MBC : Summer Learning!

Well it's official...It's SUMMERTIME!! Whoop Whoop!!

And for the first time in 5 years of teaching...and 5 years of being with my teacher husband... We have absolutely NOTHING to do! Neither of us is working on a Masters Degree, no wedding to plan, no extra programs being taken through school...NOTHING. This is going to be interesting :)

To start the summer, my wonderful hubby, Zack, was still in North Carolina finishing up their school year. (They got out on the 10th..followed by three workdays). Needless to say...I needed to find something to keep myself busy while being home alone. The great thing is Clover School District is offering a wide-range of courses and classes to help prepare teachers for the upcoming 1-to-1 iPad program that is being rolled out next school year. Sooo I found a class that I was super interested in and enrolled in it before Zack started his summer vacation also.

Clover is also encouraging teachers and students to use the My Big Campus platform as a means of communication and work submission throughout the upcoming school year. I enrolled for the "Basics" course. I have had a little interaction with the site...but never really gotten the chance to use it as a main source within my classroom. So, bright and early on my Summer day...I went to the high school and got myself ready for an exciting learning session...

 
To begin the session we went over all the wonderfull-ness that we were going to cover throughout our session. Needless to say it was ALOT! I was beyond excited. Having never really worked with the platform, I was really excited to see all of the different things that it was capable of. We started with a little tour of the actual website and program before learning how to make our own personalized profiles; Check Mine Out! Now, through my Math group and curriculum leader, Christie Reid, I had already taken care of this step and felt pretty comfortable!

After getting our profiles covered, we moved into understanding the various perks of My Big Campus. We looked into EduTalk (basically a Twitter on just My Big Campus), We looked at the Drive (basically a Google Drive on My Big Campus where you can hold documents, pictures, videos, etc.), We looked at the Calendar (and how you can share it with groups, attach activities, etc.), and We looked at the Library (where other teachers, educators, school-fanatics can put bundles together of lessons, activities, videos, and other wonderful goodness!).

Lastly for our morning session we looked into how to create Groups. This is where I went a little crazy. I have MAJOR ideas for using this platform within my classroom this year...Especially in the 1-to-1 iPad greatness! I made a few...understatement...groups. Teaching only Math next year (Whoop Whoop) I made a Pre-Algebra and Algebra group, then made a group for my Academy class, made a group of my 8-3 Team, and of course had a Math-Department group for our school and an 8th-Grade Math group for the district. Yeaa...This might get overwhelming ;)

                           

 

This was the overall jest of what was covered throughout our morning session. The instructor is leading several other classes throughout the summer covering Communication, SchoolWork, Library, and the Drive. I plan on covering these courses to as my husband does his "man-things" around the house and in the yard this summer. So of course....I'll keep you posted. I think this is going to be a great learning experience for both myself and my students. I think My Big Campus is really going to help organize and provide some structure for the communication between myself and my students; as well as, the use of iPads within the classroom!

So, until I enroll for my next course...I'll be cheering on #USMNT in their World Cup appearances! #USAUSAUSA

Until next time.... :)

Is It Really Over?

Well....this year flew by. I think that statement is even an understatement about how fast this year went by! They say every year goes by quicker; especially when you're new or when you're having fun :) However, I'm not sure a school year could, or can, get any quicker then what my 8th graders and myself experienced this year. To start the day Mrs. Reed, my teammie, and I decided to get a quick shot of our dress up! This was the one and only day you would catch us in dresses and heels!

Today was our final day with students...I know super sad :( We had our "Moving-On Ceremony" this morning in our district auditorium. This ceremony awarded the 8th graders for making it through the middle school years and congratulated students on becoming high school students. It was a fabulous ceremony put on by a wonderful Mrs. Ammons and many of our 8th grade students. We began our ceremony by having parents rise until all 8th grade students entered for the special event. Three students then presented the flags of the United States and South Carolina before we were led in the pledge of allegiance and national anthem by students and our 8th grade chorus. We were then welcomed to the ceremony and given a reflection of the year by two more students before teams began to call individuals up, across the stage, and to receive their certificate. We were the last team to go, being team 8-3 and by my opinion the best, and I got the privileged of calling my students' names. I was super nervous of totally butchering some names....but needless to say, I did pretty good! Only had one student smile and shake her head no when I stumbled across her middle name :) Whoops!

After the ceremony, students, parents, and teachers, attended a small reception in the cafeteria. We were offered punch, lemonade, water, and cookies. It was put on by our P.T.O. and was very nice for the newly named high schoolers! I did get the chance to snap a few selfies with some students and athletes before they all cleared out for the day, and the year.

