Charlie and the Chocolate Factory FREEBIE!

Happy (almost) New Year!  To ring in the new year, I want to share an activity that I have done with my kids for the past two years.  It is a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Project that we do at the completion of the CATCF novel. The project covers the topics of summarization, letter writing, descriptive narratives, and adjectives.   I would love to share my template and directions with you if you are interested in the project.  STEP 1:  Follow my blog, and STEP 2:  leave a comment with your email address.  Once you have done that your CATCF freebie will be on it's way!  The kids LOVE making these characters, and they always turn out so darn cute!  Here are a few pics of our projects!

Moon Journals

This week, we are going to start studying the moon!  I have found so many cute resources while perusing blogs, including this FREE OREO moon lesson, that I totally plan on using.  I found it at Homegrown Learners.  I love using food to teach!!  Yum!!

After two years of suffering through moon journals, I have decided it is time for a change!  I was not providing my kids with enough structure and information to do the moon journal, and actually learn from it.  It turned into a waste of time, because I didn't help them organize their drawings.  Blechh.  I am sad for the two groups of students that have already left me with a less than perfect moon journal experience, but I am hoping this year to step up the game a little!  I made this moon journal template that you can download for FREE! 


My Moon Journal

M&M Math

On Friday, we had a yummy math lesson, plus some addition, comparing numbers, and graphing!  The kids loved it, and it was a great change of pace from our usual math lesson.  I definitely love using lessons that require them to think about more than one math topic!  Here are a few pics of us in action!

Here is the worksheet to go along with the activity:)  It is super basic, and not as cutesy as I would like, but it did the job!  The M&Ms were enough of a distraction to keep the kids interested!

M&M Math

Math Tubs and Rotation

Over the summer, I have been bouncing around ideas about math instruction for next year.  I went to a math foundations workshop and learned a lot about why math instruction is important, and how to teach math.  One of the key ideas that they pushed at the workshop was that differentiation is extremely important.  While I attempted to do small groups last year for math, I often ran out of time, or was out of energy by the end of the math block. 

As a solution, this year I am going to try Math Tubs. After an hour of math instruction, guided practice, and independent practice, the students will have 30 minutes of math tubs.  They will use a rotation chart to determine which tubs they will be using during math tubs time.  Also, this will give me 30 minutes to pull small groups or individuals for additional math help.

I know that this is going to make my math block a little long-1 1/2 hours....but, I think it will be totally worth it to develop the problem solving skills that math enforces.

I have uploaded the rotation labels that I am going to be using in my classroom for you all to download.  I am totally inspired by the ideas that I saw on Clutter Free Classroom's Blog.  I love her math workshop rotation board, and that is how I visualize my rotation charts working.  Enjoy the Free Download!

Math Tubs Rotation Posters

Great Back to School Giveaway!!

So, I am LOVING everything that I see at the Clutter Free Classroom Blog.  There are so many ideas for classroom organization and theming, that is it literally overwhelming.  I. Love. It.  So, imagine my excitement to see a new giveaway on their blog with a few of my favorite books, and some handy back to school downloads!!






Go check it out!!

Spellin' like a felon!

Ok, so after battling-literally battling-with Google Docs, I have it uploaded.  Finally, after weeks of work, I have finished my spelling plan for the 2011-2012 school year.  It may seem like no big deal to some, but as a second year teacher, I struggled with spelling instruction-fitting it in my schedule, teaching explicitly and in a focused way, etc.....Let's just say...it is so stinkin' hard to fit spelling in!

That being said, I decided to come up with a very direct way to teach spelling.  I took ideas from various sources, mostly using the ideas from Beth Newingham.  She is wonderful!  Here's what I came up with:

Monday:  30 minutes of spelling instruction based on the spelling rule for the week.

Tuesday-Thursday:  30 minutes of spelling practice based on the spelling rule of the week. The activities on these days can vary depending on the needs of the group.

Friday:  20 minutes of spelling assessment.  This will include the spelling tests for the current week and spelling pretests for the following week. Pretests are given, and if students make a 90% or better on the pretest, they will receive a challenge list for the next week.

The google doc that I have attached is a list of all of the spelling lists needed for the ENTIRE YEAR!!  That is all of pre/posttests, the regular study words, and the challenge words!  I am extremely excited about finishing this list, and I hope you enjoy it and use it in your classrooms!   I consider this to be an extremely useful FREEBIE!!

Spelling Instruction 2011-2012

And below is the much cuter version I published on Scribd!!

Word Work 2011-2012

Ice Cream Incentives and a Freebie!!

I don't know if any of you are in the same dilemma, but I am totally feeling like I am working 3X as hard to get my kids to behave as I was earlier in the year!!  This in mind, I decided to share a management incentive that I use in my classroom!

Ice Cream Incentive works like this:  Students are each given a checklist with a list of everything that they would want to include in an ice cream party.  Each day before the party, they can earn one check on their list.  On the day of the party, they may only receive items that have a check mark.....it works because while some kids will have all of the items, others may only have the ice cream with no toppings! 

I have posted the checklist that I use at Teachers Pay Teachers and it is a FREE DOWNLOAD!  All I ask is that if you do download the checklist, you follow me and leave a comment letting me know what you think!

I am also really wanting some new end of the year ideas that you all use with your classroom....please leave a post and let me know your great ideas!!

-Megan