There's no pretty way to word what I need to get out. This is a painful post for me to write, and it has been even more painful to experience.
The dream is dead.
I have been back and forth. I have loved teaching. I know that it truly is a calling, and for so long it was my passion and it consumed me. That's not the case.
Now, I come home in the evenings and I spend all of my spare time searching job postings to find something that I am qualified for that has a comparable salary. That, and crying.
I spent a long time before this staring blankly in the evenings or absentmindedly scrolling through facebook posts that I didn't care enough to read.
I'm pretty sure this is what depression feels like.
I wake up in the morning, every morning, sick at my stomach because I have to go to work in my own personal purgatory. I'm not sure what I'm paying penance for, but every bit of joy has drained from all but the couple of hours I get to spend with Zoe.
She is my heart.
But my soul is crushed.
My marriage is crumbling. I struggle to make myself care some days. Other days, I just wish I could convince him of how desperately I need to get out of this job. I fault him when he doesn't see how it breaks me. I don't want sex. I don't want food. I don't want much of anything except for this year to end.
I spend every Monday wishing it was Friday, and every break wishing it was summer. When we come back from a break, I always wish it was the next one.
I am wishing my life away.
And if this is life, well, why not?
I do not teach.
I don't know what this job is.
I am disrespected by students, pressured by parents, insulted by district level supervisors, and am NEVER supported by administration. I have had students who are almost my size ball up their fists at me, and I have jumped between them and another student because if not, I would have been held responsible for the injuries that would have occurred. I have called parents to tell them that their child almost started a fight with another student but that I jumped between them to keep their child from being suspended, only to have the parents verbally attack me over the phone because their child has a right to defend himself and accuse me of allowing him to be bullied for the past 2 months despite the parent catching the child in a lie while we are on the phone. I am told that students running across the classroom, hitting each other while screaming at the top of their lungs is "not a referable offense unless someone got hurt" while less than 24 hours later being told that I am responsible for improving these students' test scores using an incredibly ineffective teaching method that is micromanaged at the district level with little to no room for autonomy to meet my own students' needs and learning styles. I spend hundreds of dollars each year on supplies for my students to steal and break "accidentally." Teachers in my building face death threats and are told to have lunch with those students to "heal the relationship" with the student, who faces no consequence. Last year, a teacher in my building committed suicide after being WRONGLY accused of "inappropriate behavior" with a student and having his career ruined, while the student and her family face NO consequence for the slander AND libel they committed. During the entire ordeal, we the staff were told not to communicate with this teacher at all. How different would his story have turned out if he had been able to face this ordeal with the support of his friends and colleagues by his side?
I don't know what the exact definition of PTSD is, but I'm pretty sure there are several of us who at least have some of the symptoms.
Again, this is not teaching.
I don't know what this is.
But somehow there has to be a way out of it. Because I can't do this job for too much longer.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Getting Organized
I don't know about everyone else, but I usually find myself spending the month of May limping to the finish line. It's so stressful, and I feel like I always just spend the entire month in survival mode, counting down the days until my kiddos are gone for the summer (and then I may just shed a tear when I realize that I will never see some of them again). For some reason, this year was sort of the exception.
Don't get me wrong. There was still some limping involved! This year, though, I spent a lot of time during the last month of school trying to get my students' input on what would help make next year better. I spent a lot of time rethinking some of my procedures and planning how I would make next year better. I don't know where the extra spurt of energy came from, but my creative drive kind of kicked it up a notch, and I can't seem to turn off the flow of ideas for what I want to do differently next year.
One of the biggest areas that I wanted to get organized was my filing cabinets. I will have to share that system another day because I left my camera in my classroom over the summer. It took me an entire day to do, but I went through every paper in both file cabinets and reorganized the whole shebang, What a chore, but it will be so worth it next year! I also made new binder covers for the materials that I am not storing in the file cabinets. You can check them out by clicking the picture below.
Don't get me wrong. There was still some limping involved! This year, though, I spent a lot of time during the last month of school trying to get my students' input on what would help make next year better. I spent a lot of time rethinking some of my procedures and planning how I would make next year better. I don't know where the extra spurt of energy came from, but my creative drive kind of kicked it up a notch, and I can't seem to turn off the flow of ideas for what I want to do differently next year.
One of the biggest areas that I wanted to get organized was my filing cabinets. I will have to share that system another day because I left my camera in my classroom over the summer. It took me an entire day to do, but I went through every paper in both file cabinets and reorganized the whole shebang, What a chore, but it will be so worth it next year! I also made new binder covers for the materials that I am not storing in the file cabinets. You can check them out by clicking the picture below.
I have been rethinking my classroom rewards. Most of them worked really well and were things that my kids were motivated to earn, but I didn't have a good system for how I used these rewards. I wanted to work on that. I made a set of reward coupons for all of these free or really cheap rewards so that I can print them on card stock, laminate them, and hopefully use them all year long instead of reprinting them like I did this year.
I have a love/hate relationship with Schoolwide Behavior Systems. When we got out for the summer, I think that our schoolwide behavior system was being revamped, so I'm not sure what that will look like next year. That's a little bit frustrating to me since I seem to be in creative overdrive right now and would love to start really planning ahead. In the past, we used "Pioneer Pay" to reward students, and then they could use their Pioneer Pay to purchase other rewards. My new coupon cards will work really well with that system, but I will have to set prices. I've also used ClassDojo points as a means of purchasing rewards. I'll probably have a post with more specifics of our new behavior system when school starts back. You can click on the picture above to snag my reward coupons from my TPT store.
I also wanted to revisit my Class Job board. I can't wait to print and use this cute set of jobs that I made to match the other two resources.
