Several years ago, we brought back sixth grade camp in our district. For the past six years, we have been taking students for one overnight at a camp in northeastern Ohio called Camp Muskingum. It is Ohio's FFA camp, and they put on a program called Nature's Classroom that is a wonderful experience for the students. The staff does a phenomenal job and the students always talk about it for years. (I mean, I still remember going to camp in elementary school). Students participate in outdoor education activities, hikes and campfire.
This year, we decided to take the students for two nights so that they could participate in a program called The Underground Railroad. We were all a little hesitant about going for an extra night (I think the teachers more than the kids because most of us have young kids at home), but we thought that we would try it out this year for the students. It was a unanimous decision that we will be taking the kids for 2 nights from now on! The Underground Railroad simulation was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had (as a teacher and a student). The program was a simulation for students of what the underground railroad was really like in the 1860's. A few other teachers and I decided to shadow a group, and could not believe how amazing this simulation was. I was a little "scared" a few times, and the students were following every direction to a tee! Everyone said that was their favorite part of the trip.
The Underground Railroad at FFA Camp Muskingum takes an afternoon, and I strongly recommend it for any schools that are close enough to do it as a field trip (they will allow schools to come just for this), and or the entire camp for any schools in Ohio. As always, it was a great experience!!!
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
AWESOME TEACHER APPRECIATION IDEAS!
Last week was teacher appreciation week and our AWESOME student council, and our fabulous principal gave us these awesome gifts each day. I love these ideas and definitely want to steal them to use with my students and my son's teachers some day!
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
A Peek at My Week
This week I am linking up with Jennifer for A Peek at My Week-
5/12-5/16
School is winding down here in Ohio, and the weather is finally starting to get warm. Actually, we went from unseasonably low temperatures for the past several months to unseasonably high temperatures last week and this week. Weird! I love the warm weather though, so I'm not complaining. We are officially down to ONLY 1 Monday of school left and with the nice weather, we are all starting to get little stir crazy!
This week is proving to be a challenge already with parent and district meetings regarding retentions and the fact that we are on normal schedule this week after being on an adjusted schedule last week for OAA testing. Furthermore, students know that the test is over so they are starting to check out BIG TIME.
Today, I am meeting with all of my students that are in danger of failing for the year to help them get a plan together for the last few weeks of school. Many of them are only a few points away from failing or passing science for the year so I like to sit down with them and make sure that we are on the same page and help them get a plan together that will bring their grades up where they need to be.
I am teaching about the Atmosphere this week, and I have been trying to come up with engaging activities for the students that relate to the Atmosphere so that they will be learning, but also interested so that I do not have a ton of discipline issues. On Thursday, we are doing a lab using a coffee filter and shop vac where students test our air quality. I am planning on sharing about this later in the week (providing it's not a disaster).
In addition, I am also collecting and recording the last of the money from students for our HUGE, 3 day Nature's Classroom trip next week. Students are very, very excited about it (All of the teachers are too).
Finally, we have some rewards planned Friday afternoon for students that completed all of their Study Island (Math, Science and Reading) requirements. This is a surprise, and we're not sure what we are doing yet, but we have been kicking around some pretty great ideas. We try to outdo ourselves each year because it is hard work for the students and we like them to "brag" to the incoming sixth graders about how great the reward was! Does anyone have any ideas?
5/12-5/16
School is winding down here in Ohio, and the weather is finally starting to get warm. Actually, we went from unseasonably low temperatures for the past several months to unseasonably high temperatures last week and this week. Weird! I love the warm weather though, so I'm not complaining. We are officially down to ONLY 1 Monday of school left and with the nice weather, we are all starting to get little stir crazy!
This week is proving to be a challenge already with parent and district meetings regarding retentions and the fact that we are on normal schedule this week after being on an adjusted schedule last week for OAA testing. Furthermore, students know that the test is over so they are starting to check out BIG TIME.
Today, I am meeting with all of my students that are in danger of failing for the year to help them get a plan together for the last few weeks of school. Many of them are only a few points away from failing or passing science for the year so I like to sit down with them and make sure that we are on the same page and help them get a plan together that will bring their grades up where they need to be.
I am teaching about the Atmosphere this week, and I have been trying to come up with engaging activities for the students that relate to the Atmosphere so that they will be learning, but also interested so that I do not have a ton of discipline issues. On Thursday, we are doing a lab using a coffee filter and shop vac where students test our air quality. I am planning on sharing about this later in the week (providing it's not a disaster).
In addition, I am also collecting and recording the last of the money from students for our HUGE, 3 day Nature's Classroom trip next week. Students are very, very excited about it (All of the teachers are too).
