Inspirational Message

Today was our district's Welcome Back Assembly.  We started school 5 weeks ago, but this afternoon instead of our staff meeting the entire school district staff met at the high school for an inspirational speaker.  

He was good.  

Photo taken from Manny Scott's website. 

His name is Manny Scott and he is one of the original Freedom Writers.  He told his story - we laughed, we teared up, and we left with the message that what we are doing is important...

That even the smallest thing matters.  

Have you heard him speak?  Pretty amazing.

Here's his website, there are teacher/student/district resources.  

Hope you have a good day!  

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Monday Made It EARLY - Lamination Time

The weekends sure fly by, don't they?!?

Yes, a double post today.  You might not hear from me for a while...

Linking up with Tara to share what I've been up to lately.  I haven't been crafty unless you count laminating.  I haven't even been able to create anything lately (which stinks because I really need to for my own class), more just laminating,cleaning, and grading.

So what have I been laminating today?  

Random Grouping Cards from Nicholas Reitz (Sweet Rhyme - Pure Reason).  I love to sometimes give my class options for partners, sometimes I need to place them with specific people, and sometimes I just need to mix them up so they aren't always with the same people. 

I also decided to post my schedule with times this year for my kids.  Usually I have the subjects written down, but I am tired of the kids asking me how much more time until recess/PE/lunch/etc...  Anyhow, I found this editable version from the Fourth Grade Flipper and decided I needed it NOW.  :)

I've also been getting ready for our big regions week - Friday we will be making our annual Salt Dough Maps.  My class will be using this game from 4th Grade 4ever to help review.  We will also be using my California Regions Research, Writing, and Activity Pack.

Such a busy time of year.  :)  Hope you have a great week!

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Math Mentor Text: The Great Graph Contest

Every week I want to link up with the Collaboration Cuties for their Mentor Text linky, and then I usually look at my picture books and have nothing to share - especially math.  I just don't own that many picture books... chapter books yes, but when I switched to 4th from my primary days I donated a bunch of books.  I know, I know... live and learn.  I'm trying to change that though and I wanted to share a math picture book that is actually in the mail at the moment.  My 4th graders always need a little help remembering the different types of graphs, so I found this book, The Great Graph Contest  by Loreen Leedy, while wandering through Amazon.

Here's the review from Amazon:

"Two comical creatures go crazy with graphs in an imaginative look at organizing information. Young readers can learn about bar graphs, pie charts, Venn diagrams, and more. Details about how each graph was made are shown at the end plus instructions for students to make their own." 

Yes, a great review... but then I read this one by The School Library Journal and I was really sold:

"Starred Review. Grade 1-3–A splashy and colorful offering designed to inform and entertain. Chester the snail sets up a contest between his friends Gonk the toad and Beezy the lizard to see who can make the best graph, telling them that points will be given for correct math, creativity, and neatness. Beezy and Gonk explore all aspects of data management, including data collection (tallies and surveys) and the use of graphic organizers (Venn diagrams, quantity graphs, circle graphs, picture graphs, and bar graphs). In the end, readers will observe from Chester's graphically designed score sheet that the result is a tie. The lively text, delivered in large type and contained in dialogue and thought balloons, is engaging and well supported by the vivid, cartoon illustrations. An occasional photograph creates an interesting, mixed-media effect. While the story itself is informative, true instruction is provided at the end of the book where each graph's data collection and construction is carefully explained, with a page reference provided. An exciting and energetic math resource.–Robyn Walker, Elgin Court Public School, St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada 
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the School & Library Binding edition."

Here's my write up on it:

Linking up with the Collaboration Cuties.  Maybe it will help someone else too!  

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Saturday Motivation: PAT

Friday afternoons are always fun - for most of the kids...

The last 30 minutes of the day my grade level team gets together and gives students choices as they want to do with their Preferred Activity Time.

The students that get to participate have to have completed all their classwork, homework, and have had a good behavior week.  

There are 4 of us, so one teacher is Study Hall.  In that classroom, the kids have to finish their work.  It's all about building responsibility. 

Another one or two teachers head outside for free play on the blacktop.  Kids bring out basketballs, play tetherball, run/dance/skip on the playground, talk with their friends...

We usually have an art room (which I love to host).  Kids come in with their 

crayon boxes and I provide a couple sheets of copy paper.

Depending on weather, sometimes we have a movie room or inside games.

Pretty much it's a chance to mix up the kids, meet some 

new ones, and have fun...

...and prep for the next week.  :)    

   Linking up with Joanne for her Saturday Motivation!  

