QR Math

My qr craze has intensified!! Not only did I finish the multiplication task cards but I also added division.  Big YAY!!

These are perfect for my third graders (especially the ones who struggle to stay motivated in math.) Students buzzed through the task cards to check their work with the qr scanner. I included two sets of cards in each pack. The first set of task cards has three different backgrounds that signify varying levels. I did this so teachers could give students differentiated work or use it as they introduce multiplication strategies. I then changed the background for the remaining task cards and renumbered them so there would be 24 task cards at varying levels. There is an answer sheet for students to write the problem and show their work. 

My school is lucky enough to have iPads available. I previously used the iPads by having students go on math apps the computer teacher put in the 3rd and 4th grade math folder. Now that my students have learned to multiply and divide I have added these task cards as a technology choice. 

Next on my list is adding and subtracting as well as rounding. I am always looking for ways to reinforce concepts taught earlier in the year. Throwing in a bit of technology usually entices even my least motivated learners.  Check it out here: multiplication and division!

Oh the possibilities with qr codes!!! 

QR Craze

I have become crazed with qr codes. I am driving people (coworkers, husband, anyone that will listen) crazy! This is so exciting to me! Luckily for me my students share in the excitement. I loved teaching them how to scan the codes and they were such eager learners! One qr code project I am really excited about links students to videos of the Maine author, Lynn Plourde reading some of her books aloud. I taped them into a file folder and left had students use them as a listen to reading Daily 5 choice. Students were over the moon for this!

Lynn Plourde came to my school last week and boy did we have a blast. We dressed up for her book You're Wearing That to School?  I even made it into the paper with some of my cuties.  I love the main character and celebrating the book in this way was a great gateway to character traits.  Any time reading can be fun, count me in!!  She had breakout sessions with some classes after the whole class assembly. My partner teacher was lucky enough to be chosen and she shared the teaching with my kiddos. We have been reading and writing up a storm!

I could also use this get up to dress like Pinkalicious!

I am currently working on making brain break qr codes. Students scan the code which links to a fun music video. I only have six in my classroom right now but I am hoping to make more very soon. I would like to print them on card stock and attach them to popsicle sticks so when we pull one to scan it is always a surprise. For now the students use a piece of white paper with the codes. They are not labeled so it's always a mystery as to which song we will get (for now anyway until they memorize it).

My weekend project was making qr code multiplication task cards. My third and fourth graders will be trying them out tomorrow and if all goes well they will be posted this week.  Here is a little sneak peak.

I have become obsessed with QR codes!!! It started in November. On my Pinterest page a picture of a barn with a QR code came up. I had seen these mysterious codes before and wanted to figure out what they were all about. This primary teacher had used them for sight words with her first graders. They scanned the code and were able to hear someone read the sight word.  I spent many hours trying to figure out how this would work in my classroom. The first time I tried using it in my classroom it was a huge fail. I had asked two students to read to the class and my plan was to record them and turn their recording into a qr code I would then attach to the book. It NEVER worked. Thank goodness I am blessed with some patient buggers this year. They handled my technological blunders with a few eye rolls and were able to move on. This lead me to more hours trying to figure out these codes. I realized that my Mac had come capabilities that my school computer did not. I would figure it out at home and then have epic fails at school. Bringing in my Mac was the answer to my problems. This was just in time for Thanksgiving. I was able to record the third and fourth graders reading their Thanksgiving reader's theater. I sent the qr code home with the kids so they could share their work with their families over break. It was a hit and I knew it was just the tip of the iceberg.

Happy qr coding!

POP!

The BEST game I have ever added to my classroom has been Pop. It started with a water cycle version of pop last year.  On small cards that had a picture of one piece of popcorn I added words associated with the water cycle. Kids played the game in groups of 3 or 4 by taking turns picking one card from the popcorn container. The goal is for the student to define the word or give an example of it. If the student answers correctly he/she gets to keep the card and have another turn. The turn ends when the player answers the question incorrectly or pulls a 'pop' card or chooses to pass. When the pop card is pulled students have to put all the cards back they earned that round and pass the container to the next player.

