Communities

We've been in school for about 3 weeks now.  

Hard to believe!!

AND the theme in our classroom has been Communities.

I've been stressing the importance of the learning community in our

classroom, and how we treat each other and work together.

Then, we just finished up our Hour of the Olympics literature study in which 

my class was able to learn a bit about the ancient Greek community. 

They loved this ,and it was the perfect opportunity to throw in some Greek mythology and 

Greek plays to go along with this unit.

My goal this year is to work hard on ways to implement our third grade curriculum so that it flows into one coherent theme that 

not only incorporates what we are doing in reading, writing, and social studies and science as well, while meeting the Common Core Standards. Whew!

I'm so jealous of all of you that already have your curriculum set up in just this way. 

Kudos to you!

So I created a Community Unit in social studies that also tied in with our Hour of the Olympics Literature Study, and a story from our basal reader,  " Officer Buckle and Gloria".

AND it will be a perfect bridge into an election unit I want to do with my kiddos later in October.

This "All About Communities" Unit includes 5 powerpoint lessons  and stations and activities to go with each lesson.  I also created a study guide and test go go with this unit of study.

Here's a peek at some of the stations in action:

This little station is the "What type of community is this?"

Students have cards to read that give descriptions of a community.  They must decide which community the description matches and place it on either the rural, urban, or suburban mat.  Then they are to record this information on the work mat that you see on the clipboards.

This is the "What makes up a community?" station.

In this station students had two  mats, "community" and "not a community".  Their job was to read the cards that went with this station and decide if the item was something that helped make up a community.  Then each student recorded their findings on their work mat.

This is a snapshot of the "Community Workers memory game".  Students were given cards that had a picture of a community worker or a job description of a particular community worker.  Students had to match the picture of the community worker to his/her job description but the rules were that of the "Memory Game".

Yesterday we had a mock city council meeting.  This was another activity from the "All About Communities" Unit.  My students were divided into 4 teams.  Each team has a specific area of the community that they were responsible for creating rules for the community members to follow. These areas included the outdoor swimming pool, city parks, roadways, and school buildings.  

If you are interested in finding out more information on this packet click

on the pictures below to be taken to my TPT store. 

It includes 27 powerpoint slides and a 40 page unit of stations and activities.

I am in the process of adding nonfiction books to my library that go with the community theme.  I would love to hear your suggestions for some great nonfiction books!!

Have a fabulous weekend!  I'll leave you with this fitting quote I found on Pinterest.

So True!!

Monday Made It

Hey Everyone!

I have to begin by saying getting back into a school routine for myself and my children is

"kicking my behind" along with their soccer games and practices.  Whew!!!!

BUT even with the "busyness" of family life, I was able to get some more projects marked off of my "to do" list this weekend.

 I am so excited to be able to link up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for another

Made It Monday.
Here are a peek at my projects:

1. Poetry Pots

I will be using these poetry pots in my Word Work station or Writing station.  You can't see behind the labels, but there are magnetic words that are in each pot.  Students are to use a cookie sheet and the magnetic words to create a poem.  I found some cookie sheets from the Dollar Tree, and this is where these plastic containers came from also.  I found the magnetic paper from Amazon.com.   LOVE this stuff!  I downloaded Rundee's Room "Make Your Own Magnetic Poetry Pack" to use in my poetry pots.  Click below to be taken to this fabulous item.  It's Free.

The adorable Poetry Pot labels on the outside of the container came from Tara at 4th Grade Frolics.

2. Letters For Learning Task Card Kit

This is another great idea I found from Tara.  I purchased her kit, Letters for Learning Task Cards, during the big sale at TPT a few weeks ago.  I printed the cards on cardstock and laminated for durability. Then I used a hole punch on the cards and placed a ring to keep them together.  Finally I purchased a  $2.00 plastic container from the craft department at Wal-mart, and filled it with letters.  I made my own using KPM Doodles letters,and then printed out on cardstock and laminated for durability.  I made 4 copies for each container so that there would be plenty of letters.  You can download the letters below at Google docs.  Simply click on the picture to be taken to this free download.

I can't wait to add this to my Word Work station.

3. Daily 5 Choice Board

I began introducing the Daily 5 to my students the 3rd day of school.  I have been religiously referring to the Daily 5 book for each daily lesson.  I tweak it a bit to fit the age of my students.  They are so excited about this!  I'm not yet ready to implement the choice board, but I want to have it ready to go when the time comes for this part of the Daily 5.

