Summer, Summer, Summer time

And we are off.....extended school year has started and by the time I actually post this; its three quarters done!  Summer school is such a change a pace for me; not only am I teaching preschool (yes, I have every certification under the sun) which is different from my normal fourth graders, but I feel it's the break I needed to a recharge for my upcoming fourth graders.

Having the little guys and girls during this short time had restored my passion for teaching and even creating.  They have a thirst for learning and LOVE school.  We had laughs and fun all while learning academically and socially.  

Here is one of the activities we did incorporating counting, identifying numbers and utilizing fine motor skills.   Counting and Identifying numerals to 10 Task Cards  were laminated and either circled with dry erase markers or clothespins.  Of course, we had summer themed clip art.  This can be a fun activity to do with your little kiddos too at home!  

It wouldn't also be as fun without some Pirate activities too!  This is the perfect activity for kids trying to practice fine motor skills and writing.  My preschoolers are really working hard on writing their letters and holding a writing utensil with a tripod grasp.  Additionally, I would like to add that I love writing in highlighter for the students to trace over too.  I found this to be a successful strategy to transition the students to start writing their letters independently.  You can find this resource here:    Tracing Upper and Lowercase Letters

Throughout ESY, my assistants and I were constantly teaching social skills and appropriate behavior.  Unfortunately, with the rigor of school today; many kids do not know how to play and interact well with one another anymore like they once did in Kindergarten.  They don't get to play and learn to share as much as they used to and now it is impacting the present and past kids, teachers, and their families.  Who can relate?  It's a real eye opener when you have to teach your fourth graders how to share and respect one another with actual curriculum.  This was partly why last school year was one of my more challenging years.  

Of course, summer is a time for teachers to recharge and even though I taught Extended School Year, I am recharged to have fun again.  I'm over the deadlines... I am over tests....I just want my kids to have fun while learning!  I'm just ready to start fresh!  

Grade 3 Math Interactive Notebook

Holy cow!  I think I need to go out into the world, because I have been glued to my computer ALL of Labor Day WEEKEND!  I have been working on my third grade math interactive notebook for what seems like forever.  Ok, not forever, but a really, really, really long time.  I had created notes and interactives for my students last school year because I felt it would be something they could go back to and use as a reference and even enjoy doing the activities.  Even though, I had it all saved I didn't have it all together organized.

It wasn't until recently that I had a parent of one of my students ask if I was going to sell my notes and foldables on Teachers Pay Teacher.  She happens to be a third grade teacher in another district.  Not only was I excited; I was flattered!  And this is where the last two weekends of my life have been.....in front of this computer. I'm even shocked I'm sitting here now, writing this post!  I just can't contain my excitement!  Who knows what I'm talking about?  


Literally, when this was officially uploaded (like 10 minutes ago); I SCREAMED!!!!!  What a relief! Picture me doing all of those happy dances from the 90's.  Seriously, I did that!

Check it out here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Grade-3-Mathematics-CCCS-Interactive-Notebook-2770146

Now, onto start my fourth grade interactive notebook!

O-Emoji?! Back to school already?

O-Emoji! I mean, OMG!  Back to School is upon us....Whomp, whomp!  New school year means a fresh start; although not if you follow your kids up to the next grade level.  I will be doing just that; moving from third to fourth grade.  I am NOT looping with my kids, but I will have some of the same students I had last year (I hope they aren't too disappointed.....some of them might be, as I know the tricks some of them like to pull).

Anyways, being that I will have some of the same students, I needed to up my Back to School activities game.  With being on trend, I wanted to do something fun with emojis.  Something simple, but would still include how they are feeling about their first day of school.  Will they be nervous, surprised, excited about etc?!  (P.S - Writing tasks using emojis will be coming at a later date.)

One of my favorite back to school activities that I love, Stump your Teacher!  It is similar to Two Truths and a Lie; I just have students list three truths.   This is such a fun activity to get to know your students.  Some of them can get very creative and I love trying to figure out what they are fibbing about.  It always gets a lot of laughs.  

Since back to school activities are often about the teachers getting to know the students, I find that the students also like to know a little about us too.  Due to that reason, I have created a teacher true and false.  I have kept it fairly generic; however, you can recreate it to make it more specific to you :) Again, this is another classroom favorite that tends to get a few laughs.  

These are just a few of the activities that I have in my Back to School bundle.  Other activities include #MySelfie, classmate scavenger hunt, classmate interview, goals for the school year, and math about me.  To see more details about each activity check out my link to the bundle here.  Or simply head on over to my store on TpT.  

