Monday, June 30, 2014

Another Week of Summer Bloggin' Linky Fun!


We decided to link up again this week with The Teaching Tribune for their Summer Bloggin' Linky! Today is Meet Me Monday, so it's my turn to share three random things about myself that our followers don't know...


We also wanted to announce last week's clipart winners---congrats to Suzy and Sharon who won Sarah's new ten frame collection!  This week, enter to win one of two copies of her school supplies collection.  Check it out in her Graphics by Sarah Beth TpT store!


a Rafflecopter giveaway
ALSO---If you haven't already, check out our brand-new blog--Adventures in Guided Math!  We hope you will take the time to check it out, become an adventurer (follower), and enter to win one of our fabulous prize packages! You may enter to win through Friday, July 4th.
http://www.guided-math-adventures.com/



Happy Monday!

Friday, June 27, 2014

Five for Friday: Rockets, Daily 5, Blendspace...


We are linking up with Doodle Bug Teaching for another Five for Friday...


One
The Library Can Save Me Money?!
(an age old concept, yet one I had not really learned yet)

I have been doing the summer reading program with my grandson, so we have been visiting our beautiful new library every Thursday.  Now, I am a person that has an addiction to BUYING books, as I think I need to have them for my very own in my hot little hands.  Well, what I decided to do is go to a section of interest in the library each week and investigate some books for use in my classroom (to check out next school year--NOT BUY).  This week I came upon the nonfiction section that housed what I call teaching texts.  I checked some out, took them home, read them with my grandson, and decided if I thought each would be something I would use this school year (as a mentor text, read & reflect text for use during guided math or guided reading rotations, or just one to check out and have in the classroom for student choice reading).  Since my grandson, Corbin, is starting second grade this year, he is a fabulous little book reviewer--if he likes it, I know some others will, too.  Here is a goodie I discovered this week!  Corbin is actually re-reading the book for the third time to great-grandma Rose as I type!


1 + 1 = 5 and Other Unlikely Additions by David LaRochell:  Clever!  Hilarious!  The laughs were abundant reading this one.  Here are a few of the silly, yet clever equations presented in the text.


Kids could create their own 1 + 1 equations with a sub-line, 'In other words, 4 + 3 = 7.' in an independent guided reading station. It would be great for money---1 + 1 = 15?, 1 nickel + 1 dime = 15 cents.  How about geometric art? 1 + 1 = 11?, 1 cube + 1 square pyramid = 11 faces. I am thinking the possibilities are many!  If you have used this text with your kids, please share your idea in a comment--it would be greatly appreciated...

Until next Friday! I will share some other library finds... :0)

Two
Rockets Away!


Rockets were launching this week at the library!  We went to a presentation about how rockets work and how things move--fun had by all.  The kids even got to make little rockets and launch them in the parking lot.  I will be doing a future post about how to make your own rocket and simple launcher (the launcher in the pic is not the basic one).  Needless to say, we made a trip to Home Depot for some PVC last night.  Inexpensive and fun!



Three
 Daily 5: The Second Edition

I remember the summer of 2006 when I read about this book that had just been published on a teacher's chatboard. The book was titled The Daily 5, Fostering Literacy and Independence in the Elementary Grades. It seems pretty interesting, so I ordered it. When I received the book, it took my 1 day to read it all. I was hooked and wanted to begin implementing The Daily 5 in my own classroom. I have been doing The Daily 5 in my classroom since then and it has taught me so much. When I discovered that The Sisters had come out with a 2nd edition, I knew I had to have it! Even though I have been doing The Daily 5 for 8 years, this book has taught me even more. I love how The Sisters recommend that students have to do Read to Self and Work on Writing everyday. They have also added a chapter just on Math Daily 3 which will flow nicely with the Guided Math I already do. I HIGHLY recommend reading this book!

Four
Blendspace


A couple of weeks ago, Sarah and I were fortunate enough to attend a professional development event in which we learned a plethora of information on reading and writing. The presenter, Laura Beltchenko, showed us this wonderful website Blendspace.  What this site does is puts everything in one place for you. She had her PowerPoints, documents (both Word and pdfs), YouTube videos, and much more in this one spot that we now have access to.  

This past week, a co-teacher and I, were asked to go to a neighboring district and work with teachers on The Daily 5. I thought this was a great opportunity to use Blendspace. I put a PowerPoint we created, as well as many documents and videos all in this place. Those teachers now have access to those items whenever they want!

Five
Brand-New Guided Math Blog Kick Off Continues!

