Woot woot! It is that time again! Time for another selection of 150 bright ideas from some seriously amazing bloggers. It is my privilege to be included in this fabulous group! This month my bright idea
We have finally gotten to Olivia's third grade year. She has many projects to complete this year (yay third grade) but the biography pos...
Are student rewards or your treasure box making you go broke? Not anymore! Check out this list of 50 absolutely free student rewards!
This is a color the apple fraction worksheet perfect for an apple, fall, or back to school theme!
How to help students overcome their anger. These 5 tips can be a game changer with students that are not sure how to react when angry by giving them tools to work through it. The last one is my favorite!
Decorate a classroom and/or teach your children and students the months of the year with these fun worksheets and printables. 100% FREE!
Stinky Feet is a test prep game with a funny name, but it provides a serious review that will leave your students begging for more. Check out this game's simple set up that can be used with any content for any subject area over and over again.
Kids in 4th grade created these awesome Pop Art self-portraits! We learned about Andy Warhol for this project. Warhol enjoyed repetition and color! He often drew the same every day (POPular) objects, people and animals over and over again and colored them differently each time. You might recognize this famous Warhol artwork! Here are some great books that we looked at! First, students outlined their facial features on an 8.5 x 11 photograph. Then they colored the back of the photo with pencil. The pencil on the back of the paper worked like carbon paper and helped the kids transfer their outlines onto large paper. We taped the photo to each corner of the large paper and traced the photo outlines in each corner. The kids were very impressed with this reprinting trick! We also talked about complementary colors (opposites) and how they make each other POP when placed side by side! Learning Goals: I can... - Tell about Andy Warhol and Pop Art - Simplify a photograph by outlining facial features - Create a graphite transfer - Create a self-portrait in the style of Andy Warhol - Use complementary colors to make the artwork pop - Explain what complementary colors are and how they can be used
Upper elementary classroom tips and ideas with a focus on classroom management, student engagement, & cooperative learning.
Explore the lovely country of Costa Rica for Kids with this free printable mini book to read, color, and learn!
Let me start out by saying this has been one of the most successful and visually stunning projects that I've ever done with my students. It is definitely the most exciting printmaking project that we've ever done at Thomas. I wrote the lesson and went into the project thinking that it would probably be pretty good. I told my students that I'm absolutely blown away by the results of their talent and hard work. This lesson is a keeper. My previous 4th grade printmaking lesson was decent, but not outstanding. It was too similar from an art-making perspective to the Wild Things I do with my 2nd graders. This year, I really wanted to push the medium a little more by printing with multiple colors. I ended up deciding to push it to three colors and add in a little vocab by also bringing in the use of complimentary colors. Check out the lesson plan here! Close up of the piece above. Wow. Whew. That was a lot of examples, right? I just couldn't help myself this time. They were all so good that I had to show them off. If you're still reading, you're in luck. I'm going to tell you how I did this project and I'm going to use pictures! Let your inner kid rejoice. Start with a drawing of whatever you want to print. I had my kids do animal portraits. I gave them each a piece of the foam they would be printing on, then had them trace around it to give them the size of the final artwork. I then collected the foam for use the following week. Tape your drawing over the printing foam and use a dull pencil or other blunt tool to press down on the lines of just the outline of the subject. Take the paper off and press down again to make sure the marks are deep enough to make proper prints. I had my students make sure they ended up with three good prints of the background on the first day of printing. Re-tape the original drawing the following class. Press down any remaining details. Cut out the subject along the line that was pressed down last time. Now print with this piece directly on top of the original prints. I had my students use at least one set of complimentary colors. On the final day of printing, cut out a small detail that makes sense to print in a third color. Then, you guessed it, print this piece right on top of the original prints. This was my demo piece I did with the materials above.
Instead of blaming the student, using sarcasm, or a feeble attempt at giving orders I try to keep my cool and really get my students on board. The following are tried and true ways to pull students over to your side and get them on board with the rest of your class.
Upper elementary classroom tips and ideas with a focus on classroom management, student engagement, & cooperative learning.
Are you looking for new ways to keep novelty in the classroom? Check out this post for 5 unique ways to engage your students and keep the classroom fresh!
Have fun learning about Kenya with these printable Mini Books for kids from k-5th grade. . These books help teach about kenya for kids including the culture, way of life and interests. They will also learn about Kenya, an African country with many exciting landmarks and places to visit.
A box of craft materials is an unclaimed treasure for children. Last night we had to finish making the biography poster for Leah's proje...
Reading comprehension can be challenging for some students. But it can also be fun. Our 4th-grade reading worksheets are packed with great stories, question and answers, fill in the blanks and matching. Children can learn to communicate and express themselves in a way they’re easily understood. Our worksheets can help. Practice makes perfect. Print them […]
We've all had them in our class. That kid that isn't really a trouble maker, but they just can't seem to do anything by themselves. Instead they want the attention of their peers, you, and anyone else
Upper elementary classroom tips and ideas with a focus on classroom management, student engagement, & cooperative learning.
