Donor's Choose Project

I friend of mine recently told me about her projects on Donorschoose.com and I was all like ""Why am I not doing that?"

So...I went on Donorschoose.com and started to think about a project. A big part of me really wants our students to be globally minded. To know where and what is happening not just "Me on the Map" kinda stuff though I think it is important for them to know where they are in relation to everyone else. But. I think we spend to much time making our students self absorbed. There I said it. When are we going to value other people's culture and news just as much as our own? So these thoughts plus traveling to Kenya last year and seeing how many children from other countries can tell me what is happening in our country, however if I were to ask my student about what is happening in China right now they might say, "Where they make all my toys?". Yikes.

My project is starting simple - I want information current events in my classroom to help me teach reading but in a subtle manner start expanding me students' minds in what is happening around the world and wait for it...how they can help and be passionate about something! But here is the challenge: it is not about them. It is about them being used for a bigger purpose. For them to think of others before themselves. To sacrifice. To be better than a self-absorbed brat who wants money and things things things. But maybe experiences - like travel and adventure!

Here is what I mean: A couple years ago a fellow teacher and me did a penny drive for Darfur. We showed our kids what was happening there and raised over $500.00 for Doctors without Borders. This was shocking for our kids to see what other kids in Africa were being treated and expected to do. I believe it started opening the door to how fallen of a world we live in but hope for a change in the future.

If you want to check out or donate or share my project please do!




Think Global and Act Local


Tiffany

Once upon a time there was the girl who wanted to write in her blog everyday and she was so committed. Then that girl had life crash down upon her pretty little head she decided that other things were more important.Those things were not bad but just took the place of her and her computer cozy on the couch with a cup of coffee. Suddenly, one rainy Saturday she was on her computer lollygagging around with a cup of coffee in hand and she remembered that dream and decided to write on her blog. It was a good day and she knows that her dear friend Tamara will be proud of her!

Now - here is what has happened in the last couple of months.

1. I just recieved the jolly good news that my ipad-mini grant which I have had for the past 2 years, the foundation is giving us our ipads for good. FOREVER! FOREVER! I am the happy owner of 17 ipads for the kids until I die. My eyes are brimming with tears! Which brings me to #2.

2. Should I become a flipped classroom???? I think I am going to try...comments?

http://www.coolinfographics.com/blog/2011/9/13/the-flipped-classroom-infographic.html

3. Lego Intentional Play - I recieved a grant from Grants for Great Ideas through my county to purchase sets of Legos for all of my kiddos. I LOVE IT. I am using the Legos with vocabulary, math and critical thinking. Might I also say the kiddos love it too, even my girls. Some of my favorite activities is watching the students build abstract and literal vocabulary words with their Legos. Each time we build, I walk around and video with my ipad. Then make a quick movie and publish it on imovie - bam! The next day we all wach it and enjoy each other's creations. Big Shoutout to Lego! They were awesome helping me get what I needed for this grant.

4. Favorite App - Notability. Hands down. Their is a feature to upload and download content from Edmodo. So I have saved PDF Reading passages in my Edmodo library, then opened them in Notability where the kids can annotate. Then saved it and uploaded the annotated copy back into edmodo. Say What? Paperless baby.

5. Text Book Adoption Committee - I was asked to be apart of a huge undertaking with my county. We are adopting new Reading Text Book this year and it will be Common Core. However, the challenge with all the upper grades is that we still have one more year of FCAT (Next Gen. Standards). So much confusion awaits next year as we try to move to CC and are testing on the NGSS. I just want to hop on the CC wagon and throw the NGSS out the window but I am not sure I will be able too. Plus we have the NGSS  BluePrints that help teachers stay on track with what they need to teach and so forth (scope and sequence) but many teachers feel strangled by these maps. Sigh. I am not sure how this will play out if our School does not release us into CC soon. I hope for lots of clarity soon. :)

6. My wonderful partner in crime Noris Aguayo won Lake County Teacher of the YEAR! But in my eyes she is teacher of the century.  I love her so much and am blessed to know her and see her each day. This was a huge celebration for us at our school.


So that is not even half of what has been rambling off in my head but maybe more will come tomorrow. :)

LIfe as I know it...

