#SupplySwap Info Has Been Sent...Let the Fun Begin!!

Almost 4 weeks ago now, @pamjwilson, @druinok and I decided to host a School #SupplySwap.  We wrote a blog post, made a sign-up form, and then tweeted.  We had nearly 30 people sign up!  The perfect number...not too many to make it overwhelming!

The participants are from 19 different states with 5 participants hailing from Kentucky (Go Wildcats!)  The rest of us are from Louisiana, Tennessee, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina, Massachusetts, South Carolina, California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Florida, Nevada, Michigan, Georgia, Oklahoma, Wisconsin. and Alabama.  

The most popular names on the list: Lisa, Lynn, Cindy and Jenn.  

Most are high school teachers, but several middle school teachers joined in the fun too.  

Primarily participants teach math, but we have a smattering of other disciplines represented like ELA/SS, Biology/marine science/forsensic science, Spanish, and STEM, as well as, administrators and a school counselor.

It has been so much fun just reading through the responses to the questions!

Just a reminder to participants, spend about $15 (excluding shipping) and mail between July 27 and August 7.  Keep your pairing a secret until your box is received by the recipient.  Your box will not be going to the person who is sending you a box, so that you will make even more new connections.

Here is a list of those who submitted twitter handles and blog addresses if you would like to check them out and make a few new friends!

@typeamathland	typeamathland.blogspot.com
@druinok	statteacher.blogspot.com
@jenn_crase
@lmhenry9	www.teachesmath.com
@luphoward
@_cindywallace_	Sch00lstuff.blogspot.com
@amcnabb3	1ntegrationbyparts.wordpress.com
@numerzgal
@Sarah3Martin	https://mathisajourney.wordpress.com
@pamjwilson	pamjwilson.wordpress.com
@debbiehurtado
@lisaspencilbox	http://lisad.me/blog/
@sdilling
@NoraOswald	simplifyingradicals2.blogspot.com
@Thejcasto
@literarylou
@cera0316	http://kovescenceofthemind.blogspot.com/
@mrschz
@rachelrosales	Www.purpleprontopups.wordpress.com
@viemath	laviemathematique.wordpress.com
@Spanishpal
@johnsonmath	coniccardlady.blogspot.com
@MissMossMath
@mathymeg07	megcraig.org

If you missed out on the fun of #supplyswap 2015, join in on the next round...whenever that may be! Until then…Happy Back to School!!!

(post adapted from The Radical Rational)

#MyFavFriday: Classroom Happies for Thanksgiving

 It is the last day before Thanksgiving break.  While the kids are excited about being out for a week, they have continued to focus on finishing the semester strong and I am so proud of their effort. We hosted a Thanksgiving celebration yesterday at school and it was wonderful seeing whole families of middle and high school students coming to feast on turkey and dressing and watch a program featuring many of our talented kids.  Maybe it is the cold snap we have had or the fact that "the baby" is headed home from college, but I have been eagerly anticipating the holidays for quite some weeks.

     Those who know me best, know I love classroom happies and the holidays are the perfect excuse to pull out the best ideas.  I honestly can't help myself.  I get so excited finding funny and colorful tiny gifts to give my students throughout the year.  During my first year of teaching after receiving one such gift, one of my 8th grade students respectfully asked, "Have you ever taught anyone as old as us?"  Hahaha! 13 years later and not much has changed.  I am partial to Thanksgiving treats, because this was actually the first thing my husband sent to me when we were seniors in high school.  Our school sold Turkey Grams way back when copies were made in purple ink and big hair was still in.  When I received the Turkey Gram adorned with a piece of candy and a note which read, "Happy Thanksgiving, Mike", I knew then... he loved me:D  We actually started dating one month later and the rest is history!  I share the story every year in my classroom as I help pedal Turkey Grams for our school's Student Council, but I can promise you, Turkey Grams have come a long way since I was in high school.  #MyFavFriday is a nod to the memory from years ago, a plethora of ideas for Thanksgiving classroom treats.  Enjoy!