Last year was my school's first year of dabbling in the Leader in Me. We are officially getting training this coming schoolyear, and I'm really excited about learning more. Does your school do the Leader in Me? Has it helped your students? I think I'm most excited to learn more about the Leadership Notebooks because I think that will really help my students to take ownership for their learning.
**Bundle information: I am offering the materials above as a part of a bundle in my TPT store. The individual products cost $8 altogether, but I am offering the bundle for $6. Here's the best part of this bundle, though: I'm just getting started with the new chevron theme, and I will be adding to this bundle as I continue to plan how my classroom will be organized for the coming year. If you snag the bundle now, you will get these 3 products PLUS any other products that are added later for just the $6 price. As new products are added, the purchase price for the bundle will increase, so the sooner you buy, the more you will save. Click on the picture below to see the bundle in my TPT store.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Solving Problem Solving Problems
Or here's hoping, at least.
Are your kids like mine? I feel like my kids see a word problem, pick out the two numbers, and add them just because reading the problem is soooo muuuuuch liiiiike wooooork. I was trying to come up with a way to help my students tackle word problems that they would be able to carry over to use with any kind of word problem they encounter.
I already have a problem solving strategy pack in my TpT store, but I wanted something that was more versatile and, honestly, I wanted to be able to use it with my students who needed some intervention on bringing those critical reading skills into the math block. I feel like so many of my kids genuinely came into this year believing that you read in reading class, and you do math in math class, and the two never overlap. I've made it my mission to disprove their little theory this year. Bwahahaha! (Just picture me reading that in my best mad scientist cackle.)
Anyway, that's where this problem solving pack comes in. It's worked out so well that you can expect me to make them for every topic.
This set includes two versions of a graphic organizer that my students are using to help them break down word problems.
One version of the graphic organizer includes a blank space at the top for the word problem strip to be glued to the sheet. The other doesn't. I am currently using the second version with my students. We started out with the first one last week, and they glued their problems onto the sheet, and then we walked through the steps together in a whole group minilesson. At this point, I have given each student a copy of the second version, which they are keeping in a sheet protector with a vis-a-vis marker in their math binders. The problem of the day is going on the board so that we can go over it together after they have worked the problem. This has become my new way of doing our Problem of the Day/Math Review, and so far, it's working really well.
I've actually gone a step beyond this set with my class. For each problem, I am giving my students time to solve the problem for the day, and then I am posting 4 possible answers and having them use their activotes to choose the correct answer. Before doing this, I had several students who were not solving the problems before choosing an answer, so this has actually helped with that problem as well.
Once I feel confident that all of my students understand the process well enough to use it with any word problem, this activity may go into one of our math centers or I may continue using it the same way. I'll decide that when we get there.
The word problems are on "copy friendly" sheets, allowing you to pick a page and run just a few copies for your whole class. I'm always looking for a way to save on copies!
Are your kids like mine? I feel like my kids see a word problem, pick out the two numbers, and add them just because reading the problem is soooo muuuuuch liiiiike wooooork. I was trying to come up with a way to help my students tackle word problems that they would be able to carry over to use with any kind of word problem they encounter.
I already have a problem solving strategy pack in my TpT store, but I wanted something that was more versatile and, honestly, I wanted to be able to use it with my students who needed some intervention on bringing those critical reading skills into the math block. I feel like so many of my kids genuinely came into this year believing that you read in reading class, and you do math in math class, and the two never overlap. I've made it my mission to disprove their little theory this year. Bwahahaha! (Just picture me reading that in my best mad scientist cackle.)
Anyway, that's where this problem solving pack comes in. It's worked out so well that you can expect me to make them for every topic.
One version of the graphic organizer includes a blank space at the top for the word problem strip to be glued to the sheet. The other doesn't. I am currently using the second version with my students. We started out with the first one last week, and they glued their problems onto the sheet, and then we walked through the steps together in a whole group minilesson. At this point, I have given each student a copy of the second version, which they are keeping in a sheet protector with a vis-a-vis marker in their math binders. The problem of the day is going on the board so that we can go over it together after they have worked the problem. This has become my new way of doing our Problem of the Day/Math Review, and so far, it's working really well.
I've actually gone a step beyond this set with my class. For each problem, I am giving my students time to solve the problem for the day, and then I am posting 4 possible answers and having them use their activotes to choose the correct answer. Before doing this, I had several students who were not solving the problems before choosing an answer, so this has actually helped with that problem as well.
Once I feel confident that all of my students understand the process well enough to use it with any word problem, this activity may go into one of our math centers or I may continue using it the same way. I'll decide that when we get there.
The word problems are on "copy friendly" sheets, allowing you to pick a page and run just a few copies for your whole class. I'm always looking for a way to save on copies!
There are 25 pages of word problems for this topic. The problems are a randomly mixed review, so the multiplication and division problems are mixed throughout the packet.
A few possible uses for this set might be:
- Intervention groups
- Whole group problem solving lesson
- Homework assignments
- Math center
- Problem of the Day
- Substitute plans
I think mine would be adding and subtracting fractions.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Snow Day!
After being out all last week for weather, it's another snow day in Tennessee!
Admittedly, this one wasn't necessary, IMO. Or maybe it's just that I'm like a lot of other teachers and beginning to panic about all that I have to teach my kids in this short time that we have left together. There's so much content that we have left to cover, of course, but there's a lot more than that this year. This group of students has challenged me in a way I've never faced before. I love them, of course, but have you ever just had one of those years where you just knew your kids needed so much more than academics, and there just isn't enough time to meet all of the needs that you see. That's been the story of this year.
