Boxcars and One-Eyed Jacks

Hello Again!

Today I attended a PD session put on by the local Multi-Age Educators association by "Boxcars and One-Eyed Jacks". This is a workshop on math games particularly but also some ideas about math teaching in general.

Math has been one of my focus points this year, especially since I am teaching a 5/6 combined class and the, "Okay, grade 5s, you work independently while I work with the grade 6s," just doesn't work for me. This year I tried using math groups or "guided math" to help teach my kidlets. That's a whole other post, but suffice it to say that one of the groups in my math program is games. I L.O.V.E. love games for teaching math.

So back to the session. First of all, any time you are giving me a free resource that I can actually use, I'm in. Today I walked away with this book,

 This is a whole collection of math games for grades 1-9. The great thing is that they are basically all playable with just a deck of cards or a set of dice, and the extension/differentiation possibilities are pretty open. AND, the best part--I won a prize! I won 3 of these three-in-a-die dice! Yay!

Anyways, if you want to learn more or order any of their great manipulatives or books, the website is

boxcarsandoneeyedjacks.com

Happy Thursday! Time to prep for Parent Conferences tomorrow!

Currently, Randomness and Yay!

Here is my very first linky party link up! This is my "Currently" for March. If you would like to link up, go visit Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade. 

 

For anyone who doesn't know the story (sorry, Atlanta) the Winnipeg Jets have just moved back to Winnipeg after 15 years of being NHL hockey-free.  So we are a little passionate about our hockey right now. 

Winterval is our take on Festival du Voyageur, basically we are going to do some winter activities and crafts, etc. 

I had an interview on Friday, so keep your fingers crossed for me! I really wish something opens up in the future for me at my current school. It is probably my favourite place to work so far. 

PS: it is really hard to find good adjectives that start with 'M'! My family would say mental because, well, one, I teach middle years, mental is a requirement...and two, oral reports are coming up next week! 

PPS: Yay! My first follower! I actually feel like I'm talking to someone!

Have a Great Week!

Snow Day and Blah-ness

So today we had a snow day, not the fabulous, go-back-to-bed kind, but the no children kind. It was nice to not have to worry about getting there on time (roads were pretty slippery) but bittersweet, since this is my last full week with my kidlets. I'm meeting with their "real" teacher tomorrow to go over some things before she comes back half-time next week and full time in April after Spring Break.

At least today gave me some time to catch up on my dreaded marking and packing up some of my non-essentials. I really hate the teaching market here right now. It's so hard when there are few jobs, and it takes so long to get something real. I've worked in 4 divisions in the past 5 years, and never a full school year in the same place. I'm feeling done with waiting. I love what I do, I just want to be able to do it. Sigh.

Daily 5 Continued

Hello again!

Here are some of the things I wanted to share with Daily 5. The first isn't a new idea, but I love it! Here is my Boggle board.




If you are looking for "my" Boggle sheet, a big thank you to (and go visit) mrsrojasteaches.com/2011/08/boggle-board-w-printable.html.

I also got the letters for my Boggle board from somewhere but can't find the link! Hopefully I can find it soon.

Below is my Daily 5 bulletin board.



There are a couple neat features on my bulletin board. Under Work on Words, I have some binder rings with different activities students can do with their spelling words (I am not a big fan of bought spelling units, especially American ones with the wrong spellings, but the teacher I replaced does them and I wanted some things to stay consistent for my kiddos). During Work on Words, students can work on spelling, do Boggle, or do one of the flip book activities.

The second part of my Daily Five board is Work on Writing. Underneath our I-chart is a repurposed pencil holder. It holds popsicle sticks with writing topics that my students have come up with on them. If anyone is stuck, they can grab a topic. I want to add another pencil holder for blank popsicle sticks so they can add to our collection. Under our Read to Self header I have some book review pages so students can recommend books to each other.

Right now we are basically doing the "Daily 4", since we don't really do Listen to Reading except for when we Read with Someone. I went to a workshop a little while ago where the presenter talked about doing Listen to Reading as a whole class using audio books. May have to try it out one of these days.

The other big feature of my Daily 5 is my clip-chart. Students move their clothespin onto the Daily 5 section they're doing. Gives me a quick way to record or see what kids are doing without having to stop and ask all the time.

Daily 5

I know that the Daily Five is one of the big movements out there and there are lots of different blog posts and great ideas, but I wanted to share my experience with it as well. This is my first year implementing the Daily 5. I will say it straight-up, my implementation isn't exactly what the Sisters probably expect. But...my kids love it. Like, absolutely, can-we-give-up-Math/Science/SS/RecessGym-and-do-our-Daily-5 love it. I am not as strict as I should be when it comes to shutting down our work when there is a disruption, but they do pretty well anyway. I wanted to share some pictures, but don't have any today, so it will have to wait until tomorrow when I head back to school! I'll share more Daily 5 then!

Happy Monday! Have a great week at school everyone!

A New Adventure

Hello Bloggy World!

Welcome to my first post! Thanks for stopping by!

So about me...



I'm a fifth-year teacher from Manitoba. I am currently teaching in a grade 5/6 combined class, and searching for my "forever job"! I love what I do and I would love to do it permanently somewhere. Here's the place for me to document all my teaching adventures.

See you soon!