QR Codes!

In class, we learned how to create and use QR codes. We were told to create a classroom activity that somehow incorporated the codes, but we could basically do anything that we wanted. I decided to make a vocabulary worksheet.

If students had an iPad or iPhone, they could scan the QR codes I glued to Powerade bottle caps, and it would bring up a definition of one of the words from Dictionary.com. They would find the corresponding word on the worksheet and fill in the definition. For the two bottom questions, they have to find the two bottle caps that contain pictures in the QR codes. I would want them to draw the picture as well as they could. I thought that would add a more fun aspect to the worksheet.

We each brought our activities to class one day last week, and then we went around the room with iPads to try out what everyone had created. People in my class were so imaginative! It was cool to see what the other people in my class came up with.

Crayon Art

Over a year ago, I saw a cool crayon melting project on a blog. I was fascinated! I HAD to try it for myself. Since I work at a craft store when I'm home from school, I had all of the materials at my disposal. I bought a stretched canvas, crayons, a hot glue gun, and some hot glue sticks.



This was the picture that I saw on the blog. Can you understand why I was so obsessed with the idea?? It's beautiful! Anyway, I glued my crayons to the top of my canvas and started heating up the crayons until the wax started to melt.
*I would recommend doing it outside in the garage or somewhere with good ventilation. I once set the smoke detector off in my dorm room...)

I used a hair dryer that was HIGH heat and LOW air pressure. If it blows too much air, the wax splatters a bit. Here's what I ended up with:

I LOVED it!
In fact, I loved it so much, I made several more. I went out and bought an embossing gun, because I knew it would melt the crayons faster. Most crafty stores carry them. If you're considering making a bunch of these projects, I would suggest using an embossing gun over a hair dryer. It will save you a lot of time.

Over the course of the year, I tried to get more creative and think of different ways to display the melted crayons. Here are the rest of my projects:

 

 

I decided to make one of these for my practicum teacher as a thank you. She FREAKED out when she saw it (in a good way), and I swear, I got three hugs from her that day.

 

Many of my pieces will be displayed in my future classroom. They are bright and fun, and the kids absolutely love them. I have also been brainstorming ways to incorporate crayon melting into a lesson, so the kids can see how it's done.

 

 If you've never made crayon art before, give it a try!  :)

 





Wild Yourself

Wild Yourself is an awesome site where kids can make an avatar for themselves and give it "wild' characteristics. Here is the avatar I made for myself:

I decided to go with a peacock tail, because I think peacocks are beautiful! There are several other animal parts that you can use as well. After you choose the parts, the little box on the side educates users on different characteristics of that animal. So this site is educational as well as fun! Our Ed Tech teacher also said that students could make an avatar of themselves, then they could write a creative story about themselves and share it with the class. Their stories would be posted next to a picture of their avatar.

A Bittersweet Afternoon

My practicum hours were finished up on Monday of this week (I even had 44 out of the necessary 40 hours), but I decided to go back today to take a class picture and spend some time with the students one last time. It's nice to have my hours finished up, but I'm sad to no longer be seeing my students every week. For our final day, we had some free time to chat, then we played multiplication bingo. I called out some basic multiplication tables, and they had to find the correct answer on their bingo cards.

Some of the students were wanting to stay in touch after I left, so I wrote my address and email on the white board so they had the choice to write to me. I would be so excited to get mail from one of my students. A few of the girls also took time to write me some nice goodbye messages on the board, and I just had to take a picture to remember them. :)

It was very sweet to hear that the kids were going to miss me. Actually, when I walked in the door this afternoon, the first thing I heard was, "Miss Cote, we've missed you!" I thought that was cute, because I'd just seen them on Monday! Today was definitely filled with some warm fuzzies. I already have plans to go back to visit for Christmas, and I might even make a habit of visiting once a month for the rest of the year. There's no such thing as too much classroom practice, right? 

Posters and forms using PowerPoint --Mind blown!

My Ed Tech teacher taught the class something AWESOME. If you open up a new PowerPoint presentation and turn a blank slide vertical, you can create worksheets and posters. For years, I've struggled to create things in Word. Things move around, margins go crazy...it's frustrating. In PowerPoint, it's simple to create shapes and text boxes or insert pictures. I was so excited to practice with it! First, I made a poster for my future classroom with a quote I found on Pinterest (if you don't have an account, you should seriously look into getting one! Fair warning: it's insanely addicting!)

I loved how quickly I was able to put my poster together. It would have taken me much longer in Word. I also made a form in PowerPoint. I grabbed a form from my practicum school, and I recreated it with some of my own flare. Super easy and fun!

Blurring-out faces!

