Monday Made Its - Baking, Paint and B2S Technology

Hello Everyone!  I hope everyone is filling up their carts at the TpT Back to School Sale!  Don't forget the coupon code of B2S!

Well on to my one well maybe two, ohhh I thought of another one so three Monday Made Its!  I guess I was more productive last week then I thought I was!!!  Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics has this wonderful linky party.  I love this linky especially looking at all the beautiful things everyone is making.  I usually don't get to participate because I either forget to take pictures or I get nothing completed but not this week!  Whoo Whoo!

This is my shamelessly plug for my TpT store.  I pushed all day yesterday to finish my Fast Food Challenge.  Every year I try to find a template to do this activity with my 4th and 5th graders but it is never really what I want so......I made my own.  In this challenge the kids create a unhealthy fast food meal at their favorite fast food restaurant using the internet to use the restaurant's online menu.  Then they create a healthy meal using the same parameters - a drink, main, side and dessert but it has to be under and as close as they can get to 550 calories.  

    

Click HERE to purchase this product and remember it is 28% off today and tomorrow only!

 For my 2nd Monday Made It I went blueberry picking with my youngest and my BFF and then made 5 loaves of blueberry bread.  I was surprised how easy this quick bread was and the best part it was really Yummy!  Here is the recipe HERE.

My last Monday Made It I painted a really cute headboard and foot board for my middle daughter's bedroom.  It was given to us for free but the person smoked and it was really gross!  So I sanded, applied 3 coats of primer and 2 coats of white paint!  I think we are going to buy some chevron contact paper and line the back of the sliding shelves.  Hopefully I can get some pictures when my daughter wakes up.  Sleep Beauty the life of a teenager.  It is going to be tough in a few weeks getting up at 5:30 AM!

Well if you still are on summer break enjoy these last few days.  If you are back to school already I hope you are having a fabulous first week back!

Happy Monday!

Kitten, Sunsets, B2S Craziness!

  Yahooo - its Farley's Currently linky and noooooooo it can't be August it just CAN'T be!  Just when I at last get into summer mode.....BAM it's time to go back to school.  I love going back to school but WOW it just comes faster every year.

Look at this beautiful sky!  I just want summer to slow down to a snail's pace right now!


I love Farley's Currently!  I will be lost reading everyone's posts for hours today.  So here is mine...

Listening:  Okay we found another furry friend at my son's baseball tournament.  I took it home with the expectation that I would fine a home for it.  Ahhhhhh....NOPE!  Now she is tearing up my furniture with her crazy claws.  Just what we need something else that poops!  Isn't she cute though?

Loving:  First days of August have been just beautiful here in Ohio!  We went from wet and cold to stifling HOT!  Now AHHHHH!  You have to love Ohio weather.

Thinking: I have been working on a new product for my TpT store - Fast Food Challenge. I just ran into a snag so I am trying to problem solve it quickly so I can have it ready for the TpT Back to School SALE!  I love this sale and I have quite a bit in my cart to buy on Monday.  How about you?

Wanting: To go B2S shopping....I need to sell at the TpT sale!  Fingers crossed.

Needing: This was the first year ever in 20 years that I did not rip down all my bulletin boards so you would think easy peasy right?  Nope I decided to organize all my science supplies out of those large plastic totes.  This picture all shows a small part of the mess.  I love to organize but geeze what was I thinking.

B2S Rack:  I love Farley's idea of putting a bit of happiness in a few teacher's mailbox.  I wanted to do something last year but being new to the school I did not have enough guts.  I already have a few teachers in mind now what to sneak in there???? Hmmmm

Enjoy these last few beautiful days!!!

Happy Sunday,

Back to School Changes and Planning - It's that time already!

Happy Tuesday Everyone,
We at last have a beautiful day here in Ohio, no rain, lower humidity and temps in the 70's.  Ahhhhh! It kind of feels like fall.  I know, I know be quiet!  But this type of weather makes me think of school and gets my ideas flowing.  I have been thinking a lot about what I want to change or add for next year's lessons.

When I was student teacher (Yeah 20 years ago I cannot believe it has been that long!)  my mentoring teacher told me to be reflective about my lessons of the day (What worked or did not work and how can I make my lessons better?). I think that is the one thing that really stuck with me from my student teacher days!  Remember I student taught there was no internet, Smartboards or even whiteboards and no Pinterest!  WOW has teaching changed! I do have to say I LOVE teaching even more now!

