Freebie Makeover

Things are a little crazy around these parts due to my new job and moving out of my classroom. So while I am not taking part in the whole TPT challenge (it is wayyyy too involved!), I was inspired to make over one of my free products.

That's pretty depressing, no? No cover. No directions. Tons of downloads, but only 2 ratings. Since I posted that freebie ages ago, I've made a few more variations that ease my students into more difficult concepts. The layout stays the same, but different elements are replaced each time. Some elements stay, such as the fact family triangle, because it is versatile. In the first marking period, I do addition/subtraction. After that, I start with simple multiplication, working my way up to more difficult numbers.

Here is the cover update!

Now, the download includes three calendar math templates and a suggested use page. Muuuuuch better! Click the cover page to head over to TPT and check out how I incorporate calendar math!

A "Thank You" Freebie

I logged in to Blogger to see this today:

Whether you are a follower who reads every post or a visitor who found me via Pinterest, I thank you for stopping by. This statistic may seem small to some of the more popular bloggers, but to me, it means the world.

As a thank you, I'd like to share a freebie. As we all know, a big part of close reading is annotating text. In my class, I call it "leaving tracks."

When first introducing annotation, I ask my students to close their eyes and imagine themselves in a snowy forest. I ask them to imagine a deer passing in front of them. The deer quietly walks off in to the distance. We talk about what the deer leaves behind. The answer is tracks. Just like an animal leaves tracks as proof of where it has been, good readers leave tracks in order to prove they/ve read a text closely and understand (or do not understand) it.

At the beginning of the year, I print and laminate these bookmarks. They look bright and beautiful when printed in color, but they also look nice when printed in black/white on bright paper.

I give my students many different tracks that they can use, and I encourage them to create their own if they'd like. These are just a few of the "tracks" I encourage my students to leave, sort of a jumping off point. Others include LOL for something funny, a heart for something they love, a happy or sad face for something they liked or did not like, etc. (If you can't tell, my symbol for a connection is the infinity symbol.)

Click the image below if you'd like to download the freebie in Google Docs. Please comment if it is something you'll use in your classroom. =)

Thank you again to my followers and visitors!

Updated Research Writing Freebie

Almost three years ago (YIKES, I've been blogging a long time!), I posted about my research writing endeavors. Writing can be tricky to teach, but I've always looked forward to showing my students research techniques!

That post is one of my most popular posts! Back then, when I had no idea what I was doing, I posted a freebie used Scribd. Whaaaat? So at the request of a commenter, I updated the post so that you can download the freebie in Google Docs. I gave it a facelift, as well. =)

OLD

      

NEW

            

I'm actually about to begin this project in my classroom this year. My kids have learned to research using both print and digital sources, and we are finishing up our career research projects. The animal research project (and craft!) is one they will do with less guidance.

Visit the old post HERE to read more about the project details and download the freebie. =)

Discussion Groups in the Classroom (& a freebie!)

I love it when my students are engaged in high quality discussions about the text we are working with. At this point in the school year, our discussions are on topic and flowing smoothly. What a beautiful thing! Music to a teacher's ears!

We all have different ways of structuring class discussions. I've come up with a structure that works really well in my classroom. It can be difficult to harness the thoughts and words of a eight/nine year old, but I've found that this does the job for me.

I've found that the best discussions happen when everyone has a job to do. When a discussion is a free-for-all, you all know what happens. The same 1-2 kids take monopoly of the entire conversation, while the wallflower types just listen. Listening is a great skill to have, but I feel that every student should voice their opinion, even if it is just to agree or disagree with what another student said. And all of that is assuming that the conversation is even on topic. I don't know about you, but I feel like the speaking/listening standards are way too important (and underutilized) for these scenarios to become the norm.

I've always arranged my room using tables. I do a lot of group work, investigations, and discussions, and it just wouldn't work if I used rows and columns. This year, I have 25 students, so I have desks arranged in six groups. One group with five students and the rest with four. This year, I used The Brown Bag Teacher's editable desk tags.

Do not pin this image. Visit TPT to view/pin the product.

This allows me to categorize my students in several different ways. When lining up, I can call tables by color. I could also call all "A" or "B" students or "1s" or "2s". When summarizing a lessons, I often have As discuss with the other A at their table, and Bs doing the same. If I change student seats, I just reassign the tags accordingly. They are not taped down. You can assign students strategically so that you control groups and partners. The product is very versatile. Couldn't recommend enough!

