My Favorite Week of the School Year

This week started with me donning my rainbow alpaca sweatshirt, Donald Duck hat, and argyle glasses to head to Camp Seymour with my students. It was a crazy run up to the trip, with different challenges to overcome than I had dealt with before and the promise of very wet weather.

But as always, it was an amazing trip.

Camp Seymour naturalists have been working hard in the off season to refine their Outdoor Environmental Education classes to better align with both the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards. It was awesome to see the same classes I have seen taught at least ten times cover the same material but with a much more hands on, student driven inquiry bent to them.  Since this is exactly what I will need to do with my own lessons, it was perfect modeling for me to see how to tweak lessons to keep the content the same but allow student questions to guide the instruction. Nearly every class began with an object or item and student time in a small group or pair to develop "I wonder" statements.  Students were then asked to state what they noticed or observed, which can be tricky when they want to state what they know from prior learning. Finally, they are asked to make claims supported by evidence. I saw the intentional use of standards in each activity. Every class was more collaborative and more hands on than before - and they were already all fairly high on the collaboration and hands on metrics. The student driven inquiry and necessity for cooperation was so high that I actually had a cabin leader ask if Camp Seymour was working to align their curricula with the International Baccalaureate framework!

During our time there I watched kids stretch themselves beyond where they thought they could in big and small ways. For one student, just being there was beyond what she had thought she could do.  And she ended up loving it. For others it was getting on a canoe or dissecting a squid or holding a snake. For some, it was dealing with their cabin mates for two nights. Every student accomplished something he or she thought was not going to be possible at the outset. They all learned that they are tougher than they thought.

Relationships evolved too. At our closing prayer ceremony, one student stated she learned that you can get through a fight with your friends just by continuing to be around them, and even if you get really mad, it does not have to end the friendship.

I know that teachers build classroom community all around the world, every year without an experience like this one in the fall. But I also know there is no way to build relationship with your class faster than to take them slightly outside of their comfort zone and prove to them that they could do everything you said they could all along. Welcome to fifth grade!

Camp Prep Week

This week was the week before our grand Outdoor Environmental Educational adventure at Camp Seymour. OEE Week is my favorite week of the school year, but I'm a little apprehensive about the weather forecast for next week: wind, rain, and thunderstorms. I had said a few years back that I might be ready for a wet OEE week, but theorizing about it and preparing a group of kids for a wet week feel very different.

My partner teacher and I gave over class time on three different days this week for cabin groups to get together to bond, create a cabin cheer, and come up with and rehearse a skit. As it always does, it started out rocky, with tears among the boys this year. One boy was so upset his first choice pick for a cabin mate was in the other boys' cabin that he didn't even see his other two choices were in his cabin. Another boy was rightfully upset when he did not know what had been decided on by his cabin group, and when he asked for clarification, they all started talking at once and he still had no idea what was going on. Overall, the cabin dynamics seemed to come together fairly well by the third day, but as usual, each group had its own challenges to overcome to get there.

The biggest challenges, the ones that made this year's prep harder than any prior year, were in getting enough parent volunteers who had completed the required training and could take the time off of their normal lives in order to make the trip happen. I found my final cabin leader on Wednesday night, and he won't even be able to come with us on Monday morning. He will arrive about dinner time on the first day and then stay with us for the duration of the trip. Once I had my final cabin leader locked in, I was ready to put together carpool lists. But when I sat down to figure out my carpool lists, I realized I was short eight seats for students to get to and from Camp Seymour. So it was Thursday before I had recruited enough extra drivers to ensure a seat for every student in a carpool. As I told a good friend of mine, I'm tired already and I haven't even been to Camp Seymour yet!

It was a busy week, but we also found time to model the rock cycle using crayons and hot water. Here are a few pictures of students turning their sedimentary crayon rocks into metamorphic crayon rocks.

