In Love With Inquiry

That's right....I'm in love.  I'm in love with the questions, the connections, the thinking, and the completely engaged 2nd graders!  My school is working towards STEM certification, and there is a huge emphasis on inquiry and integration.  This book by Harvey and Daniels has been a great resource for implementing inquiry in my classroom.  

This book is loaded with great information and great lessons.  You seriously need to get a copy.   I used the small group inquiry model to create an inquiry plan for our grade level.  We wanted an inquiry that we could tie into our standards about the Georgia regions, and after reading this great post from Mrs. Wideen's Blog,  I knew I wanted to model the first inquiry.  You can check out the plan here.  Jen over at The Go To Teacher has some amazing inquiry charts and resources that you MUST check out!

With all these great resources in hand we were ready to investigate!  

We started with wondering and observing.  We noticed the trees around the school had been cut down to build a new neighborhood, and we wondered how this might affect the animals that lived there.  We learned how to read with a question in mind. We asked more questions and conducted research. In the end we decided to focus on frog and toad habitat loss.

We talked to experts,

collaborated and shared our findings on an interactive map,

and came up with a plan to take action by creating a toad habitat in our school garden!

Now we just need some toads to find their new home!

Space Talk

I have quite a chatty class this year.  And by chatty I mean they never stop talking : )  Luckily talking, otherwise known as speaking and listening, is one of the CCSS standards, so we have been working hard on purposeful talk.  We use these great Accountable Talk Posters from Tina's Teaching Treasures to help us frame our conversations, and today we talked about space.

To get my kiddos engaged, we did a See, Think, Wonder activity from Making Thinking Visible.  If you haven't heard of this book you need to check it out!  It's great for promoting higher level thinking.  

I put the image below up on the active board,  and guided my kids through these questions:

SEE -What do you see? What observations can you make about this image?
THINK - What do you think?  What can you infer about the image?  Why do you think that?
WONDER - What do you wonder?  What questions do you have after looking at this picture?

This picture of Buzz Aldrin's moon boot got everyone talking - purposefully!  It was a great way to get our brain ready for an interactive read aloud of Moonshot the story of the flight of Apollo 11.  

Techie Tuesday

Conquering the open number line and other math strategies

We have been busy using the open number line to solve our math problems.  The kids are getting the hang of it!  It's amazing to see the depth of their number sense when they apply different addition and subtraction strategies, but it can be tricky, and sometimes confusing for the parents.  

That's why I love Explain Everything!  This app lets your parents see what their kids are learning with one simple click.  In no time at all you can make a quick tutorial to help your students and their parents!

Teacher Nerd Bookshelf

What I'm Reading Right Now

Like any true teacher nerd, I have spent some time looking over Hattie's ranking, and my current obsession, formative assessment, is ranked number 4.  That means that on my nightstand next to my highlighter and my post-it flags, you will find these books.

Here's a highlight:

"Probably the most accurate marker of classrooms where learning targets and criteria are shared effectively is that students can explain, when asked, what it is that they are supposed to do, and why"

 

High-engagement classroom environments appear to have a significant impact on student achievement...so when teachers allow students to choose whether to participate or not - for example, by allowing them to raise their hands to show they have an answer - the are actually making the achievement gap worse, because those who are participating are getting smarter, while those avoiding the engagement are forgoing the opportunities to increase their ability.  That is why many teachers now employ a rule of 'no hands up except to ask a question' in their classrooms."

Another way the author suggests to increase engagement is using all-student response systems.  My school is a BYOT school, and when I was in 5th grade, we used 

 on our devices.  With my little guys, I don't have as many devices, so we go old school.  A few years ago I had a shower board cut into 5x6 mini whiteboards, and viola,

Instant feedback!

 

Let's just say the Home Depot guy may or may not have been super excited about my student response system for formative assessment...

  

A Flurry of STEM!

Things are really busy over here!  We have been having tons of fun with our matter unit.  

We observed all three states of matter when we watched the life cycle of our snowman. I saw this great idea over at The Frugal Teacher, and it was  a huge hit!  The kids were so excited when they met our special visitor.  

We made observations, measured, and collected our data all day.

You know how the story ends.  It is not a happy ending, until...my super scientist came to the conclusion that our new friend will always be floating among us - as a gas!  

After observing the three states of matter, we investigated how matter changes with a snow lab.  We talked about physical changes and chemical changes, and then we did some exploring with instasnow

Civil Rights Read Alouds

We have been digging into some great texts during our unit on Civil Rights.  Here are the highlights!

This text is great for focusing on RL3. Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

As we read we wrote down what we noticed about the main character's traits and supported our thinking with evidence from the text.

 We watched this video to build background knowledge and assess SL2. It's also a great text to teach point of view and character traits.  Click the pics below to download a formative assessment to go with this read aloud, or pull in a primary document by looking at a real Green Book!

 

This is a great text for RL7 acknowledging differences in the points of view of characters.  This great interactive is perfect for understanding different points of view

Techie Tuesday

Ten Marks Shout Out

This year I have been working really hard on guided math in my room.  I give quick weekly pre-assessments and make my small groups based on what the kids need.  I also have stations that include games, journals, fluency practice, and technology.  

I recently started using the site Ten Marks for my technology station, and I. Am. In. Love.  

