New Year's Activities that Spark Thinking and Creativity (and Motivation!)

Hey there!

I wanted to pop in real quick and share with you two activities I did to celebrate the new year with my students this week!

The first activity I left on their desk for them for morning work.  It looked like this

This is a creative art activity where students use the numbers in 2014 in a picture in some way.  They can incorporate it any way they want.  I like doing this now and then because it differentiates itself.  My very creative kids had an opportunity to think outside the box while my kids that don't like to create could still do whatever they wanted within their comfort zone.  Here are some of the pictures I got!

Here it looks like she used the 4 and the 1 as a sail boat, the 2 as the body of a flamingo, and the 0 as a sun!  :O)

Here, it looks to me, in my artistic expert opinion, that he used the 4 for a campfire, the 1 as a street light, the 2 as fireworks, and the 0 is the peach dropping.  Here in Georgia, we watch the peach drop in Atlanta on New Year's, if you aren't watching Times Square!!  :O)

And, I sort of know what she did here because she came to me and said, "I meant to use the 0 as a moon but I made it a sun.  Should I start over?"  I told her of course not, I would understand!  So, it looks like Santa is in a sleigh made from the 1, she pasted the 4 and used that as part of the roof on the house, and then she used the 2 as the street address.  Then, I guess she wanted another 1 and 4, too!

I think they turned out pretty cute!  :O)

At the end of the day on Wednesday (Monday was a teacher work day and Tuesday school was closed due to severe cold) we talked about resolutions.  Almost all of them had heard the word resolution but we talked about it anyway.  I gave them a pep talk about starting the new year with achievable goals in mind and then I told them about the crafitivity we were going to do.  It is from Runde's Room and it was FREE!

This craftivity had 6 pages of goal setting!  There was a page for academic, social, leadership, athletic, and organizational goals plus one page for picking a one word theme for the year!!  I loved it because it wasn't just based around school, plus it got a lot of discussion going!!  

We worked on RACKs before school got out and it was a nice tie in to leadership.  I love that Jen used "big" language like academic and social because many of them did not know what that was, so we got to talk about it (and then they felt really smart!).  I didn't have anyone tell me they couldn't think of anything!! Goal setting is so important, and I probably don't do it enough with them, so I really wanted to take the time and do this!  We talked about all of this and they got started Wednesday afternoon.  Then, they finished it for morning work on Thursday! 

Here are some of the finished products!

On the bottom one, her word for the year is excellence!!  Wohoo!  Sounds EXCELLENT to me!!  ;O)

I loved this one word!  Her one word was LIVE.  Then she said that she spends too much time indoors on electronics and she needs to go outside and LIVE!!  I love it!!

Right now these beauties are on their desks.  I would have loved to hang them from the ceiling but the FIRE MARSHALL (who's not my friend) says that's illegal (or something like that) so I can't do that.  I told them they could keep them on their desks for another week and then take them home.  They are really proud of them!!  Which makes me happy because I hope that they will remember these goals!

I'm linking this up to my sweet friend Joanne's linky because my hope is that both activities sparked their motivation to begin 2014 on the right foot!!

What fun New Year's activities did you do?

Amanda

A Fabulous Giveaway from Fourth Grade Flipper and Head Over Heels for Teaching

Hey there!

I'm sure by now you have heard that our sweet friends Holly and Joanne are having an EPIC giveaway!

Today, we have a prize up for grabs on either of their blogs, so be sure to go check it out!!  You might just win our Winter Interactive Notebook Activities and Flipbooks for ANY text!!  Here's what you might win!

Good luck!  There are 2 other amazing bloggers donating products AND the chance for you to win a $50 Amazon giftcard and a Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener!!  Happy Friday!!

Pin it to win it winners!

Hey there!!

If you went back to school today, I hope you had a great day back!  We went back for a teacher work day and then found out we don't have school tomorrow because of record low temperatures in Georgia!  It's going to get down to 6 degrees!!  Our poor kiddos most likely don't have the correct outerwear for this kind of weather and I can't imagine them having to stand outside and wait on the bus in this cold!  I'm glad they closed schools tomorrow, even if we do have to make it up!

