Currently... 2015

I am linking up with Oh Boy 4th Grade for January 2015 Currently....

Listening:  Listening to songs on you tube to decide our wedding string quartet "playlist". I was never much of a "strings" person (played the saxophone growing up and like piano) ...but songs sound AWESOME on strings! Who knew?  I am searching popular "pop" songs on YouTube to ask our string quartet to play for the wedding ...and am getting excited about our picks!

Watch the video above if you wish.  You're welcome in advance. ;)

Needing: to finish planning two GT units for January. I planned out my lesson plans and units the old fashioned way (on notebook paper) during my vacation on the beach. I have two units in the works to teach in January/February...a language arts fiction writing unit for my grades 3-5 students and a STEM unit for my grades 6-7 students.  Look for more information on them later this month on my blog and TpT Store!

Wanting: our traditional Florida trip with the family was special ... I am wanting to go back!

Thinking: about and planning for all the exciting things coming up in 2015! {Professionally creating new units and lesson plans, working residentially as an academic dean for the summer at a college, weddings and trips in the spring and summer, and lots of special time with family and friends.} 

Loving: the new dress I rented from RtR for New Year's Eve! (We don't even have big plans.  I just love any excuse in to order RtR.)

A Wish: I have been working hard on growing my blog again and reconnecting with an online community of teachers (also through instagram and tpt) ...I hope and wish that this growth only continues in 2015!

Christmas in the Caribbean

...Christmas in the Carribean

we've got everything but snow.

-Jimmy Buffett

OK, so maybe we aren't actually in the Caribbean, 

but there are lights on palm trees, oranges in our stockings, and key lime pie left out for Santa.

Here are a few pictures from my break so far.

Relaxing on Lido Beach/ Reading The Advisory Book  to prepare for grant writing/

planning my next G&T unit in my new Lilly notebook/ Appreciating the great sunsets

"What?! You're doing work on vacation?"

Yes. It's true. This year has been quite busy (just a little bit..) and I am thankful to do some work at my own pace over vacation.  I am, of course, treasuring precious time with family and relaxing... but also gradually attacking my long long list of things to be done: 

Lesson Planning.  Curriculum Writing. Preparation for Grant Writing. Wedding Planning. Organizing.

The list goes on.

{It may sound crazy, but I swear that I will leave vacation more relaxed if I 

accomplish just a few things while I am here.}

White (sand) Christmases are an almost-30 year family tradition that I treasure.

Our little traveling Christmas tree has been shoved in suitcases

to the Cayman Islands, Key Largo, Lido Key, and Disney World year after year. 

Wishing you the BEST winter break ever doing whatever traditions your family treasures most!

Sneaker Economics

This was hands-down my gifted and talented students' favorite unit of last year...

Students worked in small groups for the majority of the unit and since we only worked on the project 1-2 days a week, the project lasted approximately 2 months. If I had the opportunity to work on this daily with my class, it would have been approximately a 2-3 week unit. As a middle school teacher, I would also use this unit in my grade 6 classroom.

You can view the preview of the unit here.

STAGE 1 - RESEARCH

Brainstorming & WebQuest Researching:

We started the unit with some brainstorming and research about the design aspects of sneakers.  We compared the aspects of different athletic shoes (wrestling, soccer, football, running, dance) and running shoes for different purposes (trail, racing, hiking).  I provided suggested sites for them to review the given topics, but some of the students really enjoyed finding their own sites and sharing it over our class Edmodo page.

Compare & Contrast Presentations:

The students then picked two different athletic shoes to research and compare the qualities of (structure, function, materials, colors, stability, flexibility, soles, etc) each shoe.  They completed a graphic organizer and gave a brief 1-2 minute presentation to the class.  

A quick side note about presentations: They love opportunities to do present information even when it is a brief 1 minute of speaking.  I think it has been one of the things that has really helped their confidence with speaking in class and has helped them to focus on their public speaking rather than relying on a power point/prezi/etc.  While students present, each "audience member" writes what they thought was the person's presentation strength (voice, pacing, eye contact, emphasis, etc) and as an exit ticket we go around and share the strengths of each person before we leave for the day.

