tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8992420093289956592024-03-12T23:17:46.873-04:00Freedom to TeachTwo elementary teachers with a strong desire to help kids reach their fullest potential!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-17868958339015388732014-09-30T22:29:00.001-04:002014-09-30T22:29:20.816-04:00Reading and Responding to Text!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Common Core is where it's at.... Well, at least for the time being!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Boy, do I have a great lesson for you! Okay, well I'm thinking it might be a great lesson. This will be taught this Thursday in a 3rd grade classroom. We shall see then just how wonderful it is, LOL! Anyways, it's FREE and I just made it tonight! You can either read the book <u>Thank You, Mr. Falker</u> by Patricia Polacco, OR you can go to <a href="http://www.storylineonline.net/">www.storylineonline.net</a> and you can have the story read aloud to your class! It's about a 16 minute video and it's a great story. Check it out!!</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Thank-You-Mr-Falker-Constructed-Response-Comprehension-Traits-Theme-1474999" target="_blank">Comprehension ~ Constructed Responses: Book Thank You, Mr. Falker!</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-68648039593424623322014-09-30T19:18:00.000-04:002014-09-30T19:34:11.605-04:00Do you need words for your word wall?This post is from a long time ago! I'm not sure why it was saved in the draft section...Oops!! We had just started using them at the time and now the whole 4th grade team uses them. This is a set of 180 Words taken from Fry's list of 100 4th grade words and 80 of the 5th grade words. All words have the parts of speech listed and pictures added in where possible. These words help to meet many of the common core standards!<br />
*180 words for the word wall that kids should be able to write and read fluently*<br />
These words can be added in to your current spelling program. <br />
Great for ELL kids as well as your whole class!!<br />
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/4L3-4L6-Common-Core-Word-Wall-Words-with-parts-of-speech-pictures-274097" target="_blank">180 Word Wall Words </a> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-71162780320615314862013-12-15T14:36:00.002-05:002013-12-15T14:36:09.861-05:00Our Newest Product: Building a Terrarium!Our school is in the process of becoming STEM certified. STEM means Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics! Basically our kids are taking a more inquiry-based approach in their learning process. So far, the kids are responding well and most of the teachers are really liking it too! Whether you are a STEM school or not- our lessons that have STEM in the title can work for your students as well. Our newest product titled Water Cycle: Building a Terrarium, is currently in our Teacher Pay Teacher store. Our kids had a blast completing this 1-2 week unit. We also have many other Science units available such as: weather, simple machines, force & motion, ecosystems, etc.<br />
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/STEM-Build-a-Terrarium-Engineering-Design-Process-Science-Project-1022423" target="_blank">Water Cycle: Building a Terrarium</a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-70380428812391509322013-01-14T00:15:00.002-05:002013-01-14T23:08:52.708-05:00Fractions Freebie<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Greetings to you. I'm sitting here wondering how many balls I can continue to juggle in the air. It seems that as each month passes another ball is added to my juggling act! I'm sure you can relate. Hence, the 2 month absence from this blog! Anyway, to help me feel less guilty, help yourself to our newest freebie on equivalent fractions. </span><a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/MATH-Equivalent-Fraction-Sheet-FREEBIE" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/MATH-Equivalent-Fraction-Sheet-FREEBIE</span></a><br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Stay tuned, another post is coming soon on simple machines.</span> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-13648956825509767342012-11-11T20:23:00.002-05:002012-11-11T20:23:41.045-05:00Ordering Fractions!<span style="font-size: x-large;">One of the biggest changes in our curriculum this year involves fractions. We are having to teach our 4th graders how to put fractions with different denominators in order. Wow! We decided the best way to do this is with a number line- actually, many number lines. Through trial and error we discovered that the students should make a number line for each denominator before figuring out which is least or greatest. We wanted to share with you how we did it so it can hopefully save you time when you get to this!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">We gave each group of 3-4 students a number line to build. The number lines started with 1/2 and went all the way up to 1/12. We skipped 1/11- but we didn't need that one anyway! The little papers attatched are pictures of each fraction. The kids used graph paper to make these. </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-29064631125185798762012-10-30T21:41:00.001-04:002012-10-30T21:41:42.509-04:00A New Blog and Writing Idea!<a href="http://theconstantkindergartener.blogspot.gr/" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Constant Kindergartener Blog</span></a><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> is hosting a linky party. If you teach younger kids this may be just the blog for you. She has some really cute paper with holiday designs on it. This type of paper is great for having the students publish their writing pieces on. We are always looking for ways to make writing fun and just having a simple thing like decorated paper makes even the big kids get excited!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-43061438301292023512012-10-14T20:39:00.001-04:002012-10-14T20:50:24.250-04:00FREEBIE for READINGFeeling a little sluggish... Going back to school after having one week off is really hard to do. You know- you get in a different routine of staying up late and sleeping in, staying in your pajamas all day, and making things for TPT. I could handle a few more days of that!<br />