I have no idea how those of you in the north that see these temps often handle it!!  Bless you!!  It's so cold!!!!  Brrrrrr!!

Anywho, onto winners of our Causes of the American Revolution Articles and Activities!


If you missed this post on how we use them, you can click HERE to learn more!

So, our winners are Miss Knights and Jackie Jenkins!  You have been emailed ladies!

I can't thank you all enough for pinning this for me, for your interest in this product, and for your sweet comments!  It really means a lot!!!  Thanks for reading our blog!!!
Amanda

Red Sled {Language Arts Must Read Mentor Text}

Happy Sunday!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday break! We go back tomorrow....going to be hard to get up! I've enjoyed sleeping in!!!  :(

I want to share a Language Arts mentor text that is perfect for Winter. I bought this book last year because it looked soooooo cute, but I never ended up using it with my kids. So, this year I am excited to try it with them.

The book is Red Sled by Lita Judge.

I know this book is written for young children, but I am going to adapt it to use with my fourth graders. Sometimes the simplest books can be the most powerful teaching tools!  :)

Amazon.com Description: "In this almost wordless picture book, a host of woodland creatures take a child's sled for a nighttime joy ride. Their whimsical ride is gorgeously depicted in bold watercolor, complemented by humorous expressions and pitch-perfect sound effects. With a timeless tone and classic characters, RED SLED will become a wintertime favorite."

I am going to start by reading the book aloud to my class and showing them the gorgeous illustrations. Then, I will read it a second time, but this time I will pause on each page to allow my students to make inferences. They are going to tell me what is happening on the page and how the characters are feeling. The students are thinking this already in their heads, so this is a great way to show them how often we make inferences and we do not even realize it!

Next, I will use the book during my Writing Workshop. Since the whole book is written in onomatopoeia phrases, this will be a great time to review these awesome sound words. We will add the onomatopoeia we find in this book to our onomatopoeia charts in our writing notebooks. 

I will also use this text to do a writing lesson on using quotation marks. I know the first thing my kids will say is,"There are no quotation marks in this book!" and they are right. Sooooooooo...we will create our own dialogue for the characters! I will explain to my students that they are going to help author this book by adding in dialogue. And the expressions on the animals' faces are priceless, so I know they will come up with some clever quotes!  :) This also ties in the inferencing because the students are inferring what the animals would be saying. 

Other Writing Workshop lessons I will do focus on narrative writing. I will review how to describe the setting of the story using our senses- this is a great book to try that with since the snowy setting offers so many opportunities. We will fill in words on our graphic organizer that we paste in our notebooks. Then, I will review how we "Show, Don't Tell" in our writing. In groups, students will rewrite the sentences on the graphic organizers we paste into our notebooks. I always love to see the awesome details my students come up with! :)

Finally, I will have my students write a narrative of this story. They can use their setting graphic organizers and onomatopoeia charts to help them. I will give them the choice to follow the story that the author outlined or to create their own "Red Sled" story.

If you would like to use any of these printables I created, please just click here to download them for FREE from our TPT store.

I hope that this will be a fun way to "ease" back in after our two week holiday break! :)

I look forward to seeing what books you link up. Have a happy Sunday!
-Stacia

Please Link Up!

Next week's linky- Math

Social Studies Interactive Notebooks- Causes of the American Revolution Nonfiction Articles

Hey there!!

I am here today to link up with our friend Erin for the first time for her

I don't know how you feel about Interactive Notebooks, but I love them!  We have an interactive notebook for all of our subjects in my classroom.  I am not a fan of binders. I mean, I'm a fan of them for ME but not for my students.  The first time a student dropped their binder and the rings popped open and papers and dividers went everywhere...yeah, that was it for me.  Plus, they would never put their papers behind the tab that I asked them to, even if we all did it together...so, yeah, that was it for student binders for me.  I know other teachers have great success with it but I'm just too OCD for it!

