Let's catch up

Oh, hey! As I was reflecting on my week and my yearly goals, I thought about blogging.  Then I remembered... I started that last year and clearly abandoned it!  Well, I'm back!  I decided that one of my goals should be sticking to my goals. 😂 A little catch up is a perfect way to start back on my blog, so here's what's been happening...
Plastic Panthers: Last year my students embarked on an incredible, eco-friendly mission.  It blossomed throughout the school year and finally came to fruition over the summer/beginning of this school year.  The students collected plastic bottles throughout the year, created posters and videos about the importance of recycling and the plastic epidemic.  The students then created some truly incredible artwork using the plastic bottles and bottle caps to display in our school.  Our final effort was fundraising for a water bottle filling station/water fountain.  Not only did we sell enough reusable bottles for a filling station, but our incredible PTA gifted one to us as well.  The boys and girls crushed it!  The fountains and our art was installed over the summer and we had a ribbon cutting to open the space at the start of this year, thanks to my absolutely wonderful principal!  It was a glorious event and I have never been so proud!  Sadly, the pressure is on with this year's class.  They're curious when the newspapers will be in for them. Eek!
New School Year: Going well and going fast!  How are we almost in November!?  This is the first year I've stayed in the same grade level/classroom for a consecutive year.  How remarkable!  I finally feel at home and was able to reflect on last year to make new plans and shifts for this year's lessons.  I feel like I'm growing and becoming more effective.  Of course, I'm also coming up with new things so I'm still exploring and stressing myself out as well! It's nice to have that balance however between familiar lessons and new, exciting things as well.  Hopefully, the kiddos stay engaged and we can embark on our own special plastic journey starting this week... stay tuned!
Mr. Bing: My baby!!!  For those of you who know me, you know my little cockapoo is my baby.  Mr. Bingley, or Bing as we call him, has added to the excitement and business of a new school year.  His eyes have been red and swollen for weeks.  It looks horrendous and was clearly so uncomfortable for him.  He was diagnosed with allergies and after a week of suffering, then a week of treatment, we were nowhere.  Back to the vet we went.  Allergies seemed to still be the diagnosis; however, we were going to try a new treatment plan.  At this point, both eyes had become affected and were almost swollen shut.  The new treatment over the next week (the third week at this point) still. did. nothing. Not only did I feel helpless and so sad for my baby, but I also had anger building up inside of me.  I felt like I was wasting his time and was worried this would affect his vision.  We went to a new vet who diagnosed him properly (hallelujah).  We started a new treatment plan for the bacterial infection that had been getting worse over the past few weeks and now he is looking so much better!  His itching has finally stopped, swelling and redness have decreased drastically, and he can finally lounge around the house without wearing the cone of shame.  So happy my little buddy is feeling like his old self again!
Reading Goals: My bookshelves are overflowing, both at home and at school.  I try to keep my summer reading from my personal bookshelf and then read all the kids' books during the school year.  I decided I needed to be more efficient though and wanted to read at a quicker pace.  I've decided to read at least 1-2 chapter books per month this school year.  I created a list and have it posted by my desk as motivation.  So far, I've read...
Chester and Gus by Cammie McGovern
Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
*The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown

Up next on my list will be...
*The Secret Keepers by Trenton Lee Stewart
*The Girl Who Drank The Moon by Kelly Barnhill
*Pax by Sarah Pennypacker

*-These are books I'm rereading to create digital book companions.  More on these in the coming weeks!

So glad I remembered I had a blog and we got to catch up!  My new goal is to keep this more consistent.  Until next week!

-Meghan

How I unknowingly installed a popularity contest in my classroom

Yup... you read the title correctly.  I did that.  I, a loving, caring, kindness oriented teacher, installed a popularity contest in my classroom.  Completely by accident; however, it still happened.

I had seen gorgeous boards on instagram and pinterest and was feeling so inspired to have a magical learning space over the summer.  I had such grand plans for the boards, walls, seating arrangements, etc. in my classroom and I carried them all out!  These plans included my Shout Out board.  A shout out board, for anyone who is unaware, is a board where students can 'shout out' their classmates for doing fantastic things.  We used post-its and read them each week and then started the next week with a clean board ready to be filled.  Sounds amazing right?  What a fantastic way to encourage community, kindness, gratitude.  Except, that not every student was being 'shouted out'.  In fact, there were multiple students who would go weeks without receiving a shout out.  What's worse than not receiving shout outs from friends?  Having your teacher write a pity shout out to you - even if she meant it sincerely, they felt it I'm sure.  I recently read an article about social media for kids, how their worlds revolve around likes and how so many feel constant rejection between school, home, and then the 24-7 world of facebook/instagram/etc.  I realized, I had done this to my own students, and was devastated.

I very quickly came up with a better solution and decided I wanted a self love board instead.  I'd keep the overall look of the board the same, but was planning to replace the words 'Shout Outs' with a new, loving, motivational message each week.  The only other item on the board, would be a mirror.  Instead of students receiving likes from others (or not) I wanted them to receive some like/love from themselves.  Often times we are the most negative to ourselves which shouldn't be the case, and in the positive mindset classroom I was working so hard to build, I forgot to push these boys and girls to be positive with themselves.  I plan on encouraging them to stop at the mirror each day and they can check out the positive message and maybe whisper, or just think, something positive for themselves.  I'll do mine aloud each day so they can get the point and I'm hoping it helps them to think differently about themselves as we move on this school year.

