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     I can't believe that September is already done!! School has already been 1/10 completed and there is only a few short weeks before my first experience writing my own report cards! Everything seems to be going by so quickly and I am so thankful for my blog and the reflection opportunity it provides me. With month 1 done, two things that I am proud of this week are: 1 ) Having My Grade 8s Plan Their 2nd Blog! - That's right, with only a week under their belts, my Grade 8s   asked if they could begin blogging for their math class in   addition to their science class. To say I was proud and   excited is a definite understatement. - As a class we decided that we could use our existing blog   for both subjects and while we'll continue to blog every   science class, we will blog once a week for math (on Fridays). - I can't wait to see where their blogging adventure takes them   but I am thrilled that, after only a week, my studen...

     One of our school goals is to build in classroom spirit activities/routines for our students as a way to help foster school spirit and classroom community. One activity that I came up with for our class is #FunShirtFriday that I've seen on Twitter.      Every Friday, I encourage my students to wear a "fun shirt" to school. Over the summer I found a lot of funny and interesting shirts online related to math, science, art, and teaching in general so I was pretty excited to share these with my students.      To take this spirit activity one step further, we have begun charting our class #FunShirtFriday participation using a bar graph. Our final math unit of the year is Statistics & Probability so I plan on creating a project out of the data that we'll collect throughout the year!      Here is my "fun shirt" for today! Of course, while at school, I also wear a blazer to still meet our teacher...

     This summer I was introduced to the idea of Interactive Notebooks in math class through Jennifer at 4mula Fun . As a first year math teacher, I'm always looking for different assessment ideas and the setup of Interactive Notebooks seemed like an interesting instructional method that would provide an easy assessment option for me.      Fast forward to the end of September and I've officially implemented Interactive Notebooks (INB) into all three of my math classes at the Grade 8, 9 & 10 levels. After searching through different edublogs I've found a lot of different ways in which teachers are using INBs in their classrooms. In my classroom I bring out our INBs after we've been introduced to a new concept and have had a few days to practice our new skills.      Students use their INBs as a way to show me their understanding of the concept(s) they've just learned. I ask them to write out how to solve specific probl...

     You might have noticed that a lot of my posts lately have discussed the math classes that I am teaching. Of the 6 courses, I have 3 math classes (Grade 8, 9 & 10). As such, here are two AWESOME math-related resources to start off your week! As always, I will be adding these to my lists of resources under the Fav Websites heading. 1 ) Resource Lists To Accompany Grade 8: Math Makes Sense - If your school has the Math Makes Sense set of textbooks from Pearson   then you might find this website really helpful! The Hastings & Prince   Edward District School Board has put together a list of online resources   that align with each of the chapters in the Math Makes Sense textbook. - Resources include activities for the SMART Board, supplementary   practice, and enrichment options. If you follow the textbook closely in   your classroom then you will appreciate that they've even gone as   detailed as to list the page numbers t...

     I am now in a solid routine with all six of my classes and am feeling a lot more comfortable than I was in the first week of school. I even took advantage of my first pay cheque and bought a brand new pair of black Dr. Scholl's flats that are SO comfortable and perfect for any teacher!      Two things that I am proud of this week are: 1 ) Having My Grade 8 Class Launch Their 1st Blog! - This week my Grade 8 Science class launched their first blog! As an   avid blogger for almost 2 years, I have seen all of the amazing learning   opportunities that can arise from sharing your experiences. I am so   excited for my students to begin their own blogging journey and can't   wait to see what opportunities open up for them. - Our first blog post was published at 11:30am on Tuesday and we will   officially be posting 3-4 times a week (during our Science classes). - If you would like to visit their posts and send them your thou...

     This Friday I attended my very first meeting as a ManACE board meeting. I was very excited as I hadn't had an opportunity to meet a lot of our board members yet and I was looking forward to connecting with more educators who were interested in the same things as me. The meeting took place at St. John's Ravencourt  (SJR) in Winnipeg & I really enjoyed touring the beautiful campus and seeing some of the differences between the public and private education systems in Manitoba. This was my first experience with Manitoba's private education system and it was definitely very different compared to what I am used to in the public sector. Here's a quick pic of me enjoying SJR's outside classroom!      As it was my first ManACE meeting, I spent a lot of time listening and learning about all of the different endeavors that we are involved in. Here are some things that you can watch out for: 1 ) New & Improved Web Presence - One of our goals this year...

