Updated Puzzle Corner

 To say I'm ready for the upcoming 3-day weekend is an understatement!  We've been in school now for 3 weeks and while I'm doing better at getting ahead school-wise, other areas of my life have fallen behind.  I need a day just to catch up, work in my yard, and not feel like I'm a hamster on a wheel.

For many years, I've had a puzzle corner in my room.  With the exception of the pandemic in 2020 - 2021, this space has been a fun place for my students to play with math in a non-threatening way.

However, this year, I knew I needed a change because I would be having some kids that I had in class a couple of years ago, so over the summer, I started thinking about how I could change it.  For the past two years, it's had a math fun fact, a mathematician of the week, and a math quote.  This year, I wanted to incorporate some vertical / magnetic puzzles based as inspired by Sarah Carter (@mathequalslove) and to add some math-y toys to the mix.

My students haven't really engaged much with the vertical puzzles (yet) but they have really loved the basket of toys that I picked up at Target Dollar Spot!

One of my Labor Day goals is to work on my files for the Brain Teaser spot so I have a binder full of papers to swap out those each week.  This may be a work in progress over the year, but for now, it's on my to-do list.  Also on that list is to get my binder of Vertical Puzzles updated, cut out, and compiled.  

Setting Class Norms

 Week 1 is done and oh my goodness, I have so much that I need to blog about!

During the first two days, I do a lot of non-curricular tasks where we focus on group work and setting our class norms.

I ask the students before each task to keep these two questions in mind while they are working:

- Think about what good Group Work looks like / sounds like...

- How do you know if you are being a good Group Member.

Toward the end of the day on Friday, after we had been working on the big whiteboards, I asked the students again to reflect on those two questions.  I told them that we needed to come up with a set of norms that we could all abide by in order to make sure our class works smoothly this year.  I asked them to think about the activities we had done (the Pentomino task above, an Open Middle problem, and a whiteboard problem for "The Answers Are").  I asked them to work with their tables to brainstorm ideas to fill in this chart, then to go back and decide the one or two most important things on each side and put a star by it.

As a class, we had a discussion about the things they had starred and came to a class consensus on the most important ideas.  Every class pretty much had the same big ideas listed and starred, but I brought all of the papers home to compile them.  (Note: I was really surprised how many mentioned that they didn't want arguing in our class) 

In the past, I've hand-written a poster board with their responses, but this time I decided to try something different!

After compiling the responses from all of the classes, I had a pretty hefty list, so I decided to type it up in Word.  I then saved it as a PDF and printed it as a poster that I can piece together to paste onto my poster board.  

I'm so pleased with how this idea turned out that I had to share! Hopefully I'll update this post tomorrow with the poster on my wall. :)

Classroom Progress, maybe?

I just spent most of the day working in my classroom - thankfully the a/c was working today because this afternoon's high was 105!  

I honestly couldn't tell you what all I accomplished today - it feels like nothing major but I spent 6 hours up there.  I got a few organizational things done - new labels, etc.

One thing on my to-do list was to put up our Welcome board in the hallway.  For the past couple of years, we've had red bulletin board paper and I made the executive decision to change it out to red fabric.  If you've never used fabric on your bulletin boards, I encourage you to fix that now!  This is just a generic broadcloth, but fabric doesn't fade, stores easily for reuse, and doesn't show wear and tear.

Look at how bold the red fabric looks compared to the paper!  I also purchased some cute reversible border at Hobby Lobby with their 40% off classroom sale and you just can't go wrong with buffalo check.  I know the Cardinals part is crooked and normally that would bother me, but this board is at the end of the hallway and I probably won't see it again until it's time to change it in September!

Back in my classroom, I piddled with several small things that needed to be done and then tackled 2 bigger projects...

The first project I worked on was assembling this organizer from Amazon.  Last week, when I was working in my room, I started thinking about how I could better use some of my space to organize random supplies for students.  My previous use was a mishmash of boxes and locations and it just wasn't very cohesive.  I played around with some letter trays but nothing quite fit what I wanted.  

(Note:  I totally forgot to take a photo of this in my classroom - sorry about that!)  Once I had it assembled, I started to organize student supplies.  The bottom drawer is where students can get rolls of tape and glue sticks for their table buckets, the bottom shelf will be a place for scratch paper and the top shelf will hold my patty paper box.  The vertical storage space behind fits my graphing whiteboards perfectly since we don't use those very often.  For now, I have left off the pencil cup but it's magnetic and might end up on the whiteboard eventually.  

