ThirdGradeFun

Looking back! You will either step forward into growth, or you will step backward into safety.  - Abraham Maslow I found this quote that I felt like was extremely relevant to Genius Hour. I am use to staying in my comfort zone but after having gone through these 7 weeks of crafting, I would like to continue to experiment with different types of crafts. I now know that I can do this but I definitely need to set time for myself  in order to keep growing. It' funny how at first, this felt like something I had to force myself to do but when I found my niche, I just enjoyed it and looked forward to my Saturday mornings and crafting. Another thing that kept me going were the compliments of my peers, family and friends and for that I am grateful. Wreaths (Artifact One) Out of all the things I crafted, I really enjoyed making wreaths. I made my Thanksgiving wreath and I made two Christmas wreaths. I had originally thought of giving my Christmas ones away as gifts but I liked th...

“Habit rules the unreflecting herd.” - William Wordsworth This week's quote had me stumped. I'm not going to kid you, I even searched for some articles to help understand this quote. I found this interesting read from the NY Times . It explains how we are creatures of habit and which the word "habit" can carry a negative connotation. Therefore, as creatures of habit sometimes we don't try new ideas because we are stuck in our ways. For the most part, I agree. I am a creature of habit and I don't deal with any type of change easily but a few years ago I read a book called Mindset by Carol Dweck. I've learned to let go of things I cannot control and to be more open minded and try keep a positive mindset about things. Throughout this project, I've learned to embrace my success and my failures. Making a video and a  narrated presentation were not fun nor relaxing ! I would consider those my failures. Do you know how many times I had to redo those th...

“Confidence is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat and taking the tartar sauce with you.” - Zig Ziglar This quote suits my project for this week. Over the course of my Genius Hour project, I've tackled some "small fish". I've handmade some cards, I made a money tree, I transformed a plain white monogrammed letter into something that reflected my own style, and this week I went after Moby Dick!  Not sure if I have mentioned before but I enjoy going to craft shows but sometimes I see a craft and think 'I can make that'. The problem is always finding the time. This Genius Hour has given me the platform to express my creativity and force myself to take the time to do things that I enjoy. One of the crafts I've been wanting to make are wreaths. I love hanging wreaths on my door and in my classroom. I purchased all the materials I needed from my favorite budget friendly place, Dollar Tree. After watching several videos, I had my Fall/Thanksgiving Wreath. ...

Quote: "Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn." I love this quote. It reminds me of my mom! I always ask her to teach me how to cook certain Mexican dishes and her reply is "all you need is a pinch of this and a pinch of that.. " She tells me but I never make it because I might remember the ingredients but I still don't know how to make it. When I cook , bake, or craft, I need visuals and step by step directions to go with things. I learn by doing! Every time I start a new project I go through some emotions. It usually start with high emotions, then some anxiety over starting and maybe not finishing, but when I do finally get going and finish I am extremely proud of myself! This week, I felt like I did a two for one! I not only created something, I also did it in video format. I don't know what I was thinking but I did it! This week's project came from a Facebook page. I'm friends with a group of teache...

Quote:  “It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.” - Albert Einstein This quote reminds me of this past weekend. I went on a college tour with my teenage kids. The tour guide was so fabulous, I was ready to enroll myself! I told my kids that if I could afford to quit my job and come back to college to learn about Computer Networking or being a Surgical Technician, I probably would! I think this quote refers to desire to learn even after our formal education. It's for people to strive to find answers to their questions. Last week, I came down with bronchitis. I had been invited to my godson's 19th birthday party and I knew I wasn't going to be able to attend or to have time to shop for a gift. Although at his age money or a gift card are better gifts. Personally, I don't like just  giving money in a card. I like to make it fun and personalized. So, I quickly fumbled through my craft box and drawers and I quickly came up with this i...

Quote: We learn who we are–in practice, not in theory–by testing reality. In some ways this is what I always tell my students and my own children. You never know what you can do until you try, In my classroom, I don't allow students or my own children to tell me they can't do something until they have tried. In a way, I feel this comes from my own passion to succeed. I myself don't like to be told I can't do something because no one knows what I'm capable of until I've tried. I'm not afraid of failure because if I gave my 100% to something and I don't succeed, I will usually try and try again! I believe failures lead to success. Encouragement cards. With all that being said, many of you know that oldest son is in the Navy. When he was in boot camp, I wrote to him every day. It was a difficult time (actually still is) because for the first time in 22 years he wouldn't be home for the holidays. The holidays are a time for joy and if I couldn...

photo credit: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1409997 Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. – Mark Twain This quote by Mark Twain really resonates with me, especially at this point in my life. I have noticed that as I get older and my kids aren't as dependent on me, I want to be more adventurous. I want to spend more time doing things that I want to do. I want me time! I've always been good at telling other people, "don't live with regrets", "you don't want to look back 20 years and ask yourself, why didn't I do ___!" Now it's time to take my own advice. When considering a new project, I jumped into the reflection exercise. These questions stood out the most: What do I do on weekend mornings?, Are any of these ‘making’ or ‘creating...