This year the fourth grade loopers were BEGGING for us to get the game out again as a Daily 5 word work choice. It was at this point that we knew were on to something big! The next pop game added was vocabulary associated with the human body. It was quite incredible to hear the conversations this game sparked. They were using the vocabulary we had talked about in lessons. They were keeping each other honest and on task. And, so many kids wanted to play pop we had to draw names from a cup to make sure everyone had a chance.

This paved the way for spelling pop. I asked one of our school's literacy specialists for the high frequency words we expect our third graders to know and turned that list of 200 into spelling pop. At this point I used the iPad to make a popcorn graphic and added the words by using the computer so these games would be easier to recreate (before we were adding words by hand).  Spelling pop is played slightly different and requires the speller to choose a card puller. The card puller reads and sometimes defines the word for the speller. The rest of the game is played the same way.

Spelling pop sparked multiplication pop. My third graders have learned strategies for facts through 10x10. This game is a reinforcer for those facts. As I hoped, multiplication is the most sought after math choice.   What a jackpot idea!  Here is the link to get multiplication pop for your classroom. I have also added division pop now that my kiddos have some division strategies in their math tool box.

Pop is such an easy game to set up. I found the popcorn containers at the dollar store. They are $1 for two containers. I really hope your kiddos love it as much as mine have!

Friendship

This year we are celebrating Valentine's Day by focusing on friendship. We had various activities planned for our day including buddy reading books on friendship, adjectives describing what we want in a friend, and a recipe for building a friendship. Our day was lacking a word work activity, hence the birth of this gem.  Students are asked to use the letters in the word *friendship* to make new words. 
They will be given the option of using magnetic letters on a cookie sheet.  You can get your free copy of the friendship worksheet here.  However, we ended up having a blizzard forecast for Valentine's day so we moved the party up one day which ended up being an early release and Valentine's day was a snow day.  We did have time for a quick party and one read aloud. The rest of the activities will wait until after vacation.

The focus on friendship comes at a perfect time as many of the kids are struggling to maintain friendly relationships with their classmates. Being in the Northeast, I blame most of the struggle on the cabin fever we are all experiencing due to the snowy and icy weather winter has brought to us. Here's to remembering what being friends is all about.

One of the parents sent in these cute yogurt parfaits. They were layered with vanilla yogurt, granola, strawberry granola and whipped cream. YUM!! She even put candy conversation hearts on the top. The kids especially loved the cups and many of them washed them out to bring them home.

Final thought- notice the elephant and pig on the worksheet. This is in direct relationship to my love for all things Piggy and Elephant!! Shout out to Mo Willems, an author I have come to adore!!

Human Body/Point of view/Halloween Mash Up

Since it was Halloween my partner teacher and I decided it was the perfect time for a lesson on character's point of view. I entered the classroom as Cinderella and read my story for the children. All of a sudden, the wicked step mother entered and totally took over! My amazing partner teacher read from the point of view of the step mother and had nearly all students convinced that sweet Cinderella was lazy and rude! Awesome!

To get into the Halloween spirit I saw decided to give my door a makeover with something I had found on Pinterest.

While I was at a special my very fun friend decided to give her door a makeover! How fun!!!

My third and fourth graders have been learning about the human body for the past couple of weeks. We have been having loads of fun leaning about our bodies. To try to ease some of the Halloween craziness we planned the day to revolve around some spooktacularly science stations.

Man, it was awesome! We had seven stations that kids rotated through. Each station lasted for roughly ten minutes. There were two teachers (one in each classroom) and thirty-two kids.

Station 1: The Brain! This was a  teacher manned station. When students arrived at the station they found a large bowl filled with cooked spaghetti (brains). In our last read aloud we discovered that the human brain is about the size of our two fists put together. Students picked up two handfuls of spaghetti to get a feel for the size of their brains.  After washing the brains off of their hands they worked through come brainteasers and memory games we had photocopied and left at the station.

Station 2: A Halloween mystery sentence   Each blank space had a picture that matched up with a letter to spell out a mystery sentence. This was more for Halloween fun than human body learning but it definitely could be adapted to fit the human body. If each symbol was a picture of an arm or leg or bone  and the sentence was something human body related this could fit in any time of the year.

