Sunday Store Update: Project Time!

This past week I was focused on uploading projects that I have worked on with my students over the years.  Most of these were projects I did in my primary classroom.  Are you in shock?  I hardly ever discuss my primary years, but I did spend 6 out of my 13 years of teaching working with kids in grades K-3.  :)  

My 2nd graders learned about simple machines and the creation of sound.  I combined both of these into a culminating unit and they enjoyed it!  Students needed to create a parade float (no larger than a shoebox) that had to move in some way.  They also needed to create an instrument to play during the parade.  They had to draw their plan and label the difference parts that moved or created sound.  We then had a parade in the classroom.  This product contains the directions, sketch sheet, and grading rubric I used with my class.  

In Social Studies in my 2nd grade classroom we learned about our families (Ancestors).  Students had a choice to create a visual, picture timeline, or an interview with an ancestor.  I tied this project in with celebrating Grandparent's Day in the classroom, though it could be done anytime of the year.  The projects the kids bring in are amazing!  This product includes the complete directions, an interview sheet, and the grading rubric I used.  

In 2nd grade we also learned about different heroes that have affected our world.  At the culmination of the unit, I had my students choose a "hero" of their choice and they would research that person.  They dressed up as their person and presented in character.  Included in this product is the complete directions (3 different variations), the grading rubric, a planning sheet to use, and a list of heroes with a return slip of their top 3 choices.  

In 2nd grade my students learned about fossils in both our Science and our Reading texts.  In culmination of both of those units, they choose a dinosaur to learn more about.  I gave them a choice of 3 projects to complete - building a 3D dinosaur, making a poster filled with facts, or creating a diorama with both a dinosaur and setting.  The main idea was to get them up front and presenting in front of other kids, to chase away the shyness.  They enjoyed this project!  

I spoke a little about this product on Friday's post.  In my 4th grade classroom, I have my students use this project to create an experiment of their choice.  I have some choices of websites that guide them in a direction as well as science project books in the classroom.  Students use the 3 page directions with the specific steps to complete the experiment.  They must follow the Scientific Process.  I also added a 5 page Project Notes to the product, as it might help some students keep organized.  Included is also a Student Project Checklist with a detailed list of things to include on their project board, and a Teacher Grading Rubric. 

I love projects because learning should be fun.  As a parent I love having my boys do their own home projects - as I believe projects should be what the children are capable of creating themselves.  Projects should be fun and should allow students to be creative.

Do you want a copy of one of these?  Just leave a comment below with your email, letting me know which one you would like.  I'll choose 2 random comments tonight at 9pm PST and will email them out.  As usual, all the images are connected to TPT if you want to check them out. 

Have a great day!

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Guest Post: Becky W - Furthering Your Kid's Academic Career, the Fun Way

Hi all!  Guest blogger Becky W. is joining us again to give some insight about supplementing their kids education using after school enrichment.  Please leave feedback, comments, etc... and I'll make sure to pass it onto her.  Thanks!-----------------------------------------

Furthering Your Kid's Academic Career, the Fun Way

Great academic careers today do not only constitute an outstanding grade sheet. Extracurricular activities are an integral part of your child’s academic path, and they help in developing their skills like nothing else taught during school hours. Schools have ventured into providing quality options in after-school clubs and classes, where children can learn new skills in a fun way.
 If your child is learning more than what is taught to everyone else at school, he or she will have a definite advantage. This is the best way to expand your child’s potential and help in staying ahead in the competitive academic race. From earning scholarships to entering coveted university programs, the advantages of taking a few extra courses are endless.
Overburdening of syllabi and the stress of time management is often the first apprehension of parents in this regard. However, remember that all the time invested in these extra courses is worth it! If your child is learning American history in school, it’s great to study world history in after-school lessons or tutoring sessions. The same goes for other subjects like math, literature, and chemistry; extra classes further increase understanding of the subject at hand.
The fact that these after school clubs are very creative and less formal makes learning more fun. These clubs and extracurricular classes are not just limited to conventional school subjects. Students can opt for other interesting courses, such as learning how to play guitaror joining the basketball team. These extra activities are valuable for your child’s academic career today. A student with good grades and many other skills will usually be the preference of higher educational institutions.
If you are looking to get your kid enrolled in some additional activities, try speaking with the teachers and counselors at your child’s school first. Most schools have interesting and productive clubs that boost creativity and confidence in children. Nearly all in-school courses are free of cost, or have a very minimal cost. Since these courses and clubs are aimed at developing extra skills in the children, they typically won’t have any specific requirements, and anyone can sign up.
In case your child’s school does not have clubs that interest him or her, you can always find evening classes elsewhere. Try enrolling your child in clubs that suit his or her interests best. The aim is to boost the overall academic career by bringing out the best in your child. So in case they are holding back at school, the extra academic activities may help them realize their strengths and use them in the best possible way!