The Daily 5 choice containers are plastic cups that I created labels for.  I then used my hot glue gun to attach heavy duty magnets to the side.   I used a large pocket chart to place the names of my students.  Each student will pick their choices and place them next to their name.  I found already made choice labels that I copied and laminated from a Daily 5 packet on TPT.  It was free on TPT. There are so many great "FREE" resources to use with the Daily 5 that you can find on TPT. 

Don't forget to check out all of the fabulous Monday Made It projects.  Click on the link below to check them out or to link up with Tara.

 

Before I go, I just had to share one more thing.....  While working on this blog post, my husband had taken our boys out to help wash the cars.  Well, when I stepped outside to take a peek here is what I found.

Our youngest had found his brother's skateboard.  Our other two boys were spraying him with the water hose.  AND yes, that is a baseball helmet he is wearing.  This is our little daredevil.

Technology Tuesday

I'm having so much fun participating in the Teacher Week linky party at Blog Hoppin.

 Today it's Technology Tuesday.  I have already jotted down several sites I want to look at and try.  I have also got some great ideas on new IPAD apps to add to our classroom IPAD.

Here are a few of my favorite websites that I integrate into my curriculum:

1.  Brain Pop

 Our school has a yearly membership to Brain Pop.  I LOVE to use Brain Pop when introducing new concepts.  Last year my students enjoyed Brain Pop so much, they would ask if I had a video for it when introducing a new concept to them.

2.  Aplus Math

My students love the game room on this website.  It's great for practicing multiplication facts.  I often have one of the classroom computers set up with this website for students to access when they are finished with their work.

3. Spelling City

This site is one of my favorites to use with my students.  I love to put it on our
classroom Promethean board for the whole class to view and participate in the spelling activities.

4.  Giggle Poetry

I love to use this site with our poetry unit and use in our literature stations throughout the year.  This year I hope to incorporate this into our Daily 5 "Work on Writing".

These are just a few of my favorites that I use on a regular basis in my classroom.  I love to integrate technology into my lessons.  I'm so fortunate to have a Promethean board and even IPADs in my classroom.  Often I have been fortunate enough to "Google" a concept we are working on, and sites with educational games I can use online pop up.  I have found several games to use with teaching grammar through Harcourt School.

Don't forget to check out all the awesome technology ideas at Blog Hoppin.  Just click on the link below.

 

Must Have Monday

I'm so excited to be linking up with Blog Hoppin for Teacher Week 2012.

Today it's Must Have Monday.

Here are some of my "Must Haves":

1. My MacBook laptop

 

This goes with me everywhere.  I can easily access my online gradebook, units I'm working on in Powerpoint, photos, and my blog.

2. Erin Condren Life Planner

This is my first one, and I'm loving it.  It helps me keep track of my school meetings, and all of my kiddos soccer practices.  Trying to keep up with the scheduling of 3 kids in soccer is difficult.

3.  My Scotch Laminator

I purchased this from Wal-mart this summer for $27.00.  I LOVE it!  It's so convenient to have a laminator at home.  

4. My book baskets, tubs and other accessories to keep my classroom organized.  The ones below have been fabulous these past couple of weeks with all of our Olympic and math stations.  I get them ready the night before and on the day we use them the table leader comes up and gets their station basket. 

My favorite place to buy all of my storage items and baskets... The Dollar Tree

5.  Gotta have a Thirty One Bag... 

I can't wait to check out everyone's Must Haves.  Don't forget to link up with Blog Hoppin this week for Teacher Week.

A Week in Review.....

Whew!  The first week of school left me feeling

COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED.  

Thank goodness for the weekend to recharge my batteries!

Our district started back on Monday with a district institute day.

Then on Tuesday, we  FINALLY met our students.

It's only been four days of school, but I already LOVE my

24 little 3rd graders.  We had such a fun week getting to know each other, and

they truly are a great group of kids.  I'm SO fortunate!

With this first week of school, my goal this year was to really focus this first few weeks on

developing a caring community in our classroom.  I wanted my students to 

work together as a team.  We also spent this week 

discussing a lot about the Very Important Principles of our district,

and ways to work together in our classroom.  

I used several ideas from Mrs. Fultz's Back To School Community Building Activities.

My favorite activity was the classroom pledge.  On Friday, after we had spent several days working together and discussing the Very Important Principles and our school's V.I.P. contract, my class worked together to create a classroom pledge.  Then they signed the pledge and made paper plate faces of themselves that I placed next to the pledge.  Here's a peek at our finished pledge:

In math, I used the  Easy As 1-2-3 Math Centers from Amy Lemons.

