A detective themed classroom is all about using observation and deduction for finding out answers. Students will value the importance of asking questions and

This Detective Classroom Transformation is great for students to practice math skills while spending the day as a detective.

Like most of you, this year I am dipping my toes in the waters of close reading. Our district provided a professional development for close reading last year, but I left it as a "2" on the Marzano learning scale. Yikes! How was I going to teach it?! I've been scouring education sites, blogs, and Pinterest for more information on close reading, as well as hunting down resources, and finally ventured into teaching it last week. I was completely honest with my class and explained that although I wasn't a "4" on the learning scale, I would do my best to teach what I understood about close reading. I had already taught annotation (using this awesome freebie!) and my kiddos are getting better at it - one of my gals even annotated her math word problem today, without being asked to! Impressive! But now it was time to dig deeper. Luckily, today I got an email from We are Teachers with two fantastic FREE resources that are totally going to help me better understand close reading, help me teach close reading, and support students as they become close readers. The first is a handy and quick close reading guide for teachers. The second freebie, a close reading guide specifically for students. As you can imagine, this was immediately printed and copied. These will be going straight into our reading workshop binders as convenient references. I especially love the "Make your case" and "Prove it!"tips. Thank you We are Teachers for these great resources! Ok friends, I'd love any and all advice/resources/links/etc. on close reading!

A compilation of the best ideas I've seen for an awesome detective classroom theme.

I was asked to decorate this classroom for an Elder that is teaching the class of middle school students. You can find the material here ...

Here are posters I've used in my classroom: - Detective Academy logo (2 versions) - Super Sleuth (achievement) - I Spy (good behavior) - Counting Clues (math) - Quiet Please (on door) - Today's Passwords (new vocabulary) New Recruits I've included a 4-up pdf of "snapshots" of new detective students using the boy and girl clip art and printed out their names on address labels. You can laminate the snapshots and re-use them every year by updating new address labels. Welcome banner The Welcome, Detectives banner spans 2 pages and you can use different colored paper as background. My example image shows it only in white, but I've used yellow and it looks great with my board! Logos I've also included 8 pages of larger sized logos. Both logos are made large enough to extend to 4 pages each, overlapping to create a big black and white poster.

I was asked to decorate this classroom for an Elder that is teaching the class of middle school students. You can find the material here. The teachers and students are really enjoying the study! This post is just ideas for decorating a Bible class with any FBI or Investigators theme. You can click here to purchase the material with more ideas and posters. I kept the door simple. I had cut the paper to totally cover the door, but as I began to put it together, I figured with kids, I would just be fighting to keep the background up for a year. So, I cut it down and used this. I have Duct Tape I use for my IFA classroom and used it at the top and bottom to secure the paper. (Although, I just used rolled up masking tape to attach it to the door.) Click here to download some of the misc. posters I created. For the FBI Watch List, I originally used this idea in my IFA Acts study class. I put two poster boards together and used the Duct Tape around the outside edges to make a border. You can find decorative Duct tape just about anywhere to use. This is the first quarter and will be the few things I will change each quarter. You can download (Genesis) the first quarter here. This includes the title and shield. I used rubber cement to attach the wanted people. This glue will allow me to peel them off each quarter and attach the new people. The second quarter begins with Moses. You can download the 2nd quarter wanted set here. A Creation poster comes with the visuals, which you can see below. So, I removed it for the study about Moses and added this 10 Commandments Poster. Click here to download it. The sets for the third and fourth quarter will be added as they are created for the class. I found these decorations for this wall here. I love it! A whole wall was complete once we cut it and stapled it! This room is supposed to look more like an office, than say, a room decorated for VBS. This was the only request for the room! This is on the main wall that students see when they enter the room. I left the bulletin board as a cork board since it looks more like an office. I made a large banner to go above the bulletin board with the title and color decorative masking tape for the sides. We ran out of room for all the student posters, so I stapled the teacher's poster and the decorative poster on the wall along the side of the bulletin board. You can find the yellow tape here that is along the bottom. Beside the above bulletin board, is this map that will be changed each quarter and the posters that you can purchase with the material. Click here to download some of the posters I used (including the earth symbol above). The evidence boxes are an idea I found on Pinterest. These are stacked at the end of the wall with the computer monitors. I also found the Investigator shadow here. I just enlarged that onto black bulletin board paper and added the yellow paper for the light beam. The white board is on the right of this. On the other side of the white board is this Bible investigation area. There is a Bible timeline that I placed in the corner at about eye level. There are some posters that comes with the FBI box. I also added some posters that will cover each quarter. Click here for the posters. The bookshelf holds class and office supplies. The Bibles are also here... right next to the Bible investigation corner. I found this Height Chart idea and since the item is not for sale any longer, I made one. This is right next to the door, where you typically see them. This was also used for the student's Most Wanted Posters. I just used white bulletin board paper and a ruler, but I used my Cricut machine to cut the numbers. The last photo is the general look of the room. You can see the tables lined up with cubicles attached to them to look like an office. This idea is in the FBI manual, and you can purchase it here to see more. You can find more ideas and printables here. There are posters and bulletin board printables and ideas here. You can find more investigation ideas on my Pinterest board here.

