3rd Grade Self Contained

Things are pretty insane teaching EVERYTHING in a third grade classroom - at least in my opinion. Everyone else in my grade level and above are departmentalized - I imagine that is a TON easier than what I am doing, however, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE every minute of it! My student teacher is even gaining valuable experience teaching all subjects. (I know I student taught in a 3rd grade self-contained room, but I can't remember it being this nutzo!)

My kids - are pretty stinkin' awesome!! I'm loving getting to work with them and challenge them in ways they never thought possible.

I would LOVE to insert some of the documents I've created by posting them in google docs to post here...I'm just not too sure how that works. Maybe one of these days...

stay tuned for some exciting stuff coming this year...

Funny thought of the Day

One of my kids didn't want me to play this today (even though he was singing the entire thing)...

Student: I don’t like Mr. Morton. he didn’t get his woman.

Me: Yes he did...at the very end Mr. Morton married Pearl.

Student: Mr. Morton got a family?

Me: Yes - he sure does.

Student: AWESOME! Mr. Morton got a woman. Mr. Morton got a woman.

soooo funny - I was literally trying not to fall off of my WittFitt stability ball....

<3 these kiddos

This school year has been rocking like cRaZy and I'm loving every minute!

I'll blog more this weekend, but I wanted to share one quick thing!

During our science experiment this week, the students were testing the durability of paper towels. They put a tbsp of water on it and then had to add pennies to see how many it would hold. At one point, the kids decided that if they cupped their hands - the pennies wouldn't fall off.

One of my kiddos looked up and said, "Mrs. Shelton - our hands are like pens and the pennies are the sheep! We can't let them get out!"

I just can't get enough of these guys and it is a totally 

blessing to be their teacher this year! 

CAMT - Day #2

 Well well well..CAMT - day #2 was awesome fun! Most of our sessions started a bit later today - so we got to sleep in until like 6:30 - 7ish. WOO-HOO! 


Today I went to a whopping 5 sessions - needless to say - it was a busy day.


1) Integrating Sum Fun into Math Class - HAHA! Nice pun! This one was lead by Dr. Poage from Blinn (who used to teach at A&M). She was absolutely HYSTERICAL. She taught us a bunch of different card tricks and games to use with the students. I even won a box of Nerds for losing - yep. You read that right - she beat me at a game, but I still won the candy. She won most every game she did, but taught us all how to use them with our kiddos. I think these will come in super handy!


2) New Approaches to Traditional Computation - this one was not what I was going to see, but the one I wanted to see - was cancelled. So this lady lead instead. She was discussing the different stages that students go through when processing math and learning skills. The first stage is the social stage where the kids can count, but don't retain the numbers and the whole counting thing is just like saying their ABC's - they have no concept or meaning. They have to count the objects when you ask them - so how many were there? They start counting again and they may or may not get the same number. The second stage is one-to-one correspondence, but the kids cannot retain the number that you ask them. They have to see the objects to tell you how many there are. So they'll count 5 objects and then they can tell you that there are 5 objects. But if you cover them up, they forget what number they counted to. When you show them, then they remember.  The third stage is the trusting stage - this means that no matter how we arrange the number of objects - they stay the same.  During these 3 stages, numbers are an adjective and nothing else. All of these stages are very visual using models. The last stage she presented was partitioning or decoding. This is where the student can reference numbers with a picture in their head, but don't necessarily have to have the models. These kiddos are able to break apart the number and put them together to add up to ten. So to solve the problem (43 - 18 = ___) The student knows that if they take away ten from 43 - they'll get to 33. From there, they take away 3 more to get to 30. And then they know that they have to take away 5 more to equal their 18 so they get to their answer of 25. OR - if they are asked to combine (19 + 13 = ___) they will say to themselves - if I move one of the ones from 13 to 19 it'll give me (20 + 12) well when you combine that 0+2 = 2 and 2+1=3 so the answer is 32. The whole time it shows that they know the basic understanding of the concepts. She stressed using math talk with them in small groups, pairs and whole class and even using all the problem solving strategies in order - visualize, understand, plan, solve, check and then explain. The last thing she said was - why do we tell kids that they need to add or subtract vertically in elementary school -

                35                 44

            -   26            +  18

and then when they get to middle school we have them start solving problems horizontally. When you don't write vertically - you're getting them to focus on the concept and understanding and not the regrouping or borrowing. Needless to say - it was interesting.


