How Will I Create Awesome??

I have a new principal this year. She and the vice principal are new.  They have made changes, they are trying to get to know us, and they are making our new normal.  So far I LOVE them!

The first week we came back as teachers our principal, Mrs. West, asked us to show her how we will "create awesome" and "change the world this year.  We were tasked with using apps or website things to show her.  My mind wondered what I needed to change to "create awesome."  I feel like after 16 years of teaching - I must do SOME things right.  As a teacher I know that if I am not learning or updating my craft - I will not get better.  If I don't get better I will be ineffective.  I am constantly learning.

This is how I feel at school.  Different. 

I decided to ask the students I had taught their opinions.  I asked kids who I still had contact with their parents.  I asked these students to meet me at the local library.  We met in the maker space.  The background is messy, but the content of what they said was AMAZING.

I videoed for THREE HOURS.  I cut down the movie to about 5 min.  Now - the teachers at my school gave the principal a picture with a quote on it.  My principal got 3 lunch tables FULL of quote pictures.  I felt silly for doing something else.  My editing took longer than I thought it would - so I turned in a quote picture like everyone else on the due date.  I changed the focus on the video to show to an audience of my student's parents.  I showed the video at "3rd Grade Parent Night".

 Create Awesome Video

What I learned from my former students -
1.  Making them feel like they belong goes a long way to getting them to school everyday on time.
2.  How I treated them is what they remember the most.
3. Using their interests got them excited and they even took what they learned home to learn more.
4.  They enjoy working together and feeling like a family.
5.  They like choice.  We had a lot of choice in reading.  My students voted on what they wanted to hear most of the time.
6.  Listening to kids that I taught tell me that I made a difference in their life = very humbling.

My advice to you?  Listen to your kids.  Let them help you guide their days.  Listen to them on the way they learn.  This was a wonderful activity assigned to me by my principal.  I will use it for parent nights.  It helped me reinforce what I thought was good and I will change based on what my current students let me know.  Feedback will help me to become awesome!

Also - don't worry about being different than your fellow teachers.  Sometimes weird is what works.  Kids will adore you for not being like the rest.  Kids love passion and energy.  Don't be afraid to close your door and teach!

Enjoy your year and create awesome!

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost - Sometimes they take FIELD TRIPS! - PMNS

5 Tips to Make your Field Trip Worth it! 

1.   Before you go on the field trip - learn what you are going to see as a teacher and have a lesson or two so your students will not be walking in with no prior knowledge.  
The "lesson" I created for my hypothetical field trip would be for students to read any 3 Little Pigs Versions.  

 

Photo from: TeacherLady on Twitter.  Kids had to make houses to stand up to blowdryer.

After reading the stories - my kids would talk about buildings and why different buildings are made out of different materials.  We would speak about some natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, storms, tsunamis and tornadoes.  

The activity would be for the students to get into groups with materials.  Using what is in front of them they will have to create a structure or house.  When finished we will use a hair dryer to see which one will stand up the longest.  

2.  Count and recount.  Make sure everyone has a buddy.   (2nd photo- the picture of MY BUDDIES for our field trip to the Perot.)                                                                                    

3.  Get to know your bus driver.  They are the ones that are transporting you and they will keep you safe and pick you up at the end of the trip!  OUR bus driver for the day was JAMES!  

4. Make sure your kids have at LEAST one activity to do while wandering the museum that will be turned in our that they know will be talked about upon return to school.  

Museums are full of wonderful information.  BUT - they can be overwhelming.  To help your students get the most out of the field trip - have a structured activity they can complete on their own or in their group while at the museum.  

Back to the hypothetical field trip.  My kids have completed the Three Pigs literature "unit" and have explored the activity to build a structure that withstands pressure or wind.  Now they are at the Perot.  At the museum on the 2nd floor they have a section for robotics and other experiments.  The first activity there is one that talks about the effects of an earthquake on structures and bridges.  The kids will explore and play at this station.  They could draw or take photos about what they did.  Then they would share their findings when we return to school.  

5.  Wrap up - When back at school make sure that you are able to tie everything together to finish up their learning journey.  You could even print the photos from the museum and have the kids write about their favorite parts or tell about what they learned.  They could even string their photos together and make a video telling about their time for kids who could not attend.  It is a GREAT idea to have your students with devices like iPads on the field trip to collect photos and information.  

