Meet the Teacher Linky Party!

I've joined in the fun over at Falling into First!  She is hosting a linky party!  So, here it goes!

Hi, my name is Julie and I've been teaching for 22 years!  I have taught almost everything in elementary-1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and Science Lab, which included a period a day with Kinders!  This year I am back in 1st grade and, currently, should be working on getting things ready instead of distracting myself.  I tend to be easily distracted!  I am a mom of two wonderful boys and a wife to my wonderful husband!  In my "spare" time I have taken up triathlon and will be competing in my 3rd event on August 30th!  It is a great way to keep in shape (and loose the shape I currently have!)  

I have also rediscovered the joy of sewing!  I'm happy to say that my first two weeks (except Friday's) fashions will be things I have made-either to go with something or, the whole outfit!  

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...

Joann's Fabrics, swimming-as in, laps!, scrap booking, CAMPING, spending time in and with nature, barred owls!, Eagle Watch, Adopt-a-Block, photography, Church, lasagna 

 IF YOU WEREN'T A TEACHER, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO BE?

A few years ago I was actually faced with thinking about this. Florida went to that crazy idea that teachers should give up tenure. I actually planned my new career.  Para Legal.  It was something I could sink my teeth into and I love to do research on things.  Thank goodness, the law doesn't require a mandator removal of tenure!

THREE LITTLE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU.

Creative (This one was an actual graduate award!), committed, caring

FINISH THE SENTENCE, "________,  SAID NO TEACHER EVER!!"

I LOVE all the paperwork....

Q: IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY AND YOU CAN INVITE ANYONE {DEAD OR ALIVE} TO THE PARTY. WHO ARE YOU INVITING?

I don't know why, but every time I hear a question like this, I respond with Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.  It is always those two, in that order.  I think I have a lot of questions for them!

Q: IF SOMEONE WROTE A BOOK ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD BE THE TITLE?

The Search for the "Just Right" Everything

Q:YOU GET TO PICK ONE SUPERPOWER. WHAT IS IT?

I actually took a Facebook test and got invisibility!  I said that it was "just right" for me!  I would love to use it and be the fly on the wall idea!

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE OR SAYING?

Golden Rule:  Never assume a task is too hard-let them try!  

University of Cambridge Web Site

It's my email tag and I don't know if it is even on the website anymore.  

Q: IF YOU HAD TO SING ONE SONG ON AMERICAN IDOL, WHAT WOULD IT BE? 

Fearless by Group 1 Crew (Just love this song!)

 Q: ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT OWL?

Morning! And I cold caffeinate!

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE RESOURCE THAT YOU'VE CREATED IN YOUR TPT SHOP?

It's a TIE!

My favorite one that the kids complete is my Native American Mall (for upper grades).

My favorite one I created is:

Q: SHARE SOMETHING WE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU! 

As you can see, I am a redhead.  However, as I've aged, I've had to color my hair BACK to some close shade of red (it fades hard and fast! What you may not know is that I think this is God's joke (because we all know he has a sense of humor and knows us enough to know we will get it!)  My WHOLE life I would cry and complain about my carrot top curls!  I wanted to dye it as soon as I got old enough-period!  When I got old enough, I realized that even though I wasn't thrilled with it, people paid A LOT of money for my color, so why change it.  Now that I'm TOO OLD, I have to color the hair I hated most of my life back to a decent red and I long for my true red color.  It simply proves that God knows what he is doing!  (Plus, I'd look totally ridiculous with black hair!)

Thanks for following along!  Now, go check out some other bloggers or join in yourself!  I'll be checking out others along the way too!

The Project that I Love-2013/2014 Version!

     I have to admit, I LOVE my Native American Mall project!  It is so much fun for the kids and for me.  I am always amazed at what they produce. Here's what this year's kids made for the tribes found in Florida.

These are from my teaching partner's class.

And this is how it looks when I put it together in my hall!

Like I said, I just love this project!  We will be working on Explorers next.  I've cooked up a little Venn Diagram activity that includes a timeline along with it!  I can't wait to get the kids involved in it!  In the meantime, here is the link to the Native American Mall project! 

The Native American Mall Project

One of the most fun and learning worthy projects my teaching partner, Lisa, and I did this year with our kids was the Native American Mall Project.  For Social Studies, we must cover the Native Americans of Florida.  So I went about finding a way to cover the information in a research/project based fashion. 

One of my favorite jumpstart places is a book called 51 Wacky We-Search Reports by Barry Lane.  There are just some fun, silly ideas that get the mind working.  And that’s exactly what happened with mine!  I suddenly was struck with the idea that all of the things we wanted the kids to learn about-food, dress, house ware, hardware, and what they looked like, could all be found in STORES!  Yes, some strange thought lead to this, and that lead to the Native American Mall Project. 

First, I showed them how to do the research. Within the packet is a sample research page.  The kids research their Native American tribe for a week at school.  During that week, they worked on the research based on how the team itself, that consisted of 5 kids, decided!  Yes, I let them decide.  Some groups assigned each child a topic, others did all the research separate and then came together to discuss what they agreed on, and some worked all together.  It was very interesting to see what each group decided.  It was also more interesting to see the kids that sat back and didn’t do the work, only to find out the rest of the group wasn’t just going to give it to them!  Yes, this is 4^th grade, where they can make those kinds of decisions and teach others a lesson while still being fair and nice about it!  All of the research was completed in mini notebook that was collected with their final projects and scored on the rubric! 

Once this was completed, the teams also decided who would be doing what store for their wing of the mall.  I was waiting for complaints and concerns about not being able to do a particular task, but there where none!  The kids had, on their own, decided who was doing what even before this final meeting.  So, off went the notes and the booklet home to complete the second phase of work-the at home project! It is important to note that this phase can also be done in the classroom!  It is not necessary to send the projects home to be completed!  They had one week to complete the project end of the activity.

Now, this can be approached two ways.  My directions to the kids included that they had to be flat projects that could be attached to the wall of the hall.  Lisa, my teaching partner, directed the kids that it could be either a poster or a creative replication.  When you use this project, be sure you know what you want the kids to do.  She was ready to display their projects on flat tables. I was in a location in my hall that would have lead to some disasters occurring if I had done that.  I have lots of little hands going by my room.  Both types of projects were amazing, so either will work!

Once the projects came to school, then the students presented them orally.  We had worked a lot this year on how to present your information, both visually and orally, so I was really pleased with what they shared.  Some were very simple, and to the point. Others were elaborate and may have missed the point!  One thing I gleaned from this experience was that I REALLY have to stress that it needs to address the whole tribe.  What was important to that tribe and how do you prove it in your work.  That’s what seemed to happen to the few kids who missed the mark. They focused on one thing, or person, to represent the whole tribe and couldn’t tell about the whole tribes needs, ideas, etc. 

I did take lots of pictures and will eventually create and offer a power point that discusses these very things, including strong and weak presentations, how to improve simple presentations, and what a great presentation looks like!

In the meantime, here are some of the finished products!

This one is very fun and included a complete sales pitch by the student!  

This movie poster included information about the "Fierce People"!

This is a great example of how you can be very creative and still be "flat" to hang on the wall!

The way my room is, I can't take a direct picture.  Notice I had one student who did boxes.  He also was able to show me how I can hang them on the wall!  It just worked out that his tribe was at the bottom of Florida!

The other side of the project wall!

For the Native American Mall Packet, click here!  

Thanks for stopping by and I hope this project will inspire you to try Project Based Learning if you have never done it before!