Goals for the Week of 3/1/10

• Attend and gather information at the HCESC math council meeting on Monday.
• This meeting will focus on assessment.
• The common core standards release date has been pushed back to the first week in March (as long as it doesn't change again).
• Continue to work with you on your goals by observing, co-teaching, and planning.

Remember, World Math Day is Tuesday and Wednesday, March 2nd-3rd.  Go to www.worldmathday.com to login and participate.  Let's help beat the world record for number of correct problems answered in one day!

Writing Workshop Classroom Visit

The Writing Workshop classroom observation at Glendale this week went really well!  Mrs. Bowling took a risk by having her students create their own "Noticings Chart" for the very first time while we were there.  The kids did a great job!  It was wonderful for other teachers to have an opportunity to learn from a Princeton Colleague.  Thank you, Mrs. Bowling!

Saving Random Name Picker

If you would like to make a random name picker like the one used for strategies below, click on the link below to see a short video about how to make it and save it to your computer.

Click here to see the video.

Click here for full screen version

  

Click on the button labelled "fruit machine" to see it work. 

What can you use this random name picker for? 

• To randomly pick students to answer questions or for cooperative learning groups.
• Vocabulary words:  Put in your vocabulary words.  Then, have students define the word that shows up.
• To play a game:  Have one student stand with their back to the screen.  Have the other students tell him or her facts until the student can guess the word. 
• For math facts:  Type in one math fact per line.  Have students solve.

Carousel Strategy

The Glendale 1st grade participated in a cooperative learning activity on problem solving.  The carousel strategy was used.  What is the carousel strategy???  It is where the students move around the room in a circle participating in an activity at each location.  Or it is when a piece of work is passed in a circle around a table for students to work collaboratively on. 

In this example, each group made up a word problem.  Then, the groups rotated around the room and solved each word problem.  They continued going around the room until each group answered each question.  At the end, the students gathered on the carpet to look at all the work and make conclusions. 

Goals for the Week of 2/8/10

• Facilitate District ELL Professional Development on Monday.
• Continue to meet with people to teach them new technology tips that I learned at the OH Free Tech Conference.
• Here is a link to my notes from the conference:  http://www.filedropper.com/ohiofreetechnologyconferencenotes2
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• Continue to work with you on your goals by observing, co-teaching, and planning. 

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog.  The purpose of this blog is to communicate more effectively with each of you!  Rather than sending you a weekly e-mail with my whereabouts and goals, I decided to create this blog.  I can now include much more than just my plans and goals.  I hope to include useful links, quotes, strategy tips, and photos from your classrooms.  The possibilities are endless.  Please let me know if there is anything you would like to see posted here.  I hope you find this blog helpful!