So here is what I am thinking about...

4th & 5th Grade Science
QOW - I am going to start a Question of the Week to try to do a review over material they should know or we are learning.  On our standardized testing last year I notice the kids were missing stuff they should already know. I do not have time to go back and reteach 3rd or 4th grade material so I thought I would give them a 2 sided worksheet at the beginning of the week which will be due on Friday. This is going to be tough for the kids since they are not use to homework in science.   If they have a parent's signature I will give 1 point extra credit to help motivate them to complete the QOW.  I am thinking of purchasing Ari's  Science-Warm-ups-Bundle from the Science Penguin which has daily questions and I will give them four questions each week.  I love her stuff.  

Health 3rd Quarter - I always have taught health during the fourth quarter but after I looked closely at my kids' test scores I noticed they were missing quite a few basic health type questions.  So I think I am going to move it up to the 3rd quarter.  We do our testing at the end of the 3rd quarter, beginning of the 4th quarter so I am hopping they will stop missing these questions.

Monthly STEM / STEAM Activities -  With such a push to do more STEM / STEAM activities in the education world I thought I should integrate more into my lessons.  They kids love to do them too.

Science Olympiad Team -  My motivation is I want to try something different and give myself a new challenge.  One of my BTF is a teacher on her school's team and they placed in first place!  We would also be the first school in our city to compete.  I can't wait to get started.

Young Astronauts - We are very lucky to have NASA here in our backyard.  Every year they have groups of kids from schools around the area come and do science / space type activities.  This will be the first year I take a group of 3rd, 4th and 5th graders.

4th Grade Reading
Book Club Groups -  We have very big classes, last year I had 27 kids in each fourth grade homeroom. This year I have heard I will have 32 kids in each fourth grade homeroom...Whoa!  Last year my book clubs ranged from 6 - 8 kids which was great but I think the quieter kids got lost.  So this year I want to try to make the groups smaller, 4 - 5 kids. Hopefully I can find all the books I will need.  I usually gather from my collection, the school's very small collection and 2 different county's library systems.  It is a lot of planning and legwork but the kids love the book clubs.

40 Book Club -This is from the Book Whisper herself! I proposed this idea of reading 40 books during the school year to my kids last year thinking only a few kids will actually read 40 books.  Boy was I surprised, out of 54 kids, 30 kids were at the end of the year party.  An ice cream sundae bar!  Yum!! So this year I need to challenge them more....my new rule is you have to read so many books from each genre I assign and you must pass an AR quiz in their level (ZPD) after reading the book. I can't wait to see how they do!

Mystery & Author Skype - First the kids love anything technology related then getting to meet kids in another part of the world with Mystery Skype or their favorite author !  Too cool!

Flashlight Friday - Last year every Friday I had the kids independently read for the entire class time.  This year I want to hold them more accountable by having them fill out a quick response sheet. I made some for my TpT store if you would like to take a peek click here - Quick and Easy Reading Response Sheets. 

Reading Conference - Last year I tried very hard to meet with kids to talk about their reading and I even had a binder where I wrote down notes after the conference.  I just felt like I was missing some or not meeting enough so this year I am going to make a calendar where I assign kids/groups days for our conferences. I think if I am a little more organized I will make better use of my time.

So there is my ideas in a nutshell.  What are you doing to changing things up with your lessons?  I would love to hear from you!

Happy Summer,

Week 3 - TpT Challenge - Health & Nutrition

Happy Rainy Tuesday!
This is week 3 challenge for the TpT Seller Challenge.  To create a new product for TpT......

Click HERE for my TpT store

I created this because every year I do this project with my fifth graders after I teach nutrition and I really needed a more formal set of directions and templates.


The Motivation -  A Good Idea Gone Bad......
I usually do this with groups or partners but keep the groups small.  Last year I had big groups (6 - 7 kids in each group!)   My BIG idea was because there were 32 kids in each class so I had each group design one day's lunch.  So there was 5 lunches per class but it was disastrous. Like I wanted to stop midway and throw it out disastrous!  You know when an idea sounds great in planning but when you put it into action....UGH why did I start this!!!!!  It just was too hard to evaluate. Kids were off task  fooling around. Timelines were not met so unfinished projects resulting in yucky grades and unhappy students and parents. But it can be a great project that kids love.....


