Five for Friday on Sunday

       So, I planned on linking up on Friday, but I was SO excited that it I was officially on Spring Break, that I just couldn’t bring myself to sitting down at the computer! I am linking up today with Doodle Bugs Teaching, better late than never!  

 This past week we had some fun learning about Earth's Resources.  These were not all my ideas, but my one of my teammate's found some great activities that we used.

 1. The kids brought in soil from their yards and we had about 16 different soil samples to explore.  The soil samples varied in textures and dampness. The students determined the texture of each soil sample, the living or nonliving objects within the sample, and the level of moisture.  They LOVED this activity!!  It was a bit messy, but they just had so much fun and clearly learned that soil samples can be different,  that it contains living and nonliving things, and that soil allows air and water to move through it. One of my students said it was "THE BEST DAY EVER!" haha!

 2. My teammate found a great activity for soil layers where students use food to make a model representation of each layer.  They also LOVED this activity! I love using food in the classroom. The kids get so excited!

3. We have been working hard to use exit slips as a form of formative assessments, throughout our units.  This helps us to reteach when necessary and to inform parents about how there child is doing at mastering the standards.  You can grab a free copy  of our Earth's Resources Exit Slips, just by clicking on the picture below.  

4. This is not school related, but I went to my first MAjor League Soccer game this week!  It was a lot of fun and I just thought I would share.  My students were excited to hear that I had gone to the game, since I have some serious soccer fans in my room.

5. Last but not least, I am officially on SPRING BREAK!!!!!  I might agree with this:

If you are heading back to school tomorrow, have a great week!

A New Design

      This post is short but sweet!  I am SUPER excited to share my new blog design. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.  Thank you Megan from A Bird in Hand Designs.  She did a fabulous job!  I have a few new pages as well.  I am hoping to set up my Freebies page with lots of goodies.  Make sure to check back when all my pages are up and running!

Wednesday WOW

     

     I am linking up for the first time with Coast to Coast Kinder for Wednesday WOW!  This week's focus is ELA.  I am a third grade teacher, but have readers of all levels in my homeroom.  Our third grade team flex groups and I teach a group of struggling readers. Since third grade was new to me, I struggled with how to teach fluency and comprehension in a way that was appropriate for third graders.  I stumbled upon this combo packet on TpT one day. Click on the pic to check it out.

     You know those purchases that you are SO glad you bought? This was one of them!  It has reading passages that are leveled from first through fourth grade.  I can use these this year with all of my struggling readers and in the future, whether I am teaching first or third grade!  

    Each week, on Monday, my reading groups do a COLD read of one of the passages on their reading level.  Then they practice the fluency passage each day.  On Friday, the students read the passage to me again, recording their HOT read time.  They also complete the comprehension activities on Friday, during our group.  

    I am seeing HUGE improvement in their fluency and couldn't be happier with these repeated readings.  Mostly, I LOVE seeing their faces on Fridays when they see how much they have improved throughout the week!  

What do you do in your room to promote reading fluency?!? 

-Michelle

February Currently

February Currently 

     It's that time again!  It is February and I am linking up with Farley for the February Currently.  

Truths:  I am looking forward to the Super Bowl and I did go Snow Mobiling this week! 

Fib:  I definitely did NOT run a marathon yesterday! I did run a couple miles on the treadmill, but not a marathon!  The farthest I have ever ran was a half-marathon and that was about 6 years ago!

Super Bowl Time...Go Seahawks!  

Happy February!

-Michelle

Five for Friday...on Saturday and PIN IT and Win IT!

      It’s time for another Five for Friday…uhh or Saturday! I am linking up a little late with Doodle Bugs Teaching.  This was a weird week for me.  Here goes...

1.  SNOW!!  I don't know about you, but my week started out with a TON of snow.  We got about 9 inches by the end of last weekend, giving us a snow day on Monday.  Then we had two more cold weather day, where temperatures were about -30 with the windchill.   So, I would say this made up a big part of my week!

2.  Hockey!  I went to my first NHL hockey game this week to see the Columbus Blue Jackets.  When I lived in Charlotte, NC, I used to go to a lot of Checkers games.  This was very different.   It was a lot of fun!

3.  Measuring the Floor!  I saw this idea on Pinterest a while back.  I taped off sections of my tile floor.  The students had to move around in groups and record the perimeter and area of the shapes that were created by the tape.  They loved doing this! It was interesting to see who discovered immediately that each square was a 12 by 12 square.  

4.  The Story of Area and Peri Meter!!  I LOVE any way to introduce topics that STICK!  This summer I had the opportunity to meet with Steve Reifman.  I met him at a SDE conference in Chicago.  I have since had the opportunity to read his book called Rock It!  This book has a great story to introduce Area and Perimeter.  These are my kiddos acting out the stories after we had heard them a few times! Area is a little girl who loves to lay flat on anything she sees. Peri Meter is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Meter.  He walks around the edges of everything he sees!

5.  February is Here and a Pin it to Win it!  When I taught first grade, I did a lot of thematic and seasonal activities.  I haven't done as much with those since I have been in third grade.  We are starting fractions at the end of the week and I may have to make some heart fraction activities, though!  My kids are already excited for Valentine's Day!  

      Are you ready for February?? I have two February book studies.  If you Pin it, you automatically win it!!  All you have to do is pin the product and leave a comment with your Pin's link and your email address! Click on the pictures to check it out on TpT.  :)

Yay for two day weeks! It was short and sweet!

- Michelle   

Under Construction

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

     Well friends, you may have noticed recently that my blog design disappeared ?! Yes, it did!  I, being slightly neglectful to my blog, hadn't even noticed it until recently, but apparently it happened a while ago.  I have had the same blog design since starting out and what was once a free design template is no more and so it was taken off the blogs on which it was being used!  

     Luckily, I recently saw some blogging friends who had their blogs updated and I decided to try a custom design route.  So, I am now in the works to have a custom design created for my blog!  YAY!  I am so excited, even though I have no idea what will be in store or how it will turn out.  

     It will be a while before my new template is up and running, so this template is in place for the meantime so it isn't just a blank screen.  

Thanks for understanding and stay tuned for what's to come!

-Michelle