For our notebooks/journals, we use composition notebooks.  I actually started them with science and social studies a few years ago and I loved it so much we now have them for Reading, Grammar/Mentor Sentences, Writing, Word Study, Math, and Social Studies/Science.  For Social Studies and Science I use the same composition notebook.  The front half is Social Studies and then we flip it over and go from the back cover towards the middle for Science.  Since we are going into the second half of the year, we will get new composition notebooks for Social Studies and Science when we start back next week!!  This will be exciting for them!  (I know...it's the little things!!)

So, we are about to go into teaching the American Revolutions.  Well, actually The Road to the Revolution (I have no idea if that's an event that needs to be capitalized but that's what everyone calls it, so it sounds important, right?).  So, we will begin discussing events that lead to or caused the American Revolution.

I was looking for some articles that I could use when I was teaching this unit of study but I couldn't quite find what I was looking for.  So, I decided to just make my own articles!!  (GASP!!! How does one even do that?  I wasn't even sure if it could be done!  But it can!)

So, I created these articles for our Social Studies Interactive Notebooks!!

I'm pretty excited about these, but nervous at the same time.  I mean, I'm excited to use them in my classroom.  I know I"m going to use them (obviously) but I'm more so nervous because this is the first time that I've created something like this and put it out there for purchase.  But, I figured if I was having a hard time finding what I needed, maybe someone else was too and they could use these articles?  

I also made comprehension questions to go with each article:

And, I have Interactive Notebook Activities or flipbooks that can be used for each article.

So, how am I going to use this, you might ask?  Well, I will tell you!!  In our science and social studies notebooks we paste all of our articles or notes on the right, and then we "take notes" on the left.  Sometimes they draw pictures of what we are learning about and sometimes we paste in flipbooks.  So, for these articles, we will paste the article on the right, like normal.

Then, I usually have my students take notes from the article.  We draw our notes instead of doing written ones, unless it's really hard to think of a picture.  :O)  We outline paragraphs that go together and we can draw a picture for.  Most of the time I do one paragraph per color, but sometimes I double up.  Then, we draw that picture on the left in the same color.  I do all of this on the document camera so it is projected up on the whiteboard and the students can see my notes.  I do not make them draw the same pictures as me or use the same colors.  However, most of them want the same exact color I use and draw the same exact pictures, which is fine by me!  ;O)

After doing the picture notes, we do the flipbook activity that goes with the article.  Some of the flipbooks may take up more space, but I knew this one was smaller so I had more room for the notes.

After we read that article together and do all of these interactive activities, I give the students the comprehension questions and I can use that for a grade!

Hopefully this makes sense.  If you don't use interactive notebooks, maybe this will help you consider using them???  We love them!!  They are perfect for taking home and studying for tests!

So, what do you think of my first attempt at writing nonfiction articles?  Phew!!  I wanted to note that these are perfect for grades 4-6!  For grade 4, you'll probably want to read it with them and do much of it whole group.  5th and 6th grade would be more independent, and you can always use this to differentiate within your classroom!

Oh, and if you can use these nonfiction articles for your American Revolution unit, you can check them out in our TpT Store.  Or...you can pin it to win it!!  Yep, you got it!!  You have the chance to win them!!

Here is the pin:  http://www.pinterest.com/pin/515451119823199669/

Click on the pin and repin it.  Then, copy the URL of your pin and paste it in the comments.  Also, leave your email address so if you win, I know where to send it!  I'll choose two winners!!  

Thanks so much for reading about how I use Interactive Notebooks!  Be sure to check Erin's blog for more ideas!
Amanda

Blogging Resolutions and Giveaway Winners

Hey there!  Happy New Year my friends!!!

I wanted to link up real quick to my friend Diane at Fifth in the Middle for her Blogging Resolutions Linky.  My blogging resolutions are very simple!

1.  I want to blog more often about what is going on in our classrooms.  There's a lot of great stuff going on, but I feel like I never have time to blog about it or I don't have pictures.  It takes a long time to get pictures and things situated for a blog post, and I tend to feel I don't have enough time to get it all together and get it posted.  I'd like to blog at least twice a week.  One being our Mentor Text Linky and the other sharing something from our classroom.

