Momma with a Teaching Mission: 4th grade

Showing posts with label 4th grade. Show all posts

After being a public school teacher in both Maryland and Florida for the past 8 years, and feeling like I was no longer making a difference in teaching, I resigned my position at the end of the 20-21 school year. I know I am not the only one in public education who has exited the field. I've witnessed an outcry across social media from many public school educators who had come to the end of their rope and were not able to be a part of a sinking ship a moment longer.

If I am being honest, I would have quit in the middle of the '19-'20 school year. It was that bad. In a classroom of 18 students, I had one student on grade level. There were multiple students with behavior issues. I had one child that cried and moaned, laid on the floor, and did absolutely no work daily. I was no longer teaching. I was managing a classroom full of behaviors, however barely any instruction was taking place. I came home nearly every night crying, searching for other lines of work. You see, I couldn't just quit though. My family and I had moved to Florida in the summer of 2019, so my husband could go to Bible College. The state of Maryland pays significantly more to teachers than the state of Florida. I had taken a considerable pay cut to come in teach in Florida, and we no long had my husband's salary, so we went from a middle class family, to poverty level. I prayed, and I asked God to provide an opportunity, a way out. I prayed daily for my situation, for this school in which I was working, for my students. I prayed and I cried. I was feeling so hopeless, and just completely ready to leave education. And then, some call it a pandemic, but I call it my relief, happened. We went online after spring break on March 13th and never returned face to face. This was an answered prayer for me. I was actually able to teach via Google Meet and through different online platforms. I no longer had the behavior issues that I had within the four walls of my classroom. Don't get me wrong though, learning through Google Classroom and Google Meet is no way to teach students. That is absolutely what is not best for students learning in the public education classroom who are significantly below grade level with no parental support.

When the '19-'20 school year ended, I applied and got a temporary position teaching virtually. I was considered on loan from my school to the virtual school for as long as my school didn't need me. Those 10 weeks, once again, were wonderful. I was able to teach from home, made great connections with second graders from different parts of the county, I loved it. Then on a Tuesday I got a call that I would have to return to in person on that Friday. I had one day to set up my classroom across the campus, get familiar with a new grade level (that I had never taught), and then had students on that following Monday. Whew, what a whirlwind. Looking back, I know the Lord used me in those students lives. Luckily, most of the students knew me, since the previous year I was a 3rd grade teacher. Now we were all in 4th grade together. I started with 11 students at the end of October, by January I was up to 14, and then by March I was at 19. It was pure survival. I had new kids returning at least once a week. The office stopped telling me I was getting a new student. I remember one day as the students entered the classroom, one of them said, "Mrs. Ebersole, we got 2 new students today." The students knew before the teacher. I was so incredibly overwhelmed.

But in May of 2021, I was made aware of an opportunity at a new Classical Christian School that had just opened in 2021. I applied, went for an interview and tour of the school, and fell in love. I knew very little about the Classical model of education, but I was eager to do whatever it took to teach at this school, as well as get my younger two children there. I was hired to teach a combo 3rd/4th class, and it has been nothing short of exactly what I needed to ignite my love for teaching that I had thought I lost. From reading great books, to narration, to the beautiful live oak in our garden with our nature studies, to actually getting to teach children, the past 6 months have been incredible. I do have to add that I have taken even more of a pay cut from teaching in public school, however the Lord provides, and the reduction in stress and the lighter workload is so very worth it!

If you have been following me through the years, thank you. I apologize for the inconsistency in my posts. I hope to write more about the lessons I am teaching in Classical Christian Education, and how wonderful it is for students! So please continue to follow!

I also create resources on TpT, I have resources that span from K-5, as I have taught various grades over the years. I would appreciate any support! You can find my store here - Momma with a Teaching Mission

Momma with a Teaching Mission

There aren't many words to describe the year that was 2020. As educators, we learned and grew so much! If you didn't know about Google Classroom, Nearpod, Bitmojis, Screencastomatic or Zoom (just to name a few) before March of 2020, you definitely climbed that learning curve! I have been so proud of my fellow teachers in all that they have learned, never skipping a beat. When the rest of the world was shut down, here we were learning how to teach and do what was best in our circumstances for our students. Wow.

So where do we go from there? Many schools are returning back in person, I have been back in person since October 2020, with all my students being in person. I know many teachers who are continuing to expand their bag of tricks with teaching both in person students, as well as online learners (at the same time). Some fellow educators are teaching a hybrid A-B schedule, and some of my friends are also still teaching from home with their students being all online.

