Catholic School's Week - Over and Done

Last week we celebrated Catholic School's Week at our small but awesome school.  Each day had a different theme that we focused on.

Monday was Jeans for Jesus Day.  Students were allowed to wear jeans instead of their traditional uniform and school t-shirt.  If students chose to participate they brought a $1 which we donated to the Missionary Childhood Association. 

Tuesday was Service Day which is where each classroom focused their activities for the day around their Service Learning Project.  In case you missed my post last year on our Service Learning, you can see it here. 

Wednesday was Career Day and each teacher arranged to have parents or alumni come and talk to the students about their jobs.  Students also got to dress up like their future profession and explain to the class what that was.

Thursday was Holy Men and Women Day.  Students chose either a biblical character or a Saint to dress up as.  Or they could just bring something to symbolize that person.  The students spoke to the class about who they chose and why.

And finally, Friday was our mass celebration where the entire school went to church.

Overall, it's a fun (but exhausting week) for all involved.  In addition to the daily activities, each teacher also had to complete two extra projects with their class.  One was to lead our classes in writing a letter to their parents thanking them for the sacrifices they make to send their child to a private school.  Most of the classes just wrote handwritten thank you letters for their parents.  But since my kids and I am addicted to QR Codes, we incorporated that into our cards.  First, students had to write a rough draft of the letter they wanted to give their parents.  After I reviewed their draft, students used the App "Show Me" on their iPad to record an audio of their letter to their parents.  Here is an example of one that my students completed:



After students completed their audio video, they then went to QRStuff to create the QR Code they would put into the thank you card they made.  The QR Code was linked to the web address that their video was hosted on.  They then copy and pasted that QR Code into the thank you card template we created in Pages.  The front of the card had the words "Thank you" and a picture of the student and inside the card was the QR Code with a message to scan it with their smartphone (or their child's iPad) to see a video.  The kids really enjoyed the whole process. One of my students compared it to the greeting cards you can buy at the store and record a message inside it.  They are exactly right - except this card is hand created saving you about $6! :-)

In addition, they learned how to create the same codes I was creating for their math videos.  One students even took this learning experience and applied it to their Science Fair project which they presented this week.  On their presentation board they put a QR Code which when scanned showed them actually conducting the experiment.  How clever!!

Front Side of Card

Inside of Card

The other project each class had to complete was an art project.  The only guidelines that we were given was it had to tie into Religion.  The project I chose could be used with ANY topic and the students were really proud of their final product.  I found and printed out an outline of a cross with a dove that the students had to cut out.  Next, they were given a piece of white construction paper and were instructed to paint it with their watercolors.  While the watercolors were wet, they then sprinkled salt over it to produce a unique look.  I was really happy with how they turned out.  Here's some examples:

We had a great week but I'll admit it's nice to be back into our regular routine.

Do you celebrate Catholic School's Week?  If so, what did you do?

  

Market Mondays: Mountain Language and Math

It's MONDAY! Typically, I'm not a big fan of Mondays but hey - it was President's Day so I had a much needed mini-break that enabled me to spend some time with my daughter.  Who is GROWING so fast - it's insane!!!  But anyway, back to Monday. Just because it's a holiday doesn't mean I'm going to skip my Market Monday post.  Today, we are going to talk about Mountain Language and Mountain Math - bulletin board editions.   (I specify that because they do have online editions now but I've never used them.) I was able to bring Mountain Language to my school late last year with the help of our 4th grade teacher. Both of us have had success using this product and convinced our principal to purchase the Language kit for grades 3-5, as we are trying to improve our language test scores on our ITBS testing.  We are hoping to add K-2 grade this year. 

Mountain Math in the right corner

Let me explain a little bit about these two products.  They are grade specific bulletin board sets that you use throughout the school year.  They are great supplemental resources to help support your math and language curriculum already being used in the classroom.  These kits help keep concepts that you are teaching in both subjects fresh by asking students 20 questions (which can be broken down to only a few a day or you can do them all at one time).  One of the best parts about these kits is that you can use them as a whole group activity, station work or for individual student use depending on your need and teaching style.

Picture from the website of Mtn Language

The questions depend on the grade level you teach. However, for example in 5th grade for Language, the students are given a word and then asked if it's plural or singular. Then they are told to put it in the opposite form.  There are also questions on subjects, predicates, antonyms, synonyms, abbreviations, punctuation, etc.  And for 5th grade math, students work out quick math questions that include fractions, decimals, place value, patterns and number lines to name just a few.  I have used both of these products in my 5th grade classroom. I currently use Mountain Language but also used Mountain Math back a few years ago at my old school district. I don't have Mountain Math right now simply because I was only able to pick one since my school was purchasing the kit.  However, I would like to get the math one again as it is a great review for students!  Plus - I like having bulletin boards that are actually useful.  :-)  I will take a picture of my Language Board and post it tomorrow.  I have a pretty sad pic of my Math Board but posted it anyway.  Forgive the quality of it please.

Okay - here are some quick pros and cons of the kits.

Pros:

• Price - for what you get I think these are realistically priced at $76.
• Great for skill review and keeping concepts fresh.
• Flexibility on how they are used in your classroom.
• Even though I've never used the online component, I'm going to have to list that as a pro as I think it would be great to incorporate technology with this program.
• Printed on thick card stock.

Cons:

• You have to cut them out as they come a large sheets of cardstock - as a teacher with limited time already this is sort of a pain.  
• They are not laminated, so if you like to have things laminated you will need to do it yourself.
• Size - if you have limited bulletin board space, they do take up quite a bit of room.  Which is why the online version would probably be the way to go.  However, they do have another option that you purchase which is smaller - it's the Center version. (So honestly with both the online version and center version you shouldn't have a problem but thought I should still be honest about the bulletin board size).  
• On the question sheet they provide for your students to use, they don't use proper vocabulary that is taught in class.  For example, on the language sheet, they ask students to list the word that means the opposite of the underlined word......  Um - you mean the antonym?  Why not just use that word? I work hard at making sure my students understand vocabulary especially since when it comes to testing, the proper vocabulary is used.  However, I fixed it by simply typing up my own question sheet and changed the wording of any that I deemed necessary.  (If you want a copy just send me a message with your email.) 

Overall rating for this product......4.5. I'm not a fan of cutting, laminating and needing to type up my own question sheet due to time which is what knocked it off .5 points but the general product is pretty awesome.

Do you have Mountain Language or Math in your classroom? How do you use it? Do you like it?