I started the year with my colleagues' sympathy and disbelief that all of these personalities had been put into the same room. I cringed when I heard some of the comments because I knew these kids better than that: I knew their hearts, and I saw so much promise. As the year has gone on, I've seen some of them make tremendous progress in ways that no state test will measure, whether that progress is academic, behavioral, or emotional. I'm proud of my kiddos, and I wish that everyone could see what I see in them.
Moving on, I'm trying to find ways to help my students practice their math skills in a way that is both efficient and interesting. In my school, we have a 45 minute intervention block 4 days a week. I am a math, science, and social studies teacher, but for that 45 minutes, I am also a reading teacher. We weren't given any real guidance on what the students who are not in intervention groups should be doing, other than being told that they could not be covering new material. I decided that the best use of this time is review centers. I'll explain my center organization system and how I keep track for grading purposes another time, but for now, I'd like to share a task card set that I just made for my task card center. These have been a great way for my students to review or practice skills that they need a little bit more work on. This new task card set that are available in my TpT store.
We just started working on this topic and our district pacing guide has us only spending a week on it! What?! I know my students are going to need more practice, so I created this task card set with that in mind. I can't wait to start using it later this week when we FINALLY get to go back!
The set includes 20 question cards, a recording sheet, and an answer key to make it self checking and perfect for center use or other games and activities.
Admittedly, this one wasn't necessary, IMO. Or maybe it's just that I'm like a lot of other teachers and beginning to panic about all that I have to teach my kids in this short time that we have left together. There's so much content that we have left to cover, of course, but there's a lot more than that this year. This group of students has challenged me in a way I've never faced before. I love them, of course, but have you ever just had one of those years where you just knew your kids needed so much more than academics, and there just isn't enough time to meet all of the needs that you see. That's been the story of this year.
I started the year with my colleagues' sympathy and disbelief that all of these personalities had been put into the same room. I cringed when I heard some of the comments because I knew these kids better than that: I knew their hearts, and I saw so much promise. As the year has gone on, I've seen some of them make tremendous progress in ways that no state test will measure, whether that progress is academic, behavioral, or emotional. I'm proud of my kiddos, and I wish that everyone could see what I see in them.
Moving on, I'm trying to find ways to help my students practice their math skills in a way that is both efficient and interesting. In my school, we have a 45 minute intervention block 4 days a week. I am a math, science, and social studies teacher, but for that 45 minutes, I am also a reading teacher. We weren't given any real guidance on what the students who are not in intervention groups should be doing, other than being told that they could not be covering new material. I decided that the best use of this time is review centers. I'll explain my center organization system and how I keep track for grading purposes another time, but for now, I'd like to share a task card set that I just made for my task card center. These have been a great way for my students to review or practice skills that they need a little bit more work on. This new task card set that are available in my TpT store.
We just started working on this topic and our district pacing guide has us only spending a week on it! What?! I know my students are going to need more practice, so I created this task card set with that in mind. I can't wait to start using it later this week when we FINALLY get to go back!
Just an FYI about this set: I have chosen to focus on just the order of operations and using parentheses and brackets in this task card set. I am working on another activity for working with variables and am hoping to have that completed over the coming weekend.
I hope you find this set helpful! I know that my class struggled last year with the short amount of time that we had in our pacing guide for this skill, so I'm hoping that it helps my class this year. How do your students do with the order of operations and learning to use parentheses and why? Are you feeling an unusual amount of pressure to get everything in due to snow days this year?
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Google Drive, part 2
Remember when I mentioned using google drive this year to share some of my forms and updates with parents? Well, guess what! I've found another awesome use for it, and I'm super excited about this one!
I set up separate folders on my website for our charts that we make and use in class, so those are now shared to my website. I've also added a "student work" section to the site. I'll use that folder to share examples that we have discussed in class so that my students have those to look back at while they are doing their homework. Below is a screenshot from my iPad where I have a few examples from our recent multiplication lessons.
I love how easy this was to do! I used the google drive app on my iPad, so it was literally just a few clicks to set everything up. From there, I just had to tell it to go into my photos and then choose the pictures I wanted to upload. It could not have been easier, and now my kids have a reference from home AND they all want their work to be good enough to make it to the website! I can definitely see how this could motivate them to realize that neatness matters. It's a win-win for everybody!
Do you share student work online? How?
Happy Birthday to me!
Maybe I'm a little bit early on that one! Regardless, I'm just popping in from an extremely busy and stressful week to leave a quick note about some things that are going on this month.
1. My birthday is the 22nd of this month, so in celebration, I'm going to have a one-day-only 10% off sale on everything in my TpT store! My task card sets are my best-selling items, and I've got a couple of new sets that MIGHT be going up before then, so be sure to check those out.
2. I'm positively smitten with Jamberry nails. Have you tried them? They're not one of those things that I would have ever seen myself liking, but I'm on day 5 with this set still going strong. Where have these been all my life?! I'm loving all of the cute designs, and can't wait to put on my next set whenever these decide to finally give out.
Here's the story of nail polish with me:
- Apply first coat. Let dry.
- Decide first coat is dry enough for a much-needed second coat.
- Apply second coat, but get it all over my skin.
- Dab skin with polish remover. Mess up 3 still-wet nails in the process.
- Remove polish from botched nails and repaint those.
- Notice bubbles in other nails. Remove polish. (Note: at this point, I've generally ended up redoing at least 5 nails.)
- Decide I'm over it and just repaint, whether they look good or not.
- Repaint second coat.
- Declare myself finished and watch TV while they finish drying.
- Go to bed, thinking my nails are dry.
- Wake up to nails with imprints from sheet, clothes, and my hair.
- Chip nail polish on the one remaining perfect nail while hitting snooze button.
