It's Spring and time for a September Currently!

The second day of Spring. The second day of September and about two weeks away from a much needed Spring break. I look forward to linking up with Farley from Oh Boy 4th Grade at the beginning of every month. Of course, Farley doesn't know me but this link up and Currently help me reflect and express what's on my mind and I get to hear from two or three very kind people who take the time to say a few nice words about what I have written. So thank you for taking the time to read my September Currently.

My husband has just gone from watching a recorded soccer match to listening to some new age music. We don't have the same tastes in music. He's more new-age, techno, global music whilst I'm more Rhythm and Blues and Hip Hop. Opposites do attract I suppose but we make it work. It's meant to be soothing music but perhaps a little bit too soothing. My eye lids are getting heavy. :P

About two months ago, I was diagnosed with vitiligo. I had been living with this condition for about a year and hadn't really thought much about the patches on my skin for a long time until recently when I decided it was time I had it checked out when creams and Dr Google weren't helping. I wasn't ready to hear that I had vitiligo and I fell into depression. I had to take a blood test to make sure everything else was fine and it was, except for my iron levels which were quite low. That explained why I was tried, depressed and cranky all the time. It's taken me awhile but I'm slowly coming to terms with my condition and am undergoing treatment for it but having to take iron pills has meant that I am now not as tired and have more energy after work. And I'm also not cranky which is a good thing for the hubs and the son.

This term seems to have gone on forever and I am truly needing a break. I know many of you are about to begin or have just begun your school year but here in Australia we are three terms in and almost at the end now. I'm one of those who would be contented just to read, drink iced tea, and watch lots of reruns (Raymond, Seinfeld, Modern Family) during the holidays and that would make me the happiest person. I really wouldn't need anything else. 

If you didn't already know, I'm vegan (does that explain the low iron levels?) and I love baking vegan desserts. I love choc chip cookie dough. I could eat a whole batch of it raw. Sometimes, I make a batch and eat it with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Sometimes, a change of environment helps. I've always felt change was necessary for a person to 'grow'. I'm ready for a change. Bring it on!

My 3 goals speak for themselves. It's about not giving up and knowing that I can accomplish things and not doubting myself. I began with 10 000 steps on my Fitbit in February and have now worked my way up to 14 000 steps. I need to stay positive and know that I can dream big dreams because I can achieve them.

13 000 steps and counting

I think about this blog all the time. I'm quite proud of it. But as you all know, it stresses me out a little as well. I think about readership, how it compares with other teacher blogs, that I haven't posted anything in awhile...then I feel really guilty and inadequate. These thoughts usually haunt me the most on Sundays. Don't ask why. That's just the way it is. I find it hard to register that this blog is really about me. It's about my life as a teacher. It's not a competition with anyone else. But even after 14 years of teaching, it's still difficult not to read a blog and think "Why didn't I think of that?"

The last two weeks have been quite exciting. WBT is working really well in my classroom. The students love it. It was time to introduce the Super Improvers Squad. My team partner FC, thought it would be a good idea to use the ranks of the Australian Army. This is how the board looks like.

And then this book arrived just in time.

 I also joined Twitter in the last two weeks. Thanks to a blog post by Meg from Fourth Grade Studio. Now, that was very exciting.

I tweeted this picture of me using The Reading Strategies book to fill in my conference card. I will probably write a blog post about the card in greater detail in a future post.

And after different attempts at running my Maths Workshop, I decided to go back to the Daily 3.

I know...it's a little late to launch the Daily 3 when we only have about 14 weeks of school left but I figured better late than never. Thankfully, my students got into it almost immediately.

13 000 steps and counting? That's the number of steps I take in a given day now, thanks to my trusty old pal the Fitbit. He keeps me on track making sure I'm not on the couch for too long. You know writing a post isn't as difficult once you get started. See you next time folks.

Using Padlet in the Classroom

Over the past four years, my school has been part of the '1-to-1 Netbook Program'. Every student from Years 3-12 has access to a student learning device such as a netbook for Years 3-6 and an iPad for Years 7-12. Like all other initiatives, there are pros and cons to having such a program. Parents complain about the amount of time their children spend on their netbooks playing Minecraft and on my part, I have to deal with my students forgetting to bring their netbooks or netbooks that have been damaged. Since there is a cost involved in acquiring these netbooks, some of my students don't have access to a netbook at all. However, when you get over all the issues that come with having such a program, the learning opportunities that this program brings is endless, exciting and engaging.

Thus bringing me to Padlet. I was first introduced to Padlet in a Professional Development session about two years ago.I would compare Padlet to a digital bulletin board which allows for you to tack on it - digital sticky notes.

Creating a padlet is quite easy. Click here to go to the website. You have the option to sign in via Google, Facebook or Sign Up for a padlet. I usually sign in with my Google account. Once you log in, you'll see your Dashboard where you'll be able to create a New Padlet.

By clicking on 'New Padlet' you'll be creating a wall where you can customise the look for your padlet. 