Finally, we have some rewards planned Friday afternoon for students that completed all of their Study Island (Math, Science and Reading) requirements. This is a surprise, and we're not sure what we are doing yet, but we have been kicking around some pretty great ideas. We try to outdo ourselves each year because it is hard work for the students and we like them to "brag" to the incoming sixth graders about how great the reward was! Does anyone have any ideas?
Monday, May 12, 2014
Sparking Student Motivation: Fun with QR Codes Scavenger Hunt
I teach sixth grade science for a majority of my day. However, for ACE (named for our mascot) Period, used as an intervention period for reading and math, I teach math. As a former math teacher, I really enjoy teaching math one period of the day. Last week, I designed a scavenger hunt using QR Codes and our new IPads to spark student motivation for our upcoming math achievement assessment. I used this web-site to design the scavenger hunt. It was VERY easy to use, and created the QR codes for me to print. All I had to do was print them and then "hide" them around the school. Our wonderful tech coordinator downloaded a free QR Code Reader to all of the IPads for me (this would be time consuming if you had to do it yourself, but would only need to be done once). When students scanned the QR code for each question, it took them to the Math Mania Scavenger hunt question for the respective number.
I turned the scavenger hunt into a competition for my students, and split them into pairs. Making it a competition made it really exciting for the students. We didn't finish it the first day, and students were talking about it all afternoon and the following morning. Students loved searching for the codes (some of them were in plain sight and really easy to find, and others were hidden from view and took them quite a while to find). Additionally, students were not allowed to move on to the next question until they had successfully solved the question that they were working on (and I made them explain how they found the answer and show work to prevent cheating). This made the hunt even more exciting, because the lead changed between several different groups over the course of the two days. Students were so focused on the scavenger hunt, that they didn't realize they were working on some very challenging math problems. It was great to see them working/ learning and having fun at the same time
Be sure to check out more great ideas to spark student motivation here:
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Coaster Creations Continued...
Our coaster creations continue in the sixth grade! I was very proud of my students last week with all of the amazing coaster designs that they were able to come up with. It was one of the best weeks I've had in my teaching career. I love teaching science for those rare moments when students don't even realize how much they are learning because they are having so much fun! However, like everything else in the world of education, it could use a few tweeks for next year.
Coaster Creation Lab
Pros
In this activity, students get to design a coaster. They get to choose everything from the shape, color and number of cars, to the coaster's track.
After creating their designs, students can play a simulation of their coasters in which it either succeeds, gets stuck or crashes They can go back to the design process and tweak their coasters as many times as necessary.
Additionally, they get a final score for their design based on the coaster's difficulty, which I of course turned into a challenge for them to see who can get the best score.
So far, they are loving this! What I love about it is that the activity includes fun aspects of the design process for the students, but it also shows the formulas for kinetic and potential energy, and the transfer between the two throughout the coaster, so students can see where their coaster was gaining and/ or losing energy.
We also used an app on the Ipads last week called Coaster. I believe it is $0.99, and these two web-sites:
www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/coaster/section1.html
www.funderstanding.com/educators/coaster/rollercoastergame
After having such a great experience with this unit, my head is buzzing with possible ideas for next year. I am thinking everything from a Physics Day at school to a Physics day at an amusement park.
Coaster Creation Lab
Pros
- Very inexpensive
- excellent lab to use with groups; also worked excellent with my inclusion class and students with disabilities
- video taping- students loved this, and it allowed them to identify design errors
- labeling the actual coasters with potential and kinetic energy
- discussing potential and kinetic energy (and completing interactive notes) before beginning coaster designs
- need. more. time. We only have 40 minute periods so students had to rebuild their coasters the second day which wasted A LOT of time. I am kicking around the idea of buying a lot more pipe insulation for next year and then using an empty space where groups can leave their coasters set up for day 2.
- A few groups got carried away with their designs at first and had a very hard time correcting all of their mistakes in order to create a successful coaster. I was able to help most of the groups get on the right track, but a few of them slipped past me at first and then struggled toward the end.
In this activity, students get to design a coaster. They get to choose everything from the shape, color and number of cars, to the coaster's track.
After creating their designs, students can play a simulation of their coasters in which it either succeeds, gets stuck or crashes They can go back to the design process and tweak their coasters as many times as necessary.
Additionally, they get a final score for their design based on the coaster's difficulty, which I of course turned into a challenge for them to see who can get the best score.
So far, they are loving this! What I love about it is that the activity includes fun aspects of the design process for the students, but it also shows the formulas for kinetic and potential energy, and the transfer between the two throughout the coaster, so students can see where their coaster was gaining and/ or losing energy.
We also used an app on the Ipads last week called Coaster. I believe it is $0.99, and these two web-sites:
www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/coaster/section1.html
www.funderstanding.com/educators/coaster/rollercoastergame
After having such a great experience with this unit, my head is buzzing with possible ideas for next year. I am thinking everything from a Physics Day at school to a Physics day at an amusement park.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, and a HUGE TpT Sale!
