On February 15, 1965, Nat King Cole died at the age of just 45, and one of the greatest singers of the 20th century was silenced.

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It is important for students to not only recognize how a character learns and grows, but to also understand how the story's unfolding event...

My 4th and 5th grade students created a freedom quilt square for their class quilts last year during Black History Month. We started out the project by reading The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Fr…

This week was our first week back and, boy am I tired! My class is great though...very inquisitive and eager to learn. They take their work seriously and are actively working most of the day. Who could ask for more?? We did quite a few things this week, but I want to share with you one "get to know you" project we did that really came out great. I seriously can't stop staring at it! I saw this pin on Pinterest. I love how it looks and thought it would make a great welcome sign. Now, on the pin, the hands seemed to be just colored in. I wanted something a bit more. So we started with creating Circle Maps about ourselves. What made us special? What are some things that have shaped us? Where did you go in your life? etc....Most of the kids finished these Circle Maps in class on the first day of school. I then asked the students to trace their hands and arms on a piece of 11 x 17" piece of paper. They then had to draw, write, decorate, etc...the traced in hand with items from the Circle Map. The goal was to teach their fellow classmates about themselves in a visual way, without giving away too much information (ie: I didn't want them to write paragraphs.) That is pretty much how far we got in class. So, the first homework assignment the students had to finish the project at home. I gave them this sheet so that they could be a bit more focused on their project and add a bit if they wanted. (but if you are going copy-less, just forgo this. They can write the information on a sheet of paper instead.) The next day, the hands came back to school...and they were great! I had the kids get into groups and share what they decided to put on their hands and why. The kids learned a lot about each other in that 15 minute session! You can see some of them used words as well as pictures to tell about themselves. I love the one directly in the center of this picture! Others just used pictures, like the one in the middle here. When I went to put them around a piece of poster board, like in the original pin, they didn't fit :( I think if I had used a smaller piece of paper to trace their hands to begin with they might have. Oh well! I decided to put them up as if the hands were all in a line, raising up.....and it came out great! I overlapped the hands, so I was able to get 5 or 6 on one piece of large construction paper. I then mounted them on my wall. I love it! All in all, this was a fun little project that served as a great way for the kids to get to know each other and make a nice display! What is something you do during the first week of school to help the kids get to know each other and for you to learn a little about them? Follow me on Snapchat for even more teaching ideas!

My best advice to any teacher is to start the year with simple, but clear classroom expectations. If students know what you expect out of them starting from the beginning of the year, you will spend less time stopping instruction to correct behavior. When students know the expectations, they will try their best to follow ... Read More about Classroom Expectations

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I wanted to share a fun project my kiddos did. We had been working on fractions and I wanted to come up with a little fun that would reinforce some of what they learned as well as let them have some fun being creative. WARNING.....LOTS of pictures ahead....they all were so unique and creative, I had to share them all:) Directions Google Doc HERE We were fortunate enough to have a local pizza place donate enough boxes so each of my kids could have one. This is the first time I have done this project.....I'm sure next time I will add to it but for a first time, I am pleased with it and THRILLED with how they turned out. I typed up an instruction sheet for the kids to follow. Basically, they were supposed to represent 5 different fractions using different toppings. They had to include a "key" explaining their fractions. For each of the 5 fractions they had to write 2 equivalent fractions. They also had to write 2 word problems to go with their pizza:) Some of them put their word problems on a different sheet or on the bottom:) I absolutely LOVE how different each project is....some drew theirs, some used construction paper, some used playdoh, buttons, all kinds of creative ideas flowing:) I'm so proud of my kids and I know they are proud of their projects! It was fun to see them bring them in every morning and everyone would gather around to take a peek:) We were also excited because we got to display them in our Science Fair. I know they aren't Science BUT I felt like they all had put too much work into them for just me to see them. We got to set up a table to display them so others could enjoy their hard work. Hope this is something you can use in your classroom as you explore and learn about fractions! Have a blessed day all!

