So, you're a new 5th grade teacher... Are you overwhelmed? Excited? Terrified? Maybe you're all of these things! It is my hope that after reading this blog post, you will feel prepared and confident to meet your new
Just print these 5th Grade Math Worksheets to get extra math practice at school, at home, or for summer learning - NO PREP, fun way to review!
There's something about 3 day weekends. I always feel like I truly get things accomplished, and this weekend is no different....not muc...
Did you think teaching students to write would be a snap? I mean, you are a college-educated, certified individual. How hard could it possibly be? Well, it’s a challenge, especially when just starting out. In my classroom,
Illusions, meditations, stretching, and more.
This post breaks down how I teach reading in 5th grade and how my reading block is structured, including the materials needed.
I moved from Elementary to Middle School two years ago. This will be my third year in fifth grade. I really love setting up my classroom but it is so much easier and less time consuming now. Primary teachers go above and beyond!!! Here are some things that I do to make it even easier. Things that I do to get ready: (If you make a to do list before you go in it helps) #1 Clean out closets and organize...purge I quickly go through all my cabinets and drawers. I am still weeding down my teaching materials, if it is not science or math related, I have been giving it away. Last year, I saved photo copy boxes and when I finished a science unit I put it in a box and labeled it. The copy boxes fit in my closet. Take note of materials and what you may need as you organize. #2 Name Tags...no more labeling I was obsessed with labels and then went to a number system in my elementary classroom. No more!!! I have two homeroom classes and found it hard to use numbers. The only thing I label is their desk nameplates for the open door day. I bought the $1.00 chart strips from Target. The kids want to see who is in their class. We have the kids bring their nameplates with them when we switch classes the first few weeks. Fifth graders can write their name and label their own workbooks and notebooks!!!! Our students share desks and they write their name on masking tape and put on inside. Buy extra sharpies!!!! (Hint...laminate first. If there is an error, write over sharpie with dry erase marker and it comes off!!!) #3 Bulletin Boards..leave them up all year!!!! There are fewer bulletin boards in Middle School. I cover the boards in my classroom with fade less black paper and have not changed them since I moved. I cover up over the summer. I did update the middle board with a STEM section this year Design boards that you don't have to keep changing. It will save you time. #4 Copy for First Week (3 days)...Keep it Simple You will not get through everything you have planned. I was looking at my plans from last year and there were so many extra things added like an assembly, school pictures, fire drill, school tour, etc. The activities that you do plan take longer than you think. It is good to have extra things, but it should be focused on starting curriculum, like setting up interactive notebooks, going over math practices, multiplication quiz, etc. Choose your B2S activities carefully. I am doing a Math About Me Using Equations and a Fifth Grade News sheet. I do have team building things planned as well. (you don't want to repeat from other grades) Start out slow and establish your routines and expectations! #5 Planning I like to create a pacing guide for my math and science units. Luckily, our grade level team has created it together. There is so much to teach and it keeps me on track. #6 Furniture I like my desks in groups. We do a lot of group work in math and science. I also want my desks facing the front board, because I use the projector for math and use many video clips. I bought the supply carts from Target and have one for each group. If they are not using supplies, they can be moved. There is two extra shelves to store notebooks and anything else we need. The carts are on wheels and can be moved. I use a kidney table as my desk with cubbies for storage. The teacher desk was taking up too much space and I was never at it. I keep my lap top on a cart near the front board. I use a student chair at the cart, because they teacher chair was cumbersome. Have a great school year!!!!
