Terrific Triangles

It's time for triangles in my geometry unit.

I'm using a couple of resources from the Math is Fun site.

Interactive Triangle and Angle makers

You can drag and pull into different  angles and triangles.

Songs are a must too. My students love when I teach concepts through music.

Triangle Brothers Song

I love when I hear my students (yes, third graders), singing learning songs on their way out to recess or lunch. It shows they were certainly paying attention.

~Enjoy

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Pizazz up your Polygon Study

I'm in the midst of my geometry unit and use these resources to introduce polygons.

A very cute skit by students in Mrs. Yollis' class

Brainpop Jr. video

And my favorite..a catchy Polygon jingle

One more- The Polygon Song

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MLK Virtual Tour

Here are some more Martin Luther King finds for the classroom.

A Virtual Tour of MLK Childhood home and Ebenezer Baptist Church

Online coloring portrait

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Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

"To the whole world you are someone, but to someone you are the whole world"

Take a Peek ....Holiday Tile Gifts

My students make these decorated tiles for their family holiday gift.

I bought the tiles at Home Depot for 16 cents each.  In all, it cost me less than $5.00 for a class set.

Then I cut squares of scrapbook paper.

Students picked the design they liked and modge podged it to the tile.

I chose more generic designed paper that could be displayed all year, but you can also use seasonal designs.

Then I sprayed them with a sealant.

This is one of the easiest gifts I've made over the years for both the students and ME!

The finished tile can be put on display or used as a coaster.

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December Holiday Read Aloud

Holiday Freebie alert!

Go grab my Rudolph Writing freebie

I always read the story Rudolph's Second Christmas to my students and have them then write their own version afterwards.  The sequel to the original Rudolph has an endearing set of "misfit" characters who, like Rudolph, seem a little different. Santa and Rudolph come to the rescue to bring back Christmas spirit to two children who were "forgotten" the previous holiday season.

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!  (Freebie ideas and giveaways are sometimes shared there!)

Thanksgiving Recap a la Harley

Even dogs celebrate Thanksgiving. My parents call Harley their granddog and they do spoil him like crazy. They even dogsit him most days at their house when I am at work and he has a habit of ALWAYS hitting his dog dish first thing when entering their house to look for treats. Well, fast forward to Thanksgiving Day. My dad played a trick on him, knowing he would hightail it to his dish.

See that wooden pig in the background by the dog dish? That's my dad's recent buy at an antique store.

The pig has a name...Oscar. Oscar happened to be guarding Harley's bowl upon our arrival on Turkey Day. Harley's reaction was classic. He came to a screeching halt, and growled, sniffed and skirted around his bowl trying to figure out the nerve of something else by his bowl. Luckily, he did warm up to Oscar by the end of the day and got some turkey and gravy of his own.

Oh, on a sidenote, I got relieved of jury duty yesterday. I had to call in midday for a possible appearance. But Yay for me, when I called my group did not need to report! So I went to Olive Garden with the whole family instead.

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Sight Word Swat It Games

A great way I've practiced sight words is with my team Swat It games.

Split your class into teams. Display one of my Swat It Sets word cards on your board or under your document camera and let the swatting begin. Call off a sight word and the first student to hit the right word gets a point for their team. What a great way to reinforce mastery of sight words and get some energy out to boot!

 

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Swap the Squiggle Writing

My class had the greatest time doing Swap the Squiggle writing.

 The idea is to take a random squiggle and create a picture to write a story about. But my twist on this popular idea is to "Swap the Squiggle" which involves a group/team effort in creating the final picture. I have found that this activity helps motivate reluctant writers. What fun! These 15 squiggle writing prompts will be sure to engage your students.

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Here's one of the cutest prompts generated today. 5 people worked on this picture.

A story was written about a girl stepping in gum.


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Conference Time!

I'm heading into conference week come Monday.

Here's what I did Friday evening.

I collated and organized work samples, benchmark test results and report card data for each student.

I've found that it helps to organize the work by the way it is categorized on the report card. This makes presenting information to the parents easy.  I also have a Trimester Note with important  data to share with parents. It looks like this:

I also plan to share this Apple for the Teacher Poem with parents which is an important reminder of the home school connection to their child's learning.

Click picture to get your own copy:

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I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!