Friday in Fourth

Hello,

I'm Janet from Bloomin' Bees, and I'm excited to have the opportunity to be a guest blogger on Resources with Altitude!

I've just finished up my twentieth year of teaching. (No I'm not old, I'm just "seasoned.")  Lol!   I'm currently a fourth grade teacher, thus the blog post title of "Friday in Fourth."   I've also taught grades 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, been a technology specialist, and a reading/writing interventionist.  So, needless to say, I have a great understanding of the scope and sequence of where my fourth graders have been and where they need to go.  The crazy part of all my years in teaching is that I double majored in college in elementary ed and early childhood ed, because I KNEW I was going to be a kindergarten teacher.  What haven't I taught?  That would be kindie and first grade!  When you're right out of college and are offered a job as a 5/6 combo teacher, you take it!  After a couple years I (1) became labeled as an intermediate teacher and (2) was financially invested in intermediate.  Several people have asked me what my favorite grade is, and quite honestly, I love them all for different reasons.

Speaking of college, I attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln for my bachelor's degree and University of NE at Omaha for my master's degree.  Being born and raised in Omaha, NE I naturally had that HUSKER blood in me.  GO BIG RED!!!!  I was lucky enough be in Lincoln during the Tom Osborne era and witness back to back national championships in 1994 and 1995.  (I know-- a lot of people reading this blog were probably still in elementary school at that time).  

I live in SE Aurora with my husband of fourteen years and my three adorable meowing children.  Due to an extremely rough battle with cancer shortly after being married, we are unable to have any children except the four-legged variety.  Although this has been tough at times, I find I can be so much more of a loving and patient teacher for my students.  They are always excited in August when I officially "adopt" them for the year as "my children."  

Sad to say, but I'm a bit of the nerd type teacher.  I enjoy spending my evenings and summer scouring the web for fun teaching ideas and producing resources to help students interact and understand the standards better.  Teachers Pay Teachers and Pinterest have proven to be MAJOR time suckers for me!  

When I'm not nerding out, I love to spend time in the mountains with my husband (hiking and camping), visiting family back in Nebraska, scrapbooking, and gardening.  (Oh right, we can't forget Candy Crush--the BIGGEST time sucker of them all!)

You can expect blog posts about ideas, tips, and resources to incorporate into your intermediate classroom from me.  

A project that I'm working on this summer arose out of a need to conserve on the transition time it takes for children to move from their seats to the kidney table when I pull small groups. Since we don't have enough chairs to have extras around the table, I have to patiently wait for students to clink and clank their chairs from their desks to the back of the room.  Wouldn't it be nice to have readily available seating?  So, I'm now channeling my inner carpentry skills as I create these fun stools.  Right now I'm just drilling one screw through the top to hold on each leg.  If anyone knows a better way to secure the legs on, such as a brace or something, I'd love to hear about it.  I'm thinking these will start to wobble a bit after awhile if I don't reinforce.  My best bet may be to take one up to Home Depot and pick their experienced brains.  My next step is to buy padding for the seats and sew a denim (durable) cover for the top of the padding.  I plan to adhere is to the wooden stool with velcro, so I can wash them occasionally.  (sew velcro to cover and staple other side to underneath of stool)

That's all for today.  Thanks for taking the time to read my post, and I look forward to getting to know other teachers, bloggers, and TpTers through this blog site!

You can follow me at my personal blog, my Facebook page, or on my TpT store.

Music Monday with Sue McTigue!

Music Monday with Sue McTigue  

Teach Me With a Song

Hello from Colorado Springs! It’s so energizing to be a part of this wonderful group of TPT teachers in Resources With Altitude!
My store blog is just getting started at Teach Me With a Song Blog and you can visit my Facebook page to learn more about me and my experiences and teaching tips in Music and Arts Education.

In addition to 32 years of teaching experience, I have a BME degree (Music Ed), Orff & Kodaly certificates, a Symbaloo trainer certificate and an MA in Creative Arts & Learning/Curriculum Development.

I live with my wonderful husband, talented and wonderful step children and my new Toy Fox Terrier puppy, Sky!

