Thinking Theme

It's about the time of year again where I am really hitting theme hard! We had a mini-lesson today to review what we'd learned previously and add on new thinking.

(As a side note, I usually turn all of my anchor charts into digital copies so I can print them on our poster maker and hang them in the classroom. I can't stand hanging my hand-written posters .... I think they look messy and it drives me nuts!) 

Last week for Read Across America we really sunk our teeth into Dr. Seuss books. As we read, we verbally reviewed theme. The two main books we discussed were Yertle the Turtle and The Sneetches. Today, as we made our chart, we thought about EVIDENCE. Seems like it's the current buzz word in education. Using Dr. Seuss was a great way to use easy books as examples. They really understood the messages without a lot of thought. It was a great way to begin to scaffold their thinking by having them provide specific evidence from the text. 

The main text we've been reading over the last week is the Cinderella Story. So far we've read Cinderella, Yeh Shen, and Cendrillon. We discussed the two main themes from these stories, "always be kind to others" and "good vs. evil". I sent them in pairs to find evidence from the text to illustrate these themes. In this way, I am gradually releasing the responsibility to them, with the end goal being each student doing it independently. 

Need a visual for you class? Click this picture to download.

Math Madness - Revamped

So, as I sit here on our second snow day in a row ... I'm feeling a bit stir crazy.
But, I've been productive. Last year, I created an activity for my students to practice math skills before our state testing began. See my original post here.
This year, the rigor in our testing has changed, and therefor I need to up the rigor of the game questions. So, I've been scouring the internet for released test items. I find it best to use released items instead of creating my own. This way, the students are exposed to the language they will encounter. So, yesterday's snow day was spent creating two rounds of "Math Madness". Here is what it looks like:

Here's how it works:
First, I ask a student to bring in a small basketball net we can use. I prefer the kind with suction cups because its sticks right to our white board (you can also use a trash can). Then, I put my students into teams. I prefer mixed ability teams. Students get a score card for their team. I take all of my question cards and attach them to construction paper and laminate them. Teams come up to the front and choose their cards. As a team, they solve the problem. The most important thing is that EVERY student does the work on their own scratch paper. This way, one student isn't doing all of the work while the other get nothing out of the activity. Once they feel they have successfully solved the problem, they bring it to me to check.

• If they are correct, I mark the points on their score sheet. Then, each player on their teams gets a change to shoot a basket and earn extra points (one point for each basket made). 
• If they are wrong, they do not get points or a chance to shoot, BUT they must go back and try the problem again.

At the end the points are tallied and the winning team is announced.  I have not decided on a prize for the winning team yet, and I might let my students vote on a prize. My end goal is I want my students to all be engaged in review. There is nothing more boring that handing them packet after packet. It not only frustrates them, but burns them out before they actually have to sit down for the state testing. I want them to learn, but I also want them to have a little fun. Last year I let them chew gum every time we were reviewing, and that was a motivation in itself!

I'm working on something now to review for reading, but I'm having some trouble brainstorming. Maybe something will come to to me today!

How do you review for your state tests? I'd love to hear other ideas.

Teachers are Heroes :) and Little Red Riding Hood GIVEAWAY!

 I love a good TpT sale! It seriously makes me so happy. So, get ready for a good one!!

Are you ready? If not, I'd start browsing tonight! I went through my wishlist yesterday to prioritize what I want to buy. Here are some things I've picked out:

by: Times are Fun in Grade One 

I plan to use this for Read Across America Day to create a display in the hallway :)

From the Teacher Next Door

We've been practicing this in our mini-lessons, but it's so hard to find good resources! I've been looking and looking, so I can't wait to make this new purchase! 

I have a few other things on my Wish List, but it's so hard to choose!! What's on your wishlist? 

I've been also working hard on my own store. (Click the link to visit!) There are so many products I have in the works, I find myself with adhd trying to finish them all at once. So, I picked one on which to focus, and I'm pretty happy with the results! 

My Cinderella set on TpT is pretty popular, and I love Little Red Riding Hood just as much. So, I decided to work on another set for my fairy tales/fables unit. The main focus on my unit is comparing and contrasting literature from different cultures, but I also included RL 1, 2, 3, and 6 to review these for my students. Check it out and see if you think it may be helpful for you and your students. 

 

 Click HERE to see it in my TpT store.

AND... I said GIVEAWAY! So, if you are one of the first two people to comment on this post with your name AND email address, I'll send you the set for FREE!! But, make sure to include your email address!`

Back to Blogging!

In more ways than 1! I have been really absent on blogging this year. For some reason, this school year has been really tough for me. The pressure is really getting to me. Anyone else feeling this way?

So, I'm back blogging to talk about blogging. I just resumed using Kid Blog with my class. In past years I've started it much earlier, but my class this year just didn't seem ready. They really struggle to compose a well-written reading response, and I was not ready to throw technology into the mix (for my sanity and theirs).

Do you use blogging in your classroom? How do you manage it? Do your kids buy into the process? What works for you? What doesn't? 