These, obviously, were much easier. And I got great results, despite how terrible I am at DIY manicures :-)
 |
| This was taken on day 2. I would post a new picture from day 5 (today) but they seriously look EXACTLY the same unless you look at the very tip of my right index finger. It's got just the tiniest bit of a rough edge, but it's not noticeable to anyone else. |
So have you tried Jamberry? What do you think?
I'm considering selling them, just to get the discount because I think this may be my new addiction!
I'm considering selling them, just to get the discount because I think this may be my new addiction!
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Back to school!
Whew! Today was our first day back and I had forgotten how early 6:00 was. Farewell lazy summer mornings. Til we meet again!
I'd like to take just a second and share some ways that I'm using Google Drive this year to help my students and their families. I love google drive, but in the past, my school system has filtered out most of google's handy apps, so this is the first time I've been able to really use it.
One of the things that I'm using google drives for is to share forms on my class website. I share our weekly newsletter, weekly homework calendars, classroom forms, and sometimes extra copies of our homework pages.
One of the things that I'd like to explore this year is how to use google drive to share my students' work. Do you use Google Drive? What are some things that you've used it for?
I'd like to take just a second and share some ways that I'm using Google Drive this year to help my students and their families. I love google drive, but in the past, my school system has filtered out most of google's handy apps, so this is the first time I've been able to really use it.
One of the things that I'm using google drives for is to share forms on my class website. I share our weekly newsletter, weekly homework calendars, classroom forms, and sometimes extra copies of our homework pages.
One of the things that I'd like to explore this year is how to use google drive to share my students' work. Do you use Google Drive? What are some things that you've used it for?
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Conference form
As I'm starting to think about the start of school, I'm revisiting some of my classroom forms that I use with students and their parents. I have forms my students use to request test retakes, "think sheets" for behavior, and of course, several beginning of the year forms to send and receive information from parents. I also LOVE my parent conference planning form that I started using a few years ago.
I remember my parent conferences during my first few years of teaching, and I'd like to think I've come a long way from those days. I remember sitting blankly across from parents, not always completely sure what I wanted to say to them about their child. There were the standard reminders about my homework policies and reporting to them what their child's current grades were in my class, but I never really felt like I had it "together," if you know what I mean.
I've made a few changes to last year's version of the form, along with adding a couple of other planning/organizing pages that I'll be using this year. Last year I had other teachers walk into 3 of my conferences, so this year I will be using a "conference in progress" sign on the door to keep that from being an issue again. It's nothing fancy, but hopefully it'll be enough to give us some privacy. :-)
I'm also trying something new this year. I always find that some of my conferences run over because of parent concerns that I didn't anticipate. Every year, the other parents who are waiting are so patient, but I always feel bad that their appointments get pushed back. To prevent this (hopefully) this year, I'm going to ask parents to fill out and return a form before the conference so that I can plan accordingly. I'm hoping this cuts down on their wait time.
This packet is available in my TpT store, and it includes the pages shown above, parent letters and reminders, and my sign for the door. You can click on the cover page picture above to go directly to this packet, if you would like. While you're there, don't forget to check out my 1st nine weeks's spiral math review set. These will be a part of my homework for the first 9 weeks, and it feels GREAT to already have that planned!
I remember my parent conferences during my first few years of teaching, and I'd like to think I've come a long way from those days. I remember sitting blankly across from parents, not always completely sure what I wanted to say to them about their child. There were the standard reminders about my homework policies and reporting to them what their child's current grades were in my class, but I never really felt like I had it "together," if you know what I mean.
When I started using this form to plan what I wanted to communicate to each parent, I immediately felt like my conferences became much more intentional and meaningful. It's such a simple thing, but it's one that nobody told me about in college, and as I sat unprepared in that first round or two of conferences, I really wished they had.
I've made a few changes to last year's version of the form, along with adding a couple of other planning/organizing pages that I'll be using this year. Last year I had other teachers walk into 3 of my conferences, so this year I will be using a "conference in progress" sign on the door to keep that from being an issue again. It's nothing fancy, but hopefully it'll be enough to give us some privacy. :-)
I'm also trying something new this year. I always find that some of my conferences run over because of parent concerns that I didn't anticipate. Every year, the other parents who are waiting are so patient, but I always feel bad that their appointments get pushed back. To prevent this (hopefully) this year, I'm going to ask parents to fill out and return a form before the conference so that I can plan accordingly. I'm hoping this cuts down on their wait time.
This packet is available in my TpT store, and it includes the pages shown above, parent letters and reminders, and my sign for the door. You can click on the cover page picture above to go directly to this packet, if you would like. While you're there, don't forget to check out my 1st nine weeks's spiral math review set. These will be a part of my homework for the first 9 weeks, and it feels GREAT to already have that planned!
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Another year over and a new one just begun
Well, not quite yet. Soon, though, we will be going back. AAHHHH! Where do the summers go?!
I've spent this one at home working on some projects around the house. I've been trying to learn to play the piano, doing lots of cleaning, and trying to get organized so that (hopefully) I don't feel so frantic this coming school year. I would have never guessed that one little person who weighs less than 25 lbs. can SO COMPLETELY turn your world upside down. Sigh. I know I'll miss these days, though, so I'm just trying to soak in all the toddler hugs and sticky fingerprints while they last.
Anyway, school... I'm just finishing up my postcards to my students and hoping to get those mailed out by the weekend.
Do you do postcards or a welcome letter to your kids? This is the first time I've done them, but I really like the idea, even if it is a little bit time consuming. I would have loved getting something from my teachers-to-be when I was growing up.
I've also been working a little bit on some new task card sets to use with my students this year. I'm sharing one today that I actually used last year with my kids, but I didn't have it ready to post until this summer. (Remember how I said that toddler was keeping me busy?)
