Sad No More - Classroom Friendly Supplies

I was struggling through my read aloud, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, at the end of the day. I say struggling because the Pencil Sharpeners were also doing their job. They were grinding away over in the corner, but as I'm sure you can guess the SOUND was just atrocious and completely blocked out my voice. I powered on because they had to sharpen, right? How else was I going to keep up with all those pencil demons eating our supplies? It was a necessary evil.

Then, just as I was walking my class out the front door to catch their buses, I saw a small box stacked up by the side of the door where our school's bookkeeper usually piles the incoming mail. I turned to one of my students and said, "That BETTER be my new pencil sharpener." I finished my drop off and rushed back into the building to discover that Friday the 13th has indeed become a GOOD OMEN. My brand new green pencil Sharpener from Classroom Friendly Supplies had arrived.

I snatched the box from the floor and instantly started searching out Jessica Ivey to share the joy of this occasion. I knew she'd understand for she had been in this moment before. She wasn't in the hallway, but the front desk clerk pipped up, 'What ya get?' Oooh, I had to show someone. I was just bursting at the seams. My classroom key dangling from my neck instantly become a box cutter as I sliced my package open to reveal the gleaming casing of my brand new sharpener. I raved. I drooled. I explained. I ranted. I told them everything I could about this amazing new product.

As I was talking, two more people joined us. I lifted the goodness from the box and two more people joined the group. By this time Jessica Ivey spied my newest arrival and zoomed right over to join me in some impromptu dancing and screaming. Four more came over. I was pointing out all the fun features and Jessica said, "Do you want me to show you how to use it?" Before I could even respond a chorus of "yes Yes YES" came from the cluster of fellow teachers around the front desk.

So she pinched the top two buttons and slid out the pencil holder and placed the serious dull pencil into the machine amidsts some oohs. The she started turning the crank handle as everyone leaned in to try and pick up some sound. Nothing. Not a whirl, not a grind, not a peep. Seriously. She held up the final product to some serious AAAHHS. Lo and behold a veritable spear of a pencil was held aloft the admirers.

Everyone was firing questions about where did I get his. How did I get this? How could they get one? How much does it cost? Our technology specialist grabbed the invoice and immediately made a copy. I mentioned that she should show and tell this with our principal and maybe get one for each teacher. She nodded vigorously and mentioned that maybe at least our Sunshine Committee could raffle some off.

I had to break the sad news that I must be going. It is Friday after all and I was eager to head home. Everyone stood silent, eyes burning with envy, as I walked away with my prize. It had been another long week at school. But at least I knew that come Monday my pencil woes would be gone. I was now in possession of the greatest teacher product to ever come into play, The Classroom Friendly Pencil sharpener.

Friday Fun - 100 Follower Giveaway

I've been dreaming of this moment since July. I wasn't expecting to have it happen so soon though. I owe thanks to so many amazing people for this honor. But most of all to BBBB (Best Blogging Buddy Beyond Infinity), Jivey. She has held my hand through this entire process and shared her talents and tips and tricks to help me get to this point. I can't thank her enough!

I can thank y'all though. I can thank YOU a lot. Actually I think I can thank you 10 times over. I have scoured the ends of the Blogosphere to find ELEVEN of the most amazing people to ever set their fingers to the keyboard. And each one of them was completely generous enough to donate a prize to my little giveaway.

Can you see the grin on my face? Uh-huh.

Here is a list of the ELEVEN prizes that one Grand Prize Winner will receive!

PLUS

The Grand Prize Winner will win TWO items of choice from my TpT Store. 

Is that all? 

Of course NOT. 

There will also be two more winners. I will have a Second and Third Prize Winner. 

The Second Prize Winner will get two products from my TpT Store of their choice. 

The Third Prize Winner will get one product from my TpT Store of their choice.

***Make sure you leave me a comment below to let me know what you've got your eye on in my store.

Whew! I'm tired from just typing this all. 

Here's a set of links for each of the Prize Donations so you can go and check them out yourselves:

Hunter's Tales from Teaching is offering up her Pilgrim dice.