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Well, back to the grind tomorrow. In reading we are still working on our "Following Characters Into Meaning" unit. Here is a freebie that we used a few weeks ago about assigning traits to our character and backing it up with evidence.<br />
<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Character-Traits-Form-Reading-Journal-Use-Text-Evidence" target="_blank">Character Freebie</a><br />
Take a look and see if it's something you can use.<br />
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We need your help! We are trying to find some interesting non-fiction texts for our 4th graders. The non-fiction unit is coming up quick. We will definitely use our Science & S.S. books to help with this, but we are looking for other titles that may seem a little more "fun" for our kiddos. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!<br />
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That's it for now... I have a little more lesson planning to do before I hit the hay! Have a great week ya'll!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-17486751775914816322012-10-11T23:28:00.000-04:002012-10-12T21:12:09.219-04:00Science! Science! Science!<h3>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Common Core...we love common core, but please do not forget about Science! There are so many ways to incorporate science into common core. Our interactive notebooks are an excellent way! Psst...I use these same interactive tools with EVERY subject! The output pages allow the student to WRITE about their learning everyday...so do the lightbulbs!! This is a SUPER easy way to get your kids to write in every subject...in an organized way! Check it out and let us know what you think...</span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Setting-up-Interactive-SCIENCE-Inquiry-Notebooks-Lesson-Plans" target="_blank">http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Setting-up-Interactive-SCIENCE-Inquiry-Notebooks-Lesson-Plans</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-4111095661761525542012-10-05T22:06:00.001-04:002012-10-05T22:06:47.369-04:00It's the little things...<span style="font-size: large;">So, I just figured out how to make the font bigger so that all of you aren't squinting to read this, haha! This realization caused me to get so excited... I guess it really is the little things in life that keep us going!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We are muddling our way through Common Core. In fact, we are having to make lessons, projects, assessments, & activities as we go because there are limited resources available. I'm sure that everyone is feeling that pressure as well. As with all things, people tend to be resistant to change, at least in our building it's true. Most of all, parents are scratching their heads wondering what in the heck we are teaching their children! The math is proving to be the most challenging. In fact, we are sending home "directions" on how to solve 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication problems using base ten blocks just so parents know how to help their child. We created a PPT/slideshow which teaches the step-by-step process of multiplying with base ten blocks and also a break apart method. The students are really enjoying it and are becoming proficient at it. You may want to check it out if you are getting ready to teach this to your students. </span><br />
<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Multiplication-Strategies-Using-Base-Ten-Blocks-Lesson-Assessments">http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Multiplication-Strategies-Using-Base-Ten-Blocks-Lesson-Assessments</a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">We would love to hear about your journey with Common Core so far this school year!</span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-28210031224606473692012-09-29T19:48:00.001-04:002012-09-29T19:48:53.636-04:00Talking, Teaching, and Moon Phases!<h2 style="text-align: center;">
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Geez Louise! We are already nearing the end of the first 9 weeks! Where is the time going? We are plugging right along with this Common Core stuff- which is not as bad as we anticipated! The math has been the biggest challenge. After a few times of being tutored (haha) we were able to teach our kiddos how to multiply 2 digits by 2 digits using two different methods: break apart method and using base ten blocks. We are currently working on finding the factors of numbers, as well as prime and composite numbers. Finding factors has been the most challenging thing for our students to grasp so far. In fact, we recently uploaded a helpful file to Teachers Pay Teachers that can be used to teach finding factors with a rainbow method. It's pretty cool.</div>