Less popularity contests, more pep talks and love for the Loomis Learners.

Pictures to follow...

Plastic Panthers

   After some recent traveling, I found myself obsessed with my destination.  I was frequently looking up more hot spots in Bali, flight info, and planning a second trip.  I also started following companies/activity guides online to get ideas and stay current with my favorite little island.  I found myself pleasantly surprised with some of the innovative people and accounts I stumbled across.  Two of my favorite accounts were by brothers, Sam and Gary Bencheghib.  The brothers were concerned with the amount of trash/pollution coming from Indonesia, the country ranked 2nd in the world only behind China, and wanted to do something about it.  They created kayaks out of recycled materials, mostly plastic bottles, and set sail down the Citarum River in Indonesia.  This river is one of the most polluted rivers in the world and I'm sure after just a few minutes of research you'll find your stomach in knots over it.  Families continue to use this polluted river as a source of food, income, bathing, etc. although it is teeming with trash and pollutants.  The brothers documented their journey down the river and made several stops along the way which raised a ton of awareness and generated enough buzz to influence Indonesian lawmakers to step in.  I shared their inspiring story with my students and couldn't believe their response, they wanted to get involved somehow!

Here is Sam and Gary's instagram video that initially drew me in...

    I was proud that my students wanted to get involved and started brainstorming ideas.  Thankfully, with the help of my administrative team, we came up with a great plan of action!  My students were made aware of the plan and immediately got to work.  We started collecting plastic bottles to begin.  We would bring them from home, lunch, around the neighborhood (if they were laying around), and ask family members to donate theirs to us.  We started gathering them quickly and discussed that we didn't want to purchase just for the sake of collecting; however, we were still able to collect many in a short amount of time.  We've been collecting for the majority of the school year and have already collected over 800 plastic water bottles.  We wanted to get the school involved as well, so we created a PSA about plastic pollution, our activity, and how others could join in.  This took us some time, but we were all pleased and proud with the outcome which was shared with our school community.

Our plastic video...

The boys and girls surprisingly hadn't lost steam with this project.  Although our collection has slowed down, which is good, we wanted to move forward.  We began researching companies to host a reusable water bottle fundraiser.  Students found multiple companies, priced out options to analyze how much of a profit we'd make, and even created mock designs.  With all of that information, we could look into a refill station for our school for all students to refill their reusable bottles with filtered water in an easy way.  We're currently still working out the kinks on this step and are excited to carry it out and move forward and begin creating our sculpture garden!  We'll keep you posted on the next two steps of our journey!  If you're feeling inspired, start collecting and donate your bottles to our cause, or start your own sculpture garden!

Centers and Secret Tabs: The Struggle is Real

Each year there is a new challenge to the craft of teaching.  This year for me, it's engagement.  This typically isn't an issue to be honest, well because, I'm hilarious.  I was class clown of my graduating class and I tell jokes that make my own self laugh on a regular basis.  Sadly, however, my excellent comedic timing is no match for...
INTERNET GAMES
Ugh.  It's been going on all year long.  I've asked about blocking websites, setting up special sessions in Go Guardian (our program for tracking students' computers), etc.  No matter what I seem to plan, how often I mention Go Guardian, or what I buy to bring into our classroom, it doesn't seem to matter.  I even have a 'Bucket of Shame' where Chromebooks must sit, untouched, if someone is on a site they're not supposed to be.  Internet games win every time.  I've even gone so far as to allow games... yeah, allow them... during homeroom, thinking that would alleviate my frustration the rest of the day.  Nope.
Recently we began our book clubs.  I'll give students various options of things to work on when they aren't with me.  They move around the room and we get started.  Now, obviously, I'm not a moron.  Kids who are sitting underneath a table or built-in desk, are clearly hiding something.  Thankfully, I have friends who keep me informed and then I have hallway discussions with rule breakers after my lesson.  This has been the struggle the last few weeks.  It's been happening in math as well, however, I've found more success!  How you ask? Awesome, no computers required, centers.  Those old-school centers have helped immensely and my math centers have started to be more successful.  Sure, it took work and staying late a few nights to set them up, but it's been totally worth it!  I was excited to begin the hunt for great ELA centers... in all my spare time.  No dice though.  It's either a monthly bundle where you print and organize and laminate a million items, or it's random busy work that offers no true review or experience that is worthwhile.  WHYYYYYYYYY!?
That was it.  After days, preps, after school hours, of scouring the internet, it hit me.  I'll fight technology, with even cooler technology.  HA!  Take that secret open tabs that aren't supposed to be open!
Enter *Alexa*
Oh yeah, baby.  I started to compile a list of super cool tasks Alexa could do.  Spelling games, writing activities, history lessons, local businesses, etc.  I was obsessed with my new idea.  I feverishly worked and finished creating the center in no time.  I'll be rolling it out this week and now my ELA centers will go from annoying and off task behind my back, to engaging, creative, and easily checked on for accountability.  BOOM.
About the center...
Ask Alexa.
Students will pick a card from the Alexa container.  They'll work with Alexa to complete the task on the card.  This task could be worked on during center time, or used if the child is an early finisher.  I designed the activities to be on-going.  Students will combine speaking and listening, with research, creation, math, science, history, and ELA.  I covered everything!  Some activities have worksheets to match while others require the scanning of our Ask Alexa flipgrid QR code so students can create a nature documentary, retell a choose your own adventure story, or more!  It's also the sort of center where more than one child can easily use it and then proceed to their independent work.  It's incredible if I do say so myself!  I gave the kiddos a preview on Friday and they cannot wait to try it out this week.  Here are some pictures of the center and you can grab your copy by clicking the link below!  Enjoy, and good luck to us all fellow teachers!

