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! :) ).

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!

 

Rocks Mini Book

 

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

 

 

 

 

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!

Essential Questions

Post the standards, make sure you have essential questions on the board.........Of all the things we teachers have to remember, these are things I can very easily forget to stay up to date with.  I must admit, I have always thought that essential questions were very beneficial.  They give students big ideas to focus on understanding.

This year, I tried a different approach to posting my essential questions.  I really wanted to make posting these essential questions not only easy for me, but also meaningful for my students.  So, I decided to post questions on the board, with an area where my students can respond to them by putting their answers up their on post-its.  My goal is to start pulling them down on Friday's and reviewing them as a class. 

My Genre's Book

So, I was looking for a fun new way to teach literary genres with my kids.  This is a skill we work on through the year, but I wanted to take a week to just really look at the four main genre categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama.  I wanted to do more than just teach my kids about genres and show them different examples.  I wanted them to actually apply it and practice it. 

That's my example I made as an exemplar for my kids---->

Each of my kids made a "My Genre's Book."  We picked a theme (that week we did spiders since it was around Halloween) and wrote different stories, informational pieces, poems, etc. all about spiders for each of the genres.

To do this, I used 1 piece of construction paper and 2 pieces of white copy paper.  I just put the white paper in the middle, folded, and stapled.  We discussed a different genre each day and added a story to our book.  I think it helped make this somewhat abstract topic a little more concrete for them since it was more hands on.

My Heart is Aching....

    My plan is to take time later to post some of my recent activities with my kids, but right now I just  need to unload some of my many feelings....Alongside the rest of America, my heart is aching right now....I feel pain and anguish for the families of Newtown, CT.  Like everyone else, my heart is burdened.  I feel the pain of this tradgedy as a person, as a parent, and as an educator.  As a person, I can't believe something so horrific happened.  As a mother, I can't imagine being one of the parents who lost a child, or even just a parent having to help my child cope with this experience.  As a teacher, I am reminded of my daily committment to do far more than just simply "teach" my children.    

      This weekend, I hugged my daughter a little more, snuggled a little longer, and found her actions that are usually frustrating to be endearing.  My daughter is amazing and is truly one of the most amazing blessings that God has ever given me. 
                       
My wonderful husband Chris, my amazing daughter Tenley, and me!
  
Today, some of my many actions were similiar. I hugged my kids even more frequently than usual.  I let them goof off a little more.  I smiled at their actions that can be trying at times and thought about how blessed I am to get to work with these precious children everyday!