IT"S OVER!!! STATE TESTING!!!!

 As some of you know, I was moved into 3rd grade in January due to a teacher retiring!!  Big change from 5th grade to 3rd grade.  I was a little stressed to say the least!!

I knew that state testing was starting on April 8th and my goal was to get the kids ready for that big day!!  I didn't want to do the typical test prep review that everyone does with packets, so I went to my favorite source....Teacher Pay Teachers!!

 Ari over at The Science Penguin has amazing Math resources on her Math Penquin blog.

  I found her test prep for 3rd grade and thought "This would be more interesting than test packets!!"

 It has 10 different stations that the student can rotate through.  I decided that we would do 2 rotations a day.  This gave me 5 days of station activities.  The students were so excited to work with their partners and I was so excited to change up testing review.  Thanks Ari!!

I also used one of my own....Spider Round Up Game.  The kids loved reviewing rounding to the Tens and Hundreds.  Go on over and grab this FREEBIE!!

Text Features Fun

 I love to incorporate Text Features in my nonfiction reading.  Our school recently purchased a set from Time For Kids Biographies and Science Scoops.  I LOVE these books!!!  They allow me to differentiate instruction while still concentrating on text features.

 When I first introduced this topic, I used a powerpoint presentation to show various examples of text features.  After that lesson, I gave them these books and they worked with a partner to find examples of text features using the worksheet below.

 

Day 2: We review the power point and I copied various examples from our National Geographic For Kids.  LOVE copying things on 11X17 in color for the students to work with in groups.  Once I gave them their 11x17 copies, they had 3 minutes to use post it notes to mark examples of text features.  I then placed in with another group to share what they found in their article.  Each group had different articles.....sorry forgot that concept. 

Day 3: I gave them their 12x18 construction paper and showed them how to fold it. We then cut where we need to have flaps.  Because this was with 3rd graders, I did mark with a dot every 2 inches so they knew where to cut. After cutting their flaps, they glues their TEXT FEATURE titles on the FRONT!  I stressed the front because I have a 3rd graders!  I then gave them the example page and they had to cut and place by the text feature.  This is key......I had to check them before they glued to make sure they were correct!!  Below is the outcome of this day! This took way more time than I had planned~

 

Day 4-? 

  This is where we are making an example of a text feature article.  I gave all the student the same 2 paragraphs about Abraham Lincoln and showed them the structure that I wanted.  We also went over the rubric so they knew my expectations.  You could make this as simple as you wanted or more difficult depending on the age of your kids.  We are still creating our, so after my class is done I will post more pictures.

   You can find the link for the Text Features above....First 5 people to leave a comment with their email, I will send it to you!! 

Sugar Plum Fairy for Sound Unit!!

 I have a secret!!  I am addicted to Pinterest!!  While browsing for my upcoming Sound Unit for my 3rd Grade kiddos.  I ran across this amazing duo that plays the Sugar Plum Fairy with  crystal vases!  It is beautiful!!  I know I am going to have to incorporate it in the unit some how, but I thought I would pass it along to my followers!!

Matter, Matters!!! We made Butter!!

We had a great week in Science.  As many of you know, I just started a 3rd grade position on Jan 2! Well, at our school we teach a nine week rotation of Science/Social Studies and then we switch to another homeroom and teach it again.  I can't wait to get  the whole way through 1 rotation.

I have the joy of teaching Physical Science, so we started this week with "What is Matter?"  I really wanted to get their attention right away. What a better way than with a Science experiment!!  Making butter!!! Showing a liquid to a solid.

Materials:
small glass jars with very tight lids-I used baby food jars!!
Heavy Whipping Cream
Lots of arm movement!!

I pour  heavy cream into the jars so they are halfway filled.  This is key, because you want to incorporate some air into the shaking process.  I have 4 groups of tables, each group got 1 jar and they shook it for about 1 minute and then I would have them switch.

10mins later (or so!!) We looked to see what was in each jar.....2 were whipped cream (less energy applied while shaking) 2 turned to butter (more energy applied while shaking) Kids loved this quick, easy and cheap experiment!!

Wonderful Math Review and TPT Sale!!!

I have been looking for a Math review to use in my classroom that doesn't take up a ton of time!!  I couldn't wait to try  Mrs Nutter's Math Review Worksheets.

 What I loved about them is that the layout is easy for the kids to write in to work out the problem.  It gives 4 problems everyday that reviews a previously taught math skill. I gave the students 6-8 mins to complete the problems.  Most of them were done in under 5 mins. We then reviewed them as a class so that everyone understood all the concepts.  We had the whole review done in under 10 mins.

You could use these as on overhead transparency or scan them to your computer and use them on the Smartboard.  I found using them on the Smartboard easier because then I only had one file and not alot of overheads.

Check out Mrs. Nutter's other items!!! on TPT!!  She also has an amazing blog with great ideas...hop on over and check it out!!

Ready Readers

    I am also have a 20% off sale on my TPT store!! 

TPT STORE!!!

Thanks to Jessica Stanford for organizing this wonderful product swap!!  Check out the link to the other reviews of amazing products to use in your classroom!

Moving to 3rd Grade!!!

I know most of you think that I fell of the face of the earth these last few weeks.  But it has been a whirl wind for me professionally!  I am so excited to be moving to 3rd grade starting Jan 2!!  I adore all the staff and students at this school and I can't wait to be there!  So I am taking a little break to get ready for Christmas and my new classroom! I will post pictures once I am all organized. 

Merry Christmas to all!!

Gingerbread Fun and a SALE!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! We enjoyed our day with family and lots of food!!

I finally finished my Gingerbread Unit!  Every time I turned around, I wanted to add something to it!  This unit really came out of necessity as our distric implemented a new "no food" policy due to allergies. My kiddos always enjoyed creating their Gingerbreadhouses, so I had to think outside of the box.  There are several activites that go with this unit,

Glyph~ I asked basic questions and depending on their answer they used various pieces of the house to create their own "Gingerbread House". 

 I then have them write a persausive paragraph trying to "SELL THAT HOUSE!!" after they have brainstormed with their graphic organizer. 

My biggest challenge was how to add in the Math element.  I used to give my 5th graders a set budget and each piece of the Gingerbread house was worth a certain value. They "bought" the pieces of their house from the "store" (me!!) and then constructed the house. They kept track in a budget worksheet which had to be submitted with the house.  So how do I do that now that food can't be brought into school?  Well, I just used seperate pictures of the Gingerbread house and assigned a value to them.  They still had to "buy" them from the store and construct their house on construction paper instead.  I also gave them various math task cards to have them calculate the various costs of the pieces. 

 

 

 

If you are interested in checking out all the pieces included in this unit, head over to my TPT store by following this link.  



 

 

 

Teachers Pay Teacher is having a wonderful Cyber Monday and extra Tuesday sale!! Get up to 28% off my items these two days.  Just go to my store and then use the promo code below.