Friends,

It has been a while since my last post and I am so mad at myself. I have been swamped at work with using a new reading map plus a new social studies curriculum...and of course 36 new kids. Two Fridays ago, we recieved 5 new students in a day! That alone can set you back a week or two. Then it was progress report time! Yikes! Grades were low and it was a wake up call for most of our kiddos. My co-teacher and I reached an all time low these weeks. When in actuality I think reality just set in. Here is our reality:

1. We have the ESE kids which are wonderful and smart but learn differently than the majority of the kids. The have special needs that need to be considered.

2. We (my co-teacher and I) have slacked being on the same "wave" it showed in our kids. Thankfully we are back on the right track!

3. Our lesson plan expectations are going to kill us and we are not sure how to get ahead plus have all our admin is asking (individual teacher plans, but unity in what we are teaching and assessing, scales, essential questions, benchmarks, and evidence of small group remediation) Can I get a bigger piece of paper please?

4. We need to work and share and get along with 6 other people. Now don't get me wrong these people are wonderful! It is just hard when I feel like so much is being asked we don't have time for the creative brainstorming meetings that we all want. All I think about in the meetings is what I need to do before tomorrow. :( Not the best.

5. Our parent conferences are happening. Nuf said.

6. We have a student with behavior issues and need to do a lesson a week working on social skills. Um. Yeah. Haven't started.

7. The county has asked us to do Too Good For Drugs every Thursday for the first 10 weeks. I am on week 2. Sigh. So I think I will do 2-3 lessons each Thursday to catch up. Sigh. Sigh.

So here is the good news!

1. I am a great teacher...I am a great teacher...I am a great teacher.
2. I have the best co-teacher. I never do anything alone.
3. I have a great team. Who is always willing to listen or share.
4. I have kids I love. Even my new kiddos are amazing.
5. We have divided up some the team jobs and each person is responsible for something. Whew!
6. I think my parents like me! :)
7. We are almost done planning next week. That makes us one week ahead when we want to be 2. But I am happy. :)


Now here is the best part! I have been using my Kagan Strategies like crazy and even got some photos of my kids doing Quiz Quiz Trade. Some Whole Brain Teaching made it into my week by doing some gestures for our vocabulary words and we made some models out of clay while learning about the scientific method! 

Model of a Dolphin

Model of a snake

Freeze Dance - Brain Break

Brain Break

Lemonade Experiment 

So life isn't bad. We have a lot of fun. Just need to remember it is not what is important but WHO!

What are you struggling to get a handle on? 

Tiffany

Process vs. product...great reminder

Came acrossed this great article about process vs. product. So many times we forget which really helps our kids to think creatively and instead copy our model.

How can I let go of what I think their projects should look like and let them experience the process?  Really great read even if you just look at the pictures. Check it out.

Really


www.prekandksharing.blogspot.com

Delightful surprise!

I recieved a comment on my blog two days ago from a representative from EDC Education Services Home of Kane and Miller and Usborne Books and More. She was letting me know that if I wanted to use my grant money from the Youth Literacy Dollar General Grant, to buy books from her company then they would support us and give us 50% of credit to whatever we spend! So that means if I spend 1000 dollars on books from this company they will let me order 500 dollars more!

Teachers - if you have recieved a grant for books or to increase you literacy please check out this website!

http://www.edclibrarybooks.com/LFL.asp?H0240

I spoke with a wonderful rep from there and she has catalogs in the mail for me and my team. I hope to make the purchase order for our new books by next week. I am so excited to increase our school library and increase our students desires to read because we have books they are interested in.

Many of the books are not as well know and there is tons of non-fiction (Common Core Baby!) so we are going to stock up.

This was the highlight of my week. A real person read my blog. Crazy.

Now, who is ready to do some book shopping?

Tiffany

Dollar General Literacy Grant

Today's blog is short and sweet. I received an email at the end of the day letting me know that I will be awarded  $4000  for literature books to use at school this year! I am so excited and blessed because today was definitely a Monday - you teachers get my drift!

We will be able to get lots of books on lots of different interest levels on many different reading levels! This will really help us meet our students needs and differentiate our instruction by interest levels.

If you haven't ever wrote a grant and your a teacher - I highly recommend it. It takes a little work and even more time but it can be worth it. Practice takes perfect.

Some tips for those just starting:

1. Keep track of all your grants applications and make a folder for you submissions so you know what you are doing when you get the grant.

