Snarkyville News

Snarkyville News Has Moved!

2011-08-19T19:38:00.000-07:00

Go here to see the Snarkyville News.

Additional Pictures Now That School Has Started

2011-08-18T16:02:00.000-07:00

You'll note that in an earlier Monday Resources post about blogs, I referred to a web site that walks you through blogging with students. This week we went over blogs and internet safety (see "posters"), and today we began making paper blogs as indicated at that web site. It was really an interesting experience.

Today the Exceptional Ed students (4) joined us for Science and the PE that's called Extended Recess.

I have not yet had everyone show up to school on the same day. A friend has a ton of absences due to illness already!

Day 2 -- 8/16/11

2011-08-17T05:37:00.000-07:00

One student went home sick without ever making it into the classroom, and two more joined our class. One was absent yesterday because of seizures. He's one of the kids I had in SFA last year. As soon as he was settled, I called the nurse (who is new to our school) and asked for an information sheet. She asked his name, and I told her. I expected to eventually get some ancient typed sheet on seizures, which is what nurses at previous schools would have done. Nope. She came to my room with something she typed after she obviously spoke to the lad's mother first. Three long paragraphs. She didn't even just hand it to me; she stood there and went over it with me. Nice!! The seizures are a recent thing of unknown origin. My first thought was Connor Bourke, who just died this summer after a long battle with a brain tumor. My brain always jumps to the worst thing first. But he has more testing today, and then we'll know more. In the mean time, his name tags on the top and front of his desk have a red circle dot with an S in them, in case there's ever a sub.

In writing, we are talking about blogs. Next week, I hope, they will start their own blogs. They've done a paragraph for a first entry, and we've managed to do a lot about blogs and internet safety in two days. The principal came in yesterday while we they were doing the writing part, and she was pretty impressed.

In reading we're doing the "AIMS Reading Process" (that I was taught at this school) with nonfiction passages, and reading James and the Giant Peach. We're doing science and PE on Thursday and Friday. Oh, excuse me, "extended recess." They have to call it that because we're not PE teachers -- but we're teaching PE. Next week we start OMA and library.

I'll write about math later.

First Day of School: August 15, 2011

2011-08-17T05:26:00.001-07:00

Yes, we all survived the first day of school! Five or six of my students were no-shows, but two were added. I'd forgotten just how much you can learn about children on the first day of school. One girl's mother said she was nervous, and she was all shy for maybe ten minutes -- after which she never stopped talking. She does like to help her classmates, though. There were a couple of students who didn't seem to understand much of what I was saying, but then there were times that no one did (such as "Pass the papers forward"). We shall see!

Moving "Inside"

2011-08-17T05:25:00.001-07:00

(Written a couple of weeks ago but not posted)

If you followed the Desert Duck, you know that I have spent the past four years "in the portables," also known (by some of us, at least) as Snarkyville. Although these trailers were decrepit fire hazards, I had no fears of burning down because in case of emergency, I'm fairly sure that any fourth grader could kick out a wall with one kick.

BUT -- I'm moving into The Building! Yes, my classroom will be an actual classroom -- AND I'll have a Promethean Board! I am truly excited! So this week (yes, still on summer vacation), I'm moving. I had to unpack all my closets and cupboards, and will post those photos as soon as I get them off my camera (probably this afternoon). On Monday I unpacked the two closets, and yesterday the cupboards. I moved two things over to the new room, but the maintenance man was moving the furniture from that room to Ms. R's new room, and it was hot and a long trip to be moving stuff, so I decided to go back this morning to get my stuff moved. (I have to move my stuff, and maintenance will move the furniture.)

One reason the furniture has to be moved is that I have "taller" 4th grade furniture; the stuff in that room is for first graders. Little guys. Another reason is that we need to empty out the portables in case the new school isn't open yet. They may have to start the year out using our portables.

Life in the portables meant that, while I had the illusion of controlling my own heat and cooling, there were ... issues. For example, on more than one occasion, turning on the heat in the morning meant setting off the fire alarm.

