Thoughts on the Matter

 Around Christmas time I was searching for Christmas gifts and I was surprised to see that Louis Sachar had released another book in the Wayside School series. I bought it for my son Sagan as a gift and was very excited to give it to him for Christmas. He wasn't really interested. Seriously??? Guh... To be fair despite the fact the he is an excellent reader, he prefers graphic novels. So on to Plan B. I started reading it out loud. Ha.,.he fell for it, and was HOOKED! His little brother even came in to listen to the stories. And that's how we got started on the Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom. After we finished, I downloaded Sideways Stories onto my Kindle. We started reading that one together. It was amazing how much joy it brought me to share these silly stories with my kids. And somehow out of depths of memories I thought were long gone, I pulled out the " I got one sock! Lookin' for the other One sock! Lookin' for its brother. When I find that sock I...

 When you realize that you haven't blogged in such a long time that you don't even remember what the name of your blog is...oops. Well things certainly have changed since the last time I posted. I left my fifth grade science position at Melrose Elementary, which I absolutely loved, to be closer to home and on the same schedule as my boys. It was a big decision, in the process I lost my continuing contract, with no hope to ever have one again. But it was the dream job, STEM teacher at the STEM magnet school, like 5 miles from my house! I was over the moon excited! Such a cool position, such a unique position, and I really enjoyed my role. Never did I think I'd resign, because...dream job. But unfortunately, COVID. Through many tears, like a ton, in late July, early August 2020 I realized the best thing for my family was to resign. My boys would be doing digital school from home and needed to have someone to monitor what was going on. While my husband was working from home, h...

I was fortunate to be selected to host a Tryazon party featuring USAopoly's Super Mario Bros. Power Up Card Game. Such a fun game! My boys loved learning how to play (the little one enjoyed watching since he can't read yet).  Our party was held during my sister's Florida/Georgia football party.  We went over the rules before the football game started and then played during half time.  It was so much fun (much more fun than watching that football game... Gators man) Then I brought the game to school so my fifth graders could try it out.  It happened that I had a handful of boys that got finished with their work.  I handed them the game and they were quick to pick it up.   This was such a fun time.  The students really enjoyed playing the game, and I enjoyed playing it with them, especially since I was winning. I highly recommend this game.  A card game that is suitable for most ages.  Reading is r...

I had the opportunity to try Rubik's Briks from  Strictly Briks  and  Tryazon . What an amazing opportunity. These products were fun and engaging. They have different level of products for different ages and some were quite challenging. The boys and I had a fun time trying them at home. This was a huge hit. I especially enjoyed putting together the more challenging puzzles and mosaics. I brought these to school to see how some of my fast finishing fifth graders would like them. They were a hit there. Even some of the "easier" puzzles engaged my students. They had a fun time putting them  together.

I was fortunate to be selected as a party host for a SmartGames Tryazon Party.  This has to have been one of my favorite Tryazon parties to have hosted.  These games are AWESOME!  After I opened the package my children swarmed.  They were dying to try them out. My youngest was obsessed (and still is obsessed) with Trucky 3.  Filling the back of dump t rucks with different combinations of blocks.  It is colorful and inviting and great for my four year old. Penguins on Ice was what my 7 year old tried first.  He gave it a good shot, and enjoyed trying it, but I'm fairly certain he was unable to complete the challenge. Quadrillion was probably my favorite.  At first it seemed a bit daunting, trying to figure out how to do the initial set up.  But once I figured it out (I admit, I didn't read the directions on this one) I couldn't get enough.  I love how the game board itself is so versatile that it leads to many different c...

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to host a fantastic Tryazon party featuring products from Pai Technology. Many of my wonderful colleagues stopped by the check out the products. Cubetastic   The Cubetastic was by far the biggest hit.   The product itself is colorful and inviting.  I mean who doesn't love to play with a puzzle cube?  The Cubetastic App was also easy to navigate.  Using the camera feature to scan the cube and then get a step by step play through of how to solve it is pretty awesome. TJ and the Bean Stalk AR Book This product was okay.  The augmented reality was pretty cool.  This wasn't as captivating, perhaps because it was a book and not a cool nifty gadget. Augie Robot Augie was FRUSTRATING . Connecting him to WiFi in order for it to work made me want to pull my hair out.  After several attempts and much wasted time at school I brought him home and was able to connect it to my internet h...

I was fortunate to be selected as a host for a Learning with Lauri Tryazon party and it was by far one of the best received Tryazon parties I have had the pleasure of hosting. When I received the box I did a Instagram live unwrapping and was so excited to have these products in my possession.  My children were also so excited about these products.  They couldn't wait for the party and had to try them out. They absolutely LOVED the Action Stackers Building Set.  They totally dug right in and started to create.  They came up with some very cool creations. The day of our actual Tryazon party we doubled dipped on my sister's birthday, I mean there were kids and grown ups there.  Also what a great way to occupy the kids with cool new toys to try.  So my take away  Lauri toys are AWESOME!  I loved the stackers and that the stacker sets can work with each other.  The toys are inviting to the children, they want to play wit...

