#WelcomeBackMrWhitaker

A day in the life

So I have this huge crate with papers to sort and arrange. The Teacher of the Week, Jason said "carry this stuff home and tackle this pile." The Dad of the Year, Jason said, "my foot. This work has been here and will be here whenever I decide to tackle it. I'm going to spend time with my family this weekend" Dad of the Year wins again. 

Went in and bought my students the audio book "Nate the Great". Don't think that qualifies for teacher of the week, but certainly Teach of the Friday. The kids loved the reader and his inflections. 

Saw this on Pinterest (aka Teacher crack dealer). My kids love that I tell them to tell The Tattle Toolbox, but now it's got personality. My unique kiddo now goes to the corner and has full out right conversations with the toolbox. Not sure if I should be happy he's found someone to listen to him or worried. 

Didn't have any Starbucks today so that's either a good thing or a very bad thing. Hahahaha

Just realized that Dr. Seuss's birthday is next week. Can't wait! I really like Seuss books! 

 

Working hard

Somebody ate their Wheaties today. Someone had. 5 hour energy and a Flintstone vitamin chased down with a triple venti double shot. And that person wasn't me. The kids beat me up. They were VERY antsy today. They talked at levels that even made their most talkative day pale in comparison.

I use old sports bottles to hold dice. I can't stand when kids drop the die on the floor because it becomes a shrum to dive on the floor and catch it. So this way the dice don't fall on the floor. Surprisingly only 1 opened their bottle. They did to the sound of them losing a class dojo point. 

The kids like the math sliders much more than they liked my janky tape job of the base ten blocks. They got the point and that's all that mattered. 

Not sure who told me to do this, but it was jank-tastic!

Rapper grade blingage

I'm not sure why student isn't paying attention in class. Maybe its because he has rapper grade blingage! I just LOVE these kids.

Then I have another giant of fashion who's rocking a new pair of adidas. I told him I liked them. He also has a nice three strip track jacket. He told me I could wear it. I love these kids!

Learning and budgeting

Actually they didn't learn to budget, but if my students get good at making grocery lists they certainly could handle a budget. Had a lot of fun "buying" things from a mock supermarket and electronics store. This will take a lot of practice. They'll see it again in a center.

Speaking of centers. I gave each a pack of Centers Subs for days that we're not able to get to centers like we plan. I was able to grab these great Matho, Reado and Write bingo boards from Pinterest. Whenever we're crunched for time and not able to do the full center deal I'll just have them grab their centers sub from the class work bench area. They can select whatever activity they want to do. I'm sure that the first couple of times will consume their easy tasks. Then I'll be able to sew what they've really learned and are able to reproduce. Should be fun. 

What do you have to prove?

 

I like, no I really, really like UFC. This weekend I had the chance to watch a classic fight. During the interview one fighter said "I'm going to prove to myself that I'm the best fighter there is." What a powerful statement. I don't have to prove anything to anyone except to myself. And I'm pretty much convinced that I'm the best thing going. I have a vision of myself being a spectacular teacher. This week I'm going to prove to myself what I already know, that I'm really brilliant. Here...we...Go!  

Besides I want to knock out a crossfit WOD this week. I did great yesterday pulling my first #425 deadlift. By the summer I plan on pulling the first 500 lbs deadlift. Not sure anyone in the gym has picked that up yet. Even if they have I'm going to prove to myself that I can. 

Educational technology: From pencil pads to iPads

I had to grab this one from another blog. How education has changed. How it's stayed the exact same over the years. 

Resting and prepping for a long haul

Getting some well needed rest over the next couple of days. Spending some needed relax time with the wife. In the mean time this image is for those that think that "Teachers get enough breaks". I grabbed this from Pinterest. 

One part I'd like to specially address is that Teachers spend A LOT of their time working off the clock. It's really amazing how much time we do off the clock. Anyway, enjoy your rest time!

I also want to point out that I left initially at my 5th year. However after taking some time reflecting and finding the REASON I was teaching and coming to grips with that, I'M BACK!

How does the week get away from you so quickly?

I don't think I'm the only one to ask this question late on a Monday. It only takes few ingredients to really throw your week into a potential tailspin.

• No internet at work (what did we do before the 'net?)
• Can't print (Guess we'll just have to go old school on ya)
• Not able to save work on the student's thin clients nor save to a thumb drive (This was tough, but we're going to find a way to get over this hump, too)

Can't let these small things get in my way. Gonna do some printing at home, get some good sleep and just give the kids the best that I got. 

Crossfit South Cobb beat me up today. I can't say it any other way. Guess I'll get back in there tomorrow and offer my laziness for a stronger, fitter me. I REALLy want to meet other crossfit elementary school teachers. How do you balance your life, school and crossfit? Seems like it can get away from you very, very quickly. Also how do you keep your nutrition strong? 

Call me Mr. Rubric

I'm not sure why I didn't roll these out earlier, but I'm so glad I did. I put the question out about rubrics on Facebook and the responses were pure gold. So I have a few rubrics for specific projects and some that can be used for general stuff.   For the latter I'm going to laminate them and allow the kids to keep these at their tables. The specific ones I'll have to print off as needed and I'll make a large one to go over on my promethean board. After the kids get used to it I'll have them help me make rubrics for each project. Going to laminate a large 4 x 4 grid on some chart paper. I'll use that to make new rubrics that the kids will be able to write the needed elements on. I know my students don't care that much about paper. They're not that into NOT wasting it. Matter of fact it's a big deal that I repurpose old lesson plans and scrap paper for them to do morning warmup work on the back. I'm going to have to drill and drill that this is what I'm going to use to help you get the most from each lesson/activity. Should be fun. 

It was one of those weeks

 We either rocked like Rock stars or we looked mighty odd.  I choose to believe that we rocked like Rock stars. 

This week was interesting. My class did A LOT of projects and class work I'd hoped to be able to display. The issue is that what the kids gave me wasn't remotely what I was envisioning. Not to say it wasn't good. It just wasn't what I had expected at all. Take the project below. 

I wanted the kids to draw a Fact Family of the basic addition facts. The plan was to use these to compile into a book for them to reference every now and then. (At least until they got the facts down like second nature.) So I put this up on the Promethean board for them to look at. 

I also did an example and passed it along around the room. 

What the kids gave me was less than what I expected. Such that I didn't even take pictures of them. On Monday I'm going to have them redo this project as well as a writing assignment they did. Thanks to a good friend making the recommendation, I'm going to post two rubrics one for each project and have the kiddos reference back to them as they do the work. All I can think of is that since I didn't have a rubric for them to reference I didn't give them a clear idea of what I wanted. 

 

I've done rubrics before. Not certain why I stopped, but I'll be doing these more often for sure.