Collarboration

The power of sharing ideas with others is huge!  I presented my research findings and action research plan of action to a group of my colleagues.   What amazed me was the great discussion that came about when presenting what I had found and what I was doing in my classroom because of it.  We shared our thoughts, ideas, and feelings.  We shared what  has worked within our classrooms and what didn't work.  We discussed how certain things would work in one grade level and not the other.  We discussed how things can be modified to work in the different grade levels.   The discussion and sharing was more than I expected.  There was one commented that was made by a fellow colleague that stuck with me, "We need to do this more often.  I have learned new things that I am able to go back and try with my classroom.  This is what collaboration should be like to help us all grow as teachers!"  Others in the group agreed with her!  The sharing of ideas and what you are doing in your classroom is a great way to expand your teaching.  So don't close the door on others.  Open up to them.  Listen to their ideas.  Try new things!  And when you get a chance share what you are doing, something new might come about it for YOU!

Time

As a teacher I find that there are so many days where there just is not enough time in the day to accomplish everything that I want in a day!  

Does this happen to you?

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day!  We were able to celebrate the Irish holiday in our classroom.  One of the activities was a community building activity call Find a Buddy Who  (A Teachers Pay Teachers Activity).  I realized that we haven't done a community building activity for awhile now.  The results of the activity showed me that my students missed doing them!  I chalk it up not having enough time in a day!  Lesson learned for me today...Find the time to add them throughout the day!

Writing

I started my third AR plan in writing and am loving what is happening in my room.  To start, I researched the topic of writing and found that I could do more than what I was already doing by adding a guided writing group to my writers' workshop.  I formed a small group that I would pull each day after my mini-lesson to do a guided lesson.   

We started our unit on Biographies.  Here is a little back ground on how the unit is laid out.  .  Each student picks a person to research.  I have a variety of Who Was books in my classroom.  If you haven't read one of these books, I suggest you try it.  After researching, we write a 3-5 paragraph paper on what we found on our person.  And to end the unit they create a presentation using an app called notability and present it to the class.  We get to learn a lot about many different people.  

What I am loving is how well my guided writing groups are going.  In the past, writing has been, at times, frustrating for myself and some of my students.  Frustrating because I couldn't help my struggling writers all at the same time.  With doing the guided writing groups, I have found that I am able to stop the frustration by meeting the needs before problems arise for these writers.  Plus I am able to keep these writers going at the same pace as the rest of the class.  The guided writing groups are working!   

As my students say "It's time to put our thoughts on paper.  Let's write!"

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Its that time of year again!  Time to meet with parents and talk about their child! Our school decided to split the two nights of conferences (last Thursday and this coming Tuesday). I have one night under my belt...and it went real well!  Conferences use to be a very nervous night for me.  I have become more and more relaxed!  Now I run into the time management piece...I want to talk to long and go over the 15 minutes that is scheduled.  I was wondering what others to do to keep on track when it comes to time?   How do you start your conference?   Would love to hear how others run their conference!  

Digital Citizenship

With technology being all around us and in the hands of our children, we need to teach them about internet safety and what it means to be a digital citizen.  Today, in our third grade classrooms (there are four sections), we did just that.  We rotated the students through each classroom providing the students with four lessons on what it means to be a digital citizen.  Our lessons came from a great site that I was introduced too this summer during one of my classes.  It is called Common Sense Media! There is lots of good information on the site.  Our lessons came under the education tab where you can find the digital citizenship heading and then under scope and sequence.  Here you will find appropriate lessons for the different grade levels.  The lessons that we choose to teach for today were:

Digital Citizenship Pledge:  Students work together to outline common expectations in order to build a strong digital citizenship community. Each member of the class signs a We the Digital Citizens Pledge.

Rings of Responsibility: Students explore what it means to be responsible to and respectful of their offline and online communities as a way to learn how to be good digital citizens.

The Power of Words: Students consider that they may get online messages from other kids that can make them feel angry, hurt, sad, or fearful. Students identify actions that will make them Upstanders in the face of cyberbullying.

Picture Perfect: Students learn how photos can be altered digitally. They will consider the creative upsides of photo alteration, as well as its power to distort our perceptions of beauty and health.  

Looking at how the day went...The students enjoyed the change, moving from teacher to teacher.  It was also a great way to introduce them to four different lessons in one day!  We plan to do it again!

Quote from another

If you’re the smartest person in the room, then you're in the wrong room.  

I was reading a fellow principal of mine, Kari Yates, blog that posted this quote.  At first I was confused by it but after reading what she had to say made a lot of sense.  Click here to read her post.  

What she had to say, made me think of all of us that are partaking in our master's class.  We are better ourselves, by continuous learning. We are being challenged to do better.  The St. Mary's program has provided us with opportunities to interact with fellow learners who continue to push us and make us think, to help us learn something new.  We are on the road to always wanting more!  What a journey we have been on!  

I wanted to share this will you all to say "Way To GO!"  

Author Visit

David LaRochelle
A Minnesota author and Illustrator 

Our students at HOTL had the best presentation from a Minnesota author/illustrator, David LaRochelle on Tuesday.  David LaRochelle kept the students engaged throughout the whole hour.  He started his presentation by drawing the number 1-10 on his large chart paper.  He proceeded to tell and draw a story out of the numbers, about how you can't give a monkey a book!   The students were in awe!  

He taught the students how you can never give up by telling how he waited 6 1/2 years to get one of his books published.  David shared with the students a writing that he wrote back in 2nd grade...the special thing about this writing was that the teacher had kept it all these years and mailed to him when he began a teacher! How cool is that?  

He talked about the process of writing a "sloppy copy" and editing it over and over again to make it write. Showing them his work.  His teachings fit perfect to what we teach in our classrooms.  

Some of the books that he has written: 

                  

Here is link to learn more about David LaRochelle.  Check it out! 

So with hearing how wonderful his presentation is for our students, I suggest you check him out.  Maybe you can have the same great experience and have him present at your school!