     Today my Grade 8 Science class joined the blogging world with the official launch of Mrs. T's Classroom !      They will be using their blog to: - Share their learning with an authentic audience - Catch up on lessons that were missed due to absences - Review lessons to get a better understanding - Connect with other classrooms around the world - Integrate multimedia of all descriptions   (text, images, videos, podcasts) - Practice responsible digital citizenship - Receive feedback on their thoughts      To celebrate we had a full-out Launch Party complete with whole-school announcements, a count-down to our first post, a visit from our school principal, and pizza! The self-appointed "PR Staff" making announcements over the PA System so everyone knew about their launch! A proud group shot to commemorate the event! A party isn't complete without pizza!      I would love if you could head over to the...

     We are now entering our second full week of school and I am getting into our first units with each of my classes. The following resources are resources that I am actually using with my classes this week! I am excited to share theses resources with you and hope you enjoy them as much as me and my students do :) As always, I will be adding these to my lists of resources under the Fav Websites heading. 1 ) Ecosystem Labeling - This interactive, from the University of Alberta, allows students to   explore a virtual ecosystem and answer questions about biotic &   abiotic components, mimicry, producers, consumers, parasites,   mutualism and commensalism. - This is a really good activity to do on the SMART board for   students to practice vocabulary and understanding of ecosystems. -  http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/facilities/multimedia/uploads/alberta/Ecosystem.html 2 ) Cell Size & Scale - This interesting visual allows students to see the...

     My first full week as a teacher is under my belt and I am feeling really happy to be getting into a routine (both in the classroom and in my personal life). Things are progressing like I expected, more-or-less, and I've managed to work around some of the obstacles that can be thrown at teachers like: - New students joining the class late - Fire drills - Broken photocopiers - Tech break-downs, etc      All-in-all things have been going really well and it is hard to express just how rewarding this job can be. I feel blessed to have such a great group of students to work with! I am very excited to see how the year continues to play out. This week, two things that I am very proud of are: 1 )  Meeting One of Our School Goals in Our First Week - One of our school goals this year is for teachers to plan at least 10   grade mentoring activities throughout the year. On Friday, my Grade 8   class partnered up with our Kindergarten class to complet...

     It has officially been one week since school started and I couldn't be happier with how things are going. I am so happy to be part of such a supportive staff and spending time with such amazing students! Overall, I am feeling confident in my planning, curriculum, and management... but I don't think I was actually prepared for how busy teaching is!      I spent a HUGE amount of time this summer planning and I am very organized. I have my supplies and plans in place, I have back up plans... and yet there is still just SO much to do! I just don't think I realized how time consuming everything can be. After one week in, here are some teaching truths that I've learnt the hard way: - Invest in truly comfy and supportive shoes - Pack lunches that can be eaten on the go - Somehow drink enough liquids to stay hydrated, but not enough   that you need to go to the bathroom because there is no time! - The photocopier/printer will break on the day yo...

     When I was student teaching I always had one, two, or more, students who didn't get their assignment in on time. A lot of times, I would find that I would only get assignments in at the end of my student teaching placement because of the fact that they absolutely HAD to have them in because I was leaving and there was no other options after that. - I tried giving students choice in their assignments so that it would be more meaningful for them, - I tried giving flexible deadlines, - I tried offering assignment assistance at lunch hour and after school, - I tried calling home...      Well, you get the picture. No matter what you do, there will always be circumstances throughout the year which result in you chasing students for assignments. Lets face it, our students are very busy and/or are still learning time management and completing assignments isn't always priority number one. Furthermore, it can be hard to keep track of it all! I have six different...