The layout icon also gives you the option of how you want your posts to appear on the wall. Once you've chosen your wall, it's time to post. I click on the Address icon, to get the URL of my wall and send it via email to my students.

To post, you need to double-click on the wall. A 'sticky note' appears where you can type, upload pictures, video and audio clips as well as share links. 

I've also trying to use Padlet as exit slips in the classroom. In a recent lesson, on Factors, I had students record a 30 second clip to share their understanding of the concept. However, we hit a glitch when we were about to upload due to network restrictions. Padlet has its limitations and only allows for clips up to about 25MB to be uploaded. The other option is to upload videos on You Tube and share the link on Padlet. 

Do give Padlet a go. 

August Currently

Oh my. It's August. In 4 months, it will be the end of the year. Time just seems to whoosh by me.
But I'll stop for a bit and link up with Farley from Oh Boy 4th Grade for her August Currently.



Listening: Radio City is a station that broadcasts from different parts of India. I am of Indian origin. My grandfather was from South India and he migrated to Singapore years ago. I am second generation Singaporean but Australia is my home now. Although Australia is similar to Singapore multi-culturally, there isn't an Indian radio station (at least one that I know of). We listen to Radio City via the Internet and listening to the station always makes me feel like I'm home. It's like I can still hold on to my roots which I think is so important.

Loving: We have a Curriculum Day every term. It usually falls on the first day of every term so the students get an extra day off but recently there have been some changes to when we have the Curriculum Day. (I must be completely honest...I hadn't realised we were having one till I drove by and saw the sign outside for parents informing them of important dates!) How do you spend Curriculum Day?  I'd be interested to know. We usually have staff meetings and team meetings.

Thinking: I'm in love with overnight oats at the moment. And I get most of my oatmeal recipes from Chocolate Covered Katie. She has got a fantastic blog with really yummy vegan recipes. They're sweet and healthy! Two in one. It doesn't get any better than that. Trust me.

Wanting: I recently decided I needed a To Do List. I had purchased my beautiful looking Erin Condren planner to use this year. In fact, I had bought one two years ago but gave up using it when I realised it didn't really help me with my lesson planning. However, I decided to give it another go this year and my team partner and I both bought EC planners but both of us gave up using it. We are required to do very detailed lesson planners and upload them on the school portal. It's very difficult trying to write detailed lesson plans in the pages of the EC planners. There's just no space. I was trying to use EC planner as a To Do book instead but that wasn't working and I had these post it notes all over my table. Long story short, I went to Kikki K to look for a To Do List pad and ended up buying a whole lot of other things - The Happiness Project & Happiness Journal being two of them. Many things have happened in my life in the last 5 years. My mum was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and recently I experienced a health scare as well. It's very easy to get down and feel depressed about life but I felt it was important to celebrate this one life that I have. To celebrate everything - the ups, the downs, everything that I've been given. So when I saw these books, I knew I had to have it.

Needing: I've finally linked my blog to Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Bloglovin as well as my TPT store. I'm not very tech savvy but with the help of Professor Google, I was able to create the accounts and Megan from A Bird in Hand Designs helped me with the buttons and the link ups. Now I just need more time to get everything going. Looking forward to meeting all of you and connecting with you through social media.

B2S RAK: Struggling to comment about this because in Australia, we're in the third quarter of the academic year. However, reading other blogs, I have an idea of what I can do next year. I shall get back to you on that.

That's all folks! Till next time...







What a week!

After a two week break, it was back to school for me on Monday...well, actually Tuesday (I had a doctor's appointment on Monday). I'm amazed at how my teaching counterparts seem so on the ball and on task in the other part of the world. They're working, creating resources, attending conferences during their summer break. Perhaps, the only productive work I managed to do was my Whole Brain Teaching posters. (Sigh!)

I even brought my iPad to work with the intention of recording myself teach my kids the Whole Brain Teaching rules so that I could upload the video on the blog. I taught the rules (the kids and I were so proud of ourselves) but the iPad stayed in the bag. (Sigh!)

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I'm one of those that gets really excited about professional learning and then sort of fizzle out after that. (Sigh! There MUST be teachers like me out there!) So I thought the smartest thing would be to buy an ebook on the iPad...which I did. Way more cost effective. This is what I invested in.

The book's quite insightful and hopefully after the coming week, I'll have more to say about it and how I've used it in my conferences, Guided Reading and LLI.

Then I was going to work on this awesome package on teaching Procedural Texts which is the text type we are working on now. But I lost my creative streak and only managed an anchor chart on a visual procedural text. We made three of them but here's a look at the one we made on chocolate chip cookies.

 

A mind map by a student

Those chocolate chip cookies need a bit of work...I started getting a bit stressed out for the lack of creativity I possessed when my team partner and I had to deliver a spelling lesson. We had lots of resources on our table - Words Their Way, Soundwaves, Diane Snowball. It took us awhile to get ourselves sorted. But eventually, we seemed to be onto something. We looked at the "i" sound and our students drew a mind map before sorting the words into different groups.