Collaboration Cuties is offering up

-->one item- winner's choice from their TpT store. 

Ideas by Jivey is offering up her Knots on a Counting Rope Mentor Unit.

Head Over Heels for Teaching is offering up her Character Analysis Posters. 

Sweet Rhyme&Pure Reason is offering  up his Monster Math.  

Fourth Grade Flipper is offering up any item from her TpT store.

Pinkadots Elementary is offering up her Stop, Note, Notice.

E-Z Class is offering up some exotic goodies all the way from New Zealand.  (I'm so jealous!)

Comprehension Connection is offering up her unit on The Fall Festival.

Covered in Glitter and Glue is offering up one item from her TpT Store.
Digital Divide and Conquer is offering up one item from his TpT Store under $10.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As an added bonus, I've asked all of the fabulous souls to link up here with a blog post about what it felt for them to reach that first 100. Since some of them are far beyond the 1,000 Followers mark, I'm definitely going to be taking notes! Make sure you visit their blogs to find out how they achieved their success.

Thanks for playing! See you next Friday with the winning announcement.

Wednesday Writing - FABLE-ous Tales

If you remember Monday's post, I was telling you about my co-workers Fable Lesson called Aesop-lutely FABLE-ous. My students were to organize and write their very own fables. I wanted to check back in and let you know how it went!

I think they had some fun with this one. I had a few share their fables and then we had to guess what the moral was. It was interesting to hear some of the tales!

I thought I'd share a few (spelling intact):

From ND
One day there was a fox named billy. He liked to go to partys. When he found out there was a party nearby, he would always lie to his mother and say that he was just going to play outside. But one day he changed his lie. That was a mistake. He said he was going to go to get some berries. When he got back from the party his mom said where are the berries. He said none of them were there. She looked outside and there were thousands of berries there. She said you are in big trouble. Billy decided  to never lie again because the more you lie the more trouble you will be in.

From SG
One after noon an ant was playing with the other ants work. They told him to help But he said No. So finilly thay said that if he did not do the work he would have to always work and not aver get to play. So ant helped and was alowd to play.

From FK
The Fox and the Crane
There was once a crane with a chease in her mouth. A fox came he was hungry when the bird came the fox stared saying nice thing about her he said sing and sing as loude as she can 1 sec later the cheaze fell and the fox gulp it up and ran she was sad she couldn't eat it.

They have some creativity in there, most definitely. Now if only the grammar was up to snuff. Ha!

Personal Goal - 100 Bloglovin Followers - Friday will be F.U.N.

Ahh, what a great way to start off my morning. Not only did I reach my personal goal of 100 followers, I surpassed it! I currently have 104 Followers!

Totally needed this. Thank you ALL!!

Do you want to know the first thing I did when I saw that this mornign?

I immediately logged onto Classroom Friendly Supplies's website and requested to do a review of their WICKED COOL pencil sharpener!!  If you know my summer, I have been stalking every single blog giveaway and Rafflecopter I could that was giving away one of these. Now I have my grubby little hands all over one! HA. I'm such a teacher.

And guess what? I got the approval letter this afternoon. Oh yeah! So stayed tuned for that review to come out.

Oh, and also stay tuned for this Friday when a little bit of goodness is going to be given back to all you fine, fine people!

Tuesday Tried It - "I Don't Know"

Common situation in any classroom:

You ask a content question of a student and you wait the appropriate amount of time to allow them to gather their thoughts only to be rewarded with a sullen "I don't know."

Meanwhile, tons of hands are waving frantically to get your attention.

Here's a great cure for the "I Don't Knows".

LPerry has created a super cute chart printable for this over in her TpT store. AND she has it as a FREEBIE!

LOVE

Enjoy.

Monday Mentor- I am AESOP-lutely FABLE-ous

I love finding new lessons that just make teaching that much more fun. My grade chair fearless leader, Jennifer, showed us all this super cute lesson on teaching fables to our fourth graders. This fits perfectly with our study on THEME and author's purpose.