Children learn to socialize and develop confidence through these activities. Clubs like debating, journalism, and spoken languages help children in developing vocal skills and speak with confidence. As they advance to higher classes, the significance of extracurricular activities increases because they help them get into good universities. These clubs can be a great source of letters of recommendation or simply for boasting on the academic record. 

Contribution by Becky W.  

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Hope you had a great day!

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Five for Friday and Giveaway Winner!

I'm linking up again with Doodlebugs Teaching to bring you 5 random moments from my week. First off, let me tell you this week flew by. That saying time flies when you are having fun is completely true.

1. Vacation and Easter

Yes, the same pictures as Wednesday.  We had a lovely time at Pismo Beach - full of relaxation and fun.  Now we have a long weekend to finish cleaning up the house, prepping for the next couple of weeks (big pile of lamination to do), and sometime going grocery shopping.  

2. Science project

Usually I give out my Science Project in the fall, but this year we had a choice and we decided to wait until the end of the year when it wasn't crunch time.  This will be a May project.  You can see what's included above.  Just a fun project that allows kids some choice.  :)    

3 & 4.  Planning for the remainder of the year

This next week will be full of test prep because the week afterward is the big test... but after that, there will be at least a little bit of time to have some fun and to get ready for Open House. Here are a couple of pictures from past years.

Zoo Maps and Name Grids to review Area and Perimeter

(You can also see our Braille names)

Paper Dioramas of their favorite story of the year

Air Dry Clay Poppies (I do this as part of Earth Day)

There is so much I love to do this time of year!  

5.  Drumroll please....  Giveaway Winner Time!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Congrats Crystal S!  I'll be emailing you shortly!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

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Math Websites

I'm linking up with Jivey a day late to share my list of math websites with you.  :)  I've been on vacation, but now I'm back to reality.  Really... the laundry is sitting in a huge pile just waiting for the washer... reality hit hard the moment we unloaded the car.    
Okay,  here we go:
I've shared some of these before, and explained them in pretty much big detail on other posts, so I'll just point you in those directions.  
Think CentralThink Central goes along with our math book.  The kids use it when they forget their math book at school to be able to print out the homework, or they can walk through the lessons again, or they take specific skill (benchmark) quizzes.  They work on the quizzes when we head to the computer lab.  
IXLEach student at my school has their own account, and I can monitor exactly what areas they are practicing and how well they are doing.  This has an incentive program as well. 
Math is FunThis is a fun site that allows students to practice their facts and other skills.  I don't stress it as much as Think Central or IXL, but it's available for the kiddos to help make learning fun.  
Internet4ClassroomsI usually use Internet4Classrooms for reading practice, since we have all these other great tools for math.  It has the same idea though for math as well as for reading - many fun games to practice skills.
Hope this helps someone!  

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Wordless Wednesday :)

Who am I kidding, I'm not one to be wordless. I am trying to post this from blogger on my phone, and there are just somethings I don't have access to - like uploading buttons, linking to websites, etc... At least I haven't figured that out yet. I also haven't figured out how to move pictures from the bottom of the page... :(

I will link up late - like tomorrow or Friday - to Jivey's math workshop linky and you might see some of the same random pictures for Doodlebugs Five for Friday. So many resources to share, many I have already talked about.

One more reminder about the giveaway going on. Of course there isn't a link to just click to go to the specific post. If you look at any of the past posts (since last Friday), there will be a link that you can click. Welcome to so many of you!

Want to see what we've done the past 3 days on vacation? Here are pictures of myself and my family.

On Monday there was a sea otter dancing in the waves next to the pier. It's that brown dot above the text Monday. Surfers were nearby, but the otter wasn't scared... Neither was that bird that parked itself near me.

We took the boys to the drive in that night and watched that caveman movie. I can't even remember the name of it.. I was busy sitting in my son's flipped around car seat with the trunk of the van wide open, freezing under 2 blankets, holding my little one, and then changing a dirty diaper in the dark. Overall, a great experience. I'm not being sarcastic.

On Tuesday we spent a lot of time on the beach. We also went to the 3 story Children's Discovery Museum. Yes, 3 stories... It look forever to visit every exhibit. So worth it though. Do you have a discovery museum near you? I always try to think of how I can take the exhibits and put them in the classroom.

Today we have already walked downtown for crepes, and headed to the dinosaur park. We flew a kite and I had Mary Poppins singing in my head. After that we went shopping, and hit Farmer's Market for roasted corn and kettlecorn. Later on we went to Jockos for dinner (gigantic steaks).

Basically our time here is over. Tomorrow we pack the car and head back to reality until next time. I love this place...

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Tried it Tuesday - ELA Review Book

I'm linking up again with Holly for another thing that works in my classroom.  
In preparation for the BIG TEST, we spend a lot of time reviewing math, but we also review ELA skills that we have worked on throughout the year.  I wanted to share what exactly my students and I will do with this student created book.  