Sorting out the words



And then as quickly as the holidays ended, the first week was over. Phew!

July Currently

Hey there, it's been awhile.  It's always great to link up with Farley from Oh Boy! Fourth Grade for the Currently Party.

As I write this, lunch is prepared (Mashed Chickpea Salad) and I am watching DC Cupcakes as I type this. I love anything to do with baking. If I wasn't teaching, I'd have my own bakery selling vegan goodies. 

It's the Winter break in Australia now. A week has gone by and I'm thinking "Where did the week go?!" It just zoomed past. I still have a week to go so that's good. I have been trying to get some work done, but found myself staring at the planners for next term and having a mental block. (Don't you hate it when that happens?) I did get some Whole Brain Teaching posters done which I'm quite proud of and will probably write about in a later post. 

I do wish this break would go on forever. I like catching up on reading blogs, magazines, books...recipes. I love the holidays. I somehow have a confidence boost over the holidays every time. It's like I can conquer the world. I do need to work on building my confidence. I'm always doubting myself and capabilities. When I began the blog a year ago, I thought I would have these amazing ideas I could blog about. Well the blog was there, the amazing ideas just weren't flowing, well at least I thought the ideas weren't amazing enough as compared to the amazing blogs that were out there by teachers. So what began as this awesome idea, just sort of died. 

Then I find out my mum was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and was told she didn't have a long time to live. My mum's a survivor though. We've had our ups and downs since then but she's pulling through and I'm pulling through. I've started to focus on eating healthy and exercising. 

The thing is my life is too short to be worried about if I'm as good as everyone else. So I'm giving this blog idea another shot. I revamped the look (the old look was awesome) but I needed something to bring me out of the closet. So in walked Megan from A Bird in Hand Designs, who helped me create a new look. I'll get there. I know I will. That's my July Currently. Peace. Out. 

Interactive Notebooks

My love affair with Interactive Notebooks happened by accident. Although I don't remember the specifics of it, I know I was looking for a Maths resource on Teachers Pay Teachers when I chanced upon Blair Turner's TPT store.

Interactive Notebooks are a big part of my daily routine now and although it's almost the end of the school year in Australia, I'm already thinking about how I can better implement it in my classroom next year. I even came up with my own interactive resource for Rounding Numbers during the break. I'm still learning but I'm quite proud of myself.

So anyhow, I was really excited when I found out Jennifer from 4mula Fun was hosting a webinar about Interactive Notebooks. Of course, with the time difference and all, it meant that I wasn't able to watch it live. (I'm at work at the time...)but thankfully, the clip was uploaded with handouts.

So what I've learnt thus far:

PLAN

It's really important to plan. Because I did not start Interactive Notebooks at the beginning of the year, it lacks a certain 'flow'. So, I get how important planning would be for next year as I embark further into my journey of using Interactive Notebooks.

ROUTINES

Fortunately, establishing routines haven't been as difficult for me. I haven't established everything that was recommended but I have implemented one strategy - placing baskets on the tables of each group for them to put the bits and scraps after they are done, which has worked so well. I don't have an assigned student to hand out the baskets, for some reason it seems to miraculously appear on the tables. Most of my students are on auto-pilot mode (this year). What's worked for me is giving my students a time limit for what to either cut, paste, write etc. The students decide how much time they would need, I ask several students how much time they think they would need to complete a certain part of an activity and we then decide how much time they would get, (usually between 2 to 5 minutes). I use a stopwatch to tell them how much time they have left. The students who complete the assigned task before the time is up, usually either check or colour in what they've done. This has worked really well for me and my students, so they are constantly engaged and no time is wasted. (But I hear so much about how colouring is done outside of classroom time, so I'm wondering if I'm really using that time well.)



MATERIALS

Materials aren't really a problem because the students' book packs come with glue sticks and scissors and exercise books.  (Haven't tried liquid glue yet.) I guess one disadvantage would be the printing and copying that I usually have to do. Staff in my school get about $100 printing and copying credit every term  and that doesn't last very long, so in desperate situations, I use the printer at home to print the necessary sheets for my students.





OUTPUT

Hmmm...this video has caused me to reflect on my student's Interactive Notebooks. There's lots of input but they don't do a lot of output in their books. I use other forms of assessment - exit slips or tests to assess their understanding but I haven't given my students the opportunity to reflect or show what they've learnt in their books and that is something I would need to put more thought into.

My key takeaway from this webinar was in regards to modelling the use of Interactive Notebooks...something I haven't done enough of, actually I have done it at all (although my students do refer to previous activities they've done on their own) and also, having my own Interactive Notebook. That's where the planning bit comes in.

So there, my first Professional Development post. My mind's already buzzing with ideas and thoughts. If you are reading this, please do leave a comment of how you use Interactive Notebooks in your classroom. It would be of so much help.