There are lots of "strangers" wandering around campus and walking through the portable area. However, if you're in the building, that usually means that you went through the office first, and someone knows you're there. This means that now, my students will be a whole lot safer going to the restroom. In the portables, the restroom is a trailer with 3 doors that open to the outside. Any one of the people wandering through could be hanging out in either of the kid restrooms at any time.

School Eve

2011-08-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

What do teachers think about the night before school starts? I don't know about everyone else, but I can tell you what I think about every year.

I worry that I won't get to sleep. I fervently hope that no one will throw up or wet themselves because they were too shy to say something. Yes, I teach fourth grade, and yes, it's happened (the latter). Just as kids worry if their teacher is nice or will like them, I worry about the same thing.

Am I ready? Will I have everything I need? Will everything go smoothly? Will I remember to not talk too fast? Will I adjust to being "inside" finally, after all those years in trailers? (Well, only four years, but it seems like a long time.)

Will I remember my lunch? Will the Promethean Board work without a hitch? Will I get everything done? Will I end up having not enough to do? (I seriously doubt that one!) Will there be anyone who's new to the school? Will my class be nice to the Exceptional Ed students on Thursday and Friday? Who has what special needs? Who will show up without having had breakfast? Who is afraid? What if I forget to bring or do something?

I have to remember that incoming fourth graders are pretty much third graders, not children who are in the same spot as my last class was on the last day of school!

I hope it's a good year! Keep us in your thoughts!

Ready for Monday!

2011-08-12T16:12:00.000-07:00

School starts on Monday, August 15th for us. I couldn't put much on the actual walls, because they're going to be painted still. The two red places next to the Promethean Board are just paper taped up to cover up the ghastly spot where the bulletin board or chalkboard used to be.

Our school is in a very transitional neighborhood. Every year I make stuff with names on it, and 7-8 students don't show up, but a bunch of different ones do, and I quickly run out. This year, the desks just say boy or girl. When students arrive, they can choose (visitors today have their spots picked out). Between the students and I, we'll put their names on their desks, mailboxes, cards, folders, notebooks, etc.

The two green bins have recess balls and jump ropes. The circular things are hula hoops. The last week of school last year, I had my class make "Welcome to Fourth Grade" signs for the incoming class. The blue baskets with the empty bottom shelf are for SFA (reading). We don't start that for two weeks. Each basket is for one group, and the bottom shelf will be for the SFA book bucket.

A friend of mine gave me the teapot, which has cats on it. It combines two things I love! I do still have to get a couple of lesson plans done, and I have to post the language objectives. Otherwise, I'm good to go!

Monday Resource: Journals

2011-07-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

No! Come back here! This is some cool stuff!

First of all, as I said in a previous post, I was going to look for some journal prompts that I can use with my students when I can't think of anything else and neither can they. But what I really wanted, especially in light of recent conversations on Google+, were more creative journal ideas. I wanted things I might think are cool or interesting or feasible, but that I hadn't thought of myself, in spite of my humble brilliance. (It took three tries to get the wording right in my search. So much for humble brilliance.)

I collected a range of ideas because you are a range of people.

Our friends at Ranger Rick had some great ideas, including a moon journal, etc. This particular link is for a nature journal. Whether or not it would work for a classroom teacher would depend on if there is any nature around, but it seemed like something homeschoolers and parents who still have some summer vacation left might like.

This second link I only included for the links at the bottom. If you scroll down, though, you'll find journaling links geared more toward teens and adults.

Jennifer Cummings' creative journaling page has more creative prompts, and not all of them involve writing. One of my favorites was number 5: "What is the worst book you have ever read, and why was it horrible? Why did you read it?" How often, during their schooling, are children asked about their favorite book? It's a nice change to write about one you strongly disliked!

TeacherVision's page has a zillion links. Really. These include different types of journaling as well as topics. This page seems to cover a whole range of grade levels and ages, including adults.

This next link is where I initially got the idea to look for nature journals. It includes journals for adult learners as well.