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Five for Friday

Friday!  Linking up with Doodle bugs Teaching to share about my week.  :)

What a week it has been.  Last week I actually felt like I was getting into the groove of it all, and then life/school/craziness started back up again...

and blogging took a backseat to grading and planning and being a mom.

ONE

First up, last weekend was the Lego Kid Fest - it was packed with Lego fans.  So many little boys running around, building up creations... future engineers...

My oldest has loved Legos since he was tiny... this was definitely a day that he loved.  :)  

I actually took some pictures of my classroom this week.  

Well rather today, I remembered to snap some shots.

TWO

We made up our Ecosystem folders.  I've never made lapbooks before, so I'm new to the whole thing.  I'm pretty happy how they came out.  The kids loved making it too.  This was just for our Chapter 1 in Science - it was reviewing nonliving & living things, community vs. population, and land vs. water ecosystems.  We made it up for a review before the first BIG TEST.  I think it really helped them study as the kids knocked the test out of the ballpark!

Since this week has been all about ecosystems, Tuesday we headed to the library and the kids had the job of "researching" an ecosystem of their choice.  From there we took those fun facts and went through the writing process of rough draft (learning the importance of not just copying our notes), rainbow edit, and final draft.  

I'm still not what else I want to add to the ecosystem pack... already have a bunch of stuff similar to my Regions pack... just for Ecosystems instead... maybe I should add templates for my ecosystem diorama...and things for predator/prey... food webs... guess it isn't done yet!   

THREE

This week we also had our first art docent lesson.  At my school we have creative parents that sign up to "adopt" a class for the year.  Wednesday mornings will become extra wonderful as my art mom will be coming in every other week.  :)  This week my class learned about Piet Mondrian and created an inspired piece using squares cut from cardboard, and primary colors.  The kids just traced the squares onto white paper with black crayon, and then colored in the rectangles and smaller squares with a pop of color.

FOUR

I also taught my kids the fun of scoot this week.  In math our focus has been on adding and subtracting greater numbers.  We played games using dice, and then I passed out my apple themed addition and subtraction cards.  Each kid got their own class number on their desk.  They wrote out the numbers 1-32 on a piece of binder paper.  They had a minute to solve their own problem, and then when I said scoot they would move to a different desk.  I didn't make them go in order around the tables, they just had to go to another desk.  They are big fans of the online-stopwatch website, specifically the snail races (Thanks Turbo!).  Anyway, after playing it for about 15 minutes on Wednesday, they begged for another day of playing it - so we played it for another 15 on Thursday.  :)  Love the practice and excitement levels.

FIVE

I love almost every part of being a teacher - except grading... and specifically grading writing.  It's like nails on a chalkboard (especially at the beginning of the year)...  so this year I changed up my writing labels.  Maybe it's my old eyes, but the tiny labels were driving me nuts - plus I would have to find a spot to stick it...  Instead I fit 8 per page, large enough with all the information I need and it's just a matter of stapling it to the paper.  Since my school grades writing on a rubric, I used the same rubric idea to make my life easier.  4 is excellent, 3 is almost perfect, 2 is approaching standard, and 1 needs big time help.  Maybe it could help you - it's over on Google Docs.  

Have a wonderful weekend!

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Tried It Tuesday: Spelling Sorts

Today I changed up our spelling activity.  This is the 3rd spelling week of school - the past 2 we have sorted the patterns in our spelling spiral notebook.  Because it is a short week, I decided to combine some spelling activities this week and pulled these sorts out for my class to do full group.

  

They worked with a partner, cutting the sorts, gluing them onto the paper (front and back), then cutting out our spelling patterns, and identifying them.

Usually on Mondays we sort the patterns, then take a little practice test as they write the words in their agendas.  After the practice test, they check over their words, and practice writing them in cursive.  In past years I put these sorts into a workshop/Word Work station - but we just aren't there yet.

What spelling activities do you complete at school in your intermediate classrooms?  

Head on over to visit other ideas with Holly over at Fourth Grade Flipper!  

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Time to Celebrate (Scavenger Hunt Style)

These lovely 2 ladies are celebrating something BIG - a big follower milestone and a blogiversary.  They recruited a ton of bloggers to help them celebrate in a fun (scavenger type) way.  I get to help them out.  :)  

Here's the secret code.  :)  Write it down, remember it... you'll need it!  

Before you move on, wanted to share something I just uploaded to TPT.  My Whole Class Writing Journals Starter Set has been a such a best seller, that I decided to upload 25 more covers.

Here's an example.

Okay, that's it.  I hope you have a great day.  I'll see you later!  

Next you are headed over to Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason.  Enjoy!  

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