Bittersweet

Yesterday I closed out my first year of teaching in North Carolina. The word I used to describe this year is bittersweet.

Last year when I accepted the job in Wake County, I had absolutely no idea where I would be living as I was moving from Maryland and we all know how crazy the housing market was/is. We closed on our house in June and I realized my school was going to be 45 minutes each way. Not great, but not terrible. I have been doing that drive for the past 9 years in Maryland. Plus traffic down here can't be worse than where I was coming from.

I loved my school and the drive wasn't so bad. However, the school hours were the complete opposite of my kids. They got on the bus at 6:55 am and my students didn't arrive until 8:45 am. I used the time in the morning to get things done, but this also meant that I didn't get off until 4:30, then had to drive. I was often picking the kids up from after care around 5:15-5:30ish. We got home, ate dinner, go ready for bed and then started all over the next day. The school district I worked for and where I lived also had completely different spring breaks and winter break was different.

Because of this, I knew by October that I was not going to stay there. Knowing this early was a blessing because it helped me focus on doing my job, learning everything I needed to know about North Carolina schools, without building strong relationships with people that I knew I was may or may not ever see again. The school was super supportive and I was open with my admin and co-workers as soon as I knew I wasn't going to stay.

So this school year was bittersweet. I met some awesome people, learned from an amazing school, and adjusted to live in the south!

I am super excited to join my new school though! I will be in Orange County, at a school that has the same hours as my kids, and is literally 15-20 minutes from my house!

I won't forget my year at Cedar Fork and thanks to everyone there that supported me along the way! I am going to miss those amazing sun lights in my room!

End of Year Activities (non-digital)

We found out a week ago that our fifth graders would be turning in their chromebooks after they take the science EOG, 3 days before the end of the school year. Two of the days are pretty busy, but this means I had to be creative to come up with activities that could be done on paper.

One thing that I used to do every year until Covid hit was to have my current class write a letter to my students for next year. I couldn't find the exact template that I used to use, so I came up with a new one that has a graphic organizer to help them include the items that I want them to use in their letter.

The other activity is a super simple memory book that could be tweaked for any grade level. The past few years I have used a digital copy that included way more slides, but this one is short and sweet so we don't waste a ton of paper, while still allowing the students to reflect on their year.

Another activity that I have used previously, is put a piece of paper on each person's desk with their name at the top. The classmates then walk around to each desk and write one word to describe that person. Depending on your class, you can make this structured where everyone goes to one desk at a time and switches when the teacher signals to move. This way everyone is going to each desk. We also had a discussion about appropriate words to use. After the students have visited all of the desks, I collect the paper and use the website Word Clouds to create a design for each student. I make their name appear more times so that it is larger in the middle of the image and then all of the nice things that people have said about them are around their name. Then print them out and it makes for a great end of year gift. Here is an example of what my students said about me one year:

Lastly, there are plenty of Flag Day activities that have been created that are easy to use. Since I will still have my device, I am planning to find a short video or article that explains the purpose of Flag Day. We then discuss the meaning behind the American flag. Then I give my students a piece of paper and let them come up with their own flag. They have to write on the back why they chose the colors, images, shapes, etc. on their flag.

Links to the activities:

• Letter to Next Year's Students
• Memory Book
• Word Cloud
• Flag Day Activities

Hang in there teachers; the finish line is near!

Science EOG Review Note Pages

As I wrap up my first year teaching in North Carolina, I have started to prepare for our End of Grade (EOG) assessments. In Maryland, our 5th grade state science assessment was given in March, so we barely got through all of the content, which means we definitely didn't have much time for review.

In NC, we take state assessments the last week of school. This means we have plenty of time to review all of the content that we have learned. North Carolina also has their own science standards instead of following the NGSS, which I have been using the past 5 years or so.

It has been fun teaching different topics and I have definitely had to teach myself quite a few things before teaching the kids (hello weather unit!). I decided I wanted to find a quick, easy way to review the content that we have learned this year, but could not find exactly what I was looking for online. So this weekend I used one of my new favorite tool: Canva!

I created one-page scaffolded note pages that students can use their notes or my unit teacher slides to complete. I also created a teacher model for students who need more support in completing the pages.

As I was adding the note pages to TPT, I was able to connect some of them to the middle school NGSS standards. 

