Please share pictures and decorating ideas for my classroom. I will post before pictures soon as well as what I have been able to accomplish thus far. I NEED HELP & INSPIRATION!
Friday, September 28, 2012
Vistaprint
I am in LOVE with Vistaprint. I really liked Vistaprint before, but now I am in LOVE! Through the use of RetailMeNot (a site that provides you with discount codes and offers) and the amazing Vistaprint, I just ordered 6 classroom posters (size LARGE - 24" x 36") and 250 business cards for only $64. The original total for this order was $150. I can not wait for them to arrive! Pictures coming soon...
I have also fallen in love with the cute pennant banners (hot pink and lime green, of course - $3/9 feet) and the pom-pom banner that is on sale right now at Oriental Trading ($4.99/9 feet)! I have also ordered personalized hot pink pencils for my desk! I am super PUMPED! I need to find tissue paper cheap (in hot pink and lime green) soon to make those awesome tissue paper balls that have been all over Pinterest and the School Girl Style blog!
Please share pictures and decorating ideas for my classroom. I will post before pictures soon as well as what I have been able to accomplish thus far. I NEED HELP & INSPIRATION!
Please share pictures and decorating ideas for my classroom. I will post before pictures soon as well as what I have been able to accomplish thus far. I NEED HELP & INSPIRATION!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
STEM Resources & Recent Finds
Hello all...
I am so very sorry that I have not posted anything since I was hired. As most of you can imagine, I have been SWAMPED moving classrooms, redecorating, reorganizing, learning all the ins and outs of a new school, creating lesson plans and materials, and developing the curriculum for the course. In addition to just barely keeping my head above water professionally, I have had lots going on at home in terms of travel, company, and wrapping up summer projects. ANYWAY...
I absolutely adore my new job. It is a lot of work, but the best decision I ever made! I miss my kids at my previous school, but I love the faculty, opportunities, and content I teach here. I have two things to post today - some recent finds from the other blogs I follow and what I have taught so far in class.
Future units include some DefinedSTEM activities like their restaurant project and baseball sweet spot assignment. I am also planing a Green Building unit in which the students watch a previously recorded webinar I found through the Siemen's STEM Academy. With the FOSS Science Kits, I hope to do a unit on inventors and include Rube Goldburg machines and Henry Ford. Everything is still very much a work in progress so resources of any kind are greatly appreciated.
I am so very sorry that I have not posted anything since I was hired. As most of you can imagine, I have been SWAMPED moving classrooms, redecorating, reorganizing, learning all the ins and outs of a new school, creating lesson plans and materials, and developing the curriculum for the course. In addition to just barely keeping my head above water professionally, I have had lots going on at home in terms of travel, company, and wrapping up summer projects. ANYWAY...
I absolutely adore my new job. It is a lot of work, but the best decision I ever made! I miss my kids at my previous school, but I love the faculty, opportunities, and content I teach here. I have two things to post today - some recent finds from the other blogs I follow and what I have taught so far in class.
RECENT FINDS
- FREE POSTERS -Krissy Venosdale (Venspired) has created and uploaded 154 educational and motivational posters to Flickr for teachers to use in their classroom. Jennifer Runde (of Runde's Room) recently blogged about how she had many of Krissy's posters printed through Vistaprint to hang in her classroom. Vistaprint also allows for you to design your own posters, which Jennifer did, to have printed as well. The price isn't too awful, $14.99 for a large poster and that includes the 25% new customer discount, but I plan on shopping some other sites before I make my decision. I will keep you posted...
- Top Educational Apps - This blog is exactly as it sounds. It shares and rates educational applications for iPads and other devices. This will be VERY handy when purchasing apps for my iPads. (If ANY of my readers have ANY suggestions for educational applications for 7th grade students, PLEASE SHARE!)
- School Girl Style - Great ideas for classroom themes and decorations. I probably won't buy from Melanie, but I will def. follow her creative classroom mind! Check out the Classroom Couture, Lemon Chiffon in all its glory at my cousin's blog - Teaching in the Mitten. Courtney has done a phenomenal job decorating her new 4th grade classroom!
STEM RESOURCES
- Rubik's Cube - You Can Do the Cube! - I blogged about this site previously. I loved this lesson plan! I was slightly concerned that the students would end up spending many many days coloring and cutting out cubes. This was not the case AT ALL! The students were much more interested in being engineers and had their materials prepped in a day or less so they could devote the majority of the week to making their cube move.
