It’s Pumpkin Everything Season - let’s do some Pumpkin Math! 

Let’s start with measurement! Pumpkins are such interesting fruits (yes, that’s right!). A great way to start measurement is by talking with students about estimation. We don’t always have official measuring tools with us, right? So learning to compare objects to units you’re familiar with is a super handy skill to practice. Pumpkins are great for estimating and measuring circumference, height, and weight. Students can create word problems for their pumpkins, too! I love having students write their own word problems and then swapping with a classmate to solve. 
What about a pumpkin patch? Pumpkin patches can be great settings for lots of math skills, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, area, and perimeter. 
Pumpkins and pumpkin patches are also great topics for graphing!
One of my family’s favorite fall activities is roasting the pumpkin seeds we scoop out of the pumpkin before carving it. In addition to being delicious, pumpkin seeds are also fun math manipulatives! Pumpkin seeds are great for small number problems, and perfect for building arrays. If you don’t want to roast them yourself (which I understand-it is a lot of work!), buying prepackaged seeds and giving a handful to each student is a fun way to do math during this fall season. 

I love using this simple Pumpkin Investigation Unit to do some fun pumpkin math! Happy pumpkin season!

I've been thinking about classroom routines that worked for my class back in the spring. This year, I plan to start small and choose just one routine to establish at a time. The first classroom routine I am establishing is having morning meetings. Last year I wrote a post about class circle/morning meetings. Some of the tips for getting class meetings started won’t work for virtual learning (such as the snake activity or the human knot, for instance), but many others will.

Problem #1: Reading Comprehension

How to Help

Problem #2: Only Looking at the Numbers

How to Help

Problem #3: Tricky Language

How to Help

Comment below if you have any questions or tips for teaching word problems! I'd love to hear from you!

Is it me or is this the LONGEST school year ever? And it just started! Teachers are stressed to the max trying to adapt to all the new technology and changes. But we'll figure it out, just like we always do. Like you, I'm doing my best to learn all the ways to effectively teach online and I'm sharing a few free resources I've found so far.

I'm going to share some of the digital activities I've been using so far this year to encourage student engagement and interaction. This semester, I'm teaching my college- level education courses virtually, so that means I need to get creative about how I present my lessons.Since I teach future teachers, I'm constantly on the hunt for the best practices and new ideas to try out. I'm sharing a few of them with you today!

And how a fun little brain candy? I also made a silly "What Would You Rather" survey for special education teachers just the sake of fun and procrastination. I'll share that below. Everything I'm sharing today is free.

I've been looking for new ways to encourage student interaction in my virtual classes. I teach education courses at the college level so I need activities that aren't babyish. I've found that websites and activities like Jamboard can be nice alternative to the usual chat and breakout room features of Zoom. You can create sort of a bulletin board that students can interact with in real time.

This week, we learned about autism in my Introduction to the Exceptional Child course. To gauge prior knowledge, I invited my students to share one thing they already knew about autism in the beginning of class. I showed them how to use the Sticky Note feature and watched as they added their "post its" in real time. Here's what they came up with:

In the 10 minutes leading up to my virtual lessons, I usually share my screen with a countdown video playing from YouTube. I think it's a good way to get everyone into the meeting on time and gives them a few minutes chance to chat if they want. I use a different one every week, but here's the one I'm using next (It's a silent countdown with puppies playing).

During the first week of class, we discussed how remote learning affects students in special education. We talked about how the services have been modified to be delivered virtually and the potential impact on the students. Then I shared a survey with the class, asking how remote learning has affected them. It was just a slide I made in PowerPoint that I shared on my screen during our Zoom meeting. I asked my students to use the Annotations tool to "stamp" a star next to the option they most related to. Here are their responses:

I like that this was an anonymous way to get their honest responses. I'd warn teachers of younger students to be careful with the Annotations tool. I've heard of students making (ahem) "inappropriate notes" during live lessons. I'd probably disable the Annotations function with younger students, but so far it hasn't been a problem at the college level.

Next week, I think I'm going to share a survey from Apester just as a fun little activity to get my students ready for our topic of the day. They have a bunch of templates so I'll use one of those and plug in my own text. Here's a silly "Would You Rather" teacher survey I made up to test it out:

Click here to play "Would You Rather: Special Education Teacher Edition" if the widget above doesn't work.

As we head back to school this year, I know things are going to be different.  Luckily, in special education, we are still able to touch the children, as many of them have little to no fine motor skills (taking the proper precautions of course). 

I've used this poem for many "first days" over the years and I plan to use it again this year when we are finally in person.  Many of my more capable students will be having to do it more independently this year, but that's ok.  If you are able, and would like to use it, just click on the picture to grab it for free.

                                         

My first year of teaching was in 2001.  I was a three-week-old teacher when terrorists hit the World Trade Center.

That day stands out as a "Do you remember where you were?" moment for me and many people.  But for our students, September 11th, 2001 is history.  So how do we make it real for them?
 Introduce them to good books written about the day.  These four get passed around a lot in my classroom.  
Alex's birthday is September 11th and he's sure he's getting a dog, the only thing he's asked for this year.  There's no dog waiting for him at breakfast with his family, but that's fine, it's still early.  Off he goes to school with his younger sister. 

