Teambuilding in Room 17

This week we started an Engineering for Good unit in Science where the first activity tasked us with building a Marshmallow Tower using only 20 sticks of raw spaghetti, one yard of masking tape, one yard of string and a single marshmallow to go on top! The students worked together with their table group members to attempt to build to tallest tower! We learned a number of different things through this activity... we learned that more helping hands makes the task easier, and also that if a few members of the group aren't engaged in the process it makes for a challenging task. Overall, we all had a great time! See the pictures below!

Working hard to create a tower!

First Place at 11" tall!!!

Making adjustments to the tower.

Second Place at 10" tall!

Trying to see what will work! 

MAP Testing, Team Building, Reading, Reading and More Reading...

Over the past several weeks we have been busy in the classroom with MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) testing in Reading and Math, Team Building with the Trojans to build community in our classroom and reading, reading and more reading.

The MAP testing started three weeks ago with a 53 question assessment. All 7th grade students were tested. This assessment serves as our baseline for the 2016/2017 school year. Students had to learn how to navigate the testing program which is always a challenge when there is a new program put in place! We successfully completed all of our tests and now we will begin the process of looking at data and setting individual goals with students.  Watch your child's binder for a Goal Setting Handout to have a conversation about how their goal setting conference went!

In USC we participated in a team building activity to focus on creating leaders in our class! The kids were tasked with using 6 red solo cups, 5 pieces of string, and a rubber band to build a tower out of the cups. The catch was, they couldn't touch the cups... at all... even through a paper bag! It made for a great discussion about teamwork and community.

Our teams quickly determined that they needed to tie the strings
to the rubberband to use the rubberband to move the cups!
Way to go teams!!!

We are about half way through "A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park. We are reading, discussing, questioning, and debating choices being made by the characters. As I've been talking with students about the book, I've been tweeting with Linda Sue Park (It's AMAZING how Twitter has changed education!). She and Salva (character from the book) are excited that we LOVE her book!

Welcome Back to School!!!

Welcome to my 7th Grade Class Blog!

For those of you that I've already met, I'm looking forward to working with your child. For those of you that I haven't yet met, here is a brief bio.

I've been teaching for nine years, the past five at David A. Weir Preparatory Academy. Before coming to Weir I taught at an alternative education charter school and before that I taught at Creekview Ranch Middle School in the Dry Creek Joint School District. Before going in to teaching, I worked for Vision Service Plan (VSP) for 10 years. I enjoyed my work, but knew there was more for me to do, which brought me to teaching!

I spend all of my free time with my husband, Mr. Guernsey and son, Jayson. We LOVE to travel and visit new places. This past summer we took a week long vacation to San Diego where we spent endless days on the beach and visited the San Diego Zoo and LEGOLAND. Jayson is 4 years old and just started Transitional Kindergarten this year. He also just started playing on an organized Soccer team in Carmichael Soccer Club.

Mr. Guernsey and I last spring at the
Carrie Underwood Concert in Reno, NV. 

Jayson and I checking out the giraffes
at the San Diego Zoo. 

Next week I go back to school at California State University, Sacramento to continue working on my Administrative Services Credential and second Master's Degree in Educational Leadership. I will complete this program at the end of this school year, if your children haven't already mentioned! (I love learning, but am VERY excited to have all of my free time back!)

This week was filled with learning more classroom and school procedures, MAP Testing and an All School Roll Call Rally around the world on the back of campus! I only took two photos of this event because it was SO windy and our USC flag was blowing all around! Next time the wind is calm, I'll take a quick photo with the kids!

Throughout the year I will be posting on this blog to communicate events, assignments and dates and details of important 7th grade events.

If you haven't read my course syllabus and signed the signature page, here is a copy to view.

Next week starts with MAP Mathematics testing, Back to School Night on Wednesday at 6:00 PM and concludes with our PBIS Assembly to discuss expectations on campus and off.

Check back here during the week for more information about our days and photos of things we are doing in class!

See you at Back to School Night!

-Mrs. Guernsey

March Madness is just around the corner.... Book Madness that is!

I ran across this fun activity on Facebook today and thought, Hey, I'm going to do that! It was a post by Nerdy Book Club and a link to MARCH BOOK MADNESS! What a fun way to encourage reading with my 7th graders and get them engaged with new books! Here's the link if you also are interested! It looks like I'm the only school in all of California... or the map isn't updated?!?  Either way, I'm excited to bring this to my kids and my school! Join us, or follow on twitter #2015MBM

Here's the link to the original source of information from Nerdy Book Club!

Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln!

As we celebrated Abraham Lincoln's birthday last week, my 7th grade students are spending time delving into his work, speeches, politics and.... best of all..... Chasing Lincoln's Killer!

I've read this book twice, but this time, my third, I'm finding that Laura Keene is just a nuisance and I really can't let it go... She just wanted to, "cradle the dying president's head in her lap?" Seriously? I know it was 1865, but seriously? Not only is this a wildly inappropriate question to ask of Dr. Leale while he's trying to save President Lincoln's life, but what real benefit would it have in saving Lincoln? None. period.

Laura Keene 

When discussing this book with my kids they are appalled that Mary Todd Lincoln would stand for this! Another woman coming into the theater box that night to attempt to comfort HER husband. By the time we all got over this fact and had a good laugh at the time era differences we all agreed Laura Keene was simply looking her her 5 minutes of fame that night in Ford's Theatre. 

My kids are stunned to know that my grandma of 90 years had
to memorize the Gettysburg Address in school AND she can
still recite it today!                                    

