10 hands-on ideas for teaching earth changes and landforms in 2nd grade science with engaging STEM earth changes activities kids love!
14 Brilliant Ways to Quiet a Noisy Class! Check out these behavior management strategies for classroom management!
I can't believe this school year is almost over! I have only 5 days of school left, Friday is our last day. I will miss my kiddos dearly but am super excited to start my summer vacation. Next school year will bring so many changes for me~~new partner teacher (SUPER excited!!), best friend coming back to teach at my school (YAHOO!!), my baby girl is starting 8th grade at another school (BOO HOO!), and 3rd grade will switch classes next year (SCARED!!)!! I will need the summer to get ready for my 27+ new students next year. I love planning over the summer and will need this summer to prepare for switching classes. Switching won't be so bad, I will teach religion to 2 classes. I am really happy about not teaching science and social studies too!! I always have a hard time fitting these 2 subjects in on a daily basis. My students have been really busy these last 2 weeks doing my favorite all-time writing assignment~~~My Favorite Summer Vacation! I just love this writing and really LOVE how the finished essays turn out. Check them out below. You can click (HERE) to download the sunglasses template. You need to make 2 copies and tape them together. See below!! This year I decided to give out Candy Awards. I literally ran all over town looking for each type of candy. I even had my honey helping me (He was so cute going from store to store!)! I had the hardest time finding Lifesavers (Who would believe that?!). You can download your own set of Candy Awards from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits. I found these awards during the summer and have been saving them all year. Check them out below! I can't wait to share them with my students tomorrow!!! Here is just a taste of what the awards look like! They are precious!!!! Here is a fun project I did with my class last week. I found this idea on Pinterest and just HAD to try it with my class! Look at the pictures below and try to see the shape! I am in LOVE with this!!
Today I'll be sharing why I think substitute binders are so important and what information you should include in your "sub tub."
The end of the school year is such a busy time, isn't it? I know most of you probably feel like me... worn out by testing and ready for summer but still looking at a to-do list a mile long! Add to that student behavior that is, well, less than stellar. Ugh! I've been finding reading centers to be particularly hard lately. These third graders have nothing on their minds except socializing and acting like the fourth graders they haven't quite become yet. So I took the drastic measure of canceling reading centers. That's right... I canceled them. No more centers! So, what are these children doing for an hour every day? Research and writing. Wow, that sound boring... zzzzz. But check out some of their finished work and you tell me, does this look boring? These are the students' self-published "Time For Kids" magazines. After using TFK in our guided reading groups for awhile, I decided to use them as a way to get the kids writing. First, we brainstormed ideas for topics and created a "topic menu". They came up with things like the San Francisco earthquake, the Titanic, Pompeii, the New York Yankees, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Apollo Space Mission. They were all VERY excited to contribute to the menu. Then we closely analyzed TFK to figure out what makes them so interesting. The kids noticed that the paragraphs were short with text features to go with them. They noted that there were a lot of very interesting facts and that each section had its own heading. They pointed out the colorful illustrations and interactive features like links to videos. We decided it would be a good idea to use index cards for each paragraph or sub-topic. Next, we talked about how to conduct research including how to paraphrase, how to cite your source (which we've been working on for awhile), and how to take notes. I also made a list of acceptable websites that they could access on the computer or ipads. Finally, they were ready to go and boy, did they dive right in! Most of them chose to partner up for their first topic. They spent several days researching with some of them asking to visit the media center to find even more information. During reading groups, I looked over what they had done so far and offered guidance as needed. Some things they had trouble with at first were writing good headings for each paragraph and forgetting topic sentences. After our first round of TFK publishing, the kids decided they wanted to do more, so they all chose a new topic! Some decided to work on their own because they were excited to research something specific. It was great seeing them so absorbed in their writing. Most of them spent a full week doing research and another week writing, illustrating, and editing. Their hard work really paid off! Take a look at some of these finished pieces... Now that the school year is coming to an end, I wish we had more time for projects like these. But hey, I'm still ready for summer to start! Don't forget to check out TpT's big Teacher Appreciation Sale starting tonight at midnight!
Are you ready to pull your hair out because your kids WON'T. STOP. TALKING? You are not alone. I've got 10 ideas to help you.
How (and how NOT to) plan Genius Hour in an elementary classroom. Genius Hour ideas for second, third and fourth grade. Projects, organization, classroom management, and planning for passion projects.
Summer is almost over! How did that happen? Where did the last 2 months go? With a little under 2 weeks left until we go back to school my mind has been increasingly drawn to planning for the ne…
These spooky mummy eyes are such a fun Halloween project! I saw a version of this project online and just had to recreate it. The oil pastels are a bit messy but this is a no-paint project that can be completed in one art session.
