Linking up for the last time with Ashley from Just Reed for her Ten Pin Linky. :( This makes me sad, I really loved this summer linky. This week's theme is Back to School Ideas & here are some of my favorite ideas. 1.) Check out this Classroom Job pack from Andrea Knight's Tpt store. I just love the idea of having applications & interview questions for classroom jobs & you can adapt her pack to younger students as well. Source: Andrea Knight 2.) What an ingenious idea. Having a color cup system as student tables to help them manage their voice levels. Check out Charity's video post about it. Source: The Organized Classroom Blog 3.) This is such a cute idea to have pictures of the students with the class rules as speech bubbles. Source: The Ins and Outs 4.) If I still taught Kinder I would definitely do this (maybe even 1st or 2nd). I sent my Kinders magic dust to help them not be nervous on the first day of school & this reminds me of that. Love! Love! Love! Source: A Cupcake for the Teacher 5.) I'm such a word game nerd that I would definitely do this bulletin board, if the space was available. I would have so much fun just figuring out where to put whose name. Source: Fine Craft Guild 6.) I love this Heart Map as a Getting-to-Know-You activity for older kids (2nd [maybe] & up) Source: The First Grade Parade 7.) And I love this one for the little guys (K&1st) Source: Miss Kindergarten 8.) When I saw this activity I thought it would be such a cute activity for the beginning of the year & the end of the year & see the kids answers & how they've changed. Source: Sailing into Second 9.) I'm really loving the idea of asking the students what they expect from me and the school year and themselves. Source: Mrs. Robinson's Classroom Blog I also like these options. Source: Confessions of a Teaching Junkie Source: Teaching and Learning Together 10.) Such a cute idea to see the reflection of summer in the sunglasses. Source: A Love 4 Teaching Don't forget to link up with Ashley & share your favorite Back-to-School ideas! Check out my Pinterest page for more ideas. And if you haven't checked out my Brights & Polka Dot classroom decor pack, check out my post & enter for your chance to win it before you can buy it, you have one more day to enter!!! I can't wait to see your favorite pins!!!

World Inventors Research Mini-Books + Extras! Product/Materials Preface (Grades 3-8): Here is my World Inventors Mini-Book Research Activity. Lead your students in creating their own ornate and visually appealing mini books about the some of the cleverest and brilliant inventors of all time! You control the difficulty of the project from grade to grade by customizing the headings (after printing) and selecting the number of people your students should research. Have students research on the Internet, at the school or public library, alone or in a group setting. They will be intrigued by the stunning art and the ease of this hands-on activity. Choose from 13 Inventors and 3 Cover designs or locate your own images and create your own covers! Activity Includes: < 3 Unique Pre-made Covers > 7 Two (2) Page Inner Page Designs < 13 New World Explorers < 1 Page of Symbols & Titles Cut-Outs **Bonus Extras** < 3 8.5x14 Large Legal Size Research Activity Templates— Perfect for Group or Individual Work & Classroom Display! < 2 Inventors Quick Fact Graphic Organizers < 1 8.5x14 Large Scrapbook Picture Template Please feel free to ask any questions—I will definitely respond to all inquiries in a timely fashion. Please check out my other products and resources: Hopefully my products will help strengthen your lessons, help your students learn, and make your life easier. Thank you and enjoy! — J.D. Whitaker Copyright © 2014 James D. Whitaker, SophistThoughts™ All rights reserved by author. Permission to copy for single classroom use only. Electronic distribution limited to single classroom use only. Not for public display. {{Some images used are in the Public Domain}}

Choose a correct scale to use for different types of maps.

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U.S. History Social Studies colonial colonies exploration Matching worksheet review printable homework Pennsylvania tobacco immigrants john smith slave compact new england bread basket plymouth rock middle william penn iron factories Mayflower Southern Plymouth Rock mercantilism boston Atlantic re...

