My Plans in Pictures {September 5-9}

This week is a super short week.  Monday is Labor Day and then Tuesday is another day off for students.  Our district moved to full day professional development days for teachers last year.  The days usually back to a 3 day weekend giving our families a 4 day weekend.  Teachers are given choices and we get to sign up for professional development classes that will be most meaningful to us.  Tomorrow I will be taking a class on building my classroom website and then a class on planning instructional units for ELA.  I'm looking forward to learning a lot and getting a lot of work done!

Here are my plans for Wednesday-Friday in pictures!

Spelling: We will be working on phonograms {we use the Spalding program} and high frequency words.  We won't have a normal spelling list or test because of the shortened week.

Grammar:

We will be learning all about abstract nouns using my Abstract Noun Pack.  There is a flip book to put in their interactive notebook, a slideshow to use to teach and practice, a write the room to practice and then a culminating art project.

Reading:  In reading this week we will be learning how to use context clues.  The activities in this pack are always a huge hit, especially the made up words.  

My kiddos always love coming up with made up words of their own and writing their own sentences.  It is an amazing way to practice and they don't even know that's what they are doing they are having so much fun!

Writing:  This week we will be finishing up an opinion writing piece.  We will have a mini-lesson on stretching out our sentences and will use that to revise our opinion piece.  We will use the activities from my S.U.P.E.R. Sentences pack.

Math:  This week in math we will begin learning the strategies for multiplying and dividing by 2 and 5.  You can read more about the strategies I use to teach multiplication HERE.  And HERE. I'm so excited for my kiddos to start wearing their multiplication and division wrist bands as we learn!  

M.A.T.H. Centers:  In centers this week we will be reviewing arrays using my Hip,Hip, Array pack.

We will also review division as equal sharing using my division task cards.

Science:  In science we have been learning about the types of rocks and how they are formed.  This candy comparison is always a huge hit!  There is just something so engaging about making a lesson yummy!  This activity is part of my rocks unit, you can check it out HERE.

It's going to be another fun and exciting week in third grade.  It will all be capped off by our local high school rivalry football game!  The two high schools are a mile apart.  The K-8 school I teach at feeds to one of the schools and my husband teaches/coaches and our daughters  attend and are on the Pom Team at the rival school!  It's going to be an exciting way to end the short week!

Today and tomorrow you can grab all of the products that I will be using for 20% off in my store!  Use the links to go check them out.

Happy Labor Day everyone!

My Weekly Lesson Plans in Pictures {August 14-19}

Back to School was a huge success!  I was so happy to meet my class and our first three days together were amazing!  I love that we started on a Wednesday this year.  Those three days are a great opportunity to take it slow and learn our routines, procedures and expectations and then we can hit the ground running on our first full week.

Monday will start our first full week of the school year and here is what our week looks like in pictures!

Spelling:

We won't officially start our spelling time until next week.  We still need to finish assessing our kiddos and then meet as a grade level to work out our spelling groups.  We switch classes during this time to do targeted instruction on phonograms and spelling rules that each group specifically needs to work on.

During our spelling time this week I will continue to focus on our classroom routines, procedures and expectations.

We learned most of our routines last week, thanks to my trusty Routines and Procedures Binder I was able to stay on track and not forget any!  This week we will discuss what to do when you finish an assignment early and learn the "Fun When You're Done," options.

We will also continue to learn our classroom expectations during our Morning Meeting.  We have already learned to Be Respectful, Be Trustworthy and Be an Active Listener.  This week we will work on Be Safe and Be Your Best.

Classroom Expectations

Grammar:

Grammar this week will focus on reviewing and learning the Parts of Speech.  We will do lots of interactive and get up out of your seat activities!

Reading:

This first part of our week will focus on learning how to "Table Talk."  We do a LOT of taking about our learning in our classroom and I think it is sooo important to teach them HOW to have a good conversation.  We started last week and will finish learning about it early this week.  We will have our first "official," Table Talk using First Day Jitters toward the end of the week.  The great thing about Table Talk is that once they learn how to do it, I can use for ANY content area!  

