Ohhhhhhh my goodness! This might be my favorite new project! You've probably seen this or a similar Banyan Tree project in Dynamic Art ...
There’s so much that’s up in the air right now, especially when it comes to what September will look like for families with school-age children. But one thing's for sure: If your kids are going back to in-person school this fall (or even if they're…
Ohhhhhhh my goodness! This might be my favorite new project! You've probably seen this or a similar Banyan Tree project in Dynamic Art ...
This first big 8th grade project took the entire semester to complete! The students were introduced to the work of contemporary artist Chuck Close. We looked at many examples of his portraits and w…
I would just like to start by saying how truly unfair I think it is that June is the busiest month ... I have no energy left in June. None. Not a drop. Why can't it be this crazy in September when I actually have the energy to handle it all? And forget "riding" the crazy train like I said in my post title ... I think I may be dragging behind it. Waving the white flag. Help. To give you a glimpse into my crazy week, I linked up to Doodle Bug's Teaching for another fabulous Five For Friday. Soccer season has started (inspired my choice of numbers this week). LOVE being a soccer mom. For the first year, all three of my little ones are in soccer - and they couldn't be cuter. This is putting me on the crazy train because it is keeping me busy 3 nights a week (I don't even want to think about my Monday nights where all three girls play at the same time ... but at three DIFFERENT fields all over my city). I coached soccer last year, but once I saw the schedule this year, I knew it wasn't even a remote possibility. The photo below is my oldest and youngest at their soccer academy camp (my middle was at a dance reheasal). I created a new resource this week - Math Concept Posters. I love them, and I know I'll get so much use out of them, but it put me on the crazy train because I absolutely didn't have the spare time to create a new resource ... ate up a lot of my sleeping time. However, I created it out of necessity because I still needed a few more marks for my last math unit. I plan to use these pages in their math journals next year. You can click on the picture to take a peek at my newest resource. It's dance recital week. We spent all night at dress rehearsal on Wednesday, and I can't wait for the recital on Sunday. I danced for 14 years while I was growing up, so this just brings it all back. My middle and youngest are both dancing in the recital this Sunday, and I think I just may be the proudest mommy in the audience. Precious. But it has me on the crazy train for obvious reasons. The dance recital isn't the only special part about Sunday. It's also Father's Day ... and I've got to think up some special way to show my husband what a remarkable dad he is (especially since he has to dance in the recital on Sunday with my littlest one), and remind my dad that he'll always be my #1. This has me on the crazy train because I totally forgot to do something with my own students ... until the last block of today. We had a PD day on Monday, and then I was out of the class for meetings on Wednesday and half of Thursday. I've been playing catch-up all week, and apparently, I'm not great at it. So, I recycled an idea from last year and we made shirt-and-tie cards. You can read more about it in my blog post HERE. 10 days left. Yes, 10. This may be the only thing that's keeping my fingerhold on the back of the crazy train. If it wasn't for that light at the end of the tunnel, I'd be lying on the tracks by now. 10 days left seems do-able. Just have to make it through 8 soccer games, 9 soccer practices, one dance recital, one Father's Day celebration, find that library book I got a note for from my youngest daughter's teacher, report cards, my class trip, four class trips for the girls, the end of my course (and the start of part 2) ... and breathe. Breathe. 10 days - I can DO this!!! Happy FRIDAY!!! Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Ohhhhhhh my goodness! This might be my favorite new project! You've probably seen this or a similar Banyan Tree project in Dynamic Art ...
I'm linking up with The Teaching Tribune for Worksheet Wednesday :) How cute is the linky button! Here's a free page from my new Pro...
Check out Sophie633's artwork on Artsonia, the largest student art museum on the web. Don't forget to join the fan club and leave a comment on the website.
