We spent a bit of time at the cottage over the Canada Day weekend. Here's a pic of my girls on Canada Day - for some reason, they always agree to dress alike on Canada Day. They're 4, 6, and 8 right now - gotta dress them up while I can ... for some reason I can't see them agreeing to this in 10 years when they're 14, 16, and 18. ;)
We've also been keeping busy with soccer. My husband and I are coaching my oldest daughter's soccer team this year - we had 3 games last week (won all 3!!!) and have a tournament coming up this weekend.
I hope you've been joining us for our Daily 5 / CAFE book study over at We Read, We Blog, We Teach. We have two chapters posted so far, and in addition to the fantastic posts, the amount of ideas and suggestions in the comments section is mind-blowing!!! I've had to start a notebook to record some of these fantastic ideas. I can't wait to start planning on what this is all going to look like in my classroom.
And if one book study wasn't enough, I jumped into another. My good friend, Kim, has the most amazing posts about the Guided Math book over at Finding Joy in Sixth Grade. You can read more about the book study and organization at her link. All I can say for now is ... guess what book I got in the mail yesterday???
I've also been hard at work on my Interactive Math Journal resource. I'm also done all of the introduction and assessment stuff, and am just about to start on the entries and templates. It's keeping me quite busy. For a little break, I decided to work on a Parts of Speech product using my Crystal Ball Template. I just posted it last night. This is a SMARTboard file with 20 multiple choice questions for the 8 parts of speech - when an answer is pressed, the page links to a page where it is "magically" revealed on the crystal ball whether the answer is correct or incorrect. You can take a peek and download the preview by clicking on the picture below.
Well, that's about it ... just a quick update for now. I still plan on doing my FAQ post for my math journals ... just let me get through the soccer tournament this weekend. Whew!!! I'm going to need a holiday from my holidays!!!
Enjoy your holiday :) Can't wait to see the Interactive Math Journal resource when you are finished :)
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Fun in Room 4B
Thanks, Elizabeth!
DeleteYour girls are beautiful! Love their shirts and braids. Looks like you had a nice holiday. I am also enjoying the Daily 5 book study. So many great thoughts!
ReplyDeleteThank-you so much! Isn't the book study fantastic?!? My mind is swimming with ideas!
DeleteHaooy Belated Canada Day!! Love how the girls are all dressed the same, i do that with my 2 boys. Hope you enjoy the holiday and time with family, you deserve a rest. Can't wait for the interactive math journal. talk soon, mary
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mary! I'm not sure chasing the girls around the cottage is a rest, though. However, all three will be in summer camps in a week (for a week) ... looking forward to a rest then!
DeleteI am laughing as you sound just like me. I love bed time! HaHa! I am putting my middle one in sports camp for a week , the other two don't want to go, even after bribes.ha it is all good. mary
DeleteHey Jen,
ReplyDeleteI am so excited for your interactive Math Journal. I am going to be using it next year. I have already started my binders for each strand and am going to work on the lessons and templates. I start teaching summer school on Monday, but I am hoping I can still work on it during that time. Loving the book study. I am wondering how the guided math works with the 3-part math problem that is the focus at our school.
Your girls are gorgeous. My oldest is turning 17 on Monday and my youngest is 14 and going to high school this year. Enjoy them while they still like to dress alike. I can't believe your oldest is only 8...she looks so much older. Have a great tournament. Ilana
Thank-you so much, Ilana. We do the three-part math, too - so I'll be trying to work the guided math into it. Do you have to do three-part lessons all the time? Last year we were only required to do one a week - I think it's changing to two for next year. I would also like to build in a full class of math centres once a week ... I still have to wrap my mind around how all this is going to work. Good thing I've got all summer to figure it out!
DeleteI am going to figure out how to make it all work for my students. I love your character rocks(I really should email you)....what program did you use to make the posters. I need to adjust it because we have a touchstone at our school the we use for our character education.n
DeleteI have found the three part math lesson hard because my students had difficulty making connections between the work we did in congress and the application to other questions. This is where note booking will be great. I will be working on it this summer as I set up my binders...oh, and when I am not teaching summer school.
And teachers don't work during the summer. I just bought these great wind chimes to use as my signal in language.
Ilana
Hi mom I'm on my iPod
ReplyDeleteHi Elizabeth! ♥ you!
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