Barefoot Running Debate:

We then researched and debated the concept of barefoot running.  The students has a high interest in the new minimalist running shoes that are based on this concept and there are many interesting articles that fueled our debate.   I recommend using this with my Fishbowl Forum Freebie. or debate with whichever debate format works best in your classroom.

Field Trip:

MY favorite part of this unit was our field trip to a local running store.  I arranged the trip with the store and parents signed the permission forms digitally using www.123ContactForm.com. (highly recommended!) Since we went after about a week of researching, the students were prepared with excellent questions.

We went prepared with the worksheet from my TpT packet and clipboards and pens for recording notes on products and new technology.

Here is a cross-view of a sneaker we were able to view at the store.  Originally, I had planned to cut apart an old sneaker to view the inside.  However, since the store had this available, I did not end up including cutting up the sneaker in the unit.  


This was the students' favorite picture from the store.  They couldn't stop talking about how the materials "glowed" and became very interested in technology and parts of the student to include reflective materials on.

STAGE 2 - DESIGN

From here I created 10 pages of worksheets to walk students through making decisions about their sneakers. (color, cost, materials, marketing, financial backing, etc.)  The students had a lot of fun with this section. 

The students finished the unit with a power point or prezi presentation to share information to an audience of "sharks" (think the show "Shark Tank").

{Click here} to check out the preview.  The entire product is 22 pages; 17 

of the pages are printables for the students to work on.

Overall this was a fun cross-curricular unit with application to science (principles of design based around the science of the foot and running), real-world math application (marketing and finances portion of the shoes development), and language arts application (informal presentation, debate, and a formal presentation).  Since I loop with students, I will not be able to use this unit again until next year....but I can't wait until then!

New Year Linky Party

Happy (almost) New Year to All! 

What are your all time favorite activities for returning from break?

Writing? Math? Science? History? Goal setting? Team building?

Joining the linky party? Use the code below to add the widget to your post!

get the InLinkz code

Happy (almost) New Year Activity!

My G&T students love the thrill of a quick research activity...

especially when given the opportunity to share their findings.

So as expected...they loved working on this 

New Year's Traditions Activity.

{And I loved it because it incorporated creating a Works Cited, which is something they need to practice.}

I found that New Year's traditions were a great opportunity for research 

and made for a motivating activity to return to after break.  The information to research was limited, so it was nice to go through the motions of a research project without devoting extended time to the research process.

Last year the students completed the above activity in our 4th/5th gifted and talented class.

First, they picked a card that briefly explained a tradition performed by another culture (or our own).

I had my small group G&T 5th grade students complete this individually, 

but am considering using this with my Grade 8 students in partners this year.

They then researched facts and beliefs surrounding the tradition.  

The number of resources and information is limited for this activity. Which is why I like it.  The focus is on using multiple resources and taking the time to create the Works Cited.

They recorded their information on page one of the activity sheet below.

Later to be used as a reference for their brief oral presentation.  I prefer to complete this activity in one day if given the time, because I like this as preparation for impromptu presentations/public speaking... 

changing it up from their much-prepared prezi/ppt presentations of the past.

As they researched, they recorded the websites on the second page.

After researching, they followed the QR code to use easybib.com to create their citations.

It was a quick and easy activity and could be done over 1-2 days 

depending on the number of students that 

After completing the activity last year and preparing to use it again this year,

I fancied it up with some graphics (they look pretty in color, as compared to these black and white copies, I swear!)

and posted it on TpT!  Enjoy! 

Does anyone do any similar "quick" research and presentation activities? 

I am looking to find or create another for later in the year.

December - Five For Friday

Well, even though Five For Friday is taking a break in December....

I am linking up writing one anyway!

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#1. I updated my home work space with a Target globe and new candle this week.  I changed it up by relocating my dirtsa studio world map to above my desk.  These little additions put the finishing touches on my work space and I think it is a relaxing place to lesson plan and make TpT products now!

