One week left until....

G Camp!! I can't believe that I leave in a week and I am so excited. Check back here for updates on everything I am learning and the exciting things I am seeing.

Wonderings

When I was little I would imagine what my teacher's did during their summer break. At my previous school, we didn't get paid through the summer so I still had to work and never had a summer "off". However, since arriving in the grand state of Texas, I have had 3 summers off now and I am loving it! So, you may ask, "How does a teacher spend  their summer?" So far this summer I have done a lot of relaxing by the pool and hanging out with friends. I have gone to one math workshop. I have read 1 and 1/2 books (I'm currently in the middle of one). I also got a new camera so I have been playing with that and taking a lot of pictures. Finally, I have this cross stitch that I have been working on for 4+ years now and my goal is to finish it before school starts. I'm sure many teachers lead a lot more of an interesting life than I do,especially during the summer. However, I enjoy my time to relax and spend with Mr. Edugator.

Kim Sutton

Yesterday I went to a Kim Sutton math workshop. Kim Sutton herself was our presenter. She was very interesting and had a lot of energy! I can't wait to take her ideas back into my classroom and use them next year! I also got some book ideas from her to read and just ordered them. I'll let you know how they are! :) If you ever have a chance to attend a PD session with her...do it! She was amazing!

The results are in...

Okay, it's been forever since I posted. School is out. Scores are in. I'm very proud of the kids. I saw a lot of growth this year, even if they did not pass "the test". It seems like I start every year wishing for the previous years class and thinking about how the current group is "harder" than the last. However, as I end the year and realize that I think that every year, I am proud of my class this year. They worked hard to become a school family and truly stand up for each other, almost to the point of being cliquish. Is that a word? Well, it is now! I saw huge gains in their academic skills and their self confidence. I hope that I was able to encourage them to continue to believe in themselves and be the best they can be.

It's almost here....

I can't believe that I only have 2 more weeks with my kiddos! We started graduation practice yesterday and I think they are all scarred for life from the puberty video they had to watch. We have made so much progress as a class this year. Here are some things I have noticed.

*The kiddos protect each other like they are a family!
*I had several kids EXCITED about their grades on progress reports!! Usually, I would have tears.
*We just finished "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" and the kids wrote in their reaction journals, "I don't like this author because..." What??? Critiquing an author??? I love it!!
* We watched "Paperclips" and when the Holocaust survivors were sharing their stories, my class wanted more. They wanted to hear more stories and know why this was done. They have developed a ton of thinking skills and are asking a ton of questions about why people would have so much hatred towards certain people.
* One of my favorite stories for the week comes from Friday. They had to watch a Puberty video (boys in one room, girls in another) for part of the curriculum. When they came back one of my girls said, "Mrs. Edugator! They went to far! That was disturbing!" I asked her what was so bad and she said, "when they showed the picture of a grown up girl and what was going to happen to us!"

Oh kiddos! I'm going to miss them. This group has come so far this year and I am very proud of them. And, all of this is the progress without the TAKS scores. That, will be another post when the scores come in.

Oil Spill

Today we discussed the oil spill in the gulf and I had the students develop some possible solutions. Here is what they came up with:

I think they should close up the ocean and open an aquarium for the fish

Scientists make some kind of cure to put in the water

Burn the oil

Fix the pipe

They can put on a underwater suit and go underwater and get the pipe and fix it before it pollutes the water. (Can we say "run on sentence"?)

Take the pipe out before it pollutes the water

They can put a glass on it and clog it up and the oil can stop coming out.

They could go underwater and put a big pipe and connect it to the ground and suck up the oil and put it back in the ground

Plug it up

Try to cover up the whole (as written) with a top and try to fix it

Block the oil leak and pay them money. <--- I'm sure BP would love that solution!!

Professional Development here I come!!

You may have figured this out already, but I get bored easy. To combat my boredom, I stay busy and go WAY beyond the call of duty. So last week was pretty exciting in ways of professional development. My friends and I saw the draft of an article we wrote that is going to be published in Science and Children this summer. Then, I found out that out of a ton of teachers in the state, I was one of 30 selected to attend G Camp. G Camp is a 17 day experience where we travel through Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado exploring geological sights and learning about ways we can use them in the classroom.

This week we went on a field trip to Innerspace Caverns. It was so cool and now I am stoked about my trip this summer. The kids had a great time and learned a lot. Not to mention, their behavior was great!! We mined for jewels, explored a cave 50 feet below the city of Austin, and saw a bat the size of a chicken nugget. For a while, I felt like I was back in Florida since it was so humid once we got deep into the cave. It was one of the best field trips I have been on in a while. The kids learned a lot, the teachers enjoyed it, and the weather was beautiful!