My Rockin' Classroom- Pioneers

Happy Weekend!

I'm pumped to be blogging today for a Rockin' Giveaway

with my friend Katie at Rock and Teach!  

We're all getting together to give you the chance at some great prizes

and to share some rockin' things that we do in our classrooms. 

For the past several years my team and I

have done a pioneer simulation to help teach

non-fiction in our reading blocks. To get some background,

check out this old blog post.  

Here is our trail map to the West!

This year we wanted to continue 

some of the great things that we've done

in the past, but also we wanted to take it to a new level

So.... we added a STEM element! 

A-Ma-Zing!  

Seriously.. Amazing!

I am so lucky to work with such great 

teammates.  We rocked this and I have them to thank for it!

Here were the pioneer essentials that had to be packed in the wagon!

Students worked in their 'wagon train' groups

to attempt the challenges that we've made.

The first one was to build a wagon that 

can hold a list of 'trail materials' without falling over. 

Step 1:  Students had the opportunity to look over items in the General Store and go back as a team to view prices and discuss ideas. 

Step 2: Planning Process- Until they had a plan, they weren't able to go to the store. They needed to bring their ideas together. 

Step 3: Buying Supplies- Students needed to track their spending on a budget sheet, and make change from their purchases. They could go to the store as many times as they needed, but there would also be times that it would close. 

Step 4: Build a wagon structure that could hold all of the pioneer essentials for travel. In order to have a completed wagon, you must fit everything in or on it and the wagon can't tip over. 

Step 5: Additional Challenge- Make your wagon roll 2 yards without tipping or falling. 

I had 3 out of 4 wagon trains successful with this challenge. 

 Surprisingly the one that didn't finish was a huge shock to me. 

It was amazing to see some students shine in this activity

 that struggle with more everyday school activities.  

I also love how 2 of the 3 put their water barrel (soda can)

on the outside of the wagon how it was on the real wagons!!!

We had a long discussion and reflection process after this activity was done. 

 Students wrote about their experience and documented their process with pictures. 

 We took the pictures and listed the steps and talked about what they would do differently next time.  I can't wait to share with you the next STEM challenge we did.

  Some groups really took what they learned 

in this wagon building activity to heart 

and tried very hard to fix their teamwork

 or communication the second time around. 

Thanks for stopping by and seeing my rockin' pioneer activity!

Please take time to visit Katie 

and the other fabulous bloggers taking part in this giveaway!

Enter Enter Enter to win some

fabulous prizes and also a $50 TpT Gift Card!

Have a fantastic Day!
Ana :)

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#MyMathJourney Part 2- Spark Student Motivation

Happy Weekend!!!

I am just loving the Fall weather that we've been having!

How is the weather by you? 

I'm excited today to share part 2 of #MyMathJourney 

with you today. 

Part 1 wasn't huge, but it was the start of everything. 

Here it is, if you would like some background. 

I'm linking up with Head Over Heels for Teaching

for Spark Student Motivation. 

Here's how I'm doing it in math!!!

 First of all I want to give credit where credit is due. I've been following these bloggers closely and have gotten some great ideas from them to help me get started on my journey!!!  Without this blogging world I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing... So, THANK YOU!

I've also done some purchasing from TpT. 

This was a great one to get me started!

I've decided to start small, but It's been going great! 

Here's a look at our 4 centers. 

Most days we do all of them, 

but it all depends on how many activities 

we need to get accomplished from our teaching resource. 

Our school is in the second year of Math Expressions. 

Some days are a lot more difficult than others,

but I have found that doing math stations helps

to break apart the different lessons that I need to teach. 

I start my math block at 8:45 and we all start together.
Typically my mini-lesson goes unit 9:10 or so. 

There are a lot of aspects of the mini-lesson 

so it takes longer than maybe it should sometimes.  

We do a lot of math talk, 

so that is usually what takes longer. 

From 9:10-9:25 we do our first rotation. 

From 9:25-9:40 we do our second rotation. 

Rotations are:

1. Small Group- With me at the back table.  I have set up groups so that everyone does this EVERY day with me. Even when our RtI starts and kids are pulled out for intervention, they will never miss small group time with me.  The would only miss a choice rotation like computers or daily centers. Here is a sampling of our distributive property lessons in small group. 

2. Independent Word Center- This is where they work on something on their own about the topic that I've taught for the day. Typically they do this right after the small group center, except for my challenge group.  Those kiddos start the independent center right after the mini-lesson.  I like this a lot because even if they have trouble with it, the activity really gets them thinking and working together to challenge their brains. When they come to work with me, we start by going over their independent center and talk about their thought process. 

Here are two kiddos working on an assignment after they work with me at the back table. This reinforces what I teach and gives them time to explore with the topic being taught. 

3. Computer- We just went 1:1 on chrome books, so I'm trying to incorporate a technology component each week in rotations.  Right now we're just using some websites that can help us with our basic facts.  A favorite right now is 

digitwhiz. Next week I will share a new site shared with me by a teammate. 

  

4. Centers- There is a new center for each day of the week. I mix them up. This is more for review and spiraling of materials. One day is a review center from an old topic, two days are activities that work on current skills we are covering, one day is a math journal so we write about our current topics and one day is a fact practice activity. 

Centers are laid out in boxes for the week.  Don't be fooled, they mostly look like worksheets, but they aren't the typical ones.  The sheet usually give directions to them to use hands on manipulatives to answer problems. There is not always something to hand in. 

I've been making season task cards to practice skills like addition with regrouping, subtraction with regrouping and place value. These are three concepts that they need to keep in their minds as we move on with multiplication.  So far they are really loving them.  Check them out from my TpT Store! You can buy just one or the whole bundle at a discount.