Finally, there is Notebooking, which includes a wide variety of free pages. Some of these can be used for journaling, and there are pages for various forms of religious/spiritual journaling as well.

You'll note that I try to include only practical links in my Monday Resources. While a theoretical link may appear, it's only when there is practical information somewhere on the page. In today's case, either you like journals or you don't. You either want to try it yourself or with your students, or you don't. If I were going to try to actually sell you on an idea, it'd be the idea that Bret Favre needs to retire. Permanently. Really. Maybe I should journal about that.

:-(

2011-07-24T13:48:00.003-07:00

Rest in peace, Connor.

obituary

Monday Resource: Blogging With Students

2011-07-19T19:31:00.000-07:00

Good evening! As you know, I try to bring you a weekly resource that you may find helpful in educating your students or children. My first thought for this week was to present some journal prompt sites, since that's something I'm often looking for during the school year. However, my love of technology (I'm having a great time on Google+ this week) and my own experiences with blogging (and trying to blog with my students) instead inspired me to seek out information on blogging with students.

I got my initial links here, in case you're wondering. Now, last year I created one class blog, and put on it the work of individual students. However, I discovered today a better plan: kidblog.org. I have set up an account, and when I get my class list, I can give each student his or her own blog within that account.

I apologize in advance for the links. It looks like all of the links beyond this point all go to the same place. I strongly recommend clicking on tabs!!

Here are some sample blogs (of real students) using that blogging platform (Student Blog Examples is the last tab). That awesome site includes a video tutorial on how to set up those blogs (click on Setting Up A Blog, and then the second link from the left beneath that tab). Greta Sandler, the awesome author of that whole resource section, has everything you need (click on the various tabs for subheadings), including setting up a blog, internet safety, etc.

My favorite part was her great introductory activity under setting up a blog: Learning to Blog Using Paper (again, under Setting Up A Blog).

Feel free to check out the other Google links as well! Please let me know which you liked best. I hope you enjoy blogging with your students!

Monday Resource: Keyboarding

2011-07-12T21:28:00.000-07:00

This topic has come up in conversations at my school and perhaps at yours as well. There are many people who believe that it is only necessary to be able to hunt and peck on a keyboard, just as there are many who believe that being able to print is sufficient. I'm not really going to get into that debate, although I will suggest that at some points students will be in high school or college, and the quicker they can type their 5-page papers, the happier they'll be. I'll also say that I absolutely hated typing class in both 8th grade and business college.

Luckily, there are plenty of web sites that teach typing, and I'm sure most of them try to make it fun. A simple search of keyboarding for kids brings up a list of web sites. My own 4th grade students liked Dance Mat Typing, but it requires flash and is really more suited for children who are at home, as opposed to those competing with an entire school for access to limited computer bandwidth. The site is produced by BBC, but my students enjoyed listening to the accent.

Learning Games for Kids has a number of different keyboarding games. For example, Homekey Kenneys has a sort of whack-a-mole concept in which the player types a homerow key to eliminate the little guys.

I have only looked for tutorials with QWERTY keyboards, but I'm sure there must be other types out there as well.

If you have another keyboarding site you like, please leave a note in the comments! Thanks!

Thursday's Teacher In The News: Larry Brookhart

2011-07-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

Originally, the Thursday Teacher spot was going to highlight a teacher's blog. The thing is, though, that there are huge numbers of awesome teachers but not huge numbers of blogs. There are also other web sites that collate those blogs. You can click here to find teacher blogs, because I do want you to have access to them.

Instead, this space on Thursdays will be devoted to teachers in the news. Teachers and other readers don't often have the time or inclination to be searching the internet for such information when they have so many other things to do. Nevertheless, there are a lot of cool people out there doing a lot of cool things. I hope to introduce you to some of them!

Our first Teacher in the News is Larry Brookhart, an elementary school teacher on Cape Cod. As the article shows, he and Tom Leach created an observatory and classroom out of a storage room. This project doesn't just benefit the students at the Harwich Elementary School; local residents have enjoyed looking through the powerful telescopes as well.