Science Rocks periodic vinyl decal. This fun science wall decal is perfect in a classroom or dorm room. It measures 17" high X 37" wide. Perfect in a classroom, lab, dorm room, and lecture hall. It makes a wonderful gift for your favorite student, teacher, professor, scientist, or geeky friend. Comes in your choice of color. (Your wall color will show through the letters/words). Please see many other Periodic Table Elements decals in our shop! https://www.etsy.com/shop/OffTheWallExpression?section_id=5974906&ref=shopsection_leftnav_4 To enter our shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/OffTheWallExpression We use high-quality vinyl in a matte finish, to give a 'hand-painted" look. Our vinyl graphics are easy to apply to any smooth surface. Vinyl designs are easily removed although they can not be re positioned or reused. We always include simple application and removal instructions with each order. Custom: Most of our designs can be custom sized to fit your space requirements. Please contact us for an estimate. Production/Delivery Info: We cut each design to order, so please allow 2-4 days for production. We ship USPS Priority mail in the United States, please allow 3-5 business days for delivery. If you need faster delivery, please contact us. For International orders, we ship by First Class Mail. Please allow up to four weeks for delivery. Paint Info: Vinyl decals may not adhere to certain types of paint with Teflon, Stainguard or Low Odor VOC free paints. Decals also may not stick to 'flat' paint finishes or heavily textured surfaces. We can send a small sample decal for you to try if in doubt as to what type of paint you have. Please allow all newly painted surfaces to 'cure' two months before applying vinyl decals. All photos and designs are copyrighted by Off The Wall Expressions.
Ready to find the best chapter books for 3rd graders (8 year olds) to get your kids reading more? This list of books and reviews wil help!
So many kids, reluctant readers included, become enthusiastic when they read funny books. Who doesn't love to laugh and giggle through a chapter book or middle grade story, right? To help you find the best funny book for your children and students, here's a huge list of kids' favorite funny chapter books and funny middle grade books for readers ages 6 to 13.
Join me on my journey to engagement (and get a freebie to boot!) If you have been following my blog lately, you will know that I am absolutely (and probably ridiculously!!! ) obsessed with virtual field trips. I promise I will blog about something different soon but I have one last thing. I have been working on organizing all the field trips I find into one sheet and I was just able to make it into a searchable database! So search away and make some connections! Let me know if you take any of these field trips! I would love to hear how others are using them in their classrooms!!! This list is ever growing so bookmark this and keep coming back when you are planning next year!
Tons of tips and tricks on classroom organization.
I started them out with a Thinking Map activity. This worked well as it helped them to brainstorm a lot of words for their picture. This is something that they referred to quite often as they worked. Using a transparency (or "extra/leftover" pieces of laminating sheets from the library) and vis-a-vis, students outlined their image. The outlined picture was placed on top of a white sheet of paper, then underneath their "final drawing paper". The white paper underneath the transparency helped it to be more visible, even though my tables aren't necessarily dark in color. If you look close, you can see the outlined picture underneath. She kept her photo nearby to help with the details, and more importantly, different areas of value. Work in progress *****Finished Pictures***** A good example of why you shouldn't fold your work...lol
This is the 6th in a series of posts about our Harry Potter Birthday Party. You can read our other posts at the links below: The Hogwa...
As promised, I am back for Part 2 of my Writing Dialogue posts. You can read the ideas I shared in my post on Writing Dialogue Part 1 by clicking HERE! I am here to share with you the last couple of activities we did during our unit and to share a freebie that contains all […]
So, if you have been following a long for the past month or so you know I have been reading Bridge to Terabithia in my classroom...and my students have thoroughly enjoyed it. It really was a fabulous change of pace and I think the students benefited a great deal from it. Well, we have come to the end of this book journey and, to wrap it all up I had the students create a response to literature that really had them thinking! I was reading If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff to my 3 year old when it hit me that this would be the perfect response to lit for my students. The cause and effect in it really lent itself well to the plot of Terabithia, and the cyclical nature of Mouse could also be applied to our Core Lit. So I brought the story into class and read it to my 5th graders. We then, after talking about cause and effect and why it was used in literature, made a list of the vocabulary that really pushed the cause and effect along. Here is our list: I then asked the students to create a circle map of as many events that occurred in Bridge as possible. Now, there are SO many events that writing them all down would have been impossible. I just asked them to write about the most important ones...the ones that stood out in their heads. While the kids really did focus mostly on the death of Leslie, they did also come up with a lot of details that I had long forgotten. Here is where it got tricky. I asked the students to think of an opening line, starting with "If you go to Terabithia...." and that would apply to both the beginning of the story and the end of the story. In keeping with the cyclical pattern Mouse, the event had to hold true throughout. There were lots of great ideas (ie: If you go to Terabithia, you will learn about great friendship) and some not so good (ie: If you go to Terabithia, you will be with Jess and Leslie...since Leslie isn't there at the end of the book, it doesn't hold true) The students then set off to write a story, in the style of Mouse, that told the major events of Bridge, using the cause and effect words, and coming back to the main sentence at the end. Yeah...hard. But they LOVED it! The kids really got into this assignment and really had a good time. Here are a few examples: As a side note, since we are also working on varying our sentences, I had them make a checklist of the three types of sentences and tally when each type came up. If there were too many of one type, some revising had to occur. All in all, a fun project that had the students responding to literature in a different way than simply an essay (which we had done plenty of during the reading of the book.) If you would like a copy of the templates, here they are. They are in Power Point, and you can edit them to your liking. Enjoy!