Decorating your classroom at the beginning of the year (or any time) is a challenge. Let me help with these ideas! There's always so much to do at the beginning of the school year. For me, this was really brought home when I started a new job with a science lab as my classroom. An
Our fifth graders have to take the Massachusetts STE test in the spring. It is a state test that covers grades 3-5 science, technology and engineering standards. As part of a review, I had my classes create basic circuits using batteries, holders, wires, light bulbs and sockets. I wanted to bring their knowledge to the next level. We then used the snap circuit kits to learn about more complex circuits. My student LOVE them!!! The projects are endless. Please warn your students about the fragile wires on some of the pieces. I had to order some new parts. I am going to learn how to solder. We read the Science A-Z book on "Setting Up Circuits." My students needed information on resistors and transistors. I buy the annual subscription and find it worthwhile. The next part of the module was having my students read the book "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind." It is a true story about a boy in Malawi who made a windmill to generate electricity and water for his village. My students were intrigued with the story. They had so many questions. We watched a video about William. We brainstormed problems in the story and narrowed down the ones that could be solved with engineering. This lesson is based on Novel Engineering. A project that was developed by Tufts University. Please check out their website for ideas and challenges. Here is our list of problems The students had to use electricity and teach William's village that would solve the following problems; no water, darkness and extreme heat. The chart below are the materials that my students used. I am a big fan of recyclables. One of my standards is sketching and showing related parts. Here are two great examples. Here are some photos of my students and their designs. We had many types of fans, street lights, a drill for water, and a few other original ideas. Next term, I want to do a lesson on just propellers and fan blades. To model how a windmill can generate electricity I bought a crank radio/flashlight from Amazon. The students had the chance to crank it and listen to music in class. Here is the sheet I used with my classes. Click here for link
Discover a wide variety of engaging activities when teaching fractions. Cooperative learning strategies are used with many of these activities.
We are doing first grade phonics now. Get ready to learn and do all of the activities I think everyone will enjoy!
Do you dread having early finishers in your 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade classroom? Every classroom has them. Grab some free challenges in this post!
I’m going to be really honest here. When I first started teaching 12 years ago, I didn't really know about addition and subtraction strategies. I was teaching 1st grade, and the curriculum we used taught the count up strategy, sums of 10, and doubles. We spent 1-2 days on each and then quickly moved
Student created math journals for the entire year! These interactive math notebooks are a great way for Kinder through Fourth Grade to practice math skills in an interactive way. These math notebooks cover number sense, addition and subtraction, graphing, shapes, money, word problems, and so much more!
Today, 4th grade starting working on their self portraits, inspired by the art of Tad Carpenter, and the fabulous art teacher Katie Allain. You can check out their art on their Instagram accounts, if you click on their names. He's the artist who designed the cover for the book, Wonder! Here's how we created ours! Materials: Sax 90lb paper Sax liquid watercolors Sharpie markers Pencils hair examples Day 1: Talk about the book and movie, Wonder. I plan on playing the audio book, and listening to it while they work. I demonstrated how to draw a simple outline of a face and a simple hairline, like the artist did. I then demonstrated how to trace/color with a Sharpie, and paint with liquid watercolors. I also put up different hair styles on the screen. I think individual copies at their tables would work better, btw :) Here's my fist 4th grade class, working on theirs today!
This First Grade Assessment Portfolio includes the following: First Grade Common Core Standards Based Report Card Fry’s Sight Word Checklists (500 words) DRA2 Reading Assessment Progress Report MAPS Testing Progress Report Skip Counting Checklist Reading months, days and number word checklists Quarterly Writing Samples I bind this together to make individual portfolios for each child in the class. This is a great organized tool to showcase student performance to parents and administration. Connect with Me! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecreativeclassroom/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheCreativeClassroom/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ashlyn1214/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecr8tiveclas Blog: https://www.the-creative-classroom.com
My faboulous summer holidaySketchnotes / doodle - ArbeitsblattIn meinem Unterricht benutze ich gern schön gestaltete Vorlagen für Kurzvorstellungen, Erlebnisber
Teach your students how to classify tricky quadrilaterals using the hands-on lessons, activities, and games in Classify It! This ready-to-use resource from Laura Candler includes a lesson, a sorting activity, a challenging (but fun!) math game, and two quizzes that will help your students master quadrilateral classification!
