Furry Friends Linky! *2D Shapes Freebie

Several things today.

One:
So I know I just recently mentioned my little fuzzy pants in a post, but when I saw how precious this graphic was from Soaring Through Second, and what a cute linky party it was, I decided to reblog. (reblog: v. to blog again)

These are my little fuzzers.

This is Lucy. Lucy was dropped off at my house one morning by somebody who found her in his backyard. She was just a little ball of fluff with a face back then.

 Lucy is a great dog. People who don't like dogs like her. She's smart and learns quickly, which is good, because even though I'm good at teaching children, I know next to nothing about teaching dogs. With Lucy, I still feel like the dog whisperer. That's how smart she is. She knows what I want her to do when I don't know how to tell her to do it. Smarty Pants. 

From Lucy, I've learned:

Just be nice. People like that.

This is Penny. Penny is a dachsund who was given to me by one of my students about five years ago. He and his family had to get rid of her, so she became mine. She has diabetes, the poor baby. When I feed her in the morning, she gets so excited that she bounces on her three-inch-legs.

From Penny, I've learned 

the value of a good appetite. 

This is The Professor. I got him from someone whose cat had kittens and they didn't know where to put them. He's a smarty pants, too. He looks like he's dead, but he's not. This is his preferred position: back on the floor, legs (usually all four, unlike this picture) in the air. Out of the two cats, he's the boss. 

From the Professor, I've learned:

Let it hang loose. Who cares, anyway?

This is Jeannie. Jeannie's a weenie. But I didn't know that when I named her. Just got lucky. She meows incessantly for attention. She wants to be loved, but is terrified of attention. 

From Jeannie, I've learned:

If you need some love, ask for it!

As you can see, some of my lessons are conflicting. I guess it depends on whether you're in a dog mood or a cat mood; a safe mood or a dangerous mood. Lately, I've been in a dog mood. In the winter, I'm more of a cat.

This may not be normal; I really don't know. Pets are lovely. Until you have to clean up their poop.

Two: Teacher's Notebook Sale through Monday. Go grab some cheap stuff!

Three: New 2D Shapes Pack for second & third grade.

Grab it at TPT or Teacher's Notebook!

Four: And for being awesome, have this freebie for...free!!2D Shape Hunt Tree Map and 2D Sorting Chart: Quadrilaterals vs. Other ShapesGrab it at TPT.

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Marshmallow Math & Kids at Parent Night *Freebie Repost

Today we got ready for Parent Night. I mean, I like parents and all, but... well... I stress about parent night. I'm not sure why. I just expect parents to come in with a frowny face and angry eyebrows. Maybe because I'm deathly afraid people won't like me. That's sad. But they don't. I usually get nice feedback, or none at all. It's funny to see the kids explain things to their parents. On Reading... Kid: This is my prediction. Parent: Of what? Kid: Of what I'm reading! Parent: Oh. reading "Why do spiders spin webs." Hmm. Why DO spiders spin webs? Kid: I have no idea. Nice. I'm really making an impact there. lol On Social Studies... Kid: This is our tree with the three branches of government. Get it? Trees have branches!! Parent: Yes. Can you feel the excitement?

On top of their desks, the kids put several of their notebooks to share about, including their math, reading, science, and social studies, as well as their science collection. Kids also write a brief note about parent night to their parents and put it in their Write On Wednesday notebooks. This parent night, on top of all that stuff, the kids had their marshmallow 3D shapes we made as part of our 3D shapes unit. It went super well. First, I had the kids predict the number of marshmallows they would need for vertices and toothpicks they would need for edges for each shape we made. 

We compared the prisms to pyramids, in the hopes that students would notice the major differences: - pyramids have a base with a vertex opposite of the base -prisms have two faces opposite each other You can get both of  get the activities from my TPT store.

Also, grab the marshmallow model recording freebie at TPT!

At TPT 

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Fraction Frenzy *Freebie

Fractions? Still?
I know.

We're about to move on from fractions.


Finally.We've been in fractions overkill overtime.
I still have to finish up fractions on a number line and measuring to 1/4 and 1/2 inch.
Oh, we'll be back. We'll be back to compare them and make some equivalent fractions.
But not yet.
These are some of the activities we did this week to work with fractions.
Pizza FractionsI didn't have enough of the right colors of construction paper handy, so I had the kids color the pieces. (FYI, construction paper copies are obviously WAY faster and I really wish I'd had the construction paper lol). But they colored away for a while, and then we used the pizzas for my pizza fractions task cards. Kids had to use the toppings like manipulatives to build different fractions on the pizza.