We do blog about products we have made, and I'd like to blog about HOW we are using them.  I get caught up in getting them posted because we want you to know that they are out there if you need them, and I am bad about not going back and showing how we used it.  I'm not going to say that we aren't going to self-promote, but I just want it to be more attached to how we are using it, and not just the product and that's it.  Because, let's face it, no one wants to just see a string of self-promotion in their blogger feed.

2.  I want to be able to READ blogs and comment.  I feel like at this point I EITHER blog or I do nothing.  I can't even say that I read because I just haven't had the time.  I think my time management at school is lacking or something because I bring home work with me every night.  We do dinner, homework, baths and then I sit down and do school work.  This is why I don't blog or read blogs.  I just can't seem to do it ALL.  I want to read blogs because there are so many wonderful bloggers sharing ideas!  If I do get to read, it's usually because we are in the car (I'm not driving!) and I am reading on my Bloglovin app.  I can't seem to comment using that, so I read, but I don't comment.

I know how much it means to me to get comments, especially after spending an hour or two (yes, it still takes me that long) to write a good post, so I know I should comment more.  Plus, the relationships you can build by commenting and starting a conversation are amazing!  I have made some good friends over the last year, but that was when I was commenting and the blogger was responding.  If you like a post or appreciate something shared, it's always nice to say that to the blogger.  :O)

And so, that's it.  Two resolutions, but for me they are pretty weighty and they will be a challenge.  

And, onto some lighter news!  Giveaway winners!!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway

I could have made cute buttons, but this was already done for me and I figure, a winner is a winner, right?  ;O)

Ladies, I have emailed you!  If you didn't receive an email from me, please leave your email below!

And to those that didn't win...I'm sorry!!!  We still love you!!! (I know that's really know consolation prize, but we do!)

Amanda

Comparing Goldilocks and the Three Bears with The Three Snow Bears {Winter Must Read Mentor Texts}

Hey there!!  I am excited to share with you a winter book that I love to use in my classroom!

One of the things that Common Core asks of us is to compare and contrast stories.  I know Goldilocks and the Three Bears is a well known story.  Or you would think it is.  However, I am always delighted at how much my students enjoy James Marshall's version of it!

Goldilocks is very naughty in this book, and I think that's why the kids love it!  She's a fun character to read about!  Plus, I love James Marshall's illustrations!   It does have some good language in it that brings it up to a third grade level or so.

Well, a couple years ago I stumbled on The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett. I love to use this book in the winter!  And, of course, we love Jan Brett.  Talk about some gorgeous illustrations!  And, it's a different version entirely of the Goldilocks story. Now, there are still three bears, but the setting is entirely different.  And, I do really love using these books, so of course I can tie this in to the fact that we learn about the Inuit in our Native American unit, and the kids love that!

Now, in this story, the little girl, Aloo-ki, is not nearly as naughty.  She basically just loses her dog sledding team and then discovers the Three Snow Bears' igloo, tries their breakfast, their boots, and then takes a nap.  The ending also shows that both the bears and Aloo-ki are very kind.  

So, two totally different stories based around the same general plot.

Now, since I teach fourth, I feel like I have to kick it up a notch.  We use these two stories for the basis of a writing piece- our own "Goldilocks" story.  We talk about the elements that made up both stories.  The basic structure is you have a person (a girl in these stories) who goes into someone or something else's house and then gets into 3 things that aren't their own.  Usually Papa Bear's is too big/hot, Mama Bear's is too squishy/cold, but Baby Bear's is juuuuuuuuust right.  So, we use that same structure.

Now, I let them choose any character and any animal they want for their story.  It can be a boy if they want it to be.  But it has to work itself out that they can think of three things that the character can try of the owner's.

I definitely spend a good deal of time on setting.  This is one of those elements in writing where students rarely do their setting justice.  They just don't think about really describing it for their audience.  So, we talk about that because the setting for these two stories is vastly different.  Now, we have the illustrations to help us out when we read these books, but their reader really wants to READ about the setting so they can understand.