The other goal today was to change out my Puzzle Place area but that didn't quite work out the way I was expecting.  

The little woven bowl I found while cleaning at home did end up working perfectly for the fidget toys (fake Rubik type stuff from Target Dollar Spot), but then I had a whiteboard dilemma!  

Last week, I had decided I wanted to change out the Puzzle Place to something to encourage more interaction with the board.  I had used the same 4 quadrants for the past couple of years and the only one the kids really enjoyed was the Math Joke.  As a result, I decided to look for an inexpensive magnetic solution in order to do some vertical puzzles (inspired by Sarah at MathEqualsLove) and found this whiteboard at Hobby Lobby for $7.99.  (Note:  I was so impressed with the Hobby Lobby whiteboard that I went by there on my way home to get another one for the hallway (inspired by Sara Vanderwerf) but they were sold out.)

Once I go to school, I realized that I wasn't super sure which side of the board I wanted to put the whiteboard on!  

I plan to keep the Math Joke and the other one will probably end up either being the Math Fun Fact or will get changed to another brain teaser (like Set, 24, solvemoji, etc - something that is less manipulative than the typical puzzle table problem)

When I look around my classroom, I can't say that I can account very well for the 5 hours I worked, but at least it's done enough until I officially report on Monday!  

Welcome to my Classroom - #MTBoSBlaugust Day 9

 

Yesterday started Year 25 for me.  Where does time go??

Today, we had a few meetings and then we had Back to School night tonight from 4-6.  I'm exhausted and my feet hurt, but we are off tomorrow and then kiddos come on Thursday!  It was so good tonight to see students from last year and have a chance to visit with them.  As someone who has mostly taught seniors, this was a first for me.  That sense of connection and belonging meant so much to me!

Around 3:30pm, I felt my room was at 'photo-ready-enough' stage to share pictures of this year's classroom.  If you want to see how much it has changed in the past year, here are photos from last August.

Now on to this year's set up...

Standing at the doorway:

You can see the boards I received last year from the grant on the north and west walls.  I love that they are magnetic!  

On 4 of the boards, I have posterboards with prompts for the first day.  Students will get sticky notes, complete the prompts and put the sticky notes on the corresponding board before coming back to the tables to do the Name Tents

The tables look a bit bare right now, but they will eventually have table buckets and dry erase boards on them.  You can also see the corner of my (not-ready) desk and cans of shaving cream.  I forgot those were there when I took the picture! LOL

Moving over toward my desk, here's a shot of the south wall.  A few changes here from last year...

- Calculator Caddy so I can do a better job of tracking calculators that haven't been returned.

- New posters above the Caddy - the Thumbs Up poster from Scaffolded Math and the 2 smaller posters are from TI

- Make 30 daily challenge from Sarah's blog (MathEqualsLove)

- New agenda board for stat!  (YAY!)

Last view is from the northwest corner, looking back at the door...

On the big board of the south wall, you can also see the other two poster-boards for the sticky-note activity.

I still have a lot to do to get ready for the year, but at this point, it's mostly paper-based stuff of lesson plans, finalizing activities, and the administrative things that come with a new year.

But for now, I think it's time to go grab my Kindle and go to bed... :)

---

If you are interested in joining in the #MTBoSBlaugust fun, here's a post with some prompts to help you out!  The idea is just to blog / micro-blog during August to help us focus and reflect on the year ahead.  Please tag your post on Social Media with the hashtag #MTBoSBlaugust so we can support you in your blogging journey!

 

Welcome to Room 511!

 Kids come back to school tomorrow!  Moving school districts has been a challenge and change can definitely be difficult, but change can also be really good for us as it pushes us to learn and grow.  At my new district, there aren't many teacher workdays at the beginning, but I had already set up my room as I moved in, so I didn't have a ton to finish up.  I will say that one thing I LOVE about my new district is that today was a non-contract day, so after a couple of days of meetings and last night's "Meet the Teacher", it was so nice to have the day off, go out to eat with a friend, and just relax before kids come tomorrow!

But before the chaos of school starts, I wanted to share my new room with y'all, so Welcome to Room 511!

At the door, you'll notice the awesome Welcome sign from Sarah Carter and the Math Person sign from Scaffolded Math.  Also on the door are some curtains that my older sister sewed for me out of the remnants of my bulletin board fabric.  I love that my doorway reminds me of my family, my friends, and the MTBoS!

