Hey everybody! I'm back! And to say that's accomplishment for me is an understatement :) Summertime is so sweet but  I do have to say that I wait all year for summer and then, when it comes, my mind is focused on the start of a new school year. I want to work more on reminding myself to be present in the moment, especially since my little guy is growing so fast!

Well, exciting news! I am a procrastinator. This personality flaw of mine caused me to put off signing up for TMC '14 and, as a result, I ended up having to be put on the waiting list. I did not expect to be able to go so that was definitely disappointing. Welll.....I received an e-mail a couple days ago saying...I GET TO COME!!! yay!! HOLLA!! Other teachers from my district don't know much about it or were able to sign up in time either so I'll be coming alone which is a little bit nerve-wrecking! The only ones I know are people I have collaborated with online. I'm so excited about all of the things I'm going to get the opportunity to learn.

Enough rambling. Y'all ready for some goods?
First thing I've thought about sharing is actually a unit/lesson I had to make sure graduate school (which I'll finally be F-I-N-I-S-H-E-D with in August!) Many of you have used/seen all the lessons integrating quadratics with the angry birds theme. I have used it for a couple years and enjoy the project for my kids. However, I've really wanted to integrate more cross-curricular themes into the mix as well as getting my students to view the task as something they are assigned as a part of their job. So..this is what I came up with for my unit/lesson.

Curriculum Unit Map
This map basically just tells you the unit essential questions, objectives, Core standards to be met, and what roles I want students to take on throughout the unit.

Angry Bird Unit Tasks
This is the actual unit that I create, most of which I have used in my classroom before. What I really want y'all to look at is the rich culminating task. I have to say, I am super excited to use this in class this year and am proud of how it ended up. It truly requires my kiddos to partake in a real-life task that a job might require of them. Remember--I turned this in for grad school so there are a few reflection questions I had to answer at the end as a part of the assignment. Please let me know what you think. It comes with a rubric for the rich culminating task, as well. Let me know if you want me to send you the Catapult Activity and the activities I use to teach students to write equations of quadratics in various forms. Will definitely share if anyone wants it.

I'll leave you with a couple pictures from my classroom at the beginning of last year. It pretty much stayed this way all year. I have to say I LOVE color and my kids do too!
 
 

Hope you enjoyed! Let me know if what I'm sharing is benefitting you!

Psssttt... I don't proofread :)

Brooke