Crafting, Cooking, and Writing

Hello all! This is my last Monday Made It in the USA for a while :( I go back to Italy on Wednesday! I'm definitely feeling a mix of excitement and sadness to be heading back to a place I love, but leaving the people I love. This week, I did a little crafting, a little writing, and cooked a tasty (maybe...) Greek meal for my family!

I don't know if you've read it yet, but if you haven't you should! "What Do You Do With An Idea," by Kobi Yamada, is one of my new favorite children's books! It's so beautiful, and I can't wait to share it with my class! The book tells the journey of a child who has an idea (embodied as a cute little egg), and though he tries to ignore it, the idea follows him all around. He's nervous to share it with others, but nurtures and cares for his idea. Eventually, his idea colors his world, spreads its wings, and takes off. He discovers what you do with an idea, but I'm not going to tell you because the last line of the book brought me to tears and I want you to have the same experience :)

Anyway, I was so excited when I bought it that I read it aloud to my mom as we drove home. I couldn't decide when to share it with my class! First day? As an introduction to Writer's Workshop? When talking about being brave with our ideas when sharing them with the class? Before starting Genius Hour? If we do our Invention Convention this year, as an introduction to that? I decided I'll use it all throughout! My mom and I came up with a thousand fabulous ideas just discussing the book, and here is my favorite: 

Isn't it darling!?!? They still need to be jazzed up a little. I think I'm going to mount them on bottle caps and maybe do some green scrapbook paper along the bottom to be grass. I might change the crown size and add a little sparkle too :) The plan is that for the day or so before reading the book for the first time, one of these little guys is going to be sitting out on my desk. Whenever a kid asks what they are (because you know they will), I'll respond with something like, "Oh, just a little idea, I'll tell you about it later," or, "Just an idea I have..." After reading the book, the "Ideas" will end up being desk buddies for the day for kids who have a fabulous, out-of-the-box idea, who bravely share their plans and ideas, or who make amazing connections. For example, during our Processes that Shape the Earth unit last year, my student from Indonesia, as we're discussing plate tectonics, says, "Ohhhh, we probably get a lot of tsunamis in Indonesia because we're part on the Indo-Australia plate, but also on the Eurasia plate." DING DING DING!!!! I was so excited by his fabulous thinking, and that would have been hugely deserving of a Idea desk buddy for the day. I think that they're going to be tough to earn, but everyone will have ideas that are deserving :)

I've jumped aboard the Washi Tape bandwagon and can't be stopped. 

Oh my gosh, I'm obsessed. I bought tons for my two new Erin Condren planners (yayyyy! They arrived!!), but have used it on all sorts of things. I'm planning an herb garden for my brand new apartment, so I made little chalkboard tags with wash tape posts to label each plant, and I've been decorating my binder clips... yes, I'm that obsessed.

Can't wait to set up my garden!

I'm on a journey to Domestic Goddess-hood, and part of it is attempting to become a fabulous chef. 

Right now, pretty much all I can make is pasta salad, but I took a cooking class in Greece and learned to make a few things. The other night I tried them out on my family! Greek salad, tomato fritters with tzitziki, turkey feta burgers, and stuffed grape leaves... I'm pretty proud of myself!! You can read more and find recipes if you want on my other blog :) (The picture is actually from the first time I tried making these- I didn't take any cooking pictures! Oops!)

Finally, my fourth Made It, which is more of a "wrote it" than a "made it." 

I love writing, and keeping my personal blog, Adventure in the Great Wide Somewhere (I love Disney) is very therapeutic for me. I love looking back at where I've been, and adding to/crossing off my bucket list! My only real complaint about life in Italy is that I feel dumb a lot; I can't be as independent as I'd like, and I don't know how to take care of things the way I would here. So when my internet went out last Thanksgiving, and my landlady said she didn't want to renew it since I'd be moving out in July (!!!), I just accepted it (angrily) and went without. It was hard not being able to skype my family from my apartment, but I also got very behind on blogging. Anyways, I've been trying to update this week and have a few new posts if you're interested (so far, A Series of Firsts in Cervinia, and Switching from Mozzarella to Feta)!!

Monday Made It: Welcome to the SEO

Eeeeee! I'm so excited about my Monday Made It this week, even if it's mostly an idea!

Last year I found the website PowToon and fell in love with the amazing presentations you can create. They are such a creative way to deliver content! Anyways, one of their templates was especially appealing to me, and I thought would be for fourth graders too, but I couldn't figure out how to use it. I have now, though!

I used the Mission template to create a short video that I'll introduce my students to in the first few weeks of school. It welcomes them to the "SEO" (Secret Education Organization) and explains that they're looking for a class to add to their mission team, who is in search of an important code/password. Each mission requires team work, but will ONLY be delivered when the class is exceptionally well behaved. The first mission will probably be a getting-to-know-you exercise. Maybe an application or a letter convincing the SEO to accept our class as part of their team?

