Secrets told….my least favorite holiday is Halloween. Always was even when I was little girl, continued with our own two children (thanks mom for making their costumes all those years) and even as a teacher it is the one party I truly dread. I try to be excited for my fifth graders since it is the last time they will have a Harvest Party at school. I do however love the change of seasons especially autumn for so many reasons. I love pumpkins, combines, changing colors in the trees, cooler temperatures, planting bulbs for next year’s garden and most of all the end of October in my classroom.
Excited to see one pumpkin growing in our garden!
Just last week, I told Sarah that I finally am really teaching with a huge smile on my face. I finally checked off those lists that all teachers have to start our year. I’m not going to type the list here, but I finally completed my last round of parent teacher conferences. Then CHECK!! My list is complete. Smiling like a Jack-o-Lantern.
I chose my One Little Word (OLW) in January and now that October is coming to a close. I am proud of myself for sticking with writing my reflection blog on the last days of each month. Just last week, I thought about what I wanted to reflect on for this month, and I thought of pumpkins. Carving out time for something new this year was what I have tried to do this school year. Often I find that I always lean toward literacy PD (professional development). So this year our principal gave us a choice, so I chose math for my PD this school year. That way I have a chance to grow in math.
My goal was to learn how to manage my new 80 minute block of time (last year I had 60 min). I wanted to implement a math workshop and start with a “rich” problem of the day. I knew I had the old standard activities (word problems, intro. video, vocabulary etc.) but I wanted a richer intro. for my students. I spent time this past summer thinking about math and found some great resources through #5thchat (the BEST chat around). Here are a few of my BEST resources that I found.
Doing Math in Morning Math Meetings (K-5) Love this for simple easy ideas. Great for differentiation. I have used 2nd grade ideas.
Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie: Math Puzzlers in Classics Poems (Great poems that we do on Poetry Friday-great connections)
Wumbers which is a fun book that I purchased on my iPad so my students can project it on my Smarboard and we can discuss words + numbers = Wumbers. They LOVE it!!
Arithme-Tickle: An Even Number of Odd Riddle Rhymes (another fun book to share on Poetry Friday)
Thanks to Mary Lee at Year of Reading for summer conversations about Number Talks. This is a professional book that is designed around morning routines that involve conversations about building and solving different equations.
And don’t forget about Math Wonders @wonderopolis always a great way to start a math meeting with an inquiry question.
#411 How Many is a Google?
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Wow! Interesting story! I DON’T KNOW ANYONE WHO DOES NOT LIKE HALLOWEEN!!!
Hi there, Libby K! Thanks for reading our Wonder Family’s blog post about the Fall season! We bet that everyone has a favorite holiday… for some that may be Halloween! We hope you have a great day full of WONDERing and using your imagination– see you soon, Wonder Friend!
HEY VERY COOL AND INTERESTING VIDEO AND TEXT I’M LIKE LIBBY K I DONT KNOW NOT 1 PERSON WHO DOESNT LIKE HALLOWEEN YOU CAN ACTUALLY LEARN A LOT FROM IT IF YOU PLAY GOOD ATTENTION TO IT. THANKS IT’S VERY COOL.
Hey there, Wonder Friend Emma! We love that you and Libby K are WONDERing about the seasons! We think you’ll enjoy this Halloween Wonder:
Wonder #393– Why Do We Say “Trick-or-Treat”? http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-do-you-say-trick-or-treat/