So, how do I use all of this to conduct discussion groups in my classroom? 

Students know that their number signifies their discussion group. I have all ones go to a spot in the room, twos go to other spot, and so on. One group gets the carpet, another at my small group table, another on the floor at the front of the room, and another at a table. The groups are spaced far enough apart so that they can focus on their discussion. Each student needs to bring their text (the book, article, or passage we are working with). If their group is on the floor or carpet, they may grab a clipboard.

Once in their group, I give each student a card which is their discussion role assignment. There are four roles, and they are all modeling and practiced so that expectations are clear. The roles are Discussion Leader, Speaker, Notetaker, and Team Member. Each group has one discussion leader, one speaker, one notetaker, and 3 team members. These posters are hung as a reminder of discussion expectations.

     

     

Our favorite texts to discuss are articles from Storyworks (by Scholastic). The subscription comes with critical thinking questions, and sometimes, questions are imbedded right into the text. Instead of writing responses, we discuss them. But, this can used with any text, as long as your discussion topics/questions involve higher order thinking. They obviously shouldn't be yes/no questions!

As students are discussing the text, I simply walk around and listen. If you wanted to be more formal, you could develop a checklist to track student responses and participation or use a form and take anecdotal notes. To keep time, I use a countdown timer on the smart board, and I give 2-3 minutes per question.

             

Are you interested in trying out this method of running discussion groups? Download the freebie by clicking the picture below. It includes discussion cards and expectation posters. Please leave feedback! =)

Estimating Sums and Differences Resource

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone's year is off to a great start. I can't believe we are halfway through October already!

My class is absolutely amazing this year, and I am having such a fantastic time accelerating them and meeting their needs. I can only hope that their scores on all of the lovely assessments reflect all of the learning going on!

Besides the actual "teaching" part of teaching, I'm struggling to keep up with the demands that keep piling up. I know you all can relate. Paperwork for this, keeping a log for that. A committee for this, growth goals for that. I'm very grateful that my classroom is running so smoothly. Otherwise, all of the extra stuff would probably push me over the edge.

We are wrapping up our study of place value, addition, subtraction, and estimation. These skills take up the entire first marking period so that we are certain that students have a solid foundation before moving on to other concepts. Side note: I am SO excited to get these kids rolling with multiplication and division. I'm anxious to see how far I can push them!

I've always found estimating sums and differences a pretty dry concept to teach.

What is a teacher to do?
Add dice, point values, and call it a game, of course!

My students had a great time playing this game, which I dubbed Estimating Extravaganza! It turned out to be a great way to practice this skill. I saw a few games similar to this when I was browsing, but I wanted to make it a little more involved. Each round has a different set of directions. The rounds include both two and three digit numbers, and it calls for estimating both sums and differences.

Click the picture or link to download. Please let me know what you think! =)

Estimating Extravaganza

Writing about Math [New Product & Freebie!]

How important is writing in your school?

Last year, I would go so far to say is was THE most important thing in our building. Our principal made it a building wide initiative to integrate quality writing opportunities wherever possible. I already used math journals, reading journals, and of course writing journals, but I never took a grade on anything we put in there. Those were always informal formative assessment that served as learning experiences and practice. The second most important initiative implemented last year was building academic vocabulary in our students. I've always believed in this and have been using strategies based on this since I started teaching, especially in math.

Anyway, I've always informally assessed those two things, but last year, I worked towards really integrating writing into math and using it in assessment. I began developing written assessments. These assessments align to the common core standards and help to address the standards for mathematical practice. I made sure most of the questions were deep, involved higher order thinking, and used vocabulary straight from the standards. In some assessments, I include tools [number lines, circles, models] that I want the students to use, but in others they need to develop their own strategy. I like to include number lines and fraction shapes for the students, because I do not want their inability to draw a straight number line or a perfect circle to get in the way of proving their ultimate understanding of a concept.

I also wanted to include a checklist to make sure that the students were actively thinking about their response. It can be used as a 'rubric' for the students to know what is expected. To get full credit, students are required to use academic vocabulary. In my room, if it is on the math word wall, it is fair game.

Enough chit-chat. Here's my product and an idea of what you'll get!

In the pack, you'll get 66 of these bad boys. There are two for every common core standard. Great for differentiation or to account for personal preference! 

