Sunday, January 22, 2012
Shape Madness!
We are in the midst of our measurement unit and I've decided we need some fun measuring activities that involve shapes too! My students are not very familiar with their basic shapes this year and I'm just a bit worried since we are quickly approaching our yearly assessment. I shopped around and found the most adorable clipart involving shapes by KPMDoodles. I love how she gives the shapes personality! My students will love it! I created a unit called Shape Madness which involves identifying attributes of basic shapes including hexagon, octagon, ellipse, and more. I also added in different activities involving problem solving, measuring,and perimeter. In all there are five activities in the unit so that it'll fit nicely into a week long unit. I hope you take a moment to hop over to my TPT store and download it!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Martin Luther King Jr.
Our students have tomorrow off in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. In the past couple of weeks, we have been studying characters in different genres. Our main focus has been on how and why characters change in the books we read. In honor of Martin Luther King Jr., I created a 'Characters Change' graphic organizer for students to fill out when reading a biography of Martin Luther King Jr. We will most likely read the following biography on Tuesday:
We will focus on how Martin Luther King Jr. changed throughout his life and what caused him to change. Feel free to download the graphic organizer free on TPT in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day by clicking on the image below.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Making Inferences About Character Traits
I can't believe we are already nine days into January! It's been a while since my last post and things have been a bit busy around here. I'm hoping to start posting a minimum of once a week. I've been creating some great tools but just haven't had time to post them. I'm sure everyone has the same busy, chaotic lives!
The last couple of week we have been studying characters in fiction genres. We've been exploring character traits and discussing how we can determine character traits through the text and the clues the author gives us. I saw a few different types of graphic organizers around on different blogs but needed something all in one place for my kids to use. I created this all-in-one chart where students can jot down character traits and the evidence the text provided to help them infer that specific character trait. I included three different columns (dialogue, actions, other clues) so my kids could really think about different ways the author can help us with inferencing about characters. It's available to download for free on my TPT store. Click here to download now. Happy inferring!
The last couple of week we have been studying characters in fiction genres. We've been exploring character traits and discussing how we can determine character traits through the text and the clues the author gives us. I saw a few different types of graphic organizers around on different blogs but needed something all in one place for my kids to use. I created this all-in-one chart where students can jot down character traits and the evidence the text provided to help them infer that specific character trait. I included three different columns (dialogue, actions, other clues) so my kids could really think about different ways the author can help us with inferencing about characters. It's available to download for free on my TPT store. Click here to download now. Happy inferring!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Christmas Reader's Theatre
Wow, it's been quite a while since my last post! These past few weeks have been busy with meetings, district benchmarks, and more. I can hardly believe winter break is only a week ahead! As many of you will agree, kids are very antsy the week before Christmas break. All they can think about is two weeks off of school and of course Christmas! I did a little searching and found some great Reader's Theatre scripts to use in my room this week.
My kids absolutely love Reader's Theatre! I have quite a few good actors in my room and they love the chance to show it! It's also a great way to practice fluency so I think this is the perfect week to include some holiday fun in the form of Reader's Theatre. Here are a few that I found that are just right for third grade.
The Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale
This is a Christmas story retold by Aaron Shepard that tells about the meaning behind thirteen being the 'Baker's Dozen'. It is written for 6 or more readers.
My kids absolutely love Reader's Theatre! I have quite a few good actors in my room and they love the chance to show it! It's also a great way to practice fluency so I think this is the perfect week to include some holiday fun in the form of Reader's Theatre. Here are a few that I found that are just right for third grade.
The Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale
This is a Christmas story retold by Aaron Shepard that tells about the meaning behind thirteen being the 'Baker's Dozen'. It is written for 6 or more readers.
This is a Christmas tale about Goldilocks and Sleeping Beauty taking the Polar Express to the North Pole to escape the wicked stepmother. It is written for 15 readers.
This reader's theatre script is based on Marc Brown's book, Arthur's Christmas. It is written for 10 readers.
I'm looking forward to some great Reader's Theatre in my room this week!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Thanksgiving is almost here!
Thanksgiving is just a week away and I think I may be more excited than my students! I love the holidays, especially Thanksgiving. It's a time to reflect on what I'm thankful for...and this year I have so much to be thankful for! My husband and I will be hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year. The recipes have been chosen and I'm working on the seemingly long grocery list!
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I decided to make a fun math activity for my students to complete the day before Thanksgiving break. We are currently working on division so I created a few Thanksgiving themed word problems. Since division is fairly new to us, I included some turkey 'counters' the students can use to help them divide the larger numbers. I can't wait to see what they think about this activity! If you'd like to take a look, head over to my TPT store and check it out!
Thanksgiving Division Word Problems
I also got a great idea for a division/multiplication fact family turkey from a coworker of mine. I'll be making a sample tomorrow and I'll upload it on a new post for you. Happy Thanksgiving!