     Week two is underway and I wanted to share some of the neat resources I've been sitting on for a while. With school on now it seems like I haven't posted a resources post in FOREVER but in actuality I only missed one week because last week I posted my classroom reveal . If time flies by like it is, it will be June before I know it (scary thought)! As always, I will be adding these to my lists of resources under the Fav Websites heading. 1 ) 4Mula Fun Math Blog - This is a new blog that I found this summer through Pinterest. This   year I am teaching Grade 8, Grade 9, and Grade 10 math and I   really need some inspiration and examples. - Jennifer posts some awesome lesson plans, activity suggestions, and   helpful tutorials! Some of my favourites that I've actually used this   year already are " Math About Me " and " Interactive Math   Notebooks " - This blog is a great resource if you are teaching math! -  http://www.4mulafun.com/ 2 ) T...

     During my last student teaching placement I began completing a " 2 Stars & A Wish " posts every week where I would reflect on the events of the week, mention two things that I was proud of, and identify one area to work on in the following week. As my my Professional Growth Plan , this is a practice that I want to maintain throughout the school year as well.       If you aren't a teacher, it could seem silly to be writing a reflection for the first "week" when we only actually had students for two days. Those first two days, however, are PACKED with activities: - Welcoming students to your class - Assigning lockers and completing school paperwork on each student - Giving out and reviewing course outlines (for Grades 7-12) - Completing activating strategies - Getting to know your students (as much as you can in two days) This list could go on and on, but for right now I want to mention two things that I am proud of for this week: 1 ) Getting my...

After all of the thought and planning that I put into my classroom, this is definitely how I felt when I woke up this morning!      Our first bell rings at 8:50 a.m so I was at school at approximately 7:50 a.m. The reason for this is that I wanted to be in my room and relaxed when students first started arriving. It was a good thing too, because in the middle of the night the heater turned on in my room and it was SO hot when I got there. Furthermore, because of the heat, some of my decor had fallen off the wall because the tape wasn't sticking anymore. Luckily, I was able to get the heat turned off and replace all the decor before a student ever walked through the door! A quick picture of my "First Day of School" before the students arrive! Big thanks to my teacher-neighbour, "Ms. R", for the picture.      After reading different teaching blogs I've kind of gotten a sense of all of the different "First-Day Routines" that different schools practice...

     Students, tomorrow is not only your first day back to school but it is also my first day as a full-time teacher. I've spent hours over the summer accumulating resources, preparing lessons, differentiating plans, and attending PD... I've organized our classroom and tried to put my personal flare into the room while leaving space for you to make it your own... I've attending our back-to-school meetings and checked (and double-checked) to make sure I have everything ready for our first days together.      As we enter this new, exciting, overwhelming, awesome experience, here is what I promise you: - I promise to welcome you into my room each day with a fresh slate - I promise to provide a safe environment where you can explore your   interests and feel free to take risks with your learning - I promise to always have your best interests in mind - I promise to always take the time to listen to what you are telling me   (verbally, th...

     Today was our first day back at school full-time for teachers! Although students don't officially start until Thursday, teachers are back attending meetings for today and tomorrow. Today all of the teachers and support staff in "T-Division" had the opportunity to attend an PD session with Barbara Coloroso , an educator, mother, and author. To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about this session going into it because I couldn't find a very strong online presence for Barbara and I wasn't exactly sure what specific topics our session was going to address. I must admit, however, that I was pleasantly surprised! Not only did Mrs. Coloroso's talk provide hordes of practical information but it was also engaging and humourous. I love a presenter who can tell a good story and work humour into their information, and she did just that!  Barbara and myself, following her presentation!      If you visit Mrs. Coloroso's website, you will see tha...

     With school right around the corner, my classroom is officially ready and awaiting students! I am so excited for my students to see my first classroom and start using all of the resources that I've put together. In case you don't remember, here is what my classroom looked like before:  Panoramic View There wasn't a whole lot of anything in the classroom when I got there, t he furniture in the middle of the room wasn't mine. Everything that was in the classroom was pretty much focused in this one corner because it held all the storage for the room.      Here is what my classroom looks like now, get ready for a picture overload!  Panoramic View from the back of the room      I will start at the back of the classroom and move clockwise around the room:  My Math Area (The bulletin board at the back of my room) Close-up View of: Do You Think Like a Mathematician? These posters outline criteria for mathematical thinking and...