Fri, Oct 29: Halloween

Today was costume day. Now I'm home in bed. Gearing up for 8am Saturday school tomorrow....

Thurs, Oct 29: Geometry Dance

Taught the kids a geometry song yesterday and let them do a dance to it in study hall. They love to move... have to find a productive way to capture that in my classroom because I very often ask them to stay in their seats and work. For me the fear is that when they move around things are harder to control....but it's worth it for the kids. Trying to work on this step by step.

Wed, Oct 27: Bulletin Boards

So apparently bulletin boards are a really big deal. I am not good at keeping mine updated, and today I had to stay at school til 9pm after a math meeting to get this done by the deadline. It has photos of Camp Ramapo and tests above 90%. I have to add in 5 more tests I collect back from students before they come upstairs tomorrow AM!

Fri, Oct 22: Flashback DR.QVOSAC

Earlier in October I taught word problems dressed as the character DR.QVOSAC:

DR: Do Read the Question

Q: Underline the Question and cirlce important info

V: Visualize

O: Choose an Operation

S: Solve the problem

A: Write your Answer in a complete sentence

C: Check your work

Thurs, Oct 21: Student note

A very classic and wonderful student apology note.

Wed, Oct 20: Repeatedly Dos

Check out this little video of the first five minutes of my class everyday. It was my first video assignment for grad school (submitted tonight), trying to show that I have routines in my classroom that repeat every day. I've got a lot to work on in terms of getting students to be silent, etc., but I've got a little bit of a fun routine going on. :)

Tues, Oct 19: White boards

Today I used little white boards with students for the first time. I brought 5 students upstairs during lunch to go over what they didn't understand in the lesson (multiplying 2 digit by 2 digit numbers), and they loved using the white boards to figure out problems.

The only challenge is that students can get a bit overexcited using whiteboards. They say the trick to being a good teacher is to maintain 100% calm even in the most difficult situations; to be the constant no matter how riled up the kids get. I must work on maintaining this calm and not taking the misbehaviors personally.

This is Hard!!! But cheers to White Boards! I think they will be a great tool for the future!

Monday, Oct 18: Student Centers

Today after my lesson I set up a table at the front of the room for students who didn't understand and needed extra help (This is the first time I've done this and felt comfortable enough to work with a small group and leave the other 25 working unattended!!) Below is one of my cutest and most entertaining students who joined our group.

Oct 8: Message

I got the following voicemail from one of my students from last year:

"Hi Ms. Tolan, I wanted to share some great news with you that I got a 4 on my math test in 5th grade, and I'm so thankful and proud of you for teaching me good stuff so I could get a 4, and I hope I get one this year. So have a nice day, goodbye."

Listen to the message here:


*Note - The NY State Math test is on a scale from 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest. Scoring a 3 or 4 means a student is on grade level.

Week 5: Camp Ramapo

I had heard of other schools taking their students on a fall outdoor adventure trip and really wanted to do that with our kids, so I pitched the idea to our principal and we made it happen. It was thrilling to see the kids in an environment where everyone was supporting them to feel successful in challenges. I hope we can bring that sense back with us. Check out some photos:

Week 1: We believe.

In my first week of school I asked the students to decorate their math binders with their names. One student got out his red pen and meticulously wrote out the entire credo on the cover of his binder. The credo reads:

We believe.
We believe in the creation of inspired lives
produced by desire, discipline, and dedication.
We are not frightened by the challenges of reality
but believe that we can change our world and our place within it.
We work, plan, create and dream.
Our talent, character, and integrity will be the tools we need
to build a better tomorrow.
We believe that we can take this place, this time,
and the people here
and build a better place, a better time, and a better people.
As a team and a fmily, we will either find a way or make one.