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…

Thinking Out Loud

Momgineer

Investigate, Create, and Differentiate

Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher

Mrs. Thompson's Treasures

Mr. Pearson Teaches 3rd Grade

Third Grade Galore

A Series of 3rd Grade Events

School En Casa

The Extra Energetic Educator   (That's Me!)

Cupcakes N Curriculum

Lesson Lady

More Time To Teach

Tina's Teaching Treasures

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!

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.

 

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

And my Back to School Pronouns. 

Patty Rutenbar

2ndinline

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).

Click here to read more about guided reading and get your freebie!

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.

Click Here to Read More About It and for Freebies!

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. 

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

Thanks, 

Robin @ Sweet Tea Classroom

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! :)