Hypothetical field trip - My students would come back and tell about what they learned.  I then would introduce the book Zane and the Hurricane.  It is a historical fiction story about a boy and his dog who visit Louisiana  during Hurricane Katrina.  

Coming soon to this blog - Virtual Field Trips - Tips, tricks and how to find good ones.  

Cats Are Liquids- Right?? PMNS

Hello, all!

I wanted to let you know I am still teaching 3rd grade at Miller Elementary in Midlothian, TX.  I have a 1:1 iPad classroom.  I work with all subjects.  I also have been working with the Perot Museum in their STEM Teacher Academy.  This is my 2nd year to attend their academy and they would like for me to share/log my science teaching along with my technology journey.   I am trying to stretch into a "STEM" teacher.  We can learn and grow together!

Day One of our Kosmos STEM Teaching Academy -

Questions like these - that you THINK you know - Perot makes sure you question what you know and are able to prove your answer.  My goal with this institute is to be able to teach my students with more depth and make sure they know the WHY behind science.  

We are learning about Chemistry this year.  We were given an AWESOME  book to make chemistry "easy" for us.  

I have read the first chapter.  It is an easy text to read with labs all though the book to make understanding concepts easier for the reader.  This author also has Stop Faking it Math books.  

We learned from a nice man this morning.  He taught us all about Thermochemistry.  It was interesting, although I was not good at plugging the numbers into the equations.  

My favorite lab that we completed with him was called "Flaming Cheeto!"  We got to weigh a Cheeto and then put the Cheeto under a can filled with 200 ml of water.  We then burned the Cheeto to deturmine the amount of heat energy released per gram when burning.  

The afternoon continued with a LOT of fun.  A nice lady showed us how to make our very own bouncing ball!

Although the video might lack spunk - you can see that the ball DOES work!    The recipe for the lab is below!

This is a wonderful - not too messy lab for kids.  Enjoy!  More tomorrow! 

Make TODAY Ridiculously Amazing! Then - SHARE!

THEY say that when a teacher becomes a mom (or dad) - something changes.  I would have argued with the people who said this before I had kids.  But, this time THEY are right.  Something does change.

I have found that being a mom makes me more empathetic to the hectic schedules of families.  I have a family and I know how tough it can be.  Most of you know "the drill".  Especially if you have more than one child and your family is going in all different directions - it is difficult to slow down and celebrate each child.  Conversations about school happen in the car on the way to and from soccer or t-ball - not always at the dinner table.

Our society has changed as well.  Most of us have a phone or a computer near us to communicate with.  I decided to tap into this change and as my communication has evolved - so have my communication skills.

I found in my teaching that the BEST way to be a team player with my student's families is to communicate.  In the beginning I did what all teachers do - a newsletter and a behavior chart in a folder.  Most of this type of communication is one sided.  I was sending  them information about what happened in class - but it was not detailed or entertaining.  It was just a requirement.

I moved on from there to a blog.  As more and more people began getting into Facebook - I created my own private Facebook-like site using NING.  I was even able to create my own URL.  www.millerclark3.ning.com.  On this I uploaded photos weekly, had children blog in groups 2-3 times a week.  Parents enjoyed this because it was a private place to communicate with our classroom.  If the parents needed to contact one another - they could.  The site showed an ever changing slideshow of the classroom and things we did inside of it.  They could check the calendar for important events, find newsletters, and read the thoughts of their child and their child's classmates as they related the events of the day in their words.  It became something that parents would show friends or family when they were around because not many children had something like this.  During the time of this site I found that I had begun to work more closely with the parents.  The parents felt as if they could be apart of my classroom.

I cannot begin to tell you about one post - forever lost now - about perfection.  I had given the students an assignment.  As we were reading the story How to Be a Perfect Person in Just 3 Days- they had to tell me what "being perfect was.  Here is an example of what they came up with:
https://youtu.be/afRs-G2Kfu0 (video from Fall 2015).  One parent that I never saw at school because he had many jobs and was also a college student wrote about sports perfection.  The "perfect game" and what the world thought of as perfect.  I saw my class (which at the time had many more boys than girls - on the edge of their seat.  The student who's dad had written the words had a grin a mile wide on his face.  He was proud.  The words the dad used to describe perfect - something none of us can ever achieve, but should never stop trying to - hung in the air like heavy clouds before a thunderstorm.  It was then I knew parents had to be a part of my classroom whenever they could be.  It was then I knew communication as we knew it growing up had changed.