We started out the week reading tons of fables, such as the Lion and the Mouse, the Tortoise and the Hare, the Fox and the Crane. We also discussed each lesson the author wanted us to learn. The themes of the short tales were easy to pick out. I went a little deeper and asked them why they thought Aesop would have picked this particular animal to represent in this fable.

The most compelling moment of the lesson came as I explained that Aesop was a Greek slave who's master taught him to read. One of my boys raised his hand to answer my question about why Aesop chose a lion to explain this lesson. He was thinking that the lion could actually stand for Aesop's master and that Aesop was in fact the mouse. Aesop could have done something big to help his master out and that's where he got the idea for the story.

GASP!  What insight! I had to hold my breath for a bit, but thanked him and told him that is probably the most intriguing idea behind the Lion and the Mouse ever told. He smiled and we went on.

After reading tons of fables, we were ready for the next step. I posted three posters around the room that included the title of the fable and its moral.

You can get all six posters Here. I cannot take credit for this file. The images are from Microsoft Clipart and the idea was borrowed. The frame is mine, though!

The children were to walk around and sit near a fable that they have a connection to. They were to write the title, moral and their connection on paper. At the end of about ten minutes they turned and told an Elbow Friend about their connection. This way they could see how many different versions of the same tale could be told. I then explained that through the years, the tales have been retold with different characters.

Here's information from Wikipedia I shared about the Wolf and the Lamb:

The fable also has Eastern analogues. One of these is the Buddhist Dipi Jataka in which the protagonists are a panther and a goat. The goat has strayed into the presence of a panther and tries to avert its fate by greeting the predator politely. It is accused of treading on his tail and then of scaring off his prey, for which crime it is made to substitute.^[7] A similar story involving birds is found among Bidpai's Persian fables as "The Partridge and the Hawk".^[8] The unjust accusation there is that the partridge is taking up all the shade, leaving the hawk out in the hot sun. When the partridge points out that it is midnight, it is killed by the hawk for contradicting.

We did it again the next day with three more fables. Sometimes it was hard for students to make connections to fables, so I had to get broader in my description. I suggested things like "have you ever had a friend who wanted something of yours" or "you procrastinated on a chore or assignment?"

 Since it was now Friday, I told them that next week we would be creating our own fables. Over the weekend they were to think about a lesson they have learned in the past and what character animals they could use based on their traits to teach this lesson.

I will give out this recording sheet for them to organize their ideas.

And then this writing paper for them to write down their very own fables.

You can get this file from Here. Just remember this is in no way my design, I'm simply sharing a resource!



Next week we are going to delve into Greek Myths (part of our curriculum) and tie them into the concepts of fables. Should be much easier to get this across to them having set up the FABLE-ous groundwork. 

I love my Followers!!

So tell me how excited I was to see the number of Followers DOUBLE in one weekend?!!?!?!?


Oh yeah. There's going to be some happiness coming your way once I reach that 100 Follower Milestone!

Psst! Only seven more to go on BlogLovin!

LOVE y'all!

Math Must Read Mentor Text Linky - One Grain of Rice

One of my favorite math books to begin the year is Demi's One Grain of Rice.

This is a beautifully illustrated version of the Indian Folktale about the clever Rani getting the best of the selfish Raja who has been hoarding the village's rice supply.

Here's Amazon's review:
Exotic, beautiful, and instructive, this "mathematical folktale" by author-illustrator Demi emerged from her love of India. The narrative and the evocative illustrations combine to create a real sense of the culture and atmosphere of this romantic land.

It's the story of Rani, a clever girl who outsmarts a very selfish raja and saves her village. When offered a reward for a good deed, she asks only for one grain of rice, doubled each day for 30 days. Remember your math? That's lots of rice: enough to feed a village for a good long time--and to teach a greedy raja a lesson.