In Ed Tech, we learned how to use Gimp to blur out faces in our pictures. As a teacher, we might want to post pictures of our classroom online. If parents don't give permission, the child's identity can be kept private by blurring out the face. Here is the example I made:

 I was being goofy when I blurred out my cat's face, obviously. But now his identity is protected. :)


To make a blurred face, you use the Ellipse Select Tool to draw an oval around the face. Then, if you right click the selected area, put your mouse over the "Filters" menu, then straight across to "Blur." You want the "Gaussian Blur,"and by adjusting the numbers at the bottom, the blur changes. The higher the number, the higher the blur. It's super simple!

A little bit about myself

Several years ago, I did a 30-day photo challenge on Facebook, and the first picture had random facts about myself. I decided to share on my blog, so my viewers could get to know the real me! Here it is:

Fifteen Facts

1. I love music, almost any type.
2. I want to be an elementary teacher someday. (I guess I've known this for a really long time!)
3. Traveling the world is my dream!
4. I love my family more than anything.
5. Cookie dough ice cream is my weakness.
6. I'm terrified of ticks and leeches. I get shivers just thinking about them...
7. I was born in Missouri. Random.
8. I'm teaching myself how to play the guitar.
9. I once got a perfect 40 at solo ensemble for flute. Don't ask me how.
10. I have 2 cats: Eddie is 19 pounds (fat), and Lily is a princess. 
11. I may just marry my high school sweetheart. <3
12. My mom and I are pretty much the same person.
13. I trip on flat ground and fall up stairs. Sometimes in front of other people.
14. I get stressed out easily. (I've improved a lot on this one!) 
15. I'm my worst critic. 

These facts still describe me pretty well. I'll tell you a little bit more about my life. I grew up in Fergus Falls, MN, and I lived with my mom, Paula, and step dad, Darin. We've been really close all of my life. My dad lives in Minneapolis with my step mom, half siblings, and step siblings. 

From left to right:

My siblings - Paige, Devyn, Me, Noah, and Blake.

Me, my mom, and my step dad.

I've been dating my boyfriend, Eben, since my sophomore year of high school. We are both attending North Dakota State University in Fargo. I'm majoring in Human Development/Family Science and Elementary Education, and he just started grad school this year for Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Eben has been a HUGE blessing in my life, and I'm lucky he has put up with me for all of these years! ;)

For many years now, I've known that teaching is the right major for me. I love kids, and I'm so excited to be able to spend my days making a difference in my students' lives!

Practicing Google Forms

Today in class, we practiced making our own google forms. I was surprised by how simple this was. (Kudos to Google for making really cool things easy to make). On the Ed Tech website, my teacher used a google form to learn more about the students in our class. For example, she wanted to know what other courses we were taking, if we worked, and if we lived on campus. When we submitted the form, the information was automatically put into a Google Doc.

As a teacher, Google forms have endless possibilities. I could have parents fill out information about their kids, such as birthdays and food allergies. It's also a great way to get to know the parents more. My practice form below has some examples of some information I might ask for. If I wanted the students themselves to be practicing using google forms, I could make up a form with their spelling words for the week (an idea that was mentioned to us in class). I like the idea of having parents help their kids get used to using the computer each week.

My favorite part about this form is the adorable background. Where does Google come up with this stuff? They make me look so tech savvy-- I love it!

Practicum Update

I have been loving my practicum, and I'm very sad that my hours are almost over. I'm going back on Monday morning for my last day, and I plan on taking a class picture to frame for myself. I want to remember my first-ever practicum class! To be able to take pictures in class, I had to send home a permission slip for parents to sign. It was a cool learning experience for me, since I know there will be many permission slips in my teaching future. All but two students returned their forms, so I wrote a little reminder post-it for the remaining two students.

I went for a full day on Wednesday the 31st, and just like some of my college professors had described, the elementary students were crazy on Halloween! They had a party planned for the afternoon, so of course, the students wanted nothing to do with their morning math lesson. They were having a refresher in Partial-Quotient Division. This method of division focuses on taking small, manageable parts of the problem, instead of looking at the whole number you're trying to divide.

Luckily, I JUST learned this for the first time in my Math for Elementary Teachers class, so I was able to walk around and help. My practicum teacher had to leave the room for about 15 minutes, so I was left alone with the entire class. They were struggling with the problems, so I was being pulled in 20 different directions to help and check answers. For some reason, their math journals don't come with an answer book, so I had to stop and work out the problems on my own to see if the kids found the right answers. It was super chaotic, but guess what? I handled it! I even had to get after three students who were extremely off task. I was proud (and relieved) to have kept pretty good control of the class, and on Halloween of all days!

It's very different being in the teacher role verses a student role, but I'm adjusting. I still automatically say, "Alyssa" when people at the school ask for my name, so I think one of my biggest struggles has been learning to call myself "Miss Cote" (or Mrs. Cote, as my practicum students call me. I've stopped trying to explain to them that I'm not married yet). I still really think of myself as a student in my own classes, even though my professors say that we are teachers now. I guess it's just hard to believe that I'm only a year away from teaching! That is both extremely gratifying and terrifying!