Day 4

 Block Schedule

We are on a block schedule. At first it was meet everyday for a semester, then it turned into meet every other day for 80 minutes, for the whole year.  I didn't like the every other day because my students would forget what we had done two days before. So I started posting assignments in Edmodo for night they didn't have my class. Now my students see math daily.  I like the system now.

Day 3

New students came to class so we didn't get finished with the bar graphs from "Who I Am".  One group got their work done and got up to the board to show their work but didn't finish before the bell.

I'm still checking into the whiteboards for the classroom. More on that later.

Day 2
Classroom refurbishment.

What to do about the board?

This is the board in question.  Lots of room for students to spread out and work, only problem, the "chalkboard" doesn't work very well.  I've asked around (thanks @druinok, @davidwees, @pamjwilson, @TPalmer207, @mashupmath, @jodyskinner76) and gotten some input. My choices are;

1. Repaint it with chalkboard paint or whiteboard paint.
2. Buy shower board from home improvement center 
3. Be on the look out for companies tossing their old whiteboard 
4. Buy new whiteboards.

This board looks like a chalkboard but it's actually green fabric with a cork board-like material underneath. For now, this board is on hold. My plans for it will be to change out the material with a pretty blue.

Tomorrow students will use the board to draw graphs and I'll see how they like it. I'm not sure how they will like it but I do know chalk is messy. When I moved in the chalkboard tray was full of chalk dust and the floor also had a fine layer of dust.

Next post:

1. Students reactions to using the "chalkboard"

2.  Student graphs of "Who I Am" survey.

DAY 1!!!!!

Aloha, today was weird, everything was different.  We have a new middle school so all of our joyous, noisy, middle school students are no longer with us and it's just too quiet, yes, I miss them.  

Day 1 assignment:  I have the same students in my high school Algebra 1 that I had last year in Pre-Algebra so there is no "getting to know you" activity.  But I didn't want the students to have to listen to me go on about rules and procedures all period so I did an "I want to know you better" activity.  I used Dan Myers "Who I Am" worksheet to let them practice graphing.  

Students went up one at a time and wrote their data under each of the four questions from the handout.  They worked in groups to develop each graph.  They didn't have much time so they will be turning them in on Wednesday.  

VNPS - I don't have enough space on the whiteboard for all of my students to go up and write so Wednesday some will be drawing their graphs on the chalkboard.  It's not a "real" chalkboard but it will work until my new whiteboards come in.  I have a little money from a donor that will allow me to purchase some whiteboards for the other wall (third picture). The picture above and below are of the same wall.  

 This picture below is my south wall awaiting new whiteboards.

Here's the rest of my classroom.  No decorations yet, focusing on students, procedures, rules, etc.  Making the room nice and cozy is important so I will be working on it for the next couple of weeks.  The walls were painted just a couple of years ago so I didn't think the school would spring for new paint and I spent any spare money I had on the decorations.  Maybe next summer I'll paint.  These pictures were from last week before I arranged the desks.

I loved my summer vacation and I got a lot of rest, play, and organizing done but I was really happy to be back with the students today.  

My goal is to blog again on Wednesday to share the graphs my students worked on at home.  Then next week I will be in Jo Boaler's workshop and will blog about that when I get back home.

Thank you for reading.