What I Did Today & Student Gifts

Today I spent a good portion of the day in the hospital surgery waiting room with my Dad and Sister... We were waiting for Mom to get her brand new hip.  It had been exactly 3 months 5 days since I had sat in that same waiting room, while she was going in for #1.  I'm happy for her - thrilled for her - but it was still nerve wracking waiting... and waiting... hoping/praying/wishing for news.  Every time she goes in for a surgery - there have been a lot with her heart issues - there have been complications.  This time around (totally thanking God for it) there were none AND they started her on Physical Therapy this afternoon.  At this point she should be home in 3 or 4 days.  :)    

My dad and sister

While at the hospital I brought school stuff to keep me occupied.  My sister drove, and I worked on stuff in the car... writing 32 Christmas cards out for my students.  In the past couple of years I have just clicked print to write them a note, this year I wanted to make it a little more personalized for them.  I bought cards after Christmas last year when they were super cheap (75% off) and have stored them.  At the hospital, I turned around on the bench, and used the window sill to write them out.  

I got really into alliterations when writing - a fantastic fun filled family vacation...  I also had to include a note about seeing them next year...  :)  I still remember my 4th grade teacher telling us that we wouldn't have any more homework for the remainder of the year (it was at Christmas time) - I got really excited for a moment, and then realized she wasn't talking about the school year...

As for my student gifts this year, well the other night I brought my big box of stuff to my parents for our big family dinner.  Mom was a teacher for 37 years before she retired, so I can still talk her into helping with the assembly line.  You might have seen it over on IG.

What's included this year:

Frindle book - got it for $1 back in September

Packet Instant Hot Chocolate Mix

Multiplication Fact Pencil (used bonus points)

Silly eraser (Dollar Store)

Applebee's Super Reader (free kid's meal) - these were a donation from the restaurant.

Hope this gives you some ideas!  

Linking up with 3rd Grade Thoughts linky party!  

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Motivation: 10 Minute Filler

I have this time during the day that I have a lot of kids gone from the classroom.  Some of them are still in pull out music, some of them are still in ELL pull out, some are still shopping in the Holiday Shop, then there are the random children that are at "emergency status" for the bathroom/nurse/office…  

This year I am all about having them make up words during that time.  It's a competition, a challenge, and they love working together in groups.  

I write up random words or a phrase onto the whiteboard… such as "Winter Wonderland" or "Sneaky Tiny Elf", "Silly Snowman", etc. and then announce it's Word Time!  They rush to grab binder paper (easier to count their words), and start making up words with the letters.  

Somedays it's only 10 minutes, somedays I can give them a full 20 minutes.  They love it though!   

These were a brainstorm for Winter Wonderland.

Just sharing in case you need a little filler during these crazy busy hectic days!  Linking up with Joanne and her Saturday Spark Student Motivation linky.

   

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5 Random Moments

5 random moments of this week…

Here are my boys with Mr. and Mrs. Claus.  It's the official picture… We used to get them all dressed up, but over the years we are lucky to not be in the picture with them.  I've been photographed so many times with Santa in an orange shirt (totally clashes), or holding a screaming child - that this year I don't care that my children are wearing their clothes from school, or that Mrs. Claus is holding my youngest in place so he doesn't dart out of the scene.  I'M NOT IN THE PICTURE - and for that I'm doing the happy dance!

Okay - here's something school related.  We sent home progress reports on Friday.  Since the progress reports are really just a print out of the online grade book for parents to look at, I like to add a little more information on a half sheet of piece of paper.  Just more of their recent assessments - district tests and the reading unit tests.  First trimester I pull the kids over one by one to go over their grade print out, this time around I passed them out and went through the different areas to look at.  Both times the kids made up a goal of an area to work on, and wrote something they were proud of.  This half sheet of paper was stapled on top of their academic grades.  I had a request for the sheet - it's over on Google Docs in a powerpoint format.

