Summer's Out!

I have been so busy that I haven't been able to make a post but finally, I feel my schedule getting free. I have so much to blog about and I want you to stay tuned so you can read about the following topics:

1. My student's college day presentations
2. Google Classroom-how do you use it?
3. Peer Tutoring/Coaching
4. Region 7 Curriculum Conference


I hope your summer is going great so far! Share with me some of the things you are doing this summer.

One on One Instruction

What does one on one instruction look like in a classroom.  I love doing small groups and one on one instruction in my Math classroom and I find both to be very effective. With a tight schedule and demanding duties, sometimes it can be hard to find time to meet with students one on one but there are so many benefits from it. 

After working in small group with my students, I noticed that there were some who would leave group still needing more help. My first response was, I don't have time to sit down with this child, I have sooo much more to do but I knew this particular child needed more help. After doing several one on one sessions, I saw a difference in this child. He became more open with me and I found out more about his struggles during our one on one session. There are several benefits of one on one instruction. 

1. Uninterrupted individual attention- 

Students love attention and when they are working with the teacher one one one they know they have the teachers undivided attention. During this one on one time, it is important to have some type of classroom schedule and management in place. During this time the other students to be held accountable for some type of work/project that they can do independently or with a group. 

2. Able to get to know the student on a deeper level

During this time teachers can get to students on a level that they might not have the opportunity to in a whole group setting. This is when you can address their strengths and weaknesses without them feeling embarrassed. This student stuttered and he found himself not wanting to speak out during whole group or small group time but he felt more comfortable with me one on one. During this time is when you might find out more than you care to know about them! :) 

3. Less distractions

For students who are easily distracted by others or everything, this is ideal for them! Even in small groups, I have students who get easily distracted and they still miss the concept of what's being discussed. During this one on one time if the student gets distracted, it won't take much for me to get him back on track. 

Blog Launch Giveaway

Finally, my blog launch is here!!! I am new to this and to say thank you for visiting my blog and for all that you do, here's a GOODY giveaway! The giveaway will include these cute pencil paperclips, teacher inspiration bracelet, teacher tumbler cup and this apple ID badge holder. A winner will be chosen on Friday! Thanks so much and spread the word!! Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Balancing Life

 For most of us educators, we juggle more than just running a busy classroom all day. We are  bloggers, some of us are parents,  Grad students, wives,  and even business owners. How do you find our balance? How do you get everything checked off your "to do" list?  How do you keep your "sanity"?  

For me, it is all about organization and mapping everything out. I am a sticky note and notepad queen! I have always been a fan of calendars and planners and although I haven't purchased my EC planner yet, I plan on it in the near future. I have a regular large planner from Walmart that I use and on Sunday evenings, I sit down and my map out my week. I am a single mother of two and both children are active, I am also getting my Masters on top of being a business owner. I truly have to map out every move or else I will be all over the place! As you can see my weekends are already full with my daughters soccer games and my son's basketball schedule and if you notice somebody will be 38 this month! :) But on the inside pages, I write out everyday what I have to do, what assignments I have due in Grad school, who has practice, any orders I need to work on and what we are having for dinner. I live by planner and I totally lost without it! It's not as fancy as some of the others but I plan on getting there! 

I'm getting older and I have to have something to keep me going. I am an advid fan of SPARK! Thank God I have a parent who sells it so that I never run out. I've outgrown these packages and have now moved up to the canister! In the run of a day, I drink two 8 ounce bottles of water with the SPARK and it truly keeps me going. I have moved up to 6 water bottles a day while working which is great for me because I hate water! The last bottle of water I drink with Spark is after lunch which is around 12:45 and it helps me to make it through the rest of my evening. I need to add some type of vitamin to my regimen, I think it would help with my energy. Thank God the school year is almost over but that doesn't mean that to do list will go down! 

Comment and share your thoughts and what you do to keep the balance in your life! 

No Worksheet Wednesdays

This school year my administrator started "No Worksheet Wednesday" and this was for Pre-K through 5th grades. It was a movement to steer teachers away from always using worksheets. I was a little leery of this at first because shouldn't teachers be doing activities and effective teaching everyday? For the teachers that overly abuse worksheets, they are going to feel that this one day they can't use worksheets but it's ok to do them the other days. In my Math classroom I try to always incorporate some kind of activity, movement or team work to engage learning. I will share some that I caught in my classroom and other classrooms this year.

Hot Potato-Prime and Composite Edition
I will post the video that goes with this but my boys in my class wanted to create a fun way to review prime and composite numbers using a football. So they turned "hot potato" into a prime game. I would say a number and they would throw the football for 5 seconds(really fast) and whoever caught it, had to say if that number was prime or composite. If they got it incorrect, they were out. The most interesting part of this game, is the debate or the justification I would hear from them if a student got it incorrect. Once student said 21 was prime and Kaleb(young fellow in the green) immediately said "No, its a composite number because 1x21 and 7x3 are factor pairs. Just because it's an odd number doesn't mean its prime." I thought I had died and gone to teacher heaven!! Studies have shown males to be less enthused about Math than females so to see my students creating games like this just warmed my heart.

Frozen on Ice

Last weekend I took my daughter and a friend to see Disney on Ice at the American Airline Center in Dallas, Texas. I wasn't expecting to be as excited as she was but boy was it fun! They started out with some of the Disney characters skating and then went into the movie Frozen. 

The entire show was amazing! After hearing the song "Let it Go" a million times, I didn't think I could stand to hear it again but I loved it! Everyone in the arena was singing as loud as they could, adults more than the kids. :) My daughter thought she was in heaven!! Frozen toys, Frozen cotton candy, Frozen clothes Frozen everything!! Of course mommy left with empty pockets but the memories are priceless.

Prime and Composite Nightmare

No matter how many songs, chants or tricks I teach my students, they seem to still confuse prime and composite numbers. I teach them the divisibility rules but the most common mistake is they think if its an ODD number, it is automatically prime. With 5th Grade Texas STAAR test being less than a month away, I'm hoping to review this skill through warm up, exit slips and homework to give them more practice.

One of the main issues I notice when teaching prime/composite numbers is the lack of fluency with their math facts. Students in 5th grade should be fluent up to their 12's but I have students who still struggle with 8's and 9's. I know teachers think teaching them finger tricks works but I have an "old school" way of thinking and I think it boils down to memorization. I have a daily center where students can go and study and drill each other on Math facts. The more fluent the students are with their facts, the better their understanding will be when it comes to knowing their factors. What are some strategies you use in your classroom?