Grammar Check-Ups

Hello,

I know it hasn't been a week, but a fellow fifth grade blogger posted this and I think this will be great to show my students! They are getting iPads in a few weeks and it would be a good poster to have around! Check it out!

It will be such a great reminder as to how important grammar is. It will also make me more accountable for my writing seeing as I wouldn't expect them to do anything that I wouldn't do myself! 

Starting Fresh in 2013!

Well, Hello Again!

It has been such a long time since I have posted and I apologize for that. Since 2013 is starting, I thought it might be a good idea to make my blog one of my new resolutions. I will be posting once a week for the new year to keep everyone posted on my first year of teaching.

So far, this class has been terrific! They are a joy to have in class and I feel blessed to have each and every one of them! We have done some very interesting projects throughout the year, but I wanted to touch on two recent ones that could be implemented in any fifth grade class for all of my fifth grade blogger friends!

First and foremost, we are working on polygons in math right now. We did a quick review of polygons and charted the different sided shapes. Then, I had them put their thinking caps on and figure out a way to make their name with each of the polygons. They had to use at least one triangle, one quadrilateral, one pentagon, one hexagon, and one octagon. The students could repeat shapes but they had to use each of the polygons once. I had them each do their first name, make it neat, and color it! I am grading them this week and then I will post pictures of their work. For right now, I will post my scoring rubric.

My second creative project that my students are working on is called a Civil War WebQuest. I worked on this during my Masters classes at Truman State University with a few friends. The link to this site is Civil War WebQuest. On the site, it includes the introduction to get the students focused on the time period. Then, it lists the tasks the students will complete. The details for those tasks and resources are included on the process page. The website we created also included the evaluation procedures and how students are to be graded. We have been doing this activity in class and the kids are really in to it. I let them choose which type of person they wanted to be from the Civil War and do their research for about a week. After they had found fifteen relevant facts, they started to work on their journals. In these journals, they had to use those facts to create five journals from the perspective of their person. It was so interesting to see how they linked their facts. This week they will be working on the Dinner Party script, in which students from four different perpectives will have a conversation about what and how they think the Civil War is going and how they think the war will end from each of their sides. I can't wait to see how this goes! :) 

Next week, look for some organization tips that I have created! Until next time, farewell! 

Introduction to Gifted Education Course

Hi everyone,

This summer I took part in an Introduction to Gifted Education Course at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO. It has been a wonderful experience and I would love to share some of what I have learned with you.

Before this course, I had heard of Glogster, but never really used it. One of my favorite things is that it has an extension called Edu Glogster that is safe for student use. It would be awesome for students to complete a Glogster instead of the traditional poster. I love that you can add multimedia, such as music, videos, hyperlinks, graphics, and more! It is a great resource to use in your classroom. Also, if you create an educator page, you can have twenty student accounts link to your home page for free! By paying a yearly subscription that number jumps to 500 students! Check this out!


Below are two links to my Edu.Glogster pages that I completed during this course. One is related to curriculum and ways to best benefit gifted students, the second is effective program options for gifted education, and the other is about a book that I found helpful for middle school gifted learners.

Curriculum Options for Gifted Learners
Program Options for Gifted Education in Schools
101 Success Secrets for Gifted Students

This course has also sparked my interest in becoming a gifted education specialist. If you know of anyone or have any suggestions, please let me know! I would love to hear from you!

First Week of Summer School!

Hey everyone!

This summer I am finishing up some Masters classes and therefore, I am teaching summer school! I am working with special education students from third to fifth grade. They are awesome! 

During this experience, I would like to keep a list of ideas and things around our classroom that work for us. If you have any suggestions on ideas for teaching reading, writing, or math, please let me know! 

Our first suggestion or idea that we put into our classroom was a cute, colorful bulletin board! The crayon tops are paint chips from Crayola. They can be found at stores such as Home Depot or Lowes. If you let them know that they will be used in a classroom, they will typically let you have as many as you would like!

This is what we use to control noise levels in our room! It is super easy to make and works so well!

We decorated one wall with motivational posters!

This year's summer school is around the world themed, so we decided to make a "Mt. Everest" behavior chart! We were inspired by the multiple similar charts on Pinterest, so we thought it would be cute to make it match our theme! Borrow if you wish! We just used poster board and laminated it. Each student has a clothespin with their name on it that they move themselves when told by the teacher. It is great for reinforcing good or bad behavior in a classroom setting! 

Here is everything we have done this week! Check back next week for lesson plan ideas and strategies for working with students!

Winding Down the School Year

Hello Friends,

It has been a while since I have posted, so I wanted to give everyone a quicky update! As everyone knows, the school year is finishing up and I am just getting more and more excited about next year! I keep finding fun, new activities to do with the fifth grade kiddos! Eeek! I'm so EXCITED! I can't wait to start up with them!

If anyone has any fun beginning of the year activities, feel free to link me to your pages (if you don't mind sharing, that is!)! I would love to have a plethora of ideas so I am never left empty handed!

Thank you!

Cute and Crafty!

     I made this today using a picture frame, a box of crayons, and a hot glue gun! I printed out the shape of a "J" for the monogram and placed it inside the frame. From there, I broke up crayons and started to lay them over the shape. I suggest using a hot glue gun to attach the crayons to the glass of the frame. 

     It was so cute and took very little time! Everyone should try it! They work great as gifts!

Bulletin Board Storage

Hey Everyone!

I did these a few weeks ago, but I wanted to show you how quick and easy they are! They are bulletin board storage for super cheap! I made two of the three of them with foam board and the other one (blue one) with just poster board! All you have to do is duct tape the sides together (with the foam board, I would suggest leaving a gap between them) and then create a handle by folding the tape in half and putting it in a loop!

This is super, super easy! They are easy to use and save you tons of money! If they become damaged, all you have to do is make another one! Make it fun! I can make probably 10-12 of these for the same price that I could buy the clear plastic storage bags from an education store!

Hope this is helpful to you! Enjoy!