 

 

 

I have to say that I will miss this team. Not only is it emotional every year when school gets out for the summer, but this was my first 8th grade group. It was my first class at Clover Middle School. It was my first 8th grade class. It was my first Math and Science class. It was my first class in South Carolina. It was a lot of firsts for me this year, but I have to say I don't think I could have picked a better group of students to spend them with! This group, as with all my students and classes, will have a special place in my heart. :) (Ok, that's enough sappy memories!)

As a final note leading into summer, I'd like to share a video in hopes that some students are helped throughout their summer away from school. I don't think the video needs any introduction other than...it's Kid President and he's up to helping other kids again and doing a fabulous job at it:

Of course I'll be busy this summer. Getting professional development credits, organizing my room, and just basically trying to become the most amazing 8th Grade Math teacher ever. Soo...needless to say I'll keep you updated... Until then.... :)

A Week After Testing is Finished

The year is coming to a close...and this 8th grade group is finished with testing! So, as a teacher of Math and Science I think to myself, "What would I be interested in as an 8th grader whose done testing?" I had to do a little research of activities and work for us to try since in North Carolina testing is so late, I never really found myself with a week free to do "fun" things that my kids would be interested in, enjoy working on, and still be educational related to what we covered throughout the year.

My third period, or PreAlgebra group, were actually still covering exponent rules. So, needless to say they weren't to happy with me. We actually tested the final chapter on Thursday. (Yes, I know, mean ol' teacher made the kids take a chapter test on the second-to-last-whole school day of the year. Whoops!) I did have some pretty cool things to use after seeing this website on Pinterest. My kids actually liked making the little books, and they used them faithfully!

My fourth period, or Algebra group, just took their EOC (End of Course) test the Wednesday before we went to Charleston and this was their first week "off" of new material. They got the "easy" Math activity for the week. I also found this one on Pinterest, but the link got removed since pinning it and then bringing it back up for printing and coping. Soooo...I had to research and find another website that had what I was looking for. Found it here! My kiddos were divided into five groups of four. Each group got their own "version" of the project and everyone got their own bird within the project. The overall activity reviewed pieces and characteristics of quadratic functions. Earlier in the year we discussed vertex, axis of symmetry, zeros, and more all surrounding quadratic functions and this was a fun way for students to review these pieces and have a little relaxing project making. Here's some of the posters my kiddos made:

The kids really seemed to enjoy this! They really liked seeing the different ways that all the birds traveled and figuring out which bird hit which pigs. I also got to see their artistic talents when they drew their birds!

My sixth and seventh periods, being Science, really needed something fun for the kids to work on. We covered force and motion right before the PASS tests and I felt like we needed to go back and hit it again since it was kind of covered with review material at the same time. We started the week off by watching this video on force and motion and how it impacts car crashes:

After the video we discussed what was important in thinking about the information we know about force and motion, and now about the impacts of crashes. Then students were told that we were going to use that information to create something that would hold an egg and then be dropped down the stairs of our hallway. Students could use anything to hold their egg except a parachute. Students were given this background information and this instructional page in order to make their container to drop their egg in. Students brought in materials for the next couple of days and put together their idea of what would protect the egg. On Thursday we dropped the eggs in their "safe-places" to see if students' ideas worked. The containers ranged from bubble wrap, stuffed animals, peanut butter jars, marshmallow fluff, and more. Here's some of the groups with their containers:

 

We're Ready to Drop!

The kids really enjoyed this! Actually all ten groups, five within each of my two classes, had successful launches. All the eggs survived with not a single crack! I was pretty impressed with the creativity and unique-ness of their ideas of what to drop the eggs in. I'm super glad I tried this with them and they really enjoyed getting this engineering time in before heading home for the summer!

We are down to three half-days this week. I'm looking forward to my first "Moving-On" Ceremony with the 8th graders on Wednesday. It's our mini-graduation for them before they leave us to move on to the high school. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I don't get emotional. I'll definitely post pictures next week!
Until then...... :)

Well Look Who Showed Up

Hi everyone! Guess whose back...This girl!

So my first year teaching 8th grade is coming to a close (I know...it's sad) and it's about time I resubmitted myself to my life in the blog world of 8th grade. It has been a jam packed year in my 8th grade world. Remember...it was this year that I made the switch from 6th grade to 8th grade, Language Arts & Social Studies to Math & Science, and North Carolina to South Carolina. I have absolutely loved it! There were always the little bumps along the road, as there are in every school year, but overall it was a fabulous decision to move to 8th grade and the Clover community.