These centers were a great way to review with my 3rd graders.  They LOVED them!

My favorite center was the word problems.  I think I will also set these centers

aside and use them throughout the year at my math table.  This is a place

where students can go if they finish with their work.  Here's  a few pictures of my students

hard at work at their math centers.

Even though the Olympics are finished, I still wanted to use the Hour of the Olympics Literature study and Olympic stations I created.   My students have been truly enjoying this.  It's been a great way for them to work together, and I can't wait to include some of the Greek Mythology that can be incorporated using the Hour of the Olympics Magic Tree House book. 

I LOVE that the Hour of the Olympics Literature study already has a page listed with how this unit is aligned to the Common Core.  It made it easy when writing in my lesson plans the Common Core standard that was being taught.

One of the last things I wanted to share that my students did this week was " Saving Fred".  This was so much fun, and a great way for my students to work together as a team and problem solve.  I found this idea from Lorraine at Fabulous Fourth Grade Froggies.
In this activity, each team is given a gummy worm, gummy ring, plastic cup, and paper clips.  Fred ( the gummy worm) is on top of his capsized boat ( the cup) and his life preserver ( the gummy ring)  is below  the boat.  Students must rescue Fred by getting Fred on his life preserver.  BUT they cannot touch the boat, Fred, or the life preserver with their hands.  They may only touch the paper clips.  Students must brainstorm together in their teams to determine how they are going to save Fred.  Here is Lorraine's link for a better explanation of this activity:http://www.fabulous4thgradefroggies.com/2012/08/1st-day-of-school-fun-currently.html
Take a look at this fun activity!  What a hoot!

I also began the Daily 5 this week with my students.  We have gotten through the 3 ways to read for read to self, and my students have been working on improving their muscle memory by reading to their self for 10 minutes.  This is my first year implementing the Daily 5.


Have a fabulous week!  For those of you beginning your new school year on Monday,"Good luck".

Thanks so much for stopping by!

My completed classroom.....

IT is finished..... my classroom set up that is.

I  have been working on this since early July.

My classroom design this year is Pinterest and teacher blogs inspired.

Thank you!!!! I wish I had "before" pictures of my classroom to show you.  

I LOVE how the new design turned out.

Take a peek.

This is one view from the doorway of my classroom.

Another view from the doorway of my classroom.

The library.....

Another partial view of the library...

The ladybug and dots calendar

The ladybug and dots cursive alphabet...

The math workshop board and my math word problem posters above the workshop board...

A view from my desk.. it's at the back of my classroom.

Another view from the back of the classroom..

Our meeting area is located in front of the Promethean board.  I forgot to take a close up of this area.

This is our "Bulldog Brag Tag" board.  I am out of bulletin board space so I used the door to

the front of the built in cabinet as a place for our "Brag Tags".  I just used the Contact hooks and numbered each one.  Students will be able to wear their brag tags on Fridays.  I purchased the necklaces from Image Stuff, but decided to make my own tags to go on them.  Below is a peek at the first tag each student will receive.  It has their name and our school mascot on them on one side. On the other side is the name of our school along with the  picture of our mascot.

This is a partial view of the writing center...

The CAFE board... I used the posters from  Ginger at  Ginger Snaps.

Just a little snapshot of a portion of my word wall that is below the CAFE board..

My Pinterest inspired bathroom passes and sign out sheets from the  Clutter Free Classroom.

My little classroom is ready and waiting for my new students ( 24 of them so far).

Back to School Night is Monday, and I can't wait  to meet  my students ( and their parents) the night before school begins. It's a great way to help students with those "first day jitters".

AND of course, with only a few days left before school begins, you have to have some time for fun. So my daughter and I did a little back to school shopping today.  She's SO totally not a shopper.   When I mentioned to her about having some mother/daughter time ( without brothers) to go school shopping, she says " Can we just pick something out online?" I just had to laugh.  I did manage to drag her into a few stores AND we had a lot of fun.

Since we are on the topic of shopping... did you hear about these fabulous back to school sales?

TPT is having a Back to School Sale on Sunday August 12-Monday August 13.

If you use the code below you will get an additional 10% off each item.

All items in my store will be 20% off for this sale.

Teacher Notebook is also having a Back To  Sale on August 11-13.  All items in my Teacher Notebook shop will be 30% off during this time.

I have already been filling my shopping cart with items that I want for my classroom.