The Change to Awesome....
So I changed it so each Individual / small group / partners would make a week's worth of lunches.  I also added a student directions handout with guidelines for reference, a planning template and a final project template.  

Have a terrific rest of your week and make it awesome!

Book Clubs and Literature Circles

I have had a few questions about the books I have used during my book clubs.  The first thing I do before I start a book club is to round up a few book sets in the genre we are focusing on.  This can be tough since my school has a very small collection and I also have a small collection.  So I reserve book sets at the local library which I have two different counties very close so I use both.

It can be a lot of work but I love watching the kids' eyes light up when I bring the books sets into the classroom.  They get so excited so it is worth it.   I then present the class with the choices and they write down on a piece of paper or in the Google Classroom they submit a doc. I form groups and away we go.  Here is their groups from last year...

My book clubs each revolve around different genres.

Realistic Fiction: Hatchet, Stargirl,  and Bridge to Terabithia Each day we answered comprehension questions I created in our interactive notebooks.  This was a lot of work and collecting notebooks to grade.  Boo!   I do not think the kids enjoyed it as much either.  They did enjoy completing activities from a student choice board (Click here for TpT product) for the final assessment.    

Mystery - Westing Games, Bunnicula, and Library Card  I had the kids form a more formal literature circle. I used a Literature Circle Booklet with roles they completed each day and they shared the next day before they read.  I also used audio books with this book club.

Biography -I was a bit crazy here, I had each student pick out their own biography to read.  I did recommend the Who Was / Is? series but they could pick something different as long as it was a biography and they could finish it in 2 weeks.  So everyone read independently in class.  I would like to group / partner kids up this coming year.  Hmmmm maybe kids that read books on the same person could partner up to do a final project together.

Whole Class Read - The Best Christmas Pageant Ever - This book we read together right before Christmas Break.  I would put up on the Smartboard a roaring fire in a fireplace and we would read either as a class, partners or alone. Each day we would fill out a sticky note with 2 things we read and one question.  The next day we would discuss our sticky notes. They really loved this book and we did watch the movie and compared the two.  Warning the book and movie does use the word, "sex" in it.  Hmph why do the authors do that to a great book!  I may not use this next year because of that. I wonder if there is a "clean" version or better yet maybe I can White Out the word in all the books.  LOL

Historical Fiction - Number the Stars, Bud Not Buddy, and The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson I used another Literature Circle Packet on TpT this was my favorite plus it is free! I will be using this next year.

Fantasy - James and the Giant Peach - This was a whole class read at the end of the year.  This kids loved it.  Each day we read either together, partners or alone.  After they read the daily section I had them fill out a sticky note with 2 things they read about and 1 question.  This was then placed in their interactive notebook. The final project I had them do a report on their favorite characters.  Just a warning this book does have swearing in it. Why do these children authors have to have swearing in their stories?

Mythology - I assigned each group a short story (myth) in a book club format.  Here is the packet I found on TpT Greek Mythology.  It was awesome!

I also did a poetry unit and worked on close reading.  I think I forgot a few things but this is definitely the gist of each.  Here is independent reading repsonse sheets I created for next year's book clubs in my TpT store.

Available in my TpT Store

What do you do for reading?  What are your favorite books that you use in your classroom?

Happy Monday!

Struggling Readers and Book Clubs

It seems like lately all I post about on my blog is for linky parties or challenges.  I do have to say it does motivate me to write more posts especially if I get comments. But it is not the real reason I started this blog, that was to share my classroom ideas.

In my classroom, I try to motivate kids to read and to read a lot.  Practice makes perfect right?  In fourth grade it can be magical!  Just think for a lot of the kids, fourth grade is the year that they read a novel (chapter book) for the first time all by their self without Mom or Dad reading to them or with them.  It may be the first time they actual finish a novel by themselves! I know you always have those higher readers that love to read and have been reading books forever and I LOVE those kids.  But I mean the average to lower kids who struggle or just hate to read.  Now to see that light turn on to reading,  that is the reason I LOVE to teach.

Here is a few things I do during my class to motivate and support those types of readers.

