DIY Teacher Notebook and all My Stuff for FREE!

Several years ago I was in a Teacher Quality Grant at Texas A&M.  One teacher shared the notebook she uses each year with us and I have been making one ever since.  I love having a one-stop go to for all my necessary info and one thing to file away at the end of the year.

This year I kind of ended on a Mario note so went with it for my notebook theme....

I just googled for some background paper and adapted all my editable resources to match.  I'll include a link to all my notebook stuff for you.

Below is a video of what is contained in my notebook.  Each teacher has their own needs but here are some ideas of what I have decided are necessary for my book.  I'll link older items like a grade book template and attendance pages for you as well.  

My earlier templates are kind of a mess as I was not quite versed in editing in power point but you can still use them as you wish!

Here is a video for you on how to change the background and font colors to match if you need:

Also, I'm quite a font junkie so many might need reformatting but my favorite are Janda Curlygirl and Alexis Marie. You can find both for free at dafont.com! I used these on a few template pages.

Here is the link to all my resources.

ALL My Teacher Notebook Stuff for FREE!!

Including:

Contact Sheets:

Binder Spines:

Grade Sheets:

Covers/Dividers:

In preparation, I color print on cardstock and laminate the cover and dividers. You can also print on regular paper and laminate. I have one of those personal laminators and it's pretty thick so I used it for the cover this year.

For the slip sleeves, I just trim the edge off of regular slip sleeves from office depot. 

Both Staples and Office Depot offer binding services. They even have clear covers with solid backs if you desire. This year, I printed and used the 5 mil laminating with my personal laminator. 

I owe an extra Thank You to Ayme Warner for introducing the idea to us and graciously sharing all her templates!!  


Enjoy,
Lisa

High Schoolers Just Wanna Have Fun Too!!

I have been teaching a variety of levels and classes over my 17 years as an educator!  As a matter of fact, 17 years comes to close today as I write this blog.  I am not in any way your typical teacher and in fact pride myself on being #thatteacher.  

So I end up with fabulous decorations like this for my room....

Some of what makes me #thatteacher is my desire to not only have fun myself but find new ways to engage my students.  It seems education instruction is a little more boring when you get to high school.  And the material often lends itself to a more traditional setting but I've found high schoolers enjoy the gimmicky and fun activities just as much as when they were in elementary.  Why shouldn't they be allowed a little cartoony creativity like we used as a teaching tool when they were younger?

Several weeks ago I was contacted by a representative of education.com after coming across my blog.  This is my style of teaching.  These are the perfect kind of activities to help me engage and motivate my students.  Some are short, some are corny looking but the basics and fundamentals of learning come in all packages.  

Who wouldn't rather graph on a fun map than plain old graph paper?!?!

Something I have really stressed in recent years to my students is 'you guys have been doing this forever!'  It just didn't necessarily look like this, especially with graphing.  You still feel like it might be too young looking or do not like the grade level, adapt to fit your needs.  Please never let the listed 'grade level' be indicative of the concepts.  We graph as Grad Students!

The lesson I was referenced was the Science Project: Parallax*.  I also learned what the parallax is and got a quick cross-curricular lesson for my high school math class when we do dilation!

Automatically I was drawn to the simplicity and design.  Visually intrigued, it has a natural 'hook' for curiosity.  And the best thing about it, it is completely FREE!  That's right, education.com has all these activities for FREE.  Just sign up for a FREE account and get ready to learn as well as teach.  There is nothing better to me as a teacher as saving time and ten fold when it helps save another teacher time and a hundred fold when it is FREE.

This project was created for education.com by Judee Shipman who has published a great deal of lessons for the site.  The basic premise of the lesson is as follows:

The parallax is a mathematical construct that is used to measure the distances of faraway objects like the moon and stars. It is defined as the difference between the apparent locations of an object viewed from two different perspectives. For instance, if you view a TV set from five feet to the right of it, and someone else views the same TV set from five feet to the left of it, the parallax would be the angle of perception from directly in front of the TV set. In this project you will make your own calculations using parallax principles.

Problem:

What is the parallax principle?

Materials:

• Computer with Internet access
• Color printer
• Digital camera
• Typical office/hobby/hardware/craft supplies (paper, poster board, glue, etc.).

Procedure

1. Read overview of relevant topics (see bibliography below).
2. Address all of the terms and research questions mentioned here.
3. Search and print out compelling images relevant to your topic.
4. Construct and solve your own parallax problems.
5. Carefully record all measurements and results.
6. Analyze your data.
7. Write a detailed report.
8. Include graphics, charts and diagrams in your science fair display.