This set is a mixed multiplication and division review with word problems. I've found that one of our struggles every year seems to be actually reading and thinking about what the word problem is asking for. My students see two numbers and either multiply or divide, but don't always read to find out whether the operation they're using makes sense. Do yours do that too? Please tell me I'm not alone!
This task card set is all word problems, and the division problems may or may not have remainders. I did this because I teach my students to think about what to do with the remainder. We have a discussion and make a chart as a class to help remind them that sometimes the remainder can be ignored, but sometimes we have to round up, even if the remainder is less than 1/2. We talk about problems where they have to split numbers of people into groups, and we have a discussion over how you can't cut a person up.
As always, there are two versions of the cards included - one with a background and one without (to save ink) - and a recording sheet and answer key. Click on the picture above to see it in my TpT store. And while you're there, check out my 1st nine weeks math reviews, which are 50% off until August 1!
I've spent this one at home working on some projects around the house. I've been trying to learn to play the piano, doing lots of cleaning, and trying to get organized so that (hopefully) I don't feel so frantic this coming school year. I would have never guessed that one little person who weighs less than 25 lbs. can SO COMPLETELY turn your world upside down. Sigh. I know I'll miss these days, though, so I'm just trying to soak in all the toddler hugs and sticky fingerprints while they last.
Anyway, school... I'm just finishing up my postcards to my students and hoping to get those mailed out by the weekend.
Do you do postcards or a welcome letter to your kids? This is the first time I've done them, but I really like the idea, even if it is a little bit time consuming. I would have loved getting something from my teachers-to-be when I was growing up.
I've also been working a little bit on some new task card sets to use with my students this year. I'm sharing one today that I actually used last year with my kids, but I didn't have it ready to post until this summer. (Remember how I said that toddler was keeping me busy?)
This set is a mixed multiplication and division review with word problems. I've found that one of our struggles every year seems to be actually reading and thinking about what the word problem is asking for. My students see two numbers and either multiply or divide, but don't always read to find out whether the operation they're using makes sense. Do yours do that too? Please tell me I'm not alone!
This task card set is all word problems, and the division problems may or may not have remainders. I did this because I teach my students to think about what to do with the remainder. We have a discussion and make a chart as a class to help remind them that sometimes the remainder can be ignored, but sometimes we have to round up, even if the remainder is less than 1/2. We talk about problems where they have to split numbers of people into groups, and we have a discussion over how you can't cut a person up.
As always, there are two versions of the cards included - one with a background and one without (to save ink) - and a recording sheet and answer key. Click on the picture above to see it in my TpT store. And while you're there, check out my 1st nine weeks math reviews, which are 50% off until August 1!
Sunday, March 23, 2014
I'm Back!
The test is over. Unfortunately, after all of that, I didn't even get to take it! I had to reschedule because I didn't realize that our system was doing benchmark testing the same days that I was signed up for the test. Boo!
I did get some studying in for it, though, so I do feel better about taking it sometime this summer. Since I will be back in my same position next year, though, I don't feel like it's really worth it to take any more time to get ready for the test until after school is out for the summer. Instead, I'm going to spend my time on three great hobbies. Well, 2 hobbies (making resources for my students and bead making) and the loves of my life :-)
Since I had some time to post tonight, I wanted to share my latest upload to my TpT store. The first set of the math reviews is finished and available in my store. I'm splitting it into 4 sets, and I've posted the first one this afternoon. I'll be adding the others soon. You can click the image below to find the set in my TpT store.
I did get some studying in for it, though, so I do feel better about taking it sometime this summer. Since I will be back in my same position next year, though, I don't feel like it's really worth it to take any more time to get ready for the test until after school is out for the summer. Instead, I'm going to spend my time on three great hobbies. Well, 2 hobbies (making resources for my students and bead making) and the loves of my life :-)
Since I had some time to post tonight, I wanted to share my latest upload to my TpT store. The first set of the math reviews is finished and available in my store. I'm splitting it into 4 sets, and I've posted the first one this afternoon. I'll be adding the others soon. You can click the image below to find the set in my TpT store.
Each set will include 9 weeks of review, with one week on a single sheet of paper to conserve copies. These are designed so that you can make a single copy per student for the entire week OR display one day worth of problems as a starter when your class enters the room. They would also make great homework. Students will need to work the problems on notebook paper, but depending on how you've given the assignment, they may need to circle their answer in their work or record it on the worksheet for easy grading.
There is also a blank sheet included, which could be used as a recording sheet or as a template to create your own weekly reviews.
As I said, this is the set for the first nine weeks, but my students will be doing it as a review from the first part of the year. Other sets will follow soon, and those will follow the same format. I hope you find these useful!
I'm off to get some sleep now!
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Where's Waldo?
Um... or Sarah?
I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. I promise. We've been out most of this week for snow (again) and have now officially used up our last built-in snow day. Anything after tomorrow will have to be made up :-(
At least this time we have enough to do something with. It's also nice that we're not the laughing stock of the whole country this time around.
You would think I would have spent this time knocking out the last bits of some projects to share, getting ahead on lesson plans, or even studying for the high school math gace that I signed up to take early next month. No... I did none of that.
I spent a ton of time with my little angel, and did some much needed de-stressing.
I'll go ahead and say in advance, though, that I won't be around much before March 4 (my test date) because I'll probably be spending every spare chance I get studying for that. I love math, and I've always had an aptitude for it, but I graduated in 2006, and the last time I saw some of this math was two years before that! I was a physics major at the time, so I can obviously handle it, but that's a long time to forget a lot of stuff! It'll be worth it in the end, though, because high school math is actually what I wanted to teach when I first changed my major, and it'll be great to finally see that dream eventually fulfilled.
