An Open Letter to #nerdlution

Dear #nerdlution,

Even as I type this, my family is scurrying around making preparations to be with our extended family.   They have left and are making their way to our part of the world.

I was stressing out about how I was going to blog in their presence everyday.

And then, I decided not to.

I'm turning my laptop off for the next few days so I can focus on the people that I love.  Even as I typed this, the phone rang, the husband was requesting assistance, and I had to use my negoiations skills with my two sons.

I have school and blog posts on my mind.  But my family has my heart.  See you in a few days!

Joy!
Kendra

Late Starts and Missing Time

2 things before I jump in to sharing my thoughts.

1.  I'm happy to have a 2 hour weather delay this morning.  This has been a gift of time to get some writing in.  #nerdlution!



12 Hours Later...(No Joke)

The funny part is, after my kids woke up, I went about my morning, and then  I went to school.  I'm not sure what really happened from there.  I sat down and this post was started with point number one typed up and looking ready to take on the day.

It was a busy day.  It was an awesome day.  I was able to enjoy my students.  We had a great time.


15 hours later...Still not Joking

I'm working on our house to prepare it for the holidays.
I've come to peace with the fact that #nerdlution may halt for a couple of days while I focus on family I don't see very often.

I have to stop forcing this blog post to happen.  :)  See you in the morning...

It's Time for Math--Part 2? 3? 4?

So, the title is really only funny to me.  And maybe Annie or Jillian if they have noticed that I've tried to write about this several times.  I always end up deleting the drafts.  Each time I felt like the post was too long and rambled.  It didn't really share what I wanted to communicate.  As I was meandering around the house this morning, I was rattling some ideas around, and feel like I have a direction now.

A few years ago, I was working on a Professional Growth Option for my district's evaluation process.  I decided to focus my efforts on my math block.

I built a set of professional resources to use.  These are some of my favorites.

These are some of my favorites.  

This year I'm also getting a lot of good use out of this one:

At first, I thought I wouldn't need this resource.  I'm so thankful I have it this year.  

After reading and studying these resources, I have organized a routine that looks like this:

1.  A Warm Up.   I might use a calendar, some mental math exercises from our district materials, or a math writing prompt from our materials.

2.  A Core Lesson.  I try to limit this to 15-20 minutes where we are working through the main concept for the day.  

3.  "Have tos."  This usually (not always) is a quick written assignment.  It might be a worksheet or a work book page.  Typically it matches with what we have experienced in our core lesson.

4.  Stations/Partner Work.  This has changed every year.  This year, due to some Social-Emotional needs of the class, the students work in partners during math.  For each unit, I have organized about 15 stations. (one-ish per day)  At first I thought this would be overwhelming, but it's not. I'm using the resources from our district materials (the games and explorations) and some ideas from Math Work Stations.  I'm focusing on concepts rather than the station, and that has resulted in authentic work taking place.  

While students are working in partner work, I use that time to conference or pull students in groups.  It's been allowing me to reinforce skills as needed, and extend some concepts too.  

Depending on the day, this routine works out well for us in my corner of first grade.  What does your math block look like?

Joy!

Kendra

#Nerdlution The First 20 Days

#Nerdlution: We're blogging every day (and drinking lots of tea).

Lego Fun

Several years ago, Kendra and I started a Lego Club at my previous school through Community Education.  We were inspired by the Lego Club at another building, which was inspired by the article "Block Party: Legos in the Library" from School Library Journal.  We read aloud a book based on a weekly theme, brainstormed creations, and spent most of our time imagining and building.  Kendra and I used our read aloud to expose our first and second graders to new themes and books, particularly nonfiction, from our school library.  At the end of each session, we would do a gallery walk or take pictures of students' creations.  From our standpoint as teachers, it was incredible to see our students in a different setting with complete freedom to create.  Lego Club was also offered at Big B's school this fall.  I jumped at the chance for him to create and collaborate with his peers and classmates in this way.

Big B is definitely a Lego fan.  I have been pondering some Lego fun for the upcoming break, especially since I have a feeling Big B will find some Legos under the Christmas tree. 

1.)  Timed Lego Build

2.) Lego Nerf Targets

3.) Lego Maze (Big B did this at Lego Club and loved it!)

4.) Create Your Own Minifigure (We've done this one before, and Big B really enjoyed it!)

5.) Building Challenges from Lego Club Jr. Magazine -- Big B loves getting a magazine in the mail every month.  I love that he is reading and the magazine is free.  Each issue has simple projects.  We'll go back through the past issues and pick a few projects to try.

Helpful Mom Hint: We store all the back issues in a binder with page protectors.  Big B often goes back and rereads the issues.  We also store all his Lego instruction guides the same way.  Pinterest comes through again!

We may also try some other Lego Fun Friday challenges that I found on FrugalFun4Boys.com!  Bring on Winter Break!

Annie

If We're Being Honest...

As I consider my Slice of Life post from yesterday; I was reflecting on how good it was. Today was not.  It was hard.  Really hard.  School was hard.  After school was hard.  Picking up my kids was hard.  Get in my stretchy pants and eat my kitchen hard.  (I didn't--I ran instead, but I do love a good snack.)  Yelled at my own kids hard.  Called my husband and cried at the end of the day hard.  Nothing extraordinary happened, just layers of challenges that finally caught up with me by the end of the day.