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! We are testing this week, so it is not going to be that great around here this week. Everyone is usually a little stressed out during this week!
However, looking on the bright side- at least we will be done with state testing by the end of this week. That is definitely something to celebrate!
In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, Teachers Pay Teachers is throwing a HUGE Sale! Many TpT stores (including mine) are offering 20% off and TpT is giving an additional 10% off with the code below. The sale runs 5/6-5/7. It's a great time to stock up on some new materials for next year, or get some great resources to finish the year strong. Have a great week everyone!
However, looking on the bright side- at least we will be done with state testing by the end of this week. That is definitely something to celebrate!
In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, Teachers Pay Teachers is throwing a HUGE Sale! Many TpT stores (including mine) are offering 20% off and TpT is giving an additional 10% off with the code below. The sale runs 5/6-5/7. It's a great time to stock up on some new materials for next year, or get some great resources to finish the year strong. Have a great week everyone!
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Sparking Student Motivation: Coaster Creations and Ipads!
Spring Fever has hit the sixth grade here in central Ohio. Students and teachers alike. We have had such a terrible winter with snow days galore and a very cold and rainy spring. Finally, the weather is getting nice and we are all getting a little nuts! However, we pushed our state testing to the latest possible week this year because we missed so many days which means that we need to stay focused for a few more weeks. Also, we have another month of school left to keep kids focused. YIKES! Our sixth grade students are especially crazy because we have begun the count down for our sixth grade over night camp, and they are VERY excited! They try to consume every period with questions about camp.
That said, I saw the link up at Head Over Heels for Teaching encouraging teachers to share their magic tricks to get students motivated for the end of the year. There are some awesome ideas on this link up. I was consumed by them the other night when I was trying to think of something of my own to share.
I always save our kinetic and potential energy unit for the end of the year because we design "roller coasters" and the students LOVE it! They don't realize how much they are learning because they are having so much fun. Additionally, we make a challenge out of the project and let students vote for the best coaster, which they eat up because they love the competition. This year, I was able to check out our new Ipad cart, so I have been able to incorporate the Ipads into the project which has made it even better.
Tomorrow, students are finishing their coaster creations and testing them. They are also going to video their marbles completing the tracks, label potential and kinetic energy along the tracks and snap pictures of their tracks all using the Ipads. Finally, students will get to vote on the best coasters. I plan to share how things turn out later in the week.
That said, I saw the link up at Head Over Heels for Teaching encouraging teachers to share their magic tricks to get students motivated for the end of the year. There are some awesome ideas on this link up. I was consumed by them the other night when I was trying to think of something of my own to share.
I always save our kinetic and potential energy unit for the end of the year because we design "roller coasters" and the students LOVE it! They don't realize how much they are learning because they are having so much fun. Additionally, we make a challenge out of the project and let students vote for the best coaster, which they eat up because they love the competition. This year, I was able to check out our new Ipad cart, so I have been able to incorporate the Ipads into the project which has made it even better.
To begin this project, pairs of students completed a vocabulary charts using Ipads. I created a blank chart as a template using google drive ( I am loving google drive more and more each day!!!) and then shared it with all of my students. They were able to open the template, make a copy in their own drive and then edit it to create their charts. The best part is, when they were finished, they simply shared their charts with me allowing me to grade them.
**Side note: We've been talking about how much paper google drive has been saving us in honor of Earth Day last week.**
Although, students were doing a simple vocabulary unit, students were much more engaged simply because they had the opportunity to use the Ipads.
Next, we reviewed vocabulary and then discussed kinetic and potential energy using the Smart Board and students used the Coaster App on the Ipads ($0.99) which plays a roller coaster simulation showing the conversion of kinetic and potential energy throughout the ride. We discuss the places where kinetic and potential are highest and where the transitions occur. Students were very interested in the simulations yesterday, and to my surprise paid very close attention to the energy changes that were occurring.
Today, students began using pipe insulation (cut in 1/2) to create their marble coasters. I gave each group of 4 6 pieces of foam insulation, 4 pieces of tape and one marble and cut them loose with 4 goals:
1) all pieces of the track (insulation) must be used
2) the track must independently stand (they can tape it to things, but can't be holding it)
3) the marble must stop on its own after completing all features of the track
4) they must have at least 1 hill and 1 loop
Here are some pictures from the start of our coaster creations:
Tomorrow, students are finishing their coaster creations and testing them. They are also going to video their marbles completing the tracks, label potential and kinetic energy along the tracks and snap pictures of their tracks all using the Ipads. Finally, students will get to vote on the best coasters. I plan to share how things turn out later in the week.
Be sure to check out all the other great ideas here:
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