From The Party Animal

From MRMS PTSO

From Inking Idaho

From Lucky Boy

From Studio Marcy

From Mama B

From Pebbles in my Pocket

The Good, the Bad, and....the Polka Dots of Back 2 School Night

     Tonight was Back to School night; my one chance for the year to meet and greet my precious students' parents! Oh, as always I was so excited and eager to make a good impression. I had read a fantastic article earlier this week highlighting 3 key goals for hosting parents at B2S events. The author did a great job giving tips to make the night successful, but the first goal about showing love and support for the students resonated within me so much that... I kind of got stuck there.
       I am convinced that the tone set in the classroom for the 10 minutes you have with parents matters! All parents want to know that the teacher believes "their child" is just as wonderful as the parent thinks they are:) Wanting to make quite the impression, I scoured Pinterest for hours looking for the perfect "classroom happy". I finally settled on polka dots (my classroom's main theme:)

I polka-dotted bulletin boards, 

 

water bottles, 

m&m's and even my office worker ( ok, it was her hair bow). 

Clear packages filled with M&Ms and covered in custom wrap

Still reflecting on the previously read article, I thought of 1 Corinthians 13:1, the scripture that says you can do and be all kinds of wonderful things, but if you do not have love, you are but a noisy gong or clanging cymbal.
     To not be mistaken for a noisy gong, I really went all out and I am cracking myself up (to keep from groaning aloud) as I reflect on the night's presentation. Wanting to be sure to convey how wonderful I thought each child was, I am afraid I acted more like one of those hippie chicks at the airport handing out peace and love bracelets rather than a seasoned professional very capable of leading children through the two courses I am slated to teach.
     I honestly don't even remember even telling them my name, much less the fact that I actually have taught the courses for the past umpteen years with great student success. Or how about the fact that I have a degree or two and employ a variety of teaching strategies to meet the needs of each of the students?   What did I say? " I am LoVinG getting to know each of their children. The students are off to a strong start and working hard. I am always available to help and I fully expect their children to do great!" All of which are true, but I wish I had a do-over to add the...err...stuff that would probably reassure the parents that their children were being taught by a competent teacher. But since there are no do-overs, I trust that God will make up for my inadequacies and the parents, at least, will fondly remember the LoVinG teacher that supplied a light snack at B2S night:)

What was above the ECA, you may wonder? Of course... I "heart" ECA

Update:  Ok, it was killing me.  I sent a follow-up email this morning to all of the parents introducing myself and the classs.  I feel much better:)

Favorite Find Friday: Spreading School Spirit w/ Marble Magnets

In anticipation school starting, I spent the morning making Marble Magnets to spread a little school spirit.  I thought new teachers might like to have something with the school logo on it and the "new to me" students could use the magnets in their lockers.  These are super inexpensive and quick!  It took me less than an hour and I have enough tiny gifts to share with all of my new friends.

Materials I used:

• Clipart w/school logo
• Large, flat glass marbles - pack of 30/$1.00 @ Dollar Tree
• Round magnets - pack of 52/$5.97 @ Walmart
• Mod Podge
• Sponge brush
• Hot glue gun
• Wax paper to protect the table

How I did it:

One page makes tons!

I created polka dot circles in Microsoft Publisher to use as a background for the school logo. (If you are polka dot fan like me, download the Publisher files for the dotted backgrounds in black, gray, green, navy, orange, pink, purple, red, royal blue, and yellow.) The school logo was captured via a screenshot from the school's website.  I pasted the image onto each of the dotted circles.  ( I used Promethean's ActivInspire software to capture the image, but you could use Jing or another favorite tool to take the picture.)  I printed the Publisher file onto white cardstock using my home printer.

I placed a marble over the clipart on the printed page to make sure I had my spacing and image size correct.  I had to adjust the page a few times to get it just right.  The marbles are smaller than they look, so check to make sure it is correct before you spend the time cutting.  The clipart was cut so that it was smaller than the marbles.

Thin layer of Mod Podge

I used a sponge brush to apply a small amount of Mod Podge to the flat side of the marbles.

 

I placed the cut images in the center of the marbles and then, dabbed Mod Podge around the edges and over the top of the clipart.  Don't worry, the Mod Podge dries clear.)

After the Mod Podge dried, I used hot glue to adhere a magnet to the flat side of each marble.

Now, the reason this qualifies as a #MyFavFriday project is because my favorite find this week was a packaging idea from Madigan Made that transformed the marbles into a brightly colored packages sure to delight!  I started out with a package of metal washers from the hardware store, a package of blank index cards, a pack of Wilton treat bags (50/$2.50 @ Walmart by cake decorating supplies).  

