CCIRA

I can't wait for CCIRA. I love the conference because I know I will learn so much and fill my bucket up. I also get to present. I love presenting and sharing things that make my job easier. It makes me happy to help other teachers. I can't wait to share everything I learned. Here is my presentation for CCIRA. Hope you enjoy it!

Tiny Tap

I love the app Tiny Tap. I have been trying to make apps that will be specific to the high frequency words that are required by my district. I know these will help the students because they are self-checking and motivating. I can't wait to make some more. I was thinking about how to use these for math. Here is the information about Tiny Tap. You can download it from the app store. It will show you how to make them and then you just have to start trying. I needed to start over a few times but all in all it is pretty easy. When you go to Tiny Tap search HFW and see the ones we made. Happy app making!

New Year!

Well, we are back at it this week. It has been great to be off for two weeks. I got to spend time with my family and relax. I also had time to do some reflecting. Since it is a new year I am ready for a new attitude. I want to bring more fun into the classroom. I don't mean fun like fluff, but fun while learning. I want to see the excitement of the students because that gives me more energy to teach better. I want to continue to have high expectations and rigor while adding the enjoyment of learning. I want to relax about testing and trust that good teaching will lead to high test scores because students will be prepared and confident as well. So, I off to start the new year in my classroom and hope it happens.

Handwriting Fix

I can't believe that we are almost 70 days into the school year.  The students are making progress and growing so much.  I love to teach writing because the students get to express themselves and be creative.  However, this year the students are really struggling with handwriting.  I have tried many different things like apps, paper practice and displaying visuals all over the room.  Many students are still not seeing the difference between tall and short letters.  So, I decided to make new name tags that I hope will help.  I like the yellow highlights to really help the tall letters stand out.  I used them yesterday and it seemed to help.  I will keep you posted on how it goes.  I would love any feedback on what you think.

Behavior

I have been out most of the week on jury duty.  It was an interesting process but I hated to be away from the students. This break gave me some time to think about how things were going in my classroom this year, especially with subs in the room.  I decided last year that the whole class behavior system was not for me.  I went to the same type of system as the clips but students have the  chart on their bucket.  This way they have time to look at where they are each day but everyone else doesn't have to do the same.  It looks like this.

The students use a clothes pin to more up or down levels.
I think that this system is effective and fair to students.  The students have time to look at the behavior level they are at.  I find that my students don't like looking at red so they change their behavior.  I also like that other students don't have to know where others are at. 

Ecomonics Book

We are finishing up our Economics Unit. We are are also finishing up our literacy unit on text features and needed to publish using digital tools. We decided that we would make a Google presentation as a class. The students did a great job.

Apple Distinguished School

Wow! We just learned we have become an Apple Distinguished School. What a great honor and recognition for our hard work and dedication. This 3 year journey has had lots of ups and downs. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have learned so much about the IT side of a 1:1 program as well as tech integration. I couldn't have anticipated the change this program has made in my life as a teacher. I remember the first day I was placing 28 iPads in the classroom. I thought, what am I going to do with these tech tools? It was new territory for me as well as for many teachers. My first year was great. I was learning new things each day. The students were thriving and loving it. I thought this was the best thing tho every happen to my teaching career. Year 2 was a little different because now the whole school was going 1:1. It was great to have the school on board with the 1:1 iPads . Now we could work together and bounce ideas off each other. However, with that came issues with WiFi and filtering problems. It was the first time our district had this many devices in students hands. The IT department was learning along with us. We had great days and rough days. However, we were in it together. Now, on year three we received this recognition. We have so much to celebrate and to look forward to. I can't wait to see what we will do with Apple helping and guiding us. I am excited and nervous about the future. I am glad that I have a group of teachers that are going to do it together.