It is set up for a science fair project but as all teachers know, you can get ideas and activities anywhere.  Just like our students, we can find inspiration in a number of places and activities.  If you are a math teacher and wondering why I'm referencing a science fair project, please see the above statement 😉💓.  I find ideas everywhere!  I love doing anything to engage my students.  And high school math often needs help in motivating and engaging, that is why I love finding new and wonderful sites like education.com.  I can not wait to use more from them next year!!

How fun for a basic and necessary concept!

You never know where new ideas will come from, be open minded and remember that high schoolers enjoy the fun they had as younger students.  And sometimes, we as teachers do too! 

Thank you!

Enjoy!

Lisa

*Disclaimer and Safety Precautions

Education.com provides the Science Fair Project Ideas for informational purposes only. Education.com does not make any guarantee or representation regarding the Science Fair Project Ideas and is not responsible or liable for any loss or damage, directly or indirectly, caused by your use of such information. By accessing the Science Fair Project Ideas, you waive and renounce any claims against Education.com that arise thereof. In addition, your access to Education.com's website and Science Fair Project Ideas is covered by Education.com's Privacy Policy and site Terms of Use, which include limitations on Education.com's liability.

Warning is hereby given that not all Project Ideas are appropriate for all individuals or in all circumstances. Implementation of any Science Project Idea should be undertaken only in appropriate settings and with appropriate parental or other supervision. Reading and following the safety precautions of all materials used in a project is the sole responsibility of each individual. For further information, consult your state's handbook of Science Safety.

Ozobot Geometry Challenge!

Oh my sweet little Bot!  How the students and I have adored thee!  This year has been a unique experience working computer science basics of coding in to my math classroom.  Expanding and applying math in with robotics was rewarding and engaging.  You can read about my previous experiences at the links below.

Math is Ozo-some!

Ozobotting Quadratics

We used them again to review and apply geometry concepts prior to the Geometry Unit.  On the Ozobot site, there is a great task card challenge for middle school by Erin Wilson. 

Download it here for FREE!

For my students, I wanted some higher level concepts and tasks so I developed my own task cards.  

I also provided cm graph paper for them to use.  I had them each complete a minimum of 4 tasks and if they realized multiple ones could be done within the same item, then I let them and secretly cheered behind their back for the thought processing.  It was not super intense and nice little integration into the content.

To prepare, I made one copy of the task cards and laminated them.  They were all placed on the back counter and students chose which one they wanted.  After completing, they took it back to the counter and chose another one.  That way they were not all doing the same tasks and I didn't have to copy and cut a bagillion cards (or store them). Win-win. 😀

I also cut the FREE Ozobot Practice sheet code templates up and provided them with 3,4 and end-line u-turn code templates if they needed.  This helped them having to get a new sheet for corrections.  You may download these from Teachers Pay Teachers for FREE here.  Thank you Macs Store for the great resource!

I included some teacher notes and the Texas TEKS standards.

Incorporating coding into my math classroom has been an incredible experience for my students.  Seeing math and being engaged has shown unique growth and attention to detail.  I can't wait to see how much more I can use it!

You may download all my resources from the Ozobot Classroom Lesson Library here for FREE!

Thank you to Erin Wilson for the fabulous activity and inspiration!

Enjoy,
Lisa

Murrio and Friends going the Distance!

So for my last Murrio themed worksheet since I stumbled across Andy Lutwyche's Dinky King Activity is this little practice sheet.  But in all honestly, I found this to be the most interesting.

Here is my original Murrio themed activity and the scavenger hunt I did the day before.

I do not remember any time in my education actually 'comparing' the Pythagorean theorem and distance formula.  Prior to this year, I had always taught Algebra though and it had been years since I actually 'did' Geometry.  I found this lesson to be really informative and neat how they relate so simply.  And yes.... I'm a #mathnerd so that is likely part of it.

These are my quick notes.  We just did a couple of examples since they had been practicing the concepts.

And then we celebrated our knowledge with Murrio, Lequigi, Powser, and Princess Maisy...

The students did well and some did find the concept neat and do not remember comparing them before.

And so this was END GAME for Murrio and Friends...

It was a fun filled week of saving the princess, designing new games, hitting ? blocks, and reviewing and applying geometry concepts.  It is also the last day I'm giving notes this year!  Nothing like going out with the best video game of all time!

