I am here. I have been so very busy with school, grad school, foot issues, and my overwhelming sadness due to the loss of a most BELOVED brother-in-law. Let's just say there is not enough time in the day to do all of the things that need to be done. Needless to say, I am hanging in there.
I have however, for the past few weeks, been teaching Unit 2 of our comprehensive curriculum which finds me and my students having fun with matter....measuring it in all sorts of ways. I think my students are mostly enjoying the fact that each day brings out new equipment and instruments to master using. They have especially loved using the triple beam balance....mainly since I so desperately wanted to make certain they could explain thoroughly how and why it is used that I had them write letters to our assistant principal explaining so. They did a FABULOUS job and he sooo got a kick out of the letters.
We have also been visited by he-who-will-not-be-named a few times. Just for the record, he..... is visiting our classrooms this year to make sure we are teaching well and that the students are constantly engaged. Which equates to my sore feet and early bedtimes. None-the-less, I am having more fun this year than ever.
One of my new SCIENCE DIVA CERTIFIED management procedures is the use of wonderful little cones I found at the Dollar Tree as recommended by my AWESOME friends from http://www.proteacher.net/. I have 7 orange cones and 1 yellow cone that all have a positive message like "Great Job" and "Fabulous Work" on them. Well, as my students [who by the way sit 4 to a round table which I know I have yet to post pics of my classroom] work in and with their groups on various activities and projects, I walk around monitoring and questioning as all good teachers do with these in my hands looking for the teams that are Cooperative, On-task, Noiseless, & Efficient. Their main goal is to earn the coveted lone yellow cone to be recongnized as the CONEiacs. The coniacs of course earn a prize, too, which is usually some sort of treat to eat right there in class. I must admit that I really love this even more this year because the first time he-who-will-not-be-named visited our room with my three administrators they were all impressed by how well this worked. YAY US!
Well, it is really past my bedtime....I have the big SLLC test this weekend...wish me luck! :)