Fun and easy composition game for third grade and beyond with die cuts from the dollar store! Simple to make and use!
Lessons, experiments, activities, and videos for teaching kids in third grade all about fossils. These lessons combine hands-on science with nonfiction reading and informational text to help students answer the questions 'What are fossils?' and 'What can fossils teach us?'
Movie days are a rare, special occurrence in school. But what seems like a simple lesson isn't. Read more for Rated G Movies and lesson extensions.
Cooperation is easy to talk about, but it's tough to actually SHOW kids why it's important. I can read countless amazing books about cooperation, but it just doesn't seem to stick the way I want it to. Have you guys ever experienced that? Now, I still recommend reading those books... but I also recommend having the kids participate in an activity that makes them apply that knowledge in a meaningful way. So here's what I love to do... it's really simple. I'll break down the lesson plan for you in bullet-form. 1. Start by reading a quality text that covers cooperation. Here are some good ones: As a class, discuss what cooperation means and how one might show it. 2. Introduce the picture challenge. Break students into groups for 4 to 6. Tell the kids that their job is to draw a picture. They must first plan what they will draw and then draw it. Here's the catch: each child can only use one crayon! If I start with purple, I can only color with purple. Make sure the kids understand they need to draw a picture of something and not simply a design. For that reason, I suggest giving the kids 1 or 2 minutes to plan what they'll draw first. 3. Give kids 10-15 minutes of work time. You won't need more than this to get the point across. If kids start to disagree and ask for your help, try to stay out of it. You might say something like, "How can you use cooperation to solve this problem?" or "How can you follow our rule 'Take care of everyone' and solve your problem?" The most important thing is that kids need to get through the struggle on their own. Some might not, and that's OK. 4. Reflect. Gather the class together. Display the pictures where they can all be seen, and reflect on what happened. What was successful? What was challenging? What did the kids learn? How might they use teamwork more effectively next time? What types of compromises does one need to make to be on a team? I find this to be a really powerful lesson for my kids, and I do it every year. Sometimes I do it at the beginning of the year, but it's also a great way to close off the year. It's easy to forget about the classroom communities we've worked so hard to build in those last few weeks, but it's more important than ever to peacefully transition to the next year! What are your favorite books that help you teach cooperation? Comment below!
Third Grade Social Studies Lesson Plans As a self proclaimed reading guru, I strive very hard to make sure my students are reading all day long. With
What a CRAZY week and weekend!!! We are finished with our state testing and school fair. Yahoo!!! This past week consisted of finishing up state testing, teaching students a dance for the fair performance, painting a picture for the fair silent auction, (see picture below), making over 50 candy apples for the sweets booth, and practicing for the teacher fair performance! Yes, I am one of 11 teachers who actually dances in front of the parents and students at the fair!!! I think the best part of dancing would be attending all practices after school!!! enjoying the fair candy apples for the sweet booth silent auction: each student painted a different picture on the canvas End-of-the-Year Linky Party With state testing & the fair behind me, I can start preparing for the end of the year. I am linking up with Clutter-Free Classroom and sharing my end-of-the-year ideas. I can't believe May is right around the corner!! Where did the school year go? I still need to put together portfolios and make a power point presentation. I love making a power point from all of the pictures I take during the school year. I must admit that it takes over a week to construct because I always find a way to mess up something! It never fails that every year I make some kind of mistake!!! For the portfolios, I save the students' work all year and use sheet protectors in binders. I like to put the work in order from the first to last day for the parents. I put all work in sheet protectors. The parents appreciate the organization of the work so much because it saves them the time of doing it over the summer. Also, students complete a summer writing activity. This writing activity is my favorite one of the year. The creativity that flows from the students' brains is amazing! Students are asked to write about a summer trip they have taken already or plan on taking. After editing the rough draft, students write the final copy of the essay on sunglasses. Students glue glasses on large white construction paper and draw a picture around the glasses. I was amazed the first time I did this with my class. I did not instruct them to draw a person. The end results were more than I imagined! summer writing summer writing end-of-the-year presentation set up Click (HERE) to grab your sunglasses template. What a post! Please check out Clutter-Free Classroom Project and join the End-of-the-Year Linky Party! With much appreciation,
habitat science unit for first grade, second grade, or third grade
A three-part teaching strategy for incorporating Greek and Latin roots,
Our step-by-step morning routine in third grade to start the day in an organized way and get a little extra review of some of our most important math and language arts skills!