Oh my goodness - how I LOVE spring break!!! The school break is great, don't get me wrong ... but I think what I'm enjoying most is the break from my girls' extra-curricular activities. I have two little dancers and one soccer superstar ... and they keep us RUNNING!!! For the first time in a LONG time, we had NO activities this weekend ... which equals sleeping in ... which equals heaven to me. :) So, with the extra time I've found plus two very rainy days (not complaining - hoping that rain melts some of this snow mountain around me) it gave me the time I needed to finish a couple of projects I've been working on. I've been working on a Canadian Lapbook Project. My class LOVES making lapbooks in our science units, so I thought I'd create one for Social Studies. Provinces and Territories is actually taught in grade 4 in my province, but it's a unit I always review in my class at the beginning of the year because it's SO important to me that the students know all about their country. This lapbook has the students naming the province and territory capitals, population, major lakes and rivers, and exports and imports. They also research natural resources and physical regions of Canada. You can click on any of the pictures to preview this product. I had SO much fun creating the Canadian project, and had such a great reaction from my daughters (who insisted on helping me with the cutting), I decided to create a similar one for the United States. I quickly realized that with 50 states, this was going to be a MUCH bigger lapbook. This lapbook is actually 6 pages (2 file folders). Students will study the state abbreviations, capital cities, state population, date it entered the union, imports and exports, and major lakes and rivers. They will also research famous Americans, natural resources, famous landmarks, climate, highest peaks, and more. It would make an impressive project to display and then send home to the parents! Again, you can click on any of the pictures to preview this product. To celebrate Spring Break, I'm going to giveaway FIVE of these resources. Just leave a comment below stating which one you could use and I'll use the random number generator to choose 5 different names tomorrow. Check back tomorrow evening to see the winners. Happy Monday!! Jen

First grade began our recycling unit with a weaving project using making use of the previously used table craft paper coverings cut into strips. Most of my students had never done weaving before so this was our intro lesson. This is one of my favorite books for introducing the basic concept of 'recycling' to children. We turned out weavings into blankets which I mounted on backing paper. One day was devoted to "tear bears" - a pinterest inspiration I had found- and shrunk to tiny scale. Lastly, we added tiny self-portraits (with the eyes closed - so cute) to put to bed with teddy and two pillows.

One of my FAVORITE parts of the day is Science time! My sweet scientists just finished up Unit 4: Earth Materials and Natural Resources. We did lots of experimenting these past couple of weeks. We began the unit with rocks. I read books on rocks and we talked about properties of rocks. My students get really excited to work on their interactive journals, so we went to work right away. My students did a little hands on with observing some rocks. They each had a rock to observe and recorded their findings into the journals. They used their rock's properties to make a cute craftivity, Rock Monsters. Each monster was unique. We compared salt water and fresh water and did a mini experiment. We talked about Natural Resources and Man-made Resources. I played this power-point for them so they could have a clearer understanding of the two. We did an anchor chart together as a class, did a picture sort and went on a nature walk to list some natural resources and man-made resources that they saw. Do you love science as much as I do??

Looking for a new way to track your student's migration from center to center? Here is a fun and colorful way to display it for the class to see. Best of all it hangs on a pocket chart stand so it doesn't take up all your precious wall space! It can be rolled out of the way easily or covered up as needed. Here are the products I used... PAC54651E - Dark Blue Poster Board (I used to pieces that I laminated together end to end. Black Poster Board also works well.) CTP3804 - Poppin' Patterns Centers Signs Mini BBS. CTP1194 - 4" Poppin' Patterns Punch Out Letters CK368301 - Clothes Pins 24/Bag CTP5933 - Poppin' Patterns Mini Dots Cutouts For the place holders, down the side, I used a clothespin with a student's name written on the side. Then using a glue gun I adhered the mini dot cutouts to the end of the pin. For stability, you might consider laminating the dots before gluing since they will be handled a lot. I also laminated the poster boards after I had attached the center signs.

First, Open House was great! I had 16 of 20 families come! I love seeing how excited the kids are to show off all their work! They were s...

I really debated this year between doing my current behavior system or switching to one of the cute clip charts that are all over. In the e...

This is a simple match worksheet that includes several different natural resources. The students draw a line to match the natural resource to what can be made from it. ...

