Moving Mountains in Ms. Morrison's Class

Last week I was able to create my first interactive bulletin board (it's an exciting milestone for an early childhood education major) with my fellow teacher candidate, Alana Needham. We used the following kindergarten standards to create "WiseKids' Pizzeria":  2.) Count forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of having to begin at 1). [K-CC2] 8.) Represent addition and subtraction with objects, fingers, mental images, drawings, sounds (e.g., claps), acting out situations, verbal explanations, expressions, or equations. (Drawings need not show details, but should show the mathematics in the problem. This applies wherever drawings are mentioned in the Standards.) [K-OA1] 22.) Compose simple shapes to form larger shapes. [K-G6] * Standards taken from the alex.state.al.us website *   On the board, students have the opportunity to configure a pizza by matching the numbers on the pan to the number of pepperonis on a slice of pizza (standard...

Wow, oh wow, to be a student in Ms. Toliver's classroom...  Just watching this video made me want to go back to a middle school classroom. Ms. Toliver was able to create the perfect atmosphere for learning: creative, positive, and ever-evolving. Kay Toliver taught for over thirty years in East Harlem, New York and during that time created a program called "The Math Trail" in which students plot a course through their community and develop several math problems based on real life situations. This kind of out-of-the-box curriculum is exactly the material that will turn today's young students into critical thinkers and innovators who are ready for tomorrow's workforce. I encourage anyone and everyone to watch this video; it will give you a new yearning for learning.  http://youtu.be/J0Hgh7qvSIk   

Hello!        My name is Taylor Morrison and I have just begun a new chapter in my ever-evolving education as a Teacher Candidate at Jacksonville State University. I cannot begin to explain how excited I am to start my new journey and meet all the new children I will be able to work with. As a Sunday school teacher, preschool teacher, camp counselor, babysitter, aunt, and mom I am always looking for new, creative things to do with my kiddos. However, just because things are "cute" does not mean that they are appropriate for the classroom or worth the effort (because let's face it, some of those Pinterest crafts are hard to make as adults, much less as kids). I believe that children need content and creativity to thrive in their various learning environments. I have had so many wonderful teachers in my life that have taught me how much fun learning can be, I could not imagine spending my life doing anything else but learning and teaching others to love it as wel...