I am currently working on a children's book with music about the adventures of Sky.  He goes everywhere with me, including a weekly ride or two on my paddle board.

I have been retired (sort of) for one year. I currently enjoy composing, teaching private piano, guitar, & voice and mentoring teachers in technology, curriculum planning and idea generating. If that isn't enough, I train teachers in Notebook Software,  SMARTboard and Symbaloo as a private contractor giving me the opportunity to connect with my favorite people, teachers!

My first choral piece, entitled, "Teach Me With a Song"  was recently published by BriLee Music Publishing (Carl Fisher) and can be viewed and heard at BriLee Music. It was premiered at the Douglas County School District Honor Choir performances in February and April of 2015.  Please enjoy the video of the DCSD Honor Choir 2015 premiere of my 2 part (optional 3 pt.) choral piece, "Teach Me With a Song".
This piece was inspired by one of my students with autism who insisted he learn everything through song.  My Teachers Pay Teachers store is named in honor of this student who's common request was, "Teach me with a song!"

I have also written a geological music program for 3rd - 5th grade about rocks, minerals and changes of the earth entitled, "Rock Concert!"  It comes with a CD of accompaniment tracks with and without vocals, script and printed music.  It has all ready been performed several times in Colorado and other states.

Here is a link to a freebie for you, a notebook file for interactive whiteboard using nursery rhymes and hearts to help K-2 students learn and understand the basic rhythm notation with quarter notes & rests, and eighth notes.  It is a very flexible file which allows for much creativity of teacher and students.  Enjoy!

Nursery Rhymes, Heartbeats and Rhythms

Please let me know if I can help you with your teaching in anyway by creating a custom notebook file, song, worksheet or lesson just for you.  Since I'm retired but still very involved in current music education, I have lots of time and expertise to create the perfect resource you need.  Just let me know what it is!

Sue McTigue - Teach Me With a Song

psmctigue@comcast.net

paulasue.mctigue@gmail.com

Vocabulary Word Wall - Meet Hannah from The Classroom Key

Hi there!  I'm Hannah and I blog over at The Classroom Key.

About Me

I have some tips for you about implementing a vocabulary word wall, but first, a little about me: I taught 2nd grade for five years and was a library media specialist for three years.  I have a 9-year-old girl and a 1-year-old boy.  We love living in Colorado!

This is our dog, Chuck.  He wasn't very excited about the neighborhood luau in this photo ; )

Vocabulary Word Walls

On to word walls!  I frequently see word walls for sight words but another way to use them is to boost vocabulary.  This would be especially appropriate for students in 2nd grade and above who typically don't need as much support with sight words.  

One year I had a juggernaut of a word wall (speaking of vocabulary...haha!) that took up lots of space and  had a place for each letter.  Each day when I read my students a picture book, I introduced a tricky word I knew would be in the book and had a picture to represent it.  After the read aloud we would add the word and the picture to the wall and refer back to it later.  While I think this was beneficial for my students, especially since they were all English language learners, it did get a bit overwhelming, and I'm not sure we interacted with the old words enough.

I find teaching to frequently be about finding creative solutions to problems.  They key to solving the unweidly word wall problem.....is to create a mini word wall!  

Use 7 to 10 Words at a Time-

Using a smaller number of words has a few different benefits.  It's easier for students to look for examples of the words in context if they're focused on a smaller number of them.  Also, displaying the words takes up less space on the wall.  You don't need a spot for each letter, just post the words like a list.  Students are more likely to remember the words if they get several interactions with a small number of words rather than just skimming over a large number of words.  

Pull Words from Books or Topics of Study - 

New words will be more meaningful to students if they are connected to a book they have read or a science or social studies topic they have been studying.

Interact with the Words Frequently - 

Word walls are of limited value if the words are talked about once, posted, and then never revisited.  Students need several chances to hear, see, and use a new word in order to adopt it into their own vocabulary.  More ideas for interacting with word walls are posted below.

Include Pictures - 

Including pictures with vocabulary words will help jog students' memories.  Reminder pictures can be the difference between students being able to use the word wall independently and students needing help with or just not using the word wall.