This attractive set of printables include a title poster, an explanatory page for natural materials, an explanatory page for man-made materials, and 19 visual cards of various natural and man-made materials. Buy this resource in a Bundle and SAVE OVER 20%: **Natural or Man-made Bundle Pack** You might also like our resources on: Natural or Man-made Printables Treetop Displays - printable posters, classroom resources and bulletin board ideas

No, I did not run away or fall off the edge of the planet. For those of you who are already dipping your toes in the pool and sipping margaritas at 4pm, please remember that I live in New England. You know.... That place that had a blizzard this winter and a hurricane in the fall. That means that my kiddos aren't getting out till the 25th and I'll be out somewhere around the 27th. You heard me right.... The 27th of June. Needless to say I have been busy with my Grad Dance, final grading, end of the year evaluations, end of the year hiring and next year's budget.....you get my point. Well, as we speak almost everything is done but the budget and that is so close (over 1000 markers later). So, now I get to play. Although I've been a bit lazy on documenting lately, I thought I would share some of the fun things I've been doing with the kiddos. 1. About 10 years ago, I had my kiddos keep interactive notebooks and although I loved them desperately, I was too early in my career to figure out how to grade them without ending up in a straight jacket. My department head said she could always tell when I was at the end of a unit because I was in tears and my hair was falling out. This is what happens when you collect all notebooks and grade every page. Well, I'm older and wiser (and much chubbier) and Pinterest has renewed my interest so I've been doing some activities that are notebook worthy in order to practice. First, after doing a round robin activity on the major inventions of the Industrial Revolution, we talked about how all regions would benefit from the inventions but one region would benefit most. I gave kids a map with the regions drawn in and pictures of the inventions. I had them number the inventions and write the names at the bottom then we talked it over. The students soon realized that the west was going to boom with the inventions, the north was finally going to prosper and the south was going to become more isolated and dependent on slave labor. We talked about how the south just got a box with combs and major transportation lines actually ran to its north. The kids were able to mark up their pictures however they wanted (I.e. arrows, letters, etc). I used to do this as a class with no artifact, but the kids loved making their own. 2. One of my favorite things to teach is Manifest Destiny and I love to start it with an analysis of the picture. If you teach it right after the Industrial Revolution, it dovetails brilliantly because the kids can really take in the telegraph lines, Transcontinetal Railroad, steamboats, etc. This year, in my readiness for interactive notebooks, we guided the conversation by making this: We worked on the definition using this Prezi and then I instructed them to circle three things in the picture that they noticed, wanted to talk about or wanted to question. Underneath the picture they had to make a guess as to what they circled. Once everyone labeled three things, I had students point out things in the picture and we discussed them as a class. Because I have a long throw projector, I gave the volunteer the "magic paper" and had them isolate the object and then step away from the board about two feet. Voila!!! They loved this and didn't even mind volunteering just to ask a question. They had amazing conversations and our principal even got in on the action. Nothing like a fabulous launch to the unit. 3. Last but not least.... Good old notetaking and foldables. In order to end the year we have toplow through how we acquired the United States from coast to coast. I have the kids read various resources and answer basic comprehension questions. Most of the resources I used were Bentley Boyd's Chester the Crab comics. My students love these, they come in 5 comic units and even though they are comics, they are challenging enough because they include dialogue, sidebars, etc. Students really need to focus on all aspects of the cartoon to understand what is happening. Using all this information, students created a foldable that they used an an open note assessment. I so rarely do traditional notetaking, my kids said this assignment was like a "scavenger hunt". Ha!!!! I love when you fool them and make them learn at the same time. So, do you use an interactive notebook in social studies? I would love to get some suggestions and pointers because come this September(yes, we don't go back till September) I'm all in! Posted with Blogsy

Wind, rain and snow all play a part in deposition by eroding bits of Earth and moving them elsewhere.

The 2012/2013 school year is almost here (T minus 3 days) and I feel like I need another month to actually be ready for my students. I worked in my classroom until 7 pm then made a point to stop at Home Depot tonight to pick up some paint swatches for a quick project to do at home. I have 7 tables so I picked up 7 swatches. I cut down the white stripes on each swatch so that I had 4 separate strips of each color. I am now ready to form my groups on the first day of school! Each student will pick a color as they walk in the door and sit with students in the same color family. Such a simple way to switch up the groups when you need a quick change! This idea came from a Pin on Pinterest but I can't seem to find it to give credit to the savvy teacher who came up with this idea. I can at least thank Pinterest for providing me a hundred different projects that I have on my "will create someday" list! I hope everyone has had or will have a wonderful start to the new school year!

This is a QR Sort based activity that focuses on the different forces of weathering, erosion, and deposition. For the activity, I generally have students in groups of 2-4 and print off group copies of the QR codes, cut them and half, and this way you will have a sort. Students will need to match th...

Teaching star students