I love my kid so much - This week I went back to school to sit through a beginning violin concert in order to hear his guitar group perform.  Let me say that again.. beginning violins…  Oy!

My older boys were also in the children's musical at church.  They both were in the choir, and then my oldest had a speaking part.  He isn't afraid of the microphone like his mommy!

Okay - last random thing… I uploaded a freebie early this morning as a surprise for my students this coming week.  We are starting the unit on prime and composite numbers (even though we have been practicing with it for the past 1 1/2 months in Morning Math Meeting) - I wanted to change it up to being a special Holiday version of our normal headings.  Every day the kids sort random numbers under the correct headings - so why not make it fun!  

Linking up with Doodlebugs!  :)  Hope something in my rambling helps you!  

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Time to ROCK Out!!

My students totally don't get my humor, but I crack myself up.  This week we finished up our Rocks and Minerals chapter in Science.  I used this pack by I Heart Recess (partly because it was put together so cleverly, and mainly because I have been super busy with life and didn't have time to think of all the details).

Here is my version of the folder.  We folded the folders into a bifold flap.  We separated it out Rocks vs. Minerals and spent a lot of time comparing the two.  

Here's the inside of my folder.  The kids' folder match - but I figured you probably would like to see my handwriting vs. 9 & 10 years olds.

Here's the outside open part of my folder.  I found this free comic strip over on TPT.  It's funny!

Smores using an iron - SO SMART!

Then we made an edible version of the rock cycle.  The last couple of years I have brought in a ton of different edible versions of the different types of rocks, this year though I simplified it with Jessica's Smores activity.  The kids each got a full size graham cracker, a marshmallow, and a piece of chocolate.  I had them make a sedimentary rock by stacking the ingredients, and then a metamorphic rock by applying pressure (with a little squish).  For the igneous rock I called them up with their Smores (on a paper plate), took off the top graham cracker, and used my iron to melt the marshmallow.  Jessica recommended using parchment paper to keep everything sanitary and clean - I'm so glad I listened to her!  

I hope this helps you!

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Long Division Culmination Projects

We are down to the stretch of Long Division.  I can't wait to finish and move onto the final district assessment.  My kids are going to nail it this Friday!  Yesterday we did a little "fun" activity that kept them motivated to do their best… Enter "Long Division Pizza".

I found this free activity over on TPT, and then proceeded to change it up to be less copies for me.  Each student received a slice of pizza - paper of course.  The paper has different elements labeled with 2 of each number 0-9.  The kids are supposed to use the digits provided to come up with a 3 digit divided by 1 digit number… I just used whiteboards and had the kids create their own problems using their dice cards.  

When the student solves a problem they get to take one digit from the dividend and color it on their pizza.  Just ONE digit.  So, if the answer was 145 r 2, they get to choose either a 1,4,5, or 2 to color.  Then they move onto the next equation.  This class loves the competition aspect, so I had them get together with a partner as a competition to see who would color their pizza in first.  It was hopping!

Today I gave them this movie paper to connect Long Division to real life.  This is from this activity pack - I made it half size to save paper.  We worked through the left side together, then the right side (with the food portion) I had them do for classwork & a grade. The kids are basically at the point of being so bored doing Long Division… they are practically dreaming about it… so today I'm glad they were able to see it in action.  Probably should have done this earlier for the connection aspect, but before today they weren't ready for 4 digits yet.  

Anyway, I hope these 2 activities help you!  

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Looking like Christmas

It's looking like Christmas in my classroom.  My patience level is dwindling, my room is looking messy, I feel completely overwhelmed, AND progress reports go home this Friday!!!

I really do love the winter holidays though.  Here are 3 "projects" we've tackled lately and completed with the holiday spirit.  