Download my resources in Word and PDF here for FREE. For any keys, please feel free to email me at camfan54@att.net from your school or professional account.  I've had students try and email for keys in the past but luckily their email said student! 

For my title and example font, Austie Bost Envelope, you may download it here for FREE to keep the formatting the same.

Thank you and please let me know if you see any issues with links or corrections on anything!

And thank you again to my new educational friend, Mr. Lutwyche.  I hope that your inspiration causes me more hours of work and my students more engagement.  



Enjoy,
Lisa

Stupendous 'Murrio' Pythagorean Theorem Scavenger Hunt

I love Mario!  I'm an 80's girl and still remember that TJ was the first kid in the neighborhood to get a Nintendo.  I remember the hours and hushed urging as a neighborhood kid approached the elevators at the end of World 1-2.  A kids gotta focus right?  The first dark level.  The first Super Mario.  Oh the memories.   

Flash forward to 2018 State Standardized Testing Week... also Teacher Appreciation Week (gotta appreciate the irony huh?).  I created an activity for the end of the week which, as most of my activities do, escalated quickly to this scavenger hunt!

Read my first Mario/Murrio themed finds and activity here.  Thank you again to Mr. Lutwyche for the hours of fun and engagement by my students and colleagues.  This Mario/Murrio has made the end of the year something exciting.

I took an old scavenger hunt over Pythagorean Therem Real World Problems and changed them to a Murrio and Lequigi Real World!  Who wouldn't rather see a Flying 'Kooga' instead of a bird and protect 'Powser's' Castle as oppose to a backyard?

Here is the Stupendous Murrio Pythagorean Theorem Scavenger Hunt complete with Student WS!  

Materials: 

•    One set of scavenger sheets to post around the room (A – J)

•    One answer document for each student

And for the teacher.... 😉😆😀😄

Teacher Notes: 

Place each of the scavenger hunt  sheets (A – J) on the walls around the room.  Each student should be given one answer document and assigned (or choose) a place to begin in the hunt.  Have students start at their poster, solve the problem and search the other posters to find their answer, which is boxed on the bottom.  Once they find their answer, then that poster is the next question they solve.  This solution will  then send them on another hunt for a new answer, and so on.

By the end of the class period, students should have solved each of the Pythagorean Theorem problems and filled in their answer sheet.

PLEASE NOTE:  Some of the problems are not looking for the missing length of the triangle; but an application of that missing value in order to solve a different problem!!

If you can print in color, do so! 

Get the PPT and PDF here for FREE!

Please let me know if you have any questions or see any corrections!  Also, feel free to share!

For any keys, please feel free to email me at camfan54@att.net from your school or professional account.  I've had students try and email for keys in the past but luckily their email said student! 

Enjoy!

Lisa

Dinky King and Murrio! Pythagorean Theorem Edition

So last week was standardized testing.  I needed something to work on for Friday but not super strenuous.  Pythagorean Theorem!  Perfect!

I got some quick notes together then decided I'd like something fun for the assignment.

Enter the genius of Andy Lutwyche.  And I do mean genius!  I love finding assignments that add just a little something different to a pretty standard concept.  Enter Mr. Lutwyche's Dinky King...

How fun is this?!?!  You may download his version here for FREE!!!  It was perfect and pure genius for an 80's nostalgia girl like me... who also happened to have a Mario costume... that she has not worn for school... yet.  Genius.  Thank you Mr. Lutwyche for sharing and allowing me to use Dinky King.  Thank you for making something a little more engaging for our students.  You may follow him on TES here and Twitter here.

And of course Friday went like this....

Notes....

Mrs. Richardson...

Dinky King and Murrio...

It was super fun and the reactions to me dressed as Mario were hilarious.  Made a few Snapchats and during the school emergency later that day, my students found me right away 😏😆😄😃.  My classes will remember Pythagorean Theorem this year!

Mr. Lutwyche's names had me cracking up and of course I emphasized them with the students.

Due to the school-wide emergency, I didn't get to see a couple of my periods and knew they would be bummed out missing me dressed up in class- no one could miss me in the gym!  I decided to continue with Mr. Lutwyche's inspiration and work the theme into an activity for Monday.  This quickly escalated, as most of my planning does, and I ended up with 3 more activities with the 'Murrio' theme.  And yes, I laughed every time I typed Murrio and changed a name.  And yes, I'm easily entertained.

My next lesson was over distance.  I wrote some notes and created a WS where we measured the distance for 'Murrio' and 'Lequigi' had to hit the blocks.  Just a different twist to  some of the same old but necessary practice.