You'll also see the beginning peek of the classroom with Wipebook Flipcharts on the wall.  That was an adventure and I'm super grateful for a friend's help today to get those all hung and mostly level! :)

Moving on into the room, you can see a better view of the Wipebook Flipcharts as well as all of the tables. :)

My class is currently seated in groups and I hope that can continue.  They didn't tell us any directive about having students all facing the same direction this year so I'm hoping I can keep them in groups because I really missed those interactions.  Our directive is to keep the kiddos 3 feet apart and my tables are 3 feet wide and the kids can spread 3 feet side to side, so I'm hoping that works out okay!

Right now, my class sizes range from 18 to 28, so when I left yesterday, I had 6 tables of 4 and 4 extra chairs.  I had emailed the principal asking for another set of tables and when I arrived this afternoon, there were actually more tables than I needed!  I set up the last table and now every student has somewhere to sit... hopefully :)

As you enter the doorway, to the immediate left is one of the student areas with the calendar, turn in trays, pencil sharpener, etc.  The file cabinets are PACKED with school supplies because I apparently have a huge spending / buying habit when it comes to good deals on school supplies! LOL  

A few of my favorite things here..

- Team Cup Posters (Thanks Sarah!) - I LOVE using the Red / Yellow / Green cups and so glad they are back this year!

- Ladybug Welcome sign was a gift from my mom and it just makes me smile

- Problem Solver pillow made from a t-shirt I found in the girls section at Target several years ago

Along the front wall is the agenda board, the "main" whiteboard, and the puzzle / play corner.

This year, I'm teaching two levels of Geometry - regular and honors.  I've taught Geometry for years, but not two levels of it, so I'm a bit nervous about that.  I've already posted about the play area, but I do love the books in the windowsill!  I've been adding a few new books thanks to eBay, so I'm excited to have several books to swap in and out throughout the year!  

Back at the door, to the left, you'll see the row of cabinets with my second student supply area.  In this area, you'll see markers, colored pencils, patty paper, the group folders, and cleaning supplies.

Two favorites here...

- The Women of STEM posters look fabulous against the blue cabinet

- I LOVE the jigsaw puzzle!  In June, a friend and I had gone to Half Price Books and saw this Cardinal puzzle.  Since my new school mascot was the Cardinals, I decided to pick it up for the elderly neighbor man.  He loves doing jigsaw puzzles, especially in the winter and he was delighted to put this one together for me.  It really looks awesome in my new room!

The last area is my desk area and this was the MOST challenging area of the room for me!

First off, on the metal bookcase, you'll see my individual whiteboards and the cool holders my sister had made for me.  You'll also see the dry erase table tents that I had to have from Target Dollar Spot but haven't quite figured out yet! LOL

The red and blue back here was really hard for me.  I did better with the blue because I already had some ideas, like the yellow "Believe" sign from Ted Lasso (Thanks Meg!), but what do you do with a tomato red wall?  I knew I wanted something back there - a whiteboard, a bulletin board, something, but what???

Then, last weekend, I'm on Facebook Marketplace and up pops this yellow ladybug bulletin board - OMG - PERFECT!!!  I had already picked up the Home Sweet Classroom sign from Hobby Lobby, so now I had an anchor point.  I already had made a photo with my word of the year (Lego) and the photo of our bracelets, so throw in some quotes, a few more decorations, and my desk area is finally done!

Now, all that is left is for kids to fill those chairs tomorrow and we'll be ready to kick off the 2021-2022 school year!

#Made4Math - Play Learn Grow

 

It's Monday again and what a week it was!  This week was one of those where I was busy every single day, so the week flew by.  This typically wouldn't be a problem but summertime is already on warp speed after July 4, so add in a busy week and it was on triple time or something.  We're now down to 4 weeks before school starts and my garage looks like I haven't made a dent with regard to moving into my new room.  This week, they will be waxing the floors, so maybe that will force me to start thinking about the first days of school since I won't be able to work in my room.

In case you are new to #Made4Math, it is a weekly blog challenge to share a project or creation for your classroom.  I love reading your posts, so please join in the fun using the hashtag #Made4Math on Twitter, IG, or blogging about your project. 

Here are last week's posts in case you missed them:
@pamjwilson shares a TMC throwback with Mirror, Mirror: Tools for Teacher & Student Learning Reflection

@extraneousroot shares some documents she created to support Building Thinking Classrooms - I really really love her Geometry notebook idea!

I shared a first look at my new classroom 

We would love for you to join in the #Made4Math fun - Post your creations on Twitter, blog, or IG with the hashtag #Made4Math!

