Sydney's School Stories

Weekly Math Rotations Grouping I put students into 5 homogenous groups. I group students by using a unit's pretest scores, exit tickets or quick quizzes throughout the course of a unit, STAR tests (these are tests that predict / track end of year SBA scores), and what I notice as a teacher.  There are about 5-6 students per group. I color code student's names with their group- this makes it easier for students to look at the smart-board and know what group they are in.  This year I have more boys than girls, but I do try to have both boys and girls in each group. I put students who are quiet with students who are chatty and try to make sure that kids have someone they like in their group.   Weekly Math Rotations

My school uses Foss Science Kits from UC Berkeley ( https://www.fossweb.com/ ). I only teach math and science - but I teach these two subjects 2 times a day. We are so lucky that we have boxed kits for science and have access to awesome curriculum! Science Projects 1. We did a STEM engineering "Build a Parachute" project. Students thought about what materials and sizes would make a good parachute. We used coffee filters, felt, and plastic and later tested the parachutes we designed. The materials all came in the Foss Science Kit, but you can find more information here:  https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/design_a_parachute  if you want to do this in your class! 2. Foss mixtures and solutions project. In our mixtures and solutions unit we are thinking about how to create mixtures and separate water from salt, water and gravel, and water and powder. Students learned about evaporation and what a solute is. Here are photos of projects that we did for the las...

I recently changed my classroom layout! My students have been really chatty lately, so I broke up some of my table groups and now have 4 rows of 4 desks each with 2 groups of 6 in the back of the room!

Happy winter break teacher friends! I am going to talk about teacher wellness/self care today and give a few ideas of relaxing things to do for YOU this break and throughout the school year.  Self care is not selfish . I like having alone time where I’m the focus and getting pampered- it helps me chill out and feel beautiful. I love my husband, but need time for myself as well. I also feel like it is unhealthy to do school stuff all the time- papers can wait to be graded, but the relationships you have with your family and friends need to be cultivated on the weekends. Your body and soul need to be replenished so you can go to school refreshed.  Why is self care important? I believe that teacher self care is important for the soul because as teachers we spend a majority of our day taking care of 30 other little humans. As a teacher we often play other roles such as counselor, friend, mediator, and sometimes parent figure. We listen to our kids, problem solve with them...

Here are photos of my classroom this year! This is my main whiteboard. I used washi tape to divide my whiteboard into sections for my daily schedule, voice level, table points for each class, objectives, and class community news. The objectives are from  https://teachingtoinspire.com/  and the place value chart is from  https://teachingandsofourth.com/ .  At the beginning of the year my class and I made "looks like/sounds like" chart for showing respect, solving problems, making good decisions, and being a good scholar. Students get class stars every time they display one of these attributes.  The rug has seen better days lol. The rug is from Marshals and pillows from Michaels (Michaels has a free teacher discount program!!!).   https://www.michaels.com/teachers--create-for-your-classroom/article-teachers.html  This is my math board. I list may do and must do items for students to complete in math and list math resources for the...

My students have been really struggling with adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators. I did a math talk with them and realized that many students lack a foundational understanding of what a fraction means and struggle with multiplication/division facts. I have been working with students in small groups and spent over 2 weeks teaching equivalent fractions, listing out multiples, etc. I was feeling defeated most of this week- I had tried lots of different teaching strategies but none seemed to be working. As a teacher its easy to feel like you've let the kids who just can't seem to get it down- I felt especially like this and tired because of back to school nights and just getting back into the 1st month of school routine. BUT THEN... On Friday- I reached out to our ITCL and admin and we talked about different strategies we could implement to support kids who lack a basic understanding of fractions. I decided to help each student create their own fraction b...

Back to school is always a crazy bee-sy time for teachers- from setting up your classroom, school site professional development/meetings, and lesson planning. The 2017-2018 school year marks my 2nd year teaching and it started off with a bang! I am working at a new school (same district) this year and have a portable as my classroom. I spent hours putting up tropical decor, math standards, and arranging the desks- I was all ready for the start of the year! However, on the first day disaster struck! Bees invaded my classroom and one of my new students was stung. Thankfully this student was not allergic but it was stressful for all. From the first - fourth days of school I moved my teacher things from my portable to the special education room to hold class. The special education teacher was kind enough to let my students and I take refuge in her space! I am so proud of my students for being adaptable. My room is now bee free!