#1 REFLECTOR APP
Late last week we had a Reading Night with different centers for students and parents to visit. I did a session on iPad apps. My favorite part was this little trick. For around $10 to $15 you can download a program for your computer that allows you to "Reflect" what's on your iPad onto your computer screen. It made it so much easier to show parents what things looked like. Here's a picture of my iPad screen on my Activboard.
#2 SHAPE LESSON
Right now we are working on shapes. I swear friends, I feel like there is so much to cover and definitely not enough time in a day. On this day, we were supposed to do a lesson on making objects using different shapes. I decided to nix the workbook pages and go for a more hands-on activity. I gave each group 20 squares, 15 rectangles, and 30 triangles and told them to build one house in eight minutes. This is the winning group.Honestly, it was one of my favorite random lessons this year. I had four groups and every group worked differently. Two groups couldn't grasp the concept of working together, so their groups had multiple houses. Another group worked together, but they also spent a lot of time arguing. The winning group worked well together and they ended up with a house.
May not be the best math lesson in the world, but definitely worked on some teamwork skills and listening skills, too.
When the time was up I took pictures of all the different houses on my iPad and used the Reflector app to show the kids the pictures. We talked about the positives and the things we need to work on next time. So, if you are wanting a quick working together lesson or you want to make your shapes lesson a little more interesting, there's an idea for you to try.
#3 WORD WORK
Alright, this one makes me nervous, but I have really been wanting to do choice boards for word work and math, so I grabbed these carts from Sam's Club. The math one isn't completely ready yet, but I finally finished putting together the word work one this week. Next week, will be our first week using our choice boards, so wish me luck! Change is good, right?
#4 SWEET NOTE
I just love my parents and kids! God blesses me year after year. I stayed to work late Thursday and when I left, I found this little note waiting for me.
#5 READING MATS
I'm really trying to be more consistent with my Reading to Self/Read to Someone time this year. I tried to let my students choose their spots, but they aren't quite ready for that, so for now they have a chart. Last week, I was thinking that if I was sitting on a cold floor against a wall, I probably wouldn't want to read, so I decided to grab reading mats. These are just small, circular bath mats I grabbed from Target. I got red/black because Have a great weekend friends!
