Obligatory "First Day" post

I wasn't even nervous!

OH MY GOODNESS is second year so much easier! I just got up this morning and rolled on out of bed, ready to be back in the swing of things! I knew I had things planned out for the day and also knew that if things went awry, IT WOULD BE OK. And they did, and it was.

I got to school and found out that my homeroom of 28 was now a homeroom of 30 and simply thought "well, I'm glad I have extra desks and copies!" No freaking out? No panic? No sir! I went and put my emergency #29 and #30 post-its on my desks, rearranged a few, and was ready for the day!

So I have 87 students (as of now) and I think that they are going to be so fun. I think that they have a ton of neat personalities and that we're going to be able to do some pretty cool things with our tablets. We didn't have time for the getting to know you activities that I wanted to do, so I'll plan on doing them tomorrow. Hopefully I can find time tomorrow to include some things here about what I have for the first few days; I've gotten some neat things from co-workers that I think are worth looking at!

Worst part of the day? My heels. Blisters GALORE.

Voki

Voki.com is a site where anyone can create an avatar who speaks! You design the avatar to look how you want (there are some designs that are only for the pro version) and then have options for what you want it to say. You can type text that it will read phonetically, record your own voice, upload a recording, or record by phone. It is a cool way for students to share information, especially those who are nervous about talking in front of people. I have made one to show the students on the first day of school; it's quick and simple, but it gives them a quick preview of a tool that they may use this year!

I meet my kids tomorrow!

And... I can't say that I'm entirely ready. Ignore the fact that I'm not ready for summer to end (I'm trying to). Even with four days of work days, I just don't think that I could ever feel ready enough! My head is currently so jumbled, and you'll be able to tell by reading this post!

cute, right?

At my school, we have an open house where parents and students can come in and meet their team teachers. While there, we get their email addresses, give them their schedules, and get to know as many families before school starts. As a middle school teacher, I have a lot of students, and the few minutes that I get to talk to each family could never be enough, but it's a good way to start the year.

So I have my stations set up for open house. I have my powerpoint made to show them what we will be learning in math this year. I have my wish list posted on my door (yeaaaahhhh). But I still don't feel ready! Probably because I have no idea what lessons are going to look like this year...

I have met with the other math teachers in my grade about our game plan for this year. Since we've gotten tablets for this year, we have a lot of questions, like how much of what we normally do can we replace with the tablet? What are the limitations of the tablet? (Pretty hard to answer) What are all of the possibilities we have now? (That's even harder to answer)  I had been thinking about doing an interactive notebook, but then thought that there may be an option for using the tablet with that, but now I'm back to thinking I'll use the INB idea. We'll probably just do it on notebook paper so that students can fold in the notes that they take on the videos that we assign for homework.

All of the questions aside, everything is SO much easier the second time around. Last year was my first year teaching, and it helps so much to not have to do all of the setup that comes with walking into an empty classroom! I was able to focus more of my time on making what I have more effective, meetings, planning, meetings, organizing, and meetings! So that's good. I wasn't as nervous when I had to call all of the students in my homeroom (not that it was fun) and I'm not nearly as nervous the day before open house.  Hopefully it goes as well as I hope it does!

Good luck to everyone who is starting a new year of teaching! Remember: it's not about us, it's about them!

QR Scavenger Hunt

QR (quick response) codes are really neat resources that you can use in your classroom, especially if you have tablets, iPod touches, or smart phones. I have created and used this QR scavenger hunt for a training with our tablets so that students could learn skills like copy/paste, download, using word processing apps like Kingsoft, etc. The students who participated in this activity were up and around the room, working independently or with partners. They learned a lot about our tablets that I couldn't just tell them about; they had to experience it to really get the gist of it.

In order to do this activity, they need an electronic device with a connection to the internet, a word processing app, and a QR scanning app (QR reader, QR droid, etc.)

In this document, I have deleted the QR codes that are specific for me, but all you need to do is go to QRstuff.com, download the code you make, and the copy/paste it into this document.

Enjoy!

Click here for the activity. You can also find it at my TpT store.

LCM and GCF

One of my colleagues just shared this site with me: www.mathtrain.tv As with a lot of other things, I'm sure I'm coming into this party late, but it looks neat! youtube is blocked on our wifi server, which means that the videos aren't easily accessible on the tablets that we're getting. I'm hoping that mathtrain will be accessible, though, which can help implement a PLE.

One video that I have found is on the Ladder Method for LCM and GCF. Like a lot of topics, I can explain this fine for myself, but a video is something that students can watch on their own time for review, working ahead, or just benefiting from hearing someone else talk!

Fraction, Decimal, Percent

Something that the sixth grade math teachers at my school do is a daily Fraction/Decimal/Percent, or Daily Fraction. We take the fraction of the year that we have completed (ex: 2/180 days), simplify the fraction, convert it to a decimal by long division, and then convert the decimal to a percent. In the first week, this is very difficult for students because it is (usually) not something that they have done before. However, it gives them some familiarity with the concept, making that unit easier for them. It also teaches them to recognize benchmark fractions that can be converted quickly, as long as you have simplified the fraction first. (Ex: 90/180 = 1/2 = 50%)


I have found a neat FDP game on Pinterest called the Math Detective. I'll plan on using it during our first unit on fractions and decimals!