Summer Professional Development # 4- All Things Google Summer Camp

Yesterday I attended my 4th conference of the summer! I went to Stockton College for the All Things Google Summer Camp. The keynote speaker was really good. She spoke about getting students to think about the questions that GOOGLE cannot find the answers for. It was a lot of fun. Then I went to the first session-Creating An Assignment In-Box using Google Forms. I actually knew a lot of the information there, but it was a good review. I had never thought to ask students to share the URL link of their projects on Google Drive instead of sharing the actual document with the teacher. I also learned how to add on different "scripts"-the ability to have the spreadsheet graded or send a mail merge to all participants. My second session was about using QR Codes in the Classroom. That was a  fun session. We found a lot of resources to create QR codes. We started brainstorming ideas on how to use them in the classroom- like as a scavenger hunt or on worksheets for students to use. After lunch with some colleagues I met at TeachMeetNJ 2012, I went to my 3rd session-Using Google Forms to help Student Research. It is an easy way to collect information from anywhere in the world. Finally, my last session of the day was about cresting a Google Site for your classroom. I had always gotten confused in the past, but listening to the instructor, it was actually quite easy. 

                              Overall, it was a great day!

From the Keynote Speaker

In my 1st session

Eating Lunch

In my last session

Getting our PD Certs.

Summer Professional Development # 3- National Writing Project:Immersion into the Writers Workshop

This was a 4 day workshop that took place at Rider University. It ran from 9am-12pm. We were reminded about what a Writer's Workshop IS, as well as ways to incorporate the workshop into our classroom and curriculum of the district.

Day 1- We were introduced to the structure of the workshop. We discussed what makes a good writing community and what makes a good writer. We also learned about conferring with our students. MANAGEMENT IS KEY!! We also practiced a quick-write. These are 2-3 minute writing prompts based on different topics.
  

Day 2- We reviewed an article about various activities to use in a Writer's Workshop. We also just threw ideas around about how we've incorporated writing and reading into our tight day schedules. We also talked about Conferring again.

 

Day 3- We watched several conferences and talked about the qualities of a good conference versus a bad conference. We also talked about peer conferences. There was an adorable video about the different people in a peer review. It is the top 10 mistakes to avoid. Take a look at it here. We also talked about teaching grammar. It is a tough thing to do. It can easily be incorporated each morning in a morning message.

Day 4- We talked about teaching grammar again. We also mentioned "mentor texts". These are books that show different qualities of good writing. We then looked at several activities and created samples of each activity. Then we spent time looking for resources that would be beneficial to us. 

Overall, it was a FANTASTIC week! I was very happy with it. 

Tutoring Session #3

        Today was yet another great day. I am always impressed with the work that the child puts forward each week. She worked really hard on her math worksheets while I reviewed her homework from the previous week. She really enjoys math topics. She did have a little trouble counting some money. I made sure to give her a few word problems that deal with money for homework this week.

        After we reviewed her math worksheets we started working on her summer reading project. Last week we had answered questions on the book to get her thinking about the question at hand. This week, we worked on summarizing the book. Not every teacher will have read every book, so a summary is a great place to start. We almost completed the summary portion of her project. I hope to work on the first bullet point, and possibly the second one, when she returns after vacation.

        During this writing time, I had to prompt the student for several sentences. Starting them can be hard, so it was not a horrible thing. The problem arose when I would ask her what happened next, and she couldn’t quite tell me. I will try to help her differentiate between main ideas, and details. She knew the story well. I am happy she is still reading it.

We have not read a fiction book together during our session for two weeks. This week we did not read a non-fiction book out loud either. I apologize for that, however, we have been going back to the text of Belinda the Ballerina often for the project. She has 5 books with her- Belinda the Ballerina (F), Jamaica (NF), G is for Garden (NF-Picture Book), The Blind Men and the Elephant (F-Level K), and The Reluctant Flower Girl (F).

