Have you ever had a moment in class when, in the middle of teaching, realize that you should have paid just a bit more attention in the planning stages of the whole thing?  Yeah...that happened to me today. When I am planning my lessons, I tend to gather materials from all over the web to use in my room.  I really don't have a favorite site, I just sort of pick and choose things that will suit my needs.  So, for my lesson on the reasons for exploration, I choose a two page information sheet from a homeschooling site that really looked like it had exactly what I needed.  I read...most of it...and was pleased.  In class today, we began to read the information and discuss the reasons.  Search for spices...great info.  The need for more land, awesome.  The quest for gold, fabulous.  Then we came to the religious reasons for the age of exploration.  Here is where it got a little dicey. The paragraph started to quote all of this scripture, talk about the "forceful Muslim r...
I have to say up front that I am not a "holiday teacher".  In general, I just let holidays slide right past with nary a mention.  It isn't that I am anti-holiday, but usually I just have so much to do with my students to get everything in, that stopping to take time out for a craft or whatnot is just not on my radar.  That is, until I find something that can cover my standards bases AND be holiday related.  Luckily, that does happen every so often -- much to the enjoyment of my students.  They do like discussing the holidays and I am happy when I can find an activity or unit that will fill that little holiday nook.   December especially is filled with so many holidays, that if I can do something fun and rigorous with them, it becomes a win-win for everyone.  Here are a few of my tried and true activities that are always a hit AND pack an academic punch. Christmas Poet-Trees The weeks leading up to winter break is the perfect time to work on literary devices/figur...
Hi all!  Thanks so much to Stephanie at Teaching in Room 6  for hosting me today! We wanted to do something special for you all since it is the time for giving thanks to those we are truly thankful for and since I am thankful every day for my readers and my bloggy friends, I thought a fun giveaway was in order.  :) We have teamed up with some super fun friends below who have agreed to help - yay!  Make sure to visit each one of these blogs on the date listed below their name to get your freebie and enter for a prize pack valued at about $40, which includes approximately 800 pages!  Wow! The theme of the day is the Space Theme !  This classroom theme is out of this world! First up:  A freebie!  Looking to redo your classroom library?  Grab these free book basket labels , customize to your levels or categories, print, and attach for some super space cuteness!   Enjoy! Ok - I know many of you want to also get entered for the awesome givea...
First off, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!  I am so glad you are here, and I am incredibly thankful for you.  :) This Monday (more commonly known as Cyber Monday nowadays), there is a sitewide sale on Teachers Pay Teachers.  In honor of the sale, I wanted to share with you the three items in my store that I really believe are MUST HAVES in your room.  These are things that I personally can not live without.  They really do make my room go round. And, in honor of you...and the fact that you just might be planning for next week now, I am having a very special sale on Black Friday!  So you can come shop on Friday and get all the goodies too (although the extra 10% that TpT gives will only work on Monday and Tuesday) Paragraph of the Week Ever since I started using this in my room, the quality of writing that my students are producing is fantastic.  They are practicing form and structure of writing on a daily basis, which is leaving me (and making me!) teach more craft based lesson...
Over the past (almost) year, I have written about Calendar Math more than any other single topic.  I really feel like it is such a worthwhile endeavor in class...worth every.single.second that it takes out of my math block.  The time that I spend on it actually does pay off in the end (even if that means I have a little less time to do my actual math lesson for the day) I have gotten numerous emails asking me to show you exactly what the STUDENTS are doing on the worksheet each day.  You know what I fill in ( as I showed you here ), you know what we do when we go over it ( you can see the video here ), you know the boards , and the routine ...but what EXACTLY are the students doing??? Well, here are some pictures that I hope will explain it and give you a better idea of just what the students are doing during the work period.  I actually wrote these but this is what I expect (and receive) from the students.  What the students will produce is in red (except for half of the first sh...
