Uncharted Territory

I'm ready for week two!! Yay! 

Prayer Request: Mini-School Open House Tuesday Night!! I've been talking with the teachers and I have a feeling this year is going to be different than last year, when I had a total of 6 parents show up. I will be nervous and I'm hoping I don't get asked "Is this your first year?" I feel like that question is associated with a "you're not going to be a good teacher" mindset, and that is not what I want my parents to feel like.

Up this week in my accelerated class is Order of Operations, Writing Expressions, and Combining Like Terms! All very fun, but there is one that I am especially excited to teach:

For those of you who do not know yet, I am in the process of writing of a book! It's an educational book that deals with the concept of Order of Operations. During my student teaching, my cooperating teacher told me a story that she tells rather than teaching the old PEMDAS way. Last year, I really expanded on the story and stuck with referencing it all year. I loved how well it really taught the students Order of Operations, rather than just memorizing letters of PEMDAS that really isn't correct to begin with. Being a math teacher I would say math is my strongest subject, while writing isn't exactly. I would much rather just write than really worry about grammar, punctuation, or spelling (you've probably noticed if you've read my blogs!). So this is really new ground for me and just learning the whole process of writing a book, finding an illustrator, getting it illustrated, getting it edited, getting it published, and so on. So while my book, for now, is no where near being on any shelves, I am going to get to read my first draft to my students this week and see how they react to it. I do know they have all been taught PEMDAS, but hopefully they're open to looking at this objective a different way. I will have to let y'all know how it's going!

In my on-level classes we're going to spend the week on decimals! Everything from ordering and comparing to estimating and finishing with adding and subtracting. I think I left my favorite activity with decimals in Waco, so I spent last week recreating with a new shopping ad. So Thursday my students will be going grocery shopping! It's a wonderful way to get them to practice adding and subtracting decimals with an extremely useful real world application. 

Also, I begin coaching my wonderful little 6th graders this week with PSA! I am so excited to begin working with the girls and I cannot wait to see the progress they make throughout our season!

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." - Hebrews 11:1