Flash Freebie! Wringer by Jerry Spinelli

Take advantage of my Flash Freebie Download of Wringer by Jerry Spinelli before it's too late!  All I ask is that you leave feedback HERE in return of your download!

This unit is full of chapter comprehension questions, vocabulary, graphic organizers, and an end of the book quiz.

Book Fairy

I just got back from an amazing reading conference where I came back to my classroom packed with an armful of books, freebies, and ideas!  And now I am busily preparing to implement them into my classroom!  

One of my favorite ideas, and one of the easiest, is the idea of having a "Book Fairy" visit your classroom!  As teachers, we all know our students' hobbies, likes, and interests.  So finding books for your students is as easy as picking a book off your bookshelf, sticking a book fairy card on top of the book (they will know it's from you), and sticking them on their desk for them to find.  

They may not read every book you recommend, but they will be encouraged to at least try.  And eventually, they will read at least one of the books you suggest!

Click on the picture below to download your FREE Book Fairy cards!

Live Cams Are A Great Addition To Your Classroom!

This summer flew by...as all summers do!  I tried my absolute best to ensure that everything my own kiddos learned last year would remain fresh in their little brains over their three months off.  We did Math facts, practiced sight words, read books, and practiced tying our shoes!  All of which was usually met with the moans and groans of my children who would much rather be outside riding bikes and swimming!  However, there was one amazing learning experience that kept us intrigued and attentive this summer. 

My kids LOVED watching the live animal cams!

Click the picture above!

There are lots of different animals to view live...bees, polar bears, whales, and more!  But our favorite seemed to be the salmon and the bears in Alaska! 

Check it out and see what is your favorite!

I know I will showing this in my classroom this year! 

Welcome Back!

http://explore.org/

Boggle or Bust!

I have hopped on the Boggle Bandwagon and I am loving every minute of it!  My 4th graders are very excited about this new classroom activity and it has gotten pretty competitive in our room! 

I changed it up a bit from what I have seen around and made my own to add more letters, thus creating more columns and rows.  

We start a new Boggle Bash game each week.  Students have all week to fill a sheet with 25 words.  They know I tally the sheets by how many letters they use.  So they need to fill up their sheet with bigger words to win...the three letter words aren't going to get you the win!

When they are finished, the put their sheet in the Boggle Bash Box (a wooden toy mailbox - I think it is Melissa and Doug - that I purchased at a garage sale and painted).  The following Monday, I tally the sheets and declare a winner.

What does the winner get?  

They go crazy over a simple bottle of Powerade!

This week's Flash Freebie is this Boggle Bash game.  It includes the heading, letters, answer sheets, and directions.  

In case you were wondering, I use a Calendar Pocket Chart from Carson-Dellosa which fits everything perfectly.

Click on the picture below to get your Flash Freebie!

Earth and Space Unit

To Infinity and Beyond!

That's where we traveled this past quarter as we rocketed through our Earth and Space Unit!

We covered our Earth, Sun, & Moon!

We learned about shadows...

and the phases of the moon!

We explored our stars and constellations!

We explored eclipses!

We discovered our planets!

And, of course, we did fun projects!

I am always amazed at the effort put into these projects!

So for today's Flash Freebie, you can download this whole unit including the Power Point for note taking!

Enjoy!

Think Green!

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner!  Do you have your green ready?????

Here is a quick and easy art activity that the kids can do independently and have fun with.

Students get to choose any art supply that is green to randomly fill in squares.

In our classroom, students were able to choose from paint, water colors, markers, crayons, colored pencils, glitter, and oil pastels.

 

We then punched holes in the top and added green pipe cleaners for easy hanging.  Ribbon would work too!

 

For the FREEBIE printable, click below!

 

Enjoy!

Classroom FREEBIES that are a MUST HAVE!

These are some of my new favorite FREEBIES that I think every A+ class can benefit from!

How do you get your students to write A+ sentences?

How do you get your students to turn in A+ work?

=

How do you get your students to have A+ reading responses?

 

How do you get your students to treat each other with A+ respect?

 

 

How do you get  A+ student participation?

 

How do you get  A+ test results?

 

Valentine's Day Freebies

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching so I thought I would share some of my favorite Valentine's Day Printables!

This is what I do each year with the kiddos so they have something to hold their class valentines.  

All you need is the printables provided (click on the picture for link) and a paper sack!

This can be used for any grade level as I have done it with Kindergarten and 4th grade and both age groups loved it.

Another cute activity to send home with kiddos to give their parents is this kangaroo.

Have them write a love letter to their parents and stick in the pocket.  They can also write chore cards to stick in the pockets.  I did this with Kindergarten, but a blank heart could make it easily adaptable to upper grade levels.  Click on the picture above for a link to printables!

Finally, for my class I give them a little coupon for 5 problems off an assignment.  They must attach to their homework. 

Enjoy!

Great Graphing Projects

We have been graphing stars this week!

This is the first time I have ever done this project with 4th graders.  In the past,I had done it with 5th and 6th graders.   So, I simplified the project just a bit and the kiddos did a super job!

We spent about a week planning our surveys, completing our surveys, and then creating graphs for our results.   

The final result is a bulletin board of Graphing Greatness!

Here are a few examples!  

They were asked to make a cover for their project.

 

They needed to create a Frequency Table with their survey results.

Then they were asked to create a bar graph...

 

a Circle graph...

 a Line graph...

and a Pictograph.

These 4th Graders are Graph Experts now! 

This weeks Friday Flash Freebie is this Graphing Unit.  

This is a printable project activity for your students to complete after they are finished studying about Graphs. It includes 11 pages:

Page 1 - Student Instructional Sheet

Page 2 - Survey

Page 3 - Frequency Table Template

Page 4 - Line Plot Template

Page 5 - Pictograph Template

Page 6 - Bar Graph Template

Page 7 - Circle (Pie) Graph Template

Page 8 - Line Graph Template

Page 9 - Stem and Leaf Plot Template

Page 10 - Histogram Template

Page 11 - Grading Rubric

I put all these pages together in this order into a packet that I handed out and explained to the students. I then displayed their final projects. Great Final Graphing Project. I also have a PowerPoint presentation that I used that covers all these graphs.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Graphs-Power-Point