Sick Day

I stayed home sick today, with my eleven year old son who has not been at school since Tuesday of last week. While he is still sick, with congestion still evident in his voice and occasional coughing and sneezing, I think he's milked this cold long enough, and will be returning to school tomorrow. His dancing around when I had music playing and refusal to nap gave him away. I'm pretty sure I'll be back at school again tomorrow too. It's stressful to plan to not be there, and I feel like I need to be there this week to hype and tone set for next week's Outdoor Environmental Education trip.

Last night I used the new-ish automated system to find me a sub for today. I can't be certain, but I think it's the first time I've used it to find a sub for a sick day. Waiting four hours for confirmation that a sub was found and I would not have to wake up to an alarm the next day was stressful for me. But it was better than the old system of calling names on a list only to get voice mail or be told they already had a job lined up or other appointment that would not allow them to take my class for me.

This morning I woke up to the sound of the neighbors cars leaving, about an hour and a half after my alarm normally goes off. I spent the morning shopping on-line - which is something I seem to default to when I am home sick. At least today it was to put together an Amazon subscription list for a drink my son has been buying at school for over $2.00 a can, which I can get for under $1.00 a can with a subscription. I added items that seem to run out at the most inopportune times. This is our second try at Amazon subscriptions - we cancelled the first when the items on the list were overly abundant in our home. Although the subscription list I put together today may not last, at least I wasn't shopping for dresses that are too fancy to wear to work or shoes, jackets, purses, watches... those get expensive quickly.

After lunch and a nap I worked on lesson plans for this week, which I decided to stop working on when I decided to stay home sick last night. I also tweaked this year's OEE prayer service for our final morning at Camp Seymour so that every student in attendance this year will have a small part to read.

Through it all I've been pushing my son to get his work done. Missing an entire week of school has left him far, far behind. But he has definitely spent more time resisting working than working today. I think this was behind my decision to blog this evening.  "I'm working. You should be working too."  Shh - don't tell him I'm not really working.  As a sixth grader at an elementary school, this will probably be the last year of his life (until retirement) that he can miss an entire week of his normal schedule with little to no consequence. 

At least my alpaca rainbow sweatshirt got another wear out of the day. I think I'm not contagious anymore, so my plan is to head back to the classroom tomorrow. It really is easier to be there sick than to plan for being home.

It Feels Like Fall

I always feel like it's really fall when the preparation for my annual Outdoor Environmental Education trip to Camp Seymour begins to take over my life at school and at home. I also got my first cold of the school year, courtesy of my son who was home sick most of the week, which is another sign of the season. Thankfully I didn't really start feeling it until Thursday, which was the last student day of the week.

Wednesday was the cabin leader meeting where we read through a truncated version of the cabin leader manual put together by Camp Seymour. It informs parents of the cabin leader "job description" - what's expected of them while we are there. I also make a point to make what they are NOT allowed to bring clear: weapons (including pocket knives) and alcohol. Once these things are said out loud, they make perfect sense - it is after all a school field trip. However, I know from attending OEE with other schools, teachers who do not make this clear have issues with cabin leaders bringing these items. 

This year's major OEE brouhaha came to light at the cabin leader meeting. I had one parent unexpectedly not show up, and another one report that he has not taken the Archdiocesan Safe Environment class, and won't be able to before the trip. Thankfully the parent who did not show up to the meeting came to see me on Thursday and is still on board. However, I am now one week away from leaving on an overnight trip with my fifth graders, and lacking one cabin leader. One year I had a cabin leader pull out the weekend before the trip, so at least there's a whole week to find a replacement this time. It's going to be an interesting run up to our departure for sure, but I guess it always is.

During the school day the preparation for OEE took over last week's religion classes where the students have been drawing posters for the prayer service we will have on our final morning. I have let science classes continue normally, as students investigated the difference between rocks and minerals with a hunk of granite and samples of the minerals that make up granite: feldspar, hornblende, quartz, and mica. They also began investigating sedimentary rocks after a discussion of sediment size and shape. It is very fun to watch them work with small groups and make discoveries together. I hope to be able to have them investigate both metamorphic and igneous rocks early next week before I need to turn my science classes over to preparation for our trip.  