- The Wonderous Windmill - K'NEX education kits come with free lesson plans or you can create a free educator account with K'NEX to access their free lesson plans. I am in the process of completing this unit with my students. The Construction Conundrum was SO MUCH FUN! Only one student could look at the directions and then they were responsible for reporting back to their group and only sharing the directions verbally. The goal of this activity was communication. Today the students worked with completed windmills to find a way to measure efficiency. Without ANY help from me, EVERY group of students was able to come up with their own way of measuring RPMs. WOW!
- KidWind: Windwise Curriculum - This is a FREE curriculum to educators. I printed out many of the lessons and plan on spending the weekend finding ways to expand my current windmill unit!
Future units include some DefinedSTEM activities like their restaurant project and baseball sweet spot assignment. I am also planing a Green Building unit in which the students watch a previously recorded webinar I found through the Siemen's STEM Academy. With the FOSS Science Kits, I hope to do a unit on inventors and include Rube Goldburg machines and Henry Ford. Everything is still very much a work in progress so resources of any kind are greatly appreciated.
Friday, August 10, 2012
I got the job!
If you haven't noticed, the name and address for my blog has changed. I was recently hired as a 7th grade Math Applications & Foundations teacher at a neighboring school district. I am THRILLED! Essentially this is a STEM position. I am to teach the entire 7th grade about STEM through real-world projects! How awesome is that!?!?! The district has purchased a number of laptops and iPads for me to use, as well as a variety of K'NEX kits and FOS Science Kits. As I head off for vacation soon, my hubby will find quite a few of these new "toys" in our vehicle to play with over our vacation.
The reason I adjusted my blog is so that I can focus primarily on what I am teaching in terms of STEM projects and the activities I come across in my search for materials. I will still be posting cool math stuff and general classroom ideas, but the focus will be on the integration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through project-based learning assignments. Stay tuned for links and rubrics for projects I plan on using. School starts August 27th, so I do not have a lot of time...
The reason I adjusted my blog is so that I can focus primarily on what I am teaching in terms of STEM projects and the activities I come across in my search for materials. I will still be posting cool math stuff and general classroom ideas, but the focus will be on the integration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through project-based learning assignments. Stay tuned for links and rubrics for projects I plan on using. School starts August 27th, so I do not have a lot of time...
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Teacher Binder
I won't lie to you...
Despite my reputation as being well organized and color-coded, my teacher binder is VERY ghetto. I hate it and rarely use it the way I intended for it to be used. So, since I have seen TONS of blog posts on improving the teacher binder, I have decided to revamp mine!
I have started by creating a calendar for the school year and typing in the meetings and vacation days I am currently aware of (I should know more that first week of school and will add them as needed.) This was simple enough and I didn't do anything fancy. Next I created printable forms to either type or hand-write notes from faculty meetings and team leader meetings. (That is right, I am a team leader this year. I need to be prepared to bring my 'A' game!) Then I created a weekly scope. This document spans two pages and includes the days of the week and the three classes I will be teaching this year (Regular Math, Social Studies. and Honors Math.) Last I created a weekly parent communication form. I am undecided on this form. I have always kept a running record for the school year on my computer, and not a handwritten form for each week. Thoughts?
Seeing that I have done enough for one night, I will revisit my parent meeting form at another time. I am hoping that by creating printable forms that I find easy to use, either on the computer or in print form, I will be able to manage all of the documentation I am required to keep. While this process will probably require more paper and be slightly more time consuming in the beginning, I hope that it creates a more reliable and organized resource for me to use.
(My intent was to include links, but nothing uploaded properly to GoogleDocs. I will try to get everything up soon.)
What forms can't you live without? Please share links and ideas!!!
Despite my reputation as being well organized and color-coded, my teacher binder is VERY ghetto. I hate it and rarely use it the way I intended for it to be used. So, since I have seen TONS of blog posts on improving the teacher binder, I have decided to revamp mine!
I have started by creating a calendar for the school year and typing in the meetings and vacation days I am currently aware of (I should know more that first week of school and will add them as needed.) This was simple enough and I didn't do anything fancy. Next I created printable forms to either type or hand-write notes from faculty meetings and team leader meetings. (That is right, I am a team leader this year. I need to be prepared to bring my 'A' game!) Then I created a weekly scope. This document spans two pages and includes the days of the week and the three classes I will be teaching this year (Regular Math, Social Studies. and Honors Math.) Last I created a weekly parent communication form. I am undecided on this form. I have always kept a running record for the school year on my computer, and not a handwritten form for each week. Thoughts?