Lovin' Language ... standards

By the fourth grade, my students have a lot they are expected to master. The language standards are no different. The list is lengthy, and can be overwhelming. It seems, that every curriculum's way to teach these standards is giving students worksheet after worksheet! If there is one thing that my kids don't need, is more worksheets.
So, I've been trying to come up with some creative ways to let them have fun while still learning. Here's what I've come up with so far:

Synonyms and Antonyms

We've begun our journey into context clues, and one of the big clues authors give us is synonyms and antonyms. The trouble is, students need to know the many meaning of common words so they can easily connect words they know to new, unfamiliar words. I've been trying to create challenging and hands-on activities for my students so they can have fun while exploring "fancy" words.
The first activity we did was "Synonym Snail Races" (click on the picture to find the file on TpT)

My class had so much fun trying to outdo each other with the most creative synonyms. For the first "round", teams were only allowed to use their own brains to come up with synonyms. In order for their snails to count, the word had to be a good synonym, spelled correctly, and colored neatly. They really had to work together to make sure everyone had work to do. (This was a real eye-opener to see which students were good team players and which need some more guidance). 

For the second round, students were allowed to pick one classroom resource to use for their group. Once they picked their resource they were stuck with it, so they needed to pick wisely. There choices were: dictionary, thesaurus, synonym/antonym dictionary, and Banish Boring Words. That second day the race was on! I let my students work for 20 minutes the first day and 25 the second. By the second day, we had a winner. They had so much fun! 

From there, we did a shades of meaning activity. We talked about the fact that synonyms, even though they have similar meanings, can still be different. Some have stronger meanings than others. Thankfully, a friend of mine snagged me a stack of paint chips and I was all set! We took our snails as an example and laid them out in order from weakest synonym to strongest. Once they had done this collaboratively, they all picked another bland/boring word to try on their own. Each student grabbed some post-its and a thesaurus, and got to work. They found synonyms for their word and wrote each on a post-it. Then, they ordered them right on their desks. This way, I was able to check and help them revise their thinking (if needed), before creating a finished product. Here is what they look like:

Then I decided it was time for a "craftivity". They seemed to be getting the idea that we have classroom resources to help them find more interesting versions of common words they know. Now, I wanted them to think about other basic words, and find more interesting versions in order to build their repertoire of vocabulary words. So, we created Synonym Spiders and Antonym Ants

Cute and just a little creepy right? Perfect for this time of year! 

So I decided I needed to make it a full product for TpT. Here are few preview of the pages from the product: 

 It includes instructions for the craft, synonym and antonyms posters, template for the craft it you don't want the kids cutting by hand from construction paper, and a sort activity (cut and paste).

So, we are having a lot of fun, but doing some great learning at the same time! 

How are you having fun in your classroom while still learning?

Back in the Swing of Things --PLUS, Twitter as a Teacher's Tool?

This year I'm making myself a promise. I'm promising to make more time for myself, and more time to blog about the things I love, namely- Teaching. Last year my blog took a back seat to life changing, a challenging class, school-wide initiative .. etc, etc, etc. But, I guess there are always things that can get in the way of doing things on your to-do list. This year, however, I want to get back to basics. Teaching and blogging .... loving my job, learning from others, and sharing my classroom fun. Period.

Twitter in the Classroom?

This year I'm trying something new. A goal our school community has this year is staying in better contact with parents. Many parents work full time and may not know what we do in our classroom from day-to-day. Not to mention, kids like to go home and say they did "nothing" all day. NOT TRUE!! We do A LOT! I'm sure you do too. Enter Twitter ....
At an inservice at the beginning of the school year we were lucky enough to have Alan November speak to our entire faculty. He mentioned some really great ways to include technology into the classroom. My takeaway from that day was using Twitter as a communication tool. I went home, set up an account, and started Tweeting away.

Some questions I had:
1. How will i get parents involved in our classroom tweeting?
2. What are some potential questions parents may have (or concerns)?
3. How will my students be involved in a way that is safe and appropriate?

1 and 2. I collaborated with other teachers in my building who were also interested in starting this new journey. One of them created a letter to parents explaining how we would be using Twitter in our classroom, laying out the ground rules, and asking for permission to include their child in the process. This was the most important step for us. I want the parents in my classroom as partners and to be on board with our routines. Here is the letter she drafted:

I only have two students whose parents have not given permission, so I think that's pretty good. I'm still trying to get parents on board to follow us. So far I think 1/3 of the parents are followers. It's so fun and easy to tweet out info about our class! Here is a post from this week:

So is tweeting worth it? Here is an article from NEA.

Want to incorporate learning into the Twitter process? Here are some products I found that can have your kids "tweeting" about their learning! 

• Classroom Twitter Feed by the Tallest Teacher
• To Engage them All's Twitter Board is what I printed for my classroom!

Are you using it? How? Has it been successful? I want to hear from you! 

Hello Summer ... Hello teacher perks

The air seems calmer in July. Maybe that's because I know there is absolutely nothing to think about in the school world. No kids, no grading, no inservice ... nada. Just the sweet, sweet sounds of summer.
So why am I still thinking about school?! I'm sure I'm not the only one guilty of this. I'm already thinking about next school year. How will I arrange my classroom? What changes need to be made to lessons? Will the year go smoothly? On and on and on and on! I just can't help myself. However, while some of the stressing is a little premature and ridiculous, sometimes thinking about school can be profitable.

Did you know the container store is doing a giveaway just for teachers?! They are doing a sweepstakes to win a $1000 classroom makeover to help you be the most organized teacher in your school. How cool is that? Just go to the link below and fill in the required fields to enter!

http://standfor.containerstore.com/teacher-sweepstakes/ 

The Container Store also has a teacher discount program. If you haven't already, you can sign up here: https://www.containerstore.com/teachers/index.htm

What are your favorite teacher discount programs? I've gotten into the habit of asking at stores now just because I know there are so many companies that offer something for teachers, and I just don't know them all. Please share below!