Station 3: Human body cut and paste match  At this station students found two pages: one page had lines like a puzzle to cut and the other did not. Both were a picture of a skeleton that had the major bones labeled. Students needed to match the skull of the cut page to the skull of the whole page.

Station 4: Halloween Glyph  This station was part glyph and part word worth. The glyph had a picture of a boy and girl witch and students had to color the picture according to questions they answered on the worksheet. The next page was a word worth page where each letter is worth a coin (quarter, dime, etc.) The words they used were Halloween words but human body vocabulary would work great here.

Station 5: Eyes  At this station kids were able to feel a fresh set of eyeballs (grapes- man it takes a long time to peel those suckers!) After feeling the eyes they were instructed to test their own eyes. An eye exam paper was posted on the board. Students could check to see if they were nearsighted or farsighted as well as if one eye worked better than the other. They also had I Spy books to look at as well as Where's Waldo.

Station 6: Favorite Fall Candy  This station was perfect for my third graders who are starting a unit on data. Students were able to taste test three popular fall candies and choose their favorite to graph as a class.

Station 7: White and Red blood cell  This is quite possibly my favorite station. There were two jobs at the blood cell station. The white blood cell job was to see who could throw more white blood cells (pattern blocks) at the germ (in a text we read earlier in the week we noticed the germ looked like a pizza and we talked about how the white blood cell 'eats' the germ). The red blood cell job was to start at the heart (a paper heart on the floor), pretend to fill up 2 liter bottles with air and then move around the room distributing the air. They then returned to the heart to fill the bottles back up.

Our Halloween/Human Body day was fantastic. Each station had a ticket students had to fill out and bring with them. The ticket had a question related to the station that asked them information that we had talked about earlier in the week. We didn't even have time for all of the activities we had planned. At the end of the day students filled a plastic glove with popcorn and to take it home they had to answer how many bones are in our hands and arms and then attach the tag with the information to the popcorn.

It was a great way to enrich our learning of the human body on a rather hectic day!

Math

My third grade mathematicians have just finished up chapter one of GoMath which covers number sense. I felt very comfortable with their end of the unit assessment but want them to continue to practice mental math daily. I have added this gem into my math game choice station. I copied this on card stock and put it in a sheet protector. Students use a die to roll a number. They double the number, add one, then mark it off on their sheet. Enjoy!

Love for Mo Willems

My third graders are all about writing this year. They are making great comics, using story starter ideas, writing and publishing with friends and on their own. I am loving how many kids ask daily to write. They genuinely are bummed out when we do not have time due to scheduling conflicts (NECAP testing takes a wee bit of time...SARCASM...). My partner teacher/genius friend/other half of my brain stumbled upon the fabulous Mo Willems this fall and it has been pure magic for our classrooms.

It started with a lesson on character in which the fourth graders were looking at characters in a chapter book. To warm them up my genius friend chose an easier text and character with a big personality. Enter Pigeon.  Pigeon was a pretty big hit so she kept digging to see what other gems Mr. Willems had. Enter Elephant and Piggy. The funny thing is that Elephant and Piggy are so us. She is Elephant and needs a plan and worries and I am Piggy and am not so careful and I sure do smile a lot. :)  See!

Anyway, we practiced our hearts out preparing for the epic buddy reading presentation what we would perform for the students. During this time our school's librarian found a pig hat and elephant trunk we could wear for the production. Let me tell you, we read that Elephant and Piggy book We Are in a Book! with so much expression we gained Oscar buzz. That may be an exaggeration. We read with so much expression that teachers in our area shut their doors to keep the kids from being distracted by our awesomeness. True story! We left the books where students could easily access them and encouraged them to buddy read during our daily 5 read to someone time.

What happened next was awesome, amazing, wonderful, perfect. Students started buddy reading. All. Day. LONG!  The books are flying off the shelf. I have to draw names to chose who can have the them. They are reading with the most expression I have ever heard this early into the third grade year. They practice before school starts, during snack, during literacy and after school is over. And they are SO GOOD!

We have also had them look at Mo Willems from a writer's standpoint. We have some great comic creators who are finding inspiration from these texts. We have also looked at his illustrations and how he communicates through his words and pictures. Students are drawing from these books as they create their own writing.

