Saturday, November 30, 2013

CYBER SALE MONDAY....AND TUESDAY

Hey all!  I know it has been a while since I've posted.  I have been so busy moving and preparing for our 2nd little girl to arrive in January!  I just wanted to take a moment to tell you all about the huge sale that TPT is throwing for CYBER MONDAY!  Almost everything in my store will be 20%.  Then, when you check out, enter the code "CYBER" for an additional 10% off!


While you're there, be sure to check out some of my best selling and/or newer products too! :)  Happy Shopping!!  Click on the product name to view it in my store! :)

If you're looking for Nonfiction Text Passages/Assessments:
Nonfiction Text Features Assessment #1
Nonfiction Text Features Assessment #2
Nonfiction Cold Read: Dolphins
Nonfiction Cold Read: Abraham Lincoln

Language Packs:
Adverbs Mega Pack
Nouns Mega Pack
Parts of Speech Pack

Math:
Common Core Assessment Bundle
Place Value Task Cards
Rounding Task Cards
Addition & Subtraction Word Problems Task Cards
Multiplication & Division Word Problems Task Cards
Multi-Step Problem Solving Task Cards
Elapsed Time Task Cards
Line Plot & Measurement Task 

Social Studies:
Ancient Greece Mini Books Pack
Paul Revere Mega Pack
Frederick Douglass Activity Pack
Susan B. Anthony Activity Pack
Mary McLeod Bethune Activity Pack
Historical Figures Task Cards
Local & State Government Test & Study Guide
National Government Test & Study Guide
Local, State & National Government Test & Study Guide

Science
Rocks & Minerals Mega Pack
Rocks Mini Book
GA Habitats Assessment Pack
Pollution & Conservation Mini Book

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

It's the Little Things that Make Life Fun!

It never ceases to amaze me how the simplest of things sometimes catch the attention of my third graders.  There are times I feel like I'm up there teaching my heart out, and I feel like they're off in space somewhere; and then there are times I throw something together in a second and they are absolutely enthralled with what we're doing!

So last week, we were full swing into review as our state tests are coming up in a couple weeks.  We were working on Main Idea, which is not a particularly fun topic, and not always the easiest thing for them.  After we worked in small groups to review what main idea was and do some mundane passage practice, I wasn't quite ready to leave the topic. 

I didn't want to do anymore more "read the passage & answer the questions" at the moment because by then, they were just done with that.  I had some task cards saved on my computer that I had purchased on TPT that I thought I could pull up on the active board for us to go over.  I knew that with how hard we had been working, I was already at great risk of losing them though. 

So, I decided to make things a little more interesting for them (& SO simple for me).  I put them into 3 teams. Each team got 4 pieces of construction paper--each one had a different letter on it: A, B, C, or D.  They would use these to show their teams answer choice for that particular question.  I gave them a print out of the answer choices for each passage & question that would be on the board, and I gave each group 20 cups.  Yes....cups.  This is what made it so intriguing for them.  (Like I said, it's the little things.)



What we did:
1. I would show the first task card on the active board (as you can see in the background of the picture above).
2. I would read the passage on the card, ask the question, and read the answer choices aloud (they had the answer choices printed out as well so they wouldn't constantly be asking me to repeat the choices).
3. Students then quietly discussed it with their team & chose the corresponding letter card (construction paper).  They laid their answer card face down on their table. 
4. When all teams were ready, I had them all reveal their answers at the same time.
5. For every question they got correct, they got to add a cup to their "structure" they were building.  They weren't allowed to touch or move that added cup anymore once the next question began. 

The goal: To see who could build the tallest structure by the time the first team ran out of cups, or we ended the game (whichever one came first).  If any of their cups feel in the process, those went back into their original stack of cups to use and were no longer a part of their existing structure.  Teams could also lose a cup from their structure if they had team members not participating, if they touched one of their cups after they were allowed to, or if they were talking while the question was being read.

They LOVED it!  They all worked closely together to both answer questions and build their structures.  They had so much fun, all while working on the mundane skill of main idea. 

All it took were some task cards on the active board, construction paper, and cups....Simple!

The Winning Team:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Saturday, March 23, 2013

Getting Back to Work

Wow!  This time of year always seems to wear me out!!  Writing scores are due, CRCT Testing is coming, we're in the final crunch to get everything in and review, and for whatever reason, this seems to be the time of year where there is some personal trial in life that I'm also having to handle during all this. 

