Clock Crazy!

Okay, so I'm not really crazy about clocks. It just drives me crazy that many upper elementary students (and even high school according to my 16 year old son) can't read clocks! This is something I've seen get progressively worse each year. I'm not blaming the previous teachers of these kiddos, but rather the fact that its easier to read a digital clock. And let's face it, most kiddos now have cell phones or ipods and don't wear watches. My students will instinctively look at the digital time on the computers or microwave before trying to figure out the time on the analog clock in the front of the room. Because of this little set back, students really struggle with calculating elapsed time.

So, how do I fix this?!?!

Here's my plan:  

1. Elapsed Time Videos. We actually did them this year and it was such fun and a great learning opportunity! Here's a link to watch if you're interested. I stole borrowed this idea from my friend Cara over at Teaching My Calling. 

2. Wear Watches! I know how I learned to tell time--by constantly looking at my watch. So, instead of buying my kids water bottles at the beginning of the year, I plan to hit the Dollar Tree this summer and rack up on analog watches for the kiddos. The plan is to give them one bonus point on their math test for each day they wear their watch. I know this doesn't force them to actually use it, but if they're wearing it, chances are they'll use it.

3. Cover the microwave clock. I realize they could still look at the computer digital times, but those are tiny and many of the kiddos can't make them out. If they have to work to read the digital clock, maybe its easier just to look at their spiffy new watches!

4. Make time activities a part of each day. I plan to randomly call out questions such as "How many minutes until PE?" and "What time will ___ end if we have ___ minutes left?" I want to make a game out of it so it will be exciting, but I also want the kids to realize that this is a real world life skill.

Well, there you have it...my take on how to hopefully stop some of the clock craziness, at least in my little corner of the world. Do you have this issue where you teach? What are some ideas you used (or plan to use)? I'd love to hear them!

Guided Math Book Study

Have you heard about the Guided Math book study? I'm linking up with Brenda, over at Primary Inspired to read, discuss, and share our ideas as we read the book. I've already read it once, but I'm really excited to go through it with other people. I can't wait to see what others have to say as we read!

Thoughts and Questions I had while reading Chapter 1:

•  On page 16 she writes, "Lack of conceptual understanding handicaps many students as they face more difficult math challenges in the upper grades." Can I just add a few exclamation points to the end of that statement?!!!!! As a 4th grade teacher, I see this all the time. For example, more and more students each year are unable to calculate elapsed time. Why? They don't know how to read the clock...or even which hand is which! I'm hoping to find some great ideas for building their conceptual understanding as we go through this book.
• Exactly what is an "environment of numeracy" (pg 19)? Is that like a print-rich classroom, only math-rich? What all does the term "numeracy" include?
• I love, love, LOVE the Number of the Day Chart idea for Morning Math Warm-ups. I think it really stretches the kiddos' thinking! I actually incorporated that a little this past year, but only a few times. I definitely want to do this as a routine. 
• Individual Conferences: While I love to conference with my kiddos, I worry that I won't make time for it as much as I should. I'm really going to try and implement this next year and might even create a Google Form like I did for reading conferences to keep track of everything. 
• Probably my favorite take from this chapter is on the bottom of page 24: "It is often easier for teachers to begin with a few of the components and gradually add more." I really need to remember this. I'm one of those that tends to jump in head first and try to do it all! 

Want to join in? Stop by Primary Inspired and see what others have to say!

Blog Social Buttons

I was recently looking for some cute social buttons, when I realized that I could probably make what I wanted to use. So I did! Here are the sets I made if you're interested. Just right click and download them to your computer. If you'd like to know how to use them as your social buttons, check out this post I recently wrote: How to Add Custom Social Buttons to Blogger.

Feel free to modify them if you wish. The size is 75x75 so you may want to make them smaller. I used the font Culz MT for lettering and the flower is my favicon (from LeeLou Blogs). 

For more great ideas, check out the other Monday Made It Posts at 4th Grade Frolics:

How to Add Custom Social Buttons to Blogger

Have you seen those adorable social buttons that have been popping up on  blogs lately? Well, I just had to have them because they're soooo cute! Plus, I didn't really like having all of the different "follow me on..." widgets on the side of my blog. Wondering how to do it?