Friendship-building activities help children in K-3 develop strong social skills. When relationships are an important factor in education, kids succeed in school and life.
FREE Call Backs and attention getters for the kindergarten classroom! Great classroom management tool!
One of our activities this week included talking about some of our favorite things. We then made these super, cute people to go with our wri...
21 art sub lessons for spring.
What a CRAZY week and weekend!!! We are finished with our state testing and school fair. Yahoo!!! This past week consisted of finishing up state testing, teaching students a dance for the fair performance, painting a picture for the fair silent auction, (see picture below), making over 50 candy apples for the sweets booth, and practicing for the teacher fair performance! Yes, I am one of 11 teachers who actually dances in front of the parents and students at the fair!!! I think the best part of dancing would be attending all practices after school!!! enjoying the fair candy apples for the sweet booth silent auction: each student painted a different picture on the canvas End-of-the-Year Linky Party With state testing & the fair behind me, I can start preparing for the end of the year. I am linking up with Clutter-Free Classroom and sharing my end-of-the-year ideas. I can't believe May is right around the corner!! Where did the school year go? I still need to put together portfolios and make a power point presentation. I love making a power point from all of the pictures I take during the school year. I must admit that it takes over a week to construct because I always find a way to mess up something! It never fails that every year I make some kind of mistake!!! For the portfolios, I save the students' work all year and use sheet protectors in binders. I like to put the work in order from the first to last day for the parents. I put all work in sheet protectors. The parents appreciate the organization of the work so much because it saves them the time of doing it over the summer. Also, students complete a summer writing activity. This writing activity is my favorite one of the year. The creativity that flows from the students' brains is amazing! Students are asked to write about a summer trip they have taken already or plan on taking. After editing the rough draft, students write the final copy of the essay on sunglasses. Students glue glasses on large white construction paper and draw a picture around the glasses. I was amazed the first time I did this with my class. I did not instruct them to draw a person. The end results were more than I imagined! summer writing summer writing end-of-the-year presentation set up Click (HERE) to grab your sunglasses template. What a post! Please check out Clutter-Free Classroom Project and join the End-of-the-Year Linky Party! With much appreciation,
The first week anxiety and nerves are real! Help your new students with some beginning of the year team building activities and ice breakers.
Looking for a fun craft for the beginning of the school year? This resource includes: Two pages (spells out THIRD) Example Don't forget to check out the other beginning of the year crafts in my TPT account and to leave a review for points towards your next purchase!
Follow this step-by-step lesson plan to teach your students how
Are you looking for examples of "I do, we do, you do"? This blog post provides examples of it in action in the classroom and in lesson plans.
From anchor charts to board games and free printables, these ideas will drive the concept home.
Download your complete guide to the third grade reading standards for both nonfiction and fiction texts. This is handy tool for guided and shared reading.
One of my favorite things about teaching my fabulous third-grade students is teaching social studies. I LOVE their social studies units because many of them are about ancient civilizations. We start off the year with Ancient Egypt and Ancient China, and finish with Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. AQUEDUCTS This activity rocks because not only […]
Repeated reading is a research-based instructional strategy with the goal of increasing decoding automaticity skills. The goal of repeated reading is not for students to become “fast readers”. Rather, we want students to read the words accurately, with intonation, and at a rate that is comparable to the speed of oral language. This resource was created to provide a rereading routine for students who would benefit from increasing accurate and automatic fluency skills. It is designed to be led by older students or volunteers, who assist younger students in the rereading routine. While it can be implemented as often as desired, we used this rereading routine three times a week for 6 weeks. Each student who participated in the fluency friends rereading routine was paired with a fifth-grade student who volunteered the first 10 minutes of their recess time. The older students used the assembled toolkits to walk their readers through the day’s rereading routine by following the instructions on the card. Each toolkit contained all of the materials needed for the lessons. This resource is designed to be used with passages or texts that you, the teacher, supply each week, based on the student’s decoding skills and needs. Please note, that no texts or passages are included with this resource. It can be used in conjunction with whatever word recognition curriculum, program, or texts you use. What does the rereading routine look like? (We chose the routine to take place every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You can edit and choose the days of the week that work best for your classroom.) Monday: Modeling Day. Volunteers led the student through a series of modeling exercises. They first read the passage to the student, modeling fluent reading. Next, they did a choral reading with the student. Last, they scooped the sentences in the passage for the student, and practiced fluent phrasing with the student. If time allowed, the student reread the passage an additional time. Wednesday: Fluency Fun Day. During Day 2, peers and students used novelty reading tools to reread the passage in engaging ways! Flashlights, microphones, mini cards, and reading pointer wands are used throughout the lesson. This rereading day is designed to be motivating and encourage as much rereading practice of the week’s passage as possible. The card for Day 2 acts as a "choice menu" to practice rereading the passage or text several times. Friday: The final day of each week is called “Beat Your Time Day”. A highlighter or pencil, and a sand timer is used on day 3. The student reads the passage. At the end of one minute, the peer leader draws a line after the last word read. The routine above is repeated, and the student tries to read farther than he or she did the first time. If time allows, the reader tries to read even more than his or her second reading. When can this routine take place? Fluency Friends is a perfect routine to fit into a center time, intervention block, before school, during a designated "no new teaching time", or during small group time. It's also a great way for parents to help their children with rereading practice at home! What grade(s) is this resource designed for? You can use this resource and rereading routine for ANY student who is reading connected text! Kindergarteners who are reading short decodable passages, first and second grade students, and upper elementary students who could benefit from increased rereading practice will love this routine! Thank you so much for learning more about Fluency Friends! -Christina DeCarbo Miss DeCarbo, Inc. Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.
