The Brown Bag Teacher

Teach the Children. Love the Children. Change the World.

SDE Orlando: Reading, Writing, Math & More Conference

Happy Sunday, friends! After a fabulous few days in Orlando for SDE’s Reading, Writing, Math, and More Conference, I am home safely in Kentucky. This was my first time speaking at a national conference and it was an absolute blast. 
I shared all about Common Core Writing in Primary Land, specifically talking about the scaffold we have to build-in for young writers. As teachers we know that we move from the concrete to the representational to the abstract, but in writing we just seem to hop right to the abstract (the actual writing!). So from coloring-code writing to integrating science and writing curriculums, it was a blast. I’ve blogged some about writing in the last year, and look forward to sharing some of these ideas in the coming months!

Also, after you give a presentation, you have to wonder. Did they hate me?!? Well, I arrived home to these lovely Facebook messages that completely filled my heart. I love how my blogging world has now become real. Thank you, ladies! 
While in Orlando, I also had a chance to sit in on some fabulous sessions. One of these sessions was Differentiating Math Assessments (that aren’t paper-and-pencil tests) with Catherine Kuhns. Friends. It was out-of-this world amazing…like so amazing you text your principal while in the session. Mind blown. It was spectacular, and I immediately wanted August to come so I could teach 1st graders. Catherine talked a lot about allowing choice to be a natural (but rigorous) way to differentiate, as well as, using math notebooks as timelines for learning. The learning notebook part was definitely a fire under me…I used math notebooks last year, but after seeing samples of Catherine’s students’ work I was blown way! (Note – Catherine works with NCTM and has a few books available on Amazon. She does not sell on TpT and worked mainly in her community’s local classrooms.)

Dr. Jean was also fabulous. I learned some great ‘tricks’ for management and transitions. Dr. Jean is always full of songs and rhymes which our Primary Friends absolutely love. Plus, I learned how to make mini-books by only folding and tearing…no staples needs. It was mind-blowing!

 I also had a chance to sit-in on Kim Adsit’s reading-centers session. The session was geared  more toward kinder friends, but the laughter alone was worth going to the session. Kim is hilarious. I’ve never laughed that much at a PD session. Sometimes I am accused of having a Southern drawl but friends, I have NOTHING on Kim. It was fabulous!

 To cap-off Thursday, I was able to meet one of my cyber-friends (Mrs. Russell) in real life! She presented right after me and was amazing. Not to mention she sat in the front row of my session and was my personal cheerleader. So sweet!

Tamara shared all about integrating science and social studies into Core instruction times. This was one of those just-what-I-needed sessions. Our school is adopting the Next Generation Science Standards next year, and integration is going to be the key. I dabbled in science this year (sound, magnets, life cycles), but will be stepping it up this year. 🙂

 Also, before leaving Orlando, I remembered to snag these trailing brochures for Orlando. Anytime you travel make sure to snag them. These brochures make perfect writing centers later in the year. Students can write narratives about experiences at these places, descriptive pieces about them, inform/explain about what travelers can do there, or opinion/persuasive letters to convince their parents to take a vacation. The best part? It’s real-world writing and it’s FREE!

Well friends, Orlando was a blast. I loved speaking and can’t wait for Vegas where I’ll be sharing at I Teach 1st, I Teach K, and I Teach DI. If you’re not registered to attend, it’s not too late. 9,000 educators are already on board to learn and we’d love for you to join, too! You can sign up here and receive a 10% discount – woot woot! 🙂 If you’re already registered, make sure to stop-by and say ‘Hi!’ I’d love to make another cyber/real-world connection! 🙂

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Comments

    • Kate says

      Hi Carol! Thanks so much for your interest. I'll definitely be sharing some of the ideas I shared in Orlando over the course of the next few months. 🙂

      Reply

    • Kate says

      Hi Julie! Thanks so much for your interest. I'll definitely be sharing some of the ideas I shared in Orlando over the course of the next few months. 🙂

      Reply

  8. Chris Saunders says

    Hi I loved your post and look forward to hearing the ideas you shared at the conference in future blog posts. I would also love to see the powerpoint! It's the next best thing to being there! -Chris 😉

    Reply

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