Measuring Our Friends

A few weeks ago, my class happened to be studying measurement at the same time as the Year 1/Year 2 class (Kindergarten & Grade 1), so we decided to get our two classes together. 

The Year 1/ Year 2 students were measuring using non-standard units, so they measured a variety of items on the playground with their hands.  Then, my Year 3/ Year 4 students measured with their hands as well, so that the kids could compare two different non-standard units.

   

Next, my students used their rulers to measure how tall the Year 1/ Year 2 students were.  Since our numbers are so small, each of my Year 3/ Year 4 students was able to measure each of the Year 1/ Year 2 students.  All of the measurements were NOT the same, so this gave us a great opportunity to talk about how to make our measurements standard. 

   

I love opportunities to collaborate with other classes.  Does your class ever work with students of another grade level?

Using Google Docs to Aid in Collaboration

This year I am the luckiest teacher in the world. I get to teach at the best school ever – International School of Morocco, with some of the best, most creative, teachers ever. Each time I walk into someone else’s classroom, I get inspired and we just seem to spiral great teaching ideas off of each other. It’s a wonderful place to teach, and since we are all collaborating, it’s a wonderful place for our kids to learn – a teacher’s dream, right? I have tried and tried to convince the other teachers to create blogs of their own to spotlight and share some of their amazing ideas, but everyone is super busy. Instead, they have each agreed to let me spotlight some of their ideas right here on Raki’s Rad Resources. So, each Friday night, I will be posting an ISM Spotlight.

We are very busy at ISM right now, due to the fact that October is Heritage Month and tomorrow is our large, International Festival – World Fest.  All of the proceeds of our World Fest go to the charity Amis des Ecoles, which helps support schools in rural areas of Morocco.

So, today’s ISM Spotlight is a quickie.  At the International School of Morocco, there is a ton of collaboration going on every day.  Here is one small way that we are collaborating:

Those of us who teach math use videos, songs, games and apps both in and out of the classroom.  We share these resources with our parents to use at home, and assign them as homework.  In order to keep track of our resources, we have created a Google Document that we all have permission to edit.  As we find resources, we add them to the Google Document, so we keep a running list of what we have found.  This allows us to come back and use these resources again and again – plus they will be easy to find again next year! 

We’ve also shared this Google Document with our parents, so that they also have an easy way to come back to resources we have used and review them with their children.  Parents cannot edit the Google Document, but they can view and use all of the resources that are there.

One other thing that we add to our Google Document is the tutorial videos that our student create.  This way, the students can watch each other’s videos as well, allowing them to teach each other.

Feel free to peruse the Google Document, as you may just find something that would work in your classroom!

Come back next week to see what else we are up to at the International School of Morocco.

How to Make Internet Research Work for Students

It’s time for the Wednesday Website suggestion!! For two years, I was the Technology Specialist at a school in Georgia. During that time, I amassed a large collection of websites that I use with my students. You can download my E-Book of Websites for the Elementary Classroom for free from Teachers Pay Teachers or Smashwords, or, you can check back here each week for the Wednesday Website suggestion.

Recently, a follower on my Facebook Fan Page asked me for some website suggestions to use with kids who are doing internet research.  So, I put together a few great kid-friendly research websites and also a few tips for teachers who are creating internet research projects for “younger” students – primarily grade 2 – grade 6.  If you want a copy of these tips to share with a colleague, or at a staff meeting, feel free to download them from Google Docs.

You should always give your students some specific websites on the topic they are researching.  However, it is also good for them to have some more generic, search engine type of websites to use.  A few of my favorites are:  Fact Monster, KidsNet, Time for Kids and National Geographic for Kids.

                   

 

If you’re looking for a little more assistance with an Internet Research Project, you might want to try out my Internet Research Lesson, or one of my Internet Research Projects:  Amazing Americans, Earth’s Materials,  Historical Figures, Animal Research .    