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I decided to make a fun math activity for my students to complete the day before Thanksgiving break. We are currently working on division so I created a few Thanksgiving themed word problems. Since division is fairly new to us, I included some turkey 'counters' the students can use to help them divide the larger numbers. I can't wait to see what they think about this activity! If you'd like to take a look, head over to my TPT store and check it out!
Thanksgiving Division Word Problems
I also got a great idea for a division/multiplication fact family turkey from a coworker of mine. I'll be making a sample tomorrow and I'll upload it on a new post for you. Happy Thanksgiving!
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Candy Corn Arrays
Did you know there is a National Candy Corn day? Last week, my kids asked me what my favorite kind of candy was. Of course, candy corn is at the very top of my list! Maybe it's because it isn't around all year or maybe it's just because fall is my favorite season and it's a big part of fall. All I know is that I absolutely love candy corn! I wish I had know that Dylan's Candy Bar created a box full of different flavors of candy corn. I would have stopped by there when I was in NYC this summer! They even have smores flavored candy corn!
When my kids found out I loved candy corn, they immediately told me about National Candy Corn day. At first, I thought they were joking. They told me to Google it and sure enough it popped up. National Candy Corn day is October 30th. I'm starting to think there is a national day for just about everything!
This week we are learning all about multiplication in my classroom. We start off by teaching students about different things that come in groups of 2, 3, 4, and so on. We then show students how to create arrays for each number sentence. I thought it'd be a lot of fun to create a candy corn arrays game. It's a simple matching game where they have to match the array of candy corns with the multiplication number sentence and a description of the array. I created sets for twelve different arrays in this game. I also decided to create a score sheet so they could record their number sentences and descriptions for each array. This will allow them to play a game and at the same time I can have a finished product to check their understanding on arrays. I uploaded it to TPT and it's free in celebration of National Candy Corn day! I put a couple of the screen shots below so you could see a sample. Click here to download it for free!
We also create 'Candy Shop' books with arrays. I got this idea from my coworker Lynn a few years back. I tell my class that they are starting up a candy factory. This year I may say it's a candy corn factory to go with the spirit of the season! Their job is to create packages to hold the candies. On each page of their booklet, they will draw all the packages they could create for that set number of candies. For example, if they are creating a package for 2 candies they can create a package that has 1 row of 2 and a package that has 2 rows of 1. They do this for each number, working their way up. My class always has a lot of fun doing this activity and they refer back to their book throughout the year as a resource. I'll upload some pictures later this week so you can have a better idea of how we set it up!
Hope y'all have a great week!
When my kids found out I loved candy corn, they immediately told me about National Candy Corn day. At first, I thought they were joking. They told me to Google it and sure enough it popped up. National Candy Corn day is October 30th. I'm starting to think there is a national day for just about everything!
This week we are learning all about multiplication in my classroom. We start off by teaching students about different things that come in groups of 2, 3, 4, and so on. We then show students how to create arrays for each number sentence. I thought it'd be a lot of fun to create a candy corn arrays game. It's a simple matching game where they have to match the array of candy corns with the multiplication number sentence and a description of the array. I created sets for twelve different arrays in this game. I also decided to create a score sheet so they could record their number sentences and descriptions for each array. This will allow them to play a game and at the same time I can have a finished product to check their understanding on arrays. I uploaded it to TPT and it's free in celebration of National Candy Corn day! I put a couple of the screen shots below so you could see a sample. Click here to download it for free!
We also create 'Candy Shop' books with arrays. I got this idea from my coworker Lynn a few years back. I tell my class that they are starting up a candy factory. This year I may say it's a candy corn factory to go with the spirit of the season! Their job is to create packages to hold the candies. On each page of their booklet, they will draw all the packages they could create for that set number of candies. For example, if they are creating a package for 2 candies they can create a package that has 1 row of 2 and a package that has 2 rows of 1. They do this for each number, working their way up. My class always has a lot of fun doing this activity and they refer back to their book throughout the year as a resource. I'll upload some pictures later this week so you can have a better idea of how we set it up!
Hope y'all have a great week!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Show Me the Money!
This week, I'm introducing money to my class for the first time this year. Normally, my kids already know their coins and they do just fine. This year however, I have a couple ESL students that came straight from another country so they have no background knowledge of U.S. Money. I've been working on a few things so I can keep my higher kids challenged and yet meet the needs of my new students who will be learning about U.S. money for the very first time. I created a money match game for my students in which they play a memory style game with a partner. This game has pictures with coins and bills combined and they are required to match it to the correct money amount. I put it online for free at TPT so feel free to grab it and use it in your classroom! Click here to download it for free!
I also wanted to create something where students can work on money activities on their netbooks at their own pace. They love having the opportunity to choose activities they can work on to learn something new, especially in math! I am a huge fan of Glogster EDU so I created a Glogster all about money. It has some videos I downloaded from YouTube that are all about money. It also has a Brainpop link for the history of money and some different game links where they can actually practice determining the value of coins. Click here to go to my Glogster. You are more than welcome to use it in your classroom too! I'm always looking for new ways to teach money, especially online resources! Please feel free to leave me a comment if you know of anymore money resources. Thanks! Until next time...
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