The best part that the kids really love is about 3/4 of the way through the book, as Rani has requested that the Raja double her gift of rice grains every day for a month, she receives a parade of elephants to bring her gift. There are so many elephants to display, that Demi had to create a cool visual with pages that fold out into four page spread. The kids go nuts with , "Whoa!!" and "Wow!"

It's a great way to show how quickly numbers can grow and to discuss how to read larger seven digit numbers. Great book! 

THE Jivey Giveaway!

Good Saturday morning, folks.

A little while back my BBB Jivey asked me to be a part of a wee giveaway. I was just so excited to be included in such an idea, I immediately said yes. Well, I didn't realize how many cool friends the girl really has, because this giveaway is THE Giveaway!

Not only am I providing my Chocoholic Paper Pack in the giveaway, but there are six other amazing designers also providing some goodies.

Jivey doesn't stop there, though. She's got a TON of other prizes for helping her get to the 1,000 Followers Mark. There's a chance to win a box full of Mentor Texts delivered to your door, or a set of her bestselling Mentor Sentence packets, and finally the Classroom Friendly Supplies newest PINK pencil sharpener (OOOoOoOooOOoh, I want!) My classroom pencil sharpener bit the dust yesterday, again. I need a replacement.

So jump on over to her site and enter the giveaway for a ton of chances. Remember that there are SEVEN different Rafflecopter linkies, make sure you keep scrolling down to the end to enter for all the goodies!

Good Luck!

Tuesday Tried It - Group Caddies

I like things neat. I do. I confess.

Over the summer I attended a Math Summer Camp staff development. The teacher had these great color coordinated caddies that he used for each group. I thought it was a perfect way to make sure that all equipment was put back in its right place and I wouldn't be wandering around trying to figure out which group didn't have enough white boards.

I scoured the Dollar Store for four sets of color coordinated items. I was able to secure a blue, green, and red set of caddies, trash cans, station bins, and book baskets. I had to cobble together the fourth set of purple and black items to make it all work.

Then a colleague who had gone to the Math Camp with me offered to let me use her spray paint for the backs of my white boards. Of course I had to go out and buy a yard of fabric to cover the center areas of each group that matched their colors. It was a bit of a stretch to find space themed fabric in those specific colors, but I made it work. I was done!

The one thing I didn't count on was the children actually using the materials. Man! They just grabbed and snatched and threw things back in willy-nilly. It was looking so beautiful before they arrived. After four weeks of this I had to go through and fix them all up pretty again. It was driving me nuts.

Oh, and I am printing this picture out and gluing it to a stick that will poke up out of the caddies for them to see. Then I just tell them to make their areas look just like the picture. This will work, right?

Currently - September . . . and a new TpT item

September rolls in
on foggy feet leaving damp
footprints in its wake.

How's that for a little Monday morning Haiku?

Yep, it's September. That means one month of school is done. Only nine more to go!

I am linking up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade   for her Currently Linky.

But before I get to that, I've got a little treat for you!

A new item has just gone up in my TpT store. This one is dealing with our Science unit about Simple Machines. It's a set of 20 task cards with questions about all six of the machines and some of the other vocabulary such as speed, gravity, and friction.

I didn't want to stop there, though. I had to make it more fun! So, I also added a little game to play. There are six cards you'll need to draw from a deck if you answer one of the task cards correctly. If you get all six of the cards and put them in order, it will create a fun complex machine made up of all six of the simple ones.

Easy peasy, right? Huh-uh. There are also some tricky extra cards hiding in the draw pile. Some say lose a card, and some say take one from another player. Ooooh, burn! Your students are gonna love it!

Best part? It's only $2 for the whole set. But I am not happy with that. If you go and grab it RIGHT NOW it will be ... wait for it ...

FLASH FREEBIE!!

But only until 2:00 P.M. EST. So, go now. 

Whew! I'm kinda out of breath from all that fun. Here's my Currently before I forget. 

 

Check out Farley's linky party. They are always a good time. Enjoy!

Mentor Monday - Saturdays and Teacakes

I thought it was time I posted a completely creepy picture of me manhandling a children's book. Actually, I took this as a joke to show Jivey that my long awaited copy of Saturdays and Teacakes by Lester Laminack had finally arrived in the mail. She got a big kick out of it.

