Tech Tuesday --The Walking Classroom

This is a really cool tool for 4th and 5th grade classrooms.  It's called The Walking Classroom.  The materials are aligned with the 4th and 5th grade Common Core Standards for Language Arts.  

This is how the program is described on their website:

The Walking Classroom Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health and education of all students.  The Walking Classroom program is an in-school obesity intervention that promotes health literacy and develops and supports lifelong fitness habits for all students while addressing different learning styles.  The method combines standards-aligned academic content and exercise during the regular school day.  Using WalkKits pre-loaded with a year's worth of standards-aligned audio content students walk, listen, and learn.

It is a bit pricey, $3,000 for a class set, but they do have scholarships available to apply for on their website.  It would be cool to purchase and perhaps share with the other classes in your building.  And the teacher blogs I have seen this mentioned on tell about how their students just LOVE it.  After you get things set up, the podcasts are only about 15-20 minutes.  Perfect for those inclement recesses or an afternoon break from the walls of the classroom and their desks.

Day 89 Classroom Caboodle Blog

What a fun find today on TpT...a neighbor teacher.  Yes, we aren't in the same state, but Spokane is just across the border from where I live in North Idaho.  They have Trader Joe's...we have moose.  They have hockey and baseball teams...we have little league.  They have big concerts like Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood...and we have Scout-o-Rama and the rodeo at our fair grounds :)  Good thing they are our neighbors! (But the gas at our Costco is about 20 cents less a gallon than theirs so we can afford to drive over the border more often :)

Betsy has a lot of resources for teachers.  She has a blog a website and a TpT store!   She has done just about everything but fix the kitchen sink in her school district.  But I wouldn't put that down as not being a possibility too!  Her resources are mostly for grades 3rd and up...but much of what she does and says can be brought down to the level you need it.

I love, love, love this lesson she has posted about teaching your class to line up!  I thought this was just a 1st grade problem, but apparently it's something that doesn't stick with the kids and has to be retaught each school year!  Her lesson is called: Teaching your students to Master the Art of lining up.  I just have to chuckle...because next year I plan to try a whole new attitude and approach to this simple task...but one that tends to hold us all up from leaving the classroom at least a couple times a week.

If you are looking for ways to incorporate technology into your classroom...then Betsy is your gal for that too!  She has just gotten a set of iPads for her class!  That is so cool!  I would love to just have a center full of them for all of our primary classrooms.  Betsy has an awesome series of posts about using the iPad and the apps to try with your students.  Click {HERE} to go to the posts.  She is posting more as she is working the kinks out with her students.  It's a great resource to get you started!

And then if you can't find enough treasures in her blog...she also has an actual website and a store on TpT.
Although most of her resources are for beyond the primary years....I found a treasure that I have added to my TpT Wishlist.  Betsy has a lot of math and science in her store.  And this cool lesson, Stacking Heart Challenge, now turned Valentine's Day and conversation hearts into a science project, not just a math project!!

Love it, Love it, Love it!  Can't wait to use it next February!  One of the things I love, even after 18 years of teaching, is discovering a new way to use something old!  Cuz when I'm excited, my students get excited...and when they are excited...they learn more!  Thanks Betsy!!

Today I didn't have to hop far...where shall I hop next?

Day 48 Teaching 4 Real

Pam is a Georgia teacher who blogs.  Her blog Teaching 4 Real...keeps it real.  She has a great mix of her ideas, shared ideas from other bloggers, freebies and of course my favorite...the giveaways!  She combines it all with a mix of humor and southern charm!

Most of her teaching over the years has been 3rd through 5th...so it's a bit above my young first graders...but there is more than just first grade in the world.  I'm sure there must be...I've heard rumors.  ;-)

I loved  her lesson on Geometry when she was teaching Angles and Lines.  Kind of reminds me of the Line Boogie I made up for my firsties to remember horizontal, vertical and diagonal.

I could just see my principal coming in on a walk through evaluation when I'm doing this.  Oh wait...she did come in once when I was doing my Line Boogie :)  She got quite a kick out of it too!

So what sort of embarrassing lessons have you got caught in the middle of by your administrator?  lol  Please share!

Day 24 Simply Centers

They named their blog incorrectly...It should have been called Center Heaven! Because you will be in heaven when you start digging around on this blog.  Simply Centers has literally thousands of ideas for centers...just (simply) centers!  The best part is how it is all organized by subject and grade level!  Lots of different bloggers contribute links to their center activities.

There is not only math and reading, but science, social studies, technology and writing!  It has everything grouped in grade categories too.  K-2  3-5 and 6-8.  And if you are new to centers or if you have a group of students that need something different this year then they also have a category for "Organizing" centers!

You see, this is way cool!  Anyone can do centers now!  check it out!

  

My journey continues, one blog at a time :)  Come along with me!

Day 18 Wild About Fifth Grade

I teach 1st grade. I don't know about the other 1st grade teachers out there...but I get the funniest responses when I mention that I teach 1st graders.

"Wow, how can you do that?"

"I sure couldn't do that!"

"Better you than me!"

"Isn't that exhausting?"

"I'm glad you teach my 6 year old, cuz I sure couldn't do that all day!"

There are a few things that make it tough...For instance,  I don't particularly care for the untied shoelaces (especially the little boys who walk in and out of the bathrooms with them untied -- ick!).  I could totally do without the nose picking --  really I have like 8 boxes of tissues around the room!  Then there are the occasional potty accidents.  And this time of the year, it is just amazing the amount of time it takes them to put on and take off their snow suits before and after every recess...

But I love teaching 1st graders. I can't imagine teaching any other grade.  I almost had to do just that this year....I almost had to teach 4th grade...or even worse, 6th grade!  I say that in good humor because I have taught both grades...they aren't all that bad...but I really like teaching the little ones in 1st grade.  Everything is new and exciting.  And when they learn how to do something, they think they are so proud of themselves!

But I will be honest...the main reason I love 1st graders is that...they are still shorter than me!! :)

In my inbox today I got an email from Melissa in Michigan.  She is a 5th grade teacher (more power to you!) -- and hopefully taller than most of her students!  She wanted to be included in my blog hop challenge...so I visited her blog.

Melissa is Wild About Fifth Grade!  Her blog was started last fall and she is doing really well already.  She has hooked and linked and pinned and TpT'ed a number of useful tools and units already!  Now I don't teach the advanced math that a 5th grader will need to know but I sure could have used some of her units to help my two girls when they were in 5th grade struggling to visualize those abstract math concepts.

Welcome to my 365 Blog Hop Challenge Melissa...you are my first upper grade blog!

Keep up the good work!