Then, we get writing using the Goldilocks structure.  I try REALLY HARD to keep them from using exact copies.  Like, the soup was too hot, too cold, and just right.  Like, maybe they went into a rabbit's den and the carrots were too crunchy, too mushy, and just right.  That way, they aren't exact replica's of the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story, but their very own version.

This will be the first narrative we write when we are off break to get back into the swing of things, which makes it pretty painless for me and the kids.  And, I get to incoroporate a fun winter book!!

Now, you've probably seen other books like this one:

This story is told from Baby Bear's point of view.  I have not read this story, but I've seen a lot like them.  You could go even further with this and have the students write another version of their own Goldilocks story (you know, the one they just wrote?) and have them tell it from another point of view.  Talk about throwing in the Common Core!  Yes, I think I will!!

Yes, I know I just shared three books and only one was a winter book.  I totally broke my own rules.  Oh well.  It'll be ok.  And if you want to share more than one book, I say, GO FOR IT!!  :O)

Oh, and I did create a little unit last year to go with Goldilocks and the Three Bears versus The Three Snow Bears if you'd like to try these books out and have some activities to go with it.  :O)  

What are some of your favorite winter books?  If you don't blog, please feel free to comment!

Amanda

Please Link Up!

Next week's linky- Language Arts

RACK {Our Random Acts of Classroom Kindness}!

Last year around this time, I knew many people were participating in RAKs (Random Acts of Kindness).  As we got closer to the holiday season, I knew I wanted to do this with my class...I just had to figure out how...

You see, this year, my class is...in need of...hmmmmmm.  How do I say it....???

Some of them just need to be nicer and a little less SELF-CENTERED if you get me??

So of course I turn to Pinterest for some ideas because I knew there would be some, I just needed a nudge in the right direction.  And, Pinterest NEVER lets you down!

I found this pin first:

And then this pin:

Now, the first pin links to Cara Carroll's blog, The First Grade Parade.  As soon as I saw it linked to her, I knew it was going to be good.  Because everything she does is good.  If you don't read her blog, I strongly recommend it.  Even if you are upper grades, like me, you'll find something you can use and make appropriate for upper grades.  I promise!

Well, her RACK cards were for her family (Random Acts of Christmas Kindness).  So, I read over her post, drooled over the beautiful Advent Calendar she made, and filed away some of her ideas in my head, hoping I could use some for the classroom.

Then, I went to Stephanie's blog, 3rd Grade Thoughts.  Another fabulous blogger!!  I knew I was in luck having stumbled on two amazing pins like this!!  I read over Stephanie's cards and I really liked that she switched her to Random Acts of CLASSROOM Kindness.  She's so smart.  Much quicker thinking than I am.  ;O)

So, I read over her cards and decided we could definitely do some of these.

I wanted to get started the week we got back from Thanksgiving break and do one each day for those 3 weeks.  Plus, there were a few that would be "homework" because it required them to take it home or do something at home.  There were also specific people in our school building that I wanted to target, so I added those in.  Here's what I came up with:

Now, I'm pretty aggravated with myself because I left some photos on my jump drive at school and forgot to bring it home for the break.  I will add those photos in once I get back to school.

We actually did ALL of these cards except maybe two.

Here's how I introduced it to the class:

I put the wrapped present on my bench.  The kids love the bench and I knew they would see it.  It was just a matter of time before they started asking about it.  By about mid-day, they wanted to know who left it there and who it was for.  I told them I left it there and it was for the class.  They got REALLY excited!  I told them we would open it at the end of the day.  The suspense about killed them!  ;O)

At the end of the day, I gathered them on the carpet in front of this bench.  I started to talk to them about the season coming up.  I knew everyone didn't celebrate Christmas, so I explained that sometimes we get so wrapped up in wanting things for ourselves, we forget how good it can feel to GIVE to others.  And, we forget how it can make OTHERS feel when we give to THEM.

