Imagination Sparkles

 Spring Break has now come and gone.  As I walked into work (a bit early) I was greeted by this beautiful sunrise from the door of my classroom.  As I think back on this Spring Break I am feeling grateful, empowered, and excited: I am grateful to have had the time to take my Middle Generalist test toward National Board Certification.  Only a couple of weeks and I'll be able to start uploading my other components, it has been a very busy year.  I am empowered by the movement that is building up in my state around education and providing more of a voice for public education.   I am excited for the learning to come this quarter.  Yes, we will be state testing, but I am excited to hear students' discussion of the the key events and effects on society as we learn out the 1800s in Social Studies. I can't wait to see what students' Women's History Research Projects look like. I am excited to run a simulation on Westward Expansion as students prob...

I have had many students over my years of teaching and I have had some with similar names.  Some of my students have had unique or less common first or last names, regardless they are those students' names and my first job is to pronounce it correctly.   If I am going to foster a relationship with a student, my goal from my first encounter with the student is I must get their name right.  Being a culturally responsive educator is one who values all aspects of that student and there is a lot in a name.  Over the years I have witnessed educators casually make mistakes with student names, the intention was not to hurt the child, but it can.  I am by no means an expert orator or a master of various languages to better pronounce words.  My students hear my mistakes but they also see my desire to ensure I say their name correctly because what I ask for is their feedback.  I don't want to take a mispronunciation and run with it for the year because...

I recently read an article about science engagement and the way students learn  I am passionate about Science and Social Studies education.  Whether this instruction be at a pre-k to a high school level, students experience in the K-12 Science classroom matter.  Per the infographic below by the Amgen Foundation Teachers are a top influence if students choose a biology career.  Furthermore, students are asking for more engagement in their science classrooms.   I work to provide a student focused and engaged science classroom through the use of the Engineering Design Process, Questions-Claims-Evidence, and problems that lend nicely to project/problem based learning.  To do any of these things you definitely need a strong  classroom community and  collaborative grouping can help students build their knowledge and science vocabulary with one another.  What do you do? Infographic via Amgen Foundation via Education Week arti...

I am back to blogging, at least for the summer.  When I opened up my account it was amazing how many draft posts I have started, clearly I want to keep up but am just running out of time.  For those of you that read blogs regularly what post frequency do you prefer, every day, week, a few times a month?   So before I get back to a routine, I feel like I should review what I have been up to and why I was so distracted from blogging this past school year.  Here are some of the key highlights: - Still teaching 5th grade with an amazing team, being a PLC is just natural for us, we are always talking/planning/analyzing - 27 students this year, small for what I have been used to in previous years, we built such a great community I miss them this summer - I was able to add in more of the science and social studies lessons that I have connected to the ELA standards and plan to continue to do that this next year - Served on my district's Science and Math Curriculum...

For those of you that know me, I love to read.  I typically read a few books a week and I try to balance reading plenty of books I love with books for school.  I was so excited when I was able to receive a book in exchange for a book review, this has been a goal of mine for sometime. Below you will find my review and a picture with Abby reading the book.  Fat Cat Takes the Cake by Janet Cantrell After reading the first two books in the Fat Cat Mystery series by Janet Cantrell I was eager to read the third installment in the series.  Quincy, the tabby cat in this series, is known for walking off, exploring, and discovering a mystery in the making, specifically dead bodies.  Quincy also shares his thoughts in a sometimes first person, sometimes third person narrations in italics.  If you are like me and love animals, perhaps sometimes thinking about what they say, then you’ll love to read Quincy’s thoughts and actions.  The book opens with ...

