Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Classifying Triangles Vocab Foldable & INB Activity

One of the first lessons in our Triangle Unit is Classifying Triangles.  I handed out this vocabulary foldable and gave my students a chance to think about the definitions before we discussed them formally.  Their vocabulary foldables are glued/taped into the third subject of a 3-subject spiral.


After going over the definition and a few examples, I gave them this Classifying Triangles Cut Out Activity.  They always have me check their work before gluing anything down.  I tell them that I don't want to reinforce their misunderstandings!


Triangles Unit: Interior Angle Sum and Exterior Angle (Remote Interior Angles)

Last week, we returned to school after Christmas break.  Monday was a teacher workday, so I worked all day on grades and lesson plans for the week.  In googling ideas for activities, I came across this site.  There I found an inquiry style worksheet to help students discover the sum of the interior angles in a triangle.  The file I found was actually a key, so I created my own based on that and tweaked it to fit my interactive notebooks (INBs).

On Tuesday, I gave my students the worksheet and a half sheet of (their choice of) colored paper and a few minutes to work on the activity.  We had a discussion about what they found, then they glued it into their INBs.  They seemed to like it so much (or maybe that's just how I perceived it!), that I made another one for discovering the relationship between the two remote interior angles and the exterior angle for Wednesday.



Triangle Angle Sums Inquiry Wkst

This is what it looks like in the INB. 























This is what it looks like in the INB.





















Saturday, January 11, 2014

Miscellaneous Posters

While I am pondering my next blog post, I decide to show/offer some of the posters I have created over the years for my classroom.  As I come across/make more, I will post them too!




All About Relationships 




Angle (Anatomy)




Reduce Test Anxiety




Classroom Expectations




Lack of Planning

https://app.box.com/s/sl4ha00jqu844eivj1ul



Log Form to Exponent Form 




Math Analogy




Olay CC Cream

CC Cream is made from swirling AA Cream and BB Cream together.  This is one of my originals!  I started laughing when I saw the commercial, then hit rewind and starting sketching my idea!




Polygons




Rationalizing the Denominator





Studying for Math Test (2 pages)
I have found that many students want to blame "test anxiety" for their poor grades, when in actuality it's the lack of proper preparation and studying.




Using a Formula
I use this one very often in all my classes.  Students tend to either not write the formula or they will try to combine steps 2 and 3, often making mistakes as a result.  Step 3 has a + because it may take more than one step to completely simplify a problem (order of operations).

Saturday, August 31, 2013

First 2 Weeks of School

It has taken me 3 weeks to consider writing another blog post.  I guess I've gotten into a rut of only writing about my projects and posting pictures.  As I try to think what I could post about, it hit me.  This is a blog.  I can write about anything (school related).

Well, let me start back in the beginning of August.  My principal asked me if I was still interested in coaching the varsity cheerleaders!  I had shown interest in May, but they had hired a friend of mine.  Actually, I was relieved!  So you can imagine my stress at being asked when she took the Elementary Asst. Principal's job and gave it coaching!  Of course, I said yes.  We started practice on August 12th and have had 2 games so far.  The girls have asked on a few occasions if they could cross a cheer off the list but I allowed them to take some creative freedom (with my suggestions and approval) and change them.  We have had several compliments on the new and improved versions!  I want them to feel like they have a say (within reason).

This year, I also made the decision to continue being the PBS Coach.  We haven't had administrative support for the last couple of years, so I wasn't sure if I still wanted to do it.  Since I said yes, we have scheduled our PBS Team meetings for every other month, scheduled mentoring for the months with no PBS meeting, sketched out mentoring ideas for the first couple meetings and rewarded our students for their FCAT scores from last year.  We took 48 students to the theater for their scores of 3.5 or higher on the writing portion of the FCAT this past Friday.  On Thursday, we walked 130 or so (197 deserved it, but chose not to go) to the nearby park and grilled hot dogs.  Those students received 3s, 4s or 5s on Reading and Math FCAT as well as the EOCs.  We had asked for donations last year for prizes for a raffle for those who received 4s and 5s.  We gave our over 20 prizes including 2 ipod shuffles and 2 Kindles.

Since I am officially a coach, I need to attend the Booster Club meetings each month.  It gives me the opportunity to help as well as work for funds for the cheerleaders' travel expenses, including concession stand duty.

As well as being a Varsity Cheerleader, my youngest daughter is a senior this year!  The parents of the senior class had a meeting on August 27th to discuss/start planning Project Graduation, and I left that meeting as the Secretary!  Sure, I have plenty of time...LOL!  We have so many things planned...selling Krispy Kreme donuts, creating/selling cookbooks (I'm on that committee), multiple BBQ dinner sales, raffling a rifle or shotgun (we are a small rural community where everyone has a hunting rifle!), etc.  We are going to try to participate in all our local festivals throughout the year too, selling food and our cookbooks.  Please send me a comment if you have any fundraising ideas to share!

The day after the Project Graduation meeting, I became a member (not an officer) of the SAC (School Advisory Committee).  I am there as the PBS Coach, because we have reward ideas that need funding. 

WHEW!!!  Considering all my new undertakings and the fact that our whole school is contained in one side of our campus (we are under construction for a new school), I am having a terrific year!  My classes are well-behaved, smart, eager!!!  







Friday, July 26, 2013

Angle Types Foldable & Transparent Protractors for INB

As I was working on Geometry unit plans today, I came up with an activity.  This activity was designed as a vocabulary printable/foldable to be cut out and glued into an Interactive Notebook.  It features mini file folders with vocabulary words printed on the front.

There are 6 pages in the file.  There is a page for each of the 5 angles (acute, right, obtuse, straight and reflex), as well as a page of blank ones.  On each page, there are 6 labeled file folders with 2 extra blank ones at the bottom (didn't want to waste space!). The last page can be printed and used for any lesson in any subject.


I printed mine on different colors of paper, so each student would get one of each color.

You can download the file on my TpT site.

Here are some pics...


I have also been tossing around the idea to print protractors onto transparencies for each student.  Well, I stuck one of the transparencies for copiers in my laser printer and printed out 10 business card-sized protractors. I made a pocket foldable, typed "Protractor" on the front and "glue into INB" on the back, put 4 on a page and printed them out on colored paper.

You can download the file on my TpT site.

Here are some pics...