A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas April 18, 2013

A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas.

 

On April 10th, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were released as a final draft. Although they are still finishing the links to the CCSS, you can see the 3 dimension frameworks that are in place k-12.

I think it will be good to have these common standards, but now we have too figure out where to begin digging into them! I suppose we start by looking at them . . . So click on the link above to dig in!

Does anyone have suggestions for good professional development or resources to help us get started with this?

Monday Made It: Better Late Than Never December 10, 2012

I’ve been working so hard making things, that I haven’t had time to post them! So I’m going to do an all-in-one pinterest show! I’ll try to make sure I give credit to where all my ideas came from . . .

My hallway display–scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, and the use of my cricut! (Click here and here for the pinterest-inspired posts)

My parking lot–I love it! It really cuts down on random questions! (Click here and here for the pinterest-inspired posts)

Flipped labels–they go so well with my classroom! (click here to find them)

  

I got the rods and clips from ikea for $2 each! (Click here for pinterest-inspired post)

Clipboard refurbished with duct tape! (click here for the inspiration for this project)

Mini clipboards made with chipboard and a binder clip! (click here for directions)

The highlighter cup–from the dollar bin at target & click here for the sign

Our “scoreboard” which we use for transitions– made with smiley faces from melonheadz illustrating and my cricut (from whole-brain teaching)

Personalized binder clips–they really help keep me organized! (click here for the pinterest-inspired post)

These have worked out great! Click here for directions.

These have come in very handy when kids turn in their lunch money! (Click here for the pinterest-inspired post)

Here are a few of my own ideas that have come to life . . .

Happy DIY decorating!!

For the Holidays December 9, 2012

We are discussing the 21st century skill of social responsibility by spreading kindness “elfing” people!

This time of year, kids tend to focus more on what THEY hope to receive rather than on what they are giving (wait–isn’t that backwards?!), so I decided to make it a teachable moment. I started by showing my 2nd graders a clip from the movie “Arthur Christmas” on wingclips.com.

“Arthur Christmas” movie clip

We discussed how elves help Santa because Santa really couldn’t do it on his own. Then I told the students that Santa asked me to recruit some helpers (because all teachers and parents know Santa–where else would he get the info for his naughty and nice list?), and he asked me to make them honorary elves to help spread holiday cheer through random acts of kindness. They were so excited to be part of the magic of spreading kindness! We discussed what elves do, and we generated some ideas about how we can spread kindness in our own school community. We also discussed that the elves and Santa work hard to stay unnoticed when they are giving gifts or spreading kindness. They don’t say, “Hey! Look at me! I’m doing something kind, so you should say thank you or do something kind for me!” They don’t give so that they will get something back; they just want to spread kindness, so that is what we should do too.

Next I started a countdown to winter break by putting a random act of kindness inside a sealed envelope for each day until winter break. We open one each day and pick a few students to complete the act of kindness. They usually complete their act of kindness during recess, and being sneaky so no one knows who is doing it is a bonus! They love being sneaky! Here are some examples of the acts of kindness we are doing:

We are hoping our acts of kindness will spread throughout the school, which is why we are leaving a note that says, “You’ve been elfed! Pass it on . . .” It has been a big hit so far, and students are taking initiative to spread their own random acts of kindness at school, at home–everywhere!

If your students could use a little motivation to get in the spirit of giving, you can pick up your own copy of “for the holidays” at my Teachers Notebook store by clicking here.

I also like to give small gifts to the people who work behind the scenes and keep our school and our classroom running, but I am on a tighter budget than usual this year (and I’m sure I’m not alone!). Thanks to the creative team at Paper Petals, I am giving unique, hand-made gifts for under $5 each!

For my tea-riffic parent helpers . . .

(tea bag included inside) $2.50 each

The royal treatment for our hardworking aides . . .

(soft fuzzy socks) $5 each

A little bit of sunshine for our wonderful secretaries . . .

(customized buckets holding pretty pens) $4 each

And a well deserved adult treat for our principal!

(bottle of wine not included–that was from a great groupon deal!) Gift tag only $2

I hope you are inspired “for the holidays . . .”

