Parent Communication

One of my goals for myself this year was to improve the communication to parents of students who are in Title math. If you read my last blog, you know our theme this year is Awesome 80's! Each week I choose a student to be the rock star of the week. They have to respect others, persevere through math problems, use academic language and model their thinking. Once I choose a student, I fill out one of the notes below and send it home for the parent!

I have also started sending home Title math bags every other week. These are short activities/games that parents can play with their child. This is by no means homework and is only used as a supplement resource for students. Once the game or activity has been played, the parents fill out this log and students return it to school along with the game and all of the materials. There is a place on the log for parents to fill in if the game was easy, hard or just 'okay' for their child. This is a GREAT way for me to differentiate.
Grab BOTH of these freebies over at my freebies link!

#awesome80's

   

AWESOME 80's is my room theme this year and I.loved.decorating. Oh my goodness. I kept looking at quotes from the Breakfast Club..well I couldn't post any in my room, but I still love them:) The BEST part of my room this year is that I moved into a bigger room >>> much needed. So much room for activities! haha Anyway, check out these pics of my AWESOME 80's Title Math classroom:) The toys in my window were SO much fun to find! I remembered playing with these toys while growing up: a skip-it, beanie babies, play cash register, lite bright, My Little Pony, a microphone (who DIDN'T have one of these?!) and of course my oscar the grouch puppet! I decided to have a 'rockstar of the week' board to recognize students who model their thinking, respect others, persevere while doing math problems and use academic language while explaining their thinking. LOVE interactive notebooks and my students loved them last year! With a bigger room, I have a place to put them instead of throwing them all on a shelf:) And we can't forget the Magic 8 Ball that totally 'told' me whether or not my elementary crush liked me back:) haha Every student will get a Magic 8 Ball made from card stock paper to put their names and it will be hung on the wall! Have a great start to your school year!

#awesome80's
~Stephanie

Summer Lovin!

Summer! Summer! Summer! Bike rides, time spent with family, Soph's first birthday, fresh veggies from my garden and a few DIY projects for home AND my classroom;)



Sophia's birthday party was a bLaSt:) She is one luck little girl to have so many caring people in her life! The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is the book we used to set the theme for the party!

The birthday cake and the smash cake were both made by Andy's cousin, Katie Scott. They were fantastic and PERFECT. The happy birthday banner was super easy to make. I printed off triangular banner letters and then glued them to colored card stock paper and cut them out. I used mini clothespins from Walmart to attach them to the brown twine that we used to hang them from. The fruit plates were easy as well. I made copies of the fruit from the actual book and then glued those onto white card stock paper. I used a paper punch to make the wholes in the fruit and then put a large kabob stick through the paper fruit pieces. The other card stock rectangular/square pieces were used to write the quotes on from the book. 



Two new recipes that I MUST share this week:



Better than Sex Chex Mix: I made this for our trip to Wisconsin and it was heaven.

You can get the recipe here!



Meatball Sub Casserole: So good, Andy even had the leftovers the next day. WHOA. *I used garlic cheese bread instead of french bread*

You can get the recipe here!



Check out the DIY page for a few new projects!
Have a great week:)
~Stephanie

My Summer Bucket List

Happy SUMMER! AHHHH!! I can't even contain my excitement (hence the exclamation marks and words in all caps.) I'm teaching 2 weeks of summer of school then off to Wisconsin for VaCaTiOn! Then a month later: New Orleans!! Now, although I have a couple of vacations planned for the summer, I also have some things I would like to accomplish! 

My Summer Bucket List:

1) Snuggle with Sophia:) I have some fun activities planned for this little girl and I can't WAIT to spend my summer with her:)

2)  Finish reading the book I started 2 months ago: Minds on Mathematics: Using Math Workshop to Develop Deep Understanding in Grades 4-8. Next year 6th grade will be joining the elementary and if I have some students from 6th, I need to be better prepared and this book will help me to do so!



3) Exercise every day: So far, I've biked 3 miles everyday for 8 days in a row. I really need to do more than 3 miles, like 5 or 6, and its attainable, I just need to do it.



4) Make some yummy sauces with my tomatoes, green and red peppers and jalapenos: This is my first year planting a veggie garden and so far, so good! I went out this morning and I have 2 little baby tomatoes on my plant:) Learning more about canning, is a must.



