I have a Guided Math Question for YOU!

     I received this last night around 7 o'clock. I didn't even open the package until midnight, for some unknown reason I thought it was my cute BEE erasers that I ordered from MPM School Supplies, since I also got a big package from them,(I ordered a new Calendar, so it came in a big flat box) which at the time I didn't realize contained ALL my MPM stuff and the little package was from Amazon.....I am not use to the UPS man visiting my house!
      So at midnight after catching up on my DVR, I finally got around to opening my packages. When I opened this up I was so excited...everyone seems to be talking about it, plus last spring I began doing research on how to improve my Math time. I wanted to do the Math Daily 5, but I struggled at how to put it together.(Which boggles my mind, as I feel like an expert in the D5 during my Literacy block), Last spring I downloaded some PowerPoint help from Lindsey Shannon, very good, it got me thinking about my relationship with Math. Then Pinterest and all the "Guided Math" pins...so needless to say 5 months later I ordered the book!
     I have math-phobia...numbers are hard...and the funny thing is parents think we pass down the bad math gene...but the truth is , there isn't a math gene, you don't get it or not get it...you got to work at it, practice practice practice! I was feeling validated just by reading the first Chapter!!
     Well I didn't start reading it at midnight, that would have been crazy, I waited until my son went off to the Library for his weekly Pokemon League, and I had a few hours to clean out his closet, and READ. I am only on Chapter 3 and I love it!  I have so many ideas in my head and I am stopping to write them down as I'm reading, that is why I am ONLY on Chapter 3!
     I really like the discussion questions at the end of the chapter to help you reflect....and I need your brains to pick on this question...so if you would answer it as truthfully as possible because my answer to this question is vague, it's unsure, it's not measurable and that bugs me! So here goes:

Does your math instruction lead your students to a deep conceptual understanding of the math standards that they are learning? If so, WHAT are you doing that contributes to that?  If not, HOW do you think you would like to change your teaching?

I've been 'chewing' on this for hours...do I? How do I know? Not just a test, but really KNOW?

~Natalie

Monday Made it...Starting Super Simple! ..oh and a contest notice!

Monday Made It!

Hello Bloggin' buddies, since this is my FIRST official Monday Made It, I did NOT stretch myself!!
I went to Michael's earlier today to gather all the stuff to red-do my clipboards. Mod-Podge??? Decoupage...finding just the right cover color/theme coordination...hmmmm yeah..NO...I decided to keep it simple and start off by making my Writers Journals/Notebooks. It was way cheaper and so simple:
Composition Notebooks, ribbon and my glue gun.


I had to run to school to get my glue gun...that was a shocker...they were cleaning the floors in our rooms and moved most of the furniture into the hallways. I noticed that I was missing 4 bookshelves, well the reason I thought this was because they were buried behind two rows of stacked chairs...but all is well that ends well, because I got rid of 75% of the stuff I used to own so finding the glue guns was easy! Once I grabbed my tools, I quickly went home and got started on my Monday Make It! project.


It went pretty quick, once I figured out how to cut the ribbon endings so they looked cute and symmetrical!


The first step was to glue the ribbon to the back.

Then folded it over the front and snipped the end off.

That was it! DONE...well until I make cute BEE Labels to attach to the front!

Sorry it is sideways...I tried three times to rotate it, but every time it went back sideways ....grrr...anyway super simple journals today..next week I will be on my way to my VACATION...so I probably won't be playing along!

I got this idea from Pinterest..of course!

This just in....go to http://classroomfriendlysupplies.com/pages/free-sharpeners 

and try to win this:

I'm still trying to win a free one!!!









Yes I'm a newbie blogger...but I've been around this block !

I'm joining Deb and her "A Teacher's Wisdom" Linky Party!

I have been teaching the primary grades since..., that's not important, what is important is that I didn't get "good" until my 5th year teaching. At least that is how I feel. Anyway I went through so many different stages with my behavior management system, in the beginning: flip cards, marble jars, bells, lights on/off, conflict resolution programs...ugh the list is long! I was so wishy washy, I didn't even remember what I said....but eventually I figured it out. The cool thing about starting out NOW is you have Pinterest and all these AWESOME teaching BLOGS to help you out ...better than the trial and error systems of the past. Hopefully you are taking advantage of it! Wish we had the Internet when I started teaching. (Well maybe we did have it, but I was not using it)...so here is my advice:

Good Luck!

Natalie