 

Traditions books are DONE - yes, capital DONE!!  They are all tied up with ribbon, graded, and just needing the kids to wrap them tomorrow.  It turned out that we had time to complete 8 pages inside… that's all that time would allow though.  The kids put them in order for the year: New Years, Valentines, Easter, Summer Break, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Birthdays.  Then we trimmed up the cover, glued it onto card stock, and ran it through the jumbo binding machine in the library.  (It was supposed to be spiral bound, but somehow the machine was adjusted to a 3 hole punch - and I didn't know how to change the setting - so we just used yarn instead.)  They came out so adorable!  I loved reading their family traditions - what their families do for each holiday.

(In case you forgot how I set this up in my classroom - we would brainstorm full class for each holiday.  The kids wrote a rough draft, went through a rainbow edit, had a friend check over their paragraphs, then would come to me for their final copy/ and fancy paper.)  I collected, and then last week we had a major paper passing out party just regarding these papers.  We then put them in the correct order, dealt with gluing the cover onto card stock, and then yesterday we hole punched & tied with yarn.  This morning was a final pass out/look through to see if they wanted to add anymore illustrations, and then I collected for the final grade.  I didn't write their grade in the book at all, just made notes on a separate paper, and tomorrow the kids will wrap them up.  

In addition to the books we have also been crafty. :)  

The kids put together an elf writing craftivity.  They had so much fun.  I shrunk the pages to half size so  I didn't use as much copy paper, but that meant they also fit perfectly on a 9 x 12 piece of construction paper.  Such a fun way to celebrate!

We also used this lightbulb template (found in this pack) to have the kids write what their one wish for Christmas would be…  whether it was one gift for the world or for themselves.  I just wanted us to learn about each other a little more.  I strung some yarn on the outside of my cabinet and hung the lighbulbs up on it.  You can't tell by this picture, but one side are my girls and one are my boys.  It was a little competition to see what "team" would finish the project first (plus it made it easier to find a specific kid).  

What have you done or made lately?  

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Sunday Night Lesson Plans

Another week is about to begin… Linking up with Mrs. Laffin to share my plans for the week. (For the record, my plan book was filled out before tonight… barely… these busy days and evenings haven't let a lot of time to breathe, let alone tackle the big to do list.)

This week our medicine unit has to do with heart surgery, specifically the first ever successful one.  I know, gross!  But the kids are fascinated with it, so I go with it too.  I really am thankful for the advances in heart care - without it I wouldn't have my mom.  

To make it personal I found this image that I'm giving them to add to their interactive notebooks as a reminder - and as a little incentive - a coloring page.  

I'm also using these graphic organizers this week for our mentor sentence and our text.  

For math we are still plugging away at long division.  So far we have tackled 2 and 3 digits, this week we are wrapping it up with 4 digits.  Lord, help us!  As a fun review, I found this freebie over on TPT that I'm excited to use.  

 

My students have enjoyed playing dice games, and this pizza game adds a little more fun involving pizza & coloring.  

We zipped through Chocolate Touch last week, so later on this week we are moving onto Chocolate Fever.  Before we move on, I will be using my Activity Cards to have kids show comprehension of the story.  

Rock Time!  Last week was all about Minerals and this week it's time to turn the tables to talk about Rocks.  I'm still using Jessica's activity unit to help kids make it "come alive".  Last year I used chocolate, cookies, and pancakes to get the kids interested, this year I'm changing it out to use Jessica's Smore's activity - less mess!  

 

The Traditions Books are DONE - finally!  Tomorrow I have to start the process of binding them together, and then the kids will help me wrap them for their parents later on this week.  This week during Writing time I am going to focus on reviewing grammar using this pack from Blair Turner.  My students enjoyed her Thanksgiving Grammar, so I splurged and picked up her Holiday one too.  It is perfect review for them.

We will also start focusing on creating short Winter Stories using 4th Grade Frolics Story Starters set.

It's going to be quite the week…  definitely will be holding onto my hat (and scarf… and inhaler…) to make it through the week.  

Have a wonderful day!  

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