1.  This is number one, I am extremely enthusiastic about reading.   I read with my classes and during independent reading.  I talk about books I am reading or my own children are reading (because I read everything my own children read) and bring them in for kids to read.  I challenge the kids to read 40 books and I also do that challenge during the school year.  I take AR quizzes with the kids on books we are reading in our book clubs or on books I have read. I read books the kids recommend to me and talk to them about those books.  I also model what good readers do, how and why I read and the variety of types of reading materials I read.

2.  I give one class period  a week totally devoted to independent reading.  I usually like to conference with the kids at that time but sometimes I also read during that time. Model, model, model! Kids learn so much by watching those around them.

3.  I have even picked a kid that is really struggling but is almost there and read a book with them.  I have the student pick a book they would like to read and I get the same book and we form a mini book club.  I let the student chose how much they will read each day and I read that section with them and the next day we discuss what happened in the story.  When it comes time to taking the AR quiz, I am right there with them taking it too. It is a trick I have used with my own children with great success.

4. During my book clubs (my version of literature circles), I have audio books that the groups take turns listening to.  I have 2 ipads and my phone which I download audio books from the library (free) or I purchase from Amazon or Audible.  Audible is a $14.95 membership that you can download one audio book per month.  The first book is free.

 Since my book clubs usually have between 4 - 6 kids I use a headphone splitter that has 5 ports that the kids can plug their ear buds into. Sometimes we have to share ear buds to get the entire book club on. The kids then listen to the section for the day while reading along.  Nothing is sweeter then hearing a group bust out laughing because of a part in their book.   Since I only have 3 devices and I usually have 4 - 6 book clubs going we take turns each day using the audio books.  The groups that are not listening to the audio book either read out load together, in partners or silently.

 

 The kids get very passionate about their day to listen to the audio version of their book club book.  They love it!  I have read, that listening to a book while reading it can increase comprehension by 50%.  I definitely have seen those test score increase after using audio books.

By doing this I am supporting my struggling readers without the rest of the class knowing it and for those that are below grade level they can read a more challenging text.  My fourth graders hate being treated like a baby and reading what they consider "big kids'" books I am able to boost their self confidence in the process.  I also recommend to parents to get audio books with the actual book so the kids can read at home. The trick is they need to do both, read and listen to the book at the same time.   I have seen tremendous growth in my students' Star scores.  The best part is when I hear one of my kids say, "I actually like to read now after this year!"

Next post I am going to reflect on what I am going to do new next year to up the ante in my reading classes.  I have some great ideas brewing!

Have a great week and happy reading,

Dare to Dream and Dream BIG

We are on week 2 of the TpT Seller Challenge and this week's theme is Dare to Dream.    In this challenge we are to blog about our BIG  dreams for TpT. Every time someone purchases one of my products or downloads one of my freebies I am truly humbled.  When I get that email that someone has purchased something or left feedback I am jumping up and down with excitement and also thinking, "WOW someone bought one of my products?"

 Around adults I am pretty shy and quiet until I get to know them.  So when I decided to post my first product on TpT it was way out of my comfort zone.  I am very happy I did and it is all a work in process for me  but it has totally been worth it.  I even forced myself to go to a Northeast Ohio Meet Up this last spring.  I was so happy I did!  I met some wonderful ladies and learned a thing or two.  I would definitely do it again.

Here are my BIG Dreams I would like my TpT store to help with...

Dream 1 - Ok this is not one I am very proud of but it is truthful. We are in dept up to our eyeballs due to losing my job 5 years ago due to budget cuts.  I did find another job for the following year but at a significant pay cut.  We had to put a lot of daily living on credit to make it for 4 years.  This last year I found another awesome teaching job and I am extremely thankful that it pays much better.  Now we are digging ourselves out of a very big hole.  If I could get my TpT store going, it could help pay off some of that yucky debt.

Dream 2 - After all that yucky debt is paid off (and dream 3 is on its way) I want to go to Italy with my hubby.  Both of our families are from Italy and it is a dream of ours to visit where our families came from.  Life is just too short not to follow your dreams.

Dream 3 - This dream is number 1 even though I listed it as number 3.  It is to put some money in  our savings. My  TpT store can definitely help with this dream. I just need to get out of my comfort zone and advertise / promote my products.  It is scary to think that someone could be criticizing (ripping a part) my work. It is so hard to put yourself out there.

Well I hope you have some big dreams.  I cannot wait to read about them.

Have a great night,