From there, I explained what Random Acts of Kindness are and then told them we were going to do a classroom version.  I showed them the cards in the box.

I did not read all of the cards to them.  I told them it would be a surprise each day.

I wanted them to be able to keep track of the different RACKs we pulled out, so I created a log sheet so they wouldn't forget, since some of them might take a little time.

Each afternoon, just before bus call, the kids would say, "It's time for RACK!!!"  We never forgot.  Not one day.  Well, I forgot.  They didn't.  So they didn't let ME forget for long!  We would sit and they would all gather around me.  More like on top of me.  Because they knew if they were close, THEY would be the one to pick the card out.  But it didn't always work that way.  I was always looking for someone who was RACKing others without even thinking about it.  And if they did, I'd let them pull the card.  I never said why I picked them, just that only those with the true RACK spirit could pull cards.

(This probably sounds harsh but the very first week one of the cards we pulled was "Help a friend clean up his or her area".  That NEXT DAY we were walking in the hall and had stopped to wait to go into art.  Another student from another class was walking past our class and had her hands were full.  She dropped everything and it went everywhere.  I kid you not.  My entire class turned and looked at me.  Just looked at me and looked at her.  Then back at me.  Finally, one of them moved to help her and I said, "This would be a RACK for sure!"  Then, they ALL moved.  See.  This is why we did this.  They didn't quite get it on their own.  So doing all of this brought it to their attention that they SHOULD help.  I couldn't believe they just stood there and looked at me.  Maybe they wanted permission to get out of line and help?  We'll go with that...)

When we made notes for the librarians and lunch ladies, I put the notes in a little box and I had made brownies.  I put them in a bag and we left the notes and brownies for them.  My assistant principal had to put her dog to sleep, and she was one of the cards, so I told them I wanted to pull that card that day so we could leave her notes and maybe lift her spirits.  We left a candy cane for her since she can't eat gluten.

The kids LOVED the making a sign for the trash collector.  I had parents email me pictures of their notes on the trash can.  Those are pictures I will add later (sorry!).

I also have a picture of a student leaving a chalk note on the driveway of her neighbor's house, thanking them for putting up Christmas lights on their house  It's precious.  I promise I'll add that one too!

I do have a picture of the last RACK we did.  This one was a big hit.  I had parents donate a box of candy canes to this cause.  We had loads of candy canes.  Then, I emailed and got a parent or two to come in on the Friday before the break to help us.  You see, I'm not so comfortable having 28 fourth graders running around the parking lot unsupervised.  So, I had three parents come in and take groups around the parking lot and put notes and candy canes on the cars.  Here's one of my sweeties with her RACK!

This was a great success.  Friday was a day of winter parties.  Apparently a parent that was helping with a party left and posted a picture of her candy cane and note on her car, tagging the school's Facebook page.  The next thing I know, the administrative assistant is buzzing into my room asking me to check my email and respond ASAP.  Uh oh.  So I did.  Her email said, Did your class RACK the cars in the parking lot?:  Can I post it on FB?

I was like, um, yes, but it's supposed to be anonymous.  And how did you know it was me???  She said that a parent posted it on FB and then one of my student's parents that had helped us responded on the post and said it was my class.  Geez.  Social media works fast, I tell ya.

Five minutes later, the principal is in my room.  She thanked my class for their thoughtfulness and said she promised she wouldn't tell.  It made my students feel very good, so I guess technically I'm glad that they found us out.

Later, a few teachers figured out it was us (they removed my name from FB so it was still anonymous) and they left really sweet messages on my personal FB page.  One of them said "It made me smile at the end of a long, crazy day.  It's amazing how something so small can mean so much."  Very true.  And something we all need to remember.

I hope my students learned something from this.  I know I did.  Maybe it will stick with them.  I hope so.
Amanda

PS- A great big thank you to all who have posted about RAKs and helped me find a way to do this in my classroom!!  Oh, and I am linking this up to my buddy Joanne for her linky:

And don't forget about our giveaway!!!  It ends tonight!!

 Click the button below!  Good luck!