Book Raffles

Have you tried using book raffles to motivate your kiddos to branch out and read different genres? I tried this recently and it was GREAT! I ordered 10 brand new books from Scholastic. Normally, I introduce the books and just hand them out, but this week I introduced them and then laid them out for the kids to check out throughout the week. I also printed special book raffle tickets to hand out to the kiddos throughout the week. I gave the book raffle tickets out for ANY positive behaviors related to reading or writing. By Friday they had accumulated quite the haul of tickets! They were given time during Daily Five to read the book summaries and check out the books to be raffled and then were allowed to put their tickets in any bins they would like. Some dumped them all in one cup while others spread the wealth. Amazingly, no one student's name was pulled more than once! It was a great success and they kids who won promised they would pass the books along as soon as they were done!

Writing Narratives

Our class revisited our old anchor charts about personal narratives this week because we are starting narratives! We are writing descriptions of our own personal Neverland as we read the novel, Peter Pan.

Our third graders are LOVING the book, Peter Pan, which is part of the EngageNY English Language Arts Modules that our school district is using.  Last week we warmed up our brains to the idea of writing about our own Neverland. I demonstrated writing with a timer. The class put a 3 minute timer on me and I wrote about my own Neverland in front of them. I didn't stop writing AT ALL. Then, the class got a five minute timer and had to write about their own Neverland for five minutes WITHOUT STOPPING. It was really amazing how much they got done...much more writing than a laid back writer's workshop day!

Check out the anchor charts we revisited this week:

Seesaw Ambassador!

Hello, everyone! I am now a proud Seesaw Ambassador! I started using Seesaw in my classroom this year and really love it.  There are all different ways to use Seesaw in your classroom. For me, I do not have much technology, so I downloaded the app on my phone and iPad. I am the only person who takes pictures of students, snapshots of work, videos of them publishing their writing or reading, etc. I then upload it to the app and tag only those students in the pictures, so only their family members see it. I also use Seesaw to take pictures of our anchor charts, read aloud texts, and classroom to upload for EVERYONE to see. Parents love being involved in the minute to minute happenings in our classroom and knowing exactly what their child did at school.

Some teachers use Seesaw for more formative assessment. Since you can see this digital portfolio and even tag certain skills (and assess those skills using Seesaw Plus!), it is easy to use to monitor progress on a daily basis. Parents can even print their child's Seesaw portfolio at the end of the school year.

Sign up today using my link and we’ll both get an extra month of their premium features for free!

https://app.seesaw.me/invite/?code=vL10gDRetzL7BkX-iIg2SgKprVuf_GQIrY9dtWZaSvBS_1uzC6WGgMXKY9M_5pP6PHU0r56gT54Wkq0meuEV9g%3D%3D&type=REF

Let me know if you need help getting going - I think you'll love it!

Secret Agents Day

Last year we had so much fun transforming our second grade classroom. I used white string and went crazy taping it all over to make the lasers. I bought black lights from Party City on sale. Each child had "spy" glasses. I also printed secret agents badges and put them on string to make necklaces. I had four tasks throughout the day, each in a manila envelope. The tasks in second grade focused on each subject area. We had a close reading, Oregon Trail writing, math activities, and synonyms/antonyms. 

This year I plan on doing four tasks ALL ABOUT AREA. My third graders have been struggling with area so I created four tasks to practice this skill before our state assessments. It's going to be a lot of fun!

WE HAD A BLAST LAST YEAR! 

And I am so excited to bring this to my third grade class this year.

Check out the product on TpT if you're interested:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Secret-Agents-Day-AREA-2989107

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Secret-Agents-2350119

Student Writers As Mentor Texts

BRILLIANT IDEA:

I had a kind of awkward bulletin board in my classroom behind my library area. I wasn't sure what to do with it for a while. I recently decided to use it as mentor wall for writing. I took excerpts from the writing journals of my students and hung them on the bulletin board for other students to look to as mentor writing pieces. It makes those kids feel GREAT that they are being celebrated, and the other students have tangible examples of the kind of writing I want from their peers.

Deep Dish Pizza

Can you believe I made a deep dish pizza in my crockpot? I did! It wasn't even that hard! I just took Pillsbury pizza dough and spread it out on the bottom of the crockpot. I cooked up some sausage, too. I spread sauce, sausage, cheese, and pepperoni on the dough. Next, I set the crockpot for 3 hours on low. It was a tiny bit doughy when I took it out...probably could have used more time for a crispier crust. But it was still pretty darn delicious!

Mid-Year Classroom Tour 2016-17

Good morning!

Although it is a little late, here is my new third grade classroom tour! I moved into this classroom in August, when I switched from teaching second grade to teaching third grade. I only moved one floor up in the building, but it was a LOT of work! Enjoy!

Writing Area

Math Center

How We Get Home

Book Boxes

Classroom Library

Our Schedule

Classroom Door

Photo Backdrop

Meeting Area

READ lights

Brag Tags

Writing Center

Our schedule

Tally charts for books read together

Theme Charts and bulletin board

Small Group Table

Open House Backdrop for Photos

Daily Five posters

View to the front of the classroom