I haven't officially decided on the code yet, but the plan is that for each mission students complete, they'll earn a letter. I have three ideas for what the code will be:

1. The first location to a scavenger hunt (Under the Slide) 
2. The name of a reward of some sort (Snack Outside Today)
3. Genius Hour (we'll start when they finish)

Missions will be anything I do in class, just introduced ahead of time in a fun way. They can be simple or a little more involved:

1. Determine the theme of [given picture book]; the third letter in the theme is the third letter in the code
2. Create an argument for and against using solar energy (give a letter after with a note from the SEO thanking students for their advice)
3. Find all factors of 42. The fourth factor's associated letter is the first letter in our code.
4. Reach the 6th level of Code.org. Count the number of steps you need to take. The associated letter is the 6th letter of the code.

I guess all of my ideas so far are associated letter ideas... I'll have to keep coming up with new ones :) I'm so unbelievably excited about this!!! It's just something silly, but I hope it adds a little more excitement to our days and encourages a positive work environment. I think it could work in well with STEM challenges, too!

Monday Made It! Student Planner and Monster Math

I am OBSESSED with planners. I love decorating and doodling in mine, and keep a colorful set of markers handy wherever I go for the purpose of color coding. My first year of teaching, I rewarded myself with a Erin Condren planner, and now as I begin my third year, I've ordered my third and am impatiently waiting for it to arrive (seriously, I've been tracking it for days-- it's currently in Indiana). This year I also ordered the Life Planner and can't wait to have another lovely planner to organize!

That said, I would love to pass on my need for organization to my students, but couldn't find exactly what I wanted. Usually, I give homework on Mondays and collect the following Monday. My students are so busy with after-school activities, family obligations, and travel that it made sense to let them organize their own time. However, many lacked the forethought to spread their work over the week (no matter how many times I stressed the importance of it!) and would come in on Monday with an empty packet and a, "My grandma came over on Sunday and I didn't have time!" excuse. Grrrr!!!

I think I'll use the alien cover this year!

I got the idea to make my own planner from a post by The Ladybug Teacher Files. She posted about using a comb-binding machine to keep her spelling journals, and I fell in love with the sleek look of the spiral comb (I can't stand the traditional comb-bindings! They drive me nuts!), and thought that would be a perfect way to make a planner for each student. After a few days at the computer, I created a printable planner that I think will work well for my students (it's on TPT with all four covers included). 

At the beginning of the planner, I have a few resources my students constantly need: login information (we use Kidblog, Code.org, a class website, and I'm thinking about Biblionasium this year too), a multiplication chart, and a page to record our class rules. Next come monthly calendars. We do a few big projects and usually our team prints out a calendar to keep track of important dates, but now it'll be handy with our other important dates (learning celebrations, concerts, book club dates, due dates, etc.). I think before I make copies I'll write in our school dates. I was also thinking this could be a great get-to-know-you activity if each had to ask each classmate their birthday and record it in their planner. I have a teammate who uses individual calendars with Calendar Math- her students record the day's pattern in their own calendar, and I may do the same! I am obsessed with inspirational quotes, so I put a children's literature quote on each month, too.

I love the quotes and hope my students will too!

Last but certainly not least are the weekly planning pages. These are very tailored to what I've seen my students struggle with. First, recording the date; each day of the week is pre-dated. There is a box for activities, and I'm planning to teach my students to fill this in on Sunday or Monday with their families. There is a big box for homework, but I didn't include subject dividers. My thought there is that I can use the box any way I'd like then. I can assign an exit-ticket style math problem to go along with a flipped classroom video (more to come on my idea for that later!!), a reading response, etc. and have students record directly in the box. I could display the week's homework on the board and have students individually fill out when they'll complete each assignment if I still want homework due on Monday's. I think it'll give me and my students more flexibility!

This is my organizational style- hopefully it works for them too!

I use The 40 Book Challenge in my class, and students are supposed to keep their charts in their portfolios, but a few lost theirs when they brought them home (that's why they stay at school, sillies!). In the planner I included a little box for them to record what they read, how many pages, and how many minutes. I've also included a spot for spelling words. I think if they need to record them themselves rather than me handing out a spelling list, it'll hold me more accountable for meeting with each spelling group to do a word sort on Mondays.

Anyways, I wish my Monday Made-Its were more crafty, but anything I make has to come back with me in a suitcase, so I make plans for my Made-Its, and hopefully can stay organized enough to put them together when I go back to Italy. I can't wait to see how they turn out!!

I also made a monster version of my Math Workshop Rotation Board in primary colors. My previous board was cute little love bugs in pink, purple, turquoise, and green. I'm considering changing my classroom color scheme this year, but we shall see :) This too is on TPT!

