GENIUS HOUR - 3rd Grade Style

Dear Friends,

It has been awhile since my last post. It has been hard to keep my mind in my 7th grade math classroom when the idea of my own classroom are so tempting. At my student teaching building, we had professional development last Friday. In the middle of the day, they released us for Genius Hour. Genius Hour is a Google development that gives their staff a chance to research and develop anything they want as long as it benefits their company. Because I have 3rd grade brain, I used Genius Hour to develop a plan to use this concept in my third grade classroom. I found a great blog that explains how she did this in her classroom and it sounds awesome. I am so excited to get it started.

I am planning on allowing 30-60 minutes of time every week for the students to research and explore any topic that they choose. This will be their topic for the semester until November/December. Students will research and learn more about their topic, develop a product that shows what they learned and then present what they learned to the class.

I think this opportunity will help the kids see that the research can be fun. They will be able to be creative in what they are learning.

Check out this post on using Genius Hour in a 3rd grade classroom. http://anchoredin3rdgrade.blogspot.com/2013/10/genius-hour.html

She sounds awesome and super organized with Genius Hour. Hopefully I can be as successful.

Has anyone else heard of this before? Or used it in their classroom?? I would love suggestions.

That's it for now,
Miss Budd

Rough Day... But it's Friday!

Dear Readers,

The day is not even over yet and it has already been an exhausting day. I have been full time teaching since Monday so I kind of have the logistics down. My cooperating teacher is gone today and so I am here teaching with a sub in the room. Of course I have planned a math lab day for the day my teacher is out of the room. Big mistake on my part. First period was a disaster and I ended the period yelling like I have never yelled before. The class was out of control and definitely testing my authority and my patience but by the end of class I was done. With 5 minutes to spare, I finally got them all sitting down and doing their work so that was a success in my book. This class is always difficult, even for my cooperating teacher. There are 15 boys and only 3 girls so there is no way to split up the instigators. I have tried talking to the recurring troublemakers with no success. They seem to behave better with direct instruction but I really hate to talk at them the whole period. Does anyone have suggestions on what could make the days go by smoother?

Now its back to my last two periods of the day! Wish me luck :)

Ms. Budd

Getting Ready!

Dear Readers,

Not much new from me today... I am getting zombie mind trying to get through my last 5 weeks of student teaching. I am definitely just going through the motions to get all of my graduation requirements taken care of. I finished up my E-Portfolio just about 20 minutes ago! To finally have that all off my plate feels amazing. Now just to finish up these student teaching assignments and get on to my next chapter.

I have been trying to plan and get ready for my 3rd grade classroom but I am unsure of a starting place. My Pinterest is full but it is so hard to draw real worthwhile ideas from it when there is so much.

Does anyone have any tips on things I could be getting ready and planning for this early in the game? I would love suggestions on good books to read or sites to visit.

Hope your April Fool's Day is full of trickery too! (Did I mention I am in a 7th grade classroom... Oh April Fools...)

That's all for now folks,
Miss Budd