February and March bulletin boards

I've been incredibly lax this year when it comes to blogging and I apologize!

To get back into the swing of things, here are the boards I created for February and March! These boards are found around the school and are interactive for student/ parent/ teacher involvement. This year, I used the same February boards and activities from last year. It just seemed easier since our testing days have been... crazy... to say the least.

February Boards: Black History Month

Martin Luther King Jr.

George Washington Carver

Harriet Tubman

 If you'd like these boards- you can get the QR codes (HERE) and the activities (HERE).

March Boards: 

Dr. Seuss' birthday and ClassDojo: Growth Mindset

Dr. Seuss 

Find file (HERE)

ClassDojo 

Growth Mindset QR codes (HERE)
Unfortunately, I can't share the other Dojo materials because I didn't make them. However, you can contact your ClassDojo school mentor and he/she should be able to get you the materials. You can also join the ClassDojo teacher Facebook page to find awesome materials!
Go (HERE) to get the Growth Mindset Circles! 

I just got the March boards up today, so we'll see on Monday how everyone likes them!

Dr. Seuss- I'm not going to get up today

What was I saying (in a previous post) about random strangers coming and reading to my class? Meeting new friends is what Dr. Seuss week is all about! For example- we found this happy high school student from Grace Baptist in the hallway just looking for a class to read to. Well we didn't want her to feel unloved and unappreciated, so we grabbed her! (She was a very good sport about the whole thing) :)

She did an amazing job with the kids. I foresee teaching in her future! Or a job in communications... anything that involves people skills.

I'm NOT Going to Get Up Today!

Dr. Seuss- Hunches in Bunches

Brought to you by Mr. Russell, who loves CHES so much that he was willing to come by during his planning time to read to my class! Thank you, Mr. Russell!

Hunches in Bunches!

Dr. Seuss- Oh the Thinks You Can Think!

Brought to you by Mr. Moore! Yea for Dr. Seuss week!

 Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!

Dr. Seuss- Daisy Head Maisy

It's Dr. Seuss week this week and you know what that means- random strangers coming to read to us! Luckily for us, we have a wide selection of readers who also don't mind being videoed! Our first reader was none other that the production manager for J103 radio station, Mr. Justin Wade. (Thanks to Mrs. Ritchey for pulling her connections!)

Here's Mr. Wade reading Daisy Head Maisy to us!

Part 1

Part 2

And since no one can come into our room without being interviewed, you can see Mr. Wade's BIG PLANS interview this Saturday!

Day 123- Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Today was cut short because of strong storms that crashed and bashed through Tennessee. Hamilton County closed one hour early, but I had to leave early to pick up my children from their daycare. (in Georgia) I split my class and they were dismissed from those classrooms.
Thank you, First Grade Team!

But, before things got ugly, we did have a good morning! We came in, read Horton Hears a Who, took spelling tests, and had 2 surprise Guest Readers!

I am only putting one of the readers on the blog today because the second reader is....  a Chattanooga Celebrity! He will be on the blog tomorrow as our very first Chattanooga Celebrity Story Saturday Reader!

Our reader for this post is one of our 5th graders!

He is in Ms. Corbett's class and he did a wonderful job! He read the story Gerald McBoing Boing.

I asked him to read this one because I had never heard it before! I'm slowly realizing that Dr. Seuss wrote more books than I could have imagined. I can see us using this book again when we review Onomatopoeia. (also, Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? is a good book for Onomatopoeia)

Check out the video {HERE} or watch it below!

I also found the cartoon on Youtube!

Everyone, stay safe tonight, and make sure to check back tomorrow to see our FIRST Chattanooga Celebrity Reader!

Day 122- There is a BIG difference...

... between food with food coloring, and food that has gone bad. As a class, we talked about telling the difference between safely colored food and food that has gone fuzzy.

What better book to teach this lesson, than Green Eggs and Ham?

I have a feeling that food safety was not the main reason that Dr. Seuss wrote the book, but it lent itself to a wonderful lesson! :)
The story is also a lesson in trying new things. My son could use this lesson, since he only eats chicken nuggets and pizza. Children need to learn that sometimes new things can look scary or weird (green ham???) but that doesn't mean it's bad.

After reading the story, we created a poster of the rhyming words.

Students created a 4-square and chose 4 sets of rhyming words, put them in sentences, and illustrate.

 After school I cut them up and chose the best ones. They will go outside our classroom with the poster. Come on by and check them out!

In the afternoon, we worked on our KWL on another American President, Abraham Lincoln.

 I'm not sure why they were convinced that he was the 4th President. I do find it interesting that my students are convinced that the Presidents also die in the same order that they were elected.

We didn't get very far into the Power Point I made, we kind of got side tracked on the tour of Lincoln's house in Illinois. (My soldiers were fascinated by the chamber pots under the beds! Explaining those was an adventure!) 
That's ok, tomorrow is another day! If you'd like the Power Point as well, click {HERE}.

I did make sure that my students got to spend some quality time outside in the wonderful weather. We soaked up lots of Vitamin D in preparation for tomorrow- it's supposed to storm all day.

** Parents- tomorrow students may wear their Dr. Seuss shirts and jeans, or read and white**
**Also- tomorrow is the last day for the 3rd grade schedule. next week We will be on 5th grade's schedule and will have lunch at our regular time.**

Math is going to be in a separate post

Day 121- The Power of Good Leadership

Today we talked about two very different leaders, Yertle the Turtle and George Washington. We can learn so much from them!

First, the King of the Pond, Yertle the Turtle. We read the story during whole group. For those unfamiliar with the story, don't worry... I found it on Youtube!

So, Yertle learned that he should be content with what he has... and that dictators will always be overthrown by the people when given enough reason and time.

General Delk's class learned that stacking turtles is a great way to practice ABC order! Not everyone stacked their turtles, I guess they didn't want to cause any pain, but they still put them in order!

 Mucho impressive, huh? And, thank you, Ms. Williams for holding them up so I could get the picture!

 And, just for kicks and grins, check out this clip from the mini movie Searching for Dr. Seuss. I watched this then it came on tv years ago and I loved it! (yet another reason to love Youtube!)

The tune will stay in your head for days! You're welcome!

Now, on to the real leader of importance, George Washington.

Yesterday we looked at {THIS) power point after creating a KWL chart. Today we finished the chart with what we learned and we went back and fixed anything on the 'Know' section that happened to be wrong.

Even after going over the power point, watching the BrainPop video, and using Google searches, there were still some questions that we couldn't answer. (One reason was that my school computer was running slow.) But I explained that it's OK to have unanswered questions. Having unanswered questions doesn't change the fact that we did learn a lot.

I am going to put what we did in math in a different post, but probably not tonight since the Quarterly Assessment tests are due tomorrow by 8am and I still have over half my class' tests to grade!

Just know, parents, your students learned some very advanced mathematical skills.... Algebra! In particular.... the Associative Property of Addition! I know you're impressed! Look for a Mini Math Lesson tomorrow.

Our Daily Brain