Freebie Activity menu on the Scientific Method

To follow up my post where I recommended 11 Experiments that Failed, I wanted to share something I created today.  I wanted to make a little menu of activities that my students could complete next week to demonstrate understanding of the Scientific Method.  I thought I would try out Dropbox as well.

I am going to keep looking for experiment ideas, but next week we will work on our menu and start our lesson on the Oceans.  Any great books on the Oceans and Oceanography?

I have some products I received this week to review for you.   That will be this weekend.  My technology tips giveaway ends tomorrow.

I am going to watch Snowhite and the Huntsman now on "On Demand." Never thought about it before... Is Snowhite spelled Snowhite or Snowwhite? 

Book Suggestions Given Printer Suggestions Needed

I keep saying I will got to bed early.  It has not happened.  Good thing today though - I got to talk to my mom for over an hour today.  I usually talk to my mom multiple times a day for short bursts about lots of nothing.  I love it.  She makes me laugh and might be the only that wants to know what I ate for lunch or about my dog's allergies or that I'm tired or that my laundry is wrinkled.  I said one time my mom was my best friend, and a student said "Shouldn't your husband be your best friend?" 

I didn't know how to explain.  I love my husband.  We complement each other perfectly and balance each other.  He is my friend and husband.  I believe whole-heartedly God knew what he was doing when he sent me my husband.  I, whose parents have been divorced since I was a baby, did not believe in the institution of marriage and did not want to ever get married.  So, what did I do?  Marry my high-school sweetheart at 19.  We have grown up together and made all of our major life decisions together.  We love doing things together and talking about our mutual interests.  Do I think everyone should get married young? No.  Do I regret it? No.  But, does my husband what to talk for hours about the same trivial things my mom does? No.  He is my husband, but she is probably my best friend. So, anyway.  I enjoyed catching up with my mom.  We both have been super busy with work and super tired.

I am trying really hard to get organized.  This having multiple grades and multiple ages at once takes some getting used to.  I am enjoying my students immensely, but I will feel better when I get the printing/copying/planning/organizing stuff a little more under control.  I am trying to pick out a printer/copier/scanner for my classroom.  I would like to keep the ink or toner cartridges cost under control.  Any suggestions?  I bought one tonight at Staples because the guy said it was the only one that could do double sided copying for when I needed it.  I don't want my classroom printer to be my main source of copying, but I want the option when I need to.   And double sided seems so much less wasteful.

Today, we read 11 Experiments that Failed. 

It was recommended by Inside this Book and Teaching Mentor Texts.  It was super cute.  My students loved it.  We followed up the book by thinking of our own questions that could be turned into research projects or experiments.  Then, my students thought about a hypothesis and what procedure they would need.  It was a great way to discuss the scientific method.  Any good experiment ideas for beginning of the year?  Science is new to me and my least favorite subject.  However,  I want it to be fun.  I have been reading all blog posts related to science and trying to get ideas.

I have been listening to audio books when I am in the car.  I am loving the Bloody Jack series by L.A. Meyer. 

It is a young adult series about a girl orphan from London who steals away as a shipboy in the British navy.  Some of the content is mature, but it would be perfect for like 7-8 grade.  I am enjoying the history and the characters.  The audio version is fabulous because the reader is doing lots of voices with all of the various European and class levels of accents.  It would be a fabulous middle school read aloud to tie into World or US History.

Don't forget about the technology tips linky and giveaway.  It ends this weekend.

Spelling and other ideas

So, I totally write posts in my head and by the time I sit down to actually finish the post, it eludes me. Then, my dog starts barking like crazy and my brain becomes more addled.

Lack of sleep is not helping.  I should be asleep, but blogging is where I sit.  We worked on our 9/11 activities today.  We started our Spelling list today.  We did a pretest and some games on Spelling City. I am creating my own Spelling lists this year.  I am doing about 10 words of a Spelling rule, five words of a root word, and five words of a prefix/suffix.  I figured this was an easy way to squeeze in some vocabulary study with spelling. As opposed to a typical Spelling test, we are going to apply our Spelling words in writing assignments throughout the week. I have a small class, so I would also like to create a running list for each student of words they misspell in their writing and have them either have a personal spelling list or use these words to make a personal dictionary/word wall. I am working on putting together a Spelling menu of activities for my students that I will share with you tomorrow.  I got some great inspiration again from Kristin at iTeach1:1.

