I Am What I Teach: August 2015

New year's resolution...I know, I know it's not the new year, but it IS a new school year. My new school year's resolution is to create an environment that is more student led and full of inquiry. So where to start you ask. Start with some summer reading, Learn Like a Pirate by Paul Solarz, and a new Pinterest Board: project based / inquiry.

Now I have my outline time to get to work! To start off we needed an activity to introduce this idea of "student led". Thanks Runde's Room: Introducing Student Led Classroom

My directions: Each group gets 2 cups, 1 rubber band, and a piece of yarn for each student. You have to move the top cup off of the stack, flip it over, and place it on the other cup. Hint: You can wrap the string through rubber band (showing them).

It started friendly and then...FRUSTRATION set in!

Team work became difficult with students being bossy and taking over. We had to stop and talk about it before it got ugly :) The conversation was about how you wanted to be treated in a team and how you were going to share ideas. We did the "Give Me 5" technique for student to talk from Learn Like a Pirate and students shared what was working in their team.

Try, try again.

SUCCESS!!

Questions pondered - Did you need the teacher to tell you how? Did you need your team? Was it easier when you shared ideas calmly and kindly?

Challenge: Do it again with the cups right side up!

Pull the top one out and flip it over.

They definitely got the point and showed it with their team using patience and persevering.

AND this was such a fun activity I hear daily, "Can we do the cup thing again?"

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Zanes Law gives again! The annual school supply giveaway to over 400 teachers was a success! Thank you Zanes!!

Super volunteers...

Excited teachers...

And tons of fun!

THANK YOU ZANES!!

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Thank you Treasures 4 Teachers, Four Peaks Brewery, and the community volunteers for these boxes!!

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Zanes Law does it again...it's their year 6 and I'm fortune to have been selected for 5 of those years!!

The supplies!

WOW!!

Some fun!!

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Thank you Four Peaks Brewery and Monsoonsee Tap and Grill for the teacher gift box!!

I'm so excited to start the year with 2 extra reams of copy paper, cleaning wipes, and a new set of markers and pens.

Thank you First Book, Disney Publishers, and the wonderful volunteers for all the books! 1,200 books for my school!!

My flat after loading half

It took 2 cars to get all of the books

Some little helpers from after school tutoring brought in all of the heavy boxes

Some books to share...

And some for me!

Almost 800lbs, 33 boxes, and 28 different books leveled for readers 0-18 years old.

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Zanes Law Loves Teachers

Zanes Law has showed their love and kindness again with their Annual Supply Giveaway Event. This was their 4th year doing this event and they are supporting more teachers every year with hundreds showing up today!!

TONS of happy teachers waiting to gather the loot!

There was copy paper, construction paper, scissors,

glue, markers, mini baskets, tissues, and MORE!

My bag was FULL and HEAVY

A Prize and a Refreshment

And to compete the fun, you could play a Minute to Win It Game

Zanes always adds another cause related to health,

this year you could choose to donate blood.

Here's what I ended with...so many supplies!!

THANK YOU ZANES LAW!!

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Three Cheers for Yoobi!

I'm am so excited to show off my newest supplies that I just picked up from Treasures for Teachers Tucson, a local teacher shop with teaching and crafting supplies. Yoobi is a much larger organization that you may have heard of because of their promotion with Target last fall. I can officially say I LOVE both organizations :)

Here's how the deal worked:

1. Join Teachers Pay Teachers - Already done since they have lots of good stuff all year long!

2. Fill out a verification form and write a thank you note

3. Take home your BOX!!!!

Cute letter from Yoobi

This little box was LOADED with cute little boxes,

with even cuter printed on labels.

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I received a box of school supply goodies from my Sorority Alumni group. Your kindness goes a long way!

Plus toilet paper and paper towel rolls which will be telescopes for our space unit!

Thank you Beta Nu Beta for your donations!!

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This morning Zanes Law did a huge teacher giveaway!!

After an application and a special invitation I was on the list, along with a bunch of my coworkers! I truly appreciate what they do each year for teachers to help us get the year started right and their support throughout the year with giveaways to selected classrooms.

All the supplies were sorted and stacked.

It was a beautifully cloudy morning.

The music was playing :)

And then all the fun begins!!

All of this was in my bag!!

Photo Station with their Cute Mascot "Yardly"

Bragging ...I mean Checking In on Facebook earned you 2 of the prizes from this table!

Minute to Win It Games:

We have a yo-yo tied to our back belt loop and had to swing the yo-yo to knock over all the cups! I had fun with my co-worker Dana who did it with me.