Making plans for the school year ahead

Well, for many years I've been teaching 4th grade math and students switch from class to class. In other words, we departmentalize.  This has been awesome as we (teachers) can really hone in on our subject of expertise. During those years of math only (some years coupled with science), I got a MS Degree in Education, Mathematics from Walden University's online program. I love teaching math! Each year I announce that this year the students will like or love math more than when they came into fourth grade. That is my goal. It is a glorious thing, to see that actually happen before my eyes.

With the addition of 6 iPads last year, I also taught some technology innovations. It was probably my favorite year of teaching, and after 26 years of teaching, what a wonderful place to be and feel.

     A huge paradigm shift has occurred for me now, in that I have been asked to teach a 4/5 combo class this coming school year. My expertise in teaching math will be helpful. Thank goodness I made instructional iMovies, Educreations movies, ShowMe movies regarding fourth grade math...because that is one of ten subjects I'll be prepping for this year.

     Each day of summer so far, I've made at least one instructional video, and I'm making lesson plans on the PlanBook app I discussed in my last blog post. I'm starting with 4th grade math, and 5th grade math. I'd like to plan the whole school year, all the lessons, this summer. That way, when I start the school year I'll feel really ready. With the implementation of iPads in the classroom, it will be possible for one group to watch me talk on a video, while the other group hears me talk in person.  It WILL be possible to teach two lessons at once. Amazing!

     Besides all of the instructional videos I'm making, I'm getting lots of ideas from my teacher pal who also enjoys talking tech. Pinterest and Edmodo are places she's directed me to, and where I've found info on teaching combo class, and on paperless classroom possibilities, and tech! 

     Each year is the best year I've had teaching, and it's probable that the one ahead will trump them all!

     

PlanBook app

 Changed my mind, and now iLesson Plan app is out, and PlanBook app is in!

PlanBook costs more ($9.99) as opposed to the $2.99 fee for iLesson Plan, but after trying both (well, after trying about 8 different apps for lesson planning), PlanBook is best.

I need an app that will let me write multiple plans, include links that can be attached in those plans, emailed and opened by the recipients.  This was the only app that accommodated all of those requirements. Also, the display is nice (color coded) with weekly schedule and plans and links all included on one sheet. I'm really relieved to have found the answer to my question I've been pondering for days!

Oh, it also can push back or move up assignments, based on how students are doing, or if there's an unexpected assembly/schedule change, and that one subject needs to be moved. How convenient.

Some new app discoveries today

The wheels are spinning in my brain about having a paperless classroom in the fall! Wow, so many possibilities! 

First of all I have a teacher pal who is an expert on all things iPad! She needs to have a blog and speak at the CUE conference!  This gal sends me pins she sees on Pinterest about technology and having a paperless classroom. Well, she sends me pins about teaching in general also.

(As an aside, I'm having a little trouble getting "into" Pinterest, including not quite understanding how to create and repin correctly.)

Anyway, today the Pinterest I was sent by her was titled, "103 Interesting Ways to use iPads in the classroom". Wow! I got so many ideas. The five new apps I added today are:  Sling Note, Sound Note, Voice Thread, Stick Pick, and Book Creator (book press).  The Book Press I can see using for student writing where students compile their essays in a book, and can email and even order a hard copy when finished!  Sling Note has a picture import feature, ability to handwrite and type text and email.  Sound Note I can see using to take notes during a meeting, and include a voice over with the notes!

     My goal now is to get better acquainted with Pinterest, where this one post (or is it called a pin?) had so much information!

iLesson Plan app

A new discovery for me yesterday was the iLesson Plan app.  I'm so thrilled because I can put iMovies, Educreations movies and ShowMe movies into the lesson plans I'm making! It's crazy that I'm working on these now, however I'm teaching a 4-5 class in the fall, which is 10+ preps vs 2 preps (that I've been doing for many years).  I've taught math only or math and science, so to switch to teaching all subjects at two grade levels sounds like a lot!  

So, back to the iLesson Plan app...

I'm thinking I can email each math lesson each day to the student iPads, and the students can follow the lesson plans including watching the instructional movies, reading follow up pages in a reference book, doing journal pages, playing math games.  

Since I haven't taught social studies for example, I can write up a plan that includes movies I can find, say on Father Serra and missions on Teacher Tube or YouTube and attach them to the iLesson Plan plan for that day.

So my goal is to plan for each day, all subjects, from the first day of school until December. If I can do that, I'll feel ready to start the year, and have a fighting chance at enjoying my summer!

Two days of meetings...Two iMovies made

Surprised to hear I was attending two days of meetings at our district office about CCSS this week.  With school just getting out for summer break, I was all charged up for sleeping in and maybe a jaunt to the beach.  Instead went to the CCSS meetings, took notes (on the iPad notes feature) and short video clips and still pics (using the iPad) of what was going on around me in the meetings.

Both days I went home, plopped the footage into the iMovie app, watched it back, added text to some slides, and edited. With background music added, I saved the movies on YouTube (unlisted-meaning only those I send the link to can see it), and forwarded the movies to the district office leaders.

I know, in order for me to share the information later to the staff at my school, that I'd forget most of the info if I didn't make an iMovie of it all!

Two 6-minute movies summarize what the relevant aspects were for me, in analyzing and synthesizing the information. The content included feedback, learning targets, and collaboration ideas to be utilized with our students in the coming years, with the advent of implementation of the common core standards. 45 states are making these changes to the common core.  

Now I'll go stick my feet in the sand for a while!

Math Carnival

The last week of school we had an in-class math carnival. This is an extension of an activity already described in the Everyday Mathematics program, regarding teaching probability and chance. The example given is a board of 100 squares. 1 square is yellow.  What are the chances of dropping a cm cube on yellow? Students give answers like 1 in 100, or 1%.

Then a suggestion in the teacher's manual says: Have student make up their own games and have a carnival where students play each others' games (or something to that effect).

So, for several years now, I have saved this math carnival idea for the last week of school, and the students LOVE it!

I give each booth 50 carnival tickets to start, and each individual child gets 40 tickets. Students create a variety of games involving spinners, ball toss, bowling, cube drop, horse shoes, card games, dice throws, and write rules for playing on a poster. To play a game, tickets are charged, and the prizes are the tickets.

At the end of the carnival, all tickets are placed in a giant bowl and a drawing of 20 names is done for prizes in a prize box.

Watching 85 fourth graders play each others' carnival games, taking about chance and probability, is a beautiful thing to see!

In-class Math Fair

For two weeks our fourth graders worked on an in-class cooperative grouping Math Fair. Just completed on Friday, with the culminating activity being that students solved each other's interactive worksheets and games, I can say looking back that all groups succeeded!  Each day the groups got a folder with tasks to complete, so that targets were known and met.  Groups were provided display boards to display their math topics, examples, written reports, and interactive activity. Then each group gave an oral report to the rest of the class on their topic, teaching the concept to the class. 

This time around, students were given the option of filming their presentations and showing the film of instruction to the class instead of a live talk.  Some groups opted for filming; some did not.

One girl said her game she created was so involved, that she wanted to film herself giving the instructions, and leave the iPad sitting in front of her display board so that other students could just walk by and push play to see how to play the game.

Overall a meaningful experience for students, and yes I made a 3 minute iMovie of the Math Fair. So fun!