Writing:

This week during writing we will focus on  how to write a good paragraph using Color Coded Paragraphs.  In third grade they need to begin writing multiple paragraphs, so I spend a little time at the beginning of the year making sure they know the parts of a paragraph and how to write a good paragraph.  We also write a friendly letter in our Home Journal every Friday so I need them to be able to write a good paragraph for that!  Head to my TpT store to download the freebie!!

Math:

Our first Instructional Unit in Math is Understanding Multiplication and Division.  I'm excited to have a new resource this year, our district adopted My Math and it will be so nice to have some resources!  I will still use my Monster Multiplication resource to introduce the concept of multiplication, as well as my journal companion to Each Orange Had 8 Slices.  I love using hands on and fun activities to introduce and practice this new skill!

Science:

I'm excited to get our Earth Science unit underway.  I love teaching this unit and I have so many fun...and yummy things up my sleeve!  This week we will learn about the different types of rocks!

To check out any of the products I will be using click on the links!  

It should a fun and busy week in third grade this week and I can't wait!!!

A Peek at my Week {Visual Plans for 9/15-9/19}

I fiiinnnallly feel like we are in a little bit of a routine.  We have learned all but Listen to Reading in Daily 5, have built our stamina to 20 minutes, and I was able to pull small groups last week!  WooHoo!  PTL for the small things! 

I am excited for this week for a few reasons. #1 as you are reading this, I will be in Flagstaff (yea for cooler weather) celebrating the wedding of our little cousin Shelby, who isn’t so little anymore!  Shelby was 4 when my husband and I started dating.  I’m feeling a little old that she is old enough to get married but we are so excited to celebrate with family!!!!

#2 We are working on one of my favorite units in science and cruising along towards a super fun culminating project in social studies.  In science this week we will continue our study of rocks and minerals.  We will learn about they types of rocks and how they are formed by completing this cute little flipbook.

Then we get to do candy comparisons!  We sent a letter home last week asking for donations of 3 types of candy and on Thursday this week we will enjoy 3 different pieces of candy and compare the candy to the types of rocks.

It is a super fun and hands on way to make connections!  If you would like information on this activity along with a few other rock activities, you can check out my “Rock On,” pack on TpT, just click on the pic below! 

This pack is also available in a bundle with 2 of my other popular earth science products.

  Click the picture to check out the bundle!

In Social Studies we are finishing up our maps lapbooks and moving on to landforms.  When our geography unit is finished I have created a super fun culminating activity.  I am all about project based learning and I would much rather have my kiddos show what they know by being creative and hands on than by taking yet another pencil & paper test. I will be posting it on TpT soon.  I want to make sure it is kid tested and teacher approved and that I have lots of fun pics to include before listing it!  

 

In math we will continue our work on multiplication and division and fingers crossed, math centers will be in full swing this week!

Click on my plans to download them.  After downloading the plans you will be able to click on all of the links and grab the freebies and check out the other products I’ll be using this week.

I'm off to the wedding now! 

 Happy Sunday everyone!

 

Two For Tuesday

This week two of my most popular wish list items will be 50% off TODAY ONLY!!! 

Item #1:  Fossils Are Fantastic

Not only is this my most wish listed item, it is also my best seller.  It is one of the first products I made for TpT and it’s a hit in my classroom every year!

It’s on sale today for $1.50!  Click on the picture to check it out in my store!

Item #2:  Earth’s Layers….An Edible Activity

Another science product!  This one is a huge hit every year in my room.  The kiddos are always begging to do it again.  It’s educational and yummy…what more could you ask for!  And today only it’s $1.00!  You can’t beat that price!  Click the picture below to go check it out.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Tune in tomorrow for Worksheet Wednesday!

Testing Is Over! And One of My FAVORITE Projects EVER!