Now on to this week's project - Play Table

This week is a continuation of one of last week's projects. In my new classroom, there was a green cartesian plane in the front corner of the room.

My goal in that corner is to bring back my puzzle / play table! If you've never tried having a play table, I urge you right now to go read Sara Van Der Werf's post on why you need one, then go to Sarah Carter's blog to start your Puzzle Collection

When I first saw my new room, the cartesian plane was covered in square cork tiles.  After removing them, you can still see on the photo at the left all of the white foam adhesive squares.  

I asked on Twitter (of course) about how to remove the adhesive without damaging the board and several people suggested Goo Gone.  I happened to have a bottle at home, so I tried it.  

After several hours of using Goo Gone, plastic putty knives, and a LOT of elbow grease, the squares were mostly gone, but due to some residue, the board still isn't fully functional.  However, as you can see in the photo above, it looks a TON better than it did before!  

You can see the table below the board which is where the puzzle of the week will be... the blue bulletin board will host the Mental Math Challenge and I wanted to use the cartesian plane as an area to highlight some weekly tidbits about math...

So I started out thinking about what all I wanted to include.  I knew I really liked the idea of the Math Joke of the week from Sarah Carter's blog but that left me 3 more quadrants to go!  What should I do??

I settled on these 4 topics:

• Math Jokes (See link above)
• Math Fun Facts  (Click to download)
• Math Quotes (Click to download)
• Mathematician of the Week (See link below)

So then I spent time scouring the internet for facts and quotes, dumping them into a Google Doc until I had enough for one each week.  By the time I found enough and then made them into a printable format, I really didn't want to go through all of that for the mathematicians too, but thankfully Nathan Day had already made a set and I was able to go to our local office supply store to print them in color.

Now that I had all of my sets printed, I put them in binders / sheet protectors, hung up some titles and some small command hooks and I'm mostly ready to go!  I still have to title my display, which I think will be Play - Learn - Grow (thanks @pamjwilson for the title idea!)

I still need a few finishing touches, but my play table area is almost done!

Until next week - keep creating and sharing! :)

#Made4Math - New Classroom!

Wow - how is it already Monday again?!?!?

#Made4Math is a weekly challenge to create something for your classroom.  I love seeing each of your posts as it helps motivate and inspire me to work on projects for my own classroom!

Last Week's #Made4Math Posts:

@pamjwilson shared about the hypsometers for indirect measurement - I know these will come in handy for Geometry teachers! View the post here: pamjwilson.wordpress.com/2021/07/05/ind… @extraneousroot explored some options for VNPS for those of reading Building Thinking Classrooms! View her post here: planejanepoints.blogspot.com/2021/07/made-4… I finally made a set of Quarantiles (although I did mess up and had to make some more! LOL) - Read my post here: http://statteacher.blogspot.com/2021/07/made4math-is-back.html

We would love for you to join in the #Made4Math fun - Post your creations on Twitter, blog, or IG with the hashtag #Made4Math!

Now on to this week's creations....

This week was a whirlwind with getting the keys to my new room, then leaving for a short vacation, then coming home to sheer exhaustion! :)  

Project #1 - Welcome to my New Classroom!

As you may (or may not) know, I am switching schools this year!  After 21 years at my previous district, I am jumping to a smaller district that is closer to my house.  Part of the reason for bringing back #Made4Math (other than much needed motivation) was due to this switch!

While this project is definitely NOT a completed project, I wanted to show off my new space and what I was able to get accomplished prior to going on vacation!

Upper Left - This was taken when I toured the room right after accepting the job.  

Upper Right - This was how I found the room on Tuesday morning - carpets cleaned and the tables were stacked.  Getting the tables placed into groups was one of my first tasks!

Lower Right - I also wanted to get rid of the blue paper on the bulletin boards as well as the cork board tiles - the front already looks better!  

Lower Left - Tables are set up, new fabric is on the boards and all the cork board tiles have been removed!  My next goal is to put up border and clean the adhesive residue off of the Cartesian Plane.  Hopefully that will happen this week!  

Project #2 - Word of the Year Bracelet

After working in my room, it was time to leave for vacation!  I had a delightful long weekend with some #MTBoS friends and it was just the rejuvenation I needed!  Four women from four different states who originally met on Twitter and linked by our love of math - does it get any better than that?

A few years ago, I stumbled across the One Word Challenge, which was the idea of using a word to guide your year instead of making New Year Resolutions. Of course, for teachers, our "New Year" is more tied to the school year rather than the calendar year, so why not come up with a word to guide your school year?