I've been hearing everyone rave about this little memoir story in staff developments and team meetings. I've even met the author when he visited our school, great guy by the way. I finally broke down and bought a copy online. But it was taking so long to arrive that I had to borrow a copy from our media center to read to the kids.

The story just wasn't appealing to me. My own grandmother was a large scary woman who had a loud brash voice, so visiting her was not a happy occasion. I just didn't have the same connection that Mr. Laminack was sharing in his story. After all of the peer pressure, I read it to my class. They loved it. But more importantly, I saw tons of great lessons to use this book throughout the year.

Sigh, everyone was right. It does deserve a spot on your Mentor Text shelf.

One of the lessons I taught last week was about sensory details and how it allows the reader to experience the story hand in hand with the author. I pulled a short selection from the text. It starts with the great crafting of
Pedal - Pedal - P-e-d-a-a-a-l-l-l

and end with the crunching of gravel underneath his bike tires as they shower his Mammaw's flowers.

The kids immediately picked up on the use of the stretched out words to show that the author really wanted to show the effort it was taking to climb the hill on a bike.

I had them make a sensory chart for the five senses and we managed to find something for everything, even Taste which is always hard in a story. They could TASTE the salty sweat as it dripped into his mouth.Umm, ew, but okay. Their responses to the text were fantastic. I can't wait to pull the craft into their writing. Check out this Wednesday's post to find out how that lesson went.

Saturdays and Teacakes is a great mentor text to add to your reading list. I promise!

Fifth in the Middle 1,000 Follower Giveaway

Oooh, this inspires me. I can't wait until I reach this lofty goal!

But until that day, I am passing on the achievements of this other amazing blogger.

Fifth in the Middle

You could win This! 

Or this!

 

Or this!

 

OR even this!

 

All you have to do is start at Fifth in the Middle and Blog Hop your way through the other blogs looking for the 'secret number.' Once you've added them all up, go back and enter the Rafflecopter Contest on Fifth in the Middle. Just make sure that you let me win the Sharpener, okay?

 

Wednesday Writing - Play doh models

Scrolling through my daily Bloglovin feed is always rife with inspiration. But what is a wee bit frustrating is the fact that I'll see a great idea, comment on it, and then can't find it again. GAHH!!

I know this idea came from someone's blog that I was reading. She had given her class little tubs of play doh and told them to create something from their Heart Maps (I believe) and then they could write about it in their notebooks.

I liked the sensory idea of building models and then writing off of it. So I commented what a great idea and ran immediately to the local Dollar Store to pick up the 8 pack size of play doh. This means all 26 of my students can get a tub for around $4. Win!

We were doing the whole sensory details lesson with Saturdays and Teacakes on Monday complete with a sensory chart. I had them think of the story we are currently working on and use the play doh to make something or someone from this story. Then to use this visual representation to help generate ideas to fill in their own sensory charts. This way they could use the chart while they are writing and add in great personal details just like Lester Laminack did in his book.

At first I was getting some odd questions from them. "Do you want me to write how the play doh smells?" My response, "Does your character from  your story smell like play doh?" "No." "then don't write about how the play doh smells, but really think of any smells you associate with your character."

I went off on a line of questioning about perfumes, or smoke, or drink coffee. They finally figured out what I was after and were happily writing away soon enough. They wrote about hair color, and clothes, and how they taste their mom's biscuits.

I can't wait to see how this enhances their stories.

Thursday Tutorial - Google +1

I may be the only person on the planet that doesn't know what this means.

And it's driving me CRAZY!!

I had to figure it out before I end up as a quivering mass of gelatinous substance at the end of my keyboard.

From what I can glean from the internet information, it's basically a 'LIKE' button for your Google Profile. If you click the +1 tab, it will add it to your feed on your Goggle page so that all your minions followers can have access to it.

Was it really that simple?