Seeing that I have done enough for one night, I will revisit my parent meeting form at another time. I am hoping that by creating printable forms that I find easy to use, either on the computer or in print form, I will be able to manage all of the documentation I am required to keep. While this process will probably require more paper and be slightly more time consuming in the beginning, I hope that it creates a more reliable and organized resource for me to use.
(My intent was to include links, but nothing uploaded properly to GoogleDocs. I will try to get everything up soon.)
What forms can't you live without? Please share links and ideas!!!
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Educational Discounts
Teachers are some of the savviest shoppers! Over the last few years I have found a number of places more than willing to help teachers. Below a a few of my favorite places where teachers can register for or request a teacher discount simply by flashing that gorgeous teacher ID badge/card we all carry!
I have read that Banana Republic offers a 10% discount, but when I go to the store near me, they do not honor a teacher discount.
In addition to these discounts, I still look for coupons by using a free app called, CouponSherpa. It is easily downloaded through the App Store. More often than not, stores will accept coupons from your smart phone. So, while waiting in line to check-out, search for coupons or coupon codes that can be used in store! PLEASE share any additional places or websites that offer teachers significant savings! These are just a few of my favorites!!!
Supplies:
- Michael's - 15% off your purchase (@ my store I can NOT combine this with other coupons, but the cashiers are usually happy to allow you to make multiple transactions.)
- A.C. Moore - 15% off your purchase (SAA)
- Staples - 15% off
- OfficeMAX - Spend $75 and get a $10 gift certificate using your Perks card (they also send out a LOT of 25% off your entire purchase coupons)
- Lakeshore Learning - 15% off your purchase PLUS they send you some great coupons
- Barnes & Nobles - 20% off
- The Container Store - 10% off
- JoAnn Fabric - 15% off
Clothing:
- Anne Taylor LOFT - 15% off your entire purchase
- J. Crew - 15% off your entire purchase
I have read that Banana Republic offers a 10% discount, but when I go to the store near me, they do not honor a teacher discount.
In addition to these discounts, I still look for coupons by using a free app called, CouponSherpa. It is easily downloaded through the App Store. More often than not, stores will accept coupons from your smart phone. So, while waiting in line to check-out, search for coupons or coupon codes that can be used in store! PLEASE share any additional places or websites that offer teachers significant savings! These are just a few of my favorites!!!
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Teaching in the Mitten
My cousin recently started her own educational blog to share her ideas and classroom projects. Courtney is a fantastic educator and someone worth following! She is sure to post creative resources and helpful links. If you have an educational blog that would be worth following, share your link or button below!!!
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| ~ Teaching in the Mitten ~ |
Monday, July 16, 2012
Rubik's Cube STEM Lesson
Sorry for the long stretches between posts, my summer has been consumed with projects around the house (thanks Pinterest) and making more learning centers for my classroom (I promise to post pictures!) Today is my 2 year anniversary and I FINALLY have time to share an AMAZING resource I recently stumbled upon.
You CAN Do The Rubik's Cube is a teacher resource for integrating the Rubik's Cube into the classroom. Seeing that I am a math teacher with a vested interest in STEM education, I immediately feel in love with the STEM Middle School Rubik's Cube unit. The entire unit encompasses Common Core standards in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is a fascinating unit that pushes students to think outside of the cube through a project-based learning (PBL) approach. Through PBL the teacher acts as a guide to student learning, not a leader. Most of the activities require teachers to activate prior knowledge and work with the small groups on not just solving the Rubik's Cube, but breaking it down into its most basic parts and then building their own 3 X 3 Rubik's Cube. You CAN Do The Rubik's Cube also offers units at the Elementary and High School levels as well as more advanced engineering and math lesson plans - STEM Lessons. I can't wait to share this with my students this coming school year!
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| Taken from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Rubik%27s_cube.svg/480px-Rubik%27s_cube.svg.png |
You CAN Do The Rubik's Cube is a teacher resource for integrating the Rubik's Cube into the classroom. Seeing that I am a math teacher with a vested interest in STEM education, I immediately feel in love with the STEM Middle School Rubik's Cube unit. The entire unit encompasses Common Core standards in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is a fascinating unit that pushes students to think outside of the cube through a project-based learning (PBL) approach. Through PBL the teacher acts as a guide to student learning, not a leader. Most of the activities require teachers to activate prior knowledge and work with the small groups on not just solving the Rubik's Cube, but breaking it down into its most basic parts and then building their own 3 X 3 Rubik's Cube. You CAN Do The Rubik's Cube also offers units at the Elementary and High School levels as well as more advanced engineering and math lesson plans - STEM Lessons. I can't wait to share this with my students this coming school year!
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