I don't know if you have noticed, but I LOVE ROOM TRANSFORMATIONS! I probably love them more than my students do....and my students want them all the time! This one was new for me this year! I've always wanted to do an operating room, but didn't know exactly what standard I wanted to cover! Well, I finally figured it out (obviously)! ---------------------------------------------------- SET-UP & MATERIALS COVERING WALLS: Whenever you want to cover up your walls to transform your space, I highly recommend using tablecloths from the Dollar Tree! They are super light-weight and easy to hang up. I always hang them up with tacks. I have ceilings where tacks push in very easily and it takes no time at all. Typically it takes me between 45 minutes to an hour to cover 80% of my room and my room is LARGE. OPERATING ROOMS: To create the rooms, I hung up one tablecloth on each side. This help create a small space where students could feel like they were in separate operating rooms, but I was still able to see all students. LIFE-SIZED OPERATION CHARACTER: These were made from butcher paper. I taped a piece that would fit nicely on each table onto my SmartBoard and traced over a picture I found Google. Once I was done, I traced around my pre-made operation "organs" so that I knew they would fit. I DID NOT trace around the ones from the Google image. OPERATION ORGANS: I free handed them! I looked at the images online and copied! Of course they are larger than normal. I wanted them large enough so that students could write character traits on each one. I only made 9 out of the 13 on the original board game. See the picture below to see what I mean. STUDENT COSTUMES: I purchased everything from amazon and created the badges which are linked below. Gloves where provided by my school. All items where waiting for the students are their assigned operating room. -Face masks -Caps -My doctor outfit DOCUMENTS: Thank You, Ma'am The Scholarship Jacket (Mature words and content) Possibility of Evil Badges, doctor files, & patient files I made one for each group. I paced all of the stories, doctor, and patient directions on one clipboard and provided enough clipboards for each student in the group. PowerPoint Presentation-surgical room sounds -The first slide lasts for 50 minutes -Second slide has the flat-line video (Lasts for 15 seconds) -Third slide shows what the students need to do to save their patient (Lasts for 2 minutes) -Fourth slide goes back to the original beep. (SLIDES SWITCH BY THEMSELVES! All you need to do is click the start button of each video.) ---------------------------------------------------- CONTENT RL 3 Describe how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution. Identifying character traits can be very tricky for students especially when they have to infer them and then tell me how a character's traits develops the plot. We practiced this skill for two weeks before I felt like they were ready for this transformation. The goal is that they demonstrate mastery of this standard. STEP ONE: Read the patient's file. This is a short story I provided each group. Now, I always teach to the top. I do not differentiate during transformations. I provide more assistance if need, which is rare. Kids can do amazing things when you give them the chance! Once the entire group finished reading (they read it together), they could move onto step two. STEP TWO: Identify the character's "symptoms" aka character traits. Student's analyzed the file for all the components to identify each trait (refer to the document linked at the bottom). I heard so many awesome conversations during this time. As student's diagnosed the patient, they would raise their hands and call Dr. Schrempp over (me). They would have to provide me the evidence from the file that support that diagnosis. If they were correct, they earned an organ! Then, the group would record the trait on the organ and translate it back into the patient's body. In the end, each operating room identified nine qualities. This part took about and hour and a half! BUT of course I had to add a little twist.... PATIENT FLAT-LINED: I made a timed PowerPoint that at about the hour mark the screen switched and all the sudden the flat-line sound went over our speakers. My student's FREAKED! Student's learned that their patients were dying and they only way they could save them was by solving the hard math problem that was on the board. They only had one minute to solve because the human brain only last about 3 minutes without oxygen. You can choose whatever problem you like! I'm all about rigor so my students had a nice long multi-operation expression. & I'm happy to say that all surgeons saved their patients. EARLY FINISHERS: I only had 2 out of the 4 groups finish about 20 minutes before the rest. You should always have a backup plan for when this happens. I used ReaditWriteitLearnit's character trait autopsy files from her TpT. I handed the task cards to each group and they worked on their already made person. Checkout the link for more details! I have provided all of my documents above. Please sure them as you please! I kept the parts for names editable so that you can add your own character names. Remember I have to rights to all of these documents. If you plan on using them, you must give me credit. Please tag me in your Instagram photos! I'd love to see this all in action!

This unit was designed to incorporate an interactive notebook. While most classrooms participate in note taking for math, it has been proven that by stimulating your mind through visual, tactile, s…

Outlawing the words "I'm done" changed my classroom! Find out how to reform fast finishers and improve the quality of work in your room!

So my dear friend that teaches fourth grade this year shared this amazing review game with me that I just had to share with you! This game ...

As a teacher, I am always on the hunt for the perfect tools at the cheapest prices for my ELA classroom. Taking care of our students and keeping our learning

Are your students having trouble finding answers and citing evidence in their reading? This STEP-BY-STEP process scaffolds through reading strategies to help your students be successful! Students will learn the acronyms for ACE, RACE, and RAP to provide them with the proper tools for citing evidence effectively along with

Integrating music and art into instruction across the curriculum can improve student performance and create a stronger sense of community in...

My absolute favorite classroom management tool is a doorbell! Sounds crazy - right?!?! It has transformed my classroom environment and can for you too!

It is important for students to not only recognize how a character learns and grows, but to also understand how the story's unfolding events aff…

Setting up for small group in 2nd grade can be challenging! This post outlines one teacher's simple center rotation schedule.

Main Idea. That is what we are learning about in room 117 this week. Luckily, my 6th graders have been covering Main Idea for several years ...

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Creepy crawly spiders! Heights! The dark! These are some common top fears to name a few, and if you're anything like me, heck, you're not to...

Monday, September 30, 2013 Students learned that there are special rules for dividing numbers by 1 and by 0. Rule: A number divided by 1 is that number. Examples: 4 / 1 = 4 or 55 / 1 = 55 Rule: A number divided by itself (except 0) is 1. Examples: 17 / 17 = 1 or 135 / 135 = 1 Rule: Zero divided by a number (except 0) is 0. Examples: 0 / 4 = 0 or 0 / 15 = 0 Rule: You cannot divide a number by zero. Examples: 7 / 0 cannot be done. 12 / 0 cannot be done. Students didn't get to watch Division Rules video because my projector lamp went out :( Tuesday, October 1, 2013 Students learned to use patterns to multiply by multiples of 10s and hundreds. An example we talked about in class was: 2x3=6 2x30=60 2x300=600 EX: 6x800 --- First multiply the first non zero digit, 6 times 8 which equals 48 then add 2 zeros, so your product is 4800.  Wednesday, October 2, 2013 Students learned CUBES for solving word problems. I sent a copy of CUBES home for students to keep and use for future assignments. [Edit] Reminders: -All grades are updated in the grade book/database; this includes test that students took on Friday 10/4/13. -The end of the first 9 weeks is October 18, 2013. All make up or late work is due Tuesday, October 15, 2013. I will not take any missing work after Tuesday 10/15/13. -Within the next week, week and a half, we will be taking Math Benchmark 1. I have scheduled Benchmark 1 for Wednesday 10/16/13. I will keep you all updated if there are any changes.

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When it’s time to head back to school, I think about all of the expectations that must be taught. Some of those expectations are specific to how we use our science class time. Here are 4 anchor charts that accompany class discussions about our expectations. We can revisit these charts as often as needed throughout ... Read more