I look forward to seeing her work from this week, and to hearing about her wonderful time in Jamaica.   

        I am very excited for all of the progress she is making so far.

Summer Professional Development # 2- SMART Board Basics

Yesterday I also attended my 1st official summer PD seminar-SMART Board Basics. I learned how to use a SMART board in college a little bit, but never had really used it, or the software before. It was great to learn all about the software and how to create some cool things for the SMART Board. It really was an enjoyable experience.

Tutoring Summary # 2

Yesterday was my second tutoring session. I really enjoyed working with her. She is always enthusiastic when it comes to working on her math, even though she struggles a little with subtraction at this point in time. We worked on her summer reading question:

"The main character in your FICTION story is very important; but many times there is another character in the story who is also important to that main character and the story itself.

• Choose a character who is NOT the main character and explain why he/she is important to the story. 
• Write about how this story might be different if this character was not included in the book."

To me, it seems a bit hard for an almost third grader to grasp, but we did our best. I had her answer some questions about it. We can worry about putting it all together soon. We read through the one new non-fiction book on Christopher Columbus but we did not get to read the new fiction book-The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy. She will work on those for next week. 

She said something really profound yesterday:

"It doesn't matter what others think of you, it only matters what you think of yourself."

It's something I have to keep in mind as I keep going on through the weeks ahead. =)

Tutoring Summary # 1

About 3 weeks ago I was at the school I did my student teaching in. I stopped by my co-op's classroom to say hello. During our conversation, she offered me a tutoring position with one of the student's I had taught. The mother had asked for a tutor to help her daughter stay on reading level throughout the summer. I was very excited for the opportunity and jumped at it. I spoke with the mother and with my co-op to gather ideas of what to focus on during our sessions.

On Monday, July 1, 2013 I had my first tutoring session. It lasted 2 hours. We focused on math and reading.  I will also do some writing with her.

Before we began learning I showed and explained all that I had for her. She has a writing journal in which I would like for her to write in daily. It can be a letter to me, a story she makes up or a description of what she has done during the day. I showed her the reading folder she has, her homework folder and her reading journal too.  Then I gave her the option of whether to start with math or reading.

When she said math, I was able to assess where she needs the most help. I gave her two timed math fact pre-tests. These were only using the numbers 1-10. The first one was an addition paper. The second one was a subtraction paper. After that I gave her another “pre-test” with a variety of math topics learned in 2^nd grade, such as time, money, and comparing numbers/fractions. 

We then did some reading. She picked out a book for summer reading. I also picked out a non-fiction book for her to read. It was a biography on Harriet Tubman. Then we read another fiction book called Jamaica's Find. We also worked on some sight words. It was a great time and I am excited to see her progress. =)

 

Summer Professional Development #1- Project Learning Tree

This is really delayed and I apologize for that. Life gets very crazy.

On Saturday, June 8, 2013 I attended a workshop hosted by the Meadowlands Environmental Center. This workshop focused on ways to engage students in environmental education and was provided by the organization Project Learning Tree. This workshop provided me with a great curriculum guide for grades K-8. The guide has several broad topics that lessons are separated into. Each lesson tells me what grade level, time constraints, materials, etc. are needed to run the lesson. They also give us suggestions of related lessons, similar to the one we are looking at.

We not only looked through and understood the book but we participated in a few of the activities ourselves.  We examined different kinds of soil and then predicted how the soil would lay-soil, sand, clay, etc. One of the other activities talked about creating an ideal community-making sure there were resources available, housing, schools, etc. That was my favorite activity. I felt I could relate it to the NASA real time data lessons some colleagues created during the summer last year.

It was a great experience and I am excited to try and implement some of these lessons when I have a classroom of my own.

The Curriculum Guide

Using my iPad to take notes and looking through the Appendixes of the book.

Attempting to paint splatter a cottonwood tree leaf.

My dirt sample.

Playing a "jeopardy" search game.