Then, unexpectedly, school is shut down and he's sent home.  On the way home, he rescues a mangy, stray dog, Radar, faces the challenges of bullies, plays with (and loses) his little sister, and promises his mom that he won't turn on the TV.

2)  Work with them on one of the lessons from the September 11th memorial.  They have many outstanding choices leveled by grade.

3)  PBS has lessons, also leveled by grades, including ones to help students with misperceptions about who their Arab-American neighbors are.  

5)  Newsela is a great source for nonfiction articles written for lower or upper elementary, middle, and high school students.  Some are paired with other texts; each comes with a general writing prompt and a 4-question quiz.

This is a back to school season like no other. There is always so much to do and so little time to get it all done, but this year seems even more overwhelming. I’m working on stopping the overwhelm and focusing on getting only the most important things done. I’m not there yet, but here are some ideas that are helping me. I hope they’ll help you too! 1 – Fill in all the dates on your planner. Nothing helps me to feel more in control than to see what is coming up so that I can prepare for it. 2 – Make lists of #allthethings you have to do. Even though that seems overwhelming (both to do and then to look at), it helps me to calm down and know that everything is written down and I won’t forget anything. 3 - After you make that gigantic list, go back through and see what you can eliminate doing (because maybe it doesn’t really matter that much), delegate to someone else, or simplify. 4 - Prioritize the tasks. I use a simple A-B-C method but you can use whatever system works for you. “A” tasks are those that need to be done first. “B” tasks are those that need to be done soon. “C” tasks can wait until you have more time to do them. 5 - Establish some routines for yourself. Here are some tips: ~what has to be done daily? Make a list. ~when is the best time to do each of these tasks? Before you start school in the morning? During your planning/prep period? During lunch? After school? In the evening? ~make a specific task list for your work blocks of time. ~what has to be done weekly? Make a list. ~when do each of these tasks need to be done? On certain days? Or could they be completed as time allows? ~make a specific task list for each day. 6 – Also think about your life “things to do” list. Follow the same steps above if needed, but create a routine schedule that works for your life outside of school. 7 – Think about your own self-care and set goals for that as well! Make sure that you intentionally plan time for yourself every single day. This doesn’t have to be a big chunk of time. Come up with ways to remind yourself to take a few minutes to do something that energizes or relaxes you. 8 – Use the techniques of pulsing and phasing. Several years ago I read a great book called Coming Up for Air: How to Build a Balanced LIfe in a Workaholic World by Beth Sawi. One chapter in her book is called “Two Approaches for Especially Busy Times”. I return to this chapter every year during the busy August/September back to school madness. She describes the two approaches as “pulsing” and “phasing.” *Pulsing – this involves scheduling one or two days a week to work late or come in early. This gives you time to catch up on all those work tasks that have to be done. But on the other days — the ones that are not “scheduled” for staying late or leaving early — you leave at an earlier time. Beth describes this technique as being helpful for reducing those feelings of “not doing enough” or “not working hard enough”. Having done this before, I can attest that you can get an amazing amount of stuff done when you schedule this time and make a list of what you want to accomplish during the work session.. One way that I have used this technique with my teaching or coaching jobs has been to work at school for a couple of hours on a weekend. The weekend technique worked especially well for me when I had young children. While working later or coming in earlier was not always possible (due to childcare schedules and my husband’s travel schedule), finding a couple of hours on a weekend worked for me. *Phasing — this involves committing to lengthy workdays for several days (or weeks), but scheduling a definite time when you will return to normal hours. For teachers, it might be helpful to think of the first month of school (starting with workdays) as being a busy phase. Make your peace with the fact that you will be working longer hours and will not have as much time for activities outside of school. I also think of first-quarter report card time and parent conferences as being another busy phase. Even when you’re in a heavy work phase, it’s still important to think about which personal priorities matter most to you. Which priorities are non-negotiable? Which priorities could wait until another time? You’re not saying that those priorities don’t matter. You’re simply saying that right now you have a limited amount of time and that limited time needs to be focused on your non-negotiables. Another idea is to identify your non-negotiables but plan for smaller amounts of time to do them. Keep in mind: doing something is better than doing nothing! Consistency counts, even if the amount of time is not what you would prefer. One more way to stay balanced while phasing: list your priorities but think about smaller tasks you could do. For example: could you do shorter workouts? Plan simpler healthy meals? Spend a smaller amount of time with your family but spend it doing what matters most to them? Do the bare minimum you need to do to keep your home orderly? Text friends to catch up instead of having dinner together? 9 - This one may be difficult, but try to set an “end date” for your heavy work phase. For example: from the date I first start teacher workdays at the beginning of the school year, I block off four straight weeks. I know, from hard experience, that those four weeks will be work-heavy and I need to give myself grace when it comes to other priorities and areas of my life. 10 - For those first four weeks of school : I try to avoid scheduling any medical appointments or other appointments that can wait. I do daily straightening up and weekly light cleaning around my house. Paying for a cleaning service might be another option for you. I plan simple meals that don’t take long to prepare (and will provide left-overs for another meal). After the first four weeks, I am in more of a routine with school commitments and can adjust my schedule to fit in other priorities. Getting through especially busy times — so much to do and limited time to do it all — is always a challenge. I’m still learning how to do that best. Please share any tips or ideas you have!