What are your thoughts on this Google +1 phenomenon? I see tons of people +1'ing my posts. Does this mean they are passing it on for their social media groups can see it too?

For that I thank you!

Tried it Tuesday - Donorschoose.org

This will be my second year hosting a photography club at my elementary school. Last year I had twenty fourth and fifth graders hanging out with me before school started. Every Wednesday for six months I got to share my love of photography with eager young minds. We talked of form, shape, color, and line. We critiqued the effective use of depth of field and focal points. We even got a page in the school's yearbook to show off our work. It was such fun.

Of course, I had to do it again. One of the drawbacks from last year was that the kids were using old equipment, most were hand-me-downs. Their batteries died, or the camera froze up, or the cords didn't work with my computer. Many were disappointed in not being able to try out the cool techniques I was sharing with them each week.

I'd like to keep as many of them as interested in this as possible. So I found a site that allows people to donate money to help out my classroom. It's called DonorsChoose.org. When you set up a new account you are alloted 3 credits in which to begin your project. If you require people to donate below $400 to your classroom, you'll use 1 credit. If you need it to be less than $800, you'll use two credits. You aren't allowed to ask for more than that the first go around.

There are a lot of legal issues about who owns the equipment that is donated (it must stay with the school if you leave it), and strict regulations on what you need to do if your project is fully funded. Just keep in mind that they suggest you send thank you notes from the kids to your donors. You might want to think ahead for that one.

But after your project is approved and put up, donorschoose will send you an email that gives you the good news. AND any and all donations given within the first seven days will be matched dollar for dollar by donorschoose. Here's the note they give you to send out to all your friends.

Hi Friends,

I want to make sure my students have the materials they need to succeed. So I've created a classroom project request at DonorsChoose.org, an award-winning charity.

I'm asking for donations of any size to help my kids. For the next week, any donation you make to my project will be doubled (up to $100). If you know anyone who is passionate about education, please pass this along. Your donation will brighten my students' school year, and you'll get photos and thank yous from our class.

Here's my classroom request:
Elementary Photography Club: The Early Years

To have your donation matched dollar for dollar, enter the match code INSPIRE on the payment screen. This awesome match offer lasts through August 30, 2013.

My students and I greatly appreciate your support.
Gary

If you've even thought how AWESOME it would be to start a new project with your class if only you had (such and such). Then I suggest you check out donorschoose.org.

Must Read Linky - Graphic Biographies

Our unit on the Native Americans is winding down and those shelter projects are starting to flood in, but my brain is already turning to the next unit.

EXPLORERS!!

This is such a fun topic to teach because I get to tell the kids how totally off the wall the explorers were. How frightfully wrong, and completely clueless they actually were. It makes my students laugh, but then realize that every great idea has to start somewhere.

We usually begin with the guy who started it all, Marco Polo. His journeys and tell-all book created the frenzy that was exploration. Without him, North American would be completely different today. Yes, there were already tons of people living here and the Ancient Siberians and even the Vikings had already stepped foot on the wild lands before this Italian ever was a thought in history. But it was Columbus that brought it to the attention of Europe and the race was on.

A huge part of me wishes that the Europeans had dealt with the native inhabitants of this new land in a much more diplomatic way. So many of the hurts of the young nation would have been healed before they even began, but I digress from my topic.

I am linking  up with those Collaboration Cuties for their Social Studies lesson idea post. Head on over and see a great book that I also just bought to use during my Native American Unit. If you Lived with the Hopi is a perfect resource to help you answer those tons of questions students will ask about this tribe living in the dry lands of Arizona. Check it out!

My choice of books is moving beyond the Native Americans and turning towards those explorers that had a desire to learn more about their planet. Christopher Columbus is so well known, but so much of his journey is shrouded in the past. My kids are shocked to learn that he it took six years to convince King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to fund his expedition. They also find it so intriguing that his crew wanted to throw him overboard and  head back home shortly before they sighted land.