During our trip, one of our adventures was to visit the botancial gardnes and they were having a Lego exhibit. Hubs is a HUGE Lego fan and we have more Lego sets around my house than I care to admit. But what I didn't know was what the word "Lego" meant...

Lego is an abbreviation of two Danish words 'leg godt' which means "Play Well". In Latin, the word "lego" means to put together or connect. My goal this year is to make connections with my students and colleagues and to help my students make connections with math. I also want us to find the joy and beauty of mathematics by playing with math.

On our last night together, we made some bracelets to remind us of our time together. The beads on the sides are the initials of the amazing #MTBoS math teachers I spent the weekend with, written in Morse Code, to remind me of this trip and of the amazing math teacher community that turned into life long friends.

Project #3 - New Office Chair!

After working in my room earlier in the week, I had put in some Amazon orders that arrived while I was away.

Of course, after the equivalent of a multi-day slumber party, I was pretty exhausted and so my productivity this weekend was mostly limited to naptime!! LoL

But while I was away on vacation, my new desk chair was delivered and during my nap on the couch yesterday afternoon, the cats decided to play "Queen of the Mountain" and chasing each other off the box, which woke me up. Obviously that meant it was time to put the chair together and take it up to school! I was pretty impressed with how easy it was to put together, so hopefully it lives up to the reviews! I liked that it was the same color blue as my new school colors!

And like any good cat, Kenzie had to be the first one to try it out... I think she approves :)

So there you have it - another #Made4Math in the books!

Don't forget to share your creations on Twitter, blog, or IG!

#MTBoSBlaugust - My Classroom 2019-20

This month, I am participating in a blogging challenge called #MTBoSBlaugust.  To read posts from other participants, click on the logo above.

---

School starts this week and I *think* my classroom is mostly ready! :)  I still have some work to do on lesson plans, but that's what tomorrow is for, right??? :)

Here's a sneak peek at my classroom:

The Doorway area...

• On the door you can see the new "We do MATH" sign
• Around the corner, you can see the weird nook that is my Puzzle Place and Student Aide desk.
• Above the trashcans, you'll find a variety of posters and signs, including the amazing "Power of Yet" sign from @algebrainiac - I love her posters!
• On the bulletin board, you'll see the calendar, the Team Cup signs from @mathequalslove, and the hallpass sign-out sheet

Moving clockwise from the door...

• You can see the Puzzle Place again :)
• On the cabinet doors / wall, I absolutely love, love, love the Women in STEM posters I printed from online.
• On the podium, you'll see the "How to be a Math Person" poster from Scaffolded Math and a Ladybug welcome sign from my mom. :)  (I'm not sure the Ladybug will stay there though... we'll see!)
• And of course stacks and stacks of textbooks!

Continuing clockwise...

• You can see the right edge of the Promethean board, but what I didn't get a photo of was the Levels of Questions posters underneath. :(
• My desk area... it's the messiest part of my room, but I promise it's organized chaos!  I've sectioned off part of the whiteboard to use as a bulletin board.
• It's hard to see, but I use the window sills as additional shelving.  On the window sill at the right, there are various books, including Patterns of the Universe and a curve-ahedra from @gelada :)

The back corner...

• You can see the books on the windowsill a bit better here. :)
• In the corner, you can see the student supply area, although those table buckets and group whiteboards are typically on the student tables.
• On the shelves below, you can see the file crates where I pass back papers and some various storage areas.  
• On the bulletin board, you can see the Mental Math Challenge, which is one of my favorite boards ever!  Using 4 numbers, they try to find all of the values from 1 to 24. :)

The view from my desk of the back wall...

Most of what you see here has already been discussed, other than the big set of double doors.

On those doors is the peel and stick whiteboard roll that I got several years ago from Hobby Lobby.  I did not peel / stick it though - I left the back on it and used sticky tack to put them up.  The left panel on each door is for the weekly agenda.  The right panel on each door is for annoucements.

Through those doors is my partner teacher for Forensic Science.  We team-teach that class and have 47 students enrolled this year.  During class, those doors are usually open and kids are moving back and forth betwee the two classrooms.  

Thanks for visiting my classroom!  Hope you have a fabulous day and a great start to the new year! :)

#Made4Math - New Year, New Door

This month, I am participating in a blogging challenge called #MTBoSBlaugust.  To read posts from other participants, click on the logo above.

---

It's Monday... again????

