Three shirts every teacher needs- May 2016

 Check out our new shirts perfect for every teacher! Order yours today!

1. TpT Goddess (click here to purchase)

                 

2. Ask 3 before Me (click here to purchase)

3. Rock the Test (click here to purchase)

Moon Unit and Resources

My third grade class just started learning about the solar system. It is a favorite unit among my students year after year. They are mystified and intrigued by the happenings of the solar system. This week be begun studying the moon.

Students created beautiful posters showing the different phases of the moon.

I love reading the book "Faces of the Moon" to students while they point to the phase on their moon poster.

Faces of the moon by Bob Crelin

We also watched Bill Nye's video. Students were cracking up as they learned and reviewed important information.

After the video each student wrote 1 new fact they learned and drew a picture to go with it.

You can download my Free Moon Pack here. It contains a matching sheet, poem, cloze reading and word search. Enjoy!

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Rounding on a Vertical Number Line

We're about to begin our rounding and estimating unit.  Our district utilizes the Eureka curriculum.  I created the reference sheet and worksheets to help my students practice rounding on the vertical number line.  It was a little daunting at first but actually makes more sense than just thinking about the good ole 0 to 4 rounds down and 5 to 9 rounds up.  This is a great strategy for visual learners.  I would recommend sending home the reference for parents and a support at home.

    

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Multiplication Today

Many parents comment about how math looks very different today.  At a recent School Open House night, we showed a PowerPoint of how math can be modeled.  We are currently in our multiplication unit, where students are learning the concept, not just facts.

As a way of reviewing the various ways to model, I had students represent a fact using arrays, number bonds, the commutative property, and equal groups.  This FREEBIE is great to hang up for an Open House or just review the different ways to model math.

Action Verb Charades

When teaching verbs in the past, I had students act out the verb to see the action.  We did this for sentences we read to make identifying verbs more accessible for the kinesthetic learners.  While lesson planning this afternoon, I thought of a more engaging way to involve movement into the teaching of verbs - Charades!

This FREEBIE is available on my TpT site for a limited time!

Irregular Verbs Resource Pack

Each year, many students come from homes where English is not the first language, or even spoken at all.  One area where these students have difficulty, as do many young English speakers, is with irregular verbs.

Our students enter the building between 9:00 and 9:15.  Most teachers don't begin lessons until 9:30.  As a special educator, I see that as plenty of time to run a small group to work on goals!

I created a pack of resources to use to help the students learn some of the irregular verbs.  There are so many to learn but I selected the verbs I thought would be most frequently seen and used.

The pack includes four fill-in-the-blank worksheets, a memory matching game, and a sorting worksheet.  I printed several sets of the memory matching game on different shades of colored card-stock.  I paired the students up heterogeneously so they could help each other recognize matches.

How do you teach irregular verbs?

Organizing the Classroom Library

We have been back at school getting ready for our new students to show up on Wednesday.  Summer sure did fly by after those seven snow-days were added on to the end of the school year!

One of my major projects this week was rethinking the leveled library in the third grade pull-out space.  Every general education classroom has an extensive library but I wanted to offer some lower level books for students who may not find what they're looking for at their "just right" level in their homeroom classes.  I was able to clear out a few shelves to make a mini leveled library that all students in third grade can access.  It's currently a work in progress, but here's an idea of how I'll be using the space.

This year, I discovered Townsend Press.  They offer a range of leveled books for just $1 each.  The books feature diverse characters and realistic school and home situations that all readers can relate to.

This morning I created book bin labels with clipart I found from Krista Wallden. She has lots of free clip art, fonts, and teaching resources on her TPT site.  My book bin labels include one label per A to Z level, a variety of topics, and all genres.  Snag them for FREE now!