Monday Made It: Getting Ready for Processes that Shape the Earth

I'm super excited share what I've been working on so far this summer! I love making "teacher things,"  and while my parents are at work this summer, that's much of how I've been spending my days. That, and stocking up on things I can't find in Italy, like peanut butter and Funfetti mix.

Our second unit of study in 4th grade usually starts at the beginning of the October, and I've been getting ready with some new materials for that. The unit is on Processes That Shape the Earth, and while last year I felt pretty good about introducing types of landforms and getting into plate tectonics, the kids were super interested in natural disasters. One of my goals for next year is to deliver content in a more focused way- sometimes I feel like I have to cover absolutely EVERYTHING, and end up doing too much skimming. To combat this, I created a project that will let my students research a type of natural disaster and then present to the class in the form of a news report. 

My plan is to teach either volcanoes or earthquakes (or both, depending on time!), and then let them delve deeply into another type of disaster with their groups. In their research, they'll answer important questions, including what happens within the Earth to cause their disaster, how to prepare for and stay safe during it, what parts of the world are effected, etc. I absolutely love projects, and am hoping that the earlier in the year I introduce research, the better. You can find the packet on my Teachers-Pay-Teacher's site if you're interested!

Okay, I know I said that I wanted to focus in more on the natural disaster part of the unit, but they still have to know landforms! I made two PowerPoints about the different types of landforms we'll talk about throughout the unit. I'm not sure if I'll have a sweet little group of lovebugs who adore cutesy things like my end-of-the-year-kiddos last year (they were the sweetest), or if they'll have the "we're cool 4th graders who HATE cutesy" attitude my same little end-of-the-year-lovebugs had at the beginning of the year, so I made a cute PowerPoint with adorable little bears from Scrappin' Doodle's clipart, and a more basic one that I'm also pretty pleased with (whew!! Run-on sentence?). Either way, I'm so excited about the beautiful images I found and hope the kids will be too. I even used a few I took myself :)  My students have been very well-traveled these past two years, so we might do a graphing activity along with it to see which landforms we've seen most, and which none of us have seen. I can't even wait for October now! This is also on my TPT store as a bundle with both PowerPoints. 

Cute little bears :)

More simple and basic design

Monday Made It: November

Hey there! I've loved keeping my travel blog this past year, and am now joining the lovely community of teacher bloggers! For my first post, I'm linking up with Fourth Grade Frolics for Monday Made It, a linky party that I've been spending Monday evenings stalking for a year :) Anyways, here goes!

After seeing The Teacher Garden's "Scientist of the Month" bulletin board, I wanted to create my own! My students last year loved learning about Isaac Newton during our energy unit and about different inventors before our Invention Convention. My plan is to have our "Class Decorator" (one of the favorite class jobs) switch out the materials each month. I introduce the scientist at the beginning of each month and borrow a few books from the library to have for my kiddos to read.
What I'm really excited about is the QR codes! I've been looking for new ways to use my school's tablets in the classroom, and this should be a lot of fun! I'm not 100% sure of when I'll have my students access the board, but maybe during Daily 5 Read to Self or for my early finishers.  Students will be able to grab a tablet, a pair of headphones, and explore the different resources.
Last year one of my little guys had a tough time finding his strengths as a learner. He was the first I ever went to the Child Study Team for, and ended up loving having a 'team' focused on just him. Anyways, he LOVED nonfiction, especially anything about scientists like Thomas Edison. He loved that his idol had trouble in school just like he did, but that didn't mean that he wasn't smart. I love that this will give the kids exposure to different people who have done some wonderful things and inspire them to keep learning :) I've posted it on my TPT site!

We had some boring unfinished-work type things on the board that day but I keep forgetting to take a better picture!

I am OBSESSED with Daily 5, but didn't love how I taught math last year. This year I'm using a similar model for teaching math (we use TERC Investigations at my school). This was the first thing I put onto TPT, and am SO happy to finally have it all set up! I'd like to do a post soon on how I'm teaching it in my class, so be on the lookout! The background of my board is actually made from pillowcases that I found on sale at Walmart for a few dollars last year (what I would give for a Walmart or Target here in Italy... *Sigh*). 

At least the iron's getting some use!

I had a slight problem when setting up the board; I was more excited about my new laminator than anything else I bought this summer and was so pumped to start using it at home, creating teaching materials I could use every year. While in the USA, it worked WONDERFULLY on a new set of task cards, but when I plugged it in here in Italy, it started smoking and stunk up my whole apartment with a horrible burnt plastic smell! I knew not to use an American blowdryer or straightener in European plugs, but it didn't even cross my mind not to plug in my laminator. Drats :( Anyways, I still wanted to laminate my new materials, so put them into the laminator pouches, the pouches between two tea towels and ironed the whole thing! It definitely didn't work as well as my beautiful laminator, but still, mission accomplished :)