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TALKING... This has been the chattiest group of kids I have ever taught in 13 years! Seriously. Not just a little chitter chatter here and there- we are talking con-stant-lyyyyy! I'm seriously thinking about putting all the talkers at one table so they can drive themselves crazy! I do have a few sweet, quiet babies who never say a word, but others make up for it! Any ideas on how to get the talkers to stop saying everything that enters their 10 year old minds? Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated. :-)</div>
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We just finished up our Science unit on Moon Phases & Planets. The kids had a blast with this unit- especially since we ended it with a trip to the planetarium. Our newest lesson plans for that particular unit is also in our TPT store. It includes lesson plans that work nicely with an interactive science notebook; it also includes a study guide, assessment, several different labs, vocabulary cards and an "I have, who has..." game. If you teach moon phases or even planets you may want to check it out. It's one of our best lessons... Well, I think it is anyway. </div>
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Happy Teaching my fellow teachers!!!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-25081374559454580792012-08-18T10:10:00.000-04:002012-08-18T10:10:42.031-04:00Our newest product!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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From now until the end of day Monday August 20th, we are giving this product away for free! This is one of many units we are creating to meet the needs of Common Core. If you download it and think it's GREAT, please leave some awesome feedback. If you have any additional comments/feedback you are welcome to come back to this blog post and share! :-) Just click this link and it will take you right there! <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Prepositions-Prepositional-Phrases-Task-Cards-Poem-Assessment-Lesson-Plan" target="_blank">Preposition Unit at Teachers Pay Teachers</a><br />
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Hope your year is starting off great! Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-12812664938943508752012-07-17T21:27:00.000-04:002012-07-17T21:27:21.475-04:00Our Newest Science Addition<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">After a lot of hard work, the lesson plans are ready to roll out for the first week and a half of Science! These step-by-step lessons are in workshop model format and include everything you need to have your students up and running during Science class. The interactive notebooks are a great way to really get the students thinking and it holds them accountable for their learning. These plans would be great from 2nd on up!</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Setting-up-Interactive-SCIENCE-Inquiry-Notebooks-Lesson-Plans" target="_blank">Science Lessons for Setting Up Interactive Notebooks!</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-32153814826642492542012-07-15T23:13:00.000-04:002012-07-15T23:13:30.579-04:00Summer 2012Vicky, over at <a href="http://traditionslaughterandhappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/2012/07/summer-plans-what-have-you-been-up-to.html">http://traditionslaughterandhappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/2012/07/summer-plans-what-have-you-been-up-to.html</a> is having a linky party. This is our first ever linky party and I'm not totally sure I'm doing this right! I have so much to learn when it comes to blogging. I'm hoping that the more I play with it- the better I get. If you have some helpful hints, I would love to hear from you!!<br />
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Christy and I have been spending some of our summer in professional development. We are kind of nerds on the educational spectrum, but it's a good thing, I think. I attended a reading conference for two days and a Lucy Calkins writing conference for four days. Meanwhile, Christy went to a five day conference on science. She is so pumped up about it. In fact, she's currently working on our first unit that involves setting up and using an interactive notebook! We will post pics of that soon.<br />
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I've completed a reading project with organizers for summarizing, character traits, and inferrencing.<br />
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I am also currently working on a complete preposition/prepositional phrase unit that I am totally excited about. It will be everything a teacher needs to introduce preps, all the way to assessing them at the end. <br />
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We both have also stayed very busy with our kids. Christy is extremely involved with travel soccer because her beautiful twin girls play every weekend. I, on the other hand, have found myself wrapped up heavily in travel baseball and softball. It's quite a challenge for both of us- but we love it so much!!<br />
