How to Have Successful Parent/Teacher Conferences

If you are like most teachers, you are preparing for your first round of parent/teacher conferences. Now that I teach on the college level, this is one activity I currently don't have to do, but when I did, I really did enjoy them. Why? Because I was prepared with more than just the student's grades. Here are some of the ways I got ready.

First, in preparing for parent/teacher conferences, what can you do on a daily basis? Is the conference based on simply talking about grades or are there additional items that need discussing? How can an observation be specific without offending the parent or guardian? How is it possible to remember everything?

I kept a clipboard in my classroom on which were taped five 6” x 8” file cards so they overlapped - something like you see in the two pictures above. Each week, I tired to evaluate five students, writing at least two observations for each child on the cards. At the end of the week, the file cards were removed and placed into the children's folders. The next week, four different students were chosen to be evaluated. In this way, I did not feel overwhelmed, and had time to really concentrate on a small group of children. By the end of 4-5 weeks, each child in the class had been observed at least twice. By the end of the year, every child had been observed at least eight different times.

Below are sample observations which might appear on the cards.

Student	Date	Observation	IEP	ESL
Mary Kay	8/20   8/28	Likes to work alone; shy and withdrawn;  wears a great deal of make-up. She has a good self concept and is friendly. Her preferred learning style is  visual based on the modality survey.	X
Donald	9/19   9/21	Leader, at times domineering, likes to  play games where money is involved. His preferred learning style is auditory  (from the modality survey). He can be a  “bully,” especially in competitive games. He tends to use aggressive language with  those who are not considered athletic.

$2.00

By the time the first parent/teacher conferences rolled around, I had at least two observations for each child. This allowed me to share specific things (besides grades) with the parents/guardians. As the year progressed, more observations were added; so, that a parent/guardian as well as myself could readily see progress in not only grades, but in a student's behavior and social skills. The cards were also an easy reference for filling out the paperwork for a 504 plan or an IEP (Individual Education Plan). As a result of utilizing the cards, I learned pertinent and important facts related to the whole child which in turn created an effective and relevant parent/teacher conference.

To keep the conference on the right track, I also created a checklist to use during parent/teacher conferences.  It features nine characteristics listed in a brief, succinct checklist form. During conferences, this guide allows me to have specific items to talk about besides grades. Some of the characteristics included are study skills and organization, response to assignments, class attitude, inquiry skills, etc. Since other teachers at my school were always asking to use it, I rewrote it and placed it in my TPT store. It is available for only $2.00, and I guarantee it will keep your conferences flowing and your parents focused! When you have time, check it out!

What Is A Palindrome?

I was getting ready to pay for my meal at a buffet when I noticed the cashier's name tag.  It read "Anna" to which I replied, "Your name is a palindrome!"  The cashier just stared at me in disbelief.  I explained that a palindrome was letters that read the same backwards as forwards. Because you could read her name forwards and backwards, it qualified as a palindrome. She replied that she remembered a math teacher talking about those because of patterns (I love that math teacher), and she remembered the phrase "race car" was a palindrome.  We then began sharing palindromes that we knew such as radar, level and madam while my family waited impatiently in line. (Sometimes they have little patience with my math conversations.)

The word palindrome is derived from the Greek word palíndromos, which means "running back again". A palindrome can be a word, phrase or sentence which reads the same in both directions such as: "Eva, can I stab bats in a cave?" or "Was it a car or a cat I saw?" or "Rats live on no evil star."

But did you know there are also palindromic numbers?  A palindromic number is a number whose digits are the same if read in both directions (as seen on your left).   Whereas "1234" is not a palindromic number, because backwards it is "4321" which is not the same. 

Suppose a person starts with the number one and lists the palindromic numbers in order: 11, 22, 33, 44, 55...etc.  Can you continue the list? 

Did you notice that palindromic numbers are symmetrical?  Look carefully at the 17371 shown above.  It is symmetrical (when a figure can be folded along a line so the two halves match perfectly) on either side of the three whether read left to right or vice versa.

Palindromic numbers are very simple to generate from other numbers with the help of addition.

Try this:

1. Write down any number that has more than one digit. I will use 47.
2. Write down that number in reverse beneath the first number. (See illustration below.)
3. Add the two numbers together. (121)
4. 4. The sum of 121 is undeniably a palindrome.

Try an easy number first, such as 18.  At times you will need to use the first addition answer and repeat the process of reversing and adding. You will almost always get a palindrome answer within six steps.  Try one of these numbers 68 or 79.  Be careful because if you pick a number greater than 89, arriving at the palindromic answer will take more steps, but it will still work.  (See the two examples below.)

But don't try 196!  In fact, avoid it like the plague!   A computer has already gone through several thousand stages, and it still hasn't come up with a palindromic answer!

