Donors Choose

Please consider donating to help our classroom!  We are currently in a temporary building waiting for our new school to be built.  Fortunately our new classroom has tables this year instead of desks!  The one downfall to this is, I have no storage for my students' supplies and materials.  Each day they keep what they need for learning in their backpacks.  The backpacks are either hung up across the room or sitting beside their chair.  When students get up to go to their backpacks every time they need something, they lose learning time and/or disrupt other students.  If they choose to keep their backpacks next to their seat, it causes a huge tripping hazard and we have already had three falls!

If you can help in any way, it would be greatly appreciated by us!  The seat pockets are built to last years and years of different classes so they will be with our school for a long time.

All of the information can be found on my Donors Choose site.

Our Donors Choose Site

Thank you so much for your generosity! 

The Classroom Economy

Another year with The Classroom Economy system!  Last year was a huge hit and my students learned so much about economics and most importantly--they were practicing real life skills in the classroom.

A picture from last year's board at the beginning of the year:

Here's how it works (a more in-depth explanation on the website) -

1. Students apply for jobs in the classroom.  Some jobs require recommendations from adults who know them well.  Students apply for a new job each marking period.
2. Each job received a certain salary and paychecks are issued bi-weekly.  
3. Students keep their own wallets which include a space to store their money and a place to track their transactions (deposits and withdrawals).
4. Students can earn bonuses for exceeding classroom expectations or fines for not.  These are added or subtracted from their bank accounts with their assigned banker (another student job).
5. At the end of each month, we hold an auction with classroom coupons and physical items to bid on. I usually ask for donations at the beginning of the school year from families and outside resources.  Donation availability depends on what the store/restaurant has already given out for that fiscal year.  Sometimes they're out of the goods, sometimes you hit the jackpot!

This TpT store by "Stories by Storie" has a free set of Reward Coupons you can include in the auction!

                  Some great places to call up for gift card donations are:

• Applebee's
• 5 and Below
• Friendly's
• Local ice cream/pizza places for a free dessert

All of the resources for this program are FREE on the My Classroom Economy site.  They send you the printed materials (some are printed in color!), they have videos to show your class as you introduce the program, and lesson plans that guide you with implementation!  The only things I have to make on my own are the wallets each year, the bulletin board, and the banker binders.  If you're tight on funds, Pinterest has some great free classroom coupons for students to bid on during the auction.  

I make the student wallets out of legal manila folders (left over from our school office), a plastic baggie, and copies of the transaction sheets.  These wallets stay in my students' Study Buddies (homework binders).  Some kids like to hole punch them (two holes fit) or just leave them in their folder for safe keeping.  

"Catching them" exceeding expectations is the way to keep the economy engaging.  Providing a warning before a fine will give the student a chance to right their wrongs.  Bonuses can be given with exceptional behavior, dedication to a task, a kid who usually has the sillies all day focused and was an attentive group member, a compliment from another faculty member, excelling on an assignment.  

I try to stress that they should meet with their banker the afternoon or morning after they receive a bonus or a fine.  This way, they can stay on top of their transactions.  Students can only meet with bankers when they are unpacking for the day or packing to go home.  Each Friday, I designate 20 minutes at the end of the day to tie up any loose ends they may have.  

Students do their jobs or they could get fired (this has only happened once!) and then will have to write a letter as to why they deserve to be re-hired, what efforts they will make to improve, and the importance of their position in the classroom.

This year we are just beginning our Classroom Economy and will hold our first auction at the end of September.  The students are so excited!

M.A.T.H. Program and Workshop Rotations

I've been using this program I call M.A.T.H. for about a year now and would like to let you know all about it just in case you're interested in using any of the aspects in your own classroom!

I am a big "Google-er" and spent much of my time searching for other math programs out there already in place and tested by the experts.  I took the pieces of each program that I really found beneficial for my students and intertwined them to become this one hunky program in my own room.  It has worked wonders for my kids.  They are now devoted deep thinkers, persevering problem solvers, kind and considerate collaborators, and best of all--mathematicians! 

This program is a little bit of Guided Math, The Daily 3, and Pinterest/Blog ideas all poured into one.  I am not selling anything for this program because most of it is already made for us!  I did all of the searching and trial and error on my own students.  This way, you just get the good stuff and are able to get started right away with the resources I’ve found or created along the way….Lucky you!

Free Printable Rotation Cards

So to best explain it all, I have two resources.  One is a Symbaloo Webmix with all of the resources and links and the other is a video PowerPoint presentation my school's STAT Teacher and I gave to Baltimore County during the STAT Institute last summer. 

I have provided our Symbaloo with all of the resources in one place.  I provided access to all of my 4^th grade math files, websites I love to use, the presentations, and a way for you to introduce it to your school at a Professional Development session (thank you to my school’s fabulous STAT Teacher—Megan H.).  That section focuses in on the Learner Centered Environment and how this program really embraces that teaching and learning style.

Our presentation resources are located on the left and the center of the Symbaloo page.  The right side contains resources from another BCPS Teacher who presented on the West Side during the same conference.

Here's the link to the handy Symbaloo!

Feel free to ask any questions or leave any concerns you have so I can help you get started with this amazing program right away!  If you have any additional resources you would like to share, please add them in the comment section.

Here is the OfficeMix video I created today using the PowerPoint presentation on just the M.A.T.H. Program and rotations with small group.  Please contact Megan or myself if you would like more information on the Learner Centered Environment section of the presentation!

M.A.T.H. Program PD Video

The beginning of M.A.T.H. this year: