Transformations, Ahoy!

I must start off by saying I cannot believe I only have two days left with
my kiddos. :( I am beyond sad to see them go, though I look forward to some sunshine and relaxing this summer! We've spent the last two weeks doing "fun" math that reviewed all the different topics we learned over the course of the year. One of the activities we did is one of my favorites, and this year the kids really liked it too! I found this activity called "Shape Ship" on the Lesson Plans Page a few years back and always do it with my kids during our geometry unit. It is a great way to review some of the shapes, as well as geometric transformations, aka slide, flip, turn... aka translations, reflections, rotations. The kids create an ocean-themed picture on construction paper using a sailboat, the sail, and a sun to represent slides, flips, and turns. The kids love that they have a picture that "moves" and I love hearing them partner up and explain transformations using their artwork as a guide! Here are some pictures of a few of the kiddos work:

     

They used straws and a slit behind the waves to slide/translate the ship. The sail flips/reflects on the straw and the sun turns/rotates. I thought they came out pretty darn cute!

Do you have any great geometry ideas to share? I'd love to hear them! Now I'm off to finish up my end of year gifts for my students... pictures coming soon!

YouTube Favorites Linky Party

I know I already had a post for today but then I stumbled across Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera's Favorite YouTube Videos Linky Party and just had to join in! I use YouTube quite a bit but will only share my two favorite 'Tube uses in my classroom.

1. Magic School Bus - I have yet to find a Magic School Bus video I want to show that isn't on YouTube. I hook my projector up to my laptop, pull down the screen, and Voila! The kiddos are at the movies (and learning, too!) Plus, I just LOVE Ms. Frizzle!

2. Teacher Tipster - I absolutely LOVE Mr. Smith... he looks like an amazing, fun teacher! He has his own website which links to his videos and has printables but I actually found him originally on YouTube and you can watch all of his videos there. Videos range from fun songs you can teach your kids (my kiddos favorite - Hey honey bunny... I know my money money), interesting games (check out Kaboom! and Cup Stackin'), and tons of ideas on how to make learning more fun! His creativity (using pool noodles as place value tens and ones - genius!) never ceases to amaze me! I attached a video I love called Silly-brations. It contains fun ways to celebrate your students' achievements, other than a simple applause. I use many in my classroom!

And here is an example of a printable from his website. It is a list of the Silly-Brations mentioned! :)

In case I haven't emphasized it enough, check out Mr. Smith and Teacher Tipster! You will not be disappointed!

Rockin' Resources Linky Party

I've spent the morning working on my action research paper for my master's program (I'll be finished in just four weeks!) and figured I deserved a little break so I decided to check up on the blog world! In my travels I found another linky party I just had to join! (I think linky parties might quickly become a new obsession of mine!)

I'm linking up with Kelley at the Teacher Idea Factory for her Rockin' Resources Linky! Teachers get to list their most beloved resources, the things they just couldn't live without. While there are a TON of things I couldn't live without, I've narrowed it down to my top five. So here goes:

#1. My laptop and projector - I guess technically that counts as two things but they go hand-in-hand! I use my laptop all day long it seems! Especially now that I've entered into the world of bloggers and Pinterest! I would spend all day on my laptop if possible! Plus my projector is great for projecting anything off the internet/my laptop and we even use it for school movie nights to put movies on the "big screen!"

#2. My mini dry erase boards and wipe off markers - We use these EVERY DAY! I use them the most in reading and math and find they are highly motivating to the kiddos. And even though we've been using them since the first day of school, they haven't lost a bit of their luster! Kids even ask to use them to do math problems during Fun Friday time instead of playing the large assortment of classroom games we have.

#3. My easel - It sounds so simple but I went my first three years of teaching without one. Last summer I was looking into buying one but then my BF's dad offered me one for free! It is a basic wooden frame and had been used to display a 50th wedding anniversary photo but it works perfectly! I love the look of the wood and because it has tripod legs it fits perfectly into the little corner I've nestled it into!

#4. ThistleGirl Designs - I love, love, love ThistleGirl! I purchased a membership a while back and it is one of my best examples of money well spent! I use these graphics for everything - newsletters, classroom posters, worksheets, my class website, you name it - I most likely use ThistleGirl for it! I highly recommend checking out the website if you haven't already!

#5. Teachers Pay Teachers - I seriously can't get enough of all the wonderful resources available on here! I will admit, I've probably spent more money than I should on there but I just love all the wonderful units and craftivities I have found! Its also great for when you're in a bind and need something quick. A real lifesaver at times!

So there is my top five! I can't wait to see what resources other teachers can't live without!

Scoot!

One of my favorite activities to do with my students is Scoot! I didn't create this game... I found it on ProTeacher a while back and have been using it ever since! Here's how we play Scoot:

* Number students desks and put some sort of question on each desk.
(I bought some cheap little plastic traffic cones at the Dollar Store a while back and have them numbered, so when we want to play this game I just take them out and put one on each desk - so simple!)

* Print out a student worksheet with the same number of answer blocks as there are desks/questions
 (I have a generic template I created in Word and most of the time that is all I need! I just inserted a table into a Word document and numbered each box - done! Sometimes I will add to the boxes when I'm looking for something more specific in the answer, like in the example below.)