Also included are a cover, strand dividers, and vocabulary recording sheets. If you'd like to bind the prompts in a booklet/journal for your students, these are great additions! Personally, I print them off as I need them, but I know everyone is different! All prompts are in black and white, and the cover and dividers are in color.

These assignments really helped my students with understanding the process of problem solving, as well as using academic vocabulary while explaining that process. Because of that, I'm offering a sizable forever freebie in the preview! If you download the preview, you'll get four prompts for free. That way, you can test it out on your kids and see if it works for you!

Ready to try it out? Click the cover below to find it on TPT!

[It will normally be priced at $8.00, but will be on sale for $6.00 for one day only!]

If you download the preview, come back and let me know what you think!

It's Back to School We Go! [NOOOOO!]

School supplies in Walmart and Target. My living room full of bags. The return of that creative itch.

All signs that back to school is coming.

Have you ever heard of the book "It's Back to School We Go!: First Day Stories from Around the World" by Ellen Jackson?

Neither had I until I stopped in Becker's for some school shopping on my way home from a doctors appointment! While I was in there, I picked up a bunch of borders that I don't need, along with a few other things. [Post on that coming soon!] One of which was this book.

It is a book that describes the "back to school experience" of children around the world. Each account includes a personal narrative, beautiful pictures, and a fact box that describes children from that particular country. The accounts are based on real individuals. Click the image above to preview it. I really like this book!

At the beginning of the year, I like to give students a lot of opportunities to write, partially so that I can see what they are capable of doing independently. Will they use proper grammar? Will they structure their writing into paragraphs? Will they even follow the prompt? All of these questions can be answered by giving students motivating writing activities.

So, I created a freebie to correlate with the book! The document is supposed to be the 30th and 31st pages in the book, and students are asked to write about their own back to school experience in the same format as the text.

Also included in the freebie are a 30th page customized for a Delaware student and 31st page customized for children in the US. Click either image above to download the freebie. I'd love it if you left feedback, followed my store, and/or follow my blog if you decide to download!

Also, about 35 people took advantage of my overnight flash freebie. [Thank you to the four people who left feedback!] Check out my newest product, a research project, if you're interested. But, my birthday is next week, so save it in your cart. I may or may not be having a sale coming up soon! =)

Flash Freebie!: Research Writing Pack

Head over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store and grab my newest product...

[click above!]

while it's free!

It includes lesson plans, activating activities, graphic organizers, paper, and four extension activities/rubrics. I'd really appreciate it if you followed my store & left feedback if you download! =)

It will go back to regular price [$5.00] tomorrow around 8am EST when I wake up for class. I'm suddenly regretting taking a modular class, which is Friday, Saturday, Sunday for two weekends.

When it goes back to regular price, there will still be a freebie in the preview. It is a brainstorming worksheet.

Talk soon!

Calendar Math

Oh hey! How's it going!

[I'm blogging during the week? Say what?!]

I've read so much about calendar math in the intermediate grades, and I was inspired! [I remember when third grade was still considered more on the elementary side and not intermediate, but I digress.] I wanted to do it. For real! But I came across several road blocks in my quest to calendar math.

Road Block #1: When am I supposed to fit this in?

Road Block #2: Where am I supposed to put all the prompts?

Road Block #3: IT'S NOT IN MY PACING GUIDE.

Well, I've navigated through/overcome these road blocks, and I'm doing calendar math! A lot of other blogs that I read have calendar that is way more involved, at least it seems that way. But at this point, I think this is a good jumping off point. I haven't shared this idea with my team yet, because I needed to run it by you guys and test it on my kids first! Anyway, here we go.

First of all, we only do calendar math on Fridays. I wish I could do it everyday, but I'm not sure that's realistic. We go to recess [usually, as it is not scheduled] from 1-1:30. When the students come in from recess, this PDF is projected onto my Smartboard. They are instructed to complete it as drinks/winding down are going on. On the PDF, I write in today's number, part of the fact family triangle, part of a pattern, a time, and a temperature. Students have a blank copy on their desks.

For the past couple of weeks, I've released responsibility to the students. This week will be the first time they do it completely independently. From what I've seen, I think they are going to do a great job! As they are completing it, of course, I circulate to make sure we are on the right track. After they complete it, we quickly go over it using the interactive smart board.