The new book I'm a Frog was released today. Partner teacher/genius/other half has it and is bringing it to school tomorrow. I. Can't. Wait!!  The kids are pumped to hear the new book tomorrow.

Yay for Mo Willems! Yay for amazing teaching friends. Yay for a job I love!

Valentine's day smorgasbord

I am SO excited to share all of these Valentine's day ideas!!

This year I want to give my students homemade valentines. I searched online a found a bunch of ideas but decided to make my own. Here are the two I came up with.

I have seen teachers fill bags with goldfish for the first day of school and loved that idea. I put cupcake fish in the bag for a sweet treat for the kiddos.  The other one is a cute pencil holder and heavens my students tear through a serious amount of pencils.  I try to give pencils as prizes often so they keep a healthy supply. I printed both on card stock so they would stand some wear and tear. I cut two vertical cuts on the heart valentine to stick the pencil through. I wish I would have slanted it more to make it look like an arrow. You can download the free printable here which includes two other templates.

The reindeer that took so much time to create have been repurposed! The sign says, antlers over hooves in love! We were so happy to think of a way to keep these cuties for a few more months.
The kids decorated hearts to go along with the reindeer.

Tissue paper hearts
This activity is was easy to put together from materials all the way to the actual project and it looks lovely hanging in the windows. My daughter did this at our local public library and it was too fun to not share :)

The first step is to cut out a heart outline. Then put the heart on contact paper.

Fill the heart with tissue paper and cover the heart and tissue paper with contact paper. Some of my kids had trouble with this step and would take the contact paper off after applying it. It is pretty forgiving but younger kids might need more help with this part.

Then cut out the heart. We hung ours up in the window.

I love the way they look hanging in the windows and can't wait to see them on a sunny day.


Writing from the heart
In writing we used these hearts that I found on TPT (and now I cannot find them again to give the author credit) :(  The kids wrote things and people they love in the hearts and colored the things one color and the people another color. (For a quick noun review my partner teacher added places as a third choice.) They cut them out and glued them to construction paper. The following day they chose a thing/person from their heart to write about or to. Some students chose to write acrostic poems, others wrote letters, some drew pictures to go along with their writing. (I will get pictures of the finished product next week.)

Movers and shakers

I have some serious movers and shakers in my classroom. You know, the kids that constantly tip their chairs, stand to do their work, tap their pencils, are always on the go. Some of these kids have diagnoses of ADD or ADHD some do not, some families have chosen to have their child take meds to help with focus, some have not, regardless I needed to find a way to keep these kids moving so their brains can focus. 

One plan I tried at the beginning of the year was sending a math student to get a drink down the hall. It gave him the chance to wander, see new people, and get out of his normal environment. Just the routine of taking the walk to get a drink helped the student get his brain ready for leaning. He would spend most of math class standing or sitting in one of the fold-up rocking chairs (from Target -LOVE them!). 

I also have the tippers. The kids that tip their chairs and often find themselves on the floor. I am all for kids moving but when their safety is at stake I know I need to find another way to help them out. Here are some of the seating options my movers and shakers have.

This chair has adjustable legs. The height of one of the legs was adjusted so it was shorter than the rest. This allows students to rock the chair without putting them in danger of tipping. 

-This one does take some getting used to. When students first sit down then think they are going to tip backwards but it has quickly become a favorite.

The occupational therapist at my school offered this to one of my students. (Her husband made it) Its called a t stool and looks quite dangerous, right!?! However, the student that uses it has found that it is much safer than chair tipping. As soon as the stool starts to fall the student is able to stand up and the stool falls over. This has been an amazing addition to the choices the students have. Many kids like the movement it allows them while keeping them safe.

These next two are discs (around $20 Amazon) are a much more traditional way of helping the movers and shakers. The top one (teal) is filled 3/4 of the way with air so its squishy and light. It has two sides -smooth and pointy- and users can select the side they find most comfortable. The bottom one (yellow) has a heavier sandlike feeling and is a big heavier to carry and has a much different feel. 

I also have beanbags ($15 at Walmart) and folding rocking chairs (Target) that students can sit in during work time. I try not to have them sit at their desks too often. They always have that option but I find they are much happier to grab a clipboard and find a comfy spot on the floor/beanbags/rocking chairs. 