Ahead: all of the important stuff you need to do before baby arrives. Start this third trimester checklist when you're about one month out from your due date!
I am so excited to be ‘back in the saddle’ and teaching third grade again this year! I’ve been busily working on learning the new standards and crafting a plan that works for my new students in the fall. If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know that my favorite two grades...Read More »
This safari classroom transformation is the perfect activity for elementary students to practice math skills while having fun.
Congratulations third grade teacher! Teaching third grade is such a fun experience. The kids are still excited about school and easily impressed by things like crayons. Yet, they can be quite independent, especially by mid year. Now that you know you will be teaching third grade, you are probably starting to wonder what resources you
Want to know the secret to a quiet line? Marshmallow toes! This simple idea and activity will transform your line!
If you are spending over an hour or more creating sub plans, this product is for you! This editable sub plan file is a digital sub plan template through Google Docs, which will allow you to easily create and edit your sub plans from your phone while at the doctor's office, in bed, or even in the airport! Teachers love that you can send your sub plans with the click of a button to a teammate to easily print and set on their desk in the morning! Can be used for ANY SUBJECT AND ANY GRADE LEVEL! This is an editable sub plan template that allows you to create your individualized sub plans in minutes through Google Drive. It does NOT come with activities for an entire day. However there are 20 bonus pages of activities for when you're in a jam! WHAT'S INCLUDED: 5 Sub Plan Templates with Headings "Monday - Friday" 5 Sub Plan Templates with headings "Day 1 - Day 5" 5 Sub Plan Templates with Headings "Day A - Day E" 1 Sub Plan Template with Editable Headings if your school uses a different schedule Video Tutorial with Set Up Instructions if you are new to Google Example Sub Plans Step by step instructions on how to prep, use, and edit your sub plan template Tips on how to make sub plans quick and easy! BONUS: 20 pages of NO PREP reading and writing activities to be used with any book! HOW IT WORKS: You will get step by step instructions on how to copy and set up your editable sub plan template. Spend the time prepping your template up front! Once that is prepped, each time you are sick you will be able to quickly type in your plans in about 20 minutes! ___________________________________ WHAT OTHER TEACHERS ARE SAYING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “I had instant relief after purchasing! Thank you for creating such an easy to use template for those stressful-to-prepare-for sub days! Wonderful resource. Thank you!” - Tish ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “This was very helpful when writing sub plans. I loved how simple they were to use and keeps my sub plans organized. I've also had several compliments from subs on how they are attractive and easy to follow.” - Amy S. TIPS: Once purchased, be sure to click "make a copy" instead of "request access". Please be sure to read all of the directions after purchasing. If you have any questions at all, please email me at [email protected] and I'd be happy to help! ___________________________________ NEED NO PREP ACTIVITIES FOR A SUB? CHECK OUT TEACHER FAVORITES: - Number Searches: Like a word search with math facts! - Handwriting for the Year: Silly handwriting for older kids! IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HEAR ABOUT NEW RESOURCES, LET’S CONNECT: → FOLLOW ME on Teachers Pay Teachers → SIGN UP for Exclusive Freebies ___________________________________ Copyright ©TheSprinkleToppedTeacher Permission to copy for single classroom use only. Please purchase additional licenses if you intend to share this product.
Looking for fun construction site activities for kids? Here are some great homeschooling ideas and activities your toddler or preschooler will love!
Understanding characters can be tricky! Learn my favorite strategies for helping students master character traits and changes.