Do you utilize math rotations in your classroom? Math centers are a great way to incorporate independence and corporative learning skills. It gives you time to work with students one on one or in small groups with skills they are struggling with. I know it can be overwhelming to get started with centers, especially if ... Read More about Time Saving Tips For Math Centers
This is a great way to give kids experience with fraction pieces and end up with an adorable piece of art. The idea for the fraction circle pictures comes from the book Picture Pie by Ed Emberley. The book has so many ideas of birds, animals, insects and plants that can be made from fractional pie pieces. First decide what fractions you want your students to use. Halves, fourths and eighths can be made from plain circles. You can show students how to fold and cut the circles to get those fractions. If you want them to use thirds, and sixths it is much easier to start with preprinted circles. Click on the fraction circles for a pdf file that you can print for your class to use on this or other projects. The students in Mrs. Q's class used white circles and then colored them for their completed pictures. But I've done this in the past with circles printed on colored construction paper. When the pictures are finished you can have them write statements about how many fractions they used for their picture. For example, for this picture the student could write: sun = 1 + 8/8 = 2 circles flower = 1/2 + 2/4 = 1 circle leaves = 2/8 Here's another example: sun = 1/4 butterfly = 4/8 flower = 4/8 cardinal = 1/2 + 2/4 + 1/8 The kids had a lot of fun and gained some great experience with fractions. Thank you to Mrs. Q's second graders for letting me use their fraction art. They are a very talented group of boys and girls.
Hello Pinterest friends! If you are viewing this blog via Pinterest....welcome! This is actually my old blog from my previous school. Feel free to look around and enjoy! I also have a NEW BLOG that I try to update frequently, so please visit my new blog at www.hsesartyparty.blogspot.com You can also follow my Pinterest boards at http://pinterest.com/bessc/ Thanks for stopping by! Students in First grade have been hard at work! Half of the grade level finished up their chalk pastel Self Portraits that turned out gorgeous! We spent some time talking and looking at Self Portraits before they began. Working on black paper, they outlined their pictures using Elmers Glue. When the glue dried it had a raised, shiney, black texture. The children colored their pictures with colored chalk pastels and were instructed to give their background a patterned design. I am currently working on getting all of these displayed in the hall outside of my room. Come take a look! There are several other first grade projects under way and I hope to post about them soon.
Every year I have my students use a planner no matter what grade I teach. Planners help students start working on their organizational skills and is great for school-home communications. I was going to show you the editable planner I made for this year with pictures but I thought I would try something new and...
Inspire your second writers with this list of journal ideas and 2nd grade writing prompts shared by one of our Journal Buddies readers!
So you are looking to add social emotional learning activities to your upper elementary classroom, but aren't sure where to start? It doesn't have to be complicated or another boxed curriculum. Focus on adding simple SEL routines to your day and engaging activities like the ones below to help students practice age-expected SEL skills.1. Asking
These fun shark addition games help kids learn sums up to 20. They're fun for kids in pre-k, kindergarten or first grade - especially during Shark Week!
Have fun comparing Fiction and Nonfiction texts in the classroom with these easy to prepare ideas! If so, we have a few activities you can try out to help your kiddos see the similarities and differences between the two types of text. Class Discussion + Anchor Chart Select 2 books on one topic. As a class, take a picture walk through both books. Decide which is fiction and which is nonfiction. Have your kiddos help you make post it notes to label their reasons. You could also divide into groups and have each group make their own chart using 2 books. Daily 5 Bucket Book Sort Have your students sort books in their Daily 5 buckets (or independent reading buckets) into 2 piles; fiction / nonfiction. Once all of the students have their Daily 5 buckets sorted into 2 piles, do a gallery walk around the room to have students look at everyone's sorting. This leads to great conversation. Scholastic Book Club Sort Use a Scholastic Book Club flyer to have students sort book covers into 2 columns; fiction / nonfiction. One tip for this is to check in with students after sorting but prior to gluing so you can clear up any misconceptions kiddos may have. Practice! Use our FREE Fiction or Nonfiction pack to have students analyze fiction vs. nonfiction. There are several opportunities for students to practice and show their thinking. Grab this freebie HERE! Check them out below: Fiction or Nonfiction Features Sorting Page Walk Around the Room Fiction / Nonfiction Scenarios Judge a Book By its Cover Page // Take a Closer Look Pages Follow up your lesson with a Print a Standard pack! These printable packs have 6 different task sheets for extension, re-teaching, independent work ,and assessment! Find the RL 1.5 standard (fiction vs. nonfiction) HERE. Boost your Fiction vs. Nonfiction teaching lessons with this Reader Ready pack for the RL.5 standard (fiction vs. nonfiction)! It includes a 'Good Reader' Tool, anchor chart idea, and multiple practice pages! That can be found HERE!
