101 Websites!

It's way past my bed time and I really should be sleeping, being it's so close to Christmas and everything... However, I HAD to post this. I found this list of 101 websites every elementary teacher should know about. 

http://www.goedonline.com/101-websites-for-elementary-teachers

Now I don't want to discriminate against middle school teachers, so I decided to check some of these websites out for myself. I think that middle school teachers can easily use these too! I've used the #1 website before to help me with homework in high school actually, so in theory, all teachers can use these!

I really love this list and I hope you find it helpful!

Enjoy!

p.s. Be sure to check out all of the links at the top of this page! I've been adding new stuff for weeks, and since I'm on Christmas break, I'll be updating it even more! Check it out!

No More Name Tags!

While perusing Pinterest this morning, I found this great idea for an alternative to having the name tags on the desks in my future classroom. The teacher on this blog says that she hates the name tags because students pick at them, peel them up, and at the end of the year they're a pain to clean off. This is her solution:

They're Sharpie paint pens, and they come in a ton of colors. She just writes the names of her students on their desks, then at the end of the year, colors over them with an Expo marker, and wipes the names right off! I have to admit, I'm a little skeptical about how well they'll wipe off, however, the other teachers on her blog that commented on this post seemed to be thrilled with the results. If this works, it could be used for sight words, spelling words, and more!

These pictures and this idea all came from:

 http://timeoutsandtootsierolls.blogspot.ca/2012/11/no-more-name-plates.html

I encourage you to check out her blog, she has some fantastic ideas!!!

Enjoy!

Fractions can be fun!

I hope everyone is having a great exam week, or work week, or just a great week in general! I decided to share a fun idea that I saw recently that I really liked. While volunteering at Farwell Middle School, I saw this poster in one of the classrooms. The poster shows a demonstration for adding fractions. It says: "Only when the bottoms are the same can you add or subtract. It then shows that since there are jeans on the bottom, and since they're the same, you can add the tops. The first shirt is yellow, the second is white with polka dots, so adding them gives you the third which is yellow with polka dots. 

I really liked this visual to help students to learn! I hope that you find this creative and helpful as well!

Enjoy!

What Teachers Make

Teachers are too often criticized for choosing a career where they work very hard and have little to show for it monetarily. However, I for one am proud to be a future educator. This video encompasses everything that I love about this profession so far, and I hope I can be as inspirational as Taylor someday. 

Enjoy!

Nifty Name Tag

http://kindergartenfever.blogspot.com/

So today I have a simple post for you, but I think this is a GREAT idea! Being in a classroom during 2 fire drills makes me realize how awesome this would be, especially in the beginning when you're learning names! Just tape a class list to the back of your name tag and use it for reference during a fire drill, tornado drill, attendance, etc. So awesome, and simple! 

Enjoy!

Big Heart... Little Minds

This quote was something I found while patrolling Pinterest. I firmly believe this quote and I hope that as educators or future educators, you do too!

This post may not be as exciting as the others, but it's a simple post that is an announcement of a bunch of new posts that I've added this week! Be sure to check out all of my new pages to see TONS of creative ideas! More to come soon!

Enjoy!

Common Core Standards

Alright, alright. So first of all I know it's been a while since I've posted on here. But as you know, everyone's life gets busy! That is an understatement for me. Not only am I in class or doing homework all the time, but I'm also in marching band, and it's FOOTBALL season, so that means that I get to watch my brother play on the varsity team as well as watch U of M, the Lions, and of course CMU. BUT, enough excuses...

Today I have a useful link to share with everyone. I found this while perusing Pinterest. (Of course!)
http://omsd.omsd.k12.ca.us/departments/lss/standards/Pages/standards.aspx


This link provides -as the picture suggests- a kid-friendly version of the common core standards. These standards are very controversial among teachers and future teachers alike. However, for most of us it's the new reality so we might as well get used to it. This site is great! It provides PDF versions of the common core standards for English/Language Arts, as well as Math, and Spanish. They're broken down by grade which makes it very easy to find what you're looking for. Then when you open the document, you can read the list just as easily as the students can.

This website is a useful resource for students, teachers, and parents alike! It takes a topic that can be confusing, and makes it easy to understand. It's great for parents because it helps them know what their kids should be learning, so they can assist if their kids get behind, or maybe talk to the teacher if they have concerns.