5) Take more time for me: I think 'me time' is extremely important. My bike rides or my DIY projects are a time for me to relax and enjoy my hobbies. 



I've made a few new dishes for dinner in the last couple of weeks. Here are some pics and you can find the recipes on my Pinterest board: Yummy.

 pork sandwiches on a pretzel bun w/ jalapeno cheddar cream cheese

mini Italian sausage & mozzarella calzones

creamy garlic spaghetti squash

I've posted some new projects under my DIY page!
~Stephanie

Understanding

Hello Bloggers! I've neglected my blog a little bit the last month:/ I have some updates to share with you.. some new things I'm doing the classroom (jump over to my teacher link for new stuff!) and a short review of ch.2 from the book Minds on Mathematics: Using Math Workshop to Develop Deep Understanding in Grades 4-8. 
**First I have to share this adorable picture of my little Sophia:)

This is pic shows the look that Soph gave when she looked at the YMCA swimming pool for the first time... **That is A LOT of water...** She loves bath time so swimming was a breeze. She was kicking by the 2nd day and dipped her head under the water! 


OOOOOk...  Ch. 2: Tools. Best quote from ch. 2: We can teach students to think, and we must. Just like in reading, comprehension is the ultimate goal of mathematics. (Maggie Siena) Ch. 2 explained the tools that we need to use to teach students what math comprehension means- what it feels like to really understand math. The three tools this chapter outlines are Common Core mathematical practices, Twenty-First Century skills and thinking strategies. I wanted to touch specifically on the mathematical practices.


Common Core mathematical practices: Students should be exposed to all eight practices. 
1) Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. This goes back to my earlier post where I talked about how I have trouble just letting my students work and make mistakes. I have to learn to step back and let them try different strategies and learn from their mistakes. ALSO >> I have to teach the strategies for dissecting text, representing problems, and solving them.
2) Reason abstractly and quantitatively. I need to continue to give my math lessons a purpose and model my logic and reasoning. Model how and explain why I got the answer I did.
3) Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. One of my title groups needed some help with learning how to work TOGETHER in a group. I modeled this by working with a student on a story problem. We asked each other questions and formed our answer together. After I modeled this I had the other students give us one thing we could work on and one thing we did well. I had the pairs of students watch each other work together and critique one another in a positive and respectful way. 
4) Model with mathematics. This standard has been tricky for me as I was taught procedure, procedure, procedure in elementary school. Making 10, making 100, compensation and other mental math models are extremely important when developing those early number concept skills. I've had to teach myself these methods and use explicit instruction with my students. 
5) Use appropriate tools strategically. Offer tasks that invite use of a variety of tools. I do this very often because in title math my students need some sort of manipulative for a concrete model. However, when is it okay to take away those concrete models? I still struggle with this sometimes because students are supposed to go from learning in the most concrete way to the most abstract way where they are writing and solving equations.
6) Attend to precision. Value accuracy over speed. Instead of giving a timed test over all problems, reflect on factors that detract from precision. Strategize around common errors and the means to avoid those.
7) Look for and make use of structure. Model how to find patterns- number patterns. Practice decomposing numbers, equations, and expressions into their composite parts. Decomposing has become one of my favorite topics to teach. There are so many unique and purposeful activities to use while teaching decomposition. You can check out a few of them on my Teachers link!
8) Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. I need to do a better job of offering in depth tasks that invite learners to monitor the reasonableness of their solutions.  Sometimes I ask them, does that make sense and they can read my face and automatically change their answer to something else, but they don't know why. Repeated reasoning can help my learners to solve problems.


~ Have a great rest of the week:)
Stephanie

Spring Fever

The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, Andy is mowing the yard so we can put down some grass seed and Soph is taking a mid morning snooze:) That was yesterday. Right now it is 34 degrees and snowing. We already have an inch accumulation. OKAY Mother Nature. Really?!