Teaching point of view and perspective can be difficult, but with the perfect read aloud and activities, students get it.
End of the year spiral review for second grade includes both math and ELA skills. It is perfect to send home with students over summer break.
Check out this great lesson I found on Cleverbean. Learning Intention: Create an artwork in response to the text ‘Journey’ by Aaron Becker.
Changing grade levels is difficult for teachers, so I've written this post about moving to 4th grade to help get you started.
4th Grade Math Reference Sheet! *Aligned to 4th Grade TEKS! *A second version aligned to Canada Standards is included! THIS INCLUDES: -Multiplication table (products 1-12) -Keywords -Protractor (TEKS aligned 4.7C) -Quadrilaterals with pictures (TEKS aligned 4.6D) -Classifying triangles based on angles (TEKS aligned 4.6C) -Types of Lines (TEKS aligned 4.6A) -Types of Angles (TEKS aligned 4.6A) -Place value chart (billions down to the thousandths) POSSIBLE USES: -Student reference sheet -Classroom poster -Interactive notebooks
So it’s about that time for a lot of you out there. You know, Back to School Time! I have a little less than a month before I need to report for duty, but come August my brain pretty much switches from Summer Brain over to Teacher Brain. One of the things I love about going back to school is that it’s my opportunity to try out new ideas, to change up the decorations or furniture placement in my room, and to become a better version of my teacher self. I have last years mistakes and successes under my belt. I know what works, what really, really works, and what I won’t do again. Heading into my 6th year of teaching {{gasp}} I’m starting to finally feel like I know a few things :) I decided to round up some pins and products that I am really excited to put to use come September. Hopefully you will find some new ideas too. And if you’ve already tried an activity, tip, or product, I’d love to hear what you think about it! All the pictures are linked to the original source so you can read up on what makes them so fabulous! There are so many cute ideas listed here. It’s an especially awesome pin if you are also a parent with kids heading back to school. I especially love this adorable binder from Thirty Handmade Days… I’m loving the idea of individual trash cans so my kiddos aren’t up and down every time we make a craft or do a project. The ones pictured are from the adorable Michelle over at Fabulous in First. Speaking of Michelle… I am really excited to use her “Second Grade Helper” this year. This is going to be such a great resource for my kiddos to have in their desks. I can already hear the words, “Use your Helper.” Love it! {The link to this one is not a link to the specific post. I couldn’t find it on there! I’m also Tumblr-Illiterate so that might be part of the problem} I’m on a never-ending quest to be more organized and I love this idea. It lays it all out there for ya! When I make a big long list the important stuff sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. I might have to make a cutisfied version of this one but I love the inspiration! Speaking of being organized I am so loving this awesome InFORMation Kit by none other than the awesome, amazing Kelley Dolling. She’s seriously thought of everything, made it cute, and even better…editable. I wish I thought of it myself. This is a MUST DO for me. I love the “More Time” Bin. Instead of papers getting hidden in classwork folders, students put unfinished papers in the basket. They can go back to the basket whenever they have extra time AND I always know who is still working on what. Genius! I don’t have a classroom bathroom anymore, but I’m going to put these in the hallway bathrooms. They’re cute and they get the point across…don’t you just love when that happens?! I love, love, love all of these Parent Resources for Back to School. Consider them printed and prepared for the first day of school and/or Open House. They’re attention grabbing but have really important and relevant information and tips for parents. Creating a tightknit classroom community from day 1 is so important to me. I organize plenty of activities year after year that have worked wonderfully and I am excited about adding this one to the mix. I bought the frame to make this today and I can’t wait to have my kiddos sign it the first day. {The print is a FREEBIE by the way :)} This class list idea is oh-so-cute and perfect