After going through some stuff for the past couple of months (I've blogged about it here: Choosing to Count ) I am hoping to get back into the swing of things.  I want to get more things made, especially my science mini books, and I want to start blogging more frequently.  We've done some really cute things in class lately, and I want to start posting what we do.  So, here's to April and May being more productive months! :)

Monday, February 25, 2013

St. Pactrick's Day is Just Around the Corner!

   With St. Patrick's Day being just around the corner, there is a small part of me that feels like it is always one holiday after another.  As a mother (trying to send things in for my daughter's class and do all the cutesy holiday things) I long for a break of time where days are just normal!  As a teacher, however, I get excited about the oppurtunity to use a new "theme" in my classroom activities!

So, for fun, I created a St. Patrick's Day Literacy Pack!
It includes four differnt literacy activities that are directly aligned to the 3rd Grade Common Core Standards.


Shamrock Synonyms, Antonyms, & Homophones Sorting Center
 
 
St. Patty's Day Sentences Sort: Simple, Compound & Complex
 
 
 
Parts of Speech Pot of Gold (Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Adjecctives, & Adverbs
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 










Luck of the Irish Reference Materials Sort
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
I also included a couple writing prompt papers as well!  :)  I cannot wait to use this over the next couple weeks with my class!

To view this pack, CLICK HERE.  :)

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Common Core Math Assessments 3rd Grade

Well, I couldn't be more overjoyed to announce that my "baby" is almost finished!  When I say baby, I am of course referring to my Common Core Math Assessments Pack!  This has been over a 9 month journey (hence the baby reference :) and I am finally almost done!

I had decided that I was all finished since I had created packs for all the units that Georgia has outlined, but now I'm thinking I'm going to go back and create a test for measurement (length) and create a graphing assessment.  Initially, I wasn't going to do a graphing assessment since I integrated those standards into all my other tests, but now I'm thinking I'm going to go ahead and make one anyway!

I have already uploaded my Mega Assessment Bundle to my TPT page.  When I create these 2 new tests, I will add them to the bundle and buyers will be able to redownload (for free of course! :) ).

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Rocks Mini Books

Trying to find new activities and things to do with my units is something that I am constantly striving to do.  This is my 6th year teaching third grade and I LOVE IT!  I would not change grade levels unless I was asked to do so! I love the age, I love the curriculum, I just LOVE it all! 

Before I started teaching, one of my college professors made a statement that stuck with me.  She said, "As a teacher, you have to decide if you're going to teach 30 years, or if you're going to teach 1 year 30 times." I knew that I wanted to teach 30 years, meaning every year, I needed to keep striving to mix things up and to better my practices.

Science has been one of the most difficult areas for me to do this in.  One things my kiddos love is completing mini books!  I love these things!  It allows the kids to read, highlight, and look back for answers.  It also gets them out of the traditional textbooks. 

With this being something I'm hoping to add to my units, this has become my new project...to create mini books for my science curriculum, and I completed my very first one tonight!

 
 

To view more of my new mini and/or purchase it, Click Here! :)
 

 

 
 

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Word Work: Fascinating Word


Trying to find different activities to use during our word work time has been challenging.  Since I teach third grade, I want my students to do more during this time than the typical phonics/spelling activities.  While my students still work on these skills, I wanted to find other ways to push them even further.  I decided to include some language arts and vocabulary into this time as well. 

One of the activities I had my students do is a little "My Fascinating Word" foldable.  They were supposed to try to find a fascinating word in whatever book they were reading during their independent reading time. Each page had a task to complete:
1-they had to write the book title where they found it & write the sentence it was used in.
2-write their actual word
3-write the definition of the word
4- write 3 synonyms for the word


This required them to notice some of the interesting vocabulary in their books, practice using the dictionary, and using the thesaurus. As simple as it is, they actually had a lot of fun with it!

Super Sunday Sale!

Tomorrow is not only the "BIG GAME," but it's also Teachers Pay Teachers Super Sunday Sale! Most sellers (including me :)) are offering up to 20% off with an additional 8% off given at checkout!  All you have to due is use the PROMO Code: SUPER to take advantage of this super deal!  I already have like 10 different things in my teachers pay teachers shopping cart that I'm going to buy tomorrow!  I can't wait! :)


Click here to check it out!