Please read the article, and as always, feel free to leave comments below (including ideas for other teachers in the news). Thanks!

Monday Resource: Graphic Organizers

2011-07-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth of July! It's summer, that time of year when I bookmark sites so that I can find them when school starts and I don't have a lot of time to be hunting around. So today begins our first Monday Resource. I hope you find it helpful!

The one thing I spend the most time doing research on is finding graphic organizers. I am not the type of person to decide that one version of a story map, a spider web, and a Venn diagram will meet all of my needs and be the perfect fit for all of my students. I am extremely aware of the fact that there are different sorts of thinkers with different needs. For example, I am a linear thinker. That means that things like lists and the Cornell Notes template are perfect for me. But they're not for everyone.

Imagine my delight when I found the graphic organizers at Freeology.com. They have pages and pages of free, downloadable (and printable) graphic organizers. According to the sidebar, they have numerous other resources as well. The wide variety of graphic organizers makes this site's materials useful for any age, including college students. Students in any setting can download any of these themselves to meet their own study needs.

The sidebar also shows journal topics, which are divided into categories including Creative Response and Values.

Please leave a note in the comments below if you found a particular graphic organizer you liked, a particular resource from Freeology.com, or you have links to share for other graphic organizer sites that you like!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Plan, v.1

2011-07-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

I am participating in A Round of Words in 80 Days, and one of my goals is to create a written plan for each of my blogs.

This blog is the least used of my "blogging" blogs (we won't count the tons of WordPress blogs that I have whose original intents are long forgotten!). My other two blogs are Pawny's Pen for writings, and the somewhat-abandoned Desert Duck, for boring life stuff.

I think my original intent of this blog was to write about teaching, share ideas, talk about my own philosophies, etc. I find that talking about what I think makes me think about what I do. Metacognition stuff. I also know that I have looked for teacher blogs myself. I look for ideas, of course, but I also want to "visit with" other teachers. What are they doing? Thinking? What works? What are their ups and downs? Because the teachers in Snarkyville are so isolated from each other (and we don't want to talk about school stuff on FB, there's no real professional support.

At the same time, I want a blog that's interactive. I want teachers and parents and other readers to have an avenue to communicate and to be glad they stopped by. I want a blog with resources. I appreciate resources aimed at classroom teachers as well as those aimed at homeschoolers, and have used both. But I hate using search engines because I often end up with links to pay sites.

So, keeping in mine what I do with my other blogs or want to do, I will start with this rough draft plan:

Mondays I will provide information about one teacher resource site. If it's a pay site, or pay with some free stuff, I'll say so. I can do these ahead of time and schedule their posting. This will provide weekly information, especially for new teachers or teachers new to the web.

Thursdays I would like to visit web sites by teachers (just as I have my Wednesday Visit on Pawny's Pen). I remember some really awesome sites, even if they didn't match the grade level I taught. But I would like to share what other teachers out there are doing.

Weekends (Saturday or Sunday), I'll write about my own teaching journey -- my own news from Snarkyville.

My question to you: If you were a teacher, parent, or other visitor to this site, what sort of content and features would you be looking for?

Greetings to Race to 200 Participants!

2011-03-08T14:50:00.001-07:00

My writing blog is here at Pawny's Pen. Thank you for stopping by! I had forgotten to update Snarkyville, but I will try to get to it as soon as possible.

Bonding

2011-02-06T14:27:00.001-07:00

What bonds your class together? Families do certain things together that create fond memories and tighten the family ties. These shared experiences are important, and I maintain that they are just as important for a classroom.

When I taught in Wisconsin, I was the only third grade teacher in my small school. If you were there for third grade, you had me -- and you made gecko houses. Every child had a shoe box and a brightly colored rubber gecko. Nothing went to waste in that classroom. The plastic ring from a roll of tape, or the cardboard box from the new roll -- these went into gecko houses. A mother brought us rug samples and books of wallpaper samples. A scrap of wrapping paper made a great television set. Students created elaborate systems for their geckos to safely enter and exit their gecko houses; trap doors and ladders that could be pulled in with a string were very popular.