An elementary art teacher blog with art projects and lessons, DIY projects and outfit photos as well as clothing I have made myself.
Do you want to keep your students engaged and reading during reading time? Read this post to learn about 10 reading centers for upper elementary.
A huge collection of flexible, differentiated, reading response pages in an engaging reader’s notebook style, to use with almost any piece of informational or nonfiction text. Printable (both half-page and full-page) AND digital (Google Slides) versions are included! Don't need digital? Find the print-only edition right HERE. Lots of Variety! Includes response pages on recording facts and information, interpreting ideas, summarizing and synthesizing, vocabulary, text features, text structures, note-taking, guided research, and more! Perfect for close reading, higher level thinking skills, and getting students to think deeply about nonfiction text. Aligned to Common Core Reading Informational Text (RI), Language (L), and Writing (W) standards (labeled on each page for easy reference). Lots of Options! Use with your guided reading groups, research projects, student book clubs, partner reading assignments, independent book studies, and with whole-class read alouds. Choose pages to staple into a fun little notebook (or pull together into a digital notebook) or use individually to accompany lessons or short texts. Lots of Differentiation! Comes with three levels of differentiation to make it easy for you to meet your students' needs. The three levels are nicknamed: Light Roast, Medium Roast, and Dark Roast. Light Roast: lower level with wider line-spacing, commonly appropriate for grades 1-2 Medium Roast: middle level with medium line-spacing, commonly appropriate for grades 2-4 Dark Roast: higher level with smaller line-spacing, commonly appropriate for grades 4-6 What's Included? 57 response pages for informational text (at 3 levels each: light, medium, and dark roast) in a half-page format, full-page format, and digital (Google Slides) format. [57 pages x 3 levels x 3 formats = 513 response page options] Research Notebook pages (15 pages at 3 levels each: light, medium, and dark roast) to help guide student research. Includes half-page format, full-page format, and digital (Google Slides) format. Master Reference Guide with clickable page numbers for quick access to the response pages you want. Also includes "bookmarks" using the Adobe bookmark pane. Teacher guidance on organization, finding pages and creating notebooks, and getting students started Check out the preview for a sampling of the response pages in this resource! BUNDLE this resource with my Reader's Notebook Response Pages for Literature and save! **For personal and single classroom use only. If using with multiple classrooms, please purchase additional licenses at the discounted rate.** ....................................................................................................................................... Visit me at my blog: The Thinker Builder, or on Facebook, or on Pinterest! ....................................................................................................................................... You may also be interested in: • Reader's Notebook Book Studies • My Favorite Read Aloud Literature Units • The "Tower of Books" Challenge • "Keep It Fresh!" Writing Centers • Story Starters {Not Your Ordinary Writing Prompts!}
So many kids, reluctant readers included, become enthusiastic when they read funny books. Who doesn't love to laugh and giggle through a chapter book or middle grade story, right? To help you find the best funny book for your children and students, here's a huge list of kids' favorite funny chapter books and funny middle grade books for readers ages 6 to 13.
