate in an M&M data and probability lesson or some other engaging lesson that requires funding, however small or large.
I already created my first wishlist, or project, as they refer to it on the Donors Choose site. This is a wonderful opportunity to get the things you need for you classrooms and for non teachers to give to something so worthwhile.
So, go TODAY and create your first project or donate to someone elses project! If you aren't a teacher, go DONATE and make some teacher's day!
Dingers
Today, I am sharing another awesome study skill taken from this lovely little blog that I finally found by Rebecca Bell. Visit the link for more in depth information about this fantastic review skill. It's much more articulate and humorous than I would be, but to recap, you just split up the kids into two teams and go at it "game show style," asking sample test questions. Kids love it and they they actually learn a thing or two about studying! Hey-O! The thing I love most about this is that students really are forced to stop and think before just dinging away at the bell, although there will probably be some friends who do that anyway! This is also a great activity for those friends who have like super human amounts of energy. You know who I'm talkin' about...
P.S. You need to purchase a dinger or a Staples Easy Button before attempting this review game.
What review activities to you guys use in your classrooms that are super fun? Share the wealth people!!
Freeze Tag Tableau and Kinesthetic Geometry
Todays professional development was awesome! Several teachers at our school participate in a program called I.D.E.A. (Intensive Development in Education through the Arts) and they conducted a few short classes teaching the rest of us a few things they do in their classrooms.
The first class I went to was using stretchies to teach geometry. A stretchy is basically just a circular piece of elastic material. Students use the stretchies to make shapes, angles, and other geometric figures using their bodies. They can also use JUST their bodies to make different shapes, lines, and angles. I will try to find the video they showed of our kindergartners using the stretchies. It was awesome!
The second class I attended was called Freeze Tag Tableau. Tableau is just a fancy word for frozen picture with your body! I am attaching the document that explains how to do Freeze Tag Tableaus. These are quick and easy assessments of what your students have learned. They help keep each individual student accountable for sharing what they have learned.
A lot of the IDEA teaching strategies come from the Kennedy Center teaching artists in Washington, D.C. Sean Layne visits our school and comes in to help IDEA teachers implement these arts into their classrooms. If you are interested in having your school participate, you should check out what they have to offer.
The first class I went to was using stretchies to teach geometry. A stretchy is basically just a circular piece of elastic material. Students use the stretchies to make shapes, angles, and other geometric figures using their bodies. They can also use JUST their bodies to make different shapes, lines, and angles. I will try to find the video they showed of our kindergartners using the stretchies. It was awesome!
The second class I attended was called Freeze Tag Tableau. Tableau is just a fancy word for frozen picture with your body! I am attaching the document that explains how to do Freeze Tag Tableaus. These are quick and easy assessments of what your students have learned. They help keep each individual student accountable for sharing what they have learned.
A lot of the IDEA teaching strategies come from the Kennedy Center teaching artists in Washington, D.C. Sean Layne visits our school and comes in to help IDEA teachers implement these arts into their classrooms. If you are interested in having your school participate, you should check out what they have to offer.
Geometry Memory Tricks
We are just finishing up a unit on Geometry and I have some more memory tricks for you from, "Memory Tips for Math," by Donnalyn Yates.
To help students remember what circumference is, have them write the word circumference, with dashes separating syllables, around the outside of the circle. For diameter, have then draw another circle and place the diameter through the middle and trace the semicircle so that it makes a D. This should help them remember diameter.
Here's a little rhyme -
Radius short, d i a m e t e r long, remember this, and you'll never go wrong!
My students had a hard time remembering what a ray was. The best visual ray is by drawing the sun with rays coming out. Make sure you draw the arrows pointing out. Since they are already familiar with the suns rays (at least they should be) this should help them remember what a ray is.
I also read a really cute way to rememeber what a trapezoid is. Read the following silly story while drawing your picture to go with it.
An "ezoid," an outer space being, arrived in his space ship "The Trapezoid." But as he tried to get out, the door wouldn't open and he realized he was trapped!
Draw a picture of a trapezoid with an alien inside. Have the students draw it as well. Give your alien a talking bubble that says something to the effect of, "Help! I'm trapped in my Trapezoid!"
A similar strategy can be applied to helping students remember rhombus. Help students make the connection between the shape and the name by drawing a rhombus in the shape of a bus called the "RhomBus." Add some wheels and label it!
Here is a song to remember isosceles triangles.
To the Tune of "Oh Christmas Tree"
Oh isosceles, oh isosceles
two angles have
equal degrees
Oh isosceles, oh isosceles
you look just like
a Christmas tree.
Just Remember...
We retain 10 percent of what we read;
20 percents of what we hear;
30 percent of what we see;
50 percent of what we hear and see;
70 percent of what we say;
90 percent of what we say and do!
Getting the picture!???
If you know of any other memory tricks for geometry, please share!!
To help students remember what circumference is, have them write the word circumference, with dashes separating syllables, around the outside of the circle. For diameter, have then draw another circle and place the diameter through the middle and trace the semicircle so that it makes a D. This should help them remember diameter.
Here's a little rhyme -
Radius short, d i a m e t e r long, remember this, and you'll never go wrong!
My students had a hard time remembering what a ray was. The best visual ray is by drawing the sun with rays coming out. Make sure you draw the arrows pointing out. Since they are already familiar with the suns rays (at least they should be) this should help them remember what a ray is.
I also read a really cute way to rememeber what a trapezoid is. Read the following silly story while drawing your picture to go with it.
An "ezoid," an outer space being, arrived in his space ship "The Trapezoid." But as he tried to get out, the door wouldn't open and he realized he was trapped!
Draw a picture of a trapezoid with an alien inside. Have the students draw it as well. Give your alien a talking bubble that says something to the effect of, "Help! I'm trapped in my Trapezoid!"
A similar strategy can be applied to helping students remember rhombus. Help students make the connection between the shape and the name by drawing a rhombus in the shape of a bus called the "RhomBus." Add some wheels and label it!
Here is a song to remember isosceles triangles.
To the Tune of "Oh Christmas Tree"
Oh isosceles, oh isosceles
two angles have
equal degrees
Oh isosceles, oh isosceles
you look just like
a Christmas tree.
Just Remember...
We retain 10 percent of what we read;
20 percents of what we hear;
30 percent of what we see;
50 percent of what we hear and see;
70 percent of what we say;
90 percent of what we say and do!
Getting the picture!???
If you know of any other memory tricks for geometry, please share!!
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