Younger siblings looked forward to coming to third grade and getting to make their own gecko house, and students graduating from the school at the end of eighth grade still had theirs and still spoke fondly of that experience. Students with limited social skills were able to share in an experience with their peers, even if the limits of their abilities were simply sitting next to another student while they worked on their houses. They didn't mind rainy day recesses or when the weather was too cold (below zero) to go out; it meant they had gecko time.

My current school has no opportunities for creativity, and so unifying experiences are different from those at a school whose mission statement includes educating the whole child. But one shared experience we have had this year is the joy of a purple book.

It's safe to say that a number of my students only read under duress. They are below reading level, and so the books for their reading level (when they leave for reading class) don't match their interest or emotional level. Since I don't teach my homeroom for reading, it's hard to find a time to get them hooked on any book series, such as Magic Tree House. However, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has been very popular, even with the low readers.

Therefore, when the latest one came out, two students were able to buy a copy from book orders. I am just as interested in the series, so I got one at the school book fair. When I was finished reading it, I had every interested student put his or her name on a slip of paper, and I drew a name. Each student had two weeks to read it. As the others who had a copy finished theirs, they volunteered to draw names and share their copy as well. As a class, we inhaled that book with the fervor you would associate with the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Everyone in our class has read at least part of the book. It is something we enjoyed (to varying degrees), and a shared frame of reference. It is something I can use as an example, and students know what I'm talking about.

Those of you who teach reading to your own class, and those of you at middle class schools may not quite understand this. My school has no specials, per se. There is no art. We had OMA in the past, which shrinks to a smaller and smaller amount of time. The OMA teacher has not yet set foot in our classroom this year. We will probably get her in March or April -- and school ends in May. We have a beautiful library that was redone by Target volunteers. We get to check out books maybe once a month, because we are on a bi-weekly schedule, but our time is always pushed back because of a library presentation: Dia de los Muertos, Dr. King, Chinese New Year, things that are not unimportant but prevent the students from checking out books. We have no PE. Instead, we have what is euphemistically called "extended recess," which means the teachers (who are not PE professionals) take the kids outside with balls and jump ropes. There is one computer in my classroom. There are some in the library, which we have as limited access to as we do the books.

Thus, we don't have a lot of shared experiences that involve fun or pleasure. They will certainly not look back at this year and say "Remember in fourth grade, when we did math?" But they will remember drawing names for this book. They will remember that this was something we all did together, and next year when they're divided among the fifth grade teachers, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid will help them connect with their new fellow students.

I do miss the gecko boxes, though.

Age

2011-02-05T10:56:00.001-07:00

I'm often torn between expanding my students' worlds and maintaining a professional distance. For most of my educational career, I knew very little about my teachers aside from their names. I knew my Kindergarten teacher (Mrs. Mullen) had a husband because she was pregnant (this was in 1963-1964). I knew my 8th grade science teacher (Mr. Benson) had a wife and children because some of the girls babysat for him. I knew the first names of a handful of teachers over the years, at the most. There was generally a wall, mine field, and fence with barbed wire between students and teachers when I was growing up.

It was the same way with all adults, though. My aunts and uncles and grandparents were mostly people who associated with my parents. Cousins were for the kids. I have fond memories, but my aunts and uncles certainly never played with me or listened to me in any way related to my relationships with my nieces and nephew.

Therefore, in my classroom, I often have to decide for myself where my own line is drawn. I don't discuss things like the fact that I'm single, anything about my marriage from years ago, or anything personal of that nature. My students know about my two cats. The one thing that I have shared with them recently (at this last school) is my age. I'm 53.

I don't look like anyone's preconceived notion of 53, nor do I act like it. I weigh more than I did when I was young and smoking, and I'm more afraid of heights and more cowardly at amusement parks than I was when I was younger. Otherwise, there's not much that I can't do, except for whatever I couldn't do before.