I just purchased Jen Runde's comprehension question fans and math journal activities.   I decided I needed the fans when I read her post on using Daily 5 and her version of Cafe.  I would like to incorporate more lessons from CAFE, but I need time to sit down and skim through it again.  I am looking forward to incoporating Runde's activities.  I think I may use Kidblog and post questions from the question fans for students to respond to with blog entries or even write some questions down in a Reading journal and then respond to them. I may have separate posts for different groups or my different grade levels since I have a grade 4/5 class.  They can read the posts and questions that pertain to them.

I know I need to share some pictures or something with you, but my battery is getting low...on the PC...and me, too.

Night night.  Don't forget the Technology tips linky and giveaway.

Some great blogging world resources for 9/11

I am beyond sleep deprived.  I finally got a class website started so that I would have a place to share links with my students to websites and videos.  I am trying to figure out the best way to utilize technology.  This to me will be the easiest way to get started is to have one place I can send my students for links.  I created a site with Weebly.  It was free and actually super easy to use.  Eventually, I want to add Kidblog and Edmodo, but for now this works for this week.

I found some really great resources for 9/11 through other blog posts.  If you still are looking for some activities to use, check out these posts as well as my freebies from yesterday on heroes and making a quilt square to remember 9/11.

Young Teacher Love gave a link to the video version of the book The Man Who Walked Between the Towers.  This was perfect because I have been searching for 9/11 related picture books at the library and the bookstore for over a week.  I haven't been able to locate anything.

As I scrolled further through my Google Reader, I saw Laura Candler had some great activities/suggestions with the book.  This worked out perfect.

I am going to use Tagxedo per Kristin's recommendation at iTeach1:1 for my student's to create a word cloud in the shape of the U.S.  I think I will have them write a paragraph or poem in honor of remembering 9/11 and then put the text in.  Either that, or make a list of words/traits for heroes to include. (Side note: This might be my new favorite blog to stalk as I try to make the best of using technology and understanding the Mac, along with Technology Tailgate.)

Don't forget about my Technology Tips linky and giveaway.  The winner wins $25 to Amazon, Target, or TpT. 

Happy note: I am now at over 400 followers.  I'm so excited.  I plan on getting that giveaway going this weekend.  Some great people have already agreed to contribute!

Activities for Remembering 9/11

So I have spent a lot of the weekend resting.  I still have a lot to do to get ready for the week.  I spent the morning blogstalking and researching ideas for 9/11 and discussing heroes.  I am linking up with Erica Bohrer to let you know my plans for this week to get my students thinking about heroes. I am supposed to teach somewhat thematically, so I chose the Olympics for my first theme and the Election and Government will be my second theme.  I wanted to take time this week though to discuss 9/11.

We are going to start talking about the Olympics next week or possibly later this week, so thinking about ways to be heroic seems like a good transition to me from 9/11 to talking about the history of the Olympics. (On a side note, I have found a lot of great activities on TpT on the Olympics that I look forward to sharing with you.)  We may also segway into discussing heroes in literature and mythology.

I know there are some great books for kids on 9/11, but I could not get any of them at the library or bookstore.  We are going to watch the brainpop video and maybe read some articles.

I decided to do my quilt square activity from last year again where the students design a quilt square in honor of 9/11.  I added some other activities to this and you can download it below at Scribd or at my TpT store.  You can see pictures of my quilt squares at the post I did for Memorial Day.  I will show my students the examples.  We also will think about traits of a hero, examples of everyday heroes, and do an acrostic for what it means to be heroic.


This week we will also read the poem "The Heroes We Never Name" and answer questions about the poem.  Students will brainstorm and write about their hero. We will look at some quotes about heroes and analyze them as well.  These activities are on sale at my TpT store this week for $1.50.

Here are some activities I found on 9/11 last year from Denise's linky party:
http://sunnydaysinsecondgrade.blogspot.com/2011/09/american-pride-linky-party.html

One of the activities I used from that linky past year and may use again is the homework to interview someone about where they were on 9/11. This activity was at What the Teacher Wants last year.  Here is a link.