All of our tests are over for the year, PASS and Algebra EOC, so it was time to celebrate with a trip to Charleston, South Carolina for these 8th graders. We left Thursday morning around 7am and made it to our first stop at the Drayton Hall Plantation around 10. This was the first time I had ever visited this place and let me tell you...it was B-E-A-Utiful. We started the stop with a lunch from home, carried in our little lunch baggies, before moving into a guided tour throughout the house and surrounding grounds. After about forty minutes on the tour, groups from our school switched locations and we went through three stations to learn more about the property, time period, and people who lived on the plantation. Our stations covered rice mashing, blacksmith jobs, and kitchen importance. It was a great first stop!

Drayton Hall Plantation 

The ceiling in the main room. All made from hand-done plaster.

The gorgeous view from the front door.

After the Drayton Hall stop, we went to the Charles Towne Landing. This site was really cool! The only thing was...we didn't have enough time to really enjoy it. Students were rushed through the site looking for specific information relating to their course in South Carolina history. Because of our time crunch and finding the necessary information, I think students missed the importance...not to mention coolness...of the place. I would DEFINITELY take kids back there to explore for a longer time. It was a great site :)

After Charles Towne Landing we went to Patriots Point. The boys went crazy at this place! They absolutely loved it! It was right up their alley. They enjoyed the hidden passages throughout the boat, the airplanes on the deck, and every ounce of the trip. This was by-far the boys favorite place!

Finally to call it a day...we visited Frankie's Fun Park. The place was our dinner, hamburgers and hot dogs, and our kids release of energy for the day. Of course this teacher participated as well; yep, I raced go-karts. Not to mention I came in 2nd ;)

The wonderful group of girls I was in charge of throughout the trip!

Mrs. Stine and myself with a fierce go-karter!

After calling it a night around 11:30pm on Thursday, we woke up and were ready to go Friday morning. This morning started with a historical downtown tour of Charleston. We went through the visitor center, picked up our tour guide on our bus and she talked us through the historical pieces of Charleston. We visited The Citadel, Rainbow Row, and The Battery among other interesting places. Definitely got our learning in for the day!

After our tour we made a stop at the South Carolina Aquarium. This was another huge hit among kids. They loved the sharks, turtles, eagle, alligators, and other unique animals we rarely get to see. This was actually my first time at the aquarium too; I loved it as much as the kids!

Our final stop for our two-day trip was the Charleston Market. Students loved seeing souvenirs and pieces of their stay in the city. There were pieces representing the aquarium, the plantations, the historical pieces of Charleston and more. I had many students grab themselves littler souvenirs from the market. They bought everything from straw-hats, Charleston t-shirts, and candy, to bracelets, photos, and sunglasses. It was a fabulous experience. 

I have to say that the trip itself was wonderful! The kids totally enjoyed exploring a new city, new history, and places that they may or may not have visited before. I also have to say that seeing the light in their eyes throughout the trip really made me fall in love all over again with Charleston. I go there regularly to visit my in-laws, but gained a new appreciation for the historical town of Charleston. 

 We are down to a full week and three half days in the 2013-2014 school year. This week we have our final dance performance, athletic banquet, and a couple pretty cool Math and Science projects to wrap up. I'll be sure to share the wonderful goodies of this week. Until next time... :)

Waving Through the Week

This week was a week gone crazy! Every teacher knows those weeks where it just feels as though you never see your students in the actual classroom setting; It was one of those weeks! It was a four day week for students from the beginning, because of our wonderful Technology Fest professional development that was scheduled for today (more on that later!). However, this four day week was definitely not the average four day week.

Monday went smoothly. It was a normal day and students were basically awesome. :) Tuesday and Wednesday were scheduled for our PASS Practice Writing Test (every student takes this writing test at the end of the year from the state). Apparently, new to me, this is a 2-day test. Students taking the writing portion on day one by answering a writing prompt, planning, and drafting a paper before writing their final. On day two there is a multiple choice portion on grammar and mechanics. Brilliant! **So much different than that "state up north" that I came from this year. Before only certain grade levels took the writing test (7th grade was the "big big" one). No one else worried about writing tests. But that's another story for another day about how these tests help throughout all grade levels ;)

So anyways...let me get back on track... With testing on Tuesday and Wednesday my teammate and I decided that we would do 3rd and 4th period Tuesday afternoon, then 6th and 7th period on Wednesday afternoon. Well...the best laid plans....The dance performance by the first semester students was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at 2pm. Needless to say, I didn't get anything accomplished in my 3rd and 4th period Tuesday. But it was definitely worth it. It was awesome watching the three grade levels perform their dances. It was organized as a "Dancing through the Decades" performance. There were choreographed dances by sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. I absolutely loved it! The students did wonderful. It was fantastic to see some of my quietest students really get on stage and show off their talents. I was, needless to say, impressed! (I still hate that I didn't take my iPad to get any pictures!)