* Have each student pick a desk to start at. They solve the problem on the desk and put the answer in the corresponding number square on their worksheet. After a few moments, the teacher says "Scoot!" and the kids all move to the next desk and problem.

 (A little tip - I do make sure I put the number cones in number order as the kids go around the room - it is less confusing this way. Also, we practice simply scooting MULTIPLE times before we ever even try to play the game. I will admit the first couple times you are bound to get a child or two who will put their answer in the wrong box but if you play this a few times they catch on quick!)

That's it! We LOVE this game. I use it for reading to review different skills quite often. For example, when going over parts of speech, I will put a different word on each desk and the students must write whether it is a noun, verb, adjective, etc in the corresponding answer box. For math, the possibilities for this game are endless! I attached a copy of the Fraction of a Set Scoot we played during our fraction unit. I set it up so that there was a small pile of mixed coins on every desk. The students then scooted around the room figuring out the fraction of each coin in the set on their desk. This was a great way to review the different coins with my kiddos as well as practice fractions. At the end they used their fraction worksheets to figure out bonus problems I asked them, such as, "How much was desk #5 worth?" or "What was the quarter total for desk #9?" I know I've said it already, but I just love Scoot! The kids see it as a game, it is easy set up for the teacher, and a great way to assess kids on multiple items!

Click Here to download Fraction of a Set Scoot

(P.S. Being new to the blog world I have NO IDEA how to upload an image of my documents other than taking a picture. Any tip from fellow bloggers out there would be appreciated! Happy Bloggin'!)

Thinkin' About Books and Linkin' Up

Being new to the blog world, I find myself discovering new, fascinating things going on at other teacher's blogs on a daily basis! I am linking up with two linky parties that caught my eye recently, both of which have to do with my all-time favorite thing about teaching - reading!

Jessica from Mrs. Stanford's Class is hosting a party all about the books we plan to read over the summer. I devour books year round and just recently finished The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly, which I loved! It was a nice departure from my young adult/vampire/werewolf/zombie obsession, however, this summer I plan to jump right back into these guilty pleasures:

The first two are parts of series which I can't wait to dive into and Wake is written by Amanda Hocking. I've read almost everything she's written and absolutely loved the Trylle Trilogy and My Blood Approves series.  I also want to read more Lisa Scottoline. I loved Look Again and especially want to read:

Finally, in true teacher spirit, there are a few "teacher books" I've been wanting to read for a while and just never got around to. So, for each guilty pleasure book, I will read one of the following:

I am also linking up with Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera! This linky party is all about favorite read alouds, which is my favorite part of the day in my classroom!

I read to my students every day, at least once a day. I always read aloud from a chapter book, but usually use picture books to start off my lessons in reading, writing, science, social studies... pretty much everything! So, my all-time favorite chapter book read alouds are.... (drum roll please)

And as far as favorite picture books goes, I couldn't even begin to narrow it down so instead I chose to list my favorite picture books I use at the beginning of the year: 

The Important Book - Margaret Wise Brown

A Bad Case of the Stripes - David Shannon

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon - Patty Lovell

Chrysanthemum - Kevin Henkes

And my very favorite first day of school read aloud:

 First Day Jitters - Julie Danneberg

So there's my list! I've enjoyed looking through everyone else's and look forward to more linky parties to come!

Fractions and Frogs and Pumpkins, Oh My!

This has been a busy last few weeks and there have been so many wonderful things going on! First off, we wrapped up our unit on fractions. The kids and I had a great time doing lots of the activities I found on TPT (gotta love all the wonderful finds on there, right?!?!), but our all time favorite was the Fraction Sundaes we created from Amy Lemons! (TPT Store) I absolutely love everything Mrs. Lemon's creates and have probably purchased half of her TPT store items already! Here is a photo of how our sweet fraction sundaes turned out:

We also wrapped up our unit on frogs! We have been learning about frogs officially since March, however, we have had a frog classroom theme all year. We took a few trips to our local vernal pool and were able to see frog eggs in the wild!

We also learned about the red-eyed tree frog and did a fundraising campaign our district calls Pennies for the Planet in which we spent two weeks raising awareness (and money!) for the red-eyed tree frogs and in the end made a symbolic donation to the World Wildlife Fund. Our class raised $205.60! Here's how Pennies for the Planet works:

1. As a class, we decide on an animal that is listed on the World Wildlife Fund website. (WWF Website)

2. We research this animal as a class and as a whole group write a feature article about this animal.

3. Share our information with the other classes in our building, then put change collection jars in each classroom and let families know we will be collecting change for two weeks and explaining why we are doing this and where the money goes.

4. At the end of the two weeks we collect all the money jars and sort and count the money. This is a great review of money! We share our total with the school.

5. During the two weeks of collection students choose another animal in this animal group(for example, we did the red-eyed tree frog, so the students all chose different kinds of frogs to research) and each student writes their own feature article.

6. All the feature articles are put together in a book and we created a frog display for each article as well. Check them out!

We also got to have an expert in the field come in and help my students write their own frog play which explained the life cycle of a frog and all about vernal pools! This was a GREAT unit!

Finally, we planted our pumpkins last week. We planted them on Friday and just one week later, look how big they are! I always do a pumpkin unit with my students in October using these pumpkins. Check back then to see all the fun things we do!