Serious, where is August going?  Slow down already! :)

Back to school is creeping closer.  This week is schedule pick-up, the teachers officially report next week, and I feel so behind in getting things ready!  But either way, kids will be coming soon and I still have tons to do! :)


Made4Math #1 - New Door!!!

Each year, I try to put up a new door to welcome my students.  Last year, it was the "Be" words.  This year's door was inspired by a poster I saw on Pinterest with the acronym of MATH. 

I knew I wanted something that illustrated my philosophy of quality instruction and emphasized some of the lessons we will learn during the learn of making mistakes and asking questions. 

On Twitter, one poster asked me about the Have Fun part, and that person is correct in that fun is very subjective.  However, I fully believe that I can make it a goal to have fun every day, even if I don't always achieve that goal. :)

To make the door, I just printed on different colors, laminated, and cut.  I did forget to trim the right hand side of "NEW"... oops! :)  I'm not crazy happy with the spacing yet, but that's just a matter of time. :)

If you want the files, click here!!


Made4Math #2 - Index Card Tabs

A discussion on Twitter this past week was about reassessments and I shared the top photo of my Reassessment Box.  Then, I realized I had never shared the index card tabs! :) 

When I made reassessments, I format them to fit on a 3x5 notecard and organize them into a little file box.  But index card guides are really expensive on Amazon, so I figured I could make them myself much cheaper.  Using my trusty tables on Word, I made 1/4 size tabbed cards, laminated them, and cut them apart.  I use a fine point sharpie to write the objective on them.

If you would like the file, click here!!



Here's to a productive week full of projects! :)  Have a great Monday!

#MTBoSBlaugust - Puzzle Place

This month, I am participating in a blogging challenge called #MTBoSBlaugust.  To read posts from other participants, click on the logo above.

---

In the 2017-2018 school year, I read this blog post by Sara Vanderwerf about having a Play Table in the classroom.  I loved the idea of mathematical play and encouraging students to experience math as a puzzle and something fun.

About this same time, Sarah Carter started posting about puzzles in her classroom and honestly, if Sarah Carter tells me to do it, I'd better figure out a way to do it :)

So the "Puzzle Place" was born.  I spent the first part of the 17-18 year trying to figure out the logistics and by mid-year, I was ready to unveil the Puzzle Place.  It wasn't much, just a filing cabinet and a chalkboard from the Target Dollar Spot.  It took a while for students to even notice the puzzles and I didn't do a great job of advertising it. :)

Throughout the 2018-19 school year, I continued to gather more puzzles and from the first week of school, students did a better job of noticing the Puzzle Place.  It's kind of tucked away in a weird little corner by the door that was originally meant to house laptop carts when our building was first built.  As the year progressed, more and more students visited the Puzzle Place, often making that their first stop at the start of class.

Each week, I would put out a new puzzle - some were definitely more challenging than others.  My only requirement when looking for puzzles was that I wanted them to be fairly manipulative.  I compiled a binder of puzzles with instructions that got placed in a sheet protector on the wall and puzzle pieces that were on the file cabinet.

As the year progressed, I recognized that I wanted to expand the puzzle place for a couple of reasons:

1. While I would have mostly new students this year, I have about 20 that have already seen the puzzles I used last year.
2. I wanted more variety to the puzzles, maybe post some brain teasers or mental math type activities
3. Some of the puzzles were quickly solved and then there wasn't a reason to visit the Puzzle Place throughout the week

At the right, you can see my revamped Puzzle Place.  It still has the manipulative puzzle on the cabinet, but now there are 3 more puzzles on the wall that are more mental.  Now, it's on my to-do list to find more of these puzzles.  Here are the resources I have so far:

• The middle puzzle is printed from Puzzlium's Instagram page, where they post their weekly Wall Street Journal puzzles
• The left (Code Breaker) and right (Triangle Patterns) are from Fun With Puzzles webpage where there are over 140 pages of brain teasers and logic puzzles.
• Emoji Puzzles
• Area Puzzles

What other resources would you suggest?

How Things Change...

This month, I'm participating in a blog challenge called Blaugust.  To see the list of participating blogs, click on the logo above. I would encourage to you please cheer on our participants with either a tweet or a comment on their blog during this month. It can be hard to blog on a daily (or even regular) schedule! :)  If you would like to join the blogging challenge, you can still sign-up anytime!

---

I've been working the past few days on a PD session that I am giving tomorrow to our district's new teachers on Formative Assessment and I finally have it done and handouts printed... which of course means that I will find 20 new ideas between now and midnight that I should have used instead :)

While I was working this morning, I was also involved in a Twitter discussion with @katherine_ruse about various activities for our AP Stat classes and it made me think about how things in my classroom have changed over the years.