Here is a cute activity from Read/Write/Think for the students to write a letter to their hero:
http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources/activities-projects/celebrate-heroes-30154.html?main-tab=2#tabs

Here are some activities from Scholastic for thinking about heroes:
http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=5288

The great thing about discussing what it means to be a hero is that these activities are great for most of the Patriotic holidays.

P.S.  Don't forget about Technology Tips linky and giveaway.  Help me figure out the best way to utilize technology in my room.  I know you have lots of great ideas!
Quilt Squares& Hero activities for Memorial Day and September 11th

Technology Tips Giveaway

So I am feeling a little technology overwhelmed, I think.  I am excited to have access to technology with my students.  I feel like blogging has introduced me to some great sites I want to try, but I am not sure how often to introduce a new site to my students.  I really want to try Class Dojo, Booksource, Kidblog, Edmodo...the list goes on.  Anyone else have a strategy for introducing technology?  I have seen great posts on iPad apps.  We don't have iPads, but we are using Macs (which by the way are out of my comfort zone).  If you have followed me awhile, you know I am married to a gamer who is also a programmer. I am not afraid of technology.  We have 4 PC's at our house for two people (two are old though and not used much).  Macs are new to me as Apple products are forbidden at our house with the exception of my iPhone.  (It's a gamer thing for some gamers to hate Apple).

I know I need to sit down and play with Garage Band.  What other Mac programs are great for classroom use?   Any great apps (that are free or inexpensive we could use on Macs and not iPads?)  I am getting ready for my 400 follower giveaway, which I think I have decided to structure like lots of other giveaways recently with a giveaway each day over several days. In the meantime, help me out by entering my Technology Tips Giveaway.  You also can link up below with helpful posts you write or have written on Technology. 

A couple of posts I read today that got me thinking and inspired this giveaway:

http://peacocksandpenguins.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-technology-in-classroom-edmodo.html

http://mrslambsclass.blogspot.com/2012/09/welcome-to-my-dojo-tutorial.html

As I try out some things myself, I will try and share ideas/posts about how I try to incorporate more technology in my classroom. I would especially love ideas on how you use your Mac.  The prize for this giveaway will be $25 to either Target, Amazon, or Tpt.  It will be the winner's choice.

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Day two done

It's done.  I committed.

My Erin Condren planner is ordered.  I have been contemplating and intending to order it for far too long.  I took the plunge. I'll let you know what I think.

I made it through the first two days of school.  My students are very sweet, and I have a small class (about 10 students).  The dynamics at a small school with older and younger students both are very different.  Usually 4/5 graders would be the oldest in the school where at my school my students are the youngest.  I feel like this is going to be a fun year with lots of growth potential for me as a teacher.  Some of the emotional maturity of my students is younger than I have typically dealt with, so it is different and slightly out of my comfort zone at times but refreshing at the same time.

Here are some pictures of my classroom.  I spent 6 hours on Monday doing some more decorating and organizing.

This is my bulletin board with a space to display each students work.  Their work will be attached with paperclips.  I also made little labels for each page with their names with my paisley and Harry Potter clipart.  I show an example with my own name. I will probably add words at the bottom but this also gave me room for more kids. (That's why it isn't centered).

This is my space to display anchor charts.  I labeled it "Thinking charts" with more owls and paisley.

The labels also got put on their book boxes.

The pink chair is my flea market find last weekend for $25. It is my reading chair.

This was me laying out my genre posters from Ginger.  I forgot to take a picture once they got on the wall.  I love them.  They are super cute!

These were my student journal/notebook labels.  I realized the margins were off some once printed on the Avery labels.  So all of them have been corrected.  I have them in safari, frog, owl, and Smarty kid theme.  I printed them in Smarty kids.  I almost wish I had more things to label because they all are super cute.  If you purchased them previously, you can download the corrected file. If you have issues, please email me.  I would love to make it right.

Tori from Tori's Teacher Tips is having a 400 Follower giveaway. 

I am giving away $10 to my TpT store. Please check it out.  I also am getting ready for my 400 follower giveaway.  I am ten away.  I probably going to set it up this weekend even if a few shy of 400.  Let me know if you would like to contribute something.  I have already had some fabulous people show interest in contributing.  I plan on giving away an Erin Condren gift certificate for the slackers like me who waited forever to order one.  Happy Wednesday!  Off to dinner at a Greek restaurant with a former-teacher buddy.