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!

ClassDojo Awards Ceremony

A few years ago, I came across a wonderful classroom management tool: ClassDojo.

For those of you who don't know, ClassDojo is a FREE app for Apple and Droid systems, it's also a website, that helps teachers with classroom management. Students can earn (and lose) points throughout the day based on behavior and classroom achievement, and parents can follow along from their phones or computers.

I love it. My students love it. My parents love it. Basically, there's a lot of love going on.

Well, today I decided to award my students' hard work. It's been a long time coming, I just didn't have the materials to follow through.
So, what's a teacher to do when she wants something done, but doesn't have the materials? She makes them herself!

I'll be the first to admit that, as a teacher, you get used to 3 things: begging, borrowing, and stealing (mostly ideas and staplers, but I've been known to attack a coworker's chocolate stash).  I did use Dojo clipart that another Dojo user had created and shared when creating my Dojo buttons. Thank you,  fellow Dojo user!

I created Dojo "Belt" badges.

Starting with White Belt, all the way to Double Black Belt (Ninja). Not being acquainted with martial arts myself, I was counting on others' knowledge of the belts when I created the buttons.

In order for my students to "Belt Up", they had to achieve 90% or higher for an entire month. For each month they achieve 90% or higher, they will earn the next level of belt! We did this retroactively, so I counted up from September.

I made sashes out of sentence strips to glue the badges on. Students were "belted" by our Assistant Principal, Ms. Anthony. (I even had her wear my kimono! It just seemed right.)

Here are my ClassDojo Belt Earners!

White Belt

Yellow Belt

Orange Belt

Green Belt- so many I had to take 2 pictures!

I'm so proud of my little Ninjas-in-training!  To show off their fabulous-ness, they will get to wear their belts all day Monday! I'm sure everyone in the building will be totes jealous. :)

I also had some students who earned 100% positive for an entire month. They got an extra award!

I know what you wondering- Where are the pictures of Ms. Anthony wearing the fabulous kimono?
Well, she had pictures made with each Team. She's super proud of my kiddos!

Team 1

Team 2

(Side note- my student who isn't wearing a belt in this pic is new, just joined my class 3 days ago. She has a great first week and I'm sure she'll earn a belt at the end of the month!)

Team 3

Team 4

Team 5

I also have my students' levels posted on my wall. (You can find the Belt Level Posters HERE)

Their avatars are labeled and will move along the wall as my students earn their belts!

 

I can't wait till next month when we can do this again! 

Congratulations, Soldiers! 

Keep up the good work!

p.s. I'm a proud ClassDojo Mentor this year! Award for me too!

Science Tubs: Made with Units in Mind

This past Monday I had the pleasure of taking a Professional Day to go do something I've wanted to do for at least a year now: take an inventory of science tubs at Barger Academy.

It was a dream come true! (Yes, really!) It all started when I attended the Hamilton County science PDs. (Professional Developments) I also started attending an extra PLN (Professional Learning Network) for elementary science teachers. Susan Dorsa at Barger Academy allowed us the use of her room and equipment.

She has tubs. For everything.  

Great, big tubs full of wonderful science magic and happiness!!

 She would bring a different tub to each of the sessions; each full of materials organized by topic of study. And these tubs are available to the Barger teachers to borrow and use whenever they need. Simply wonderful!

So, my idea was to inventory these tubs to see what makes them so magical, then take the inventory back to my building to see what we can recreate. I know we have the materials floating around the building, it's just a matter of getting them in a central location for classroom consumption.

Below are pictures of what Mrs. Dorsa had. Some of the tubs were for large units, some were for mini lessons, and others held random materials for different lessons. If you'd like a PDF of the materials list, you'll find a link at the bottom of the post.

Space

Sound

Light

Electricity and Circuits

Rocks and Minerals

Bird Beaks: Animal Adaptations

Cell Making

Chemical Reactions 

(This tub was bought, not created. The PDF has links to where you can find the Student Manuals and other activities)

Sea Turtles: Adaptations and Conservation

(The PDF has a copy of a game you can play with your students.)

Food Chains and Food Webs 

(You can find a link to a Food Chain War Game HERE! Leave a comment on this post and I'll send it to you for FREE!!)

Heredity 

(PDF file has link to printable activities)

Inherited vs Acquired

(PDF has a printable version of the game included)

Extra Materials

(full list of extra materials included in the file)

She also had a Magnets tub, but 3rd grade had checked it out. 

I was like a nerdy kid in a science candy store. It was wonderful. I can't wait to share my findings with my school. I would love for  my school to have these kinds of easy-to-access materials. (And I'm just the Type-A personality to get it done!)

Thank you, Mrs. Dorsa for allowing me to invade your space! 

I had a wonderful time!

Want a guide to help you make science tubs? 

Click HERE for a PDF!

iZone Summer Institute: Putting Active into Activities

I made the (fortunate) mistake of going to this session after lunch. At 37 weeks pregnant, the last thing I wanted was to be in a session that required constant movement.