I hope you all find this link as useful as I did!

Enjoy!

p.s. If you want any other help with Math or English ideas, feel free to click the words and follow the links to my Math ideas page, and English ideas page!

Back to School!

Well it's that wonderful time of year again! That's right, back to school!

I've already been in classes for three weeks now and I can't tell you how much I'm loving it. This semester I'm taking classes that are preparing me to teach the core subjects, and it's really exciting. I'm also going to be spending some time in the classroom!!! So hopefully some of the things I share with you will be pertinent and interesting.

The first thing I want to share this school year is memories from my elementary years that could give you ideas for your future classroom.



One of the first memories (and many thereafter) I have is from second grade. My teacher was so awesome because he always did so many different hands-on activities that made everything more interesting. I remember doing a dinosaur unit, and we actually went into the sand box on the playground and dug for fossils (wooden dinosaur bones). Then we had to identify them based on what we knew about dinosaurs.

Another thing I remember from second grade is doing a space unit. Every year, my teacher would have his class make paper mache planets to hang in the hallway. His first year teaching he had the students make a little tiny planet for Mercury, then the next year made Venus, and so on. When it was my second grade year, it was time to make Jupiter. We were so excited because it was the big planet, plus we got to make the rings! We spent hours putting on paper mache, painting, and attaching the rings. We were so proud to finally display it in the hallway with the others.

The last thing I'll share for today is something that I did, you guessed it, in second grade. We were learning about metamorphosis and I remember my teacher telling me that this was everyone's favorite subject to learn about. Why? Because we got to raise our own butterflies! We each got our own caterpillar in a little container, and each day we would have to make observations about it. Soon it made it's little cocoon and my teacher moved it into a box where we could watch it hatch. A few weeks later, we started to see one by one the butterflies emerge. Each time one would come out, we would release it into our net that we had set up in the classroom. Then eventually they all were flying around in the classroom. I remember going into the net area and looking at all the beautiful butterflies and being so amazed that they were all once caterpillars.

These memories were all ones from over 10 years ago. I still remember them because my teacher was so wonderful. He had a passion for every subject he taught, and it showed. I can honestly say that he was one of my favorite teachers of all time. I only hope that I can be that teacher someday, and that someone will look back and say how much they loved being in my classroom.

Enjoy!

Straws? How about pencils!

This handy little thing is something I found on a website called Etsy. If you've never heard of it, check it out! It's a website full of ideas of things that people make, so cool!

This particular idea is an old straw dispenser turned into a pencil dispenser. It's a fun decoration for the classroom and something that can also be useful. I would even decorate it more with paint or stickers. It's better than a huge cup full of pencils that can get knocked over! Here's a picture ----->


I hope you like this! Be sure to check out all the other fun things on Etsy!


Here is the link for this product:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/94380891/old-pencil-dispenser-turned-into-a

Enjoy!

Yummy sand?

You guessed it! Edible sand! I know this isn't educational, but after all, it's SUMMER! This yummy desert is made with vanilla pudding, vanilla wafers, and a few other ingredients.

Here is the recipe:

1 pkg Vanilla Wafers
3 or 4 Oreos
8 oz Cream Cheese
1/4 C Butter
2/3 C powdered sugar
2 small pkgs French Vanilla pudding mix
2 3/4 C Milk
12 oz Cool Whip

Crush Oreos and Vanilla Wafers in a food processor.  In a separate bowl, cream together softened 8 oz cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar. In another bowl, mix pudding with milk.  Add to cream cheese mixture.  Fold in cool whip.  Layer into buckets with sand, pudding, sand etc. 

This is so easy, and is so fun for summer! You can even serve it in a bucket like in this picture!

If you want more pictures, have questions, or want to know more, visit this website:
http://manouvellemode.blogspot.com/2011/08/sand-pudding.html

Enjoy!

Are you a bucket filler?

Have you filled a bucket today?

Tonight's post is about a book that was read to me in one of my education classes. I think it is a WONDERFUL example of what children should learn not only in the classroom but at home as well. This book is called: "Have you filled a bucket today?" by Carol McCloud. The book talks about how everyone has a bucket, and when we do nice things for people, or say nice things to them or about them, we fill their buckets. However, if we do or say mean things, then we empty their buckets. Moral of the story of course being, be a bucket filler. There are so many adorable activities to go with this book. Some can be found at this website: http://www.bucketfillers101.com/ So cute! 