One example that immediately came to mind is an activity I blogged about in 2014 - using Quiz Quiz Trade for Sampling Methods:

The original file was meant to be printed 2-sided and used as a flashcard style activity where students would be roaming about the classroom and "quizzing" each other.

But once I used it, I wasn't crazy about it, so Iteration #2 was a Card Sort...

The card sort used the same cards as QQT, but did not have the answers on the back.  Groups were given a mat of sampling methods and they were to read each card and sort the problem based on the method.  Overall, I liked this better and I have used this the past couple of years, but I did have two frustrations... 1) It was hard for me to gauge student understanding in the moment and 2) every student reads and processes at slightly different speeds, so some kids were zooming along and leaving others in the dust...

So this year, to try to fix the issues with the Card Sort, I'm going to try Hold Ups...
Hold Ups is an idea that I learned about from Total Participation Techniques by Himmele and Himmele.  I have used them in Geometry quite a bit, but for Iteration #3 of the Sampling Methods activity, each group will get a set of 7 cards with the 7 sampling methods listed.  As a class, I will present a problem and give think time.  Then as a group, they will discuss which method they think it is and on my cue, they will hold up the card they think it might be - AND - be prepared to defend their answer.

I'm hopeful that Iteration #3 will be *the one* but if not, that's okay, there's always more learning and growing to be done! :)

Classroom Procedures and Other Stuff

This month, I'm participating in a blog challenge called Blaugust.  To see the list of participating blogs, click on the logo above. I would encourage to you please cheer on our participants with either a tweet or a comment on their blog during this month. It can be hard to blog on a daily (or even regular) schedule! :)  If you would like to join the blogging challenge, you can still sign-up anytime!

---

While browsing Twitter this morning, I ran across this tweet:

Dear Erikka,

I don't know you, but instead of replying to you in 20 tweets or more, I figured it would be easier to write a blog post! :) 

Procedures:
If you have read any of the first year teacher books such as Wong, Fred Jones, etc, you know that procedures top the list of things to do.  I am definitely one that likes order vs chaos, so I try to train my students early in how I like my classroom. :)  I am not one that likes surprises in general, so there is an element of predictability in how I organize my classroom.  One of my favorites is my warm-up procedure.  I really like there to be a consistency in warmups, so we have things like Multiple Choice Monday, Throwback Thursday, FRAPPY Friday, etc.  This year, I'll be adding on some procedures to warm-up time that relate to homework, but those plans aren't finalized yet :)  Pretty much everything in my classroom has a procedure related to it in some way. 

Grades:
Our school expects that teachers of the same course will use the same grading breakdown, so each course I teach is slightly different, but in general, it comes out to assessments (quizzes / tests) are 75%, assignments (classwork, etc) is 10%, and semester exam is 15%.  In general, I don't have a lot of grades in the assignments category, typically just review assignments like Throwback Thursday or notebook checks.  I don't grade everything, but I am expected to have at least one grade per week, so I kind of balance my paperwork. With that said, I do believe a lot more in feedback than I do in grading, so it's pretty common for me to write feedback on warm-ups or exit tickets as time allows.

Rules:
I don't really have a ton of rules in my classroom, other than Respect - for yourself, for your classmates, for the teacher, for our school.  Whenever we introduce a new routine, we do talk about how to behave, etc, but most everything comes down to respect.

Paperwork:
So.Many.Papers! :)  I use INBs, so I use a LOT of paper with foldables, etc.  Years ago, I would pass out papers a table at a time during the class period and it took so much time!  Then, I read an idea from Sam Shah about Table Folders...

Other than the first week of school, my students stay in table groups for at least 2-3 weeks before switching.  The table folders allow me to organize handouts for the day, collect papers, and pass back papers easily.  In the example above, this was during the first few weeks of school when they were still using their name tents to help me learn names.  On the left are the notes for the day as well as an exit ticket / quick check from the day before.  On the right is a problem set.  This does take a bit of time to get used to, but there are now 4 different teachers in my hallway using this method and they all love it.  My students love it too because everything is in their folder.  When a student is absent, I just paperclip their papers together and leave it in the folder, so I rarely have to answer "What did we do yesterday??" :)

