Friday, December 6, 2013

It's A December Frenzy!
!

Want FREEBIES?   I've joined a group of Facebook friends and THERE'S A FRENZY GOING ON!!!!!   December 6th-9th...You will find lots of 3rd grade Math and Science FREEBIES!   Here is a map of the 3rd Grade Math and Science December Frenzy (so you'll know where to start or if you get lost)!  If you're not 3rd grade, NO WORRIES!  Keep scrolling...there are December Frenzies for EVERYONE!  If possible, participate in ALL of the December Frenzies!



3rd Grade Math and Science December Frenzy Order

Start Here…. Evil Math Wizard
Then…


Check out MORE December Frenzies!

Click the picture below and download the PDF!  After downloading, click on each picture to download ALL of the AMAZING freebies that my friends have to offer!


Thanks to Jennifer from Crayons, Cuties & Common Core for the graphic!
Thanks to Heather over at Creative Castle Resources 
for starting these frenzies!


Thursday, October 10, 2013

Multiple Intelligence Theory

I wanted to find new ways for my teachers to get to know their students and would also help them differentiate their instruction.  Multiple intelligence theory was the first thing that came to mind.  I researched the resources (blog posts, pinterest, Teachers Pay Teachers, etc.).


My favorite resource I found was from Stephanie at Falling into First - "Everyone is Smart."  Stephanie wrote a fabulous book that explains the multiple intelligence theory to younger elementary students and then provides a great writing activity to help them think through which "smart" they relate to the most. 



Visit Thinking Out Loud to learn more about multiple intelligence theory, how I used Stephanie's activity, other resources I found useful.

 



Thursday, August 1, 2013

Laminating Resourcefulness


I know many of you have the laminating pouches and the home laminators. So you probably do things differently than I do. 

I use the laminator at our school and I would like to share with you a tip that has helped save a lot of laminating film. 

Since I started following blogs and TPT, I have used a ton of laminating film. I feel that if our school is going to let us use unlimited amounts of film the least I can do is to be resourceful with it. 

I've seen some people laminate using two pieces of paper at a time. Set this way only two pieces of paper can fit at a time. (even if you turn them the other direction, there isn't enough room to put more than two in at a time.)
This is fine if you can't trim the paper.

These two photos show how putting two pieces of paper at one time in the laminator looks.

But if you trim off the extra paper on the sides and tops first, you'll be able to put three pieces of paper in the laminator at one time. 


It's not real clear, but you can see that there are three sheets of trimmed paper at the same time in the laminator.
And when it comes out the back, this is what it looks like.

 You can see the difference in laminating two 
pieces at a time versus three. 
I understand that there are times when you don't need to trim the papers. But in the cases where you do, you can save a lot of film by doing it this way. 

If you are wondering why I laminate first and then cut apart the individual pieces. . 

 I use just regular paper instead of card stock. So there isn't a chance that the film will pull apart from the paper. It saves a step from cutting them up into little pieces, laminating, and cutting all over again. 
If you're like me, 
I look for all the time savers that I can find. 

So that's my tip for the day. 
I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you do it. 

P.S. Shown in these pictures are activities from Fern Smith's Froggy Goes To School Syllables

Story Problem Task Cards for August by Casey Turner from Second Grade Math Maniac


Patty Rutenbar

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Guided Reading Know How and a FREEBIE!

I have taught for about 11 years and taught guided reading for 10 of the eleven years.  When I first started teaching, many teachers were actually still doing whole group reading instruction with novel studies.  While I think that novel studies definitely have a place in the reader's workshop, I feel that students must be instructed in small groups to meet their individual needs as well.  Working with students with disabilities for the last three years has done nothing but reinforce that belief.  It has also made my teaching of reading "bag of tricks" much larger- I had no choice.

When I taught third grade I always felt like I really needed to make sure my students could read and comprehend ALL texts because many teachers feel like in fourth grade "students no longer are learning to read, but reading to learn" (I hate this phrase and philosophy by the way, but I will spare everyone my soapbox!  When I heard a principal say it I about fell over).


Monday, July 8, 2013

Response to Intervention Organizational Tips

I have worked at two different schools and it seemed like both schools struggled with  RTI.  There was  tons of repetitive paperwork and often what was acceptable in one meeting for one child...somehow didn't work for another child and another meeting.  I think this is because it is a really confusing process in general- for all parties: parents, teachers, counselors and administrators.

While I have no magical guarantees of how to make RTI seamless for you and your school, I *do* have some suggestions on to help teachers stay organized while collecting data.  Last school year I had several students on the RTI tiers and collected LOTS of different data.  It could have been a paper work nightmare!  And it was...until one night I stayed late, developed a system and got myself organized. And it worked like a charm.