Then they made their own fraction pizzas and identified the fraction for each topping. (2/8 mushroom, 1/8 peppers, 2/8 pepperioni, 2/8 olives, 1/8 onion)

Fractional Parts of Shapes using Pattern Blocks

At my guided reading table, I worked with groups of students to identify fractional parts of pattern blocks. Students had to use the pattern blocks to fill the shapes, and then identify the fraction of each one.

At the front of the room students used fraction pictures, names, and numbers from my Furry Friends Fractions Pack (on sale at TPT and Teacher's Notebook) to play a matching game. 

In another part of the room (the nonfiction nook) students read Hershey's Fraction Book and used the manipulatives below to build the various fractions.

Grab the manipulative pieces free at TPT.

Pick up the Pizza Fractions Craftivity Pack (includes craftivity pieces and instructions, 12 task cards, recording sheet, and bonus comparing fractions with like denominators sheet) at TPT or Teacher's Notebook!

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Fractions Foldable Freebie!

Awww, look at my title. I heart alliteration.
It's nice to know we all feel similarly about testing. The word to describe the feeling shall not be written here, but you know what it is. (There are actually more than one. I think George Carlin said seven)
We have been working away with identifying fractions and applying that in different contexts. Yesterday, we worked with fractional parts of a dollar, and since we made this simple foldable, I decided to link up with for Corkboard Connections her foldable linky party!

We took a piece of green construction paper and cut it in half. Each student had two pieces. Then we made it into a flap book and added the outside labels. I included half-dollars, quarters, and dimes.

On the inside, we cut between the coins to make flaps. For the quarter, for example, there were four flaps; one for each quarter.

We wrote the fractional part of a dollar that each coin represented, identified the value in cents, and named the coin.

We put it into the fractions section of our math notebooks. On the output side, we added a few statements identifying the fractional parts various coins represent.

Grab the this instruction page and the labels from TPT or Teacher's Notebook for free!

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Tasty Fractions *Fractions Freebie!

So we're still working with fractions.
And we'll probably be working fractionsforever cause when I mentioned it and said, "Remember this from second grade?" about a third of my kids said, "Nope."
Soooo, we're only working with identifying them. We've watched a lot of BrainPop and used lots of different activities to practice this concept, including the Giant Fractions Foldable from my Furry Friends Fractions Pack, at TPT and Teacher's Notebook. 
Today, I introduced fractional parts of sets. It actually went reeeeeeaaaalllly well.
Why? 
Cause chocolate.That's why.
Chocolate makes everything better.
First, we opened our package of M&Ms....
mmmmm....

chocolately gooodness.....
Then, kids sorted by color 

and recorded their data.

Then we identified the fractional parts for each color, and some color combinations.

Then, of course, we wrote about it.
But guess what.
I took a picture, I thought, of a kid's writing.
But then, I opened the picture just now
and it was a picture of my shoes.
Which I deleted.

So I don't have a picture of that.
It was just "I learned..." and "What I still don't understand is..."

This is what we used, and you can get it for FREE at TPT! Just drop me a comment here or some feedback or a rating there!

Tomorrow we're gonna do some cool fraction station stuff with a pizza fractions thingy I made. I'm going to test it out and put it up on TPT after I find out how it goes! I'll try to do pictures.

And don't forget about my 200+ follower giveaway! Check it out here!

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Dun Dun Dunnnn. Fractions. *Freebie!

Today was exactly 18,000 times better than yesterday.

I didn't post yesterday
cause I didn't want to sound bitter
and anything at all I could've written yesterday
would have been bitter.

But today was a GREAT day,
despite two office referrals for hitting other kids on the bus.
(Not me. My kids)

This is what we did today that went so well.
We've been working on author's purpose using my Author's Purpose Pack.
Today, during Reader's Workshop, we reviewed the four author's purposes we've been working with
*to explain how
*to inform
*to persuade
*to entertain.

I put kids into partners and we set up a tree map with the four headings.

Then I gave them a sheet from my pack that had a short text from each of these four purposes. The topic was the same (birds) but there was a story about birds, a procedural on how to take care of birds, an informative piece about birds, and a persuasive piece convincing you to buy a bird.

I read each piece out loud and had the kids talk to their partners about what evidence they could find to support the author's purpose.
We sorted.
We checked.
We did well!

Grab this as part of my Author's Purpose Pack from TPT or Teacher's Notebook.

Incidentally, it would also make a pretty great foldable. I didn't think of that till just now. Oh well.

So for partner practice, I had them practice the same skill with other pieces; these were about snowmen (how to make a snowman, information about snowmen, a story about a snowman, and a persuasive about building a snowman.

I was so relieved- as I listened to the conversations kids had with their buddies, I was finally able to find evidence of my teaching.

I heard things like
Well, the author's not asking the reader to DO anything, so it's not to persuade.
I see a character, so I think it's an entertaining story.
Oh! These are steps on how to take care of a bird, so it's to explain how.

I almost cried.

