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Friday, March 28, 2014

Flipping Math

I had a few requests to do a post about how I have flipped my class for math this school year.  I don't have many pictures and I'm still constantly tweaking how I do math, but I'll let you know what we are doing right now or what I plan to do!

I decided to flip my math lessons back in November along with a team mate.  I teach in a K-12 school and a couple of our middle school teachers have flipped their classrooms and most classrooms you see that are flipped are middle or high school, but we decided we wanted to try it in 2nd grade.  We started in January when we returned from Christmas track-out.

My students watch a video lesson of me teaching at home for their homework 2-3 nights each week.  I use the Apple app ShowMe to record my videos.  I have been told this is not the way to flip because myself am not in the video, but I'm not a fan of videoing myself and by using the ShowMe app, I can work on videos from anywhere - including my bed :)

My videos range in length from as few as 3 minutes to no more than 10 minutes.  Usually they are around the 5-6 minute mark.  This is probably a little long, but my kids are being active with me during the video, so they aren't just sitting and watching.  I have even had a couple kids tell me that the videos only seem like they are a couple minutes long (even if they are really 8 minutes long - haha).

While the kids are watching the videos, they are completing a Flipping Homework Response Sheet that I created.  It has 3 boxes.  The top box they write down any important vocabulary terms that I introduce at the beginning of the video.  After introducing vocal, if any, teach and do 1-2 practice problems for my kids to watch me solve, depending on the topic.  They are just watching right now.  The middle box is where students will work a problem out WITH me.  I remind them constantly during the video that if they need to pause, they can do that, but I'm going to keep going.  After they have solved a problem with me, I leave them some sort of problem to do in the bottom box.  This is how I can check to see if they understand the concept.  One nights where students do not have a video to watch, they do an assignment on Scootpad.

If a student does not watch the video at home the night before, they do this first thing the next morning after they unpack.  I had one child who was without Internet the first few weeks we were flipping and after her mother approached me with this problem, we discussed options and she made sure she was at school first thing, 7:45, so she could get it done.  She would watch the video and complete the response sheet for her morning work.

Then fast forward to the next day!  When we get back to our classroom from specials we only have about 50 minutes for math, in years past I've had about 75 minutes, so I knew I had to do something different this year - which led to flipping.  When we get back, I give brief directions and then we start.  I do 4 rounds of centers each day and each center is 12 minutes long.  I have one of these cool timers to keep us true to time...that is, if I can remember to start the timer after we switch!


Now, what are the four rounds/centers my kiddos are doing?
The most important one is Work with Teacher!  During work with teacher, my kids and I are working on an assignment or activity to assess their understanding of the concept.  This is what my other team mates, who are not flipping, use as classwork.  Some of these I make myself, some are things I find on TPT, and some are the classwork sheets from our Envision Math curriculum (we don't use it too much anymore).  Depending on if this is a brand new concept or more of a review/practice day, my role may change.  Some days I do a lot of guiding and we have discussions while we work through the assignment.  Other days I am there just hanging out monitoring progress and checking while they work.  If they need help, they ask for it.

After my students leave Work with Teacher, they have been moving to our Hot Dots center. I purchased lots of Hot Dots pens, sets, and boxes of cards earlier in the year with my fundraising money from Candy Man to use during math.  My students get a pen, choose a bag or box of cards, go find somewhere to sit and work independently on their Hot Dots.  Most of my kids love using Hot Dots and are great for differentiation.  Check them out if you don't already have some!
When we return from track-out, I am actually going to change this center to Math Journal.  My kids already have math journals that we have used time to time this year, but for the last quarter, students are going to be given different activities to do in their math journal.  I plan to start using Sunny Days in 2nd Grade's Weekly Math Magic - students will just do one side each day.  When they finish, they can then do Hot Dots.

After leaving Hot Dots/Math Journal, students go to what we call, Math Center.  My 1st grade TA helper comes in during math each afternoon and she "mans" this center for me.  Since we began flipping, I have been using Hope King's monthly math centers.  They are GREAT!  Easy to prep, same activities each month so the kids begin to understand the centers better, and are a great way to review different concepts.

The last center students go to is iMath.  This is a new name for this center, my kiddos don't even know yet, so you are special because you get to find out first!  iMath changes each day, so I write their directions on the board for this center.  Some days my kids watch last night's ShowMe video, if they feel they need to see it again, and then they do different math apps if they have time left.  Other days, I give students specific apps or activities I want them to do.  Some of these might include:
Scootpad assignment
Splash Math
Front Row (going to start this after track-out)
Math Games - Sushi Monster, Todo Math, etc.