Granite and its minerals

Sketching observations

Sedimentary Rocks

Yesterday was the annual Archdiocesan Teacher Excellence Day (which they abbreviate to TED). My school got special permission to skip the Archdiocesan event in favor of staying in our own building to work more on aligning our practices with International Baccalaureate. I was a little disappointed that this meant I would not be seeing other teachers from around the Archdiocese, many of whom I only see at TED anymore. However, it really was a day well spent. We had a great presentation from our MYP consultant who also presented to the parents on Thursday night. (I missed his evening presentation, opting instead to go home and nurse my cold so I could feel functional at Friday's professional development.) And my partner teacher and I finally felt like we caught up to where the other grade levels were with placing our standards into the IB's six transdisciplinary themes for the PYP. We did end up with a few more questions that will have to be answered, but I at least, no longer feel so overwhelmed at the idea of fitting all the pieces together.

Lab Safety meets IB Learner Attributes

A Busy and Beautiful Fall Week

The 2016 Saint Luke-a-Thon

My "costume"

This week we had the school's walk-a-thon, complete with a pre-assembly mid-week to get the kids excited about the end of week event. I ordered a sweatshirt to go along with my classroom's chosen very scientific theme of water weather. It is both hideous and funny, while being ridiculously comfortable. I have never spent money on an outfit for an event like this, but as one of the boys in my class said first thing in the morning, "It's a llama and a unicorn... What's not to like?"  And the compliments and reactions lasted all day long, from students and adults alike.


Wednesday's assembly had a very high school pep-rally feel to it, as all of the community building assemblies under my current principal do. And, yes, these assemblies do happen multiple times a year at my school. Although this my third building, and all three of my principals have always said building a strong community was important to them, this is the first place where observable action behind that idea occurs regularly. Kids who get to spend a part of a school day tossing water balloons into a bin, keeping a beach ball aloft in competition with other classes, and watching their teacher race other teachers (each towing a student on a skate board), are kids who know their school can be a fun place - even when they struggle with academics or social skills. For the record, my partner teacher *creamed* the other teachers in our grade band at the race, and my homeroom kids tied for number of consecutive hits keeping the beach ball in the air.

My partner teacher winning by several yards

Students cheering on their teachers

Friday's big event, a huge fundraiser for my private school, came with blue skies and perfect weather for getting the entire school, in shifts, up on the big field for walking, running, or otherwise completing laps to earn pledges. One seventh grader was even carried for part of the event by her teacher because she was on crutches this year. This was the first year I collected bracelets myself, and therefore the only year I can say with certainty how many laps I walked. Twelve. All of my students beat me, but I expected that since I spent my time walking and talking, having important conversations with parents and students. I had four conversations on my mental list to see if I could have during the walk-a-thon, and I was able to have all of them. It was a very productive event for me. Here's to hoping we raised enough money to meet the expectations of the development director.

Some of my students ready to head up to the main event

My principal (who runs during all three shifts) completing

his final lap of the last shift

In between the assembly and the walk-a-thon I had a couple of good science lessons with my class. I brought out numbered rock samples, courtesy of the science teacher in my building, and had the students write down observations and sketches in their lab notebooks. They got so involved in investigating their samples that many needed reminders to record their observations. I am excited to see what questions they have to investigate further as we continue with our unit on paleontology and geology.

I also brought my students up to the garden in preparation for a parish harvesting event next weekend. I wanted everyone to see what will be harvested, and give the fifth grade representative some preparation for his role in the event. The students always love going to the garden, and I love getting to see them exploring the space. It turned into a little bit of pre Outdoor Environmental Education preparation as well, where we talked about learning in an "outdoor classroom" and practiced attention getters and counting off to ensure everyone is present before moving forward. Truthfully, I am so excited for my annual trip to Camp Seymour. I cannot wait to see how my students learn and grow in that outdoor environment.

Entering through the

Bean Arch

Exploring the space

Standardized Testing Week (1 of 3)

The testing environment.