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That's all for now.... I really I hope I did this right, LOL!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-29309949706679437182012-07-14T21:00:00.000-04:002012-07-14T21:00:08.317-04:00Time is Flying!July 25th will be here before we know it! Our first day back to school is in 11 days. Holy cow! We are anxious and excited, but we planned on having more lessons and activities completed than we do at this moment. We are excited that we were able to roll out our new word wall words with pictures and parts of speech, along with some reading graphic organizers to help with the Common Core. I wonder how many other teachers spend their summers working on activities for the new school year. I'm sure there has to be plenty of other nerds like us who would spend all summer coming up with new and improved ideas! I've included a couple of pictures of some things we have made.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LTFvl1VjhqU/UAIVqRd8mAI/AAAAAAAAACE/mxLMgbINQJ0/s1600/wall+words+4.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LTFvl1VjhqU/UAIVqRd8mAI/AAAAAAAAACE/mxLMgbINQJ0/s320/wall+words+4.PNG" width="246" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-77135924628316960462012-06-12T15:29:00.000-04:002012-06-12T15:29:16.476-04:00Summer Work<br />
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<img alt="Photo: I drove the bookmobile to a local neighborhood today...does anyone else volunteer for the bookmobiles in your area?" class="scaledImageFitWidth img" height="403" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/582376_285751908190518_9646886_n.jpg" width="403" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">To all of those people who say that teaching is an easy job AND we have the summers off can "talk to the hand"... lol! Our job is never done. We have a weekly book mobile that visits neighborhoods each week to get books in the hands of children who really need them. Our hope is that they will continue to read throughout the summer and will be fresh and ready to go when school starts up again in August.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We are also steadily working on lesson plans, graphic organizers, and integrating content areas in an effort to be extra prepared when the kiddos return. In addition, our principal bought us all the book <u>Pathways to the Common Core</u> that we are to read over break. So far it's an easy, interesting read that you may want to check out.</span></div>
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Gosh, the year is coming to an end very soon! It's time to celebrate a wonderful year with our students. Academically, they have grown tremendously! We are thrilled with our scores. Thank goodness! We believe it's our hard work at providing lessons that are "Best Practices" as well as higher level thinking. The students have thoroughly enjoyed our units on Ecosystems and Animal Adaptations. Our units for both of these are posted on Teachers Pay Teachers. These units were fun to teach and the kids got a lot out of them. As Common Core is going in to effect this coming school year, we will be ramping up our lessons in all content areas. We plan to get some dynamite lessons posted over the next couple of months.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-31178343433787209102012-05-17T19:59:00.001-04:002012-05-17T19:59:14.502-04:00Getting this started!!<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been working on getting my friend to get this bog started. She doesn't realize how much fun this really is!! I work the FB page and she is blogging...only she hasn't gotten "into" it yet!! Please comment and encourage her to come out of hiding and join the wonderful world of blogging!! She is such an awesome teacher with so many great ideas!! Come on, Angie!! :-)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-899242009328995659.post-68078324292840157642012-02-20T13:30:00.000-05:002012-02-20T13:30:41.530-05:00Kids taking charge of their learning! Woo Hoo!<br />
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This was the first time we tried this project with our students. Much to our surprise, they loved it! My class was broken into 6 groups. There were 3 essential questions that the students had to research as it pertained to our Science Unit on light. The particular group shown below had the question, "How do prisms separate light?" They followed a "Project Planning Sheet" (free in our TPT store). They researched their information and designed a poster with information on their EQ. They rated themselves with a rubric too! The following day the groups taught the other students about their research. This was a highly effective lesson. We plan to use this same technique in other units and subjects as well.<br />
<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fun-Essential-Question-Project-for-Small-Groups-FREE" target="_blank">Link to Freebie: Planning a Project with Essential Questions</a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All students in the groups were engaged.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Students enjoyed presenting their information to the class.</td></tr>
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Well, it was just a matter of time, but we've finally gotten a blog started. We are so excited about this new adventure in our world of teaching. Our goal is to create lessons, try them out in our own classroom, and then pass them on to fellow teachers so that other kids can benefit from research based activities. We will be posting pictures, project ideas, lesson plans, activities, SmartBoard files and so much more. Stay tuned...<br />
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