This week was testing week all over our district!  Time for our kiddos to show off their stuff.  The hard part of third grade is that this is their first AIMS experience, so they have no idea what to expect.  We spend lots of time prepping and pep talking, but the nerves are still there.  Fear of the unknown.  One of my sweethearts came in Wednesday morning, our first day of testing, wearing this…..

She told me that on Friday she planned on taking a Sharpie and crossing out “going to,” and change it to “did!”  Love it.

Each afternoon after testing we worked on one of my all-time favorite projects.  Every year, this project is a huge hit with my classes!  As part of our science curriculum, we have a unit on Ecosystems.  We learn about the different ecosystems and how plants and animals are adapted to live there.  As a culminating project, students must create a creature and then write an encyclopedia entry about their creature.  They have to tell us about their creature’s habitat and how it is adapted to live there.  I show them how to make a mirror image of their name in cursive (also great for reinforcing geometry concepts that we learn) and then they turn their name into their creature.  They had so much fun getting creative and did such an amazing job.

If you look closely, you can find “Jarom’s” name in his rainforest creature.

Donavin’s creature lives in the swamp. 

Emily’s “Sunshine Bug.”

I am not sure who loves this project more, me or the kiddos!  Now they all want to make a name creature for everyone in their family!

Friday was the last day of testing and time for my annual surprise party for my students.  All year, I tell them that if they come to school everyday ready to work hard and do their jobs that AIMS will be a “piece of cake.”  So,  on the last day of testing I bring in a huge cake from Costco that says, “AIMS was a Piece of Cake!” and we eat cake! 

This is now a 10 year tradition and my former students have done a pretty good job of keeping the surprise!

Now that testing is over….finally, I can’t wait to get back to the fun part of teaching!  I love this time of year!  When we return on Monday and get back into our normal routine we are going to start reading Double Fudge.  This is one of my favorite units.  The kids love this story and we get to do several fun things with it.  My favorite part is the end of the unit celebration.  Instead of a boring ‘ol test, we have a Double Fudge Awards show!  Students have to decide on nominees for the different categories and then choose a winner.  They have to support their decision using evidence from the text (Common Core!).  Then we have our awards ceremony and they get to present their awards!  So much better than a test!

My Double Fudge unit is now uploaded to my Teachers Pay Teachers store and is on sale for 15% off this weekend only!  Just click on the picture to check it out!

Hope everyone has a great weekend. If you are finished state testing, congratulations on surviving and if you are gearing up for it, best of luck to you!

“Bring it on Monday…”

So, I checked facebook this morning and saw that my friend was having a rough Monday morning.  She ended her post by saying “Bring it on Monday, you can’t scare me.”  Here is my response to that friend.  Please don’t ever again challenge Monday.  Monday will always win.  A little bit of fear is healthy.
The morning started out just fine.  Then the announcement came over the P.A. system.  All music classes cancelled for the day.  There was a shortage of subs and would be no class, so no prep.  Not that bad I know, I’ve had worse Mondays and I won’t go into personal details, but my poor friend’s Monday made mine look like a walk in the park.
So, what to do with a class of 29 third graders and no break.  Monitor and adjust as my fellow teachers know!  I moved tomorrow’s super fun science activity to this afternoon and let me tell you, for 35 minutes those third graders were working hard and having fun!  What were they so excited about?  Eating Earth’s layers!  We have just finished up learning about the layers of the Earth and they were so excited about today’s activities.  We made our Earth s’mores, compared the layers of our “s’mores,” to the layers of the Earth and then wrote the recipe with step by step instructions.  So, while they were having a blast and enjoying a yummy treat, they were actually reviewing the layers of the Earth and writing functional text!  I’d say that was a good use of our time!

The activities came from my Earth’s Layers…An Edible Activity packet available at my TpT store. In honor of Monday winning this battle, you can purchase this packet at a discounted price for a limited time! Click the link here to find the packet.
Happy Monday everyone!