3) Math + Art + Architecture = Fun! - This one was pretty cute. It talked about using obviously art and architecture to show the kids that math exists in everyday life. They can go on field trips or even out to the playground to demonstrate that the kids math is EVERYWHERE! Then we created our own mathematical art that we had to include certain items - parallelogram, ray, line segment, shapes, angles - all sorts of stuff. It was pretty interesting and would be a great integration or extension for kiddos. This is definitely an activity that you could use cross-curricularly (and yes...I just made up a word)


4) Let's Talk Enrichment - ONE of the faves of the day! All we did was play extension games at this one and they stressed that extensions aren't just for your GT kids, but can be for everyone. We did lots of out of the box thinking and they even gave us project ideas - WHOOP! And as we were leaving they gave us a CD with all of the activities and websites they mentioned, PLUS some! So I will DEFINITELY be using this this year!


5) Focusing on the African American Learner - this lady was very informative and funny all at the same time. Obviously - she focused on the A.A. students and how to best help them. After she told us everything, she asked if it was anything we hadn't heard before - and honestly, it wasn't. Everything that she gave us and the teaching ideas and strategies - they are all just best teaching practices. She stressed that the same causal things that are associated with low performing A.A. students - are the same things that other sub pops experience. The gap between Latino and A.A. students and their white counterparts is decreasing, yet it's not anywhere near where it needs to be. Something else was interesting that she said - kids perform based on how fabulous their teacher is. This is something I've heard before and it totally makes sense. Teachers who are rockstars - will generally have rockstar kiddos because they are given the opportunity. Kiddos who have teachers that aren't rockstars - will generally not perform as well. All teachers can be rockstars, but they've got to put forth the effort. It's not just a job - it's all about the kids and getting them to grow. The better learner we are and the more we put into our instruction and getting things to make sense to the kids - the better learner they will be. It all boiled down to the fact that our A.A. learners aren't any different than the other kids - you've just got to learn about their culture to understand them better.


I am absolutely LOVING this conference. The girls are so much fun to spend time with and getting to know them better is amazing. I am definitely exhausted at the end of the day, but I am learning so much. This just makes my desire to go to grad school a bit stronger - idk though. We'll see.


I even got to spend some time with my wonderful family tonight. I miss them so much - so I'm glad that I got to spend the evening with them. We went to PF Changs for dinner - mmm GF Chang's Spicy Chicken with Brown Rice. Of course - my bro and dad made fun of the GF choice, but oh well. They're goofballs anyways. I am DEFINITELY a Daddy's girl and so I was thankful that I got to see him tonight and spend some time together. I can't wait for the fall when his schedule slows down so him and mom can come down and visit more often.


I feel like there is so much more to do now than ever to get ready for the school year, but I know it's going to be awesome! And I'm psyched to get started - but just not ready to go back quite yet.

CAMT - Day #1

Well - today was the first day of CAMT. I knew that it would be super busy going into it, but WHOA! This is totally insane! There are sooooooo many people and some of the best workshops fill up quickly and there are so many things to buy.

Today, I went to several sessions

1) Guided Math - this is such a cool concept and I got to see how a third grade teacher in Denton puts it into practice! I've been toying with this idea for awhile because I enjoying teaching in small groups and feel like I'm more effective in my teaching and that my students gain more out of it. Coming from a lower background before this past year - I noticed that it's not really done in the middle/upper grades. I was super excited to see someone use this method and tell me how to implement it. One of my team members went to a different training on the same subject and LOVED it too! So - I think this might be a route we go. It helps with differentiation and with the kiddos - I believe it's totally the way to go!

2) Build It! Draw It! Talk It! Write It! - I got in line for this one about 45 minutes before it was supposed to start. Yep - and I was still like 20 people back - little did we know there was also another line forming on the other side of the door! This one was about a program called Understanding Math. This breaks down the math concepts and shows the kids pictorial models. I wasn't expecting this to be one where they were trying to sell me something, but we do get a free trial of it and the guy said it was only like $30 for a license - I'm a little skeptical about that part, but we'll see.