But then, later in math, I almost cried for a different reason.

Fractions.

This standard is introduced before third grade, but when we started working with fractions on Monday, (most of) my kids stared at me like I was speaking Greek.
Or Math, which I have found is a new language to them as well.

So I needed them to get some basic practice with identifying fractions and using equal parts in one whole to identify denominators.

So I spent some time putting together a fractions foldable for them to sort and identify fractional parts of wholes. This is what it looked like.








I was hoping to help kids use it to hunt for examples of fractions in anything we did during math.

For example, after they finished a handout on fractions, they could cut it up and sort them into halves, third, fourths, etc., and glue them into their foldable.

It's a great fast finisher activity, too, once you've got it all set up!

So, some of us are pretty good at fractions.

Some of us were writing some pretty weird stuff in this foldable, despite the modeling.

So we're going to spend tomorrow in two groups - I kinda know what's goin on

...and I kinda don't.

I'll let you know how it goes.

In case you're interested (purpose: to persuade) I am posting my Furry Friends Fractions Pack, which includes instructions and pieces to cut out for the giant fractions foldable above. It's a big one - 46 pages of fractiony goodness.



 Grab it at TPT!

And here's a rectangle fractions freebie for you.
Grab it at TPT.

Clipart from GingerSnaps Treats for Teachers and KPM Doodles

Fonts from Kevin & Amanda

Happy Fractioning!

Saturday School Boo Hoo and Area!

I hope you enjoyed your Dr. Shoosh Day today! There was a lot of Shooshiness at our school, but in third grade, we don't really get to do anything.

I do have Saturday School tomorrow, though, so there you go.
I know, I didn't even do anything wrong. And I'm still being punished.

We do Saturday School for kids who are struggling to prepare the The Test. That's really what it is.
We do get paid.
We don't HAVE to do it, but we kind of HAVE to do it, because if we don't, somebody else has to work with our kids, and what creep dumps their kids on somebody else and doesn't show up? AND if the kid doesn't pass, it's like, "And she didn't do Saturday School and let him fail?!"

This year, we also have additional Saturday School days to address "Summer School." Why? Cause there's not enough $$ for summer school this year.
Personally, I think Summer School is a bunch of bologna
(Have you noticed it's not satisfying to spell it 'bologna'? It feels better baloney).
It's baloney the way we do it, anyway.

It's, like, ten half-days of a super structured curriculum.
But let's stop and think about why kids are in summer school.....
1. They can't read.
2. They can't focus.
3. They can't take a test.

If they can't take a test, maybe the curriculum will help. Probably not. Test-taking strategies might.
If they can't focus, a boring worksheet curriculum won't help at all, for sure.
If they can't read, the only thing that will help is reading instruction focused at filling in the gaps they have. Not a boring worksheet curriculum written at grade level.
And ten days? We couldn't do it in 180. 10 isn't gonna make a dent.
SO it's baloney.

This is what we did this week. Stuff like this MIGHT help. For math, at least. For reading, I think I already addressed it in my "Guided Reading" vegetables or whatever post.
So that's my rant.


This week, we were working with area. In our Math Notebooks, we did a little writing about area, including my area song.
Ready?
Super easy.
To the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell."

Area is inside.
Area is inside.
Count the squares inside the shape
cause area is inside.

I know, right? It all makes sense now.

It addresses the standard for third graders where I live - they have to be able to count up square units including half-units. But you could easily change the third line to something, "Find the space inside the shape," or something else.

We, by which I mean, my student teacher, (oh, the blessings of someone else to crawl around the floor) taped off various areas in the classroom using masking tape. We labeled these as Area Stations, A-E. Some were simple arrays, and some were more complicated, using half-squares that had to be combined.

The kids circulated through the stations in teams, sketched, and recorded the area of each shape on the output side of their notebooks. Yes, graph paper would have been ideal.
Shocker: I was not prepared. So we did without. 
Everybody was ok.

We kept it simple because that's where they are at this stage of the concept.
The best part? Kids could stand in the squares, move through the squares, count them by touching. Their little fingers could DO something. And they got to 'help' each other - I LOVE to hear kids actually helping and demonstrating, rather than just telling an answer.
Verbalizing thought processes=learning :)

They got a kick out of it, it was suuuuuuppppper easy and everybody learned something! :) Of course, the last step in their notebooks was to write about what they learned.

AND! Ta-DA!
My Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato Literacy Pack! YAY!
This is why I did a pack for both Jamie O'Rourkes: I found my Pooka book first, so I did it first. Then, I found my Big Potato book, and thought.... yup, I'm doing this one. So the week before Spring Break (a.k.a. Thank God Week), we're going to do some work with the Big Potato book, but either one would be cool.  You can get it at TPT or Teacher's Notebook!