Virtual Learning Days

You can follow Tracy at her new blog: The Knit Wit Teacher

My district took a huge step this week in regards to Virtual Learning Days. Back in November we had a random snow day. Pure CrAzInEsS, to have a snow day that early!!! Mother Nature isn't my biggest fan.

Instead of making up the snow day like normal we had a Virtual Snow Day.

I'll be the first to tell you this took a TON of planning. We had some teachers in the district that loved the idea of a VLD and some that wanted nothing to do with it. But we all took that jump together. 

The first step was deciding who had internet. Our district sent out surveys so we could figure out who had internet access and home and who did not. Then we had to come up with ways to meet the needs of the students with internet, those without, and those with IEP's. 

Michelle and I used Google Docs to make our lesson plans together and we set out to make the VLD as normal as possible for out kiddos. 

The power of being 1:1 people. It's a beautiful thing. With the power of a few apps. Our plans were something we could stand behind and say that our students were still getting close to a normal day. Did they miss out on mini lessons and an actual teacher in front of them, yes. But it was still productive and with the possibility of a flipped classroom our next VLD could look very much like a normal day. 

Take a look at our VLD plans. Or check them out below. 

With the power of the app ebackpack:

Teachers have the ability to give students assignments that they can make offline. This allows students to work on any assignment without internet. This meant that every student was working on the same thing. Internet or lack of wasn't an issue. When they arrive back at school they can access the internet and submit their assignments. eBackpack has had a lot of glitches this year but the offline component is FINALLY working. eBackpack also gives the teacher the ability to "act like" any student. This allowed me to push assignments out to absent student's devices so they still had access. 

If you don't have eBackpack available to you NeuAnnotate is also a great app that allows students to download their work. Before eBackpack was working correctly I would upload assignments into MyBigCampus and students would download them from MBC into NeuAnnotate. 

eBackpack isn't perfect. It took my students awhile to get the hang of zooming in before they tried to write or using text boxes, but they are getting the hang of it. 

I like eBackpack because it allows me to grade easily at home without brining a ton of papers with me, I can create assessments that are then graded for me, and the offline component is opening up a whole new world to us. But it does have issues. Sometimes writing on paper is truly the best way to go. 

Now, did our VLD go off without any problems? Not at all. First of all teachers were required to go in like a normal day. We had office hours set so parents could contact us as well as PD. Mother Nature had other plans in mind. 

The snow started falling early Monday morning and our County was put under a Travel Advisory. This meant teachers were sent home at lunch. Due to our country roads being covered with snow and ice we missed out all week! 

We've had more snow fall today and our roads are once again a slushy mess. I'm not confident we will even be back in school on Monday! Sometimes I hate living in Indiana. 

But my students have been trained to check MyBigCampus every snow day and see if I have any activities for them to follow. Does every student do that? No....But I'm proud to say that a lot do. 

Michelle and I will be breaking down our Virtual Learning Day more over the next few weeks. Especially once we get feedback from our students. I'm sure we will have to make changes, but I'm thrilled that VLD will allow us, in the future, to have class prior to ISTEP (mandated state testing) instead of just adding the days on in June when everyone is over the school year. 

Have any of you participated in a Virtual Learning Day before? How did yours go?

Sound of below and let us know your thoughts or questions you have for us. 

In the meantime, I'm off to make a cuppa tea and to devour a box of Girl Scout cookies. ;) 

-Tracy

Five for Friday 1-16-15

You can follow Tracy at her new blog: The Knit Wit Teacher

After a crazy week Michelle and I are joining forces to blog with Doodlebugs Teaching for the Five for Friday linkup.

I came home today to find my first Ipsy glam back in the mail. I can't tell you how happy the pink sparkler mailer made me. It's the little things in life. 

My daughter Leah has fallen in love with this series. It's great for getting girls into chapter books. Fair warning: This series has 25 books currently. Once your kiddos start reading they may not want to stop! 