If you get the chance to read/buy this book, you should! It's a great teaching tool and a wonderful lesson to teach your own kids! 

Enjoy!

Photo credit: http://ericksonskindergarten.blogspot.com/2011/11/have-you-filled-bucket-today.html

Happy Summer!

Hello avid readers :)

This post has been a long time coming... I apologize for the lapse in posts, however, I AM going to be better about posting things! To make up for it, today I am going to post a couple of things. I hope you enjoy them!


The first is an idea that I remember my third grade teacher using. He turned an ordinary Jenga game, into a learning opportunity. What you had to do was, on your turn, someone took a Jenga block from the tower like normal. Except this time, if you successfully got the block out, then you would have to read the state then you had to say the capital. The capitals were on the opposite side of the block so you could check your answer.


This particular idea I found is the same idea except with multiplication Jenga. Here is the link:
http://www.theorganizedclassroomblog.com/index.php/blog/turning-noneducational-games-into-learning-fun

If you follow it, you can see this game, get the templates, and even find other ideas for turning regular games into educational ones!



My second post is a game that I learned at the summer camp I'm working at! This can be a fun outdoor game, or just a game in the classroom to get the kids up and moving. It's called riverbank. Have the kids stand on a line, tell them that to the left of the line is the river, and the right of the line is the bank. You then shout out words like: river, bank, hank, sliver, etc. When you say river, they hop with both feet over to the left (the river side) then if you say bank, they hop to the other side. You can repeat words, alternate them and even change the speed. If a student jumps to the wrong side, or if they mess up, they're out. We usually let the kids who get out be the judges, just so they're still engaged. 

It's a fun game and it's secretly a cardio workout too! The kids will love it, trust me! Plus you can use it with pretty much any age. We play with 5-12 year olds and they all play very well.

I hope you found these games to be something helpful for you :)

Enjoy!

Photo credits: 
http://www.theorganizedclassroomblog.com/index.php/blog/turning-noneducational-games-into-learning-fun
http://www.steeplemorden.cambs.sch.uk/steeple/pupils/year4.php

Now I know my ABC's

I found this this morning on Pinterest. I looked over it and thought it was so adorable! I hope that you can all enjoy this as much as I do. Hopefully you can use this in teaching or even in parenting!

Enjoy!

ABC Order!

http://mrsmorrowskindergarteners.blogspot
.com/2011/03/popcorn-word-activities.html

While patrolling Pinterest today I saw this awesome idea to have kids practice putting things in alphabetical order. All you do is write the words on clothespins, then give them a ruler, tell them to put them in order by clipping the clothes pins to the ruler in order! So cute, easy, and educational!


Enjoy!

Happy May!

Believe it or not, the month of May is upon us, and for this day, I decided to post a beautiful picture that is my inspiration to become a teacher. 

This child has down syndrome, but yet look at that smile! This picture is proof that children with special needs are no different than other kids. They smile, laugh, and play, just maybe a little differently. This picture is such an inspiration to me as a future educator, because I hope that one day, I will be the one responsible for a smile like this. To see a child succeed will no doubt be the best part of my job. I can't wait until I make that happen.

I hope this picture put a smile on your face!

Enjoy!

Photo credit: http://teaching.monster.com/benefits/articles/2073-special-education-an-introduction-for-new-teachers 

Food for thought...

Sorry it's been a while since I posted, it's getting close to exams and the fact that I should be studying is overwhelming, yet here I am. :)

I'm going to keep this one short because I think it speaks for itself. I recently heard this quote from one of my teachers. It was my Education of Children teacher. She said:

"Whoever holds the hand of a child, holds the heart of a mother..."

I'm not sure who said this quote, but I think it's awesome. I'll let this quote speak for itself.

-Enjoy!!

Learn Today Teach Tomorrow

So on the lovely campus of CMU, we host a special day just for future teachers. It is a wonderful conference that allows us to learn about being a better teacher, but also gives us a chance to meet other people that share our passion. Central invites people from our campus, as well as other campuses around the state to attend for just a small fee. It is from 8am-3pm on a Saturday and there is a keynote speaker, then you choose 4 sessions from the booklet that you want to go to.