 

 

 

Eid Mubarak!

Today is Eid al Adha, the most important holiday in Muslim calendar.  In Morocco, it means two days of celebrating and feasting on the sheep which are sacrificed for the holiday.  If you celebrate Eid al Adha – Eid Mubarak to you! 

If you are interested in teaching your class about Eid al Adha, Eid al F’tour, or Ramadan, please feel free to download my Muslim Holidays Center Packet for free from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

I’m Not Superwoman!

Recently, I was told that I think I am Superwoman.  I don’t think this is necessarily true, but I do think that like many women who are teachers and mothers, I take on more than I probably should.  :)  I teach fulltime.  I have 3 sons under the age of 10.  I write almost daily blog posts here at Raki’s Rad Resources and maintain my TPT store.  Right now, I am also taking an online class to become PYP certified.  In the past, I have done tutoring and French lessons as additional pieces of my work load.  So, yeah, maybe I do sometimes act like I am Superwoman.  However, I also have an extremely supportive husband and a housekeeper who comes daily to cook and clean.  (One of the many joys of living as an expat in Morocco!)

 This week, I was stripped of my Superwoman cape and thrown on the floor by a simple hernia surgery.  I noticed the bump from the hernia a few weeks ago and have been doing the run around of doctors the last few weeks trying to figure out what it was and how it was to be taken care of.  For all of my stressing out about the surgery, I did not expect the surgery to knock me off my feet as bad as it did and honestly thought I’d be back at work this week.  I had my surgery Friday and today was the first day I could stand long enough to wash my hair.  Obviously, I’m not back at work and I’m not feeling like Superwoman.

This surgery has been good for me.  It has been good for my physical health and was a necessary surgery.  In addition, it was a good reminder for me that even if I want to be, I’m not Superwoman, but just a regular person who sometimes has to slow down and allow time for my body to rest and heal.  I will be out of work all of this week, and hope to use the time off for resting and healing (even though I’m already a bit bored, lol!)  Now, I’m looking for tips to find more balance.

Do you think you are Superwoman?  Please leave a comment letting us know what you are balancing, as well as a tip to finding a good balance in your life.  I know that most of the teachers in the world are truly Superwomen and I’d love to learn how you all balance all of your responsibilities.

Breaking the Rules – My Unplannned Math Lesson

Today, my Year 5 (Grade 4) and Year 6 (Grade 5) students were learning about the rules that dictate how odd and even numbers interact.  We used my Odd and Even Numbers Rules Lesson for our Interactive Math Notebooks.  My plan was for us to learn the rules and then work in pairs to prove that the rules were correct.  However, while reviewing the rules, I heard a student say that they could prove that the rules weren’t true.  This snide comment led me to side track my lesson.

I handed each student a piece of scrap paper and challenged them to find one example that broke one of the rules.  I offered my students “the ultimate prize” – no homework for the ENTIRE YEAR.  After a few minutes, many of my students were able to realize that this challenge was impossible.  Of course, there were quite a few who kept on trying, determined to beat the teacher and win the ultimate prize.  After about 10 minutes of working towards breaking the rule, I stopped the class and announced to my students that the task at hand was impossible, and that these rules had been proven by mathematicians throughout history (and I made a connection to all of the astronomer/mathematicians we are studying in science).  I had 3 students who still thought they could break the rule, so I told them to go ahead and keep trying at home and that the ultimate prize would stand for the entire school year.

At first, I was worried about these students who didn’t believe that it was impossible.  Then, I realized that my offer of  the ultimate prize might inspire these students to continue this work – proving to themselves that these rules are true, and practicing math computation in the process.  This is a time that inquiry learning truly worked in my classroom, and I’m jumping for joy.

This also got me to thinking – should we be asking students to try and break other math rules?  Before we teach a formula, perhaps we should give them two different formulas and let them “experiment” with numbers to figure out which one is the right formula for the topic.  How do you use inquiry based learning in math?

