From Dress Up Days to Decimals...

I’ve never went to a prayer group dressed as a villain before, but there is a first time for everything.  This week I watched as students participated in the annual “See You At The Pole” while dressed as the Queen of Hearts.  I kid you not.  I was dressed as a villain for See You At The Pole for our Homecoming Week “Villain Day” dress up day.  #villainsneedjesustoo

This week I have been a tiger, a Queen of Hearts, and a nerd.  All while still trying to maintain some type of classroom learning during this crazy dress up week.  Did I mention that fall standardized testing was JUST LAST WEEK so we’ve had two weird schedule weeks back-to-back?

And I get to teach decimals.  Let’s face it---teaching decimals can be a pain.  Sometimes they line them up (adding/subtracting), sometimes they don’t have to (multiplying), and sometimes you move the decimal (when dividing by a decimal).  It’s enough craziness to get even the clearest math minds a little fogged.

Combine those stressful lessons with the general fall craziness of Homecoming Week Dress Up Days or Fall Festivals or Harvest Festivals or whatever-else-fall-activity-you-have-that-messes-with-your-school-schedule.  This makes the teacher dressed as the Queen of Hearts want to yell, “Off with your head!”

Let me save your head. 

And your sanity during one of those fall hectic weeks. 

Enter Pumpkin Project.

Students will pretend to rent colored pencils from you and they will purchase items to go on a pumpkin.  Students keep up with a running total and work to stay under budget.  Everyone creates a one-of-a-kind, unique pumpkin while practicing their decimals skills.

Fall themed?  Check.

Decimals practice? Check.

Great group work? Check.

Minimal mess? Check.

Works even when they are wearing animal costumes and we are on a weird schedule?  Check. Check.

    

My. Students. Had. A Blast.

And guess what---I had a blast too!  The students practiced some awesome decimals skills and the Queen of Hearts stayed happy so no heads had to roll! :)  Now THAT’S how hectic dress up days and decimals can work together!

Pumpkin Project:  Grades 4-6

A Teacher Bible Study: I Need A Break!

“Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with COMPASSION…”  Colossians 3:12

First Things First:  Read Mark 6:30-44 and pray for God to show you times when you allowed tiredness or exhaustion to be an excuse to not do what’s right.

Have you ever been in charge of a huge event?  Even if the event runs smoothly and is executed beautifully, there is still a level of exhaustion that hits you after it’s over.  WHAM!  You feel like you’ve been hit by a truck as mental fog and physical draining ensues.  And did this event involve travel?  Oh how Dorothy couldn’t have described it any better than with the iconic words, “There’s no place like home.”  You just want to fall face flat into your bed and not see anyone again until morning.

This is how Jesus and the disciples were feeling.  They have had big ministry events one right after the other.  They were desperate for rest.  They needed a quiet place to relax before gearing up to hit the road again.  I can see them climbing into the boat, excited for a few restful moments at sea.  They imagine calm waves gently swaying the side of the boat, just enough movement to rock them to sleep…

But then one of the disciples notices a crowd of people walking on foot.  It looks like the crowd is going to beat them to the restful location!  What?!  We’re trying to get AWAY from the crowd!

“But Jesus saw the crowd and had compassion on them… He began teaching them many things.” 

Even though He was completely spent.

Even though He just needed a few minutes to relax.

Even though His brainpower was just about to reach it’s limit. (Remember He was fully God but He was also fully man.  He could get spent/exhausted/worn out too!)

But what did He do?  He showed compassion.

As a teacher, have you ever taught exhausting lessons that required every ounce of energy in your body’s reserve?  You have explained, showed, danced, manipulated, drew, and every other verb that explains a topic.  Your brainpower is COMPLETELY SPENT.  When your glorious planning period finally rolls around, all you want is to sit down in the SILENCE for just a moment.

But what happens?  Someone is at your door.  Wanting to talk to you.  Needing you to do something for them.  DURING YOUR BREAK.

Don’t you just want to scream?!  WHAT DO YOU WANT?!  IT’S MY BREAK!  I’VE EARNED THIS!  I’VE WORKED SO HARD!