Times have changed - even in my classroom.  Although I have this blog - I wonder how many "fans" out there I really have.  I document some anyway and will continue to document more this year.

I now don't have a NING (NING decided to become something I would have to pay for), so I now have Twitter and Instagram.  You are welcome to follow my class @millerclark3 or #millerclark3rd.  My parents can comment and like.  I am careful not to mention how many likes we get.  I don't want my students to worry about how many do or don't hit "like".  My new purpose for communication is to have a visual window into our classroom for parents.  All of the working moms and dads - or the ones at home missing their babies.  I don't want a student of mine going home and answering the question "What did you do today" with "NOTHING."  I want parents to be able to say - I saw you went to the library today - what book did you pick out.  The photos can change the conversation.  The parents can simply hand them the phone and say - tell me about your day and what was posted.

As I have gone down this path of parent communication - I have had responses from fellow teachers and from parents.  Generally - teachers are afraid to try it. It was scary to even me when I began.

Most of the time (not always) parents are excited.  Some parents choose not to follow - and that is OK.  The feeds are not mandatory to read or look at.  I just always let them know that in the middle of their busy lives they can always stay connected to their child and what goes on in their child's world.

And the next step- I'm not sure.  Maybe one of my students will invent the new way to communicate.  We will all wait and see.  For now - I will document what we do, blog, photograph, breathe, and enjoy everyday with good communication between my student's parents and my classroom.

(Most of this post was written a LONG time ago.  I decided to post it when I found the draft today.  They are good words.)

"Wisdom Begins with WONDER!" ~Socrates

Just the other day I was teaching my third graders in a small reading group.  We have begun using a free app called SUBTEXT.  We were reading the book shared with them electronically through a pdf.  The story we are able to share with them in that format comes from our leveled readers in our textbook adoption.

Inside the story was the word "slope."  We had not used the SUBTEXT app very long and someone remembered that the app allowed them to highlight the word using their finger and choose from a list of commands.

 We were looking at the word "slope."  The child decided from the list that she would google the word definition.  The definition that she found was something like the following from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/slope:

slope

  [slohp]  Show IPA

verb (used without object), sloped, slop·ing.

1.

to have or take an inclined or oblique direction or angle considered with reference to a vertical orhorizontal plane; slant.

2.

to move at an inclination or obliquely: They sloped gradually westward.

verb (used with object), sloped, slop·ing.

3.

to direct at a slant or inclination; incline from the horizontal or vertical: The sun sloped its beams.

4.

to form with a slope or slant: to slope an embankment.

noun

5.

ground that has a natural incline, as the side of a hill.

6.

inclination or slant, especially downward or upward.

7.

deviation from the horizontal or vertical.

8.

an inclined surface.

9.

Usually, slopes. hills, especially foothills or bluffs: the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

For a 3rd grader - even with a group of other 3rd graders - this was a difficult thing for a few to understand.  One child in the group had been skiing once and thought that you always found snow on slopes - so they told about their prior knowledge of slopes with snow.  For some the definition was still difficult to understand.  Then another child decided to google slope, but instead of the definition HE picked "images".  This is some of what he found and shared: 

 As you can see - once we shared pictures through the app we could talk about slopes.  Slopes don't always have to have snow on them.  When someone goes up or down the incline - the kids could easily visualize what slope was.  They began talking about the slope of the  slide on the playground and the slope of the stairs at our school.  They connected and related the images to things that were personal to them. The kids began to direct their learning.  They took ownership for what they didn't know.  Instead of doing something that I would have in class 20 years ago (ask a teacher) - they asked each other and more importantly - they used the tools that they had in front of them to FIND the answer.  The group shared their "notes" and "pictures" with the class group.  Their friends who also had the copy of the book within the SUBTEXT app and were signed into my class group could see what the others took time to find.

Now, when my children look at a word - they problem solve HOW to find the definition if they don't know it.  They don't always pick the ipads in their hands, sometimes they reach for a dictionary or talk with a friend.  They have a new sort of independence and bravery.  They speak up when they don't understand and they enjoy learning.  They may not know everything yet - my children are only 8, but they are training themselves to be detectives.  Search for what they do not know.