This is only the first calendar math template that I intend to do. As we move through the year, I will replace these elements with new elements. They won't disappear for the rest of the year. But, for example, students will do time/temperature once every few weeks. The empty spot could be taken up by multiplication skills or geometry concepts.

Interested in my first PDF as a freebie? Download here through google docs!

[As always, let me know if it doesn't work!]

UPDATE: Google Docs hates me! I posted the freebie on TPT. Click here to download if you are unable to download from above! =)

So, a few questions for my readers! Please, please, please comment to respond to these questions! I want to make this element of my math instruction as beneficial to my kids as possible!

How do you do calendar math in your classroom?

How would you improve my method of calendar math?

Would a pack of calendar PDFs be useful in your classroom?

I hope everyone is having a good week!

Subject Poster Freebie

I wanted to let you know that I uploaded a new freebie to my TPT store! 

I'm toying around with ways that I'd like to display my essential questions in my classroom. Last year, I dedicated a whole bulletin board to them. I would write the EQs on sentence strips and change them out by stapling them. It was in the front of the classroom, and the sentence strips were large, so they were easily viewed by everyone. 

This year, I'm not sure I want to use that bulletin board for that purpose. So I'm trying to think of ways to display this mandatory element in my classroom so that everyone can see it, and also in a way that is easy to maintain.

I made these pages as an option. I was thinking I could maybe enlarge them a bit and laminate so I can erase/rewrite?

[What I reaaaaally wanted to do was get them made on Vistaprint as large car magnets, but that would be a little waaay more than I want to spend. Especially since I've spent so much already!]

So anyway, click the image to see and download the freebie! The PDF includes a sign for Reading, Writing, Math, Science, and Social Studies. If you need something else, shoot me and email, and I'll whip it up for ya!

How do you display essential questions/standards/objectives so that they are easily seen and maintained?

/////////Reminder that my giveaway will end tomorrow at midnight! If I have 250 followers by then [only need 7 more], I will pick a third winner from the comments! Please spread the word if you have a second!/////////

Also-- I'm currently watching E! Investigates: Bullying: Celebs Speak Out. Wow, what a powerful program. If I were already a school counselor in a middle to high school setting, I would use this special as a tool.

Thursday Made It!

As promised in my last post, I am back with what I made this week.

Before I roll with that, a few several things of note I'd like to share!

I've made an email address for my blog. You can now reach me at firststateteacher@yahoo.com! I've changed my email icon's link on my right sidebar to reflect this. This is so much better than having a bunch of stuff sent to my personal email.

I'm almost at 10,000 page views! Seems pretty insufficient compared to friends with hundreds of thousands of views, but I'm happy! I didn't start this blog in search of bazillions of follower/page views, and I still feel the same. I'm just happy people like what I write and the few things I've shared. I'm still not in school mode, and I'm not going to force it. I hope to start sharing some school things in August!

Speaking of followers, I'm less than 20 peeps from 200! And my blog-a-versary is about a month away! I would love to reach 200 followers and 10,000 page views by August 9th! We could have a celebration!


I got a new cell phone. I'm reaaaaally resistant to new cell phones. I am not the kind of person who upgrades as soon as its available or as soon as something new comes out. I use cell phones until they break. Actually, I use cell phones weeks after they break and I'm out of denial. It was so bad that when my last one broke [my favoritest cell phone, a samsung slide phone. See? I don't even know what the name of it was.], I borrowed my boyfriends old blackberry because I wasn't ready to commit to a new one! Ay yi yi. I'm the same way with laptops. I have no patience! Well, here's what I have now!

Samsun Galaxy Skyrocket 2 [or something like that]

I actually like it! It is my first smart phone! And first real touch screen! Does anyone else have it? Anyone have any suggestions on fun apps I can download!?

Last thing, I finally ordered my teacher's toolbox from Amazon! I really want to have this made by next week's Monday Made It! Let's see if I can make it happen!

Alright, now that you've listened to me jibber jabber, here's my Made It! Lots of people have made these birthday balloons, but I thought they were really cute and practical.

To make these, I printed my template on colored paper and cut it out. I glued the front onto a piece of pretty cardstock, then cut around the cardstock so it is more like a border. I flipped it over and glued the back. [On the back, I will write a student's name and their birthday.] I used ribbon to tie the balloon to the pretty straw [pack of 20 for $2 in Target's party section!], and reinforced it with a dab of glue! Ba-da-bing, you're finished!