I recently read the article  "You Shouldn't Have to be a Superhero to Teach" by Andrew Carter.  Mr. Carter is a principal at a Junior High and the chair of a teacher training program.  I was captivated by the title of the article and it is definitely concise enough for anyone to read in just a few minutes, but as good writing will do, it will make you think for days after.  So I must ask the question, is Mr. Carter's thesis that one should not have to have superhuman qualities apply to today's educators?  Is this the environment those of us int he profession are expected to uphold?  Was that the impression you were given in your teacher prep programs?  Parents, I am the most curious to hear your thoughts on this...comment below.  Photo from tes, 2016, https://www.tes.com/us/news/breaking-views/you-shouldnt-have-be-a-superhero-teach 

I have been fortunate enough to start working with some talented educators in my district on some new Science curriculum initiatives.  Fifth grade seriously has the best curriculum!  I am loving this group because it parallels well with my own development and work on creating new resources for my classroom (and yours!).  One of the units in 5th grade science is the Solar System.  I went through some files I had accumulated from student teaching and my first few years that were on these topics.  I was amazed how true this cartoon was: I pretty much disposed of all the printed materials I had because they all had Pluto as the 9th planet and no mention of the dwarf planets.  It is remarkable to see the changes in science and I am so excited to see how quickly we need to update our curriculum resources as we learn more about our own planet, our solar system, and beyond.  What excites you about science?  Do you talk with your students about this? ...

As a teacher I have been fortunate enough to get to partake in lots of cool Professional Development over the years and I remember immersing myself deeply into foldable activities.  As the years have gone on I typically use some of the same foldables but I also get busy and tend to forget.  I am teaching math summer school this summer which allows me to focus on teaching 6th grade math for over four hours a day to the same group of kiddos.  I absolutely love it!  It is also giving me ideas to see what students struggle with and how I can create products centered around their needs.  The neat thing is I am going to use a lot of these in my own 5th grade math class during the school year, after all so much of what I am working on are foundation building math skills.   I have really been working a lot on my interactive notebooks for each subject area over summer break.  The math notebook is one I'd like for students to leave with in 5th grade and use t...

I recently read a really great article on the interaction of Engineers on society and technology.  This is a great read for any teacher thinking about implementing STEM lessons into your ELA or Science time.  When most primary school teachers are women we can have a big impact on shaping the ways our kids, especially the girls in our class, see engineers.  Do you teach engineering standards or discuss the idea of a career in engineering in some way in your class?  

When I stumbled across this article I got giddy.  How fun to combine two things I love, cats and math.  I showed the pictures to my 5th graders, only the ones that they understood the mathematical concept.  Show it to your kids or just look at it yourself.  Hope this gives you a little laugh and a smile on this hump day :) And just because you need some more cuteness in your life here is Fitch, one of my dear kitties/kiddies at our last Winter Olympic Party. He was part of a survey we were doing on favorite winter Olympic sport.  See cats + math!

Closing a lesson...this was one of the essential skills you learned in your teacher preparation program.  I would bet we can all do it effectively, but I wouldn't be surprised if you sometimes quickly close a lesson because of that darn schedule (kids are leaving for intervention, lunch, end of day, next subject, etc.).  Oh you don't....okay then its just I who does that sometimes.  So for people like me, I love to find new closing activities when they look like a. something I can use for formative assessment and b. aren't going to eat up a bunch of time.  So I was really encouraged when I stumbled across this fun little Teachers Pay Teachers freebie .  Don't assume because it is made by Mr. Elementary Math that this will just work for math.  These activities can be utilized in any subject.  So I hope this helps to slow things down or gives you another way you can still close your lesson with limited time.  

For several weeks in the month of February I spent time after work and on the President's Day holiday reading and reviewing reports for my business fraternity, Pi Sigma Epsilon .  I must admit at times when I needed to take a break from reading I found myself saying "why am I using my downtime for this?"  I took a few minutes to go back through some old Facebook pictures of my time in college and in PSE.  I ran across a lot of fun ones and it energized me to get back to my reading.  You see when I was in college I was in a chapter that submitted lots of national awards for the national conference each year.  From the end of the first semester to the end of January our lives were focused on writing reports about the year.  I remember many nights saying goodbye to my dad as he left for work at 5am and I was still up writing or working on homework that had been pushed to the side till then.  My friends and I spent a lot of time writing these reports...

