Aim to Be Awesome, Not Perfect

This week I am hoping to incorporate more inquiry in my lessons, specificially in my onlevel classes. This week we are learning about circumference and area of circles, and rather than just teach them the formulas, I thought it would be more meaningful for them to actually experience it.  It is also a great unit to read some story books - like  Sir Cumference and the First Round Table . Tuesday's plan is to read them the book to help with vocabulary and then have them work on an activity that has them examining the relationship of the circumference and diameter using yarn, and then measuring the diameter with a ruler to estimate the circumference.  I got it from For the Love of Teaching Math , but I can't find the actual file, which is why I haven't linked it.  There are similar activities in her store. I think the story will help with recall of circle vocabulary and by seeing that a little more than 3 diameters make the circumference will make this "stick"...

I should blog more... I know it is a good reflection practice and I feel like a struggling teacher again. But finding time to write and topics to discuss is hard.  But the best way to get back on this metaphorical horse is to just write. My #oneword for 2016 is BALANCE. Looking back, I feel like I didn't have a lot of balance in my life this year.  During the school year, I was all work.  Summer, I was all about being a bum.  I only remember reading 2 books this year... and for me, that is shocking.  I usually read at least 10 books a year (it was way more when I wasn't a teacher).  I have a list a mile long of projects I want to complete in my home - but none have been accomplished in the last 6 months. So this year, I will be more about balance.  I will not be 100% immersed in work but I will also not be a total 100% bum. I will accomplish more on my long-term lists.  I will actually start exercising. I will work on being balanced. Wha...

My youngest daughter is addicted to YouTube videos.  Usually she watches Minecraft videos or silly cat videos.  But last night she wanted to show me something she found. We sat down and she told me to search "ted ed riddles". I know about Ted Talks,  but this was something new to me.  She shared three of them with me. These are awesome! We paused them so I could attempt to solve them before we watched the solution.   I can see using them as warm-ups in my math classes or as an activity in my intervention class.  There are even more videos by Ted-Ed  that you can create lessons with.  This just shows you can learn something from somewhere you least expect it! 

Today my instructional coach came in and commented positively on my anchor charts. Doing/having them are a goal of mine this year and so it was nice to hear. I have been referencing them and creating them with the students, and I think that students are utilizing them.  I am trying to keep them from having too much information or being too busy. Here are some of them:

At the beginning of the year, we all have grand ideas about all the new, amazing, awesome things we are going to implement in our classroom.  Or is that just me? I saw something cool on RockStar Math Teacher's blog - seriously, you should check her out.  She posted at the beginning of August about some great things she implements and I really love the team talk idea.  So I borrowed her team stars for my room, and what I am doing with them is really working. I took the team stars and attached them to the lids of the bins I got for my tables.  The bins hold all kinds of stuff - rulers, scissors, glue, colored pencils, etc - anything they might need for class.  I like this system because I am not having to stop class when a lot of students need one resource (and I forget to pull it out of my cabinets).  The lids cut down on the playing with the supplies and trash dumping in the bins. ( I do go and close all the bins between classes).   I...

It's the second day of school and I am exhausted, but it is a good exhausted.  I feel like I know most of the kids' names by now and we have played a bunch of games getting to know each other.  Tomorrow we start learning what's in the curriculum. Here are a few photos of my mostly finished classroom: The Agenda Board My MYP/IB Board and bins for notebooks Stuck? Some strategies above my front boards (which I will share photos of soon) My Anchor Chart Board and my Thinking Cards  Up close of my Thinking Cards board.   Front Student Supply Station I thought I took more pictures than that... but I guess not.  I will try and take more soon! 

Wow. I can't believe summer is almost over.  Towards the end of July, I took a couple of PD classes and my brain started to shift to school mode.  But then my family went on an amazing vacation for 6 days and I went back into vacation mode.  Big time. But back to life, back to reality (singing the 90s tune in my head), I started thinking about my classroom.  I have been doing a lot of reading of blogs and trying to get ideas (or something to borrow). I ended up ordering a few things from Vistaprint. First up, I got some great ideas from Rockstar Math Teacher .  She is AMAZING! I really like the posters about GRIT and Learning/Doing Mathematics.   I have had this picture in my Google Drive for a while, and I want it for my upcoming year.  I don't remember where I got it, so unfortunately, I can't give credit where it is due.   And lastly, I made one poster.  I found this blog post that inspired the style of my poster, but...