Change them out Occasionally - 

If a word has been on the word wall for a while and students seem comfortable with it, change it out with a new word.  Little by little your mini word wall will morph throughout the year.

So what exactly is this "interacting" with word walls?  Here are some ideas that can be implemented in those little five minute gaps you find yourself in every so often:

Thanks for stopping by, and happy teaching!

Hello From Northern Colorado!

Hello, all! My name is Nichole and I am so excited to be a part of Resources With Altitude! I also blog over at The Craft of Teaching.

I would love to share a quick Back to School freebie with you (other people are already thinking about back to school, right? It's not just me?) but first let me share a little about myself!

I just finished my 13th year of teaching. All 13 have been in Colorado! I have taught mostly 4th and 5th grade, and one lonely year of 3rd. 5th grade is easily my favorite grade to teach. They make me laugh!

Because they are a little weird.

I live north of Denver with my husband, 2 dogs and cranky cat.

I can't wait to share some ideas and get some great ideas from the other awesome bloggers here!

I know that you can't believe that I am already thinking about going back to school.

I can't help it.

I try to do other things and I always end up coming back to the new school year!

Maybe you are like me? School always on the brain? Well, if so, here is something you might be able to use in a few short weeks when we go back to school!

I like to use this graphic organizer at the end of the first day or first week to get a pulse on how kids are feeling about the new school year. It's quick and easy and lets those students who don't always feel comfortable speaking up have a voice! I love to read them and see what's going through everyone's mind as we are just getting to know each other.

I am so looking forward to being a part of this collaboration!!  Stay tuned this weekend for more from our fabulous team!

Technology Thursday- Meet Mrs. P!

Hello All! My name is Sara Prue of Mrs. P's Special Education Classroom! I want to welcome you to the Colorado Teacher Collaborative Blog: Resources with Altitude. 

I'll start by telling you a little bit about myself before I jump into the good stuff. =)

I moved to Colorado almost 5 years ago to the day, from Oregon. I visited in November 2009 to spend Thanksgiving with my family and I decided that first day, that I would be spending the rest of my days in Colorado. I mean, it was 75 at the end of November. It was also the week that I met my husband, but that was just a mild coincidence. 

I have been a special education teacher in a self-contained classroom for the past 8 years. My first three years were in a small town close to the Oregon coast (I think it rained the whole time I was there, too.). I taught grades 6-age 21 life skills and core content. Since coming to Colorado I have spent my time teaching students from grades K-8. I just finished a 3 year stint teaching grades 6-8 in a turnaround school in Northwest Denver. Since our middle school has closed due to low enrollment, I will be setting off on a new adventure as a 3-5 Multi-Intensive Special Education Teacher at a turnaround school in Northeast Denver in July.  

As I mentioned, I am married to my best friend, Ryan. We have been together since the day I moved to Colorado and married for almost a year. In November we are expecting our first baby, a boy named Liam. We have a what we like to call a small farm: two guinea pigs named Herb & Juanita (classroom pets....be expecting a blog post or two about these gems) and a dogchild named Ali. 

And now onto the good stuff. Every other Thursday, I will be bringing you handy technology tips that will assist you with creating products for TPT, making fancy things for your blog, and utilizing social media to gain followers and buyers. I have found the more technology is utilized in the classroom, the easier classroom management becomes. I'll also try to blog about life in my new classroom. =)

Today's handy tip is how to create a custom TPT Banner for your store. 

Many of you have had your blog designed professionally, and sometimes it includes a TPT banner. I like to switch mine up a bit to add some color with the seasons. 

I recently bought a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud at the Education pricing (Click here to get more information.). I must say...I'm never looking back and I haven't even had it for 24 hours! 

Okay. Open Photoshop and go to File>New Document.

ONce this is done, you'll get a pop up. Name your file whatever you like. Then where it says width make it 706. For the height make sure it says 90. To the right there is a drop down menu, make sure it says PIXELS.  Press ok.

Your document should look like this:

Zoom in as much as you desire. I like to make sure I can see the entire document but it's really up to you and how you like to work. 

The next step is to choose your background. If you have digital scrapbook paper (as I do) you can choose a file and just drag it onto the document. 