My fourth graders, especially the boys, are in love with graphic novels. I am constantly seeing them check out Star Wars, Hardy Boys, and Baby Sitters club done up in this style. Even the Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Tales of a Not-so are graphic novels of a sort. So, why not bring in some dealing with our history topics?

This is one of a series of books that cover the history of our nation. I love them because they have other titles that match our Fourth Grade curriculum perfectly - History of Jamestown, the Boston Tea Party, Sutter's Mill, etc. What's great about them is they don't sugarcoat anything. Kids can see that a lot of greed, ambition, and selfishness tied into exploration. Plus they definitely don't overly romanticize the first meeting between Europeans and natives of the Americas.

I am trying to get our librarian to order the set, or even get some money to buy six copies of some of them to store in our book room teachers use for small groups. We shall see!

Wednesday Writing - Notebook Know How

Aimee Buckner was teaching at a local school when I first met her. Little did I know she would grow up to be an amazing force in the world of Writing Teachers. I mean now she gets to hang out with Ralph Fletcher and Stephanie Harvey (Nonfiction Matters) now. I'm so happy she has done well, but it was never a doubt that she had awesome talents in teaching writing.

One her best resources is the book, Notebook Know-How in which she sets up her strategy for launching the Writer's Notebook with your class. After she gets them started, she goes through ways to help them maintain their personal adventure journals. I am currently working on instituting Daily Pages with my class.

Daily Pages are an assignment for your class to complete a whole page in their writer's notebook. Ms. Buckner suggests that you not limit their creativity by telling them what to write about on these pages. She suggests that you let them pick the topics and run with it. They can write about anything such as song lyrics, a recipe, a rundown of the newest Despicable Me film, or even some more heavier topics such as the death of a pet.

She warns you to be prepared at the beginning for them not to manage a whole page. A lot of them aren't going to know what to write about, or think that they don't have anything to write down. But as they get used to the process, they will start planning on things that they can write about and then there's no stopping them.

Mentor Monday - Number Talks

During a summer Math Institute I was introduced to the teacher's resource, Number Talks. It is a method used to get students to talk through their mathematical strategies. Questions such as 19+24 are posted on the board. Students try and solve it on a white board or paper. When they do, they hold a thumbs up against their chest to show they are done.

Now, if they can explain the strategy in one way, they hold up one finger along with the thumb. If they can explain two ways, they hold up two fingers and so on. This takes the stress away from those students who take a little longer to answer, or get frustrated and stop when they see all their friends already with answers.

The teacher's role is strictly as facilitator. This is the hardest part! You listen to the students as they explain their thinking to solve the problem. You then write or represent their explanations onto the board. Some may pull the numbers out into expanded form:

10 +9  and 20+4

10+20=30

9+4=13

30+13=43

Then add the two tens and the two ones and solve that way. 

Or they might want to make 'friendly numbers' by taking one from the 24 and giving it to the 19. 

24-1=23

19+1=20

23+20=43

Some  may want to use a number line and use 'chunks' of numbers to find the answer. The teacher interprets their explanations into visual representations on the board or a chart. Then leaving the chart up for awhile so that the students can reference it during the next Number Talk.

I'm finding it a bit difficult with this new method in deciding what to do when the student's method is incorrect, or they have difficulty explaining where they get their numbers from. I want to lead them down the correct path, but I have to hold myself back. It's interesting though to hear them talk through their strategies. I'm learning so much math right along with them. It's definitely going to be an interesting journey since math is not my best subject!

Tuesday Tried It - Save Fred!

Have you seen this awesome lesson over on Fourth Grade Fanatic? It's all about that first week with your kiddos and how you can take stock of their problem solving abilities, plus how well they will work together in a group.

***Due to overwhelming request, I am sharing the document I made based on Fourth Grade Fanatic's post. Apparently, the links aren't going to the correct place. I take absolutely NO credit for this sheet, since it is not my work. But I love sharing as much as I can.