Welcome back my friends!  

 

Motivation for Testing

I don't know about you, but my third graders start PARCC testing on Monday.  This is the first time that they are taking a state assessment; so their anxiety is at an all time high!  It's this time of year that I use my Motivational labels along with a small treat to let them know that they can do this and ROCK that assessment.  You can find them here at my store for FREE!  My students have loved the little motivators in years past; yours might too.  Check them out!

How to get your students pumped about reading!!

Today has to be a favorite day for my students; not only is it Friday but, it's Flashlight Friday! 🔦 Wahoooo!

Rewind back to August 2015, I had recently read The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. (BTW, if you have not read this book, you are missing out!!!). The book introduces the 40 Book Challenge; where you challenge students to read 40 books during the school year from different genres (future post in that later). 

As a special education teacher, I often have very reluctant readers because it is often a challenging task for most of my students.  I was determined this school year to get my students to love reading! But how?! 

At first, my class of third graders were not happy to hear of this challenge and thought one book was a lot to read during the school year. So... I did some brainstorming for activities we could do to get the kids excited about reading. Well, the number one activity on the list that we do is Flashlight Friday.

There is just something special about getting cozy in your classroom, turn out the lights and reading with a flashlight! The students love to go under their desks, go in dark corners, and just READ... Ahhhhh! I found some good quality mini- flashlights at Marshall's and a pack of four finger lights at the Dollar Tree that students love just as much! 

My co-teacher and I do other activities too. We do a snack and chat where the students share the book they're reading and provide a synopsis for their small group of classmates.  This is for other students to explore different books that they might not normally pick out on their own! If their peers recommend a book, then it becomes a must read! The teachers provide the snack and allow time for the kids to chat about their books! Students also provide book commercials for their books; another way to get other students intrigued about a story! This "sells" the book to the students without giving the entire storyline away! My students even love reading to me; which totally makes this heart smile. I love what this challenge has done for my students. students that struggle, I have created a template for students to follow which you can find here! 

Even the simplest of ideas, can get students EXCITED to read! For younger kids, you could have students bring in a stuffed animal, doll, or action figure to read to aloud. You can also pair up varying grade levels for Buddy Reading. Contests are always fun too! Students certainly love a bit of competition.

Back in January, my co-teacher and I decided to ask the students how they now feel about the 40 book challenge; and we were so happy and surprised how their feelings towards reading has changed! 

I hope this post inspired you to try some new things in your classroom to get your students excited to read. Do you have other ideas that you would love to share?! Please comment below! 

Happy Reading!

Flash Freebie

Hope everyone's weekend is off to a great start (and snow free...)  I am in the sharing mood; so I have a flash freebie for today!  I am sharing my Multiplication Word Problem: Winter Edition.  The word problems all relate to the winter theme; hot chocolate, ice skating, snowball fights, etc....  I truly made this for my students to use and practice their multiplication skills, but also working on their reading skills.  Numbers in the word problem are not always in standard form, but also word form and they must truly understand the question.

You can use this product for centers, practice with the skill, an early finisher, etc.... Let me know your thoughts!  I would love your FEEDBACK on the product on Teachers Pay Teachers too!  Below is the exact link to the product on Teachers Pay Teachers!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Multiplication-Word-Problem-Task-Cards-Winter-Edition-2275681


Have a great weekend!

What Is Scoot?!

As a teacher author on Teachers Pay Teachers, I often see my fellow Teacherpreneurs sell things that they call scoot! I felt a little silly asking my TpT seller friends so that I didn't sound crazy; so I asked my third grade unit at work. All they did was rave about it!

So I decided to give it a try! My students were struggling with rounding to the nearest 10 and 100.

This was a great activity to get the students up and moving. Our curriculum is so fast paced... Yet I decided to slow it down a bit as this is a skill they will be using in math in future grades and even in life! 

The students loved it!  This is how I played.... Students were to get up out of their seats.  When I yelled to begin, they are to flip over the task card at their desk and write down their answer on the provided answer sheet.  After they have written their answer, they are to flip cards back over.  Once I yell "SCOOT" ( about every 30 seconds), they are move onto the next desk, flip over that card and solve.  I tried to make this as uniform as possible in my classroom, by having students go to all of the student desks' at their group and then as a group move onto the next set of desks.  But that is totally up to you.  I have even spread out the cards around the classroom for the students to find.  I love that the students have to think quickly, but I would adapt the time depending on the skill they are working on.  Since this skill was rounding, I only gave about 30 seconds for the students to complete each card; making it roughly about a 10 minute game for my students.   The pictured cards are ones I found on Super Teacher Worksheets; but I have since created my own scoot cards.....VALENTINE'S STYLE!  