I finally sat down and working on a Valentine's Day bundle for my class. My class loves playing Would You Rather and This or That. I threw in some Writing Prompts and called it a day. Don't miss out on this Flash Freebie. 

My hubby surprised me with "Just Because" flowers today. I thought maybe he got my birthday wrong (it's in 2 weeks)but no, he just wanted to say "I love you". I know carnations are considered a funeral flower but I love them. They are such pretty flowers. I'm also a huge tulip fan but I have to wait a few more months for those. And what a happy sight that will be! :)

Michelle is working hard on a MLK activity for next week. Stay tuned for pictures. It's super cute!  

Have a fantastic week friends!

-Tracy

I FINALLY finished! I hope you are able to use this great resource in your classrooms! I am actually so happy to have school in session during MLK Day this year! I can't wait for students to dive in and learn even more about this great American hero! - Michelle

Sunday Scoop - 1-11-15

You can follow Tracy at her new blog: The Knit Wit Teacher

This week I'm joining a new link up, the Sunday Scoop hosted by Teaching Trio

If you've never linked up with Teaching Trio before head on over and give it a try. Here's my Sunday Scoop. 

Have to do...

In theory Fact & Opinion sounds like something my 4th graders should breeze through. In actuality, not so much. Luckily Michelle and I changed up our Reading this week so we teach the same skill for 3 weeks. This seems to be really helping our kids instead of switching around with the Basal series every week. 

Laundry. It's a never ending battle. Some days I think I'm winning the war. Others days I want to run away and hide. Last week I seriously considered throwing away all the socks and just starting over again. 

One goal I have for the New Year is eating out less. I've done good so far but I didn't go grocery shopping this weekend. Tomorrow may be a PB&J kind of day! 

Hope to Do...

I've started teaching some of my students how to knit during recess. I offered to teach my whole class but not so surprisingly only the girls took me up on it. Their stitches are not even by any means but they are having a blast.

How did I miss Once Upon a Time when it started? I've done away with sleeping and have been staying up late every night catching up on Netflix. If you aren't watching this show head to Netflix and give it a shot. I'm enjoying it. Season 3 was a little slow but Season 4 is fantastic. 

Happy to Do...

When I'm not binge watching Netflix I've been staying up reading on my Kindle. I'm treating myself to Kindle Unlimited and I've gotta say, I'm in love. I've read so many fantastic books the last month. If you have a Kindle you may want to check it out. 

Have a fantastic week friends! Stay warm. Looks like I have an ice storm in my future. UGH! 

-Tracy

We Survived the First Week Back!! Five for Friday

Well, the first week back is in the books! I don't know about you guys, but getting back in the swing after Winter Break is always so hard!! Here are a few things going on this week in our 4th Grade...

I would love to have gotten back in our classroom routine this week, but with the frigid cold it was hard to do. Our district had a two-hour delay two mornings this week due to the below zero wind chills. It didn't help our school heater broke on one of the coldest days. The classrooms were a balmy 62 degrees at the beginning of the morning. I wish I had a picture of Tracy rocking her coveralls at school, but she did post her car duty ensemble!

I'm hoping next week is warmer, but it looks like freezing rain on Monday so I'm not holding my breath!

This week in Math we are covering geometry. Lines, Points, and Angles, Oh My! I was going to work on making some resources for this unit, but found a great bundle on TPT! We are about halfway through it and this has provided some great extra practice!

I don't know about other states, but in Indiana from now until March is really where a lot of the teaching takes place. We are also gearing up and preparing for our state testing, I-Step. New state standards, (we dropped Common Core) means a new test to prepare for. I love that we are 1:1 and our students have tons of resources at their fingertips. We have been doing some great daily review on Moby Max and Study Island.

                                      

What technology sites and apps do you use in your classroom for enrichment?

Our business cards arrived in the mail this week!! Aren't they great?!? I love how they pop! (Please excuse the poor quality of the pictures, the lighting and my phone just weren't cooperating!!)