      

Do you rap for your students?

Recently, I posted about how my school is using Facebook and Pinterest as part of our professional development.  (See the whole post HERE.) I’ve decided to pass on some of the best videos and articles I come across to you each Sunday evening.  Here is this week’s professional development post:

We all know raps and songs interest and engage our students.  The teacher in the video below talks about how he used raps that he writes to engage his students in his middle school math class.  I loved watching his description of putting himself out there for his kids, thinking he failed, and then later finding out what an impact he made.  However, more powerful than making songs for his students was when he let the kids make math music videos for themselves.  This is something I want to try in my classroom.

 

If you’re interested in more professional development videos – follow my Professional Development Pinterest board.

ISM Spotlight – Experiencing History

This year I am the luckiest teacher in the world. I get to teach at the best school ever – International School of Morocco, with some of the best, most creative, teachers ever. Each time I walk into someone else’s classroom, I get inspired and we just seem to spiral great teaching ideas off of each other. It’s a wonderful place to teach, and since we are all collaborating, it’s a wonderful place for our kids to learn – a teacher’s dream, right? I have tried and tried to convince the other teachers to create blogs of their own to spotlight and share some of their amazing ideas, but everyone is super busy. Instead, they have each agreed to let me spotlight some of their ideas right here on Raki’s Rad Resources. So, each Friday night, I will be posting an ISM Spotlight.

This year, there are three new teachers at ISM.  I’m taking some time to introduce you to them.  We’ve already met Courtney Nassar, our Year 1/ Year 2 teacher and Ixchell Tolentino, our Reception teacher (4 Year old Pre-K).  This week, I get to introduce you to my partner in crime – Elizabeth Johnson.  Officially, Elizabeth teaches our Year 5 and Year 6 students.  However, she and I have teamed up this year so that she also does all of the writing and social studies for her students and mine; while I do all the math and science for both groups.  We’ve only been working together for a few months, but it’s great to have such a wonderful teammate!

In Social Studies this trimester, Mrs. Johnson is guiding the students through their own country studies.  In order to help them get ready to study a country of their choosing, she has first guided them through learning about the United Kingdom.  She has taught them about the culture, the geography, the government, and the history.  Her two weeks on history truly inspired her kids, so I thought I would share some of what she did here.

First, she shared key events of British history with the students, starting with 6000 BC/BCE.  The students added their most memorable events to timelines in order help them remember the events that meant the most to them.

Then, she let them get hands-on with history by playing some of the coolest games that she found on the BBC History for Kids website.  The students got to pretend that they were Viking Raiders and Norman Soldiers.

   

Finally, she had the kids write using all of their new information.  One of our students wrote this cool storybird about the Celtic Childhood.

 

Come back next week to see what else has been going on at the International School of Morocco!

 

What is on Your iPad? Here’s a List of What is on Mine

Recently, we have added 3 iPad minis to our full size class iPad.  Once we had the new iPads, we needed to upload the apps we would need for class.  Here are the apps we downloaded:

 

 - Puppet Pals (create a puppet show - storymaking)
- Flash to Pass (math)
- Scribble Press (writing)
-  GeoBoard (math)
-  Spelling City (spelling)
- Geometry Pad (math)
- Explain Everything (movie making)
- Educreations (movie making)
- Screen Chomp (movie making)
- Show Me (movie making)
- Google Earth (maps)
- Atlas by Collins (maps)
- Jigsaw Puzzle (critical thinking)
- Morfo (movie making)
- Rooster Time (math)
- Coop Fractions (math)
- Hungry Fish (math)
- Earth Viewer (science & social studies)
- Nasa (science)
- Moon (science)
- StarChart (science)
- iMovie (movie making)
- Edmodo
- Edublogs
- Raz Kids (Learning A-Z)
- Prezi
- LiveBinders
- Google Drive
- Khan Academy

What apps do you have on your iPad for your students?