Step 1: Find your buttons. You can make them, or do a search and save the ones you like. I made mine and will be posting various versions of them for you on tomorrow's Made It Monday post.

Step 2: Upload your buttons to photobucket. Make sure that you've marked your album "Public".

Step 3: In your Blogger Dashboard, go to Layout and add a gadget. Choose HTML/Java Script as the gadget type.

Step 4: In your PhotoBucket account, hover over the first icon you want to use and click on the HTML code link to copy it. Paste this into the Blogger gadget box. Repeat this procedure for the other buttons. They all go in the same box.

Step 5: Click "Rich Text" and you should see your buttons. Highlight the first button and use the third icon to create a link. Repeat until you've added all of your links.
    *Note: your email link is mailto:youremailaddress

 

Step 6: Save your widget and place it where you want it on your page. Preview your blog, then save the changes. You're done!

Creating a Google Form

A few days ago I posted an idea for using Google Forms to keep track of your anecdotal reading records. I can't wait to use this next year! Here is a step by step guide to creating your form:

Step 1: Log in to your Google Account and click "Documents"

Step 2: Click "Create" and choose Form.

Step 3: Give your form a title and description and create your first question. My question says "What is your favorite genre?" I chose "text" as the answer type, so people (or I) can type in answers. 

Step 4: Hover over the sample 2 question and click on the edit button. When you do this, you will see the same question editing set up as above. You can then create another question.

Step 5: You can also add questions by clicking +Add Item in the upper left corner. Add as many questions as you would like, in as many varieties as you would like. 

*Note: You may want to play with the different question types. I used the "Choose from a list" option for my drop-down menu questions. You can add as many or as few options as you'd like. You may also want to leave the first option blank. I did this on my reading records form because I noticed that in the resulting spreadsheet whatever is in the first box is recorded, whether or not I actually choose that option. Plus, I like how it looks on the form for the dropdown box to be empty until the person chooses one of the options. 

Step 6: Make it Cute! In the upper left corner beside the +Add Item you will see a button labeled "Theme: Plain." Click this button and choose from one of the themes provided for your form. When you find one you click, click on it and you will see a preview of your form. Click Apply. 

Step 7: You're done, but how do you access it? There are several ways to do this, but what I did is use the "Email this form" button at the top right of the page, and emailed myself the link. Once the link is open in your browser (iPad or PC) you can save it to your desktop for easy access. 

Step 8: Where's the data? You can access your data by either using the "See Responses" button in the upper right corner, or by clicking on the title of the form in your list of Google Docs. 

Do you used Google forms or other Google docs in the classroom? I look forward to hearing how you use them, or plan to use them. Please let me know if you have any problems and I'll help out. 

New Look!

Think Share Teach has a new look thanks to LeeLou Blogs! I love those designs. They're adorable, and FREE! I still have a few things to tweak, such as my favicon, blog button, and social buttons, but I think I like the change. It's bright and cheery and just makes me happy.

Why I Left the Daily 5 Behind

Yep. I did it. I jumped off the wagon. It wasn't easy because I LOVE Daily 5, but I found that it just wasn't exactly right for my 4th grade students and me with the curriculum we have. Don't get me wrong. I love, love, love Daily 5 and CAFE. I've read the books three times, seen the Sisters twice, developed pages on my class website about it, and totally stalk all things Daily 5 and CAFE. So why move in a different direction? Well...

• While I love the idea of students choosing what they work on, I don't like the idea of me teaching one type of lesson and students practicing something different directly after the lesson. 
• I like the idea of minilessons, but there's the practice issue again...I tend to lean toward the "I do, We do, Y'all do, You do" lesson structure. If students are choosing what to do, they may not be practicing the strategy or skill I've just taught. Furthermore, I'm not able to walk around and work the ones who need the extra help because I'm with a small group. 
• This is not really about Daily 5, but I don't believe that every student needs to receive their instruction in a small group setting. Aren't 80% of students supposed to "get it" in your Tier 1 instruction? So why have I killed myself in the past teaching small groups to 100% of the students? I could be way off base here, but I truly believe that the small group time should be used to pull strategy groups for the students who need them. 
• I really like having Read to Self at a separate time. The atmosphere in my room is more calm and peaceful and more conducive to concentration. I've found that my small group instruction is a distraction for the ones who may have chosen read to self during that round. For me, I've found that conferring one on one with the students during this time is highly beneficial (maybe more than a small group). It also gives me a set time to actually conduct the conferences. (Check out this post about using Google Forms for keeping up with the conference records). 
• With small chunks of whole group instruction spread throughout the LA block there isn't time to incorporate the "fun" activities...vocabulary headbands, those beach ball story structure games, carousel strategies for answering or responding to questions, etc...