If I'm being honest with my story, this is part of it.  Today I wanted to crawl under the table and stay there. After some tears, a run, and some dinner, things started to look up.  I sat and listened to some music for a bit.  (I love Chris Tomlin's Christmas Album!)  I am watching some "Mary Poppins" as I type this.  (I Love This Movie.  Almost as much as I love snacks.) An early bedtime is scheduled.  Things are getting better.

And then I remembered that earlier today I wanted to share this with you:  (Side note-why are my pictures seemingly rotating on their own?  I saved them as a jpeg file, and they were the rotated the correct way until I uploaded them here.  I fiddled a bit, but then stopped because I can still tell a story with upside down photos.)

I received the nicest email from a parent asking if her daughter could bring this book in.  She was so excited!  The kids giggled and really enjoyed this book.  

Today, this book came in from a student.  We read it after a recess.  Again, I was excited to see the engagement from all the students.  It also lead to a great discussion about fairy tales that we have read.

This child has learned he has something to say in writing.  He is writing to a staff member in our building.  "What kind of books do you have now?  We need a good book to read."  My heart melts.  

So, there was a moment in the day where it wasn't so bad.  :)  "Today was a difficult day.  Tomorrow will be better."  -Kevin Henkes

A Slice Of Life--School's Out!

I found this while lingering on blogs this morning.  I found this link to the Two Writing Teachers:

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/write-share-give-sols-time-4/#comment-62119

After reading some blog entries, I ditched the math post for a bit and decided to try sharing my own slice of life.  2 weeks ago, I wrote about a day at school.  Life goes on after the bell buzzes.

At dismissal time, when I should take a moment to breathe, I remember that my preschool son is waiting for me down the hallway.  As I'm walking down the hallway, I notice X and his family, and I note how tall he's getting.  Long past a first grader, I'm greeted with a hug, and he informs me his growth spurt isn't over and he'll be taller than me yet!  (That doesn't take much...)  I enjoy quick visits with this family and worry about him as he gets older.  

At the end of the hallway, stands my preschool son.  He's patiently waiting in line.  When I see him, I notice he's wearing extra clothing.  Hmmm...why?  Oops!  The hoodie came out of the backpack this weekend and he didn't have enough clothes for recess.  A quick stop in the preschool room to return the extra jacket and thank this team yet again for being so gracious and awesome to my son.  

Upon return to my classroom, I notice a student still hanging out.  He doesn't want to go outside because it's too cold to wait.  I tell him he can look out my window to watch for a ride.  I run into a colleagues room for just a moment.  When I come back, the student has taken his coat off and curled up with a library book that he has found in a basket of books to be returned.  Finally a connection with his ride.  

My preschool-er gets comfortable and offers me a juice box.  It's a stash I keep around to buy myself some time after school so I can clean up.  We enjoy a few Teddy Grahams together, and I remind myself to relax.  I love having him at school, but I'm constantly having to breathe deep and remind myself that it's okay to walk away from work earlier than I want to.  He settles into a couple of shows, and I can get my desk tidied up a bit.  I chat a bit with a super colleague or two about the day's events.  Before I know it, it's almost an hour from daycare closing.  Time to go home!  

We arrive at daycare, and my oldest playing and entertaining the babies.  We get in the car and make the short drive home.  On a side street, I demonstrate to my five year old what happens when you don't use the accelerator.  

We get home, and I notice that the boys are going to be cooperative and pleasant this evening.  I'm grateful for this, because I have this to-do list this week.  One brings the garbage can and mail in, the other one jumps right into playing with Legos.  I want to tackle my Christmas to-do list from the moment I walk in the door, but my oldest asks for some "Farkle time."  I want to tell him no, but I say yes and play for 15 minutes.  We now have a running game going.  

When I announce it's time to make dinner, everyone wants to help.  This is awesome, I know.  But again, I find myself giving myself a pep talk to slow down.  (Yes, I read that.)  In the end, my oldest learned how to manipulate the stove top, and the youngest worked to prepare our fruit and pour our milk.  I receive a glass of milk too, even though I usually don't drink milk with dinner.  (I'm an almond milk in the morning kind of girl.)  

In the afternoon, waves of email flooded my inbox.  Now it's time to catch up.  My oldest tries for a game of Farkle again, but I have to turn him down this time.  I catch up on some email, and connect with a friend who has had a procedure today.  As I'm settling down in front of my laptop, my oldest sits down next to me and pulls out his writing notebook from school and adds to a story he's working on.  (Angels are singing now!  My heart is so happy!)  "Can I write with you mom?"  As the night goes on, I start this post but I'm having to stop and explain blogging.  This is fun, I love that he's really at an age where I can sit with him and chat about school!  

So the boys head to bed. I chat on the phone with another super colleague a bit, and just as things are wrapping up, my preschool-er comes down stairs and smiles.  "It's snuggle time!"  Snuggles are over, we end our night with I love yous and smiles and giggles all around.  

And look, my to-do list is still here waiting for me.  But I've already done the most important things!  

Joy!

Kendra