My first Edcamp was Edcamp St. Augustine in the spring of 2016, can I say life changing event.  That day was magical for me, completely transformed my conceptions of other educators, learning, sharing, and what I could do.  It blew me away.  The whole ride back I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.  I had never experience professional development like that before.  I had never walked away with such a vast amount of knowledge.  And up until that point I didn't really know what I was missing.  I had a taste of awesomeness and I needed more. After that day I knew I needed to share that magical feeling with others, and bring back that magic I felt to my school.  Well today it happend Edcamp Putnam, Melrose style.  It was our third Edcamp Putnam, but this year it was in my house, my home.  And perhaps I might be a little bias, but BEST EDCAMP PUTNAM, yet. Our first year we had 12 people attend, and most of those were ones we had convince...

Thanks to Tryazon I had the opportunity to use NumbersAlive Pi Plush during my Robotics Club's Pi Day celebration. These products are super cool, and really bring math to life.  I LOVED the tape measure that works like a tape measure on one side and shows the digits of Pi on the other. 

Last year was my first year participating in the Hour of Code.  Prior to this I had no clue it even existed.  And honestly last year I had NO IDEA what I was doing.  I got the kids on the computer, pointed them at Code.org and off they went.  We sort of learned on the way, kids were doing some incredible stuff, and I saw how powerful the activities were. How far I have come in just a year.  Code.org is an "I'm Finished Activity" in my room.  I introduced it in the first few weeks of school.  I participated in Code training at the beginning of the summer and picked up a LOT of cool activities to do with my students. This year we started off Computer Science Education Week early.  I pulled one of the cool activities I did in my Code.org training and brought it to my students.  I had the students do graph paper coding.  The initial direction was to have students shade in 8 squares on their 4x4 graph paper and then write direction...

One of the elements I picked to work on for my growth plan is "Providing Feedback and Celebrating Progress".  When this element was celebrating success I picked it for my growth plan as well.  Mostly I want to provide my students with true, authentic, meaningful praise that encourages them to be lifetime learners.  I'm not there yet. I need to find a way that works for me and my students.  In the past celebratory cheers like roller coaster, fantastic (where you fake spray and wipe),  raise the roof, were some defaults.  But let's be honest they were hokey, I didn't buy into them and they didn't exactly work. I want the celebrations to be authentic and intrinsically motivating to my students.  I feel like the best thing I've got going right now is a high five.  Silly right?  When my students take benchmark assessments they scan their answers with the grade cam and their work is instantly graded.  I'm right there and can give them an i...

I feel blessed that I had the opportunity to try out Ozobot Evos thanks to #Tryazon. These little robots are AWESOME!  Their sensors will follow lines, and you can program them based on the patterns that you draw.  It is literally so easy my three year old can do it!  Of course when it comes to programming there is sometimes things you have to debug.  When the lines are too thin, or the corner is too sharp things don't work out the way you might have planned.  What an AWESOME learning opportunity. To be fair we already had the Ozobot Bit before we received these awesome Evos.  My boys LOVED the bit.  It was interactive, fun, allowed for discovery, all in all a GREAT product. Then along came the Evo into our lives.  AMAZING!  These are so cool.  So you have the same basic features of the Bit but then.... da da duh... it interacts via bluetooth with the Evo App.... whole new level of cool. So, while my personal children, mostly t...

About a year ago a friend posted something on Facebook about a project at the school where she taught.  A volunteer group called Project Makeover from the local university came to her school and over the course of a weekend they created some amazing learning spaces on their campus.  The thing that really struck me was the outdoor classroom.  I think this is where the idea for needing an outdoor classroom at my school came from. Then last summer at Edcamp Magic the idea grew.  I was crammed into a session, which I don't even remember what the topic was, but a teacher spoke very eloquently about the students' need to be outside.  How research shows improvement in test scores of students who spend some time outdoors.  Then while at the same Edcamp seeing some of their learning spaces, and having conversations with my colleagues I knew I had to somehow make it a reality. When school resumed I told a parent about my idea.  This parent is AMAZING by th...

I attended NEFEC's Science Instructional Materials Fair for K-5 educators, and my brain is just absolutely swimming.  In the process of watching these companies present their products, I might have jumped on to Amazon and purchased Matt Miller's Ditch That Textbook. I'll be getting that soon with my 2 day free shipping. As for these curriculum materials, WOW.  There is so much out there, and to pick the BEST one for the ENTIRE district... a daunting task.  Especially when I can only truly represent how I teach, and what I do, in my particular grade level. Currently in my classroom I don't teach from a textbook.  I have lots of GREAT resources available to me, usually too many.  I use Discovery Education's Techbook, and I like it well enough.  I don't use all the pieces and I treat it as a supplement to what the students are learning in my classroom.  But as I sit an process today's experience I am coming back to the idea of, "What if I didn't ha...

My students are awesome, yet sometimes difficult to teach.  It's sometimes hard to make the connections I want to make with my students during my instructional time.  I feel like I have to always be on, and have the students focused on their learning goals and objectives.  And well that just sucks the fun out sometimes. Last year I started inviting students in before school.  They'd "help" and come play with Rubik's cubes or robots.  I really enjoyed that down time with my kids.  I was able to appreciate them as people and not have to focus on making sure they were focused and on task.  I wanted to do something similar with this group of kids this year, but with a change in our start time, it just wasn't going to happen in the same way. Then something happened, something out of the ordinary, I assigned homework.  It wasn't hard homework, in fact we started it in class.  I was floored by the amount of students who flat out didn't do it....