Here is a set from my Back To School Pack

Here are my fall centers. 

We then come back together and discuss
or do another mini-lesson from 9:40-10ish. 

This one is dependent on how much is in the lesson
 and what kids are having questions on. 

From 1:15-1:30 we have our third rotation

From 1:30-1:45 we have our fourth rotation

It's a split block, which is hard,

 but our intervention time is in the afternoon from 1:15-1:45.

 I like to run my classroom in small groups,
especially during RtI time

 so that kids don't feel like they are missing things 

if they are pulled from class. 

Also so I can get more time with students 

who need extra help or a challenge!

Since it's not in my math core time, 

those students who get pulled 

will not miss any new core materials 

or small group time with me. 

I'm only 2 weeks in.  

They light up when it's time to do rotations. 

On the days that we aren't able to they are begging to do them!

 When my mom came to visit the other day, 

many of them shared their favorite things with her. 

Most kids shared more than one, 

but for the first time I had the majority of kids

 talking about their math rotations being their favorite. 

I'm gong to share more later! 

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know!

I hope you all have a great weekend. 

Writing Treasure Chests

This week was long. 

Very long. 

I felt like every morning I was running to a meeting....

and by Friday I just wanted to sit at my desk,

and get a few things done. 

Boy, am I glad I didn't!

I went to our school writing committee meeting

and came back with a wonderful idea. 

Jennifer, from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings

is on this committee with me. She teaches

4th grade and has a passion for writing.

She really has inspired me this year

to put that at the forefront of my teaching. 

She found this great resource, which is aligned 

with the CCSS for the 3-5th vertical team to 

begin to implement this year in writing. 

Check it out here... there is also resources for other grades too,

we're just starting with 3-5 for now. 

She brought her student writing portfolios to the meeting to share. 

They were very simple, made of manila folders

and stored in a milk crate

She called them their writing 'Treasure Chests.'

I really loved the name of these folders and what they were being used for. 

Instead of having a portfolio that will be passed from

teacher to teacher each year,

students will make a treasure chest to store writing

and then get to explore their writing several times a year.

They can go back and watch their progression. 

I made similar  manila folders for my writing center this week

but I didn't call them treasure chests. 

They were plain, and just sitting in a book basket bin for 

the students to add their pieces of free writing to. 

This was from my 5 for Friday post.... talking about getting our writing center up and running. Here are two students using the writing prompt book that I made to help them come up with an idea for a story. You can see my folders in the corner (a little...) in a red bin.  They are just folders, and nothing was special on them. 

As soon as I got back to class after my meeting,

I introduced the treasure chest, and allowed students to

decorate them. I was so impressed!

Most of them put their names on the front so I tried to pick

 a few that didn't have their names on them to share.

They loved the treasure chest idea from the beginning. 

I had many of them actually draw treasure chests, 

or things they would want to find in a treasure chest. 

Thanks to Jennifer, this is just another way that I'm 

Sparking Student Motivation this week!

I'm linking up with Head Over Heels for Teaching today

for this great linky called Spark Student Motivation Saturdays!!

 Be sure to stop by and see how others are 

getting that spark started for their students!! :) I'm so thankful for everyone 

and their amazing ideas!

Student Made Expectations

Happy Weekend!

I'm so shocked at how fast these days are flowing by...

I'm just finishing up week 2----

and I feel like I've been back forever!

Today I'm linking up with Joanne from Head Over Heels for Teaching

for some Spark Student Motivation Saturdays!!!!

I'm trying to do things differently this year in many ways and for many reasons. 

One main difference is that since I've been at this for 8 years now, I want to stay fresh and different with my teaching and ideas. I also want to incorporate the kids as much as I can in everything that I do, which is why I've done things differently this year. 

If you've read anything I've posted this last week, 

you will know that my room still isn't 100% ready,

 and for the first time in history, I'm ok with it.... well kind of ;)

It's still driving me crazy, but I'm learning to be ok with it. 

I've had students do things that I normally do. 

Hence my Student Motivation this week:

Student Made Expectations!!

In the past I've always had us 'come up' with our own rules and expectations and then take home all of the notes and make a pretty poster with what I think are the best things for classroom rules and expectations. Well, I'm at the point with a new school year and a new baby where I don't have time for that. So this year, it truly was a student led process, in hopes that they will take even more ownership of their actions, and hopefully spark their motivation to follow the expectations that we have made together for our class. 

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We started with reading Officer Buckle and Gloria 

to put a funny twist to rules and importance of following them. 

After that we started making a list of things that we should 

always remember to do as people working and learning 

in a classroom environment. 

We made our notes on post-its and then grouped them together. 

It just so happened that they came up with breaking apart the expectations 

for different parts of the day.

They came up with their own consequences too....

Not exactly what I would have done but, like I said, 

we're going with all student led at this point....

We also have one big brainstorm chart that we made with everything in one place that is being hung over our classroom door so we can see it each time we exit the room. I am sorry to say that I forgot to take a picture of it. I love how it turned out though, so we can always use it as a reminder when we go out somewhere into the school. 

I'm not saying this is going to work 

any better than classroom rules/expectations have been done in the past,

 but I'm trying to do it a little different. 

I would have NEVER been caught putting 

posters that looked like this up in my room,

 because in my mind they aren't 'pretty' or 'crafty' enough. 

So this is new for me and very different. 

However, I'm hoping that this will help the students remember

 exactly the process and steps

 that we took to make these expectations up together 

and will think twice before not following them. 

How are you trying to spark motivation in students 

to follow expectations or take charge of 

taking responsibility for following expectations?