Now is the time to become a super sleuth! Children will have...

Today's Whatever Wednesday Topic is: Open House Themes/ Mysteries Our annual Open House is coming up in June. I have discovered that I love...

When I first learned about this idea of "classroom transformations," I was weary. They seemed expensive, complicated, and prep-intensive... ...

My son celebrated his 7th birthday last month, but because of our trip to Disney, we just had his birthday party this weekend. He really loves Science, so he requested a Science party this year. This was also the first year he had a party with just friends from school, so he was extra excited. I was lucky enough to find this free printable science invitation over at Living Locurto - thanks Amy! After mailing the invitations I started work right away on the cake, decorations, and party details. For the cake, I ended up doing a two tier cake, covered in fondant and with lots of science details. The colors were vibrant and the details turned out well. Best of all, my son loved it! For the decorations, we used a lot of my son's science things. We filled some flasks with radioactive rods (aka glow sticks) and candy to match our cake colors (green, orange and blue). We also filled his plastic test tubes with candy Nerds - they looked like some mysterious potions bubbling up. We added his shark in a jar, shark teeth, and some of his favorite rocks from his rock collection to our display as well. And, we made this banner reading, "Kaden's Lab," with paper plates linked together with pipe cleaners. Each kid scientist who attended would receive their own clipboard with investigation sheets, a pair of goggles and a scientist badge. I purchased the mini clipboards from Target for $1 each in the Dollar Bins and the plastic badge covers (10 pack) at the Dollar Store for $1. As the kid scientists arrived, they used the hand scan to obtain access to the laboratory. I saw this idea over at The Celebration Shoppe's blog. We started our science party with a free exploration using magnets. I filled a large container with some sand from our sand box and filled it with different metal items. The kid scientists used magnets to find the hidden items and drew pictures of them on their investigation sheets. Our second investigation was called Drops on a Penny. The kid scientists made predictions about how many drops of water would fit on a penny, nickel, dime and quarter, then used pipettes to test their predictions and record their results on their investigation sheets. Sink and Float was our third investigation. Each kid scientist had a turn to pass an object around the table, then test it in the water to see if it would sink or float. They recorded their predictions and results on their investigation sheets. Our fourth investigation was Color Lab. The kid scientists practiced mixing colors on their investigation sheets using colored water and pipettes. \ The fifth investigation was creating constellations, using dark colored paper and star stickers. We talked about what a constellation was and the kid scientists used their star stickers to create their own picture in the sky and used a piece of chalk to connect-the-stars to show their design. I didn't catch a picture of this one. The Milk Lab was our last investigation. In a shallow dish, I poured some whole milk, then put drops of food coloring in a circle in the center of the dish. I dipped a toothpick in some dish soap (we used Dawn) and placed it in the milk in the center of that circle of food coloring. The reaction is really cool! I purposely did not take a picture of the reaction, so you could be just as surprised when you try it yourself. The kid scientists drew pictures on their investigation sheet to show what happened. We had some basic snacks, drinks and food for the party. We covered these mini water bottles with H2O labels that my husband made up. We also had rainbow spectrum fruit strips (aka fruit roll ups), marshmallow molecules, cheddar explosion goldfish, and pretzel pinwheel atoms. And of course there was every scientist's favorite fuel food - pizza! All in all, I think the party turned out great! The kid scientists seemed to have a lot of fun; even my son's teacher said that some of the kids wrote about the party in their journals Monday morning. As a former teacher, I had fun too, getting back into teacher mode for a bit. Many of our other Science items were purchased from American Science and Surplus. If you haven't checked them out, you must!  I don't believe I can share a link for my documents, but if you are interested in having a copy of any of the science investigation sheets or the kid scientist badges, just shoot me an email at [email protected] and I will email you the files.  Sharing this party on the following blogs: Fireflies and Jellybeans A Vision to Remember Paisley Passions Craft Envy Yesterday on Tuesday Funky Junk Interiors What Allie's Making Now Along for the Ride Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom Tatertots and Jello Momnivore's Dilemma While He Was Napping 733 A Creative Blog Be Different Act Normal Home Sweet Farm Naturally Me Creations Momma's Kinda Crafty It's a Crafty Life Fingerprints on the Fridge Fun to Craft Home is Where My Story Begins A Little Knick Knack Finding Fabulous Lit and Laundry Chic on a Shoestring Decorating 504 Main The Shabby Nest It's a Hodgepodge Life Kojo Designs A Few of My Favorite Things Punkin Seed Productions Antique Texan Truly Lovely