 

I'm going to end with something I am looking forward to: The 2015 Spring Teacher Blogger Meet-Up!! It is taking place in beautiful French Lick, Indiana this March. How gorgeous is this resort?

We would love to have you join us! The weekend will be spent sharing blogging, TPT, and classroom tricks of the trade. For more information check out Mrs. Ehle's Kindergarten Connections page. We hope to see you there!!!

Taking the Plunge!

You can follow Tracy at her new blog: The Knit Wit Teacher

This year we really want to focus on becoming presenters. Michelle and I have both presented to our district and building teachers but now we would like to present to others. Last night we took that first step....

We have submitted our information at the state level and are now included on a list of other presenters. Last night we took the step and started applying for conferences held within school districts in Indiana.

This is a big step for us. Wish us luck!!!

The Not-So-Crafty Teacher and Anchor Charts

You can follow Tracy at her new blog: The Knit Wit Teacher

Sometimes when I'm looking around on Pinterest I end up feeling bad about my teaching or parenting ability because I am just not that crafty. I'm learning how to knit, I can crochet a bit, and I've recently learned how to make a wreath but after that I'm not so crafty.

When I see super cute Anchor charts on Pinterest my first thought is that "I can't make that!!! GRRRR" but I've learned that I can make something close. It took me a few years to realize there is another way besides chart paper.

I don't know about you, but I cannot write on chart paper. By the bottom of the chart my writing is sideways and my pictures just look wonky. This year I embraced change and started using regular size construction paper and then making an "Anchor Chart Wall". 

While I'm writing on construction paper I have my paper under my document camera and my kiddos are making the same chart in their notebooks. When we are done they then take their iPads and can screen shot our chart so they can use it at home for review without taking their notebooks home.

Now if you look closely, you can see that I am not an artist by any means. I teach my kids that we all are not artist but we do the best we can. Don't worry if your picture is different than mine, just do your best.

I know my papers are not spaced evenly and I'm not sure how my OCD has tolerated that this long but it just shows we all aren't perfect, regardless of how it seems on Pinterest!

How do you do Anchor Charts in your classroom?

-Tracy

January Currently

You can follow Tracy at her new blog: The Knit Wit Teacher

One resolution I have this year is to stay on top of blogging. What better way to get started than to join Oh' Boy 4th Grade for the January Currently. Hop on over to Farley's blog to check it out.

Listening: Every year my husband and I have stayed up and watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy to bring in the New Year. This year we are switching it up and watching The Hobbit. We haven't watched the 3rd movie yet but will hopefully watch it on date night.

Loving: This weekend we are taking the kids to Indianapolis and staying the night and then going to the Children's Museum the next day. The kids are super excited about staying in a hotel while I'm excited to just be out of the house and eating out.

Thinking: ISTEP is freaking me out. Having never taught in an ISTEP grade before I didn't realize the pressure that is put on teachers to cram material in before the test. My kiddos this year are really struggling with long division and I worry I won't get through everything in time before the test.

Wanting: Last winter in Southern Indiana was down right awful. I think in the month of January I went to school 7 days. It was awful. The bitter cold and snow was constant it seemed. I'm praying this year we get a pass.

Needing: The next 3 weeks I will be teaching Fact / Opinion. While looking for lessons I keep finding material for lower elementary. It's proving difficult finding lessons that are on a 4th grade level.

Yes: My goal is to blog like I want to and should. I'm having a difficult time finding a balance to get everything in. I want to become a successful blogger. I just need to find my groove. :)

Maybe: Build up my savings. My husband and I really want to build up our savings by putting 10% of each check back. It seems that our family emergencies keep depleting our savings every time we start to see a gain. It's nice that we've had the savings to pull from but I really want to focus on building it up.

I Wish: Down the road I would like to transition into becoming a presenter. I've presented at conferences within my building and within my district but I want to branch out and go beyond. My district is 1:1 with devices and I truly feel my calling is helping other teachers implement technology in the classroom without taking away from instruction.

Thank you for taking the time to read. Have a fabulous New Year!

-Tracy