Like many of you, I just finished my first round of report card conferences.  While I enjoy talking to the parents and keeping them informed about the goings on in class (I must, since I send home this Weekly Report each week!) I do find it quite draining. Don't get me wrong...The parents are great.  They work with me, as I do them, and we almost always come to a consensus as to how to help their child succeed.  But the sheer number of conferences is just overwhelming sometimes.  And the thought of thinking of things to say to that are on point and helpful also falls into that overwhelming category. So I thought I would link up with Tammy at Teaching FSL and tell you about a few things I did to make conferences a little less daunting (notice I said a little, because, let's face it...they are daunting regardless) Click here to take you to the form. But this year, I found this FABULOUS gem from fellow blogger The Go To Teacher . (and I know I mentioned it in the lin...
Take one part geometry, one part riddle, and one part partner work and what do you have?  A little gem of an activity. We have entered into our Geometry unit and started looking at angles and their measurements.  I wanted to give the kids some hands-on use of the protractors, but also some fun.  So, I came up with this little activity that the kid really, really loved. First, we talked about angles and their measurements.  Using their math notebooks, we created a few samples and had a little hands on exploration with actual protractors. Then, once that was done, for a little extra practice,  I gave the kids this little printable (ok, worksheet...but printable sounds so much better, doesn't it??) with a whole bunch of protractors on it.  I wanted the students to really think about what they were doing so for each angle I asked them to list the following: 1.  What type of angle is it?  acute or obtuse 2.  Knowing the angle type, will it be greater or less than 9...
So it has been a month since I last wrote about the Walking Classroom .  Since then, we have started to find our groove and are making this more a part of our routine.  We still aren't getting out quite as much as I would like, but we are slowly getting there and I am hopeful that this upward swing of making the walking part of our routine will continue. Today, I wanted to share a bit with you on how I have tried to hold them accountable to the lessons they are listening to.  I have begun a Walking Classroom folder for each student.  It is a simple manilla folder into which I stapled these two sheets that I made. This is mine.  I forgot to take a picture of a student's.  Sorry! You can see spaces for when we do the walk again.  One is a lesson record sheet.  The first time we do a lesson, we write what the learning goals are (which I take from the synopsis in the Teacher's Manual)  This, I am finding, keeps them focused on what I want them to learn.  Click here...
I started this blogging journey almost a year ago (December 16 is my blogiversary...wow!) and in that year my teaching, and the outlook on the way in which I go about teaching, has changed.   Immersing myself in this world of high quality educators who strive to do the best for their students has enabled me to do the same.  I mean, I was always trying new things and working my hardest to bring the best to my classroom full of kids, but now I have FANTASTIC resources available at the click of my mouse. And what are some of the blogger finds that I am most thankful for?? Jennifer Runde of Runde's Room -- this girl is my teaching dream.  She runs her class the way I would, implements rigorous and well thought out plans, and brings out not only the best in her students but the best in all of us reading.  She truly is an exemplary teacher and her blog pushes me to be that as well.  Her Interactive Math Journal has changed the way I look at my lessons -- not just in math, but in ...
Our current language arts unit is called "Taking A Stand" and is about different people who stand up for what they believe in.  The reading is really quite interesting and the students have really connected with this theme.  So I thought I would take a page out of my own book and do a little writing project we did last year....but with a few changes. I had the students think about a cause that they were passionate about and wanted to "take a stand" for.  These causes ran the gamut in my room.  Everything from standing up to bullying to shortening the school day made the list.  Once students decided upon their stand, we did a guided writing of an "I am" poem.  The poem was written from the point of view of the person taking the stand.  So all lines of the poem were not autobiographical, rather in character of someone who believed in the cause.  You can find the form for the "I am" poem at this website here . Then, and here is where it change...
Here is an oldie, but a goodie that the kid really love to do.  A few years ago I was on my favorite teacher website in the whole world, ProTeacher , and I came across the idea of doing a "Disguise that Turkey" project.  The idea of it is simple....the students are given a turkey picture which they then have to take home and "turn into" something else.  What fun! So I decided to go with it....and there were such FABULOUS turkeys that came back!  Here is the thread from ProTeacher that I got all of the templates from.  These are simple, to the point and perfect. Now, admittedly, this was more of a project for the primary grades.  BUT I made it a bit more upper grade by having the students then write a persuasive essay convincing me exactly WHY the turkey was indeed not a turkey but the thing it was disguised as.  I WISH I took pictures of the writing because the excuses and arguments were OUTSTANDING!  The kids really thought about the traits that...