I have also found that students like to use Bendeez (bendable sticks found on Amazon) or the Tangle Jr Sensory Fidget Toy (Amazon) to keep their hands busy or to keep calm while listening. The occupational therapist at my school has been a invaluable resource. She is always so busy but makes the time to listen to my concerns and always has suggestions and tips. She has helped me to find many of these resources and is always a great go to person.

And when all else fails, brain breaks are a great way to get some of the wiggles out. There are many videos on YouTube, and countless quick activities to reset the brain for learning. 

Best wishes for you and your movers and shakers!

Tests, tests and more tests

We are in the thick of NWEA testing at my school. (Northwest Evaluation Association) We administer these computer based assessments three times per year beginning in second grade to monitor student growth. They give immediate and specific feedback for each test taker and results can also be viewed by class. Students are tested in math, reading and language. These tests are really helpful in setting individual student goals as well as for the whole class. It also gives teachers a look at possible areas of teaching strength and weakness.

I have a student that is very bright but has been struggling for some time and is finally on a wonderful plan.  I have been convinced this plan is working for some time now but the test results were my absolute proof. Prior to the plan the student has always done well on these tests and met the benchmark scores and even exceeds them on occasion. Fast forward to present day, the student exceeded the expectation in math by 14 points and even more impressive is the reading score which exceeded the expectation by 30 points (which puts the student off the charts - past tenth grade.)  BIG FAT WAHOOOOOO!!!!!
Here is the icing on the cake! I was discussing the plan, the success, the testing, etc with the student and how much pride. The student replied (no joke), "Its because of how you teached me."  I am not holding out much hope for the language test, lol!

Another student's score increased by ten points from the fall. He was so proud, beaming the rest of the day, and decided to share the love by making this sweet note for me.

(Flip note over)

This also made me chuckle. Another person who rocked the reading assessment but could, perhaps, use some more grammar/language instruction. This just makes me love my class even more.  

One more giggle today- 

A student describing hotdogs: The outside of a hotdog is the pig skin and the inside is the insides of the pig.  

Oh dear, I would say she is not far off but still, ick! I don't know how much more inside recess I can handle!

Make your own font

Oh what fun I have had experimenting in the graphic art world. After conquering clip art I became curious with making font. I found My Real Font as an app on the iPad. 

Its another FREE app (wahoo cheers the thrifty -cheap- teacher) that is incredibly easy to use. The app guides you through handwriting each letter and saving the set. There is then the option to send the font as ttp. I send it from my iPad in an email, open it on my computer and download the file. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy!

I have my eye on iFontMaker which is an app on the iPad for $6.99. This program has more options including the ability to make straight lines.  It also shows up bigger on the screen (My Real Font is pretty small and does not have the ability to make perfectly straight lines.) iFontMaker also allows the user to edit lines by clicking and dragging.

This font was one of the first ones I made, the rest are here. MyRealFont is really user friendly and addicting!  I find myself looking at font everywhere I go! Inspiration is everywhere :)

Creating Clip Art

Have you ever been looking for clip art, or some graphic art and not been able to find it?? I find that frustrating, especially when I know what I want and could easily draw it myself. When I first started looking into clip art I thought I needed an expensive program but it turns out that by using an app ( a free app!!!) on my iPad it was inexpensive and very easy. I started by drawing a picture with pen and paper and scanning it into my computer. This was a bit labor intensive, as my printer/scanner isn't really the best, but it worked. After I scanned an item into my computer I opened it using Preview on my Mac and was able to crop and edit from there. I used the instant alpha tool to crop which lets me choose a large area to crop, then go to invert selection (under edit), then crop (under tools). When I finally have the image the way I want I save it as a png file.

After doing some research (and using some other, more difficult apps) I found the Sketchbook Express app on my iPad (free, yay!) and have been using that program to draw. I have found the program easy to use after spending some time playing around. It is user friendly and you can be a novice like me and still make it work. When I have the image the way I want it I save it in the program then send it to my photo gallery. From there, I am able to email it to my computer and edit as detailed above.

It turns out that creating clip art/graphic art is easier than I thought and I find it to be soothing and a way to relieve stress.
Here are some of my hearts, just in time for Valentine's Day :)

You can find them in my TPT Store 

Happy Creating!