Each participant receives a certificate as well as lunch, and a t-shirt. And who doesn't want another t-shirt? It's great because you can go to specialty workshops for your major, or check out any workshop you want!

This is my first year going, and I can honestly say it was a valuable experience not only for my future job, but also for my resume. Any opportunity like this one is a great one to take advantage of. I attended the following four sections:

Musical Ideas for the Classroom - presented by Kathy Wheeler
Finding a job - presented by Mark Moody
The new teacher preparation kit - presented by Lucas Foster & Greg Decourval
How to get and keep families involved in your program - presented by Mari Potter & Charlotte Galgoci


These were all valuable opportunities. I plan to post things that I learned from each of them throughout the rest of this month.

The fact that I want to share today is from professor Mark Moody. He is one of my professors, he teaches classroom management for special education. He is a wonderful teacher and is very knowledgeable. His presentation was about how to get a job:

For teachers it's important to have a portfolio when you go to an interview. The portfolio should include anything (besides babysitting) that involves children, especially volunteer experience. For questions about what else to include, ask your education department at your university or talk to an advisor. You could even go so far as to call the school and ask what they're looking for specifically. It doesn't matter how long it is, but make sure it's enough to show off how awesome you are, but not too long to overwhelm the interviewer. It is also important to make references to your portfolio during the interview when answering some questions.

A well done portfolio can give you that little extra lift that gets you hired. On the flip side, it can also be that one thing that loses the job for you. So make sure everything in your portfolio is important, spell checked, and personal. Leave your portfolio behind after an interview (unless specifically instructed to do differently) that way you can go back and pick it up later to make contact with your potential employer once again. This gives you a chance to ask any questions that may have come up since the interview. It's these small things that can make all the difference in the interview process.

Moral of the story is, make a portfolio and MAKE IT COUNT!

I hope this is helpful information! Stay tuned for more information about my experience at the LTTT conference. If you want more information right now, visit their website:

http://www.lttt.org/index.html

Enjoy!

Special Education

Alright, so as I post this, I have to warn you that it may seem a little biased... After all, I am a special education major. However, I feel that this is important to everyone going into education because you will all work with special education students.

So today we had a presentation in one of my classes by a woman named Susan Egan. She is the Teacher Consultant of Special Education at Novi school district. She basically talks to teachers and gives them advice, she also helps out with IEP (individualized education plan) meetings for students with special needs.

Some things that she mentioned that I thought were important I listed below:

• See what's going on with the student- are they bored? tired? lonely? sad?
• Is behavior a problem? Is the student trying?
• Occam's Razor: "Other things being equal, a simpler explanation is better than a more complex one"  - When you hear hoff beats, think horses, not zebras
• Take all sources of information into account like (what is the home language? What other schools (if any) have the students attended?  What is the student's health history? What are the student's previous test scores? What is the student's attendance?
• All of these affect student's performance
• People to talk to about the student:
• Parent(s)
• Previous teachers
• Specials Teachers (they see the student in a different way than you do)
• Child Care program
• Office staff
• Other support staff
• THE CHILD!
• Don't teach the textbook, teach the kid
• If they can't learn the way we teach, teach the way they learn

These are just a few examples of what we can do as teachers/parents. She is a great resource and one day I hope to be a teacher like that.

She gave us this website: www.http://www.oercommons.org/ to look at for free resources. From what I've looked at so far, it's awesome.

So I left out some of the special education stuff that maybe I'll post later. But for now, look over these tips and remember them!

Enjoy!

All the preceding information is from a presentation created by Susan Egan, it is her work and I give her credit. If you use this information for anything, I ask that you do the same. 

Photo credit: http://spectrum.mit.edu/articles/normal/campaign-for-students-enters-final-year/

Why animals need blubber

I remember doing this experiment in 2nd grade. That was over 12 years ago and I still remember. This involves getting an aquarium (or other large container) of ice water, then 3 plastic ziploc bags. (the bigger ones work best) Then having students put their hand in a plan ziploc bag and tape it around their hand. Then fill one bag with shortening, make sure it would be enough to completely surround a hand. Then put another bag into the one with shortening (so their hands aren't in the shortening exactly) Then tape that bag around their other wrist.

Have the student simotaniously put their hands into the ice water. Ask them to tell you which one is warmer. They should report that the one with the shortening or "blubber" is warmer. Then you can tie it to a science lesson about why some arctic animals need blubber. It's a great experiment that gives students the hands on learning that they truly need!

