My Awesome Class

In the Spring, we did a "maker-style" project to analyze and synthesize the meaning of different symbols in Rudolpho Anaya's magic realist novel Bless Me, Ultima. Students were provided with base materials and managed choice guidelines for selecting their group's symbol, were encouraged to bring free or "upcycled" materials from home to create Pinatas to visually represent the aspects of symbols from the novel. A wrap-up conversation with textual evidence and a synthesis of the way symbols play off each other lends academic weight to the "fun" part of the activity. 

Students learning to use place value mats for math.  Students working independently and a student looks at me and says "I get it!".  Yeah!!

Students learning to use place value mats for math.  Students working independently and a student looks at me and says "I get it!".  Yeah!!

I have started a new grade level so everything is new to me.  I would say the best thing I've done and have been doing is using hyper docs.  This is a fun way for my students to learn something new or even explore a topic more in depth.

My RTI students were challenged to construct a boat. They were put into groups and were given a budget to buy materials.  They were able to choose from foil, bubble wrap, and tape.  Their boat had to support weight which was 10 pennies.  My students loved it.

I had a math lesson where students had to guess which container was the cup, pint, quart, and gallon. We poured water from the cup to the pint to show how many cups are in a pint and then how many pints are in a quart, etc.

This past month my students learned how to make a paper circuit. They used double-sided copper tape, two LED lights, a 3V coin battery, and a picture of a Halloween.  They are so excited to do a Christmas themed paper circuit that they have already donated $50 for the project.