1. Living in Charleston, South Carolina has its advantages and one of them is learning about our class mascot, the Loggerhead Sea Turtle. Every year our class "adopts" a sea turtle at the South Carolina Aquarium & Sea Turtle Rescue Hospital. We raise money through a Read-A-Thon and the kids have an absolute blast. Last year we raised over $5,000 and in 2011 we raised over $3,000!!! We are in the middle of our Read-A-Thon right now and our class has pledged to read 5,000 minutes in one week. Fingers crossed we can reach our goal of $3000!
2. Our school has math facts requirements for each grade level. Our kids have to master 50 facts in 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Each quarter we master a new operation and by May we have covered all 4 (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). If you need some tests, check ours out {HERE}. They are FREE on TpT. :)
Our students graph their scores each week a la Marzano. If only all of our students could have a graph that looks like this one. :)
3. We began our study of maps in Social Studies. We will use One Extra Degree's Pirate Map Unit on TpT next week. Click {HERE} to check it out. It's so much fun! This week we explored some maps of South Carolina and did some fun foldables.
4. Holy moly. We've just discovered Brain Breaks. Where have these been the last 11 years? My kiddos have some serious #antsintheirpants. BUT they will work really hard if they know they can dance and #party rock for a minute or two! Here are our faves so far. Just click the link to check them out.
5. Guided Math blows my mind. It's going really well, but the control freak in me worries a bit!! The kids are either meeting with us, playing a game, working on task cards, or playing a game on the iPad. They LOVE it, but I *slightly* stress as I teach my small groups and wonder...are they playing the right way? Why is that group so loud? What app is he on?? As you can see from the pics, all looks OK!
Enjoy the weekend. We've made it through another week!
Enjoy the weekend. We've made it through another week!
Ooooh I love that you adopt a turtle! And I love the reading challenge that you do to raise money. We've just started an inquiry unit about animals but as a class we haven't decided on an outcome for all our learning... adopting and animal would be awesome! I'm going to talk to our local zoo and see what they suggest
ReplyDeletex Serena x
Magic Mistakes & Mayhem
Yes!! Let me know how it works out!! Our kids get really into it. :)
DeleteI started maps this week, too! I will have to check out that TpT product for sure! We did a "dance party" today to Rebecca Black's "Friday"! :) It's always interesting to see the kids' dance moves! HAHA!
ReplyDeleteLindsey
The Journey of a Beginning Teacher
Love it!!! I'll check it out. Thx!
DeleteThanks so much for sharing! Your kids do look highly engaged in the app work. What apps do you like to use for guided math? Have a wonderful weekend!
ReplyDeleteSmiles,
Sarah @ Hoots N Hollers
This week we did I sushi monster. It's free, fun, and highly engaging!
DeleteI usually keep the volume on the iPads just loud enough that I can hear the sound effects - easy to know if they go from maths to a random game! :)
ReplyDeleteLauren
Love, Laughter and Learning in Prep!
Good idea!!
Delete