Grab your Ask Alexa center HERE

#chrometastic

It's hard to describe just what ChromeCamp was like this past Saturday.  I'm still reeling from the inspiration and excitement that filled the morning.  For many in the education field, professional development doesn't always look quite like this, and I feel lucky to be part of a school district that strives for this sort of event and experience for its educators and other participants.  In the months leading up to Chromecamp, we shared ideas, reached out for donations, created centerpieces and decor, and tried to visualize every detail we could to ensure the success of our event.  The team was phenomenal, to say the least, which lead to a truly invigorating experience for all involved.  As people started to arrive the check-in table was buzzing, green screen was all smiles, and swag was flying into bags left and right!  I'm almost positive our swag bags rivaled that of a Hollywood Awards show.  Educators and Administrators from all over the area were networking over breakfast and were bright-eyed while brainstorming ideas to fill the session board.  The board was on its way and the prizes began...  This was probably as close as I'll ever get to understanding how Oprah felt during her Favorite Things show...

The excitement in the room was contagious and almost overwhelming... in the best way!  We started the day strong and the sessions kept it going.  I was lucky enough to work with a talented colleague in facilitating sessions on FlipGrid, Google Classroom, and Google Suite (Docs specifically).  This fluid EdCamp style of workshops is still new to many people.  Presentations aren't really the goal, rather educators sharing and conversing and leading one another.  Victoria and I did our best to get the ball rolling during our sessions and try to encourage the participants to share ideas, showcase what they know, and interact instead of sit and listen.  It was a great feeling to be able to help encourage other educators to share their knowledge with one another and to bring people out of their shell into a new style of learning.  The Prize Patrol would enter into sessions at random to hand out, even more, amazing prizes, and it continued the excitement throughout the day!  As if the knowledge gained in sessions weren't enough!?  When the sessions finished and the mass of people headed back to the main room we were able to reflect with colleagues and friends about sessions we had visited/helped lead throughout the morning and of course... you guessed it... more prizes!  

It would have been a dream just to attend this event, but I was lucky enough to actually be involved in its development.  It truly was the kind of professional development that reinvigorates you as an educator/administrator.  With all that I learned, even as a facilitator, I went into this week feeling on top of the world.  In addition to new contacts, and new knowledge, I gained a new level of excitement for what I do...the best prize of all. 

Getting (back) on Track

I realize I have been a complete deadbeat with my blog.  I've been working on so many different projects, I forgot about one I was most excited about as the school year got started!  I decided to start thinking about my blog in a different way.   Each week I spend time planning out my lessons, and creating content for my classes, so why on Earth am I treating my blog differently?  I decided to create a blog idea schedule to keep me on track!  There are myriad of concepts/theories/decor elements/styles/etc. to discuss when it comes to teaching and yet, I found myself wondering what to blog about.  I knew getting organized would help.  Here is a picture below of my 'blog idea schedule'.  It's simple, but I know it will be effective!  I've also attached the link for you to download your own in case you're like me and need some help getting organized to stay on track!  Now that I'm feeling organized, new blog posts will be coming... :)

Click here to download your schedule!

So Googley!

IT HAPPENED!!!!

Today was beyond exciting!  I've been working on and off towards this for the past year almost. I use all things Google on a regular basis and this truly deepened my knowledge.  I feel so much more confident and I learned about programs in G Suite that I didn't know about or how to use before.  If you're an educator, I cannot recommend doing this enough!  It takes time and practice, but it is so completely worth all of the time and effort.  I'm looking forward to giving myself a little break and then jumping back in for level 2.  I'm also planning exciting things for this school year using my new Google knowledge!  

Completing this has encouraged me to reflect on deadlines.  I gave myself the deadline of last summer to complete this and clearly, that didn't happen!  I needed more time and more practice to reach this goal.  We often give our students these hard deadlines as well.  There are times when they clearly need more time, more resources, and more practice, just like I did with this certification.  Although I want to prepare them for the real world, where deadlines are not always flexible, I do want to allow some wiggle room this year.  I only reached my full potential with this because I was flexible with my learning and practice.  Shouldn't the students be encouraged to reach theirs as well, even if it means fudging a few deadlines?