NBC Sunday #4 - Entry 3: Integrating Science and Math & a Freebie!

Hello all!  I'm going to start today's post by quoting directly from NBPTS on Entry 3.

"In this entry, you submit a 15-minute video recording of and instructional materials for an integrative learning sequence designed  to deepen children's understanding of mathematics and science topics through unifying concepts and processes in science and to develop children's skills in using mathematical and scientific ways of observing, thinking, reasoning, and communicating.  You provide a written commentary analyzing the video recording and instructional materials, including your use of technology to support children's learning."

What I didn't know until I started investigating this process is that if you want to "get your feet wet" and try it out, you can do so with this entry.  They call it "Take One!"  Basically you are ONLY doing this entry.  None of the others would need to be completed and what you pay would be much less.  For some people this works. You get a good idea of how the process works and with much less stress and much less work to focus on.

For me I decided to rip the band-aid off and just do it all in one year.  I figured I might as well give the whole thing a shot and if I don't pass a particular area I can just retake that portion the following year. 

**UPDATE** 

I did not pass this entry.  So what I wrote below may not be useful to you!  I learned that I may have focused too much on math in my writing when this was clearly more science with math support.  I may have also spent too much time/used too much space in my writing on literacy related activities.

~For my entry 3 ~

I used the following CA kindergarten standards: 

Science 1b: Water can be a liquid or solid and can be made to change back and forth

Math K.MD.1: Describe measurable attributes of objects by weight

Math K.MD.2: compare 2 objects with weight in common for more or less

We spent a full week exploring water and ice.  Here are some pics that I included in my entry:

 This is 2 snapshots of documentation from my Smartboard.  The top half was the student predictions of what would happen to the water when we placed it in the freezer.  The check marks were after we checked the water the following day.  Those with checkmarks predicted correctly.  The pitcher is words we came up with to describe ice.

This pic is of the journal we kept for rate of evaporation.  (Want a copy of this? Go here!)

We kept track of the cup of water that was left out.  We also put one in a ziploc bag.  Obviously the one in the ziploc didn't evaporate so it helped the kids to see that air is what caused the water line to go down in the cup we tracked.

Here are some of the activities we did during the week:

1. Introduction - What is Ice?
2. Sensing Ice (using the senses to describe ice)
3. Weight and space of water and ice - which one takes up more space?  which one weighs more?

The Video

I taped every lesson I did and then selected the one I felt would work the best.  It ended up being the very first video...my introduction to water and ice.

What you NEED to know is they aren't looking for perfection.  Let what really happens in your school day show in the video.  If the intercom interrupts while you are teaching the lesson that is something that really happens so don't stress over it and feel like you will have to retape it.  If you were to see my video entry for #2 you would CRY!  Not only do I have intercom interruptions but my neighboring teacher (whom I have a connecting door with) came in to ask a question PLUS my special ed visitors had missed the previous day and were EXTREMELY noisy in the back of the room working on what they needed to catch up on to do the activity with us and I got a phone call.  It was CRAZY!

I'll wrap this up by giving you a few key questions to ponder when you are putting together your lesson plan and executing it:

1. What do you know about your students?
2. What is the goal of the lesson?
3. How will you evaluate their learning?

Then reflect:

1. What could you have done to teach it better?
2. How effective were the strategies used and your resources?
3. What is the next step?

Lastly, if you missed the freebie up above I've got it right here once again.  It's my Water Observation Journal.  Just click HERE and you will be taken to the google doc to download it. Have a great week!

NBC Sundays #3 - Entry 4

Good morning everyone!  So I hope you had a better week than I did. Mine started off with this little find:

My USB thumb drive had gone through the washing machine!  Not just once either.  I had been missing it for a couple of weeks so it likely went through quite a few washings.  I didn't have the courage to put it together and see if it still worked until yesterday.  I decided to face the music and if you can believe it, it worked!  I transferred ALL my files to my external hard drive immediately!

So on to the topic of the day - entry #4.  This entry is all about your accomplishments as a teacher.  They will be looking specifically at your

parent communication 

your ability to be a teacher leader 

and how well you collaborate with your colleagues.

You will have a total of 16 pages to demonstrate this and can use up to 8 events to fill up those 16 pages.  More often than not though, you won't be able to get to 8 events.  What you write about each event will take up more space than you think.

You will also need to think about what you will use to verify each of your accomplishments. Data, pictures, emails, etc.

I'll share with you the accomplishments I chose.  

I wrote about being grade level chair.  This addressed all 3 aspects and it covered 3 different accomplishments.   It included things like how I led my kindergarten team to write a document for parents to help them know what would be expected on the upcoming report cards; leading them to create a curriculum "map" for the school year; and how we worked together to learn writers workshop. The documentation I used was one page of the actual expectation document; a page from the curriculum map we wrote and student work samples for the writers workshop accomplishment.