Help Me Win A Grant by Voting Now! July 26, 2012

Please help me win a grant by voting for my idea on WeAreTeachers!

I am participating in a contest sponsored by ING and an online community called WeAreTeachers.

I submitted a teaching idea answering the question: What are your ideas for teaching students about personal finance and financial literacy?

The 5 teachers with the most votes win an iPod Touch and $200 for the classroom!

The recipients are selected through an online voting process. SO — If you have a moment, I’d really appreciate you going online and voting for my idea.

It would really mean a lot to me to have your vote and support!

Just go here and type my first & last name, Emily Stout, into the “Enter keywords” box “by Author.” My project idea is called Kid Town.

Today is the last day to vote! Thank you so much for your help!

Taking a moment

I live just south of Aurora, CO where the theater shooting happened. As I sit in the hospital where many victims were taken after the shooting, I am taking another moment to send my thoughts and prayers to the victims of the mass murder. The victims who were killed, the victims who survived, and the victims who had loved ones affected by this tragedy. As I watch the news coverage and hear people who were there tell their stories, through the horrible shock and disbelief, I also feel pride and belief in the goodness of humanity. Many of the victims who died did so protecting someone they cared about. The survivors I have heard share their stories are grateful to be alive and inspire us with hope for their future. I’m proud to see people from Colorado and people from all over the country pull together to support each other instead of pointing fingers and placing blame in all directions.
My heart hurts for the losses, and I know I’m just one of many out there sending thoughts and prayers.

Monday Made It DIY #3: Discovery Journals and a Color “Wheel” July 17, 2012

I’m a little late this week because we’ve been out of town, but I did make some things before we left! Thanks to Monica at the Schroeder Page, I discovered that office stores can cut composition notebooks in half!

Office Depot only charged me $3 to cut 12 composition notebooks in half (which gave me a total of 24 mini notebooks). Staples wanted to charge me $3 per book!

This is good news because my 2nd graders NEVER use the whole book. They are usually intimidated by the number of pages in the book and the lines that are so much closer together than in 1st grade. Some kids ignore the lines altogether and write all over the place! I’ve had 2nd graders flip to random pages to write things down, and then they never find it again. Needless to say, I’ve learned that 2nd graders need explicit instruction about how to use a composition notebook! So here is how I plan to use these mini notebooks that will be so much more manageable for my 2nd graders.

First, I thought they looked kind of funny cut in half, so I covered them with duct tape. This should make them nice and strong too! (I picked a color that I thought boys and girls would like, but there are a TON of varieties to choose from!)

Walmart had the the cheapest tape that I could find at $3.50(ish) a roll. It is called “Duck Tape,” and it comes in a variety of cool patterns and colors!

Next I made a label for the front and directions for organizing the notebook that I pasted on the inside cover. We will go over how to use our discovery notebooks in class, but I thought a reminder would help! (Click on the picture of the directions to pick up your freebie!)

We use our notebooks to make notes, observations, draw pictures, etc. in all subject areas, so we divide our notebook into different sections. I’ve tried using sticky notes to do this, and it doesn’t even last a week for most students. They get torn off or they stop sticking, so I’m trying something new this year. I’m going to modge podge labels onto foam tabs, and I duct tape the tabs on. I hope these will last all year — I’ll let you know! Has anyone ever tried anything else that lasts?

I did another project for my son that he won’t be able to enjoy for awhile, but at least that gives me plenty of time to put on the finishing touches! I saw a really cool way to display crayons and colors on pinterest, and I knew that would be the perfect addition to my art room! (I am planning on making a section of my art room kid friendly.) I started with gathering buckets for the colors.

I got my buckets from the dollar bin at Target and from amazon.com, but I don’t suggest it! Ikea has galvanized buckets that are MUCH sturdier and cheaper too! I had already bought mine, so it was too late, but I wish I had gone to Ikea first.