I have started reading Minds on Mathematics: Using Math Workshop to Develop Deep Understanding in Grades 4-8 and I'm done with chapter 1. Here are some of the high lights from the first chapter. The author Wendy Ward Hoffer gives us an overview of the theory behind minds-on math workshops and how they function.
The author shared a short story of a time she went fishing with her stepfather and she finally got a bite on the end of her line. Her stepfather pushed her fingers aside and reeled in the fish for her, but gave her the credit. She goes on to say that she held high expectations for her students. She let them struggle for a bit, but promptly stepped in to rescue with explanations and answers if she saw their comprehension flagging. She explains that many students continued to struggle on assessments. She sought new strategies, new means to support learners in taking ownership of their mathematical understanding.  Wendy explains that she had to learn to explain less and listen more; to answer fewer questions and ask better ones; to avoid rescuing students from confusion and instead to be patient with their uncertainty.

                  Interesting... This is SOOO hard for me to do. Any other teachers out there that have this problem?! 
 
Minds-on math workshops are an ideal forum for meeting the challenges laid before us by the Common Core Standards. These workshops will give our kiddos time to experience focus, congruence and rigor. 

I have to stop for a second while I try to process all of this for the third time. Yikes. While processing, I realized that I need to TRUST my students. I have to remember that my students are capable of learning and that learning takes time.
There is more than one way...... Wendy explains in chapter 1 that though there is often only one correct answer to a mathematical question, there are a variety of ways to solve the problem, to think and understand its meaning. (Rather than devoting time to memorizing algorithms.)

Minds-on mathematics workshops changes the role of a teacher, to more of a facilitator who engages students with worthy, minds on tasks and important mathematical ideas. 
 
My favorite quote from chapter 1: When we memorize rules for moving symbols around on paper, we may be learning something, but we are not learning mathematics. 
 
I wanted to share a new recipe! It's been a long time:/ 
Shepard's Pie:

1/2 bag of frozen mixed veggies
4 medium russet potatoes
1 pound ground turkey or beef
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 10 3/4 oz. can of tomato soup
3 tbsp oregano spice
1/2 cup milk
1 heaping spoonful of sour cream
1/4 cup stick of butter

Skin and dice potatoes. Boil water on the stove, add potatoes. Cook 
until potatoes are soft and can be mashed. Drain potatoes. Mash potatoes and add milk, sour cream and 2 tablepsoons of the stick of butter. Taste the potatoes and add salt and pepper if needed. Brown ground turkey on the stove. Drain. Add mixed veggies in with ground turkey. Add tomato soup. Let simmer for 5 minutes. In a casserole dish, pour the veggie mix in the bottom, add a layer of the 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese and then put the mashed
potatoes on top. Put a tablespoon of butter on each side of the potatoes. Cook in the oven on 425
for 8-10 minutes or until the veggie mix bubbles up around the mashed potatoes. Enjoy! I served it with garlic bread~ YUMMY.

   Week 2 Grocery List

- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

- 1 (4 oz) can of diced green peppers, drained

- 1 1/2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese

- fajita seasoning 

- hot dogs

- brats * I prefer Tiefenthaler brand jalapeno & cheese

- margarine

- white onion

- flour

- 6 cloves garlic

- old bay spice

- 2 bay leaves

- red pepper spice

- cajun seasoning spice

- 3 cans cream corn

- heavy whipping cream

- 16 ounces fresh lump crab meat

- anything you need for homeade pizza!

- canola oil

- 1 1/2 pounds sirloin steak

- 10 ounces mushrooms

- 2 cups beef broth

- egg noodles

- 1 lb tilapia fillets (about 4)

- 3 limes

- yellow cornmeal

-1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® Homestyle refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (8 biscuits)

-1 1/2 tablespoons chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (from 7-oz can), finely chopped

- shredded cabage

- your favorite salsa

Week 3 coming soon..

Check out my teacher page for some new ideas & activities:)
Have a great night bloggers:)
~Stephanie

Untitled

I wanted to share a very quick activity to use with the book Two of Everything by Lily Toy Hong. I'm using this book with my 3rd & 4th grade groups as a review of multiplication and fractions.
 I'm really proud of a few kiddos who have mastered their multiplication facts! I found this activity on TpT for FREE: Multiplication Sweets. Below are some pics of the kiddos posing with their ice cream cones and congratulatory notes! We had an ice cream party at the end when each group mastered their facts. The other pic is the bulletin board where each student 'built' their ice cream cones! For each fact they mastered, they added a piece to the cone.