I also wrote about a community art show our kindergarteners participated in (I used pictures of the event as documentation) as well as leading my team in a kindergarten academy. (The academy was like-ability grouping of students for ELA across the grade level.  Every morning we would switch the kids and 1 teacher would take the high group, another the medium and another the low.) This particular entry I used data to demonstrate its effectiveness.  I got data from 2nd grade that showed the first group of kids were still excelling as well as showing that each year kids left kindergarten with greater success than previously.

In total I had 4 accomplishments and it took up ALL 16 pages.

Your task for this week: write down what you think could be considered accomplishments in these 3 areas.

If you're not sure what you think of your accomplishment, write a comment below.  I'm happy to offer help if I can!

Have a great week!

Oops!

Well, I'm here to apologize!  My son had gotten ill Friday night and kept us up ALL night.  I was a walking ZOMBIE on Saturday! I was hoping to get it done today but I didn't make it.  So that means NBC Sunday is postponed til next week.  Have a great week and see you then!

NBC Sundays #2-Scholarships

This week's post is about how to find those scholarships.  (I had much more to say about this than I anticipated so I'll save my discussion on entry 4 for next week.)

  

The easiest way to look for scholarships is to go straight to the NBPTS website.  On their fees and financial support page they have direct links to many different scholarships. On that page (click here to get there) they have listed links to state and local funding and corporations/foundations who will fund. It is IMPORTANT to note that in order to qualify for these scholarships you MUST pay your initial fee FIRST.

So let me tell you MY story about getting full funding.  I got the $1200 state scholarship with no problem  (this has since been suspended in the state of CA).  To get the Amgen scholarship I had to act quickly.  I can't quite remember the process exactly but it was something like you log on to the NBPTS website and click a link or send a message.  They open up those scholarships at a certain time at a certain hour and it's first come first serve. I MISSED IT.  Yes, I missed it!  I had too much going on and I just plain forgot to sign up.  

Luckily, my friend who was also going through the process (thank you Aun!) found out that we could get the very same scholarship through National University!  

National University

They have a free support program and were also allocated funds from Amgen for scholarships.  Even after her and me (and 2 other colleagues of mine) received scholarships from National University there was still scholarships left!  So while the scholarship money allotted to NBPTS had run out quickly, National University still had plenty.  We were lucky thanks to the hard investigative work of my colleague.

They also mention loans offered by NEA and for veterans but obviously I encourage you to seek out scholarships.  It is not a cheap process!

So briefly I want to mention that there are free support networks out there for you.  As mentioned earlier National University carries out a program on campus or online.  I could never make either of their sessions.  I did however make it to CTA's (California Teacher Association) 3 day seminar last summer and that was probably THE BEST thing I did to get familiar with the process.  Our presenter got us organized and started on entry 4.  CTA's support is also free.  It is run by Stacy Begin who was the presenter at the 3 day seminar and she held meetings throughout the year as well as online classes. (Stacy is on twitter at @STBegin) Both of those programs are funded through a grant (if I remember correctly!) which allow it to be free.  My district offers a support program but it was going to cost $500 and I really didn't want to pay anymore expenses.  

Lastly,

At this 3 day seminar by CTA they encouraged us to seek out other funding from local businesses in our school's community.  They talked about writing letters, setting up meetings and networking with people in the community who would like to help the local school.  One suggestion was to approach real estate agents.  Make your case as having a nationally board certified teacher in the local school would be a good selling point for them, possibly increase home values as the schools had highly qualified teachers.  Another suggestion was to approach any business who funds little leagues, such as pizza parlors.  They could also market that they helped fund a teacher which in turn helped the children of the community.  The best way to get this type of funding is to be creative and to be personable!  

Good luck in finding a scholarship for yourself and I'll see you next week to talk about entry 4!

NBC Sundays #1

Those of you who follow me are aware that last year I went through the National Board Candidate process. So what I've decided to do is make Sundays my NBC Sunday and write posts that will help you prepare for candidacy and if I didn't pass also help me stay focused to redo whichever part needs to be redone!

Today's post is all about organization. Now that the school year has already begun it is so easy to say I'll put it off to tomorrow...or next week...or even next month! If you can avoid it please do! I had every good intention to stay on my outlined path but did I? No! So how did I spend the week before I had to turn the paperwork in? Yes cramming and rushing and praying I wrote well enough to impress the reader who would be scoring my work! Which is why I sit here wondering if I passed rather than feeling confident that I did a great job.

So what I had done with my cohort is map out on the calendar when each task would be completed. So here was our plan: 

1. Mid-August - Finish entry 4, teacher accomplishments (before school begins)

2. October - Finish entry 2, social studies/arts

3. January - Finish entry 3, math/science

4. February Finish entry 1, writing

5. Sign up for the exam in January (which was actually pushed back to February this year).

IF I had actually stuck to this schedule then May would not have been so stressful! 