Feel free to grab my template below! I usually used Scribd, but I'm trying google docs. If this doesn't work, let me know and I'll fix! =) The birthday graphic is KPM doodles.

Research

Warning: Long Post!

Today was the last day of school. This year was so challenging. It almost broke me. Thankfully, I made it through, and my eyes are set on summer. I've made no plans, no specific vacations, no summer work. Just living.

It was tough to see a few kids cry today when they were leaving. I know that I was more to them than a teacher. A friend, confidant, and role model. Even though a small group drove me to insanity, I'm so thankful for the rest of my class. They were so tolerant, kind, and helpful. After grade three, they leave my building to go to the upper elementary school, and it breaks my heart that I might not see some of them again.

On the last day, I give each child an envelope addressed to me at the school address. I encourage them to write me a letter over the summer so that we can keep in touch. Last year, three wrote me. I hope to get a few back this summer as well.

One more note-- THANK YOU to everyone who commented on my last post! It really lifted my spirits! And I totally agree that we should rate each other's work, but without feedback on a "low" rating, it doesn't help much, ya know?

--------

Now, onto my research project! I look forward to the end of the school year for obvious reasons. But in writing, it means that we are researching!

Last year, I let my students pick any nonfiction topic. This year, my class needed a lot more structure and support, so I narrowed it down to animals. First, I allowed my students to choose any animal.  I was going to give them a list, but thought I'd give some freedom. We completed a thinking map. We talked about only writing things that we knew to be true for our prior knowledge. We also talked about misconceptions. Unfortunately, we ran out of time, so we didn't have a chance to go back and visit our organizers to search for any misconceptions. But hey, they learned a vocabulary word. Then, they wrote a few things they were wondering about their animal. We talked about subtopics, and we all researched diet, physical characteristics, and habitat. A fourth subtopic was optional.

Next, they needed to gather their resources. I required that each student used at least two resources. At least one of them had to be a book/encyclopedia. The other could be an internet resource. I could provide them with the research from the internet or they could do it from home. I wish I could have let them do it themselves on the internet, but our computer lab was booked up due to state testing. Once they decided what resources they were going to use, they had to "code" the resources. I used R1, R2, R3. Though they did not have to cite the sources in their research paper, I wanted to open their eyes to the fact that they need to give credit to where they find information.

I then provided them with fact slips, pockets, and manila folders. We made the pockets, and miraculously, only a few of them glued them shut/upside down/completely wrong. I was pleasantly surprised. To make the pockets, you cut out the image, bend the triangles back, put glue where it says glue, and position it on the manila folder. Then, they put a small piece of clear tape on the bottom of each pocket. I was going to add a tab there to fold and glue, but I thought that would be disastrous. As for the fact strips, I made tons of copies and pre-cut them. You could also just use regular lined paper if you have a copy limit [which I thankfully do not!] Students then go through their resources, collect information, and place it into the correct pocket. Here is what it should look like:

When the students are finished collecting information, I have them go through and ensure that each pocket only has information pertaining to that subtopic. If it does not, they need to switch it or discard it. This was hard for some students, as they wanted to write every little random fact they found. Next, students took all the cards out of the diet pocket. They arranged them on their desks in a way that made sense to them. I didn't give them much direction with this, as I needed to assess how their paragraphs would flow. They began each paragraph with a topic sentence, then the body, then ended with a conclusion. Repeat times 2 [or 3]. They did each paragraph on a separate piece of paper so that they could order the body paragraphs on their own.

Have you noticed that we haven't done the introduction paragraph? I got this idea from Life in 4B. She gave them a kind of "fill in the blank" introduction and conclusion paragraph. Again, mine is much more simplistic. It is kept until after we write the body of the essay so that we can include some of these facts into them. Same idea with the conclusion paragraph. Your rough copy is complete. Continue with your writing process as usual!

To display our work, we completed this TN craft. I took some artistic liberty with some of the parts. I made the body bigger because I needed to fit a full size piece of paper. We left off the legs/boots because I wanted them all to fit on my bulletin board. Obv some of the glue wasn't up to par, as a few safari friends seemed to have let go of their binoculars. I hot glued the TP rolls to the head so that they would stick. We had no casualties.  Here's how mine turned out! The little sign in the corner says "Look out for our animal research projects!"