But Jesus teaches us to respond with compassion.  No matter how tired we are, no matter how spent we feel---we are to respond in complete and total compassion. 

When you are at the end of your rope, do you respond in compassion?

When you have explained that topic to that child FIFTEEN BILLION TIMES, do you give up or do you try for fifteen billion ONE times?

Jesus says the sheep had no shepherd so He began teaching them things. He saw their need for teaching, He fulfilled it.  He saw their need for food, He supplied it.  

Moral of the story?  
He saw.  
So He did it.  
His own emotions, feelings, and tiredness were not excuses to be used.  In His ultimate humility, He said to Himself, “I am tired but they are worth more than my rest.”

Are your students worth more than your rest?  

Are your fellow faculty members worth more than your rest?  

Follow the example of Christ and show compassion on them today.

Classroom Connections and Life Applications:

1.       In what ways are you guilty of using your tiredness as an excuse to not talk to someone/work with a student/etc? 

2.       This lesson by NO MEANS says you should never rest.  Adequate rest is essential in a healthy life!  But there ARE times that we could give up our planning period to work with a child one-on-one or to help a struggling colleague instead of closing ourselves in our classrooms.  What is a way you can show COMPASSION this week instead of being focused on just getting your rest?

3.       Describe a time when you were exhausted but still gave of yourself and CHRIST gave you the strength/energy to complete the mission He had laid out for you.

Dear Elementary Math Teacher...

Dear Elementary Math Teachers,

Oh my wonderful teacher friends, if you teach K-4 elementary math you are so very CRITICAL to a child’s math comprehension.  Yes, you.  True math knowledge doesn’t start once they hit “the algebra wall” in middle school that so many students struggle with getting over.

It starts with you, my elementary teacher friends.  (Well, we’d love for the math knowledge to actually start at home when the child is a preschooler, but that’s a letter for another day.)

As a middle school math teacher (I teach in a grades 5-8 middle school), can I be so bold as to make a few statements to my elementary math teacher friends?

1.     Oh please--- never, ever, ever tell a child you dislike math.  Yes, I have taught students who flat out told me a previous teacher verbally announced she didn’t like math or that she didn’t really “get math.”  I’ve heard college education students comment that they are going into elementary education for the primary reason to skip teaching “hard math.”  Dear friends, this has to stop.  Elementary math teachers are CRITICAL for students building a sturdy foundation in math. 

2.     Teach the students WHY a math procedure works.  I’m not the start of multiplication by any means, yet I have only a small percentage of students who enter my classroom able to tell me what exactly multiplication is or why on earth a zero is needed on that second row when multiplying.  They’ve learned the rote rules without the reasoning.  Rules never trump reasoning.  If they get the reasoning, they will get the rules.

3.     Make math fun.  I cannot stress this enough!  Math doesn’t have to be all stressful practice.  I can tell within a few problems if a child “has it” or not.  They don’t have to solve thirty problems.  Let them move around in math.  Include technology, videos, acting, races, skits, laughter, comics, writing on whiteboards, drawing pictures, games, and the list goes on and on.  Math doesn’t equal drudgery.  Perhaps you were taught it that way…it doesn’t mean the cycle continues as you teach it that way again.  Make. It. Exciting.

I could say so much more, but I’ll stop here.  I am so thankful for amazing, incredible elementary math teachers who scaffold and build math knowledge within their students.  I hear of projects and activities that build critical math skills while showcasing creativity and excitement.  Love.  It.  Please share those incredible lessons and knowledge with co-workers and student teachers so that they too will teach math confidently. 

Your job is crazy hard and crazy important.  Never forget that.  We middle school math teachers could never ADD up enough thanks to EQUAL anything close to the amount of thanks you deserve.  You are truly SUM-thing special!  (See what I did there?  Yes, I have an elementary heart inside a middle school teacher.  Lol.).  Please consider the three things I have written to you and oh, I'm sure you could write more than three things to us middle school math teachers!  I'd love to see a letter you'd like for us to read, too!  Y'all are incredible!

5 Ways to Add Movement to Your Lesson!

No kid wants to sit for 50 minutes.