Guess what? At 8-9 years old, I'm sure my students feel the same way after lunch. That's why I'm glad I went to this session. I was engaged in learning, active (which my doctor would appreciate), and happy. That's right. Happy. I was getting to socialize in a productive way with my colleagues. That makes me happy. :)

This session was created to make sure that our students are actively engaged in learning.
That means moving.
That means productive conversations.
That means manipulatives. 
That means a whole lot of modeling for teachers before letting students go at these.

Get ready! It's going to be a fun ride!

Putting Active into Activities

 ** Anything written in italics is something I would do to modify the activity in my classroom**

Walk- About Cards

This was our opening activity.

• Every student has a folded index card- question on the outside, answer on the inside. 
• Students also have either a stamp or sheet of small stickers.
• Students walk around the room asking each other the questions on the cards.
• If students know the answer, they receive a stamp or sticker from their partner. If they don't know the answer, their partner tells them the answer from the inside.
• Students trade cards before moving on to find another person to ask. 
• After time is up, students write down as many of the facts as they can remember. Teacher would also walk around and tally how many stamps or stickers were earned during the game. Possible prize?

Possible uses:

• Vocabulary review
• Informal pre- assessment
• Fast facts (like math)
• English/ Spanish (or any other foreign language being learned)
• Grammar skills (like singular/ plural nouns)
• Science/ Social Studies review

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Three Strikes

(the example from the session)

• Students are in pairs for this activity
• Each student has his/ her own set of questions to ask their partner. Questions can be teacher created or student created, based on what your class can handle or what you need them to cover.
• Partner A asks Partner B questions. If PB can answer on the first try, he/ she gets 3 points. If PB can't answer, then PA will give them the answer, put an X in the circle, and move on to the next question. 
• When all questions have been asked, then PA goes back and re-asks the questions that PB missed the first time. If PB gets the answer the second time around, he/ she gets 2 points. If PB still can't answer, PA gives them the answer again and goes on to the next previously missed question. 
• Keep going until each question has been asked 3 times.
• Once Partner A has asked the questions on his/ her sheet, then Partner B gets to ask PA questions on their sheet. (questions should be different)
• Once all questions have been asked, students should add up their points. (Prizes given at teacher discretion)
• Students go back to their seats and fill in answers to all the questions asked. (from a teacher prepared sheet)

Possible uses:

•  Science content review
• Social studies content review
• Vocabulary review
• Book study review

If you'd like a blank copy, follow these links!

Power Point (editable)

PDF format

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Scavenger Hunt

(example from session)

• Teacher prepares the puzzle based on a chosen topic (in the example, it's a review of the book The Outsiders)
• Cards with answers on the front and "secret letters" on the back are taped to the walls around the room. 
• Some cards can be decoy cards with the wrong possible answers (I thought that was genius!)
• Students will walk around the room filling in the blanks with the answers. Then they will flip the card up and fill in the letter for the "secret message" at the bottom. 
• If the secret message at the bottom is not correct, students will know that their top answers should be checked!

Possible Uses:

• Story reviews
•  Math word problems
• Science/ Social studies review

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Scramble (Matching)

This is just a matching game. The thing to remember is to have materials already prepared and separated. You can have students cut and paste, but if you want to be able to reuse the activity, use cardstock and laminate the pieces. 

Students can work in pairs or independently. Make sure they have a documentation sheet to turn in for a grade.

Possible uses:

• ANYTHING!! That's the beauty of this type of activity! It can be as simple as matching color cards to the color words, or as difficult as Latin prefixes/ suffixes and their meaning. The choice is yours!

Free Matching Games from my TPT store- GO GET THEM!!

Matching Equivalent Equations

Singular and Plural Noun Sort

Verb Word Wall and Game

Plural Noun Matching Game

Sentence Sort (elementary)

Sentence Sort (primary)

Butterflies Fact and Opinion

Simple Synonyms Sorting

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Hospital

• Teacher prepares 8-12 index cards with errors on each, and places them around the room
• Students should have a documentation sheet to turn in. Teacher discretion as to whether the sheet has the sentences already written on it to be fixed.
• Students can work in small groups or individually as they go around the room to "fix" the sentences.

Possible Uses:

• Vocabulary
• Spelling
• Math facts
• Science/ Social studies facts
• Grammar practice (ex. noun/ verb agreement, punctuation, capitalization)
• This activity lends itself well to the previous game- matching. You might have some "sick" sentences and some "well" sentences. Students would have to decide which is which, and then "fix" the "sick" sentences.

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These next activities were given to us in our packet, but we ran out of time to do them in the session.

Volleyball 

 Possible Uses:
Review on any subject: reading comprehension, science, social studies, etc.

 Snowball

Thank you, Valery Taylor and Patricia Jones, Ed. D for these great ideas!