This giveaway has ended :( Please head over to our giveaway page to enter our current giveaway. And this month is already almost over! We have Spring Break next week, and then it's time for that final push until the end of the year! You can get a few resources to help you power through the end of the year or even get ready for the year ahead if you are the winner of our weekly giveaway!
GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card
Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter. Giveaway ends 4/2/18 and is open worldwide.
Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media? Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers!
This giveaway has ended :( Please head over to our giveaway page to enter our current giveaway. Happy Monday! A new week means another chance for you to win a $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card!
GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card
Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter. Giveaway ends 3/26/18 and is open worldwide.
Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media? Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers!
I had the great privilege of being able to attend the Ron Clark Academy in October, and I must say it was hands down the BEST professional development training I have ever been to! This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog. All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.
While I was there I posted several pictures to my Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and since then I have received many questions about the experience.
I plan on posting a series of blog posts sharing not only some of my experiences from the training, but also, some ways that I have used what I have learned in my own classroom. I will post a link to all of the posts as I write them here for easy reference. Questions I have been asked:
1. Which type of session did you attend, the one day or two day session?
I was lucky enough to be able to attend a 2 day session. We experienced so much during these two days, I can't imagine how they would squeeze it into 1 day!
I would highly recommend going to a 2 day session if you attend, but I know that it depends on your time and travel budgets.
2. Do they actually provide training sessions or do you just observe classrooms?
The experience provides a mix of both, which is amazing! You attend some sessions with the instructors where they provide professional development, and then you get to see them in action as you observe actual classes with students.
3. Did Ron Clark provide any of the training and is he as amazing in person?
Yes and yes! Not only does Ron Clark provide several sessions, you get to peek into his classroom and even experience what his students do which is quite a treat! You can get just a little taste of it in this video below:
4. If I attend the training, what should I wear?
People wore a variety of different types of clothing from business casual to jeans and school t-shirts. No matter what you wear, you will most likely be comfortable. I would suggest wearing pants on the day that you get slide certified!
5. What if my school won't pay for me to attend?
This experience is so worth it! If you can't get your school to pay for it, I would figure out how to set aside some extra money each month to get there. You might ask friends or relatives to donate in lieu of gifts for your birthday or Christmas. You can also apply to Donor's Choose for professional development including this opportunity.
6. The Ron Clark Academy is a private school, can I really use their methods in my own classroom?
Yes! Although you may not have slide in your classroom, you absolutely can do things a little differently and bring the RCA strategies into your classroom!
I have been using some of these strategies in my classroom since October and both my students and myself have benefited from them! I can't wait to share them with you!
I recently had dental surgery and woke up in the middle of the night in a bit of pain. So, I did what every other crazy rational teacher does in the wee hours of the night, and jumped on Twitter for a little PLC time. I bumped into this Tweet from @inspiringmaths which featured this What Make 37 math problem:
I shared the problem with a team member and he was so excited to share it with his class, that he gave it to them the first thing in the morning even though that is usually our reading block. He came into my classroom with a white board with one of his student's solutions. I glanced at it quickly and noticed that the student used 10 numbers and that the sum was 37. I totally glazed over the fact that they had a 4 in it. (Also, just a note on my teammate's shorthand to write the solution - those dashes apparently represent multiplication - don't ask... LOL!).
I was impressed and asked how long it took the student to solve. He said they had been working at it for a full 25 minutes. "They were so into it!" He said. The gauntlet was down, I challenged my class to see if they could solve the Make 37 problem as well!
Just like my teammate had experienced, my class was super engaged with the challenge as well.
About 15 minutes in, one of my students came up with a similar solution to the student above, (but again, I did not spot her use of the 4) and I sent her over to the other classroom to show my teammate. He somehow spotted her use of the 4 and called Foul. My students continued to mull over the problem all day. When I got home, I continued mulling over the problem as well. I even put together an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my attempts. The pains joys of being a "life-long learner", and a testament to the power of an engaging question.
I struggled, and struggled, and couldn't find an answer. So, I Googled it. I found the original problem from NRICH maths (an amazing resource filled with so many rich math problems to solve)! (*Spoiler Alert*) What Makes 37 Answer
It said the problem couldn't be solved. It is impossible to make 37 with the numbers if you add them ten times. The reason for this is that when you add odd numbers an even amount of times, your resulting sum will be an even number. I texted my co-worker and asked him what his student's answer was. He texted me the picture back and that is when I finally saw the 4 the student had used. I shared the link to the solution with him and mentioned that we should try another activity with the students next week. We would ask them - "Can you add an even number of odd digits and have an even sum?" Sometimes, Always, or Never? I will share those results in another post! If you try this math problem with your students, I would love to hear how it goes! This post may contain affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog. All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.
