Etch 'n Sketch Reflections

We wrapped up our second unit of the year this week and started in with the next one! Not too bad, I would say--only about one week off of the semester mark... As I discussed last week, the students were going to be tracking changes in the amounts of water in different cities across the US using satellite data. Overall, the students did a fantastic job of reading the satellite maps and plotting the data points on their graphs. I divided each class into 10 groups, and each group was in charge of 1 year's worth of data. Once the individual graphs were done, we lined them all up and glued them together. This is the end result: The top graph shows the changes in St. Louis, the middle graph is Atlanta, and the bottom is Portland. The parts of the line that are in blue are showing where there was an increase in the amount of water, while the red shows decreases. Once we had them all together, it was time for some data analysis. The students needed to analyze data from each year, and...

This was, most definitely, an OFF week so far. It was one of those LOOOOONG short weeks. To be honest, the week started out great--nice and quiet! The students didn't have school on Monday, so that may have had something to do with quietness :-) After a staff gathering in the morning, we were given a nice chunk of time to take care of mid-year report cards. It was really nice to have that time! Tuesday brought things back to normal, but not truly normal. Right now, the students are participating in district assessments to check progress from the beginning of the year. I have to say, the students have been doing a nice job overall with the assessments (but there have been a few that we didn't see the growth we would hope for), However, the testing does throw a wrench into the usual schedule. As a fifth-grade team, we decided to run the tests in the mornings, but that also means we need to shorten our class schedules down by about 20 minutes each in the morning. The result is cl...

It just seems so crazy to think that tomorrow is the last day of the first semester! That thing they say about time going by faster as you get older is so true. I know I'm not really that old, but it's funny how teaching can make me feel young and old at the same time; young because the kids just have some much contagious energy, and old because it wears me out by the end of the day! Reflecting back on this semester, I would say that energy level is one of the biggest changes from last year to this year. The seventh and eighth graders were, as a whole, much calmer than the fifth graders of this year. Of course, as I've mentioned to a few of my colleagues, the students are pretty much just bigger versions of their third-grade selves (having taught this group of students two years ago). With the first semester coming to a close, we are also wrapping up our unit on Earth's systems. The students did a great job of meeting the goal of the main standard we worked with, which...

As teachers, we know that reaching out to a parent can be very beneficial. This week, I would say that I had an above-average amount of parent communication, for a variety of purposes. Changes to student schedules, doctor and dentist appointments, aches and pains, an IEP meeting, a behavior issue, an emotional issue, and a schoolwork issue all made for a heavy week of communication, and all were very helpful. I'm generally an email guy--convenient, no need to play phone tag, and, in some cases, it is helpful to have a "document trail" of communication. This week's communications, though, required a few extra phone calls. Some things just need to be talked through. However, as I was sitting down to write this week's blog post, something jumped out at me--not one single piece of communication that I made this week was simply for the purpose of sharing a piece of good news/pass on a positive message. Now, I have to be perfectly honest that there have been occasional...

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since the last post, and it was a great winter break! I was pretty tuckered out from the busy last week of school, and that time off was exactly what I needed. It was filled with fun, family, and friends, not to mention some restful days. I saw 3 different movies at the theater (2 of them twice), had some Christmas celebrations spread over 3 days, got together with some high school and college friends, and watched a lot of Netflix :-) It was definitely a break with a lot of attention focused towards my mental health. Of course, being the holidays, there may have also been some unwanted attention focused toward my waistline, so 2020 is definitely going to need to be a year that I want to dedicate to my physical health (granted, I say that every year...) Now, even though I did spend a lot of my break on rest and relaxation, that doesn't mean I completely ignored all aspects of school. I set aside one day (Monday) to go into school and get some w...