One added benefit to the folders is the grading.  There is just something daunting about a stack of 30+ papers but a few papers at a time in a folder seems to go so much quicker!  There are some things I grade or comment on immediately and put back into the folders, such as Multiple Choice Mondays or Quick Checks and a stack of 8 folders is a lot less intimidating to me and it helps me see the progress a lot more than with a stack of papers.  Of course, quizzes and tests aren't in the folders, but most daily work is handled that way. :)  If it's something I can't get to right away, I just pull the papers and paperclip them in folder order so that I can put them back quickly. :)

One other note with the folders - I color code my classes, so 1st hour is Red all the way down to 6th hour is Purple (following ROY G BiV of course!).  I buy the paper pocket folders each year when they are on the 10 cent sale and at the end of the year, I recycle them because they are pretty beat up from daily use.  I've thought about going to the poly folders so I can reuse them, but I haven't tried it yet because the poly folders seem more flimsy overall and I have a tendency to toss the folders on the tables as I quickly go across the room to the doorway for passing periods. :)


Whew - that got a bit longer than I expected! :)   Sorry about that! :)

Organizing the Classroom

Just a reminder that the #MTBoS Sunday Funday challenge is back!  This is a weekly blogging prompt that is hosted over at Julie's blog and this week's theme is "Classroom Organization"

Every week, Julie will push out a new topic, you blog about it and submit your blog post using this Google Form.  On Sunday, there will be a huge list of awesome blogs to go read! :) YAY!

As always, this is a no pressure blogging challenge, so if you don't feel like blogging, that's okay!  But since one of my yearly goals is to blog more, this is a great way to get myself back into the groove!

Organization tends to be one of my strengths.  I'm excited to share some of my favorite organizational tools and strategies and then go read about yours! :)

Hanging File next to my Desk:
I picked up this hanging file YEARS ago at Big Lots in their Back to College section.  This photo is really old - mainly because I forgot to take a picture of it when I was at school tonight. :)

This Hanging File holds my Attendance / Seating Chart folder (bottom pocket), my notebook for each course (the middle pockets), and our Advisory Sign-Out sheets (up at the top).

This is one *must-have* item for my classroom!

Storage and more Storage:
Some of this has changed slightly, but not much.  Along the bottom are file crates that I picked up at Target and these hold student files.  I am horrible about passing papers back to students or sometimes they will have a paper that isn't going in their notebook, so all of those papers go in these crates.

On the top shelf, you will see baskets from Dollar Tree for Extra Handouts.  I typically make 2-3 extra copies just in case a student misplaces their copy, and all of those get stored here.  You'll also see the Table Buckets on the right top cubby, but those have now changed... (see below!)

Table Buckets:
Here's the new version of Table Buckets and the contents.  Each group has a set of Red/Yellow/Green cups, a tape dispenser, glue sticks, scissors, dry erase erasers, Response Cards (Always/Sometimes/Never and MC), and a baggie of markers (Regular, Dry erase, and Highlighters).  Having all supplies handy on their desk at all times is a HUGE timesaver for me!

Table Folders:
This is an idea that I stole from Sam Shah and I *love* it.  Each of my classes has a color, each table has a folder.  This folder is how I pass out papers for their notebook, collect and return assignments, and organize missing / absentee work.  This is an old photo, but because it's purple, I know it's a 6th hour folder.  On the left you can see student work that is being passed back, plus 3 papers that we will be using in that day's lesson for their notebook. During the beginning of the year, their name tents are in these folders as well, because I'm still learning names. :)  If a student is absent, their papers are gathered up and paper-clipped and left in their folder for them to pick up the next day.

My Planner:
I've blogged before about my planner, but I definitely couldn't get through the day without it!  I combine my lesson plans with my personal planner to keep everything in one place.  This is always open on my desk and helps me keep track of meetings, to-do lists, blog ideas, and my lesson plans!  The monthly pages also have a habit tracker that I love.  I think the only thing I really should add is an hydration tracker, but to be honest, I rarely have time to drink water during the day! :)

Storing Activities:
This isn't the best photo in the world because I haven't really had time to straighten up my cabinets yet after pulling out all of the stuff that I stored over the summer.  In the mini file crates, there are about 10 of the index card boxes. Each box contains the cards for an activity, such as a card sort.  On the far right is vertical storage for the task mats.  Inside the 3 drawer container are things that don't store easily, such as inflatable globes. :)  You'll also see tons of dice both on the left and in the drawer because we use a lot of dice in AP Stat! I decided to snap this photo as I was pulling out the Types of Bias card sort for Monday in AP Stat, so that's why there's a set just sitting out. :)


I can't wait to read about the organization hacks from your classroom!