Back to the Grind…Five for Friday 11.6

I've been through a roller coaster the last few months! I had my beautiful and super smiley little girl, Baby L. I love her to death and her older sister loves her as well. The transition has been pretty smooth for K actually. We have visitors for quite a bit of my maternity leave, but I'm very thankful to have had the help around. Just before I was to go back to school, my precious grandpa passed away. I have not had to deal with death in my side of the family and it was, and still is at times, very difficult. Because of that, I extended my leave for a week.

 The week I went back was a fabulous week *sarcasm* to go back. It was Halloween week, Red Ribbon Week with dress up days, full moon, and Parent/Teacher conferences. Let's just say I was exhausted by the time Friday came around.

This week I did my best to get the kids used to me and what our now normal routines are going to be.  I also wanted to put into practice some of the things I've thought about while I've been away.

My social studies topic for this quarter is explorers. I had planned on doing a different project that we did last year. We were to begin this the my extra week off, so I wasn't quite ready when I had to go take care of family things. My wonderful sub and I were able to quickly put together this and I'm loving it! I still need to tweak a few things, but I'm glad we did it.

I came up with a list of required facts the kids had to find and at least 3 extra facts of their choice. I also gave them the freedom to decide how they wanted to present their information. Most students did choose to make a poster, but a few ventured into making iMovies. Today we watched the iMovies using Reflector. Tomorrow we will do a gallery walk with the other posters. 

To help our staff become more comfortable with Kagan structures and not overwhelmed, we are doing a Kagan structure each month. In my intervention reading class, we used "Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up" to share their responses about things they collect. (We just started reading Donavan's Word Jar, and are using Mrs. Jones's book study.) They paired up three different times with someone who was not their neighbor, then sat back down. 

I pulled out some partner plays from Deb Hanson to practice fluency. They loved the fun little stories! They also rolled their eyes at me when they had to read whatever part they were handed. That meant that a few of the boys had to be "Mom." They got over it and had fun it.

Here they were reading the plays from her Fall/Halloween plays.

In math, we have ventured back into using Gaggle to watch my lesson videos. I can now include exit ticket questions directly in the Gaggle assignment! I'm excited to see how it works out when we get to a lesson that doesn't need drawings in the answer. However, my workshop for when they are finished with the video needs some work. To help with it, I decided to whip up a basic "Number of the Day" to review basic things. After more decimal lessons, we'll move into using Teaching to Inspire with Jennifer Findley's "Of the Day" resources 

Click to download my Free Number of the Day packet.

My sweet family at our school Halloween Safe Night Carnival

We have Rapunzel and a sweet strawberry.

My husband just wore his fire duty clothes, I was a last minute witch.

Linking up with Doodlebugs!

Thanks for stopping by! I will try to stop in myself a little more often with more things to share!

Keep Smiling!

*Steph*

Girls' Camp {June 15} Monday Made It

The first three are from my week as camp director for my church's Girls' Camp. They had a fun filled week of different activities and learning about the outdoors. They went on a hike, did a service project by planting flowers at a senior living community, spent time canoeing, making a couple of crafts, learning archery, wilderness survival, preparing meals, and being spiritually uplifted. It was great, but I am glad that it is over for this year. :)

We made headbands from old t-shirts. This yellow one is an example I made. 

Cut 2 straps that go around your head.

 Cross them and match the ended. 

Hot glue the 4 ends together.

I added a bow and used a small tab of fabric to give it more a finished look.

This girl made her own by cutting three long strips, pulling on them to stretch them out and then braided them. She ended up hot glueing the ends to make sure it stayed secure.

The girls were way more creative than me, but I didn't get pictures of them all.

I forgot to get a picture of a final product and one of the girl's instead of my toddler's.

You use canvas and draw a design with sharpies.

Then take rubbing alcohol and a paintbrush and lightly brush.

It smears the sharpie and looks pretty cool.

My toddler liked the painting with the alcohol a little much, so hers didn't come out very bright. You can see the corner of another girl's in the bottom right of the picture.

We made tin foil dinners one night. We were hungry and I didn't get a finished picture of this either.

What we used:

hamburger patties

carrots

celery

sliced potatoes

a dab of beef gravy

salt & pepper

It was yummy!

We had salad and s'mores to go with it.

I am going to be out on maternity leave for the 1st quarter. I was able to make an example of what I want my kiddos to work on during their social studies rotation with me. 

I'm using a combo of two TPT products. 

Native American Lapbook by Fifth in the Middle

Native American Unit by Rockin' Resources

We won't study all the cultures the lapbook lists. There is an editable form, but it won't hurt for the students to know that they are there.  I starred the ones we will study on the front.

My students will use the information from the Native American Unit to fill out the info tabs in lapbook pockets.  The table is the answer key of what information each pocket should contain.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Don't forget to check out other Made Its and link up with your own!

*Steph*

Pretend It's in the Lesson Plan

Do you ever have activities just jump into your brain? 

I'm not sure if it's inspiration or just my pregnancy brain but I've made some last minutes adjustments to my lesson plans lately. 

We had been working on inferences and deductions. It was the Friday before Easter. 

I had been reading some "What Am I" riddles to my reading comprehension group and one boy said, "These are fun! I want to make my own." 

*Spark*

Pulled out the construction paper… whipped up an example… let them try it out

I thought they turned out decent for spur of the moment. Next year I will have it actually planned and we'll spend a little more time on it. Enjoy!

(Close ups of a couple eggs and their clues coming soon… I forgot to take them and if I don't get this posted, it may not happen.)

Once a week we specify one of our homeroom blocks as geography. We've been spending a lot of time on learning the states. I have one puzzle of the whole US. I wanted the kids to have to place the states but didn't want to make paper puzzles. 

What do I do? 

I gave each student 2 puzzle pieces. (I have 27 students but a couple were absent so it worked out.)

They then had to put the puzzle together as a class, silently. They could only touch their own pieces, but they could suggest where someone should put their pieces by pointing. They also had to step out of the inner circle if they didn't have any pieces in their hands. This kept 1-2 student from taking over the whole activity. I also timed them. It ended up being a great class building activity. Everyone was involved, most of the students were pretty positive with each other. That is a huge plus as this has been a rough year with the way our students have been treating each other.

My future plans for this… acquire 3-4 more US puzzles and have races with smaller groups. 

If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

Five for Friday: March 20

I got a little more techy this week!

I have started using Reflector in my room a lot more. It has been an easier way (less prep than making flipcharts) to go over different worksheets/activities/homework with my kids. It also lets me be mobile in the room, unlike having to be standing at the Promethean board to annotate.  

I also let my kids use QR codes to check their work. 

This is a great setup by Katie May on TPT. 

I like that the answers are on a separate sheet. My kids had to do all the problems, check with me, and then receive the answer key.

We also did the Taxation w/out Representation role play by Young Teacher Love.

It was awesome!!!

This colonist is sad because she has no more jelly beans to pay.

My principal came in as the "Queen of England."

The little piggy in the blue in the front loudly asked "Can we start the war now?!" 

I also was close to getting pummeled by some plastic cups, since I was one of the Tax Collectors. 

Ha Ha! It was a great representation of the unfair taxes and definitely got their blood running.

My hubby was super sweet to me and made this DELICIOUS chicken for me since I was craving it yesterday. 

Check out the recipe at Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Breaded Garlic Chicken in Lemon-Butter Sauce

Instagram teaser:

I did a reveal with my students today! They were so excited to find out.

We took them outside, had them choose which side to stand based on their guess, and then I cut open the top to release the balloons!

Instagram Reveal:

Big sister holding a new dress for her little sister!!

We are pretty excited! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

*Steph*