Have you visited Math Spies Lately?

When I went to London this summer, I knew I would write a Math Spies Episode set in London.  Last weekend I posted the third mission in this series.   The focus is adding and subtracting money.

In case you are not familiar with Math Spies, this is a website I write for my students.  Each mission has a series of math problems the spies must solve.  I am currently working on Episode 4.  Each episode has seven missions.  The math concepts are most appropriate for grades 4-6.

I hope you have a chance to use this resource with your students.  My students enjoy solving the scenarios and have even made suggestions about the situations the Math Spies should encounter.  Please leave me questions in the comments.

The Seer of Shadows by Avi

My students often complain that I don't have enough ghost stories in my classroom library.  This summer I discovered a ghost story that I would be willing to have in my room.

 
Avi writes quality historical fiction with interesting characters.  The main character has been brought up in a very scientific home.  He is apprenticed to a photographer who is more interested in getting money from his wealthy customers than working at his craft.  When the photographer wants to fool one of his customers into believing he has taken a picture of her dead daughter, Horace notices something about the image that can't easily be explained.

I have created a free character sketch form to go with this and any other novel.

To find out more about my rating scale, click here.
Find me at Goodreads.

What's in a name?

The first day of school I have a ritual I have stuck with for as many years as I can remember.  I have the students look at the name tags and tell me if that is the name they want to be called.  I make a big deal about how a sign of respect is calling someone by name.  We discuss nicknames and how some show that you belong and others are insulting.  This year I added a time in our morning meetings where students challenge themselves to go around the circle remembering each person's name.

Over the summer at a family reunion, I was called by a name that makes me cringe.  It's one of those childhood names that one sheds when they get older.  No one else calls me this name.  I hesitated to correct the family member.

It did cause me to think about my ritual and the way I want to show my students that I respect each of them and that I want them to respect each other in this way.

As I have said before, a nickname not agreed to by giver and receiver is name-calling.

Quote of the Week -- September 9, 2012

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” 

William Butler Yeats

Free Poetry Resource

Have you checked out my poetry blog Poems of Silliness?  I started this site because I did an April Poetry Challenge a couple of years ago where poets write a poem a day.  Last October, I challenged myself to post a poem today for a year.  Along the way, I investigated different forms of poetry and it has become a tool I use for teaching poetry in my class.

I am hoping that other teachers will find this resource useful.  You can search for a poem on a particular topic in the tool bar.  You can click on a tag to see a set of poems in a particular form. 

I can't wait to begin teaching poetry to my fourth graders this year.

Update June 2014: I have replaced the April 2012 & April 2013 challenges with 10 Poetry Forms.  This packet is all the same poetry lessons in one place.  To download the freebie 10 Poetry Forms from TPT, click here.  To download the freebie 10 Poetry Forms from TN, click here.

Have you ever missed the first day of school?

Our first day of school is this Wednesday.  A few weeks ago a family member began showing signs of serious illness -- serious enough that I wondered if I would miss the first day of school.

In twenty-two years, I have missed only two: my father's death and a case of intense food poisoning.  Each of those days, I had an intern that I had prepared who could help cover.  Each of those days I had my own first day of school where I set the tone for the year.

Life happens.

Quote of the Week -- September 2, 2012

Give people a reason to come to work, not just a place to go to work.

Simon Sinek

How do I incorporate this idea in my classroom?