I'm so happy with how this went. Even my most reluctant writers would groan when we had to stop working! I think it had to do with the tangible way we collected the information, the interest in their topic, and the craft that wasn't allowed to be completed until everything else was finished! Feel free to grab this activity below as a freebie to store for next year, check out the craft I purchased from Buzzing About Learning's TN, or visit Life in 4B for a more in depth research experience!

Click HERE to download the file from google docs! =)

Take that, TEST! & an Earth Day freebie!

A HUGE multiple choice several 42 paragraph passages long load has been lifted from my shoulders!

The first round of Reading Testing is through. And most of my kids ROCKED it! In their own ways, of course! How are your Tests scored? Like I said, my results are immediate because we test online [BLAH]. Students are given a score of 1-4, with these labels:

        1: Well Below

2: Below

3: Meets

       4: Advanced

To be in the clear [avoid summer school and count towards our AYP, as third grade is the only tested grade that counts at our school], the students need to have a 3 or a 4 by the end of the year.

We test four times. This is new this year, as last year, we tested three times. Today was our third reading test. If the student scores a 3-4, they do not have to participate in the fourth test. Out of my brood, only 6 have to retest! And out of those six, four of them went from a 1 to a 2! The other two did not try. [Don't get me started!]

I did a few things to pump my kids up this morning. Here are some pictures..

YEAH RIGHT. Do I ever bring my camera to school? Fail. But here's a list, think of it as a poor man's photo montage. Don't hold your breathe, but maybe I'll bring my camera tomorrow.

1. Two days ago, we made mustaches and magnifying glasses. We called ourselves Reading Detectives!
2. Yesterday, I made a small Tshirt template, and we made TEAM jerseys!
3. This morning, the students had to do a checklist for morning work. Their tasks included reading a short book and taking a Reading Counts quiz, getting a drink, having a snack [I brought bananas], wishing three friends good luck, putting their head down & counting to 100, and then coming to me for a reward [which was a piece of gum, seriously the best motivator. ]
4. I asked a different teacher to write a short letter to each one of my students. This was THE BEST! I had them open their letters [it was a surprise] right before we went to test, and my kids were SO excited to receive a letter from either a past teacher, a favorite instructional aide, or another staff member! I'm so thankful that my coworkers are so invested in the students, even when they aren't the homeroom teacher!

I know it seems like a lot of bells & whistles, but like I said, most of them ROCKED the Test, even though some have not "met the standard" yet! These six friends retest in about a month. There are a couple who are only a few points away, so it is totally do-able!

We test Math next Friday. And it happens to fall on a Pajama Spirit Day. FANTASTIC. But now that three quarters of my class know what success feels like, I'm pretty confident we'll do just as well on that!

I promised an Earth Day freebie!

I've been so wrapped up in testing that I'm just now getting around to planning Earth Day things. My B. As a school, we do a mile long walk called Walk To School Day, in order to promote exercise, so this is in the afternoon. As a grade level, we are going to collect trash around the out skirts of school property.

As for my classroom, we are going to complete this organizer and turn it into a letter to the earth, promising to do certain things. In the product, the graphic organizer is page 1. Upper grades can write in the boxes and lower grades can draw in the boxes. Or both!

Page two is a blank earth graphic. We are going to do a "teared paper" \slash\ mosaic earth craft. Click the image to pick it up fo' FREE at my tpt store.

Happy Earth Day and Happy State Testing! =)

Slowly, But Surely...

ccrrrraaawwwwlllliiinngggg toward Spring Break. Oy.

And I'm having the Sunday blues. Double Oy.

Had a pretty eventful weekend! Went to bed early on Friday night & was a bum all day today, so I guess the eventfulness pretty much took place on Saturday. Went down to the Outlets with the boy, went out to lunch, saw Hunger Games, and bought a new bathing suit top and cover up for Jamaica.

I agree with the majority of reviews I've heard about the movie. [I don't want to be a "I read the book" snob, but I've read & finished the trilogy.] I really enjoyed the movie, but there are a few things I would have changed!

1. More character development! I feel like we only scratched the surface of everyone. I'm obviously not a movie maker, and it must be hard to cram everything into a movie. As a viewer, I wanted to be "in Katniss's head" more than I was.
2. Shaky camera. I was prepared for this, so I sat all the way in the back. But lord. During a few scenes, especially the tracker-jacker scene, I had to close my eyes because of the craziness of the camera!
3. A few little things, too. Gale looks old. I liked how she got the pin better in the book. What happened to the hovercraft getting the bodies in the arena? And a few other things. Nothing that really threw off the movie, though!