So, that is a run-down of how I have "flipped" my classroom and how we do math in our room.  I hope I have covered it all!  If you have any questions, please ask!  I'm sure I have forgotten something.

Have a great weekend!!

Five for Friday!


It's Friday again my friends!  This week has gone by too fast for me - probably because it's my last week of track-out.  First week I was sick all week and this week I finally felt normal, so the week flew by - should have known!  I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five For Friday.  So here we go!





Since I was feeling back to normal this week, I finally got to do a little spring clothes shopping.   Got a couple new dresses at Ross and shorts from Target.  All my clothes from last spring and summer are too big (that's a good problem to have I keep telling myself), and I'm having a hard time finding capris.  Everything is skinny legged and I have "big" calves so they are all uncomfortable.  I'm not giving up, I've got to find some!  Did a little school shopping too - found these cuties at Michaels on Wednesday.





I have flipped my math classroom this year, starting in January, and love it!  As do the kids! They watch the video lesson at home and then when we start math, we do math centers and do the "homework" activities in class with me!  Since I go back on Monday and the kiddos come back on Tuesday, I had to get back to making videos today for next week.  We are tackling Geometry when we go back!




Being a 22 iPad classroom has its advantages and disadvantages.  Managing all these devices was a project I set for myself for track-out.  To get them with all the same apps, all updated to the new iOS, charged, etc.  Well I managed to get them all charged today...but internet at home can't manage so many devices, so I guess I'll have to spend some time Monday during my workday trying to get them somewhat alike!  I may try to tackle some again at home this weekend, just a couple at a time maybe :)




Our school does all kinds of fundraisers, silent auctions, etc throughout the year to support classrooms.  Last year, our parent group began a day of celebration called Eaglefest.  Most elementary classrooms do a silent auction item with all the proceeds for their item coming back to their classroom.  This year I decided to do two buckets/baskets for the silent auction - Movie Night and Gardening are our themes.  Put my new Cricut Explore to use and cut vinyl letters to go on my buckets this week.  Can't wait to get them filled up!


(Ignore the mess in the buckets - they are being storage right now with stuff going back to school next week!)


This is actually last week, but Frozen and Saving Mr. Banks finally came out last week on DVD!  We were having some more winter weather that morning, but I "braved" the "terrible" roads (that's what the news said at least) to head out to Target first thing and get them both.  Enjoyed a movie day and can't wait to watch each one again and again!



Thursday, March 27, 2014

I'm having a sale!

A bunch of bloggers are getting together this weekend to have a Spring Cleaning sale - time to clean out your wish lists!  Click the picture below to head over to my store - entire store is 15% off this weekend!


Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Catching Up!

Hello again friends - long time no blogging!  I was hoping to get some blogging done last week and this week since I am tracked out, but a nasty bug, I think the norovirus, hit me last Sunday and I had lingering effects all week.  So I didn't ever feel like doing much last week.  I hate it because I feel like I wasted half of my track-out feeling yucky.

But, I wanted to pop in really quick and update you on some of my latest TPT additions!  Some I finally got around to finishing and some were a complete start from scratch :)










The last one is a freebie - but I don't know for how long!  Hop on over to my TPT to get it while it's free!

Enjoy!

Saturday, March 15, 2014

March Mystery Box - GO ENTER!!

Back again today really quick to share about a great giveaway hosted by some great bloggers!  This month's box is packed with some great goodies worth $230!  I hope I win!!! Click below to head over and enter!


Friday, March 14, 2014

Five for Friday!

It's finally Friday!  This was our last week of school before we track out for 2 weeks and so that meant that this week was soooooo sloooowww!  I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!



  


Spring finally showed up some here in NC last weekend and early this week!  I was so excited as were my kids.  Too bad it was our PE week so we didn't have our normal recess time after lunch...but that didn't keep us from going outside!  We took advantage of the 70's and our nice bricked area in front of our building to play a little before Art.  The kids weren't too crazy about it a first...you know...cooties and holding hands...eeewww!  But they liked it by the time we got done.  We might do this again :)






Well a couple weeks ago we wrote about How to Catch a Leprechaun - the kids loved it.  Did you know that most leprechauns - or my kid's leprechauns at least like peanut butter???  I have to be careful giving quick ideas before they start writing because they usually end up using them in their writing!  Bought some cute Melonheadz clipart during the big sale and got it printed, laminated, and to add some detail to the board.  Wish it looked done, but one kiddo never finished!  By the way, our writings are from 2nd Grade Stuff - love ALL of her monthly writing packs!