This giveaway has ended :( Please head over to our giveaway page to enter our current giveaway. Another Monday means another chance to make a great impact in the classroom! A new week also means another chance for you to win a $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card!
GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card
Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter. Giveaway ends 3/19/18 and is open worldwide.
Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media? Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers!
This giveaway has ended :( Please head over to our giveaway page to enter our current giveaway. I know that most people associate March Madness with basketball, but for teachers we can also relate to our own sense of madness during March. All the craziness that comes with Spring Break, St. Patrick's Day, crazy weather that can't make up its mind (hot or cold), parent teacher conferences, state testing, oh and that darn Daylight Savings Time!! Just so you don't go completely crazy, some of my blogging friends and I are sharing some great resources to help make your lesson planning a bit easier. AND..... if you stick around until the end of this blog post, you will have a chance to win ALL of them AND a $50 Teachers pay Teachers gift card to buy anything else that might be on your wish list!
Are
you constantly on the lookout for resources that promote learning and
engagement even during the holidays and near school breaks? Why not try STEM
projects for a change! This Easter STEM Challenge Bundle provides hours of
engineering fun while making sure your students do their research, follow the
engineering design process, and reflect as to what worked and did not work.
Your kiddos can design and build an Easter egg basket, an egg launcher, and an
egg conveyor belt using simple and affordable materials. You and your students
will surely enjoy these Easter STEM activities. Check it out today!
The second item is from Angie S. who has a ton of great resources for special education.
This
print and go St Patrick's Day Reading Mystery
incorporates a range of ELA skills in one. The main focus is for students to
read the text carefully, and reread to complete the
activities.
Students must complete the tasks after reading each passage to discover clues.
Each clue requires students to critically think to decide which suspects they
can eliminate from their suspect list. The last suspect remaining is who needs
to be arrested for the 'Fool's gold.'
There is a Video Hook included for
optional use. It has been designed to ask questions about what is going on?
That’s when they must read to find out.
It can be viewed here.
This
St Patrick’s Day, send your children on a mystery mission to find out where
Leroy accidentally left his pot of gold. Completing math questions is required
to unlock clues, which will help narrow down a list of locations of where
Leroy’s pot of gold is.
There
is a video hook for optional use to introduce this math activity. A written
story is also included in the PDF case file.
This
fun NO PREP activity is available in versions for grades 1-6!
Many
teachers teaching second grade CKLA this year, are already reading or about to
start Sir Gus Unit 5. This product will help improve and assess student
comprehension and grammar skills for this book. In addition, this unit now
includes a spelling component.
Last but not least, I am showcasing the following two resources from my store:
Need
to incorporate research writing into your curriculum? This is a perfect
product for introducing report writing centered on your student's choice of
country. Students will complete their own mini-book about the country of their
choice along with an oral presentation.
Included
in this Countries of the World Research project are:
•Teacher
Directions
•I
Can Statement Cards
•Research
Graphic Organizers
•Final
Draft forms
•Parent
Letter and
•Grading
Rubric
I
have also included several editable pages so that you can customize the project
to fit your needs.
These
calculator word fun task cards are a fun and engaging way for your students to
practice math computation tasks (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and
division). Do
you remember typing numbers into a calculator and then flipping it over to see
a word? Maybe you typed in .07734 to see the word hello? Now your students will
have the same great memories as they practice math skills, and then check their
answers using a calculator. These
task cards can be used as a math center, with small groups, for fast finishers,
or even as a whole class scavenger hunt. You
can use the cards alone, or use the task card answer sheets included. I
have included 48 task cards including 24 whole number cards and 24 decimal
cards to allow for differentiation.
This giveaway has ended :( Please head over to our giveaway page to enter our current giveaway. Are you feeling lucky this month? Well, if you are, now is the time to enter to win a $100 Teachers pay Teachers gift card! Every month we spoil one lucky teacher with a Teachers pay Teachers shopping spree! Will it be you this month?
GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
Prize: $100 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card
Giveaway Organized by:Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher)
Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter. Giveaway ends 3/13/18 and is open worldwide.
Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media? Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers!