What an amazing week for our brand-new guided math blog! We hope you will take the time to check it out, become an adventurer (follower), and enter to win one of our fabulous prize packages! You may enter to win through Friday, July 4th!
 
http://www.guided-math-adventures.com/


Fly on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to read more Five for Fridays!

http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/2003/06/five-for-friday-linky-party-june-27th.html


All the best for a wonderful weekend!

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Day Four of Summer Bloggin' Linky--Tried and True Thursday & Throwback Thursday!


Linking up with The Teaching Tribune and 2nd Grade Shenanigans today!

http://www.theteachingtribune.com/2014/06/tried-and-true-thursday-week-4.htmlhttp://shenanigansinsecond.blogspot.com/2014/06/throwback-thursday-vegas-baby.html

Wanted to share this throwback post from last summer---it was a Made-It Monday post.  In the post I shared three things that I made last summer and they worked fabulously.  I will be reusing the word wall header, refurbishing the caddies with fresh ribbon, and heading out soon to get some pizza boxes from 'The Hut'.  Tried & True they are...

******Originally Posted Monday, August 5, 2013 ******

Mondays have just been flying by, it seems--time for another Monday Made It with 4th Grade Frolics...

Word Wall Header

Well, back in the classroom work time has come for Courtney and I! We both will be using a paper plate word wall header this year.  Mine is rainbow colored, and hers is yellow to match her classroom color scheme.  Feel free to download--rainbow or yellow!

Supply Caddies Finished!
   
I finished my supply caddies yesterday--finally!  I adore how they turned out--rainbow colored, of course.  Kept it simple with a knot at the top instead of a bow. Then I attached a circle number to each side (group numbers).  We have mentioned these caddies before when sharing a favorite pin, so check out the original post by Anna at Life...As I Know It.  


Adventure Awaits!: Suitcase Writing Portfolio

I mentioned this made-it last Friday, but wanted to include it today because it truly is a made-it. I loved designing and making this suitcase writing portfolio, and I hope that my students have as much fun making theirs as I did! Here's a little background that I shared earlier...


When I was student teaching first grade many moons ago (20 years ago now), we used a simple pizza box to store student writing portfolios. For the many years since then, I have used various other systems with older students—-binders, folders, files in crates, etc.  When I switched grade levels a couple of years ago (2nd grade), I began to think back to my earliest days of using a pizza box.  The boxes worked well because students were able to collect entries of all sizes, the boxes were easy to access in the classroom, and writings were taken home in a secure container at the end of the year. I decided to start using pizza boxes again—so I have created this fun way of decorating a pizza box into a suitcase.  Writing is truly an adventure for the kids throughout the year! You can learn more in my TpT store...


Back to school is just around the corner for us, so we hope to be sharing some pics of our classrooms sometime soon...


***************End of Throwback Post****************

Throwback made-it UPDATE...


Word Wall Header:  The plates actually stayed stuck to the wall ALL school year (in fact, they are still up there).  Yellow words are related to math, green are contractions, and red starred words are homophones.  The kids used the word wall all the time. One day, early in the year, a student took a word off the wall and took it to her desk to make sure she had used it correctly (magnetic words).  After that, others began to follow suite--this was helpful for a few kids who had trouble transferring the word from the wall to the paper.  Movable, magnetic words were also great when working on alphabetical order as a class. We could simply grab a small group of words off the wall, put them in order to the side of the word wall, and return them when finished.


Desk Caddies:  I cannot say enough how well these little caddies worked!  They held up well throughout the year to house community pencils, crayons, glue sticks, big erasers, and each student's scissors.  Even though I will be refurbishing the ribbon and reusing the caddies, I found a few of the caddies on clearance at Walmart last winter and snatched them up.  Hope they bring back some black ones this fall because I will buy MORE (Hobby Lobby carries some colored ones all year round)!  I cannot imagine a school year without them (and I plan on teaching for quite a few more years...). :0)


Suitcase Portfolios:  What a keepsake these became!  The kids were thrilled to take their suitcases home at the end of the year filled with writing goodies.  They were also perfect for display at open house.  Many parents commented on how nice it would be to have all of their child's writing together at the end of the year. Large items? No Problem!

Now, fly on over to check out more Tried & Trues and Throwback Thursdays!

BUT DON"T FORGET! Our bran-new blog is up and running---Adventures in Guided Math!  We hope you will take the time to check it out, become an adventurer (follower), and enter to win one of our fabulous prize packages! You may enter to win through Friday, July 4th!

http://www.guided-math-adventures.com/

Enjoy your Thursday!