2. Copy all your recipts and all emails or letters stating your due dates and expectations.

3. Share you experience with your kids. It is a great example of how writing for a cause can make things happen.

4. Don't forget to keep track of progress and take pictures of your students using any materials you bought with the money.

5. Take a video showing how you are using the materials.

Here are some other grants to check out!

www.walmartfoundation.com

www.target.com  - field trip grants

Home Depot, Florida Department of Ag and Lowes have a garden grant 

I have a load of money to order books with! What are some of books you recommend for literature circles? 

Tiff

First week down...

I made it! The first week was a real success. I can honestly say 2 things.

1. I really like my kids. I think I will love them soon.

2. My kids are going to drain me for all I am worth.

I am really privileged to have our ESE kids this year (and I say I but I mean WE because my co-teacher is sharing in this responsibility) and I am glad for this push professionally. I have a couple of kids that are on the autism spectrum - who besides being great kids - are super entertaining. I really like their quirks and nuances though I am sure some days not so much.

I had the ESE kids a while back and the biggest thing they need is just love and encouragement. Something I think I am good at, only because I know God's love on a personal level. He comes to the rescue when I feel swallowed up. Plusvthey might never score the highest score on the FCAT but that's not the goal. Not anymore. I just want them to grow and have confidence. I want them to see that they can still learn and like it! There has been a few students in the past that I have had the pleasure of seeing this happen in them. I love knowing I may of had a small part in that change. That is what teachers live for. I am aiming for that this year. If I can turn any of my kids onto learning, I did my job.

So let's recap.
Monday was rough. But no tears so that was good! From me or the students. Ha.
Tuesday was awesome. I incorporated lots of Kagan structures like Mix Pair Share and did a fun brain break where we ended up dancing the Macarena.
Wednesday a student told me that he was a Warlock. Uhhhh....ok.
My two Autistic kids work together well,  minus some tears on Thursday because he was not the Zookeeper that day, and all he wanted was to hang out by my guinea pigs cage. One student must have the last word, and that will not work in the long run. I emailed parents faster than an eye could bat, and I fell really supported by my parents this year. Praise God.
Friday I managed to light a spark for reading with Voices in the Park, I highly recommend it for Character Point of View, and with my annual reading of The Tale of Despereaux. I even Differentiated my morning work with a tiered activity with our vocabulary words. Yep. I rock. 

Some things that are working great!

1. Poem of the day - we have a great poem that is really catchy that we say as we transition everywhere!

2. Implementing Kagan structures. Mix pair share is the one that I have done the most. I also have reverted back to my Teach Ok! from whole brain because it is comfortable for me. I want to use Rally Reader and Rally Coach but I didn't feel comfortable with starting too many structures. My goal for next week is Fan and Pick.

3. Brain Breaks - Mirror Mirror and Freeze tag made it into the plans. Next week I am going to do a Congo line with only the leader's eyes open. That should be fun.

4. Carpet time - I have really used my rug for meeting time. Though I need to work harder with sharing a current event. My co-teacher is doing great with this but I haven't found my niche yet. We want a student to share a newspaper article each morning to make our students more Globally Minded.

5. Band-aid lesson on fairness. I did the lesson on Pinterest, where you ask the students to pretend they have a cut, then you put a band-aid on the same spot on each child like the wrist. The kids were already wondering why, telling me that didn't make sense. I am being fair, I answered. Then we talked about why that wasn't the best way to treat a cut. I explained that everybody is going to get what they need to succeed, not the same thing all the time. Fair is not everybody getting the same thing but everybody getting what they need to succeed. Since it was my first time doing it, I thought it went ok. They got the point.

6. Judy Rex inspired us to have new jobs each day and allot a time for them. So before dismissal every student has a job. Here is the list: Desk Swabber, Sweeper, Rug Doctor, Board Cleaner, Zookeeper, Pencil Monitor, Filer, Morning Message, Cubby Cleaner, Messanger, Librarian and Gardener. My classroom is spotless. Lovely.

7. My twitter board! 

 8. My Welcome Note for the first day!

9. My portfolio wall - Something to Tweet About!

Some things I could do better:

1. Current events.

2. Reciting our motto.

3. Using Kagan strategies.

So not too bad.

What are you doing well? Need to do better? Drop a line!

Tiffany