So now that I am back in person, have I mentally blocked everything I experienced and learned in the past year? Well some things LOL, but definitely not those great teaching practices that have helped me to enhance engagement and my teaching within the classroom. Here are some things I found really have been lifesavers while returning back to in person learning after COVID.

First and foremost, Google Classroom. Posting assignments within Google classroom has been a sanity saver, especially for students who are absent or missing work. I also love being able to post links to websites or articles that students can access without having to print everything. I have my Google Classroom set up by days of the week, then after the week is over I will create a new topic (that week's date, for example 'Week of March 1st') and then I will move assignments from the M, Tu, W, Th, Fr topics down to that 'Week of' topic. Google Classroom is super user friendly, and absolutely my top pick for what I've continued to use within my classroom, even with all my students face to face.

My Bitmoji classrooms are another favorite, and not just a favorite of mine, but also my students. I love how you can use the Bitmoji classrooms for a variety of uses. What we used to do around the room SCOOT, with task cards posted, and a recording sheet, students can now do a SCOOT within the Bitmoji classroom. I also have independent reading and reflecting centers, for students to listen to a book being read, and then respond to it--- this is a crowd favorite among my students. I've created new Bitmoji classrooms each month, and they enjoy listening to the books and different themes featured each month. Another use for the Bitmoji classrooms is if you have a class website within Google Sites. Kids enjoy and take pride in their class website.

I have to say I was not on the Nearpod bandwagon when I first learned about it a few years ago. Probably because I thought I didn't have the time to learn this new stuff!! I learned about Nearpod the beginning of last school year, before COVID hit and I'm so glad I did. Not only does Nearpod have a library of already created lessons, but you are also able to create lessons within Nearpod, this is so cool!! My kids love to compete, so they love the time to climb lessons, and beg me to make more every time we play!

What have you found that are your favorite tools that you are using, or plan to use when you return back to in person teaching?! I'd love to hear about it!

Getting ready to start a unit on fractions?! Hands-on and providing opportunities for young learners to make meaning of their learning is my top priority. Whether you are teaching second grade, or fifth grade, or any in between, I know you can use these ideas for your students. Here are my favorites tools and go-to manipulative with teaching fractions to my elementary students. This blog post contains affiliate links and when you click on the products and choose to purchase them, I will make a small commission.

Fraction Action is wonderful in increasing student's vocabulary on fractions! Vocabulary is essential in helping students grasp the concepts. Lots of different examples to show students fractions in various ways.

Fraction Fun is a great book that makes the concept of fractions easy for students to understand. This book dives into numerators and denominators and the beginnings of comparing fractions!

Full House is a fun, whimsical way of reinforcing the concept of fractions! I would suggest this book more for primary though as concepts are basic.

The Lion's Share was one of the first books I purchased for my teacher read aloud library, so this one holds a special place in my heart! This is a great story that visually helps students to see the value of different fractions.

Fractions in Disguise is another book I purchased years ago, as an elementary ed teacher I wanted as many books as I could get to build my teacher library. This book introduces simplified and reduced fractions with equal parts, so I would suggest this for grades 4-6.

Sir Cumference and the Fraction Faire is another book I enjoy reading to my students. This teaches the basics of fractions to elementary students. I enjoy all the Sir Cumference math tales!

This is another line of math texts I love! Pigs in the Pantry: Fun with Math and Cooking makes the connection between qualities and cooking in recipes. This would not be the text I would base my fraction teaching from, but more of a fun book to add into the instructional unit!

Fraction tower cubes are a great hands-on way for students to compare the fractional units, as well as explore with equivalent fractions. This would be great for homeschooling families, or as an exploration center within a classroom.

Magnetic fraction circles is another great hands-on tool to help students visualize and see the fractional sizes. These are durable and great for teacher and student use alike.

Pattern blocks are a great way for students to create alternative models of a fraction. If the yellow hexagon is their whole, how could they recreate that hexagon shape by using alternative shapes? What fraction of the whole would one of those shapes be?

Plastic fraction tiles is another great hands-on manipulative that allows children to line up the fractions to visually see how many eighths fit into a whole, or how many sixths fit into a half.

Hopefully you've found some new tools or texts that you will be able in teaching your students about fractions! Let me know if you have any favorites I've forgotten!