So, only being left Wednesday (6th and 7th period only) and Thursday (Yayyy another normal day!) I had a lot to get through! In Math we were working on everything from the Pythagorean Theorem to translations of linear and exponential functions. Check out Flocabulary's rap on the Pythagorean Theorem. Kids thought I was cheesy for showing them....mission accomplished! I also found this super cute Disney video about Donald in MathMagic Land. So wanting to show my kids...just need to find the time :)

In Science for the remainder of the week we brought out studies together on earthquakes, seismic waves, and properties of waves. Students had already completed notes on the anatomy of an earthquake, the three types of waves (primary, secondary, and surface), and finally the properties of those waves. Through the notes of these activities earlier.... we created a legit foldable inside a foldable! Check us out:

 




To end the week, I decided to get a jump start on the beginning of the second semester here at Clover. One of my biggest struggles is getting make-up work to and from students. Therefore, I created a system. I believe in myself and believe that this will work ;)  I'm planning on writing the names of students on the assignments, then placing them in the period when the student was absent. Smart right? That's my plan!

Well....we are off Monday for the Martin Luther King Holiday. So it is another four day week for this teacher. I'll update how with how wonderful my kiddos are after I see the amazing things they can accomplish this week. Until next time.... :)

Starting the Year Right!

Well, well, well, look who decided to do a blog post...This girl :)

Can I tell you it's been a busy semester for me? I know, here she does again making excuses, but I can guarantee this second semester is going to be full-blog-mode for me. So, let me start by explaining a little bit of what has been going on....

I graduated!! 
Yep, this girl has her masters from Appalachian State University in Middle Grades Education. Graduation was December 14th. We did it all in one and a half years because of the "lovely" situation that North Carolina government has put teachers in...but that's another rant for another day. We had 10 hours for both the second summer and fall semesters. Along with those ten hours, I started my first year at Clover Middle School, which I absolutely love, in a new grade level, new state, and new content areas. Sooo...this girls been a little busy. And on top of that...Basketball season started November 4th. I could not have been more excited! Basketball season is my favorite time of the school year...along with softball season :)

Well now that that is over...it's time to focus a little more closely on the wonderful things that are going on at Clover Middle School. I know my 8th graders are doing fabulous things in both Math and Science and I am looking forward to finally getting the chance to share those!

But in the meantime...We started the year off right with my 7th grade girls basketball team today by attending the Clover High School girls J.V. and Varsity games. We watched the games in hopes to get some pointers and ideas about how to improve our own skills and fundamentals. We had a great time and really enjoyed rooting for the girls!

The cool crowd sits with the coach :)

7th and 8th grade girls enjoying the games!

Here's our team pictures for my lovely and wonderful 7th grade girls. I have to say I love these girls. They work hard and definitely keep my laughing through practices and games. I look forward to finishing the second half of the season with them and watching them grow in basketball everyday. 

We took a serious one...

So of course we needed a goofy one.

So until next time....promise I'll be updating weekly with the fabulous things both my 8th grade Math and Science kiddos are doing...as well as my amazing girls on the basketball court :)

My Nerves Still Work!

Ahhhh! That's how I want to start this blog post! As many of you know...I'm working on my masters through Appalachian State University on top of beginning a new teaching job, in a new state, in a new grade level, in two new content areas. Whoa...it's crazy! I absolutely love my eighth graders and I can not express how excited I am to teach Math and Science (in South Carolina none-the-less) but my life is go-go-go right now.

This week was definitely a case-in-point situation. As many of you know...again...I participated in the UNCC Writing Project over the summer and had an amazing time! I loved it and really think that it benefited me as a teacher. This week I was invited to present with my friend, Meredith, at the UNCC Writing Project's Fall Conference. Needless to say...I was nervous. We were asked to present Meredith's strength in Fine Arts (as a Drama teacher in Charlotte-Mecklenburg) and mine...apparently technology. ;)

Here are some documenting photos I took from our day...

It's Official...I'm a presenter :)

Lacy beginning our day!

Meredith and I getting ready!

The nerves are kicking in!

Loving my new day book! Especially since my last one is full!

Ahhh! Here we are! This is our presenting-room!

My homemade badge representing my thoughts on participatory learning!

The entire group ready for the fabulous day!

Overall it was a fantastic day and I enjoyed our presentation and many other's that I learned a lot of helpful information from! Not to mention I'm super excited about taking my class to Discovery Place for some Science Discourse sometime soon :)

I will be posting again soon...There's lots to catch you up on that has been going on in the fabulous life of Team 8-3 at Clover Middle...So until next time... :)