I watched this video , I love what Jamie Oliver is trying to do about raising awareness about food, nutrition, and our food system.  I recently watched this video and became really uncomfortable with it.  First, I am assuming his cursing is either fake or happenining after the kids leave.  Second, I don't ever want to shame my kids about what they are eating. I have seen lunches like this before and it definitely concerns me, however I want parents and those getting kids ready for school to feel empowered.  I work in a district that the lunches are not as healthy as the school lunch shown here, so when I see kids bring their lunch to school I know many times it is due to their parents wanting to provide them with more quality, variety, and nutrition.  Other times it is about cost, families that don't qualify for free or reduced lunch are equally concerned with the cost and can purchase and provide a lunch that meets their families budget.   So after all ...

If you haven't seen the video about a preschool in an assisted living home in Washington, I highly recommend you watch it.  As I was watching the video I began to think about how we could structure preschools like this, about the effect it could make on our community and culture of learners in the school.  Have you ever been to a school like this?  What do you learn from watching it?

New career goal...I must become this cool before I retire as a teacher!

I recently have read several articles and blogs on the idea of whether you call kids smart and how a label or that label can effect them.  So I have to ask, in your classroom do you use that word?  Before I read this question I hadn't thought about it specifically, but I realized upon reflection it is not a comment I use with my students.  I'd like to sound all advanced and say it was because I had already thought through the problem of what happens to kids and what does a kid think when they make a mistake or are wrong.  Perhaps my lack of calling kids smart came from being labeled that at a very young age and starting in gifted classes before they were available to the rest of the school.  Perhaps that's why I understand some of the challenges explained in this article.  Perhaps also the teachers or parents calling kids smart aren't doing anything wrong, what if they are using these words and also creating a culture that values learning, mistakes, and ch...

Just this year the district I teach in became a Google district, with simple changes such as we are now all using gmail, also came some new applications for our practice.  Google has, what can feel like at times, as endless sites to use in your teaching, planning, and with students directly...but many times as resource is needed.  Something so you can quickly look up an answer, which is why I was so happy to recently find a list of tutorials  . So my teaching friends, or parents who are trying to learn more about what their students may be using or anyone interested, check it out, use it and spend this summer learning a little more or save the link for the future!  What kind of ideas can this stir up in your planning imagination?

 <---- Take this Make this---> How?  Why let me show you... You'll need the following: scissors tape 2 pieces of 12'' by 12'' scrapbook paper  a magazine holder,  I got mine from Ikea black cat (optional) :)  1. This works best with thinner scrapbook paper (that is the tan in the pics and the blue is super thick and was hard to work with), begin by meeting two pieces in the middle of one of the sides.  I have moved them to different sides of the box depending on the pattern and how I want it to look.   2. Now cut down the shape of the magazine holder and you'll get some extra paper, cut this so you have as big of chunk as possible, if you cut it just right you can wrap that piece around so that all of the pieces meet.  Then tape on the bottom and tops of the paper so the tape is wrapped around the holder.  If you want the holders to have a circle (it is already in the cardboard) for grabbing the racks then I...

My goal is for this to be a lifestyle blog with musings about travel, life, crafting, teaching, and so much more! Why Imagination Sparkles?  Because it is the sparkles, the very spark of our imagination that have created the most brilliant, exciting, and innovative ideas from science to art to technology to literature and more.  As an educator this spark is what we work for, it is what we strive for everyday in the classroom.  In our life it is filled with hundreds, thousands, millions of sparkles that turn into glimmering pieces of imagination sparkles.  Ideas from decorating to fashion to teaching to travel to great books and to fun movies.  So what are the sparkles your imagination creates?  How are you going to use them today?!