Grocery List for Week 1:

• Flat Iron Steak
  
• 2 Limes
  
• Olive Oil
  
• Cilantro
  
• 1-2 chilies
  
• Minced Garlic
  
• Sugar
  
• Corainder seed, crushed
  
• Ground cumin
  
• Kiwi
  
• White Onion
  
• 1 10-ounce loaf ciabatta
  
• 1/3 pound Prosciutto
  
• Red Bell Pepper
  
• ¼ pound fontina cheese
  
• baby arugula or basil
  
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
  
• minced ginger
  
• soy sauce
  
• brown sugar
  
• 1 to 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  
• cornstarch
  
• vegetable oil
  
• 1 2-3 pound brisket
  
• canola oil
  
• beef broth (2 cups)
  
• Worchestire
  
• Honey Mustard Dressing
  
• bag of baby spinach
  
  
• Couscous
  
• 1 lb medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
  
• 1 large mango
  
• 1 medium avocado
  
• 1 medium tomato
  
• 1 red onion
  
• 1 jalapeno chile
  
• Refrigerated pie crust 
  

• Eggs

• Milk

• Sharp cheddar cheese, grated

• 4-6 strips bacon
  
• 1 lb lean ground beef
  
• 1 28 oz. Jar spaghetti sauce
  
• 1 14-1/2 oz. Can Italian-style diced tomatoes
  
• 1 15 oz. Carton part-skim ricotta cheese
  
• Parmesan cheese
  
• Uncooked lasagna noodles
  
• Shredded part-skim mozzarella
  
  This is the list for week 1! Week 2 coming soon. Have a great week!
  ~Stephanie
  

Systematic.

Hello bloggers! 



When I was home sick two weeks ago, I was doing some research on how to make a list. I know right? Isn't it obvious? But I wanted to make a list of meals that I would make for the whole month. I mean that's 28-30 dinners, 28-30 lunches and maybe breakfast on the weekends (besides cereal and toast). I read some other blogs for some guidance and ran across some fantastic grocery lists and a calendar of meals for a whole month! I was like, I can do that! Side note: I found this quote by a Greek oral poet: 

It is best to do things systematically since
we are only human, and disorder is
our worst enemy.

Interesting.... The last week I have known exactly what I'm making for dinner and I feel like I actually save time at night because I already have things out and prepared for that nights meal!

Soooooo, you will find listed below, 28 dinners and links to the recipes. AND THEN next week you will find a grocery list that has all the ingredients for each dinner all laid out for you. Let's be real, I couldn't tackle the list of the dinners AND the grocery list in one week. A lot of these I have made so you can check my previous blogs for my reviews;)

Week 1:
Carne Asada Tacos
Prosciutto & Pesto Panini
Mongolian Chicken
Crockpot Honey Mustard Brisket
Grilled Shrimp, Mango & Avocado Salsa
Quiche
Lasagna



Week 2:
Green Chili & Cheese Chicken
Corn & Crab Bisque
Baked Beef Empenadas
Grilled Hot Dogs/Brats
Pizza NIGHT! Frozen, take out, home-ade, whatever you prefer!
Beef Stroganof
Lime Fish Tacos

Week 3:
Potato Soup
Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta
Philly Cheese steak sandwiches
Tater Tot casserole 
Quesadilla Burgers 
Quinoa Salad w/ Charred Corn & Avocado 
Bacon & Egg Crescent Squares

Week 4:
Spaghetti- noodles, spaghetti sauce and maybe meatballs..no recipe needed.
Chocolate Chip Pancakes w/ Bacon
BLT Chopped Salad 
Tuna Melts
Grilled Salmon w/ Avocado Salsa
Taco Bake
Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup! 



I'm going to start attending a book study with area educators on Sunday's and we are going to dive into the book Minds on Mathematics- Using Math Workshop to Develop Deep Understanding in Grades 4-8.  I'm really looking forward to learning more about conceptual learning. I'll update my bloggers every Sunday evening while its fresh in my mind:) 

Listed above was Carne Asada Tacos~ I def. tried this recipe last night and it was DELICIOUS. I love this pic above that shows the marinated meat cookin' in the skillet!

