Five for Friday

The day after our NYS ELA state assessment ended we set up a crime scene in the classroom! Kids really had a blast finding clues, recording evidence, and deciding what the evidence most likely meant. It was totally engaging and fun!

The crime scene materials came from The Engaging Station's TpT product. It had suggestions for how to set up your classroom and handouts for students to record their notes.

And here is some of the writing my students did the day after the NYS ELA assessment! On the third day of the test and the 9th written response question, I had some of my most talented writers telling me that they were tired of writing. Well, that all changed when they walked into our transformed classroom and determined that their lovely teacher was a suspect in a terrible crime! They really did jump right in and got excited about writing again!

Lucy has been a MUSH with all of the rainy weather we have had here in New York lately. She doesn't mind playing in mud puddles after the rain, but she really does NOT like walking in the rain. So...she sleeps. :)

With the NYS ELA assessments over, we have about a month until the NYS Math assessments, which my kids are sure will be a total blast because they love math. Definitely less anxiety there! We can do it!

Five for Friday

Our poetry unit has officially begun in third grade!

We are writing acrostics, couplets, haikus, free verse, perspective poetry, and black out poetry.

The kids are so excited!

We've also been experimenting with our sharing time during Writer's Workshop. Instead of sharing whole group and only having time for 2 kids to share what they wrote, every once in a while we have sharing partners. The partners share with each other in the final five minutes of Writer's Workshop and offer feedback. It has worked out really nicely!

LEGOS!

They are the most engaging toy that I can convert into a learning tool, by far!

Use them for morning work, STEM/STEAM time, or incorporate them into subject areas.

Lego Bundle of Awesomeness!

It's time to prepare for our annual NAKED EGG EXPERIMENTS!

I do this every year with my class. We practice writing experiments, using an observation journal, and writing a hypothesis through this super duper engaging experiment.

If you have never done it, it is basically putting a raw egg in white vinegar for a few days. After a few days, run the egg under warm water and gently rub the shell off. It will feel like rubber and be bigger. The kids love it. From there, I let the kids design their own experiments to conduct on their naked eggs!

Be aware...sometimes eggs pop. So, I always have a few extra ready to go!

Naked Egg Experiment

Exciting news...

I've been crazy busy lately, but I am thrilled to say that I'm in the midst of looking for a new home, and I think we've found it! Since my boyfriend and I moved in together and I sold my house, things have been a tiny bit cramped. It's hard to stay organized when you're smushed and a lot of your stuff is in storage! So, I'll cross my fingers and hope that this new house works out for us! :)

I tried cleaning Lucy's toy bin (one of THREE toy bins) out today. But she hoarded her toys. Toys she NEVER plays with until I want to clean house. Of course.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Have you ever been fishing? Did you catch a fish? If so did you keep it or throw it back? If you haven't been fishing is that something you'd like to try?

I have gone fishing, a very long time ago as a child! I was pretty awful and never caught anything. I think it was mostly my uncle fishing and then letting me hold the rod after he cast! I think that I would enjoy fishing now that I'm older. It seems really relaxing.

2. What's something you're always fishing for in your purse, wallet, desk, or kitchen junk drawer?

I HATE carrying purses or bags of any kind, so I usually stuff my pockets with everything I might need when I go out. Usually, I have a hard time when I need to dig out any cash. It falls everywhere and it's a crumpled mess.

3. Your favorite fish tale or movie?

Finding Nemo, of course.

4. Are you sunrise, daylight, twilight or night? Explain why you chose your answer.

Sunrise. Because I am a total morning person. I'm conking out on the couch at 9pm every night but I'm always up before the sun.

5. What's the oldest piece of clothing you own and still wear?

I have been the same size since like, middle school, so I definitely have clothing from a long time ago. I also hate throwing anything away that still fits! The oldest clothing I have is probably a sweatshirt from ninth grade when I played on the field hockey team. The sweatshirt is ripped and permanently stained, but it's perfect for layering under my coat when I walk the dog on frigid winter days.

6. We've got one more month of (officially) winter here in the Northern hemisphere. Are you feeling the need for a getaway? What's been the best and worst part of your winter so far?

I love winter! Now that I live a hop, skip, and a jump away from the school I teach at, it's really nice waking up to a snowy morning. No more driving an hour to work, scared to death in the blizzard-like weather! The best part about winter is when it snows A LOT and I bring my bulldog, Lucy, out to play. She hops like a rabbit in the high snow! So, no, I'm not itching for a vacuum.

7.  The Wednesday Hodgepodge lands on National Margarita Day...will you be celebrating? Frozen or on the rocks? Are you a Jimmy Buffett fan? If so, what's your favorite JB tune?

I didn't realize it was National Margarita Day until I saw my sister's instagram feed. She had her boston terrier sitting near her margarita glass, wishing everyone a happy day! Check out rufiegram....that dog is hilarious!

I like Jimmy Buffet. I think I could sing all of the lyrics to Cheeseburger in Paradise.
8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I have been all Lego all the time lately! My school is pushing STEM/STEAM big time, so it's been a major focus this school year. I've been creating Lego STEM/STEAM activities to incorporate into my third grade classroom. Check them out by clicking here.


Oh! And here is a picture of Lucy from our recent hike at Buttermilk Falls in Ithaca, New York. She's awesome.

Five For Friday

Ever since our school incorporated a STEAM component into our summer school sessions last year, I have been Lego crazy! The kiddos are SUPER motivated when Legos are involved, so I continue to figure out ways to fold them into my teaching, recess, or more!

Click here for a link to my newest activity that focuses on using Legos while writing.

These Valentine Science kits literally save my life every year! They're educational, fun, and totally engaging. Plus, they don't cost me an arm and a leg to create! Seriously, my kiddos brought in so much candy to devour on Valentine's Day that I couldn't rationalize giving them even more, so this is how I rolled!

Click here to check this out.

My boyfriend and dog visited Buttermilk Falls in Ithaca, New York over our February vacation. If you can believe it, the weather was gorgeous! It was nearly 60 degrees and sunny! We hiked all over and checked out a bunch of waterfalls. It tired Lucy out so much that she's been spending a lot of time dozing on the couch since we went. While hiking, my boyfriend had his fitbit on. It told him that during our 3 mile hike, we walked over 50 flights of stairs! That was a lot of elevation! It was pretty awesome.

Has anyone read Pax by Sara Pennypacker? I seriously cried for the first 10 chapters! It's our newest read aloud chapter book in my third grade class and the kiddos are really enjoying it! I even had some tears from my third graders! It's pretty powerful when a book can evoke that kind of emotion in ten year olds. Anyway, it's the story of Pax, a pet fox, and his owner Peter. Peter's dad makes him release Pax into the wild and the story flip flops between Pax and Peter trying to be reunited. I highly recommend it!

Check out the novel study that accompanies this book here.

Lucy always uses a pillow :)