I think this is why I let my students know how old I am. I want them to know that "old" is a relative concept. I want them to know that they get to choose how they age. When people talk to them about someone who's "old" -- and younger than I am, I want them to remember and point out that I was 53 and I am certainly not tinting my hair lavendar or sitting in a nursing home playing BINGO. We like some of the same movies, TV shows, singers, and jokes. We have been through tragedy together, celebrated together, and complain together. We enjoy Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and dragons. When we do our Tuesday walk/run, I'm right there doing it with them, not watching from the side.

When I began teaching (and was much younger), there was no way I would have told my students my age. It was none of their business. Even now, I let them know that it's not polite to ask a woman her age, because most women are taught by society to be very sensitive about their age. As they watch their mothers panic about turning thirty, they can look at me and see that it is something their mothers will get over. They, too, will discover that it really is just a number.

Attendance

2011-02-04T20:24:00.001-07:00

I began teaching professionally in 1999. I have had a lot of time to think about what factors contribute to and interfere with student success. A huge problem at my school, and in my classroom, is attendance. More to the point, the problem is the lack of attendance. For example, I have a student who has been absent six times and late six times in the past month. Last quarter she was tardy 22 times.

Our school district web site breaks down attendance data. Of the absences this school year for my school, 25% are unexcused absences (parents neither call in nor send a note), and an additional 10% are due to planned family trips. In fact, you can count on at least 5-6 students absent the day before and after a holiday, as if we don't teach on those days.

A typical school day in fourth grade can include adding fractions with unlike denominators; making a complete circuit with a battery, battery holder, bulb, and wires; learning the prefixes re- and un-; learning how to answer Right There Questions (including the concept that questions asking Who aren't looking for Because answers but rather the name of a character or person); learning to write a persuasive essay from a graphic organizer, and a trip to the school library to return and check out books. That's a lot to miss in one day. Missing many days, being a part-time elementary student -- these are things that make it impossible to learn and impossible to pass high-stakes tests.

Please don't think I'm a fan of high-stakes tests. I'm not. They're specifically written to create a bell curve, which means they're specifically written so that half of the students fail. But my job depends on my students passing; if they don't, I'm the one who's considered the failure, not the people who keep them out of school so the kids can do laundry or babysit siblings or take their monthly or semi-monthly vacation. Why does a child need to miss an entire day of school because a sibling has a morning dentist appointment?

It is especially critical that my students show up every day ready to learn because most of them weren't prepared for fourth grade to begin with. Our district and state believe in social promotion. I have students who aren't proficient in addition and subtraction. Most of my class entered fourth grade unable to multiply or divide, and reading below grade level. They need to be at school for every teachable moment, so that they can get caught up. Staying home should be reserved for a very uncomfortable personal illness, and the missed work should be made up so that the student doesn't fall behind.

Welcome to the Snarkyville News

2011-02-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

What is Snarkyville, you ask? Well, I teach at a rather large elementary school. The lucky ones work inside the building. They have central heat and indoor plumbing. They hang things on hall walls and on doors. They get a whole lot less exercise than those of us in Snarkyville.

The rest of us are outside in Snarkeyville, which is a collection of "portables." Yes, I know that portable is an adjective, and I spent my first year wanting to constantly ask "portable what?" Each portable is one or two classrooms. Mine is one. We have a portable for restrooms. Yesterday there was a coating of ice in the toilets and icicles in the sink instead of running water. Using the restroom, going to the cafeteria, rare trips to the library -- these all involve going outside and taking a hike. We have two units that serve as both heaters and coolers. Some days they serve both functions. Some days they just make noise. If you want the room tolerable before the kids arrive, you need to get to school early, turn the units on, and hope for the best.

We have no halls; our "hall walls" are the outside walls of the portables, and hanging things on them is foolish at best. The last time I decorated my door, someone tried to burn the door down overnight. It's a different world in Snarkyville!

My classroom:

Icicle in the portables' restroom sink:

My burned door that greeted me one morning when I arrived. It had been decorated when I left.