Bulletin Boards+Pinterest=WIN!

One of my many duties as a resident teacher has included updating the bulletin board in our hallway each month.  Of course, the bulletin boards are updated each month to keep updated with what is going on in our classroom and usually should reflect the time of year.  Luckily, I am not the first teacher who has had to come up with visually appealing and creative ideas that integrate the fall with beginning 8th grade.  All I had to do was search 8th grade bulletin boards on pinterest and a plethora of ideas came up for me.  This is what I decided on:

 I know that pinterest has been around for a while but I couldn't believe all the ways it can help a new teacher come up with creative ideas for fun bulletin boards.  The when Christmas came around, our middle school team decided to turn our hallway into Whoville, but we had to include our class content and unit in our bulletin board.  Luckily, Pinterest helped me make the connection between the Grinch and his dilating heart that grew three sizes that day.

Pinterest helps with making anchor charts and foldable notes.  Another reason I turn to Pinterest for my classroom is coming up with ideas for community builders, here is my latest community builder I used when I visited a classroom other than my own to get to know the students and learn about their goals:

I've never identified as a creative person and thought I would struggle to fit in the elementary school community and build a warm, inviting classroom.  Pinterest has helped me create the illusion of creativity, so I thank all the pinners out there!

Improving Math Fluency on Chromebooks

Our administration recently made a push for us to get our students on the Chromebooks in the classroom to give them more practice with the math fluency.

The program they designated as our go-to is https://www.ixl.com/math/  One of the really great things about this website is that it is partnered with the Illinois State Common Core Standards.  Teachers can enter in target standards that the students are currently learning or have learned and need to improve fluency for so when students log in, the questions they are working on are relevant to them.  This is also a way that fluency practice can be differentiated.  We, as teachers, can analyze an individual student's NWEA scores and assign standards that they need practice on.  Also, for our accelerated students,  we can challenge them with standards above grade level to expose them to content they will see in upcoming grade levels.

 Another thing that teachers and administrators both like is the analytics of the student usage.  We can see how long students are spending in the program, what questions they're working on, and the success they have with each question.

 IXL is not just a program for math, it can be used across all grade levels and content areas.  I am only becoming familiar with it in the context of math fluency practice but it is a user friendly website that makes it very easy for teachers to give the necessary practice students need with common core standards.  Parents would be able to monitor their child's progress and it could be a great tool to bridge the gap between learning in the classroom and learning at home.
https://www.ixl.com/community/resources/printable-materials
The above link includes some free printable resources to help facilitate and monitor the use of IXL in the classroom.  It offers progress charts and achievement certificates for individuals and whole classes.
I am looking forward to seeing what the students think of this website and hope they find it as useful as I do!