This week has been the school's first time utilizing an online standardized test. I'm excited about the data that the MAP test is purported to provide for each student, and glad that the glitches to moving to a digital test (away from the very old school practice of bubble in tests with number two pencils) were minor. The bumpiness of working make-up tests into our daily activities with the requirement of a potentially different online proctor to restart a testing session I have already used remains to be seen.

I had the students reflect on their first MAP Test session, and got some interesting responses. Some were predictable, like the student who wrote "Testing was lame," and underlined it several times. My favorite one is not pictured, but said, "If you notice I got a question wrong, I clicked the right answer, but then it said I didn't." I'm not even sure what the student experienced to respond that way, but I love the confidence that allowed him to think he only missed one question, and that it was due to a technical difficulty.

Although this week was less disrupted than my previous standardized testing weeks, I am not very excited for the disruption to come again two more times this year. I am hopeful, and even a little expectant, that the data gathered through this process will warrant three disruptions per year. Planning for less homework and less rigorous lessons this week so the kids could be less frazzled for our afternoon testing slot (when we had access to the chrome books) wasn't too difficult this time of year, when we are ramping up in every subject area. But I'm less certain it will be as easy to pause again the next two times.

I did go ahead and teach my students about the history of the theory of continental drift. But since I do this largely through YouTube music videos (one by The Amoeba People and one made by a sixth grade class from California), with a Bill Nye top 100 scientist clip in the mix, I don't think the students felt too overwhelmed by the new information. Several students were excited to play with continent puzzle pieces in a recreation of Alfred Wegener's process that led him to propose the theory of continental drift in the first place. And the fact that their knowledge product to show they understand the history of this theory emerging from the laughable ruminations of a meteorologist to an almost universally accepted scientific theory, is a comic strip retelling helps them to see it as a fun lesson. Perfect for testing week.

Even though it has been a long week (and it's not quite over yet), I still find myself believing one of the catch phrases of my boss, which I posted on his door before school started (in the style of a set of IB attribute posters), "Holy sugar, we can do this!"

Like a Kangaroo on Steroids

Last week was the first full week of school. It included the introduction to our first major units of study in the school year, a lot of troubleshooting to get kids on chrome books, and my parent meeting for the fifth grade outdoor environmental education trip back to back with curriculum night. It was an exhausting week to be sure, but one that reminded me of why I'm in this profession.

Checking out the Learner Profile Attributes during a reflection.

The kids were excited to see photos of me participating in the DIG Field School's 2015 teacher field trip and see me with a partially excavated hadrasour scapula. It was easy to get them excited about investigating the theory of continental drift with that introduction. After I told them the story of Alfred Wegener cutting up an atlas to see if his observation of the continents looking like puzzle pieces that would match up where the fossil record matched up across oceans, they were ready to try it themselves, only using photocopied maps rather than actual atlases.

2015 DIG Field School

Cutting out Continents

Next week we will begin our first round of MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing of the school year. The MAP test is new to my school and new to me, but is supposed to create a personalized testing experience for each student based on their answers as they progress through the assessment. Then it will give the student and me immediate feedback about where they are and what they are ready to learn next. We will give the test three times a year, and use it to measure student growth as well as drive individualized instructional decisions. It all sounds like it will be great - if we can get our wireless set up to handle the demand of more than one class testing at the same time while the students and teachers are getting used to a brand new testing system.

Lots of collaboration and peer helping going on.

Thursday brought my annual parent meeting for the fifth grade Outdoor Environmental Education trip to Camp Seymour. Since I am going earlier than I have ever gone in the school year before, my meeting was earlier than it has ever been before, and ended up being scheduled for the same night as the school's curriculum night. I was in my school building for 14 hours straight on Thursday, but was able to pull off two enthusiastic presentations with the help of an evening cup of coffee and the letters my students wrote to their parents thanking them for coming to the meetings. One in particular made my day with a student's awesome simile and thoughts on the first nine days of being in my homeroom.

Like a Kangaroo on Steroids.