Ikea had this REALLY cool lazy susan that I decided to use for the color “wheel.” I spray painted the lazy susan white and each bucket a different color. I am going to modge podge color labels on next. I also put bigger buckets in the middle to hold paint, pens, pencils, etc.  My husband bolted each bucket down, so you can spin it to the color you want! I’m so excited to put it in my art room and let my son use it (someday)!

Monday Made It DIY #2: Organizing My Year and Sensory Boxes July 9, 2012

My personal and professional mantra this year is going to be organization, organization, organization!

With my new little baby at home, I will be spending less time at school and more time at home playing with this little cutie pie!

Unfortunately, I am not very organized by nature–I have to work really hard to stay organized! So I have a few things that I’ve been working on to help me be as efficient as I can. The first thing I started working on to get organized for this upcoming year was a year-long curriculum map that I bought from Dragon Flies in First Grade. Of course I have always made a year-long plan, but it never turns out to be as useful as I need it to be. But this layout is brilliant! I made a few tweaks to the original template to make it work for me:

I’m so excited about this! I really think this will help me stay more focused when planning. The coolest thing is that it is planned out in days and weeks. That means that what we do in the first week of school next year will be similar to this year, so all I have to do is change the dates, make a few adjustments, but it will be basically the same. That will make planning for next year easier too!

Next I needed to update my plan book & add my new curriculum map. I started with dividers. I never seem to have enough! I was looking through what I had at home, but I didn’t have enough tabs that went in order, so I decided to make my own. I got the idea from the Organized Classroom Blog. I just used really heavy cardstock for the 8 1/2 by 11 binder page and cut 3 inch circles out of the same cardstock. Then I cut 2 inch circles out of white cardstock and cut those circles in half. I modge podged it all together including some pretty paper on the front, and I love how they turned out! I’ll never buy dividers again!

I also tried mixing and matching colors, and instead of just pretty paper, I decided to add the standards onto my assessment dividers. Every year I have all this data, and I’m constantly flipping back and forth to figure out which standard each assessment fits, and which standard goes with which grade on the report card. (Since the standards keep changing the district keeps changing our report cards!) But now that we have the CCSS, they won’t be able to change things too much, so I put the standards on the front of the dividers along with my district’s report card language for easy access!

Be sure to check back for more organization updates I’m making to my plan book. I’m planning on making them available in my Teacher’s Notebook store soon! Here’s a preview of the pages I’m creating for a sub binder :

Teacher Mama DIY #2: Sensory Boxes

I can’t seem to stop pinning cool ideas on pinterest to do with my son. Even though he’s not old enough to do many of them yet, I was excited to get started on some projects for him! The teacher in me got so excited when I found sensory boxes from Our World-Wide Classroom. These are SO cool! Because young minds grow and develop best through unstructured play, sensory boxes give them an opportunity to use their imagination. The picture above is a sensory box I made, and the theme was “space.” I used black beans as the filler, and I hid little “space” objects inside. There are marbles (planets), lots of different stars–fabric stars, glass stars, wooden stars, etc. The little koosh balls are astroids, and there are purple and blue pony beads mixed in with the beans to make the milky way. But the coolest things are the Star Wars guys! They were a free download from Toy A Day. I just printed, laminated, and folded. Doesnt it look like fun? Since my son is not big enough to play with it yet, I made the following note and gave it to my 6 year old nephew. It was a big hit!

The best thing about sensory boxes (for me) is having a place for all the little “stuff” to go. Sticking with the organization mantra, one of my home organization projects this summer is cleaning the basement–and the graveyard of stuff that collects there! When I found sensory boxes, I decided to organize a lot of the “stuff” in my art room into themes for sensory boxes. I already have supplies to begin a sensory box for the ocean, the pond, the forest, the arctic, pirates, 4th of July, Christmas, Birthday, Easter, Halloween, and Thanksgiving! I’m excited about the idea that the little toys that my son will undoubtedly collect (from happy meals and birthday parties) will now have a home. We can put them away, then bring them out by putting them in new sensory boxes to keep them novel. I’ve already got a few more sensory boxes in the works to share with some friends. Hopefully by the time my cutie pie is big enough to play with them, we’ll have a good collection started!