I've already accepted a position for 5th grade math again next year, and I honestly have no desire to leave my kiddos yet. I love my 5th graders, and it's such a transitional period for a lot of kids that I love being able to watch and hopefully help guide them through that. Still, everyone who knows me has seen for a while that I will eventually feel like I need to move up to middle or high school. Hopefully with this test out of the way, when I feel ready, I'll be able to find something.
So with that said, I'll be taking a temporary hiatus from blogging until I have that test behind me and can return to making great things to use in my classroom (and share)!
I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. I promise. We've been out most of this week for snow (again) and have now officially used up our last built-in snow day. Anything after tomorrow will have to be made up :-(
At least this time we have enough to do something with. It's also nice that we're not the laughing stock of the whole country this time around.
You would think I would have spent this time knocking out the last bits of some projects to share, getting ahead on lesson plans, or even studying for the high school math gace that I signed up to take early next month. No... I did none of that.
I spent a ton of time with my little angel, and did some much needed de-stressing.
I'll go ahead and say in advance, though, that I won't be around much before March 4 (my test date) because I'll probably be spending every spare chance I get studying for that. I love math, and I've always had an aptitude for it, but I graduated in 2006, and the last time I saw some of this math was two years before that! I was a physics major at the time, so I can obviously handle it, but that's a long time to forget a lot of stuff! It'll be worth it in the end, though, because high school math is actually what I wanted to teach when I first changed my major, and it'll be great to finally see that dream eventually fulfilled.
I've already accepted a position for 5th grade math again next year, and I honestly have no desire to leave my kiddos yet. I love my 5th graders, and it's such a transitional period for a lot of kids that I love being able to watch and hopefully help guide them through that. Still, everyone who knows me has seen for a while that I will eventually feel like I need to move up to middle or high school. Hopefully with this test out of the way, when I feel ready, I'll be able to find something.
So with that said, I'll be taking a temporary hiatus from blogging until I have that test behind me and can return to making great things to use in my classroom (and share)!
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Snow Day!!
The weather outside is frightful... but the electric fireplace is so delightful! Lol.
Ahh... Tennessee winter weather. You do love to surprise even the best of weathermen, don't you.
I love this picture from one of the local news sites.
I also love that, since my husband is also a teacher, my whole family got out of school early today! Thank goodness that we both had a safe drive and the two of us and our little one are all piled up in the warmth of our living room.
And what's better than early dismissal? A snow day? Or even better, two?! Don't mind if we do!
So I'm taking the time off to work on a few major projects for school that have been halfway done for weeks now. The last couple of projects I've started have been major ones that I've been doing a little bit at a time as I needed them, but hopefully these snow days will let me get them finished up. My favorite (and the one I'm spending a chunk of time on today) is a weekly spiral math review homework set. I'm super excited about this one because I'm hoping it'll let me squeeze in some extra review of some skills from earlier this year that we've forgotten. Here's a sneak peek:
And rumor has it that we're going to be out the rest of the week! I should be able to finish up these reviews while my little one is napping so that they're ready for the rest of the year!
Ahh... Tennessee winter weather. You do love to surprise even the best of weathermen, don't you.
I love this picture from one of the local news sites.
I also love that, since my husband is also a teacher, my whole family got out of school early today! Thank goodness that we both had a safe drive and the two of us and our little one are all piled up in the warmth of our living room.
And what's better than early dismissal? A snow day? Or even better, two?! Don't mind if we do!
So I'm taking the time off to work on a few major projects for school that have been halfway done for weeks now. The last couple of projects I've started have been major ones that I've been doing a little bit at a time as I needed them, but hopefully these snow days will let me get them finished up. My favorite (and the one I'm spending a chunk of time on today) is a weekly spiral math review homework set. I'm super excited about this one because I'm hoping it'll let me squeeze in some extra review of some skills from earlier this year that we've forgotten. Here's a sneak peek:
Monday, January 27, 2014
Division with Unit Fractions Task Card Mini-Kit
Ah, January... You have this weird way of making teachers wish time would both speed up and slow down at the same time. Summer seems so far away, but those tests... they're so close now.
We have our first big assessment early next month. We're all a little bit worried this year about this year's writing test because this will be the first year our students have taken it on a computer. That brings a whole new element of stress with it. At the same time, we're scrambling to be ready in all of the other subjects.
How are your kids doing with division with fractions?
Mine have struggled. They're doing great with just working a problem. They're able to divide a whole number by a unit fraction or reverse it, but if I give them a word problem and ask them to write the problem themselves, that's a whole other issue. And number lines? Forget it!
Before our test last week, I decided to take a day to do some reteaching over these two skills. I created a task card mini-kit that we used to help review and practice after the lesson. Overall, it went well. I know I'm a little bit behind here, but I am loving the task cards, and so are my kiddos!
Since this is a mini-kit, there are only 8 cards, which meant that every kid solved every problem during the class period before we checked them. Below you can see one page of the cards.
I also created an answer sheet for this. I've found that if I tell my students to show their work on notebook paper, it's either very disorganized (we're working on this one!) or missing steps or an explanation. An answer sheet with places designated for these parts seems to solve that problem every time.
We have our first big assessment early next month. We're all a little bit worried this year about this year's writing test because this will be the first year our students have taken it on a computer. That brings a whole new element of stress with it. At the same time, we're scrambling to be ready in all of the other subjects.
How are your kids doing with division with fractions?
Mine have struggled. They're doing great with just working a problem. They're able to divide a whole number by a unit fraction or reverse it, but if I give them a word problem and ask them to write the problem themselves, that's a whole other issue. And number lines? Forget it!
