Five For Friday- 11/6

My favorite link up of the week with DoodleBugs Five For Friday

It was a super busy week even though I only saw my students two days!!

We started the week with two Professional Learning Days in our county. The first day we went to four sessions of our choosing. 

1. I went to one about Project Based Learning in kindergarten, I teach first, but wanted to see what they were doing so I could adapt it for first grade. It was also taught by my good friend, Barbara Pierce and it is always fun to see her!

2. The second session I went to was about 50 Reading Recipes to help build Effective Readers. The session focused on strategies from a book by Jennifer Serravallo.

My favorite strategy we learned about was the Party Ladder, where you make a chart that looks like steps and each step has a goal for students to complete and then they move up the ladder. Once they get to the top of the ladder you celebrate. I am thinking of using this one to give students directions for what to do after guided reading, when they write in their reading log. I will make a chart that says: 1. Reread the book. 2. Write about the story. 3. Draw a picture. 4. Add Details. 5. Celebrate- I will have them move their "monster" on our behavior board.

3. The third session I went to was about interactive notebooks and the presenter Kayse Morris is also on TeachersPayTeachers and she talked about that as well. Her products were very cute and you can view her store HERE.

4. The last presentation I attended was about Project Based Learning. Her presentation really reminded me of STEM activities, and reading books to go with those activities. 

It seems that there are many descriptions for what Project Based Learning Looks like as well as Personalized Learning. It is not just a cut and dry thing. You will just have to see what will work best in your classroom. One thing that seems evident is that to do this in your classroom you have to have a very flexible schedule. You cannot have a "reading block" and "math block" your schedule needs to be able to change with how the students are directing their own learning. Some things will take longer than you may expect. 

That was day 1 of the our Professional Learning Days. For Day 2, we stayed at our school and I was actually able to present to my coworkers are Plickers and Blabberize. I have talked about these both previously on this blog. 

A few of my coworkers also presented and I am excited to look into possibly using Seesaw as digital student work portfolios, that parents get to see and check regularly. 

We also learned about Class Dojo and how it has more to offer than just a behavior tool. At the beginning of the year I planned to use Class Dojo, but it just did not happen. I may need to look into that again.

Wednesday, I was extremely lucky and was able to attend GAETC, Georgia Educational Technology Conference. This was my first time attending and I was really excited. 

The keynote speaker had a powerful message about making sure your students know that they matter. Just as adults, we like to know that we matter and are making a difference, etc. Students also want to know that they matter in the classroom. 

I enjoyed visiting all the exhibits, and as well as the student presentations. I also attending a view sessions. 

The main thing I learned about and want to try and use is nearpod. I also learned that brainpop has more to offer than just videos. Students can create graphic organizers after watching a video and there is an educator brainpop blog HERE.

We used the Georgia Framework Task, Dropping Tens to learn about ones and tens!

Hooray! I finally posted my Word Family Posters in my classroom. I've had these ready and laminated for awhile, but did get a chance to post them until now. You can find them in my TPT Store HERE.

We had our Fall Festival Friday from 6-8. So, I got to school at 7 in the morning and did not leave until after 8. Needless to say, that while I am writing this post on a Saturday morning, my entire body aches!

The Fall Festival seemed to be a success even though it was a rainy night. Evidently, Georgia is the new Seattle and it rains everyday here....

I ran the fake tattoo booth while my husband ran the ladder ball booth. It was fun, but those fake tattoos take some skill to get on students correctly!

We also had a raffle, my class sponsored the Pet Themed Basket and at first I was worried that we were not getting enough stuff in, but it all came in at the last minute. Would you pay $1 to enter to win our basket?

Thanks for listening to my randomness for the week!