So, it is with a sad but hopeful heart that I am jumping off my beloved Daily 5 band wagon. I still love it! I still believe in the power of student choice and will incorporate that in other ways. I still think it is FABULOUS for lower grades that have much more time for LA each day. And of course, I'll take many, many of the Sisters' ideas and still use them (CAFE, strategy groups, 10 steps to teaching independence, etc...). 

But from now on, I'll stick with a modified Four Blocks framework, (done my own way of course). Stay tuned to see exactly what I tried this year and how I'll structure my LA block for next year. 

What Worked...A Look Back

The end of the school year is a time that we tend to look back and think about what seemed to work for us and what to do differently next year. Here are a few of the things I want to remember for next year:

What Worked:

Daily Facts Practice: I know, I know, I should've been doing it all along, but let's get real--school days are PACKED full of curriculum. In previous years, I've skipped fact practice during math occasionally because of time restraints. Not this year. I made it a point to spend 5-10 minutes every single day reviewing facts (usually multiplication), and boy did I see a difference! No matter what math program we use, I will definitely continue to do that short, daily practice. 

Separate Time for Read to Self: Every year I try to some how fit in Read to Self as one of the students' choices while I meet with groups, but I always go back to scheduling it all by itself. It just works better for my students and me. There are no distractions because everyone is reading to themselves at the same time. It also gives me a set time to do reading conferences, which quite honestly get pushed to the side if I don't set this time aside. 

Science and Alabama History First Thing in the Morning: Please don't get me wrong. I know we've been told that reading should be first thing, but...in my class we have one hour between arrival and PE. Having the content subjects first ensured that I would actually teach them each day. We've all done it, right? Skipped one of them because of any one of numerous reasons time constraints? This is probably the first year since ARI (Alabama Reading Initiative) implementation that I feel like a did an awesome job in science in social studies.

Went Back to a Four Blocks Literacy Format: I've struggled for four years with trying to implement the Scott Foresman reading series as it is written (and still have students pass the tests). I've used the Daily 5 Framework to structure my LA block, but I worried that my students weren't getting enough practice with specific skills and strategies. After Christmas I started gradually re-implementing the Four Blocks framework, and it really worked for us (more about that in an up-coming post). 

Well, that's all for now. Within the next few days I'll dig in to the scary part--the stuff that didn't work! How about you? What will you plan to do again next year?

Give Your Anecdotal Records a Face Lift with Google Forms

Okay, I know it's not Monday, but I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics: Monday Made It! linky party to share this awesome tool I just made. I couldn't wait until Monday to share!

Do you take anecdotal notes when conferencing with kiddos? Looking for a way to organize them and really be able to use your notes to drive your instruction? Google Forms is the answer for you. I love to conference with my kiddos during Self-Selected Reading time. What I DON"T love are the records and notes that I scribble down in my horrendous  messy chicken scratch. In the past, I've kept this giant notebook with a tab for each student. Behind each tab was a set of conference sheets that I used to write notes during our reading conferences. Sounds great, right? It was, until I tried to start pulling data for skill-based groups. Plus, all of that paper...!

Enter this fabulous idea for tracking data---Google Forms! 

I created a Google Form, emailed it to myself, then opened it on my iPad. I then saved the link to the form on my iPad home screen so that I can access the form at a touch. Here's what the actual form looks like:

So, now instead of calling the kiddo to the table where my giant notebook resides or lugging my notebook all over the classroom, I can easily go to the student with my iPad and jot notes into my form. I can also easily access the data through the spreadsheet on my computer. Here's a sample I made:

Another great feature about using the Google Form is that you can click on Form, then choose Show Summary of Responses, and there are great graphs which summarize your data!


I found this amazing idea on Karyn's Doing the Daily Five blog. (Click here for her original post). Thanks, Karyn! I can't wait to try it out next year!

If you'd like to see the actual form, you can click HERE. 

For a better look at my spreadsheet, click HERE.