Here are the topics:

- Cells

- Heredity

- Body Systems

- Ecosystems

- Matter

- Force and Motion

- Heat Transfer

- Weather

I listed the note pages individually on TPT, as well as, them all grouped together. I usually like to share my resources for free, but this one took quite a few hours of my time and let's be honest I am not getting a paycheck this summer!

Click the name of each topic above to see the listings, or click here for the entire bundle.

Morning Meeting Greetings

This is my first year doing a morning meeting with my class, so I have been collecting resources and ideas throughout the school year.

The morning meeting consists of the following components:

• Greeting
• I do not follow the traditional morning meeting method of greeting where students sit in a circle and everyone takes turns saying hello to the person next to them every single day. I do use this method every now and then, and definitely at the beginning of the year when we are establishing our classroom community.
• Sharing
• This is a time for students to share based on a question. (I plan to share my questions in the next month or so)
• Activity
• Most of the time my activity has to do with what's going on in the current month (for example Black History Month) or includes some type of SEL lesson. (also planning to share in the future)
• Message
• Because I teach 5th grade, I told have the traditional message posted on the board, but instead use this time to talk about the day and anything important that is happening that the students need to know about.

One thing that I have enjoyed creating each day is different type of greetings to keep the kids engaged. Below I am sharing my morning meeting greeting ideas that we have come up with so far. This will continue to grow as we finish out this school year.

There are currently 60 slides (at the time of this post), so make sure you add the Google Slides document to your drive in order to see the growing collection.

The fun thing about some of the greetings, is allowing the students to interpret how they want to use the idea to say good morning to their classmates.

Enjoy!

Morning Meeting Greetings

Top 10 Educational Tech Tools

I used to be on top of the latest and greatest educational technology applications/tools, but now there are SO many that some days it is hard to even keep up. Then you have the ones that have been around for awhile that are constantly adding new features to keep up with the latest trends, needs, etc.

My top 10 tools has changed a lot over the past 3 years because of the pandemic and ever-changing needs of education. We went from using edtech as a supplemental tool pre-2020, to having to use edtech 100% during virtual learning, to now going back to making sure that the tools we are using are meaningful to the learning and not just a replacement or even a distraction.

That last part is extremely important. When we were forced to go completely online with our teaching and learning, it required teachers to make all of their activities digital. While this made some activities/lessons better, there are many things that students can do outside of their device that is more engaging and meaningful. It is all about finding the PURPOSE of the activity. Is the digital tool just simply replacing a worksheet or is it providing students with a deeper understanding of a topic by allowing them to explore something that is not possible without technology?

As we transition to post-pandemic (and I use that term lightly) education, we have to find a balance of using edtech tools. Always ask yourself, how will my students benefit from completing this task digitally? Sometimes it is as simple as immediate feedback from a teacher or peer!

I thought I would share my top 10 favorite tools. Side note - these are not really ranked from 1-10 because honestly, depending on the purpose/goal of the tool being used determines which one is my favorite.

1. Book Creator

This tool has SO many different uses other than having students publish their writing. They even have a book on their main page with the many ways it can be used in your classroom!

2. Pear Deck

It is always a toss up between Pear Deck and Nearpod, but for me I always seem to go back to this tool for the ease of use. I love that I can take slides that I have already created and simply add on an engagement activity for students to use. I love that I can give feedback after a session is done that students can access easily. Unfortunately, my current county has this blocked so I am definitely having some withdrawals from using it this year.

3. Canva

I will be honest, I did not really start using this tool until this school year and it has been a game changer. I have used it to create posters and charts for my classroom, I have used it personally to create invitations, as well as, created my email signature. The thing that I have enjoyed the most though is allowing my students to use the tool to create digital content for school as well. The ease of use for students makes it a top choice in digital creation.

4. Edpuzzle

This is another tool that I have not been able to use this year, but I have enjoyed using it in years past. I like that I can take any video and add questions to get a quick and easy check-in/assessment for my students to inform my teaching.

5. Quizizz

This is another big debate of whether Quizizz or Kahoot is better. I personally have always enjoyed Quizizz more because the answer choices are on the student's screen. I still use both of them depending on the purpose (kids love Kahoot!).

6. Whiteboard.fi

I used this tool more during virtual learning, but I still use it every now and again for one main reason. I love that I can create something on my whiteboard, for example a number line, and then push it to my students. I still use the traditional whiteboard and marker in the classroom, but watching students try to draw a perfectly straight line or draw rectangles for an area model that can barely fit one number inside each box, drives me crazy!