Not only does it allow you to give your students assignments based on the CCSS, and track their progress.  It also has built in video lessons your students can use if they need help!  

I mean I'm just sayin', if there's a teacher that can pop up on the computer and help my kids if they have a question or are confused about a math problem, I'm in.  For sure.

If you haven't heard about his great online program that is free, that's right, F-R-E-E, then you need to check it out right now.

Going Batty over STEM

We have been road tripping it through Georgia, and our latest stop in the Piedmont region led us to investigate bats. 

Our STEM project for this unit was to design a bat house.  After we researched bats and read Lucy's story, we had some questions ya'll. You know, the I-know-my-teacher-is-talking-but-I-have-burning-questions-that-are-causing-me-to-scrunch-up-my-face-and-wave-my-hands-like-I'm-trying-to-help-a-plane-land type of questions. You know what I'm talkin' about.  We. Had. Questions.  And isn't that really what it's all about?  So we got busy with the design process.

And then we got to work!

We used cereal boxes, pipe cleaners, and graph paper (to represent chicken wire) to design our prototypes.  My kiddos worked in collaborative groups to come up with their design based on research we had done as a class.  It was a great way to put the engineering design process to work!

Rollin' Down the River

We are studying Georgia Rivers, so of course we are going to get wet...and dirty.  What fun would learning be if things didn't get a little messy?

We started our unit by drawing our own map using How to Draw Georgia's Sights and Symbols from the A Kid's Guide to Drawing America series.  This text was the perfect way to integrate some of the Reading Informational standards into our unit!  Click on the picture to find your state.

Today we added the rivers and then we talked about how a river is formed.  We read Follow that Water from the Brook to Ocean.

And then it was time to get down and dirty!

I assigned each person in the group a job, and they got busy 
creating,

observing,

hypothesizing,

thinking,

and don't forget the best part...getting messy!

Now - I'm off to find a broom.  If you like to make a mess click to grab the freebie below...but keep the broom handy!

Aw, Nuts!

Oh. My. Goodness.  I am SO proud of Mr. Bubblegum (a.k.a. Rob McClurkan)!  It seems like forever ago that he started working on this idea for a book of his very own...and HERE IT IS!  Just in time for fall.  Of course we took a family field trip to Barnes & Nobles so we could all stand and stare.  There it was right in the front.  With other books.  It was a moment.  One I'll never forget.  There is just like next level excitement going on around here, and I just had to tell all my friends!

He came and read the story to my kiddos (perks of being the author's wife ;) and they loved it!  I know your kids will too, so check it out!  Click on the picture to grab a copy.

Watch Squirrel's adventure begin...

Road Trip!

Pack your bags, and join us on our road trip!  We have been taking a "tour" of Georgia as we learn about the regions of our great state.  For each region, we have integrated literature based on the animals of the area.  

Check out the books we have used to help us "travel" through each region.

Technology Toolbox

This week I'm sharing some tools I've found that are helping me get rid of my paper piles.  

Today let's tackle the homework pile.  

Are you tired of getting piles of crumpled, coffee stained papers each day?  
Do you long for a desk that is free from straggling homework that didn't make it in on time?   
Then let me introduce you to... 

If you haven't heard of it you are in for a treat.

The kids love it because it lets them choose an avatar, chat with their friends on the class wall, and earn badges and rewards.  

I love it because it is aligned with the CCSS, grades their work, monitors their progress, and sends me a report! (what's not to love?)  

There are many more features to check out so scoot on over and take a look.  Oh, and did I mention that it's FREE!  There are premium features but the free account is amazing.  

Your kiddos can download the ScootPad App to use on their devices and if you are all fancy schmancy like Mrs. Wills you can use them on your classroom iPads!

Remember me?

The last time we "talked" I was still enjoying the sweet days of summer.  You know the days.  The days when you can sleep in, and your house is clean, and the dinner choices aren't pizza, chicken nuggets, or pizza.  Those days seem so far away now...and life is just SO busy!  

Today I took a break and met up with some other great bloggers from Georgia.  I'm so glad I did, because now I am motivated to get back on track!  Now, between the planning, grading, and pizza ordering I am going to post!    

This week I'm going to share a few things I have found to make my life easier.  Can I get an amen?  I have a paper problem (totally unrelated to my obsessive book buying problem) and I'm tired of shuffling piles.  

Don't get me wrong, I know how to organize and I can do some damage with the hole puncher.  I have the notebooks, and tabs, and sticky notes, and tabs (did I mention that I have tabs?) but I have 60 kiddos so there are a lot of notebooks and sheet protectors flying around and I.am.over.it.  

I have been on a mission to go as paperless as possible.  Not long ago I came across planbook.com, and let me tell you I {puffy} heart this online planbook.  

Here's a little screenshot of what the plans look like for the week:

I can type in my plans, link to all my resources (how cool is that?), and add the standards by choosing from a drop down menu.  Best of all...NO PAPER!  It only costs $1.00 a month, and in my opinion it's worth every last penny!  You can get a free 30 day trial, but let me warn you...you will get hooked!  There are other helpful features as well as video tutorials on how to set it up, so go check it out.  

One notebook down and more to go!  

What tools have you found to help with the piles?  I'd love to hear your tips!