for a sub-binder or student teacher. Or those first few crazy days where you don’t even remember your own name, much less those 28 little people running around your room. Okay, so I kind, sorta, cheated with the second image because it’s a product of mine, but really, between Alisha’s totally awesome, super-fabulous “Savvy in Second Grade” pack and my “Back to School MEGA Book Pack” my lessons and activities for the first two weeks of school are completely covered. Alisha has compiled some of the cutest crafts and activities into this pack. I am seriously obsessed. Seriously. I’m lovin’ it. I am also a HUGE book lover and I want my kiddos to have the same love for reading that I do. I try to incorporate as many story-based lessons as I can {outside of our regular curriculum}. I start off right away with my Back to School MEGA Pack. It has tons of lessons to go with your favorite Back to School books including… *Stripes *Chrysanthemum *The Recess Queen *The Juicebox Bully *Hooway for Wodney Wat *Dear Teacher *How I Spent My Summer Vacation I’ll be back soon to show off a few of the activities! The above are only a few of my Back to School Pins. You can check out my Back to School Pinterest Board by clicking below. Don’t forget…my Favorite Things Linky is this Thursday! The category this week is Back to School Faves for the Kids. I’ll be back with even more Back to School goodies! There’s also still time to scoop up this fabulous BUNDLE from educents. There are so many great products included in this bundle by so many of my favorite 2nd and 3rd Grade bloggers. This is good stuff, people! Have a great night everyone! Halle
*Google Slides and Print Option* *Rubric Added!* About this Product This product came as a result of my students’ love of the biography series “Who Was…?” If you have not looked into this series, I recommend that you do! They are a fun, easy read that offers an engaging way for students to learn about historical figures and important people. Although this product is based on this series, this product could be used for any biography book or project. This is a nice way to integrate Reading, Writing, and Social Studies.🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5. How I Used this Product In my 3rd Grade classroom, I used multiple copies of the same book or books and paired students in partnerships. In my school, we have a 30 minute Reading Intervention Block. I began this project with students who were not pulled out or working with me in small groups during this time. This was a nice way for students to work independently or in partnerships. It also created an extension for what they could already do as readers. Plus, they had so much fun! I let them work on this project in their partnerships. This held several benefits. Many students who were not pulled out or working in small groups tend to be higher level students OR students who have untapped potential. Allowing them to work on a project like this can extend their learning, as well as find new ways to enjoy reading. While other students had special groups or went to see other teachers, it was nice for these students to have their own project too. The Poster Page is a template that you could use for students to turn in with the essay or you could use this as a planning page and then have students create a larger poster on their own. I assigned it as homework and was pleasantly surprised at what my students turned in. I saw a wonderful increase in engagement by students who had shown little motivation or enthusiasm for reading. You can see the photos in the preview or in the product itself. Please know I updated the pages after the photos were taken with more detail and provided the poster template. Good luck to you with this project! If you have any questions, please contact me! You might also LOVE... Reader’s Notebook Anchor Charts My Opinion Matters! {An Opinion Writing Unit} My Life is A Story {A Personal Narrative Writing Unit} Buzzin' in Book Clubs {Book Club Reading Unit Resources} Newspaper Article Writing Unit {Here's the Scoop!} Opinion Writing for a Literary Response Current Events Writing {What's the Scoop?}
Eclectic and diverse 8th grade reading list. 12-14 year olds will love this collection of realism, fantasy books, historical fiction novels and even poetry.
First week of school activities for kindergarten & 1st grade students including First Day Jitters, school bus safety, & friendship activities.
