Week Sixteen - Jan 8-11, 2013

I had such a blast this week!

The kids came back on Tuesday and I could not have been more excited.  You see, one of my New Years Resolutions was to dress more professionally at school.  BUT I still needed to have some of my personality in it.  How was I dressing before?  Well I was wearing different school shirts and jeans (which we're allowed to do).

But I visited the Ron Clark Academy in November and they all were dressed so professional and when I came back to my school and noticed all the teachers wearing jeans and t-shirts it was definitely a look that I wasn't proud of.  So I decided to do what I've always been told, "Be the change you wish to see in others".

So I dressed up all week.  I got two sports coats for Christmas and went out and bought some new pants, shirts, and ties.  I mentioned me having to have my own personality mixed in....well...that personality came out in my new pants.  I got a pair of lime green, orange, blue, red, and black pants.  I figured why not have a little "fun" and still look professional!  I even noticed a change in the way the kids interacted with me, in a good way!  So I will definitely be continuing it.

Anyway, we spent the week learning Geometry.  We covered different angles, transformations, and attributes of 3D Shapes.  I knew that this week's lessons would be pretty much a review of what they should have learned in 4th grade so I wanted to find a way to make it more fun.  I was perusing on Pinterest one night and found this awesome lesson using Angry Birds to help teach Geometric Figures (http://littleplasticman.blogspot.com/2011/03/dont-mess-with-these-birds.html)

So I had my students create their Angry Birds and Pigs.  Then I put them in groups of Four and they had to create their own Angry Bird "levels" using building blocks I provided them with.  Then they got to throw their paper Angry Birds at their Levels and try to "beat the piggies".  They had SUCH a blast!!  It will definitely be a lesson I use again next year!

I'm really excited about this next week as we move into Coordinate Grids/Points and Median, Mode, and Range.  I have some fun stuff planned!  Follow me on Twitter to keep up throughout the week! (@TechNinjaTodd)