I am very proud of my students.  They amaze and inspire me daily.  I am glad I am continuing this journey with them!

Words I tell them to remember daily.

What is YOUR Super Power?? Could it be AWESOME?

My five year old thinks EVERYONE has superpowers.  Luke is one of the slowest runners in his preschool class.  In his mind however, speed is just ONE of his handful of superpowers.  He also claims to know BEFORE the day begins if it will be a good day or not. (This is predicting the FUTURE.)  Recently, he told me that being nice WASN'T his superpower.  It was "hard" to be nice all the time.  My reply?  "Luke, you are correct, nice isn't a superpower.  Nice is an EXPECTATION."

My eight year old thinks her brother is ridiculous.  "Nobody HAS superpowers,"she says.  "Superpowers are NOT real, buddy.  Nobody can save the world like they do.  Superpowers are just pretend."

My questions today are:
When does the hope inside us die?  When do we stop believing we can do ANYTHING we want to change the world? When do children as young as my 3rd graders think they are too small, not smart enough, not powerful enough to have ideas that can touch people in positive ways?

The idea of superpowers is pretend obviously - but the hope in changing the world doesn't have to be - does it?

When my kids came back from Christmas Break we watched one of my all time favorite uplifting message entitled "A Pep Talk from Kid President."  The child himself is a special child.  I didn't want to focus on that for my kids.  I wanted them to hear his message.  I wanted to see if he could inspire them to be AWESOME.  Please take the time to watch this message and think about it.   My classroom has.  We will post more on the topic of AWESOME.  Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/l-gQLqv9f4o

Oh the places we will go! - Today NYC. Tomorrow?

We have been reading a WONDERFUL book aloud in my classroom.  It is titled Walls Within Walls.  I picked it up to read along with a few others to my class.  In my room kids always vote for what we read aloud.  I want them to decide so that they are more attentive.  This doesn't mean they pick from anything - this means, I pick 3 good books and no matter what - they have made a great choice.  I had not read Walls Within Walls before now.  It is one that is on a list of Blue Bonnet Books for Texas.  These books are ones that are nominated for the Blue Bonnet Award.  Kids read the books on the list and all over Texas 3rd - 6th graders vote.  The kid vote decides which book gets the award.

Blue Bonnet Reading List 2013-2014

Now, the children in my classroom LOVE this mystery.  It is about a family that moves to 5th Avenue from Brooklyn because their dad has made it BIG with his Game Designing Company called LeCube.  The children have new things like a homework nanny, a regular nanny, playdates that are scheduled, and other strange things they have to get used to on 5th Avenue.  The kids have moved into an apartment that has strange rules.  For example, there are walls built in front of the original walls so that the house could be made into 4 apartments.  The original walls cannot be taken down or altered in anyway.  When the kids return a library book that was due back in the 1930's - they begin a journey to find a treasure that was buried long ago.

The story talks about MANY places in New York City.  The children go along with their "weekend" nanny to find the treasure.  The author used real poems to aide with the clues.  NOW - my kids LOVE poetry, too!  To make the book a bit more real to them I have been showing them pictures of the sites each day.  I use "Google Images" to help.

Chirp App

Then TODAY I ran across a site that was a virtual tour of New York City.  IT was GREAT!  I used the app Chirp (which is a phone app, but can be used with the iPad).  I used CHIRP to send out the link to all of my class.  It is fast and easy.  The kids will then push the button that says, "open in Safari" and off MY KIDS go down the streets of New York.

New York City Tour
The site is run through Google Maps.  The site isn't live.  BUT - the Google people have taken lots of pictures and put them together to
form the streets of New York.

My kids really liked the field trip we went on!  They said that they felt like they were IN New York City.  They liked seeing the people on the sides of the street and passing them quickly.  They liked looking at the tall buildings and reading on the right side of the screen the history about the building. They looked for about 20 minutes and then I had to make them "come back" to Texas.  Most said they wanted to continue to explore and I will let them do that if they finish their work or if they have a minute or two between things throughout the day.  I was so proud of the kids!  They were excited, engaged, and eager to read more in the book that we have almost finished.

When we were done today we emailed the author.  We hope that she will Face Time us or Skype with our classroom.  It would be SO awesome to talk to a REAL author and ask her questions!  IF we get to, we will let you know!