Before our test last week, I decided to take a day to do some reteaching over these two skills. I created a task card mini-kit that we used to help review and practice after the lesson. Overall, it went well. I know I'm a little bit behind here, but I am loving the task cards, and so are my kiddos!
Since this is a mini-kit, there are only 8 cards, which meant that every kid solved every problem during the class period before we checked them. Below you can see one page of the cards.
I also created an answer sheet for this. I've found that if I tell my students to show their work on notebook paper, it's either very disorganized (we're working on this one!) or missing steps or an explanation. An answer sheet with places designated for these parts seems to solve that problem every time.
We took the test the day after this review, and I think it really helped some of my friends who were struggline quite a bit. To download this mini-kit from my TpT store, click on the cover photo above.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Monday Made It
This week's Monday Made It is a freebie. Trying to get ready for the new semester, I wanted to have my kids revisit the ideas of goal setting. Somehow, everything always seems to go so much smoother with a graphic organizer, don't you think?
This is nothing fancy, but it did seem to help my kiddos organize their thoughts and think of reaching their goals in terms of steps along the way that would help them get there.
You can download this freebie from my TPT store at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Aim-for-the-Stars-Goal-Setting-Freebie-1052282.
And if you have any suggestions for creating links from an iPad, and especially for creating them from images, I'd be your best friend if you share :-)
Monday, January 6, 2014
Monday Made It!
SNOW DAY!!!
Well, not exactly. More like "really cold and wet day." Temperatures here will be down to around 5 degrees for the next couple of days, and since the roads are wet, everyone is flipping out, cancelling school, and buying out all the milk and bread the stores can stock.
Sigh. Winter in the South.
For the new year, I'd like to challenge myself.
One of my blogging buddies introduced me to an idea a few years ago that has stuck with me: Instead of creating a New Year's resolution (or even several resolutions) she creates one. Well, I guess she doesn't really create it. She chooses one. One word. That word becomes her theme for the year.
My word for the year: share.
Share more. Share more of my creations. Share more of my time. Share more of my self. Share credit (and blame... tee hee.) Share my thoughts. Just to share.
I think that too often we, and I mean human beings, forget to look outside of ourselves. No? Well, I know I do. My hope is that as I share, it will force me to think about others - how I can help, how I can connect, and how I can sometimes even advocate for those that need someone to share a voice.
I set up a TPT store a while back, and I started this blog, but I never add anything to either. Honestly, I love teaching and I love writing and creating. The thing is, I am still trying to get over a little bit of a fear I have of not creating quality "stuff." I am a little bit of a perfectionist, and I'm always afraid of not measuring up. As a result, when I have tried blogging in the past, I have published, deleted, revised, republished, and then deleted again sooooo many posts. I always end up with nothing to show for my efforts. Even this blog has 10 unpublished drafts right now. But this blog is the perfect place to share so many of my thoughts and creations, so it will be my starting point. I'd also like to share my time, but I'll get to how I plan to do that later. I don't have details quite fleshed out on that one yet.
My goal for this blog is to share at least one "something" a week that I have made or used with my kids. And to get started, I'm going to kick it off by sharing two things: 2 sets of task cards that I've made over Christmas Break and can't wait to use with my kids this week!
My school district has a veryrigid structured pacing guide, which says that we will be doing some fraction review the first few days back. I decided to add some pizzazz to their lesson by making these task cards. As a bonus, when we're finished with the lesson, they'll go into our task card math station! I love when all that hard work leads to something that you can use multiple times! :-)
The other set of task cards (addition and subtraction of unlike fractions) is set up the same way, but includes 20 word problem cards so that not only are students practicing addition and subtraction with fractions, they're also having to apply critical thinking to reason through the word problems.
To purchase either of these task card sets, just click on the cover photo to visit my TPT store.
Did you make any New Resolutions that you'd like to share?
Well, not exactly. More like "really cold and wet day." Temperatures here will be down to around 5 degrees for the next couple of days, and since the roads are wet, everyone is flipping out, cancelling school, and buying out all the milk and bread the stores can stock.
Sigh. Winter in the South.
For the new year, I'd like to challenge myself.
One of my blogging buddies introduced me to an idea a few years ago that has stuck with me: Instead of creating a New Year's resolution (or even several resolutions) she creates one. Well, I guess she doesn't really create it. She chooses one. One word. That word becomes her theme for the year.
My word for the year: share.
Share more. Share more of my creations. Share more of my time. Share more of my self. Share credit (and blame... tee hee.) Share my thoughts. Just to share.
I think that too often we, and I mean human beings, forget to look outside of ourselves. No? Well, I know I do. My hope is that as I share, it will force me to think about others - how I can help, how I can connect, and how I can sometimes even advocate for those that need someone to share a voice.
I set up a TPT store a while back, and I started this blog, but I never add anything to either. Honestly, I love teaching and I love writing and creating. The thing is, I am still trying to get over a little bit of a fear I have of not creating quality "stuff." I am a little bit of a perfectionist, and I'm always afraid of not measuring up. As a result, when I have tried blogging in the past, I have published, deleted, revised, republished, and then deleted again sooooo many posts. I always end up with nothing to show for my efforts. Even this blog has 10 unpublished drafts right now. But this blog is the perfect place to share so many of my thoughts and creations, so it will be my starting point. I'd also like to share my time, but I'll get to how I plan to do that later. I don't have details quite fleshed out on that one yet.
My goal for this blog is to share at least one "something" a week that I have made or used with my kids. And to get started, I'm going to kick it off by sharing two things: 2 sets of task cards that I've made over Christmas Break and can't wait to use with my kids this week!