7. YouTube

Obviously every teacher loves YouTube for the insane amount of videos that are readily at our fingertips, but I have started using it "better" over the past couple of years. There are so many features that we all should take advantage of to make our lives easier. I have started using the playlist feature to organize and share videos with students. Also embedding videos into the different Google applications is a game changer as well.

8. Flip (formerly Flipgrid)

I often give this tool as an option for students to choose when producing work in the classroom. Some students absolutely love the idea of recording themselves on video and being able to add different features to it, while some don't.

9. Prodigy

Students LOVE playing this game to practice math skills in this game-based learning tool. It is FREE to use with an education account and now even has a language arts side to it as well. 

10. Edulastic

This is a great tool for online assessments. There are many different question types that you can use including a passage with questions that show up side-by-side, math questions that include equations, and tech-enhanced items like hotspots, drawing, etc. You can also attach standards to each question so that you get immediate data as students are taking the assessment.

Now a bonus tool because I have always been in schools that are Google-based, but I absolutely love all of the Google Drive based applications. I am biased because I have never had the opportunity to learn the Microsoft apps, but Google Drive deserves its own list. :)

Now let me know... what are you favorite educational technology tools? What is something that I should try in my classroom? I am always up for experimenting with new things!

Writer's Block

I used to love blogging. I would have blog posts planned out a month or so in advance. I used it as a way to share ideas or resources I was using in my classroom, as well as, a way to decompress or get my thoughts out of my head.

However, this past year has brought about a huge writer's block. There have been times I have wanted to get my blog going again and I will make a post, then nothing for weeks. The main culprit is time. 

Since moving to a new state my schedule has been completely turned around. Unfortunately I have always worked in a different county than my kids. In Maryland my school hours were 7:30am-2:45pm and my kids did not get out of school until 4pm. I was able to get up and be out the door by myself and after school I had time to run errands or get things done before the kids got home off the bus. In North Carolina, we are the opposite. My school is 8:45-4:00pm, while my kids get on the bus by 6:55am each morning and get out at 2:45pm. They go to after care until I can pick them up around 5:15pm.

It is currently March and I still have not adjusted to this new schedule, haha! It has also prompted another big change for next year. While I currently love my school that I am teaching at, I have realized that I can't keep up with this type of schedule everyday. I accepted my current job before we bought a house, which is why I currently drive 45 minutes (sometimes more) each way. I am interested to see how next year will be while teaching in the same county as my kids for the first time ever. We will finally have the same breaks/days off!

I am using this post to get myself motivated and hold myself accountable. I am making a plan and can't wait to start blogging again. I do find that it is therapeutic for myself and hope that if this does reach anyone else out there that is in a writer's block or want to get started with blogging again, you can do it!

New Year's Eve with Kids Part 2

We had so much fun last year with the kids on New Year's Eve that we decided to do it again! Our daughter is in 2nd grade and is learning to tell time, so I decided to use analog clocks this year for the bags. 

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Last year we started the first bag at 4 pm because coming up with 8 ideas for bags is plenty!

4 pm - New Year's Printables

There are so many options out there but this year I picked ones from Oh Rubbish Blog.

5 pm - New Year's Hats

Use the numbers for the year and a strip of paper (or two) to create a headband style hat for the kids to wear.

6 pm - Reflection Questions

I found these cute questions from Artsy Fartsy Mama and decided to print them out and put them in a bag.

7 pm - Game Time!

We have SO many board games in our house including some new ones we got for Christmas, so we let the kids each pick 1-2 games that we could play as a family.

8 pm - Popcorn and Hot Chocolate 

This is always a favorite, so even though it was on last year's list we decided to do it again this year!

9 pm - 2022 in review

We also did this last year, but it is fun to see how their answers have changed in a year

10 pm - New Year's Poppers

I found some cheap ones at Walmart this year, but also found this DIY version using toilet paper rolls from Honey and Lime.

11 pm - Sparkling Juice Toast

This year we picked up a bottle of sparkling juice and some plastic flutes from The Dollar Tree for the kids to do a toast at midnight.

See New Year's Eve 2021 post here.

From my family to yours, we wish you a year of full of happiness!

via GIPHY