3) Drill Like a Champion - with Kim Sutton - OH MY WORD! I absolutely LOVED this lady!! She was cracking me up! I've used some of her activities in class and her wording and the songs from Ron Brown so I was super glad I was able to see her in person. Her energy and love for math was invigorating! I plan on using her Drill to Thrill book to teach our facts this next year. One of the coolest things about her is the fact that she puts ALL of her convention and training stuff up online for you to download and use! WHOA! I mean this lady does these trainings and sells things at her booth, but is totally okay with you downloading the stuff on her website to use. What an awesome lady and blessing that is!!


Those were the only workshops I went to today because of the pacing and the people!! BUT - I did go to the exhibits to see all the stuff people were selling and WHOA!! I have a new favorite thing I found. It's calling FACEing Math. The kids start with a blank circle and you give them a page that has directions with problems on it. There are 21 total problems. It gives the kids a math problem and then tells them two options to pick from their answers and they draw that piece. On the back, the answers have them color the page certain colors. SOOOOO the kids are doing math - yet drawing pictures at the same time (see the example below)

  

My thinking is that this would be something great to use with Guided Math!!

I have enjoyed spending time with my 3rd grade math teammates and one of our 4th grade math buddies. We are all going to different things so that we can share other ideas with each other!! This conference is so much fun and can't wait to go to my trainings tomorrow. Tune in to hear more about what we did and some of the cool products that we learned about.

Thankful Thursdays #5

I LOVE Thankful Thursdays - I think this may be one of my favorite things to blog about. It helps me look at the positive things going on - even though things might be crazy.

#1 - Summer Fun Days - EVERY Thursday this month, our church is hosting SFD for our kiddos. The parents drop their kids off and we get to do SUPER fun stuff all morning. This week - it was water day! If you know anything about me, you know that if you add water to things - it just makes things better!! We filled up 1,440 water balloons this week - yep - it took forever and my fingers hurt. We also had a HUGE water slide - OH MY!! I slipped like 3 times going up the blowup ladder thing, but the kiddos kept cheering me on. I left totally soaked, but totally feeling loved and blessed by the kiddos! One of 'em even got to pop 2 balloons on my head because he picked up the most balloon pieces.

#2 - hair dye - I get SO bored with my hair when it loses it's main coloring - so I buy a box of hair dye and either change the color or revamp it up. I have been told that I have the complexion coloring to do almost any color - I was light brown, then blonde, then brown, then red, then dark, then brownish red, then red, then brown and now... My DH has been wanting me to go dark again and not just dark brown, but BLACK! - which totally kinda freaked me out, but...I am absolutely glad I did. I love it. I'm glad I'm not scared to try new things because I think it makes it more exciting and definitely a self-esteem booster!! Hair dye is an easy thing to change to drastically change your look quickly - and I am definitely a fan. I used to do it because I didn't like my hair color - now I do it just because I enjoy it!

#3 - Chick-fil-a sauce - LOL! We had chicken nuggets for lunch today from Chick-fil-a at SFD and I got to enjoy the sauce with my nuggets. MMMMM I usually throw in something silly for a thankful thing and today - this is it!


OOOH - next week's post will probably include something about the conference that I am going to or my family - since I get to see them - soooo excited!! Anyways - that's it for this evening! G'night!

Bible Blogging Wednesday #3

“She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’” "Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’”  Luke 10:40-42 (NIV)

Something that I tend to do alot is worry. I admit it - I worry about stuff - big stuff, little stuff, future stuff, just stuff stuff. Between worry and self-esteem (sometimes them combined) I worry about things. I know that I shouldn't, that I should give everything over the the Lord, but sometimes it seems easier to just hold on to them and deal with it all myself. However, I know that when I do this - it just makes things worse. So I feel this is something that He's working with me to grow and stretch me. 


I worry about my family - things I cannot change, yet I want to be able to work.
I was worried about third grade - things turned out fine and I think I did a wonderful job with my kiddos. I was worried about TAKS - and my kiddos did exactly what we expected them to - and some of 'em did even BETTER than I could've imagined.
I was worried about a summer job - the Lord provided me with 2 that I absolutely love.
I was worried about debt - with my two jobs the Lord provided us to be able to pay things off.


I wish I could say my worries ended there, but they don't. I currently have things that I am concerned about, but instead of making myself sick with worry - I am giving them to God. I know it's going to be a long road, but I feel like the Lord is helping me and showing me His providence and His love for us - and the fact that it's unconditional. Just like our kidz worship will focus on next month "Grace" - getting something really great that I don't deserve. God loves me and knows what's best for me - therefore - I have nothing to fear or worry about because He's in control of it all.