You can find my version here: 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rounding-to-the-Nearest-Hundred-Valentines-Scoot-2390772

FREEBIE ALERT: Printing on Sticky Notes

After seeing posts about printing on sticky notes over the years, I finally decided to try it out for myself. I was planning for an observation and was trying to think of ways for students to review the plot of a story they were familiar with. As I knew I was being observed, I wanted to spruce it up a little. So I thought.... This was just the thing I needed to do! For me it was super easy, all I did was set up a template in Power Point. With the template, I typed up information about a story to complete a story map I made with my class.  The students loved reading the sticky notes and allowing them to get them out of their seats and placing the notes on the story map.  It was actually great because the students had discussion about the story and even gave valid points when they disagreed on sections of the plot.

I printed out all of the templates first.  As it was my first time doing this, I wanted to make sure that everything lined up correctly.  From the printed page, I placed sticky notes over each box, and printed again.  That is it! Voila!  A total time saver!

For independent work, I had students continue to work on reading passages and highlighting the literary elements in different colors.  I was able to print these out on color and send with the students to their seats, so I could easily move onto working with my other guided reading group here!  

Find my FREE template here!  

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Printing-on-Sticky-Notes-Editable-Template-FREEBIE-2381657

Please let me know how you have used this in your own classroom!

Sun, Moon and Stars Unit: NO PREP

Science is one of my favorite subjects to teach! Without fail, every year, my students get so excited about Science; not sure if it's the subject matter or the fact that it is less pressure than Math and ELA.  Either way, this unit always makes my students want to learn more! They will read all of the space related books we have in our library, share any information they learned with excitement and

even research more at home! This just makes my heart smile! 

This 100+ page NO-PREP unit is FILLED with all of the information needed to teach students about parts of the solar system.  As the teacher, you are given lesson plans for 15 DAYS!  You can use the presentation to teach information regarding the sun, moon and stars with matching cloze-style notes.  Included are three quizzes and one unit test. Your students are going to love the activities and the ease of taking notes.  These notes can be used as study guides too!

This unit includes:

~Lesson Plans – 15 days of written plans!  Objectives, procedures, and materials needed are provided for each day.

~Presentation – All of the information needed to teach students this unit.  I teach the presentation and review it the next day.  Words in red font are the answers to the notes provided. NOTE: Not editable.

~Notes: Cloze-style notes for students to highlight important information that goes along with the presentation.  “Answers” to cloze-style notes also provided.

~Activities- Moon Calendar with moon phase pictures, Cardinal Direction Posters, Posters of the Moon Phases, Cut and paste activity, (2) different observation recording sheets, chalk drawings, and planet coloring pages.

~Review game- “Jeepardy” game to review information for the unit test.  Editable for your use!!

~Assessments – (3) Quizzes for the Sun, Moon and Stars.  (2) Modified Quizzes for the Sun and the Moon, (1) unit test.

Check it out here: 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/NO-PREP-Sun-Moon-and-Stars-Unit-and-Planet-Facts-too-2067119

Here is my direct link to my Teachers Pay Teachers store:   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Motivational-Ms-Mac

Rates, Ratios, and Proportions Task Cards

Using task cards has always been something I have loved to utilize with my students.; and they tend to love them as much as I do.  They can be used many different ways.  They can be used as a center activity; as a game with a partner or the entire class; used as a scavenger hunt around the classroom; and even for an early finisher.  I love that I can make my own and adapt them to fit the needs of my students.

One of the reasons that I love using task cards, is that it is a way to get my students out of their seats for our 90 minute mathematics block.  Ninety minutes can be a long time.  This is especially wonderful for my students with focusing issues, as well as some of my squirmy 11 and 12 year old boys in class.    Another way we get our students out of their seats and moving is during Guided Math time.  These tasks cards are perfect to use at a center/station during this time of math class as well. 

It's so nice to see my students working so nicely together! I love to pair students up with someone they don't normally associate with, or with someone with a different ability level! Task cards are even great for students to complete individually! I love making it a game and seeing how competitive these kids can get with themselves or one another! They try their best work and focused to answer all questions accurately! That's a win for me too!

Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers Store for these task cards as well as other educational material.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rates-Ratios-and-Proportions-Task-Cards-1839352

Love to Read Inspiration

This summer, I was asked to read Book Love by Penny Kittle and it was truly about promoting reading in the classroom. Something that we all want; to promote lifelong readers! When told I was to read it, I mentioned the book to my cousin whom is a 7th and 8th grade ELA teacher to see if she had ever heard of it! Of course, she said yes and that it was good, but that she had a better book that I should read because it changed  the entire way she taught. That book was called The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller! If you teach ELA at all, it is a MUST read! 

So I added this book to one of my must read professional books over the summer! It was a very quick and easy read and I haven't been the same since... LOL! After reading this book, I was so pumped to get back in the classroom! I couldn't wait to get my "kids" pumped about reading too! 

Day One, I asked my students how many books they thought was a lot to read in one school year. I got responses such as twenty, five, ten and sadly, even one.  It was then that I brought up Donalyn Miller's 40 Book Challenge.  The look on some of my students' faces was pure shock that myself and my co-teacher would be asking them to read at least 40 books this year.  I think my enthusiasm became so over the top that my students were starting to believe that they could actually do this.  My enthusiasm was so over the top that I pulled an Oprah moment..."You are going to read 40 books, and you are going to read 40 books, and you, and you."  I pointed to every student stressing that I believed that they could make this feat.  I also wanted to know where the students saw themselves as a reader, I had them complete my Reading Inventory.  This can also guide me to assist students in choosing books to read.  One of the greatest things about this challenge is that the students choose their books.  Students tend to hate reading when they have questions to answer or a project to do afterwards.  This challenge is to have students be exposed to different genres, yet given the "power" to choose their books they read.  Additionally, they don't have to do a project after every. single. book.    

The next day, I discussed the different genres and provided examples of books that fit these genres the students are familiar with.   Our school has started a Drop Everything and Read time built into our daily schedule.  I had students identify the genre of the book they were reading and the reasons why it fell into this genre.  My co-teacher and I wanted to make our pledge to read 40 books official, so we signed a poster board that I created making our pledge.  Then we asked our students who wanted to join us, and one by one each of our students signed the pledge.

To add more excitement for reading we also decided to make our Friday D.E.A.R time a "Flashlight Friday."  Students can read in the dark with flashlights.  Oh my!  I've never seen kids so excited to read before.  We even had parents write us letters saying that their child had disliked reading, and now were coming home to read during their free time.  Seriously, I'm not even joking!  This totally makes my heart smile!

Later, we wanted our students to maintain a Readers' Response Notebook to keep a reading log with a rating system, as well as a visual to see what genres they have read, or have left to read.

Instead of doing projects after reading their books, Miller suggests on doing "Book Commercials" to sell their books to classmates.  This is do be done at least once a marking period, and most importantly, not for every book.  Since I teach third grade, my co-teacher and I thought the students needed some assistance at first to organize or summarize their feelings about the book.  We also needed to stress that the students are not to give away the ending, or tell us too many details.  

We are excited to see how well and how far the challenge goes!  Will you take the challenge??

Happy Reading, 

K. Mac

Get my activities here:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-40-Book-Challenge-Inspired-Activities-2109927

Welcome Sign Bunting

I'm beyond excited to go back to teaching in third grade!! This past week, I spent a lot of time in my classroom that I share with my co-teacher decorating for the start of school!

One of the things I wanted to do was create bunting to invite the students (and others too) into our classroom!  We have huge three windows and I have seen other colleagues hang signs across them in the past! I am obsessed with chevron, so I wanted to create my own bunting; chevron style! My co-teacher loves to scrapbook; so I had an idea! 

First, I created my own chevron style welcome sign. Check it out my TpT store:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Welcome-Sign-Letters-for-Bunting-Chevron-Style-2063650

The best part is it is FREE!! I then asked my co-teacher to bring in some of her scrapbook papers! When she did, I picked out papers with both patterns and textures. From there, I used printed out my welcome sign letters and arranged them on the scrapbook paper. I created a template for bunting and cut all of the scrapbook papers to match. I also cut off the excess trim from my letters and aligned them in the thick scrapbook paper. I used rubber cement (if you haven't used this for your projects; you MUST try it!) to glue onto the scrapbook paper. Once dried, I laminated each and cut off the excess lamination! 

Afterwards, I attached Command hooks on both sides of the window and then strung yarn with small knots at the end to hang on the hooks. 

Finally, I used small binder clips to attach the bunting to the yarn and then I spaced them out and readjusted the length of yarn to have the right amount of swag!

Here is the final product!