HOWEVER, making a schedule (whether you follow it or not!) would be pointless if you haven't paid your $565 to NBPTS. Just as early as last year they were still sending boxes out but they have since gone digital and everything is turned in online. I was a part of the first digital group! (The boxes were for turning in your portfolio and now its an ePortfolio). There are scholarships of all kinds and maybe you'll qualify. I was able to get a $1200 scholarship (which is no longer available) and a $750 scholarship from Amgen. It meant the only fee I paid was the $565. Without a scholarship you are looking at just over $2500. It's not cheap so find those scholarships! 

This week I encourage you to make a schedule and keep to it so you don't suffer like I did! (Unless you work well under pressure)

Next week I'm going to focus on where to look for scholarships and entry #4.

I wish you luck if you are going to do this process and want to let you know I'm here to go through it with you!  I enjoyed the process even though I was a procrastinator and am looking forward to helping others!

Good luck to those of you who decide to do this!

Sight Word Program now in TpT!

Well time has literally FLOWN by since having baby J!  It's been 7 weeks since he arrived and I knew I'd have to get those favorite things posts up BEFORE I had him and turns out I was right! I still have 2 more product reviews sitting in my post list just waiting for me to finish them up and share with you.  Those will come out {hopefully!} before September is done.  If not, I guess I'll just wait til next summer since they are beginning of the year products.  Why not?!  I've postponed it this long, right? *sigh*


So even though I was delightfully sidetracked with my sweet newborn I was determined to get this product finished and up on TpT. (especially since I needed it for my return to work next week!)  So on to the product!  It is a high frequency/sight word (whichever term you like to use more!) program.

Click {here} to pick yours up on TpT!

In the past I've begun this program by talking about how we are going to be working towards the most ultimate, incredible, fantabulous ice cream party. And of course that draws their interest in and I've found that this has been an incredible incentive for my students!

Now I must tell you that I have run this party 2 ways.  In years when a lot of children have learned 60+ words they only get what they've achieved at the ice cream party.  Each list they complete earns them one more ice cream scoop or topping.  BUT in years (like the year I taught Transitional Kinder) where the little ones didn't get anywhere near 100 we just had an ice cream party where they could pick what they wanted on one scoop of ice cream.

The first time someone can read 10 words we celebrate!  I give that child a certificate and make a big, BIG deal.  This is what the certificate looks like.  There is one for each level but there is also a generic certificate without a background that you could copy in mass and keep on hand.

This year they'll be tracking their progress on this little graphic:

There is a "topping-less" ice cream graphic to my packet if you want to go the 3D way and use art materials for the sprinkles and mini chocolate chips!

I've also created word cards that can be posted on your word wall.  They look like this:

But once again if you'd prefer to give it a background of your own I've also created word cards that have no background so you can personalize it to your classroom.

And how to keep track of their progress you ask?  Well, there is also an assessment piece to this program! There is a master checkoff list AND a checkoff for each individual list.  Like this:

The students will look at this list of words while you check off on your sheet above:

(Student Material)

OR further along in the year you may want to use this list:

I have an assessment folder where I keep all my student materials and I'll just tuck a stapled copy of the checkoff lists in the front pocket.  That way I never lose my master list or the student lists!

For my students' writing folders they must have a list they can access while in the writing workshop time.  So I've created this freebie for you! (It is a part of the packet as well) To get this freebie just click on my freebie link above. :-)

In kindergarten I work towards 100 words.  Seeing all 100 can be intimidating at the beginning of the year.  So the first time they are working with the lists in writing workshop I print out the first student material list, which contains only list 1 & 2.  This list will last through to the first reporting period in November.  After that I put in the list with all 100 words.  However, if a child is easily distracted and just can't focus enough to pour through the 100 words to find the one they are looking for I will print out more of the student material lists for them.  The freebie will also include all 200 words on one page for you first grade teachers (and end of year kinders!)

And lastly, parent involvement.  You do all you can do in class.  That's a fact.  But how about at home?  As a part of their daily homework my little ones are going to be getting this worksheet this year:

There is a list to go home for EVERY level with instructions in English AND in Spanish. I've also put in parents letters in English and Spanish!  There is an introductory letter which explains why reading sight words is so important and informs the parents of what list their child is beginning on and also there is a shorter letter that I attach to the list each time a new one goes home.  When the new list goes home it includes the parent letter, the list and their certificate of achievement for passing the previous level.

OK, so that was A LOT of information!  If you're still reading this and you've decided to purchase my program I have one itty bitty request! Please take pictures of your class party and send them my way!  I'd love to see how far each of your little ones got! Oh, and thanks for sticking through this LONG post!

Blog Follower Freebie!

Today is a special day!  

I created my first blog follower only freebie!  This freebie is just for you!  Just click on my freebies link above and you'll be able to access it. 

It's my little way of saying thank you for your support!