Each student gets the following pages.  I don't do a lot of copying, especially when I don't absolutely need it, but this is worth the copy amount to give them something that will keep them organized.  2 years ago I had my students draw out the different sections on binder paper, it worked until they forgot a specific area...and got lost as to where to stick something.  The main idea of the week before the test is reviewing the different aspects each day. 

Now in addition to this book, my students are also doing center stations, reviewing using Curriculum Associates, and creating their own review games with the different vocabulary words.  I figure that remembering the different vocabulary they will encounter on the test is half the battle... so we spend a lot of time making sure they know it forward and back.   

On Monday we review the types of sentences and examples of nouns and pronouns.  We write down the definitions and specific examples.  We draw pictures.  We look through our reading, science, and social studies texts one more time to find examples.  

On Tuesday we review verb tenses, specific types of helping and linking verbs, and throw in contractions and interjections as well.  I still love the School House Rock video with Conjunction Junction...

 On Wednesday we review simple and compound subjects and predicates.  We do our review activities, and add our examples to the book.  We are back in our texts looking for more examples.  

 On Thursday we review comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs.  It's all about remembering those tricky ones!  

On Friday, we review synonyms, antonyms, prepositions, and conjunctions.  Same idea - add more examples to the book.  
So, at the end of the week the kids have a review book that we have worked hard on.  In the product, the pages are in quarters (like above), and also spread out onto half sheets for those teachers with more copy budgets.  :)  
Maybe this idea will help someone.  How do you review ELA?   

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Way Too Much Fun at TPT

I'm loving Spring Break so far.  Spring cleaning has meant moving all the furniture away from the walls to vacuum, dust, and rearranging it all.  Hubby also sorted out the toys.  I still need to pull the curtains down and give them a wash - it's a spring break tradition, but instead we are heading to the beach.  

Okay, one of the reasons I'm posting today is to remind you about the giveaway going on.  You still have until Friday to enter the Rafflecopter, but my sales are ending tonight!  I hope it has helped someone out there.  The image above will take you to the giveaway page.    
The sales this past weekend definitely helped me.  I went through my wish list, and visited my favorite sellers, only to learn that there was more stuff I thought I absolutely needed right now!!
What stunk about it all was PayPal wasn't working - probably everyone else was also checking out at the same time, so I couldn't use what was on there... and after 5 hours of off/on checking I finally gave up and paid by credit card.  Seriously!
Here are the great deals I found!  Most of the sellers were on sale.  :)
Little Lovely Leaders had the perfect review that my kids desperately need when we go back after break.  It's cute and functional!


You all know I love task cards.  There are just times in life that I'm thankful other people did the hard work and I can just prep it.  Teaching with a Mountain View helped me out big time.  These Operation and Perimeter & Area cards will be a perfect review.  

Jennifer Findley created this for me to grab.  I was looking for something that would allow my students some extra practice.  This one has all the math standards for 4th grade.  I'm planning on having my parent volunteers use it, as well as pulling small groups over for specific standards when we head back. 
I know you know I have my own very simple class writing journals, but 4th Grade Frolics is just cute!  I'm ready to add some new ones for the remainder of the year.  

Candy Rush is also from Teaching With a Mountain View.  I loved the Skittles Math that I tackled with my class last week.  I actually grabbed this one because I do a fun day of Gold Rush centers and wanted to have this be a play on words during math.      
I first saw this on Dots-n-Spots blog post and it's been on my wish list.  I love the idea of catchy sayings for testing strategies and I'm excited to use this with my class when we go back.  

My school has been learning about Nancy Fetzer's writing this year, and next year we want to implement Theme Circles, but I was having a hard time finding pictures that went along with the titles.  I found out that Jennifer Findley already did the hard work for me.    

Next year we are starting to implement Common Core and it's a tad overwhelming.  I was glad to find this resource over with Jennifer Findley.  I like how it makes it relatively simple - just print and put in a binder.  That is something I can handle.    

Here is another thing I found over at Jennifer Findley's store... Can you tell that I added a lot of stuff to my cart when I went to visit?  I bought this because I do have a lot of struggling readers in my class and I did spend quite a bit of the beginning of the year borrowing supplies from my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade colleagues only to have the kids notice that it was the same material they had worked through the years prior.  I'm excited to have something for my "big kids".  

I did it - I bought a set of Science Weekly Five from The Science Penguin.  I've been looking at these centers for weeks now... after testing we have a ton of time to have some fun and I wanted something to help pass the time in May.  At this point I've bought just this one, but there are 5 other ones that I also want to get.  Just need to save up some more cash.  :)  
Did you go shopping too during the sales?  If you are interested in any of the above things, just click the images.  
Hope you have a great day! 

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