Phases of the Moon

I think its safe to say I am addicted to Pinterest, and SO many of my ideas and inspirations come from that wonderful site. I had seen the phases of the moon recreated with oreos before and loved it so I thought I would give it a try with the third graders. We were wrapping up our unit on Space/Solar System and had discussed the phases of the moon and done a few other activities with it. This was a great hands on activity to end the unit. I love lessons like this where the kids are all invested in the activity. There were no behavior problems and they were able to pull together as teams to complete the task. I also saw them using the various references in the room (posters, text) to verify their moon phases.

This took about 20-25 minutes to complete and started out with them cutting out the phases of the moon from a piece of paper. They then had to arrange them in order and show that the phases are a cycle. 

Then I passed out the oreos and demonstrated how to remove the frosting with a spoon. This came easier to some groups more than others. (They were not graded on how well they were able to remove the frosting, rather that they had the phases in the correct order and had removed the appropriate amount of frosting.)

I had some very happy third graders when they were finished as they were allowed to sample the phases :)

Christmas

I am a bit behind for a Christmas post but better late then never I suppose! For the second annual door decorating contest at my school my partner teacher and I wanted to do something impressive. After unimpressively slapping up some brown paper for a gingerbread house one Friday afternoon we knew it would need to be a Saturday effort. Three hours later we had this!!

The white paper says "Oh Deer"lol. The deer on the left has Christmas lights on it and the deer on the right is wrapped in garland. In the middle is Santa's sled with a few presents. 

Our plan was to have the kids make snowflakes to put on the blue paper but the week we put this up we had 2 early release days and two snow days as well as the third and fourth grade musical. YIKES, we were all kinds of crazy busy.

Oh DEER!!!!!

I love that we were able to plug in the lights. It was three hours well spent :)

I hope everyone was able to enjoy their Christmas break.  I had a wonderful time catching up with my family and friends. (I also really enjoyed waking up with NO ALARM every morning.) Ah, sweet vacation!

I mustache you a question

During the months of October and November my partner teacher and I taught this unit on elections.

We (teachers and students) had a blast during this entire unit. There was so much authentic learning, researching, discussion, etc., it was fantastic. During the debate, my partner teacher and I wore some pretty awesome hats to dress the part of moderator. The kids got a kick out of it and it just felt fun. 

I had forgotten about these hats until I received this gem today. 

It looks like somebody got a new app on their iPad and put it to good use.  I simply cannot stop giggling. 

My partner teacher is seriously awesome!

My Favorite TPT Freebies

Here is the short list of my favorite freebies from Teachers Pay Teachers. TPT is an amazing resource that I use often, if not daily. I love sharing ideas with other teachers, it just makes sense to pass on ideas to make us all better teachers.

Scrabble Spelling

This is a great activity for spelling practice. Just like in the game scrabble, each letter is worth a set amount of points.  After writing down the spelling words students add the points that the letters are worth. My students enjoyed adding up their points to see which word had the most and which had the least. It was a great addition to our spelling repertoire. 

Spelling Task Cards

These have been an AMAZING resource. My spelling practice consists of students writing their words in their "Words I Use when I Write" dictionary and then choosing one of these cards. There is truly something for everyone and I have never heard a complaint.  I have many students who use these task cards when they finish work early, it's been a wonderful addition to my classroom. 

Reading Response 

This set of worksheets went immediately into my sub binder. It is such a versatile resource since there is a set for literature and non fiction. The day I downloaded this gem I ended up going home sick and was SO happy to leave this for the sub.

Word Work Task Cards

This could also be used as spelling practice, however, this set also includes recording sheets. There are also additional task cards not included in the set above. Both are wonderful and can be either combined or switched out to create variety.

Geometric Shape Sort

This little number is great for reinforcing basic geometric concepts like sides, vertices, etc.  One of the suggestions is to use it as a center which is exactly what my plan is. Now that my students know these concepts this will be a great way for them to practice.

Five Little Owls

Cuteness! I am a newbie to graphic design and long to be able to create fantastic clip art like this. I can't believe these are free, what a find!

These are some of my favorite freebies, I would LOVE to hear what some of yours are! 

BTW, I love these Ecards!