Save Fred Worksheet

Saving Fred is a fun little lesson about a careless worm. Since worm's brain are by nature pretty small, Fred is at a disadvantage. That comes into play as he is out on his boat without a buddy. Now, Fred isn't completely without thought, he did bring his life preserver. As these things go, Fred's boat capsizes trapping his preserver beneath it with Fred on top. Fred can't swim very well, so it is up to your students to help Save Fred!

They are armed only with the two 'oars' that Fred brought with him. In our world, these oars look suspiciously like paper clips. The students aren't allowed to touch Fred with their fingers or hands. He's got a thing about that. Your students must get Fred's life preserver around him before the time runs out and Fred drowns.

I call up the Online Countdown Timer and display it on our SmartBoard screen. They are given five minutes to save Fred from certain death. The boat is a plastic cup, the life preserver is a gummy life saver, and Fred? He's a gummi worm.

Be prepared to handle it if some of the groups don't save Fred in time.

But for the most part they will work creatively to save their poor little worm and have fun doing it! After this activity there is a timeline for them to draw pictures of what they did to save Fred and also an area to rate their team on effectiveness.

Friday Fun - Crazy Hair Day

I'm not above doing anything to get my kids involved with a story.  I wanted to teach my students about that climatic moment in a tale when the story shifts.  I had a hard time figuring out just what  the Google request should be. I finally found a great lesson using the book Crazy Hair Day by Barney Salztberg with the activating strategy of wearing some crazy hair. 

I sent an email to our school staff to see who would let me borrow some wacky do for the day.  The first response I got was from one of our newest members this year.  Ms. Jessica King just happened to have a Holograms wig in her desk. It was bright pink.

I wore it as the kids came in that morning.  The responses I got were interesting. They wanted to call me Ms. They had no clue what I was up to. Which is just perfect.  I want to keep them guessing.  When I picked up the book,  they totally got it.  

Most of them had heard the tale of the little porcupine that got his days mixed up.  You can imagine his surprise when he shows up thinking it's crazy hair day,  when in fact it's the class picture day. 

They enjoyed thinking like the character as they wrote diary entries that the porcupine,  Stanley, might have written throughout his wacky day.  

It really helped me launch my reader's response idea.  More about that later.

Just a side note.  Any one want to see a shot of me in a pink wig?  Well,  even if you didn't,  here it is:

E-Z Class Giveaway

Erin T, one of my favorite Bloggers, is giving away some really yummy sounding food stuffs from her hometown of New Zealand. I shall be heading to her neck of the woods in December, so I think it only fitting that I should try these things, right?

Go check it out:
E-Z Class blog

Monday Mentor - Classroom Store

Every year I use the same technique of a 'Store' with my class. I start out telling them that they will earn money (I have some fun money I had printed out) for coming to school each day. The sounds of awe and "What?" is so funny to hear. Then I hit them with the idea that they will be earning money for doing the class jobs they pick each week. I will give them $10 for every day they are come to school on time and $10 a day for doing the class job. By the end of each week they can wrack up to $100. We spend some time  picking up all the jaws scattered around the floor.

This is when I have to burst their bubbles with some doses of reality. I tell them that they will have to pay 'taxes.' They will have funds taken from their salaries to pay for such things as classroom lights, running water, electricity, and to pay for the teacher. I explain that this is how it will work when they are adults. They aren't happy when I tell them they will give me $20 a week to cover these taxes.

I explain that they can earn tons of extra money for various things. They keep their desks clean, or they write some poetry about a Social Studies topic, or they simply follow directions without being asked. They like this idea, but what they like more is deciding what things they can use this money to buy.

I ask them to think of things that they'd like to have that aren't going to cost their poor poor teacher any money. We discuss several idea and brainstorm a list. Then I rank them according to ease of access. Things like taking their shoes off in class costs much less than having lunch with an Assistant Principal. I write up the chart and post it in the room. Every Friday morning I 'pay' them and open the store.

We also use this money during our class Market Day, which I will explain at a later date.


At the end of the year, we hold an auction with any money they have left over. I have a treasure box of things, or I might have some coupons to the local pizza place, or some Dollar Store items for this. It makes our last days together a little more fun.