I take that back.  NOBODY wants to sit for 50 minutes.  It doesn't matter if you are a kid or an adult.  We need to move.  We need to wiggle.

Does your lesson include wiggle time?

Here are 5 ways to quickly add movement to your lesson!

1.  Put your problems on the walls.  Instead of handing out a worksheet, tape the problems to different places in your room.  Have students move around to solve and then go back to their seat when all problems are done.

2.  Super Sleuth--have students get up and solve problems for each other!  I tell my students they can solve one problem themselves and the others must be solved by someone else.  You can easily create this yourself, or you could use this product that includes a few super sleuths!

3.  Gallery Walk.  Tell everyone to write down something from your lesson (maybe an equivalent fraction).  Then they will quietly walk around the room and see what everyone else wrote down in this Gallery Walk.

4.  Act It Out.  I love drama/plays/anything to do with skits.  Why not incorporate that into class time?  Students can act out an event from their history lesson or write a skit about someone learning how to solve a long division problem.


5.  Matching Cards.  I make matching cards for vocabulary words or equivalent decimals or place value positions (anything really), and the students must find the person in the room who matches them.  They love moving around and finding their partner!  Once again, you could make these yourself, or you could use the set that is included with other activities in this product.



That is five quick and easy ways to implement some MOVEMENT into your classroom.  What other ideas do you have? Sound off in the comments!  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

A Teacher's Bible Study: Be More Like Mordecai

“Girl, God wants to use you.  But He doesn’t need you to fulfill His mission.  Let Him use you or it’ll happen without you.” 

First Things First:  First, let's read the entire book of Esther.  (Yes, you can do it.  Yes, it is fairly short.)  Pray for God to show you His Truths as you read about Esther and Mordecai.  Ask Him to show you how you can be someone's God-appointed Mordecai today.

     

Going Deeper:
 “Girl, God wants to use you.  But He doesn’t need you to fulfill His mission.  Let Him use you or it’ll happen without you.”  Ahhh, the story of Esther.  The beauty, the fairy taleish way her story seems to flow speaks to every woman’s inner love of all things princess. (Sorry if you are a guy teacher reading this Bible study right now, but wait—you are mentioned next!)  Men tend to love the plotline of Haman---the poetic justice of the very gallows that he built for Mordecai being used against him.

      
As we read this story as adults, it is easy to fixate on Esther’s deeds.  However, we can miss out on the book’s most overlooked lesson---are you being a Mordecai for someone else?  Mordecai is the great protagonist in this story.  He first instructs Esther to keep her heritage a secret and then in a beautifully-impassioned speech says, “If you remain silent at this time, deliverance will come…do you not think that you’ve come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

      
Translation:  “Girl, God wants to use you.  But He doesn’t need you to fulfill his mission.  Let Him use you or it’ll happen without you.”

       
WOW, what power we can take from those words!  As teachers of His children, God wants to use us.  He wants us to be the very leaders who change a child’s life.  The very person who speaks love, hope, and wisdom into a child’s life who desperately needs it.

       
But God doesn’t NEED us.  
He will make it happen for that child with or without us.  
Who are you supposed to be their Mordecai?!
Pray for wisdom that you will know which child needs encouragement, which child needs direction, which child needs love that as Mordecai, only you can give to them.

       
You are SO MUCH MORE than "just a schoolteacher."  You are someone’s God-appointed Mordecai.  God could have placed your homeroom students in any homeroom, but he chose YOURS.  There is something about YOU that they need. They were placed in your room for this year for "such a time as this."  
      
 If I wanted to summarize Mordecai's speech to Esther in "teacher format,"  I would say:  "If you stay quiet, God WILL give that child what he needs.  With or without you!  But do you not think that they were placed in your homeroom for such a time as this?!"  They are in YOUR ROOM, during THIS YEAR, at THIS SPECIFIC TIME for a godly PURPOSE!  Nothing with God happens by accident.  The computer didn't randomly assign them to your roll.  God could have chosen any homeroom for His beloved child, but He chose YOURS.  There is something about YOU that this child needs!  God knows everything about you (Psalm 138) so He knows exactly what qualities within you are needed for this specific child.  