Notes...

Cutest. Worksheet. Ever.

The number line example is actually a font so I could type in exactly what I wanted.  You can download it free here.  I could not wait to hand this assignment out!! #mathnerd.  And the occasional chuckles from the class when they read Lequigi made the extra work worth it!  I will do almost anything to engage my students in math.  This meant they were reading the assignment!!!

For my title and example font, Austie Bost Envelope, you may download it here for FREE.

After this I couldn't stop and even did a 'Murrio' themed Pythagorean Theorem scavenger hunt which I will share later (need to do it in class before I get ahead of myself).

You may download all my resources used above here for FREE. For any keys, please feel free to email me at camfan54@att.net from your school or professional account.  I've had students try and email for keys in the past but luckily their email said student! 

Thank you and please let me know if you see any issues with links or corrections on anything!

And thank you again to my new educational friend, Mr. Lutwyche.  I hope that your inspiration causes me more hours of work and my students more engagement.  

Enjoy,
Lisa

Get a CLUE!

Someone has been doing math wrong!  All this time they have been calculating wrong answers and putting them on the teacher’s answer keys!  The dreadfulness of such a devious deed!  Why, why would anyone want to do their math wrong and confuse innocent mathematicians?!?!

Your job is to find the dastardly villain and apprehend him!  To do so you need to find the area of the Clue rooms/locations based on the scale factor you pick from your teacher.  Each square edge will be worth that amount.  Round to the thousandth place for accuracy.  When complete answer the questions below about your clue board.

And that's how it begins!  Somewhere along in the year, I decided I wanted to do something with the 2 Clue board games my son received for Christmas!  Why not, right?  They were different versions and if you know me, I don't just do one when multiple versions will do!

So then what could I do?  Google of course because someone has done a geometry activity with the square units on a Clue Board right?!?!?!  Apparently not.... or at least not that I could find.  And I looked.  I started this blog to help people not have to recreate the wheel as I live by that philosophy!

So I have 2 boards.... yeah... that's not enough so let me go on a wild search for different boards!  I ended up with 5 boards which I did hunt for.  Eventually purchasing some off ebay.  You can print them and distribute or laminate to use them but that did not seem like near as much fun as each group having their own Clue Board!  I included several printable ones for you as well in my shared folder.

I ended up with the following hard copy versions:  Simpsons, 1986, 2002, 2013, and 2015.  Word to the wise, do not purchase the 2013.  It does not lend to the project as well but it is usable.

Each group was given a specific Clue Project sheet to show their work and was specific to their board.  This went through multiple changes throughout the day and the one I'm sharing with you is the revised version.  Below is the original one, I added a couple of columns to help the students organize and me grade!

This is my revised one based on students needs and desire.  And for you.... it's not all 'fonted' out so easy to edit for your needs!  I used some specific teacher names so you'll likely want to change those up for your specific school.

For the printable ones, I did specific sheets with minor changes from the physical game boards I did.  My vision for these were for students who were absent to make up.  I plan on printing them black and white.  They are different boards than what I had in the class so you could have 4 more versions ready to go.

So now on to the detective work!  My students entered.  Now teacher friends, it's May.  State standardized tests are next week.  I've been working every weekend just about since March.  I usually go all out for activities like these but really phoned in the decor for this one.  I left too late for a dead body model so had to work with what I could.  I laughed all day!!!  My kids did too but I have a sneaking suspicion it was at me 😕 and I did fix the wonky foot during 3rd period.

I couldn't just throw an activity out there could I?!?!? 

As students worked, there are a few that you and they could easily debate for square units.  Some are definitely subjective but at the beginning of the project, I did go over how I expected them to count the square units.  I think this is key to help them succeed.  Clue has all kinds of perspective on their boards.  As a result, some of the questions and answers might not be perfect but should work.  You may edit to your liking of course!

After they found their square units, I handed out 'Clue' cards with their scale factor on it.  I planned on making this a major grade so the scale factors were not simple.  They were ones like 3.14 meters, 40 inches, 1.226 yards, etc.  I printed the cards below and wrote my scale factors on the back.

I've included these for you as well.  

I was very happy with how it turned out.  There were some frustrations to work through and a-ha moments that were all part of learning and life skills.  I had fun with it , I think the students had fun with it and the objective of scale factor and area were discovered and applied in a unique way.

You may download ALL of my resources HERE for FREE!

As always, please let me know if you see any needed changes or have ideas to share!

Enjoy!
Lisa