Saturday, August 20, 2016

Classroom Tour of My New Seating


I love my classroom when it's empty and freshly waxed!  It makes me want to run around and twirl it's so shiny and clean! There are SO many possibilities that have been pinned on Pinterest! I was especially excited this summer when I came in because I had big plans for new seating...flexible seating. I had been seeing "brain friendly", "flexible seating",  "classroom cribs", and more on blogs and Pinterest for a couple of years and had to part of it! My teacher friend, who is also converting her room, paved the way for me by doing the asking of the principal! I had an exciting summer on craigslist wheeling and dealing. 






So welcome to my classroom tour! This post is part of a blogging challenge for August, Blaugust. Go take a look at the other bloggers taking on the Blaugust challenge!

This is me brainstorming!
The first idea I had came when I made 4,700 laps around my room during testing in the spring! I had seen a bar height table with a bench in front. I played around with my cubbies and then had my professional husband turn it into a great corner of bar seating.





After that, I tried to think of all the ways my kids would want to sit. How they DID sit even with desks as their only option. They would stand by the counter, sit on the hard floor by the window, and huddle up with another group. As I was scouring craigslist, I kept this in mind as I looked for seating that would accommodate all these different preferences.







The red booth from Papa John's is my fave place to sit. I can't wait to see where the kids choose to sit. It is going to be an exciting year watching them collaborate and problem solve in a comfy, mathy classroom!

















Happy 2016-2017 School Year! I wish you the best one ever!


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Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Presenting to Big People

This month, I am participating in Blaugust, a blog challenge from one of my faves! My goal is to blog once a week, which is a huge jump from once a month {some months!}. Go take a look at the other bloggers taking on the Blaugust challenge!


I was asked to fill in for a teacher who had to drop out of presenting Math Tech Tools for Secondary. {I have never presented before.} The teacher who asked me this huge thing was my daughter's teacher this year and we LOVED her so I couldn't say no! I have never been at ease speaking to big people. I still get nervous at Open House! And then tech?! I am interactive notebooks with markers and glue and colored paper...not techy! But DESMOS is! So I showed off the MTBoS and a few of my faves. Function Carnival and Marbleslides are my go to and students love playing them. It's funny because the big people I was presenting to got just as in to it as my kids do! Success! 

The other awesome thing that came from this {and the reason for this post} is a new first days activity. New for me, at least, and I hope you can use it too! I helped my daughter's teacher with her session, Student Centered Classroom, because we shared lots during the school year. This first days activity is the reason I reached out to her. My daughter came home talking about how awesome it was and that her math teacher is just like me. So I had to know all about this super awesome activity and the teacher that went with it!

Speak-Mime-Draw

Each group of 3 is given a folder and a privacy screen (poster board folded in thirds). Inside the folder is a drawing and white paper. 

Example of a drawing.


The 3 roles are speaker, mime, and artist. The privacy screen is put in front of the mime so that the other 2 cannot see the folder with the drawing. The mime is also hidden from the artist. 

Clipart Sources


The first student mimes to the second. That student tells the artist what to draw. The speaker is the only one allowed to talk! Once they think they have it, they can all look at the drawing and check. If there is time, they can get another drawing and trade roles to do it again. 

I was glad I was able to facilitate this with the the big people we presented to before I tried it in my classroom. They really got into it so I think my students are going to love it! 

Here are 5 drawings to get you started!
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