My kindergarten and fourth grade kiddos did a little review with their measurement skills for President's Day. The original idea of the Abraham Lincoln life size poster that I made came from Doodle Bugs Teaching, a first grade blog.
I had my kiddos stand up next to Lincoln and we taped a top hat to the wall where they measured up. After that we discussed converting feet and inches (higher order thinking for my kiddos). Just because they are in Title math doesn't mean they can't begin to understand harder concepts;) Anyway, after we talked about the measurements we compared the tallest 4th grader and the tallest kindergartner and then found the difference between the two. We did the same with the shortest and then compared the shortest and tallest to Lincoln!  Until next time ~ Stephanie

Double Yummies!

Hello Bloggers! Hope you all had a great weekend and an even better Monday & Tuesday! 
I have 2 recipes to share with you this evening:)
Recipe #1: Tomato, Basil & Parmesan Soup



2 cans petite diced tomatoes w/ juice- 14 oz. each
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup finely diced carrots
1/2 cup finely diced celery sticks
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup diced onion
1 tablespoon Oregano
1 tablespoon fresh Basil
1 tablespoon red chili pepper flakes
1 tablespoon grated peppercorns 

Put tomatoes, broth, carrots, celery, onions & all spices into a large pot on the stove. Cook for 20 minutes on medium heat. Then mix melted butter and flour. Stir until well blended. Add to soup and then add half and half. Stir, stir, stir. Add Parmesan cheese. Serve with french bread!This soup is packed with flavor! Enjoy!

Recipe #2: Baked Beef Empanadas!

Wonton wrappers
1 pound hamburger 
1/2 onion diced
3 garlic cloves, pressed with garlic press
1 can corn with juice drained 
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning



Brown hamburger in pan. Add onion, garlic and corn. Stir and cook mixture for 5 minutes. Spoon 1 tablespoon mixture into a wonton wrapper, fold wonton wrapper over to the opposite sides and pinch edges. Place on cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Spray wontons with cooking spray and then put in the oven at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes. Serve with salsa and sour cream!! These were YUMMY!

 Thanks to my wonderful parents, I finally got these decomposing bracelets finished! I made bracelets for the numbers 1-10. These will be an excellent supplemental resource!

 I found this lesson on TpT from The Math Coach's Corner. I can't wait to use these with my kindergarten kiddos!!!

I should have some more posts under Fashionista in the next few weeks! Good night bloggers! Make sure to check out my TpT store for the 3 million teachers strong sale going on from 2/27-2/28!
~Stephanie

Blades of Glory

Hello 3 day weekend! AHHHH! I seriously can't tell you how excited I am to have a break from school. Don't get me wrong, I love my kiddos but mentally...this girl needs a break. Tried a new recipe this week! I (ok, my husband came up with the name) call it:


What comes first? The chicken or the egg? 

Ingredients: 
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
your favorite steak seasoning 
extra virgin olive oil
2 eggs
1 onion
1/2 red pepper
2 jalapenos
*You can pick your own sides. I had some steak fries in the freezer and a can of crescent rolls in the refrigerator. 
Put 2 tablespoons of EVOO in the pan on the stove and then put in the 2 chicken breasts. Sprinkle chicken with your most favorite steak seasoning. I know its steak seasoning on chicken, but trust me...it was DELICIOUS.  Cook chicken for 10 minutes or more on medium heat. While the chicken is cooking, dice all the veggies. Make sure the chicken is nice and done and remove from heat. Do not rinse out the pan. Put a little more EVOO into the pan and dump veggies in. Sprinkle veggies with the steak seasoning. Cook veggies for 5 minutes on medium heat or until they are done. Remove veggies from heat. Crack two eggs open into the pan. (You are going to make over easy eggs.) When the eggs are done remove them from heat. Place the egg on top of the chicken breast, put veggies on plate and add your favorite BBQ sauce. ENJOY! So many flavors happening in this dish! YUM!


My third grade title kiddos are working on multiplication and division. I planned a supplemental activity where they had to read 6 story problems and show me how they got to their answer by using peanuts as their manipulatives. The next step is have my students tell me how they got to their answer... LONG story short>>> I went to a meeting yesterday and it was all about conceptual learning versus procedural learning. Teaching concepts first and then procedures. Growing up and being taught procedures with no conceptual learning learning on, I have to learn how teach my students different strategies and concepts before teaching them the standard algorithm, procedure. YIKES. Bring it on;)

~Have a great weekend! Me.