Hello everyone! My name is Alicia. I am a teacher in Cicero. I've been teaching since 2003. For 14 years of my career, I taught in 3rd grade and for the 2018-2019 school year I will be teaching second grade!! I'm pretty excited but at the same time I am nervous about the change. Some other exciting news, unrelated to education, I am a Navy mom! As you can see, from the picture above, I have three children that are my entire world! My oldest is a sailor, my youngest is daddy's girl, and my middle child is my twin (we think alike and my husband says we can be stubborn, I like to think we are persistent)! My children are also my current events resources, lol. I learn so much from them and sometimes I get technology ideas from them! I enjoy incorporating technology into the classroom as often as I can. The more I learn about technology through the cohort at St. Francis University, my confidence about using technology in the classroom increases. I have also noticed technology...

If you've been keeping with my blog, you probably already know that I am seeking an endorsement in Computer Specialist. On the first day of this particular class, titled Managing Educational Tech Services, I left with my head spinning and very overwhelmed. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it through the class! I wasn't sure if I would even have the energy, especially since I was encountering new experiences with learning new curriculum for a new grade level. I was having some major behavioral problems with some students from day one, so I knew this was going to be a challenging year. Then to learn about our final project, on our first day of school literally drove me to the edge. Luckily, with great support from family, colleagues and friends I was talked off the ledge. However, I don't regret tackling this class. I have learned so much more about laws like, FERPA, CIPA, and IDEA. I occasionally discuss topics from this class with other teachers. I'm constantl...

As part of an assignment, we were asked to use the ISTE standards to assess the readiness of technology integration in our school. Ths tool was conducted by observing 4 classroom teachers (2-second grade/2- third grade). As you will see in the short video clip, a checklist listing all ISTE standards was used. For some of the questions, the teacher needed to reflect and answer on his or her own. Ironically, the result show that the teachers were stronger in standard 7 - Analyst. This standard related to demonstrating implementation of a variety of formative and summative assessments, to accommodate learner needs, and to use the assessment data to guide instruction. The standard that teachers struggle with is standard 3 - Citizen. This standard relates to inspiring students to be part of the digital world in a responsible manner. I strongly believe that our teachers are strongest in standard 7 - Analyst because we work in a data driven environment. I'm not surprised that ...

It seems that collaborative learning spaces are currently trending. So when I had to design a space without thinking of costs, I had so many ideas. Then I thought, there are so many trendy learning environments that when you take a first look , you may think "wow, this is beautiful" but there may also be children looking at it thinking "wow, this is overwhelming". So I decided to keep it simple. For the sake of differentiation, I would like to have 2 Promethean boards. In the meeting area, I could teach whole group. Then if I need, I could leave up the work on one board and move a second group across the way to the second board and teach an extended mini-lesson. Shelving would be a must! One side could be for books and/or magazines and the other would be for STEAM kits to be stored.  like a rug area for those that like to work on the floor and tables on another side for group work. In the area with tables it would be nice to have a large dry erase wall to have ...

As this class, 21st Centuy Leadership Ed, comes to an end, I couldn't be happier. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the class, but it came with some hurddles and mixed emotions. Plus, it's summer! I want to enjoy it, homeowork free! Let's talk about a specific word in the course title...leadership. A few of the projects in this class had me thinking like an administrator. So at first, I was confused about why assignments like the Hiring Process, Learning Walks, and Professional Learning Development Workshops, just to name a few, were part of this course. Now I have a better understanding. If we are going to be part of the 21st Century classroom we must also think like 21st Century leaders. These assignments were challenging and I felt like I was preparing for the role of an administrator which is something I'm not seeking. However, I now a better appreciation for why we have to do certain things or possily how decisions were made for us.  As teachers we don...