So, all in all, I really enjoyed the movie. My boyfriend, who didn't read any of the books, needed clarification on a lot of things, so if you haven't seen it yet, just read the first book! It's quick and easy, and it will make the experience much more enjoyable!

I have been so fortunate to receive this award from a few fellow bloggers!

So thank you to the following ladies!

and Courtney @ Teaching in Paradise!

We're plowing through our persuasive writing pieces. I'v conferenced with all my friends and led them toward the topic that would make the best argument! Now we're starting our graphic organizers. I was inspired by a graphic organizer that came from Fulton County Schools. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to link to it! So if you'd like to see it, google "persuasive graphic organizer" and it will be one of the results that opens as a .doc.

Here is my spruced up version. No fancy clip art, we needed as much room for writing as possible! Just added writing lines & a cuter font. Grab the freebie if you'd like it!

Persuasive Essay Graph Org

I have eight teaching days and one PD day until Spring Break.

I think I can...
      I think I can...

Freebie Friday

Think back to two posts ago, A Plea. I was at the end of my rope. I took a sick day on Wednesday. I woke up and felt awful. Like, drained. And since I never take off & have a ton of days, I took a sick day. This means my friends had a sub. Well, my sub was apparently an old administrator in the district. I'm new to the area/district, so I had no background knowledge on him. Let's just say that he means business! He was apparently surprised by the group of naughty boys in my room, as well.

Anyway, onto my thankfulness. I came back to work Thursday well rested and ready to power through the rest of the week. I had a data meeting with my administrators during my planning period. I am SO thankful for them. They did something for me that they didn't have to do. They could have just said well, everyone has tough classes, you're doing fine, keep at it. No, they actively did something to help me. Along they same lines, they let me know that I'm doing well, take my opinions/thoughts into consideration, and just listen. I am VERY hard on myself, and they know that. And after talking to them, it just reminds me how lucky I am to have found this fit. Because if I were in a more hostile environment with even MORE pressure, I surely would have cracked by now. This paragraph was sort of vague, and I apologize, but I don't want to go into too much detail.

Now, onto other things. I'm sure you've heard that heaven gained a wonderful teacher, Pam of Vintage Teacher. I followed her blog very early on in my blogging adventures. In her honor, tons of bloggers are offering freebies, as Freebie Fridays were important to Pam! To learn more about her, visit her blog.

 

So here is my freebie! It is a simple division packet to guide thinking. For RTI, we do a station for 6 days, and this is what I use for my first three days. It includes a frayer model [holla for graphic organizers], and it integrates literature in with math, through the story The Doorbell Rang. Lastly, it allows for creativity when the students get to think of their own "The Doorbell Rang" scenerio! Check out my freebie by clicking below!

While you're there, check out my fractions product. It is currently my only product for sale. And someone bought it! How exciting!

Lastly, check out these giveaways going on. I haven't entered many in a while. Too busy. =(

Reagan is giving away her daily warm ups!

 

Deb is giving away an Amazon Giftcard!

Giveaway Winner & Freebie

Hello everyone!

First-- my giveaway winner. I realized I didn't have number comments, and I googled how to do it. Didn't work. I don't feel like looking up the tutorial that's floating around blogland that would probably work [because all of you teachers are so darn smart!], so I counted up the entries and used the random number generator for numbers 1-37. The winner is.....

Stacey, I'll comment on your blog with the details! Congrats & thank you EVERYONE who participated in my very first giveaway. I love being able to help other teachers out, even though that only puts a DENT into how much you've all helped me!

& next comes the freebie. It is a packet that you can use to guide your students through a compare/contrast writing piece, specifically using transportation. Click HERE to check it out because I can't figure out how link a picture! I need to start buying clip art & stuff to make my freebies cuter! Again, any feedback would be great!

And lastly, a few MORE giveaways to tell you about. Everyone is in SUCH a giving mood lately, it's wonderful!

1. Lindsay is having a giveaway for reaching 200 214 followers!

2. Janaye is giving away a 3-5 Seuss Pack!







3. Beth is giving away an awesome picture that she designs. So cute!

4. Adrienne is giving away software that I could reaaaaally use!




So if you didn't win my giveaway [sorry! blame the number thingy!], go check out those blogs! They are great!