In conjunction to reading Chasing Lincoln's Killer, we are also reading background information about Lincoln's politics, the Battle at Gettysburg, his Gettysburg Address is going to be deconstructed and analysis of photos from that era. I'm excited to learn with them and experience the learning process along side of them! All of these activities will lead us into analysis of speeches of the Civil Rights Era and creating and writing arguments of our own!
                                                       

PBIS, Science Camp, SWIS, Dude.Be Nice., Campus clean-up.... Oh, my!!!

This week started like any other normal week. It was packed with parent meetings, IEPs, Battle of the Books and, oh yeah, a day and a half of PBIS workshops! Even though it was insanely busy and I didn't know when I was coming and going, I made it through the week and even accomplished a number of things I wanted to get done!

My TO DO list for this week:

1. Pay for Science Camp...  (one of my many duties as the PTO treasurer).

Santa Cruz Mountains/Big Basin... hiking, camping and writing! 

2. Adopt-a-Zone clean-up with my 7th graders...

While cleaning, the students found "Henry" the slug.
Not our class pet. #noclasspets #yuck

3. Organize our tasks of PBIS....

Organizing tasks for the PBIS team. 

4. Attend SWIS training.... (this looks like it's is everything we have wanted in Referral tracking, btw).

SWIS... so excited to start using this.... 2 weeks and counting!

5. Have a little fun with some of my co-teachers and hopefully inspire students to Dude. Be Nice.

Dude. Be Nice.

Well, that was pretty much my week... Here's looking forward to a less busy week... yeah, right!!!

Today is the day....

Today I woke up and did this:

Yep, I went to bed last night thinking about applying and I woke up and applied! I applied for an Admin Credential Program with Sac State, requested the transcripts and have almost completed the supplemental application! If accepted (why wouldn't this happen, right???) I will start in Fall 2015.

Then I did this:

It was a frigid and foggy 40 degrees, but I managed to get out there and walk 3.6 miles this morning. Once I warmed up, I figured I might as well keep going...

I'm feeling rather accomplished, now it's time to focus and get some work done before it's Monday night and I'm panicking about returning to work! Have a great weekend and enjoy your extra day off, if you get MLK Day off!

Google Classroom, Skype and KidBlog... Oh My!!!

This week has been a week of technology in the classroom. I've been using Google Classroom for the past several weeks to have students complete English and History Assignments. This week, I ventured into having them take Cornell Notes in Google Classroom using a template I created. For some, it was a hit! Other students lacked the enthusiasm of their classmates, but were engaged none the less. I figure it's mostly because they were using their Chromebooks and creating something they could refer back to time and time again.

I'm not sure what I would do without my devices!!!
We LOVE our Chromebooks!

Wednesday was the day! We have been reading One for the Murphys as part of the Global Read Aloud Program. Finally, on Wednesday we connected with a class in Ripon, WI and conducted a Mystery Skype and Discussion about the book. This was an AWESOME experience for the Trojans! Even more exciting was some of the students in WI were wearing Raiders and California shirts which was a BIG hit! Neither class guessed the correct location, but what I learned was I really have some work to do in Geography with these kids! They enjoyed collaborating with the other students about our book and learning about about Cross Road Charter School. By the way, they were most impressed with the fact that there is a retracting wall in the back of their classroom which connects the adjoining room! So cool!

Skyping with Ms. Mott's class in Ripon, WI.
Special thanks to Nelda Taylor and Cheryl Carter
for their assistance videotaping and taking photos!

Over the past few weeks we have been blogging about what we have read in One for the Murphys, and citing textual evidence in our posts. Next up, responding appropriately to a post and structuring that post with four essential elements! Look forward to seeing photos and mishaps on teaching providing appropriate blog feedback coming soon!

Huge thanks to @ucdjoe for sharing this on Instagram!
Starting this week, this is our model.

Global Read Aloud Kick-Off Next Week

As I sit here preparing for the Global Read Aloud Kick-Off next week, I'm busy reading One For the Murphy's, and everything I can about using Skype in the classroom and #mysteryskype. I came across an amazing blog of how to conduct a Mystery Skype and what to have the students do to remain engaged and participating with another classroom in another part of the US or another country. Thanks to Mrs. Morgan's Superstars for the helpful information! I wouldn't have been able to navigate the world of Skype in my classroom without your helpful tips!

http://mrsmorgansstars.edublogs.org/skype-etiquette/


For the Global Read Aloud, I will be blogging here about our classroom experiences and my students will be blogging on KidBlog and communicating with classrooms in Wisconsin and hopefully another classroom in Canada or South Dakota. I'm still working on the second connection. Each week we will be reading a specified number of chapters and writing about what we have read. In addition, we will be focusing on the theme of the story as we learn all about Carley.

Check back for updates and videos about our Skype experiences!

Global Read Aloud

When reading, The Book Whisperer, Miller mentioned the Global Read Aloud program. I talked with a couple other teachers and decided to jump in with both feet! Just one problem... I need the books for my classes! Since I've had such success with Donors Choose in the past, I figured I would throw this project up there and get a class set of "One for the Murphy's" by Lyndy Mullaly Hunt.

Now the only problem is time... Global Read Aloud starts on October 6th and continues through November 14th. There are specific chapters we are to read throughout the weeks to communicate and connect with students around the world who have selected the same book. So, I need my project to fund and ship as soon as possible! 

Here is where you can help. For the first week (through 9/26) of this project, all donations are doubled with the code "INSPIRE". That means I only need $100 to be donated (since it will double to $200). That is only five donations of $20, ten donations of $10, twenty donations of $5, and so on. If you could, please donate! This will ensure my kids can participate in something so much bigger than just inside my classroom in Fairfield! 

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/global-read-aloud-day/1355356/?rf=link-siteshare-2014-09-teacher_account-teacher_1775968&challengeid=303159 

Thanks for considering to support my class and donating to my project! I appreciate it!