I folded the index cards in half and used hot glue to adhere two washers to the inside of the folded card.

I re-folded the card in half and my magnets stuck right to the hidden washers.  I placed all inside the treat bags, folded and stapled a decorative piece of card stock (also made with Publisher) across the top of the bag, and now, I'm thrilled with the finished result!

Fabulous Finds Friday: Interactive Studnt Notebook

Last week's Fabulous Finds Friday helped keep me organized.  This week's favorite find focuses on keeping students on track.  The Interactive Student Notebook was a new find for me this summer.  Interactive "Notebooks are a tool to strengthen student learning of curriculum through increased student participation.  They are used in class daily to help the student learn and keep track of their learning.  This style of notebook uses both the right and left-brain hemispheres to help sort, categorize and be creative with the newly attained knowledge." - MyMathClass From what I have read, they can be used in any subject and any grade.  One side of the notebook is more teacher directed (class notes, examples, etc.) and the other side of the notebook is more student centered with lots of illustrations, reflections, and evidence of student processing. There seems to be many approaches to organizing the notebooks, but I liked the common idea of including student reflection and using graphics to illustrate main ideas in students' notebooks.  While I may not incorporate the whole ISN idea, I am challenged to find a few foldables that can be incorporated this semester.  I hate to admit it, but it has been a while since I have included these hands-on creations that allow students to organize, display, and arrange information, so I did a quick search and found tons of ideas online.

Another great idea came from Tammy author of Forever in First via Pinterest.  Her idea...take pictures of students' ,math strategies, name them after the students who invented them, and display them in the classroom.  I love this idea because it cultivates ownership of the content by everyone in the room!




I am always looking to learn, especially during the summer and definitely from the comfort of my own kitchen table.  Leave it to Discovery Education to fill that need for me this summer.  This just announced...Discovery Education Summer Institute will be broadcast live during the week of July 23 - 26.  As one who has attended, this is an event you won't want to miss!  From the posted schedule, I see one of my favorite presenters to hear, Hall Davidson, will be  talking about one of my favorite technologies, iPads!!!  I guess I know where I will be on Monday the 23rd at 11:10am :)  On Tuesday, Patti Duncan will be discussing notebooks and journals in the media rich classroom.  As a member of the Discovery Educator Network, I have had the privilege of attending several DE events, all are inspiring.


This week I have also found many inspiring new friends' via the #Made4Math Challenge that I had to include them in my list for Fabulous Finds Friday.  All are great and generously share classroom ideas through Twitter and personal blogging.  Listed are the links:
@druinok - Teaching Statistics
@roitzc - Math in the Middle
@gwaddellnvhs - Success: A teacher looking for classroom success
@ScottKeltner - Large Scale Printing for Probability
@Wyldbirman - Hands on Math in High School
@merryfwilliams -  Dividing by Zero
@fouss - My Web 2.0 Journey
@jreulbach - I Speak Math
@pamjwilson - The Radical Rational...
@mathtastrophe - Mathtastrophe
@LaurenDeReche - From a Math Class
@fourkatie - Axis of Reflection
@reminoodle - The Mathsmith
@MarshaFoshee - Math-termind
@approx_normal - Approximately Normal (in the classroom)
@elhodge - Teaching Creatively
@MsKLaster - No Limits on Learning!
@bowmanimal - Bowman in Arabia
@sandramiller_tx - Take it to the Limit
Sarah - Alwilda's Daughter
@misscalcul8 - Misscalcul8
@fawnpnguyen - Middle School Math Teacher Learning on the Job

"How-to" Guide

Lastly, something just for fun... how adorable is this!!! I think I will try to find red lollipops instead of hand dipping oreos. Maybe school colors: blue pencils and red suckers with school logo in the middle... or maybe more polka dots!  Just a thought.  Wishing you a wonderful weekend!  Thanks for stopping by:)

Made 4 Math Monday: Great Graphing Marathon and B-day Happies

Happy #Made4Math Monday!  This is week 2 for me and I am so excited about this week's math project that I actually started it LAST Monday:)  A few weeks ago, I generated a list of ideas for active lessons (in anticipation of moving to block next year).  At the time, I had become a bit obsessed over SuPER sizing activities, thus the Great Graphing Marathon was conceived.