Trust that He will lead you to the child that needs you as his/her Mordecai.  Don’t miss that opportunity today.  God will bring that child whatever they need, with or without you.  Don’t miss out on being their godly Mordecai influence!  
     
"Do you not think that this child was placed in your homeroom FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS?"

Classroom Connections and Life Applications:

1.  Pray for God to show you who needs a Mordecai.  Who has He led you to?

2.  How can you speak truth into this child's life this week?

3.  Now think about who is your Mordecai.  Who speaks truth into your life?  We all need BOTH.  We need our own Mordecai and we need to be someone's Mordecai.  If you don't have a godly mentor in your life, pray for God to show you who in your church/school/community is meant to be your Mordecai.  If you have a Mordecai, have you thanked him lately?  Write your Mordecai a letter thanking him for the godly influence he has had on you. 



If you are looking for more Teacher Bible studies, check out Teacher Bible Study! 

A Bible Study for Teachers: They Aren't Getting It!

First Things First:  As you read the account of the friends bringing their paralytic friend to Jesus, ask the Lord to show you which child in your classroom needs you to believe that deeply about them.  Let’s read Mark 2:1-12.

The guys who bring their paralytic friend to Jesus are pretty amazing.  Think about the scene.  They hear that Jesus is back in Capernaum.  They have heard He is a healer, so they go get their dear friend who can’t walk and carry him all the way to the house where Jesus can be found.

When they arrive, there are SO MANY people there that they can’t get their friend anywhere NEAR Jesus.  They try to push through the crowd at the front door--the crowd pushes back.  One of them suggests an open window but the crowds won’t budge at the window either.  In desperation, I see them looking up to the sky to beg the God of Heaven to let them get their friend to Jesus when they see it.  The roof.

    

One man goes up first, scans the area, and starts digging at the roof.  The others join and bring the paralytic up.  The people inside near Jesus start feeling drops of something landing on their shoulders.  What is that?  Looking up from inside, suddenly a beam of light begins to shine through the ceiling.  Is that a hole in the roof?  What’s causing it? Is that men digging a hole in someone else’s ROOF?  Who does that?!

The men lower their friend to Jesus where his sins are forgiven and he gets to rise, pick up his bed, and go home.   The former paralytic moves through that same crowd that wouldn’t let him in the doorway earlier, hearing their proclamations that they had never seen anything like this before.  The friends on the roof probably cried with joy at the sight of looking down on their friend walking for the first time. 

Now if these friends had been able to bring the paralytic through the front door and Jesus had forgiven and healed him, that would have still been incredible.  But isn’t it somehow MORE incredible because of the tremendous struggle that it took to get him there? 

When Plan A didn’t work, the friends went for Plan B.  I imagine the roof was about Plan G.  I mean, let’s get real, cutting a hole through the roof is not usually in the top five plans.

Does trying to get a student to understand a difficult concept ever feel like this?  You teach the lesson one way.  No luck. You press in with the lesson material a different way.  No luck again.  You pull out manipulatives, videos, puppets, dances, basically anything that has EVER thought about being in your arsenal of lessons…and still no luck.

Sometimes a teacher has to go all the way to Plan G before her student “gets it.”  Sometimes we never get to see the magical light bulb “get it” moment.  Sometimes, developmentally, they need another year or two before it clicks and by then they “belong” to another teacher.

So whenever you feel like a student “just isn’t getting it,” remember the awesome faith of these men.  Most importantly, have you PRAYED for GOD to show you how to best reach this child?  He alone knows whether you can enter through the front door, side door, window, or roof.  He created that child’s brain!  Trust Him to show you the best way to reach them.

Even if you have to go for Plan G.

Because, dear teacher friend,  it is sometimes at Plan G where God does His very best work.

Classroom Connections and Life Applications:

1.       Who is your student this year who just isn’t getting it?

2.       How would praying to the CREATOR of that child’s brain help you find the way to reach them?

3.       Is it possible that they won’t get it until years later?  Even realizing that, should you stop doing everything in your power to reach them now?  List ways you can go above and beyond to reach this child.

Grade 5 Greatness