Designing an Innovative Environment So the project was to redesign your school library. Call me old fashioned but I like my library with books all around. I know that our world is changing and technology is a big part of our changing world. So I wouldn’t say I completely redesigned our library, it was more like I made some upgrades. There was no budget, but since it was just an upgrade, the total costs came out to slightly under $13,000 . Since I’m looking into upgrading my kitchen, the wonderful grid paper from a pamphlet I brought home worked just fine for the layout. I know I could have used a fancy tech app or softare to reate my floor plan but drawing it out on paper seemed more relaxing for me! Here is a chart the details my upgrades along with my floor plans. It's nothing fancybut I was trying to keep it traditional with a slight 21s century twist.

The Hiring Process Wow, this was an interesting project! At first, I was confused as to why this was even part of this course. This project was even a topic of conversation at lunch with teacher friends. Which by the way, they all agreed they would never get the job if the interview was solely based on tech questions. 😃 Ha! This project wasn’t easy, as a matter of fact it was a bit intimidating. I felt the pressure of two roles, administrator and interviewee. This project required me to ask questions like an admin and respond to my partners question like an interviewee. This was challenging because I have never assumed (nor would I want to) the role of admin so I wasn’t sure what kind of questions I should ask so I did some research. I read through some sample interview questions and one article that I found interesting gave examples of dos and don’ts. Another great source is from a favorite page of mine, We Are Teachers . The memes are really the best. In hindsig...

Wow! Another great course has come to an end. As I thnk back to all the coursework and discussion that were shared in class, I'm reminded of how fortunate I am to have shared it will all of you. I'm always amazed at how much I can learn from our group discussions.  The resources shared in this class were wonderful. I must be honest, there were some ideas that I wasn't sure if I agreed with or that I thought were things I could try in my own classroom. However, after reading the article, Turn Your Classroom into a Personalized Learning Environment , I thought, why not! The hardest thing for me to do with some of these ideas is to let go of the control in my room and handing it over to my students. So I decided to let loose a bit and give some of these ideas a try. I have to say that giving my students some personal learning time has been a joy. The are so into their research and creating a project, this is the most quiet time of the day in my class!  At the beginning o...

As part of continuing to learn as an educator, I remembered a few ideas from my previous class that I knew I wanted to try with my current students. I am grateful to have a small classroom of 20 students. This year's group is a good group and for the most part are eager to learn. They are also very inquisitive and competitve. I wanted them to see some form of their evolution in third grade. Here I thought I was going to have them create a learning portfolio, This type of portfolio would show how they have grown as readers, writers, mathematicians, etc. However after reading the article My Digital Portfolio Project Planning , I realized that because I didn't keep up with the process of showing growth, what I really had was more of a showcase digital portfolio. What this process doesn't show is that although I had good intentions of creating a learning portfolio, when the students went back to update their portfolio, they realized things they wanted to improve, made changes...

After having experienced Genius Hour for myself and having loved it, I figured I would let my students give it a try. I gave them the all the same tools I was given. They took it and rolled with it! We tried this in science class and it came about because the students had questions after our unit on animal and plant life cycles. So I figured I let go (just a little) of the control in the classroom and give them 35 minutes to venture off and explore their curiosity. Here is an example of one student. He is an ELL student that struggles with reading and writing but I admired how much time and deication he put into this project. To see more examples check them out on our Padlet page  here .

Genius Hour What is Genius Hour? After reading two different articles, How to Use Genius Hour  by Angela Watson and Implementing Genius Hour In Your Classroom from the Minds in Bloom blog, it seems that Genius Hour is time given to students to research something they want to learn about based on interest.  This can also be known as 20% time. Students are given time to create, invent things, do research based on their interest, and they can even make short videos. Sounds great, don't you think? Genius Hour - Yay or Nay  As an adult, I truly enjoyed Genius Hour. I honestly think my students would also enjoy Genius Hour. The only thing that holds me back from wanting to try this is time . I feel like every minute of the day is already taken up by some kind of teaching. I thought, what if this were an after school program? Does this defeat the purpose of Genius Hour (traditionally done in the classroom)?  I do think this would be a great opportunity for my student...

This course was on integration of technology in the classsroom. So at first, I thought 'how much more can I learn? I already integrate technology into my classroom. I use Classroom Google, Kahoot, I have students write their stories on Google Docs.' However, learning about UBD and flipped learning has really changed my thought process when I plan a lesson or unit. It's actually changed the dynamics in my room. I now use flipped learning during math time at least 3 times per week and this has allowed me more time to take smaller groups and reteach concepts missed. One of the most useful lessons for me was the Tech Tool Hunt. I learned so much from that lesson! Another thing I enjoy are t he class discussions. I learn so much from everyone else during these discussions.  I enjoyed reading the article, Introduction: What is UBD? This really broke what this is step by step. It helped me think about and use essential questions more often. I also enjoyed the video by Gr...