Let me first say that my students are not huge fans of plotting points, translating parent functions, or graphing in general.  So, I knew I needed to make it more fun to reinforce and practice graphing.   I thought, "How much more FuN can it get to be TrAnsForMed into "MaRatHon MenTaLity" as we create life size graphs with the students as the ordered pairs?!?" In this activity, students will be given a race number when they enter the room and safety pins to adhere the numbers to the backs of their shirts (my friend CM would say my inner elementary teacher is showing again :) *Correction: numbers on which they can work the problems to be graphed on the back of the print out.

Click for Complete File 

I will mark off a Cartesian plane with masking tape in our cafeteria (or chalk in the parking lot).  I have made up various functions that they will need to graph (quadratic, absolute value, and radicals, but anything would work) and I will show just one function at a time.  Students will plug their race number into the function and then graph themselves on the giant coordinate plane.  I realize some of the values will get pretty big and we will need to adjust how we count the marked squares. 

Click for Complete File

In the spirit of #Made4Math Monday, I have created and printed both the race numbers and the functions, gathered my safety pins, and will make medals to hand out after the Marathon. Fingers crossed that they will like it!

It felt so good to get Project #1 done, I whipped up a second project: birthday happies.  For me, students' birthdays can be stressful, in that, I always find myself scrambling around trying to figure out something cute to give each one.  I do really great through September and then, I fall prey to the busy-ness of work and the rest of the kids get nada (which makes it look like I only like the August and September kids :/ ) Project #2 solved the problem.  They are all getting pop rocks.    Here's what I came up with...
First, a trip to the dollar store (Note: They don't take Mastercard, but they gladly accept buckets of change.)

Cut colored tissue paper into thirds.

Wrap each pop rock package in the tissue paper and secure paper with tape.  I found the dark colored packaging on the pop rocks showed through the yellow tissue paper.  So, I ended up using two pieces for the yellow packages.

Wrap a piece of black card stock around the package and then wrap the birthday printable (made using Microsoft Office Publisher) on top of the card stock.  I cut out a black paper starburst and the word "ROCKS" and hot glued it to the front of the wrapper.  Now, no more BirThDay ScRamBLe!  
  

Fabulous Finds Friday: Electronic Lesson Plans, Interactive Bulletin Boards, and More

With summer officially here (my last day for the school year was Tuesday), I have found myself surfing the web looking for fresh ideas and fabulous finds to make next year's teaching and learning even better.  I have found so many amazing resources shared by educators from around the globe.  I thought I would share a few of them here in a Fabulous Finds Friday post (I confess, I have been searching for a theme:)

My first incredible discovery is Janet Benincosa's fabulous website filled with numerous resources including technology resources, curriculum maps, and electronic lesson plans (which I had never seen and thought how easy it would be to customize for my state standards).  The electronic lesson plan allows the user to utilize a built-in drop down menu to choose standards, level of Bloom's, Marzano's strategies, modifications, and so much more!  

Kutztown University's Methods of Teaching Secondary Mathematics class has shared many ideas for interactive bulletin boards.  Photos, directions, and lesson integration are all available on their website.  Though the bulletin boards were designed with specific topics in mind, they can be easily adapted to fit any mathematics concept. 

via Pinterest

This teacher makes 5 New Student Packets in which she an extra of everything at the beginning of the school year.  When a new student comes in midyear, all of the first day items are handy and in one place.  I will definitely be doing this!  

Erin Eberhart shared a tip for creating Running Records using address labels, clipboard, and a pen. She makes notes on the address labels as she observes students.  For example, John is struggling with... At the end of the week, she places the address labels on the large index card she keeps for each student.  It makes it easy to keep track of each student's progress and share observations with parents. 

Birthday Treats

Classroom Happies

Finally, two fun things to make for my sweet students.  I love the erasers; they remind me of salt water taffy and the fair the way they are all wrapped up.  And then, the birthday Pixie Stix... which was from Success in Second Grade and though I teach students 10 grades higher, I still think they might like this birthday treat:D

Wishing you a great weekend.  I am off to discover more FaBULoUs FiNds!