Reading Comprehension passages this week were St. Patrick's Day style too this week!  Love this sweet little one's answer to her last question - they sure do know how to steal my heart :)




So I have several kiddos that have some difficulty finishing their work each week and I have tried so many different things to "light the fire under their butt" but nothing as really worked!  So last Friday I announced to my kiddos that starting this week if they finished all their work during the week and could show me an empty folder Friday morning they could play on an iPad for morning work.  It definitely worked for some and one in particular was so proud of herself for finishing her work and getting to play on an iPad this morning.  They were in heaven sitting on the carpet this morning :)



We finished up our data and graphing unit in math yesterday and had awards this morning at 10:30 AM.  Most kids leave after awards (I only had 5 left by 12:15!) so we do some fun things in the morning before we go to awards.  This morning we used a St. Patrick's Day graphing freebie my team mate found on TPT to graph Lucky Charms cereal.  The kids really loved it, especially the eating part!


Friday, March 7, 2014

Five for Friday

Its Friday my friends!!!  This week sure has gone by fast...for us at least.

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday this week!



Well old, man winter struck again!  Here in NC we had sleet and ice and al that yucky mess Monday into Tuesday.  So our week started out great because we left school at 11:30 on Monday and didn't have school Tuesday because the roads were like skating rinks!  Not looking forward to having to make Tuesday up though - go away winter and bring spring!


Well being out of school wasn't a bad thing because I was able to finish up my baseball unit!  I love baseball and know a lot of my kids do too so I put together some Language Arts and Math centers together in a unit all themed around baseball.



All of that working time on the couch behind my computer meant that my furry friend showed up to help!  Love my Maggie so much and was rather panicked this morning when she didn't show up when the clock went off.  She finally showed up, but I think she was hiding in the spare bedroom because of the rain - she HATES outside sounds and is pretty much afraid of her shadow.



We have an Early Release today!  Woohoo!  This week is fantastic!  Need to finish report cards and get some stuff done in my classroom...only one week till Spring track-out and I can't wait!  Only 5 more days of having to get up at 5:30 :)


I got a cake pop maker for Christmas a couple years ago and use it occasionally, but because I am a perfectionist, I have trouble making cake pops because they never look like I want them to.  Well my bestie, and team mate's, birthday is today and she loves cake pops, so I had to crack out my cake pop maker and recipe book this week to make some cake pops for her :)  We are not going to talk about how the decorating process went last night, but I finally came up with some that looked somewhat good - and from the "reject" that I ate last night - they are going to taste good, so that's what counts!



Happy Friday y'all!




Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Go Away Winter!!

Winter...you can go away at any time!  I think the picture below explains it all.



So, we had an ice day today.  Probably going to lose our teacher workday on March 31 that we have before the kids return from track-out.  In the meantime, I've been able to be productive today and finish my baseball unit!


I started on this a few weeks ago and then lost all motivation..but picked it back up last week.  Finally finished it today and included lots of goodies - comprehension passages, graphing, measurement, telling time, word sorts, etc.  Click the picture above to head over to my TPT store and check it out!

Saturday, March 1, 2014

March Currently

It is March my friends!  I can't wait for the warm weather to start showing up here in NC some - I'm done with cold, old man winter.  I'm linking up with Farley for this month's currently!


Listening to some peace and quiet!  Just sitting here in the kitchen and it is so quiet now that I've got the shutters open for one of my kitties to survey her kingdom.  After being around 24 7/8 year olds all week, it's good to have some peace and quiet.

Loving that I only have 10 days left till track out!  And this Friday is an Early Release and the next Friday is awards, so most will leave after awards, so if you want to get technical about it, there are really only 9 days left :)  Then two weeks of relaxation and we are back for 4th quarter!

Thinking I spent WAY TOO MUCH money on Melonheadz clipart during the TPT sale over the past two days!  Have so many ideas for units and activities bouncing around in my head to use all my new clipart on!

Wanting some breakfast!  Waiting on a repair guy to fix our ice maker...I wish he would hurry up and get here!

Needing to start on report cards!  I am so not a procrastinator and like to have my report cards done early.  We have and early release day Friday to finish and submit report cards, but I love to have them ready before then so I can be productive in my classroom during that time.

??? - Can you guess what the question might be?

Happy March and Happy Saturday!