Example #1:

• Start with 75.
• Reverse 75 which makes 57.
• Add 75 and 57 and you get 132.  The answer 132 is not a palindrome.
• SO reverse 132, and it becomes 231.
• Add 132 and 231, and the answer is 363. 
• Since 363 is a palindrome, we are done!

Example #2:

• Begin with 255.
• Reverse 255 to get 552.
• Add 255 and 552. The answer is 807 which is not a palindrome.
• SO reverse 807 to get 708.
• Add 807 and 708. The answer of 5151 is not a palindrome.
• SO reverse 1515 to get 5151.
• Add 1515 and 5151 which is 6666.
• This is a palindrome; so, we are done!

Do We Say "Fall" or "Autumn"? Doing Science Investigations Using Leaves

October is just around the corner.  October means football (Ohio State, of course), cooler weather, and gorgeous leaves. (It is also the month my husband and I were married.) In October, we see the leaves turning colors, and the deciduous trees shedding their leaves.

Another name for fall is autumn, a rather strange name to me. Through research, I discovered that the word autumn is from the Old French autumpne, automne, which came from the Latin autumnus. Autumn has been in general use since the 1960's and means the season that follows summer and comes before winter.

Fall is the most common usage among those in the United States; however, the word autumn is often interchanged with fall in many countries including the U.S.A. It marks the transition from summer into winter, in September if you live in the Northern Hemisphere or in March if you live in the Southern Hemisphere.  It also denotes when the days are noticeably shorter and the temperatures finally start to cool off. In North America, autumn is considered to officially start with the September equinox. This year it was on September 22nd.

With all of that said, the leaves in our neighbor's yard have already begun to fall into ours which aggravates my husband because he is the one who gets to rake them. Maybe focusing on some activities using leaves will divert his attention away from the thought of raking leaves to science investigations.  

Remember ironing leaves between wax paper?  We did that in school when I was a little girl (eons and eons ago).  Here is how to do it.

1. Find different sizes and colors of leaves.
2. Tear off two sheets about the same size of waxed paper.
3. Set the iron on "dry".  No water or steam here!
4. The heat level of the iron should be medium.
5. Place leaves on one piece of the waxed paper.
6. Lay the other piece on top.
7. Iron away!

You can also use this activity to identify leaves.  According to my husband who knows trees, leaves and birds from his college studies, we "waxed" a maple leaf, sweet gum leaf, elm leaf, cottonwood leaf (the state tree of Kansas - they are everywhere), and two he doesn't recognize because they come from some unknown ornamental shrubs.

$5.50

Maybe you would like to use leaves as a science investigation in your classroom. I have one in my Teacher Pay Teachers store that is a six lesson science performance demonstration for grades K-2. The inquiry guides the primary student through the scientific method and includes: 

1. Exploration time
2. Writing a good investigative question
3. Making a prediction
4. Designing a plan
5. Gathering the data
6. Writing a conclusion based on the data. 

Be"leaf" me, your students will have fun!

Does A Circle Have Sides?

Believe it or not, this was a question asked by a primary teacher.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but in retrospect, I was stunned. Therefore, I decided this topic would make a great blog post.

The answer is not as easy as it may seem. A circle could have one curved side depending on the definition of "side!"  It could have two sides - inside and outside; however this is mathematically irrelevant. Could a circle have infinite sides? Yes, if each side were very tiny. Finally, a circle could have no sides if a side is defined as a straight line. So which definition should a teacher use?

By definition a circle is a perfectly round 2-dimensional shape that has all of its points the same distance from the center. If asked then how many sides does it have, the question itself simply does not apply if "sides" has the same meaning as in a rectangle or square.

I believe the word "side" should be restricted to polygons (two dimensional shapes). A good but straight forward definition of a polygon is a many sided shape.  A side is formed when two lines meet at a polygon vertex. Using this definition then allows us to say:

1) A circle is not a polygon.

2) A circle has no sides.

One way a primary teacher can help students learn some of the correct terminology of a circle is to use concrete ways.  For instance,  the perimeter of a circle is called the circumference.  It is the line that forms the outside edge of a circle or any closed curve. If you have a circle rug in your classroom, ask the students is to come and sit on the circumference of the circle. If you use this often, they will know, but better yet understand circumference.

For older students, you might want to try drawing a circle by putting a pin in a board. Then put a loop of string around the pin, and insert a pencil into the loop. Keeping the string stretched, the students can draw a circle!

And just because I knew you wanted to know, when we divide the circumference by the diameter we get 3.141592654... which is the number π (Pi)!  How cool is that?

$2.85

If you are studying circles in your classroom, you might like this resource. It is a set of two circle crossword puzzles that feature 18 terms associated with circles. The words showcased in both puzzles are arc, area, chord, circle, circumference, degrees, diameter, equidistant, perimeter, pi, radii, radius, secant, semicircle, tangent and two. The purpose of these puzzles is to have students practice, review, recognize and use correct geometric vocabulary in a fun, non-threatening way.