Free story detective printables - learn and identify the parts of a story with this fun and free set!

Intro: Hi All, My name is Deepak Charan . I wrote this story when I was in 5th grade for kids who enjoy reading stories. This short ...

Here is our "Top 5 List!" Are ya ready? We will be working our way backwards to the number one way to be that "favorite teacher."

Are you ready to help us find the nation's missing laptops with top secret government information on them? My kids were, and this led to probably the best lesson to date in my teaching career. After my visit to the Ron Clark Academy (post on that below or here), I have been filled with ideas and inspiration on ways to engage my students. In math we have to give our students time to practice the skill we are teaching them, and I could've given them a worksheet to practice, but that wasn't going to fly. I saw Hope King's Set the Stage to Engage series this summer, and she did a spy lab for non-fiction texts, so after looking at her pictures, I made it my own for my kids. We were working on adding and subtracting fractions, and their skills were tested during this unit. I'll start with the set-up, and it was easy. The hardest thing for me was figuring out how I wanted to set up my desks! Oops! I made my desks into three groups (math groups) because my activity was differentiated and I wanted them to be able to talk to their math groups throughout. I made a spy area in the back of my room using string and black lights. This is where the clues were housed. I had all of my lights off and my window blacked out with black butcher paper from our art teacher. They saw by using push lights from Walmart. I got all of the set up idea from Hope King! I had my art teacher bring my students to me from specials, and I was standing outside my door, in my black sunglasses and black blazer with my iPad ready to let my fellow agents in. They were asked to sit on the carpet when they entered the room. I filled my students in on the issue the government had called for our help on. After that we were on the clock to figure out who stole the iPads from our school that the government was housing top-secret information. Every student had a file folder with a letter about the situation, their first clue, and a clue tracking sheet. Once all the expectations were given, the agents were off to work. I put on a little background music to set the stage, and intensify the situation! They had to solve each problem using their yellow notepad and when they finished with a clue, they went on to another with my approval. My favorite part of the room was the clue area. I have a wide range of abilities in my classroom, so I differentiated for my three groups. Most students ended around the same time, and they had to work with their group to make a final decision about who they thought stole the laptops. I had an idea during the lesson to have my dad call at the end and say he was with the White House. I told my kids they had to come up with a final decision because someone would be calling us from the White House. "THE WHITE HOUSE?? Like where Obama lives??" So I texted him and never heard back so I didn't think he could but left my ringer on loud just in case. At the end of my lesson, my ringer went off, and it was madness in my room. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!" Once they got quiet, I picked up and my dad asked who they thought the culprit was, and my students told him the clues led them to believe it was our principal. He said,"Agents, thank you for your hard work, I'll share this information with the president. Hopefully we can work again soon." Their reactions were great, "Did we seriously just talk to someone from the White House?" "I cannot wait to tell my mom!" As a result of my RCA experience, I am trying my hardest to find ways to engage my students in different and unique ways, and I learned its importance through this activity when every single student is working hard and independently. I hate to admit this, but I was fighting back tears because of how hard they were working! I am working on getting this made into a product for my TPT store. So check back soon! If you have any questions on anything I did for this lesson, feel free to email me at [email protected]

Welcome Super Sleuths! If you love classroom transformations and engaging students while they are learning, you have just cracked the case wide open!