Monday, July 1, 2013

Watermelon Festival Craft: 3-D Watermelon Life Cycle Craftivity

Create a 3-D Watermelon craft when you teach about watermelons, life cycles, or plants during your science units. This craft is perfect to reinforce the topics taught during this science lesson and it works well as a science center too. 
watermelon craft



life cycle craft


Learn more about this watermelon craft at my blog {HERE}.

Thanks, 
Robin @ Sweet Tea Classroom

Monday, May 6, 2013

Recounting Fables FREEBIE!



Part of the second grade Common Core standards is recounting fables and fairy tales.  We have actually have already done a bunch of work with fairy tales and were ready to move on to fables.  I created this anchor chart to share with them.


Do you like my picture cheats?  I was too tired to draw so I just Googled some images...shhh  ;).

We watched this short video on United Streaming about Aesop.  The part about Aesop was very short  (1 minute) and was the perfect length for adding information to the anchor chart above!

The next day we watched  The Tortoise and The Hare from the video above and I modeled how to write a recount on the Promethean board about the Tortoise and the Hare.  We did skip the section on point of view because I hadn't taught that yet and wanted to go into more detail.

To get a free copy of this file click here.

I will go into more detail about teaching point of view later in the week- I need to take some pictures! :)


Sunday, April 28, 2013

Prefixes and Suffixes and a FREEBIE!


Over the last few weeks we have been doing a LOT of work with prefixes and suffixes!  My kids are recognizing them in their reading and writing (don't you just love when that happens!?!?).

We watched the Brainpop Jr on prefixes.  I love Brainpop Jr and am very lucky our school provides a membership.  It is FANTASTIC and we use it to introduce EVERYTHING!

I also found these two really cute Between the Lions videos focusing on the prefixes un- and re-.  Beware- they are from YouTube.  I know some schools block it :(

We brainstormed together as a class and made these anchor charts.





Wednesday, April 17, 2013

The Brain, Baseball, and Geography

I read a lot about the brain because I find it absolutely fascinating.  I also want my students to learn, so I'm always searching for ways to help them remember what I've taught.

I've found that kids learn best when they get a little bit at a time, frequently, rather than one big lesson all at once, then never to see it again.  (Unfortunately, our present Math program does the latter.)

There's plenty of evidence out there to prove that frequent review and practice is the best way for children to remember what they're learning.

There's also plenty of evidence to prove that connecting the learning to the passions of the children help the learning process as well.

So, what does this have to do with baseball?  Come check out my blog at Elementary Matters to find out!


Thursday, April 11, 2013

Earth Day Writing Freebie

I'm a big fan of Earth Day.  I think looking out for our world is HUGE and it needs to happen now.  Each and every one of us needs to do what we can to help this place be around for our grandchildren and our grandchildren's grandchildren.

I always celebrate every Earth Day with plenty of good literature.  Here are some of my favorite children's books with an Earth Day theme:


          

Earth Day is an ABC book, and makes a great introduction to the concept of protecting the environment.

The Lorax, is classic Seuss!  He tells about a mystical land of fantasy, which, in true Seuss fashion, a much deeper real story.  Even my second graders understand this valuable lesson.

The Wump World is a fun book to read to the children and NOT show the illustrations (even the cover) until the children have had a chance to show the Wumps and Pollutians that they visualized while listening to the story.  Another great story about a fantasy world with very real lessons!

This one is a new discovery to me, and my new "Earth Day Favorite". 

A River Ran Wild is a story that dates back to the days the Native Americans ruled this area, and respected the earth.  It continues through European settlers, the industrial age, and attempts to clean up the river.  This book is based on a local river, which makes it near and dear to my heart, but it's a valuable message about protecting our world.  My students became very upset when they saw what happened to the beautiful river!

See THIS BLOG POST for more about this book, and an art activity to go with it.

You can click the images above for a link to Amazon, to learn more about these books.

After reading, I intend to have the children do some opinion writing and/ or explanatory/ informational writing based on what they have learned about protecting the environment.

Here's a collection of writing paper with the Earth Day theme that I'll be using.  


Come over to Elementary Matters to download this freebie.
How are you honoring Earth Day this year?

Summer Math Task Cards Freebie

I am so ready for summer, so I created these to have a taste of summer!


  Click on the picture to download a set of 24 Word Problem Task Cards aligned to Third and Fourth grade CCSS. They would be a fun review for fifth graders too :)

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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

QAR Freebie

Are you gearing up for the Big Test?  Do you like using Question an Answer Relationships with your kids? I LOVE it!  

To learn more about QAR's and download a freebie visit my blog! 


Happy Testing!
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