For a full list of instructions/supplies visit this link:
http://octopus.gma.org/surfing/antarctica/blubber.html

Enjoy!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Top O' The mornin' everyone!

No, I'm not Irish, but in the spirit of this Irish holiday, I thought I'd share a St. Patricks day craft for the kiddos (or us older kids.) This little treat involves the fudge stripe cookies from Keebler (or any cookie that you like that's bigger in a diameter than a marshmallow), marshmallows, and chocolate. First melt the chocolate then dip the marshmallows (however many you're going to use) completely in the melted chocolate. While the chocolate is still wet, set the marshmallow on top of the cookie. When it's dry, decorate with green icing, or just eat! This could also be good for pilgrims hats at Thanksgiving. Enjoy!

Kids Panel

Hey there!

So today I had a special opportunity to have a group of kids ages ranging from kindergarten - fifth grade come to our school. They sat in the front of the class and were asked questions by our group of future teachers. We were allowed to ask them anything (within reason) to help us become better teachers. So I wanted to share a few things I learned from the kids with you all. Here we go.

What do you like about your teachers?
       -"She's nice"
       -"She's funny"

What is your hardest subect in school and why?
       -"Math because story problems are hard to figure out"
       -"Math because I don't get it"
       - "Math, I don't like it"
       - "Writing because I don't know what to write about"

What kinds of books do you guys like to read?
        - "Chapter books"
        -"Magic Treehouse books"
        -"Mystery books"
        - "Chapter books"
        - "Picture books"

What does your teacher do to make you feel specail?
        -"Spends one-on-one time with us"
        -"Asks us about our day"

Have you had any special needs students in your class? And if so, what do you do to include them?
        -"We do peer-to-peer work so we include them and play with them on recess and we calm them    down if they get mad"

What do you do first thing in the morning on a school day?
         -"We like to start things right away"
         -"We do daily math packets"
         -"We read"

Do you like to work as a whole class or in groups?
           -"A whole class because we don't have to have things repeated"
           -"A whole class because when friends work together they talk and don't work"

Is there bullying in your school, if so what do you do to stop it?
           -"Unfortunately yes, but if I see it I tell at teacher and try to stop it"
           -"Not really"
           -"Nope"

What do you do in between activities?
           -"Read"

What are the rules in your classroom and what happens if you break them?
           -"Be honest"
           -"We get cards switched, everyone starts out green then if they misbehave they go to yellow which is a warning, orange is losing 5 minutes of recess, and red is silent lunch, no recess, and call home"
            -"We have to write a behavior plan, and trust me you don't want to write a behavior plan"

How are you rewarded in your class for good behavior or grades?
           -"By getting 100% on math packets we get math tickets and win prizes every week"

Do you like it when teachers go to events at the school?
           -"Yes I really like it"
           -"Yes"
           -"Kinda it makes me nervous"

Do teachers give you a chance to talk about your own life?
           -"Yes on Monday we get to talk about our weekends"
           -"No but I wish we did"

What advice would you give all these future teachers?
           -"Watch out"
           -"Be kind"
           -"Don't have lots of substitutes because your kids will goof off"
           -"Watch out for bugs"

What else did I learn?

•  Let kids move around the classroom, don't stick them at their desks
• Let them choose their own partners (at least sometimes)
• Be understading, loyal, nice, kind, and not strict

I hope this is helpful or at least funny. Enjoy!

Counting Pies

I love this activity for the classroom! This teacher just took cut outs of pies, and then wrote numbers on them. She gave the students a tub of Cool Whip that was filled with cotton
balls. The kids got to use ice cream scoops to put the right amount of whipped cream on the pies. So cute! This could be done with ice cream too. This is a great idea. Enjoy!

Venn Diagrams

So I love this idea. It uses hula hoops and cards that the teacher made. I think in this example it is comparing books, but this could be a great activity for anything! This is great because the kids can do it on their own as a quiet activity, or they can work in groups. I can definitely see this activity popping up in my future classroom!

Enjoy!

Ladybug Math

Fun idea for the kiddies:

Make ladybugs with different numbers in them and draw the dots to math the numbers! This way the kids learn how to count the dots, then they can visually see how it matches the number. So cute :)

Enjoy!