4th Grade is where it’s at. Learning really starts to get interesting. 4th Grade Worksheets can help. Worksheets make learning fun and engaging. They can help your children with real-world problems and give them skills for life. Help them learn grammar, reading, math and more. Print all of our worksheets for free. 4th Grade Worksheets
Happy Sunday! I hope everyone is enjoying this glorious weather! Whoo Hoo ~ loving me some fall now! I decided this would be the day for me to join Farley's "Currently" Linky Party. Yes, I am a bit late, but that is pretty much the norm for me. Better late than never, I say! Look what I got! A present dropped off by a visiting student! So I spent some time at work yesterday, surprise surprise ;) and set about planning for our short week. Can you believe we are a few days away from 4H Camp? This is the best field trip - so fun! In honor of camp, a friend reminded me of a fun little read aloud to share with my kiddos. Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah! by Allan Sherman, illustrated by Jack E. Davis, is a silly look at camp life and the bundle of nerves camp can bring out. It will certainly be difficult to read without singing. Let's hope for my kiddos sake, I can refrain. Hmmm....this cover reminds me of Mrs. Marshall for some reason! Maybe we shouldn't get in the canoes this year! As I worked in my room, I looked back at all the work we have accomplished in such a short time. We have planned our narratives and some students have begun their drafts. We are paying close attention to make sure that we include the figurative language and sensory detail that we have practiced for weeks now. Last week, we looked at what makes a great lead, and we went over a number of great strategies to hook the reader. Students really enjoyed some that I shared, but I have to say that my favorite is the Ba-Da-Bing! I have had the best luck helping students craft a strong lead using this strategy. I first learned of it when I attended a Barry Lane session at the Arkansas Reading Conference. He shared this writing strategy created by Gretchen Bernabei. Together, they wrote about it in one of my all time favorite writing workshop books, Hooked on Meaning. With a Ba-Da-Bing, students begin by writing Ba: what their feet did, Da: what they saw, Bing: what they thought. For example: When I rushed through the door, I noticed my son wasn't home yet. He was so grounded! ~ Can you believe how brilliantly simple that is?! Uugghh...this is one of those, "Why didn't I think of that," kind of things. Ba-Da-Bing: Barry Lane, Hooked on Meaning Here is a short clip of one of the lessons on the video that comes with Hooked on Meaning. Each year, my kiddos love these! While thinking about our work in writing our own narratives and our pulling apart story elements in our reading, I have pulled as many of my favorite narratives as I could. There are so many great titles and authors out there: Bunting, Lowry, Rylant, and Polacco. I really want to encourage my students as we read this week, to take a look at some of these wonderful and touching stories. I will share a few with the class as we talk about character traits and plot and then bring it back to our study of narratives. Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnel will have my kiddos asking lots of questions as five year old Charlotte May tells the story of how she was mailed to her Grandmother with such a sweet and honest little voice. The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson is a wonderful narrative full of theme: acceptance and kindness. Both characters learn and grow watching each other from "the other side" of the fence. Just like Mailing May, this story is told with such an honest little voice; I can almost hear the little girl herself telling me her story. Crow Call by Lois Lowry is so perfectly illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline, and Ms. Lowry left a beautiful author's note showing the significance of this story for her. This is a bit on the longer side for one mini-lesson, but it is definitely worth sharing over a couple of days. Again, I love sharing how a narrative story can pull in one small moment in time, one memory, and magnify it with such beautiful detail. OK, these next two are for seasonal fun! The Bones of Fred McFee by Eve Bunting and The Follower by Richard Thompson are rhythmical and repeating and great Halloween reads. Would you think me completely over the edge if I told you that The Follower is great for reviewing prepositional phrases? Yes, I will try to find a way to fit grammar in just about anywhere, LOL. I love them both and you just can't go wrong with a Bunting book. One last thing before I call it a night and hit that huge stack of papers to be graded, edited, or replied to, whew...I wanted to say thanks to my sweet kiddos for donating books from the book fair and some from their very own libraries to help our library grow! So excited that we are sharing so many great books with each other! With that, I will say good night and happy reading!
Free worksheet for collecting data on /s/ articulation in isolation and in syllables. Great for sending home for extra practice! Download the /s/ articulation data sheet here!
Upper elementary classroom tips and ideas with a focus on classroom management, student engagement, & cooperative learning.
These Katsushika Hokusai Art Projects for Kids are perfect to help us learn about the amazing Japanese artist who made great waves a thing!
30 Fantastic Star Wars Crafts. Any Star Wars enthusiast will love these crafts - great for Star Wars Parties or Star Wars Gifts. May the 4th be with You. Star wars games activities. Star wars paper crafts. Star wars crafts for kids party. Star wars activities for adults. Star wars printable activities.
Are you looking for a partner game or learning center that will engage your students and keep them asking for more? Look no further than Digital Stinky Feet! While Stinky Feet is a great review game to play with the whole class it can be a powerful way for students to get practice with a partner.
Printable reading games are useful resources for enhancing the reading skills of 4th grade students in an engaging manner. They not only make reading enjoyable but also improve comprehension, vocabulary, and critical thinking..
TEST PREP. This phrase strikes a little bit of fear into the hearts of teachers and students everywhere. Test prep doesn't have to be that way though. It is certain the best test prep is solid
Strategic test prep is the only way to go. Use rigorous, high engagement practice to get the most out of your test prep time!
This worksheet targets ten irregular plural nouns. Four answer choices are provided for each sentence. It's not as cute and pretty as some of my other materials, but it should get the job done. It would be great to send home as homework for extra grammar practice. Enjoy! Download the free irregular plural nouns worksheet here!