Once your picture has been dragged over, you will need to spread it the length of the document. 

You can add clipart the same way! I am a Melonheadz hoarder, if you haven't heard of her clipart...check it out! SHE'S AMAZING!!!

Once you have your clipart where you want it...click the check mark on the navigation bar. That is saying that you are sure you like where you put the picture. 

To add text, look for the T on the left hand column navigation bar. It will give you a cursor. Click the cursor on your document where you want text. Feel free to type what you want. Then you can change your font, color and size using the navigation bar on the top. All of the fonts on your computer will be available to you with a sample! Add as much text and clipart as you deem necessary.

If you realize you want to move stuff around afterwards. To the right are what is called the "layers'. These are the items you have on your document in the order that you placed them there. If you just go to the arrow, you will not be able to move your background or your clipart. Click on the layer you want to manipulate and use the arrow to move it or resize it. 

When you are finished, click File > Save As. Once you have done that, a pop-up will come up. 

YOu will want to name your banner. Then where is says "where" that is where on your computer you want to save it. To be safe, I usually save to my desktop then drag it to it's place afterwards, that way it's easier to access once I'm uploading it to TPT. 

Once you have clicked save another pop-up will come. I click okay. 

Now you're ready to upload to TPT! Go to your TPT dashboard. Scroll down until you see "Customize Your Store." Then click it. 

Click "Choose File" and upload your banner. You are able to link this to your TPT store or TPT website. 

Once you've hit save...go to your store and WAAAAH-LAAAAA! How cool and EASY was that?

Thanks for reading and I hope this was fun and helpful!!! 

Hello From Teaching In Bronco Country

Hi! I am Ashley from Teaching in Bronco Country . I am so excited to be apart of Resources With Altitude! I view the teacher blogger world as a place to continuously learn and be inspired by other teachers. I spend a ton of time being in awe of the amazing things other teachers are doing out there.

A little about myself, I am a 3rd grade teacher in Elizabeth, CO. I have been teaching for 8 years and I have taught first, second, third and a 3/4 split. I love 3rd grade and seem to always make my way back. I teach part time so I can spend time with my two year old twins. That means I teach literacy and social studies every morning. From me you will read about teaching reading, writing and social studies with a technology twist. I work at a 1 to 1 iPad school and I have used them in the classroom for the past 4 years.  

I teach through apps, a flipped classroom model and the tried and true paper and pencil. 

I did not always know I wanted to be a teacher. I struggled in school socially and with my behavior. I wasn't a "bad" kid I just couldn't sit still and stop talking. However, I loved learning and I still do! I went to college to be a youth minster and realized how wonderful teaching was while teaching a lesson in Sunday school. My mom said she always knew I would be a teacher. (I should always listen to my mom.)

A teacher that believed in me and saw past my wiggles and chattiness was my second grade teacher, Mrs.Tabor. Mrs. Tabor made learning interactive and engaging and we rarely had to stay seated! She continues to inspire me all of these years later. I strive to bring that into my own classroom. If you were to walk in my classroom you would see students working on a variety of activities and interacting with each other. 

I am a U.S. History lover! It is my favorite subject to teach! I have several social studies lessons in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Two of my favorites are:

Economics in the Classroom:  This is a fun and interactive supply and demand activity. Believe or not I really enjoy teaching economics and try hard to have my students enjoy it.

This lesson is designed teach economics to elementary students. It focuses on the topics of supply and demand.

Each student starts with $10.00, then has to earn and spend money. (They can start with more or less based on the classes need.)

There are three rounds that should be about 10 minutes long. During this time the consumers may visit the bank, the store and perform their task from their task cards.

The next lesson is where my love of U.S. History comes in. It is an interactive lesson about traveling through Ellis Island. With Discovering Ellis Island, you turn your classroom into Ellis Island and each student is assigned an immigrant card. Most students make it through to America but some do not.  

When I am not blogging or teaching I love to cook, read and craft! My girls are an absolute joy in my life and I love navigating parenthood with my husband Ian. 

 Thank you for taking the time to read about me! You can check out more about my classroom at my own blog, or on Facebook and Instagram.