{I found the little wood desk on Craigslist last year and my fiance redid it with blue paint and oil rubbed bronze knobs
to knock off this pottery barn table for WAY cheaper. I think it works.  Do you like it?}

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#2.  My Giveaway is still going on...don't get forget to enter! It is my first blog Giveaway!

I am giving away some cute teal/gold stationary goodies and a $10 Starbucks giftcard.

{CLICK HERE to enter!}

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#3. I am excited about my "Snow: Winter's Favorite Mineral" winter webquest.  I made it when I taught 6th grade earth science and had fun glittering it up with Glitter Meets Glue graphics for TpT!  The students take a quick quiz of misconceptions and little known facts about snow and use QR codes to investigate and answer prompts.

{Check it out!}

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#4. Whoo hoo for Amazon's daily deals... I bought a laminator. Yes, a laminator.  I bought it on Thursday and it was here by Friday.  I then proceeded to try to laminate every paper item in my house.  (Note to Self: If you laminate receipts the whole thing turns black... The more you know.) My school has a hand crank laminator, but I have always been partial to thermal laminators...so I think this is pretty great.  And for the sale price (80.00 15.99) it was well worth it.   

{They are back up to $30 today.... but now that I have one, I think the full price would be worth it, too}

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#5. Hour of Code is totally new to me.  But my 5th grade G&T students LOVE to code...

and are crazy good! We did some www.code.org, www.playcodemonkey.com, and http://scratch.mit.edu/ after school this week. 

When I can find the time, I would love to look into more coding activities. 

{We did a little half hour of code after school for fun!}

Snow: Winter's Favorite Mineral

Snow. It's Winter's Favorite Mineral.

Did you know snow is a mineral? That there may not be truth to "no two alike"?  

Start the activity by having your students take a quick quiz to see what they know about snow.

(Teaching from misconceptions is a great strategy, especially for science.)

Don't give them the answers....have them investigate them!

Students work in partners or individually to finish a three page webquest.  If you have iPads or a BYOD policy, QR codes will make the activity move smoothly.  

(And if not, it includes website codes, anyway!)

The students will write view pictures, watch videos, and read various sites.  They will identify facts, complete informational writing prompts, etc.

Check out the Snow: Winter's Favorite Mineral HERE!



Stationary and Starbucks Giveaway!

I am very excited for my FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY!

Follow me and fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Double Dice in Middle School

I purchased Double Dice on a whim thinking they looked cool....

Turned out they were a great addition to making learning

in my resource room HANDS-ON and fun!

I purchased these sets:

6 sided dice

10 sided dice 

12 sided dice

In the last few years, I have used the double dice again and again.  

I'm actually surprised I haven't blogged about them sooner.
They were well worth the investment. 

I thought I would use them in games, but turns out that they were better suited for my classroom

for practice problems..... They turned monotonous practice into something fun!

Certain topics and basic skills (fractions, exponents, integers, formulas...) require review and repetition in the resource room and "another worksheet" just won't cut it.  The students need hands-on kinesthetic learning to motivate them and keep them engaged.

I made a few Double Dice practice sheets for my classroom and am sharing them on TpT...
 check them out below!

Integers Practice with Double Dice 

Exponent Practice with Double Dice

(I will be posting my fractions & geometry practice sheets soon! )

Currently...December

I am linking up to Farley from Oh Boy 4th Grade! 

LISTENING: I have been listening to Christmas music on my TV lately.  It makes much better background sound than Vanderpump Rules and Housewives.  

LOVING: Starbucks Verismo black friday deal...love!

THINKING: Almost there...can't wait for Christmas in the Caribbean (cue Jimmy Buffett) with the fam.

WANTING: A Snow Day. Pretty self explanatory. 

NEEDING: Love Fabletics.  Their pants are way cheaper than Lulu and seem just as good quality so far!  I got a sweater, cute chevron tights, and tank top for like 30 bucks.  I think it is my new addiction. Here is a link to join if you are interested.... http://www.fabletics.com/invite/60408746/   

GIVING: Feedback. I am looking for new ways to give meaningful feedback to help my kids grow!