My school district has a very
Many of these task cards are set up as word problems to reinforce the concept of fractions as division. There are also several cards included that are simple problems to solve or various ways of writing division.
I set up one of the recording sheets so that students would only solve six problems. I've also included a recording sheet that has room for all 24 cards. I don't want to overwhelm my ESOL or Special Needs students, so I may give them the 6 problem sheet copied front and back.
I also included an answer key so that whether we use this set in a group or at a center, it can be self-checking.
The other set of task cards (addition and subtraction of unlike fractions) is set up the same way, but includes 20 word problem cards so that not only are students practicing addition and subtraction with fractions, they're also having to apply critical thinking to reason through the word problems.
Did you make any New Resolutions that you'd like to share?
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
And they're off!
Wow! Between the beginning of a new school year, moving to a new school and setting up my classroom, and oh yeah, did I mention having an 8 month old daughter? My head is constantly swimming in all that I have to do and keep up with.
Breathe. This too shall pass.
With regards to my new digs, I love it! My students face a completely different set of challenges than my students have for the past 7 years, but their challenges are every bit as real and as difficult. I know this may sound odd, but that is one of my favorite parts of teaching - getting to know my kids and seeing what challenges they have that I can try to help them learn to overcome.
The administration is wonderful and very supportive, and I feel like their goal truly is to help their teachers grow to be equipped with the tools to face those challenges.
But my main challenge... well, they can't put more hours in the day, can they?
Sigh. I was afraid that would be a no..
Breathe. This too shall pass.
With regards to my new digs, I love it! My students face a completely different set of challenges than my students have for the past 7 years, but their challenges are every bit as real and as difficult. I know this may sound odd, but that is one of my favorite parts of teaching - getting to know my kids and seeing what challenges they have that I can try to help them learn to overcome.
The administration is wonderful and very supportive, and I feel like their goal truly is to help their teachers grow to be equipped with the tools to face those challenges.
But my main challenge... well, they can't put more hours in the day, can they?
Sigh. I was afraid that would be a no..
Monday, July 29, 2013
New Year, New School, New Blog
My entire seven years of teaching has all been in one school, and as much as I loved my students and coworkers there, when I had my daughter in January, it brought about some major changes in my life. One of those changes was that I no longer found the 40 minute drive to and from work to be my mental preparation/unwinding time, and started to feel like it was another barrier to being with my precious baby. So I left.
It was a very emotional decision, but through the tears, I knew it was what was best for me and for my family at this time. I prayed over it, my husband and I talked about it, but there were no offers from other school districts. There weren't even any calls to schedule interviews.
But I knew.
Somehow, I knew that I was not supposed to return this year.
And then contracts came out, and I was faced with a very big decision.
On the one hand, signing my contract guaranteed me a job, and that security sure did seem important with a sweet baby to care for. And I did love my students. And I did have wonderful coworkers, who I would miss if I left. So maybe this was Heavenly Father's way of showing me that I needed to stay. Maybe the lack of response to my application was my sign that I had misunderstood.
Or maybe not. Maybe this was a test. Or maybe the timing wasn't right. Or maybe I just needed to learn to trust that nagging feeling that kept telling me over and over "Don't sign. This is not where I want you." And the feeling got stronger and stronger, and the voice came to a fever pitch the day contracts were due.
But security won out. Well, security and my husband's rational explanation that not only would signing give me that security, but if I did find something, I could get out of my contract.
So I signed, but still, I knew.
Every time I thought about being back, it just felt wrong. And every time I thought about being somewhere else, I felt a peace that just told me something was on the horizon and to wait a little bit longer.
So a few weeks ago, I was offered a position in the county where I live at a school 15 minutes away with an on-site daycare. It's about 5-10 minutes from where I grew up, and it's my absolute dream position: teaching math and science in 5th grade!
But the strangest part: when I started looking, I just knew this would be the school, regardless of the fact that there are probably 30 elementary schools in the district and 5 of them are closer to me.
Clearly, this is where I'm supposed to be, even if I'm not 100% sure why yet. :-)
It was a very emotional decision, but through the tears, I knew it was what was best for me and for my family at this time. I prayed over it, my husband and I talked about it, but there were no offers from other school districts. There weren't even any calls to schedule interviews.
But I knew.
Somehow, I knew that I was not supposed to return this year.
And then contracts came out, and I was faced with a very big decision.
On the one hand, signing my contract guaranteed me a job, and that security sure did seem important with a sweet baby to care for. And I did love my students. And I did have wonderful coworkers, who I would miss if I left. So maybe this was Heavenly Father's way of showing me that I needed to stay. Maybe the lack of response to my application was my sign that I had misunderstood.
Or maybe not. Maybe this was a test. Or maybe the timing wasn't right. Or maybe I just needed to learn to trust that nagging feeling that kept telling me over and over "Don't sign. This is not where I want you." And the feeling got stronger and stronger, and the voice came to a fever pitch the day contracts were due.
But security won out. Well, security and my husband's rational explanation that not only would signing give me that security, but if I did find something, I could get out of my contract.
So I signed, but still, I knew.
Every time I thought about being back, it just felt wrong. And every time I thought about being somewhere else, I felt a peace that just told me something was on the horizon and to wait a little bit longer.
So a few weeks ago, I was offered a position in the county where I live at a school 15 minutes away with an on-site daycare. It's about 5-10 minutes from where I grew up, and it's my absolute dream position: teaching math and science in 5th grade!
But the strangest part: when I started looking, I just knew this would be the school, regardless of the fact that there are probably 30 elementary schools in the district and 5 of them are closer to me.
Clearly, this is where I'm supposed to be, even if I'm not 100% sure why yet. :-)
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