Guest blogger: Natalie from Teachery Tidbits!

So I'm gettin tanned (hopefully) and drinking tasty things with umbrellas (definitely). But never fear- Natalie from Teachery Tidbits has stepped in to do a guest post about some great resources that you definitely want to know about for your classroom. I think my favorite is Wordle, and I'm completely hooked on my word cloud that Natalie made for me. Keep reading to find out how to make your own!


Hey yall! Natalie here from Teachery Tidbits :)

When Chrissy said that she needed some guests, I jumped at the chance! I love being able to share some ideas and freebies with a new audience :)

Today, I wanted to share some awesome new websites that I have come across lately. I hope that you guys will find them useful in your classroom!

First up is Wordle. Ever heard of it?

Wordle in this awesome website that creates word clouds. What I like most about this site is that you can type in any url and it will make a word cloud from that site! You can also type in words, and it will put them together for you.

Here is the one that was made from my blog...

Awesome right? Apparently, I use the word 'yall' waaaaay too much :) It also looks like I am obsessed with lunch...ha! But that is actually because my last guest blogger talked about lunch choices. I am also pretty stoked that the word 'freebie' is so prevalent :)

Here is the one that was made from Chrissy's blog...

Look at her dominant words: love, kids, read, book...

Can you tell the Chrissy is an amazing teacher???

This website is so much fun to play around with. You can customize the word clouds by changing the font, colors, and direction of the words.

How can you use this website in your classroom? Here are some ways that I envision using this with my littles...

*Spelling words
*Adjectives
*Characteristics of historical figures
*Gifts (for students OR parents)
*Classroom decor

There are soo many other ways to use this cool resource!

The next website I wanted to share with you is Class Tools.

This website lets you create your own games, quizzes, activites, and diagrams. It has tons of templates to choose from! You can create your own resourses, save them online, and print them off.

My favorite thing about this website is something they have called FakeBook. It allows students to create a fake Facebook page! I imagine using this to help study historical figures. Students could choose a figure, create their profile, write some of their favorite quotes, add their work history, update their status, etc.

I mean, what do you think Abraham Lincoln would put as his status???

Vampires, beware!

Ha!

I cannot wait to use this website with my kiddos next year!

I have a ton of other resources that I am currently investigating, so come on over and stop by to check them out!

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Guest Blogger: Tanja from Journey of a Substitute Teacher!

It is day 2 of my absence. Have you noticed? I'll pretend you have.
Today we are superlucky again.

Tanja from Journey of a Substitute Teacher is guest blogging for me and she is going to show you how to do something that I know you want to do. 

I want to do it.I've seen these flower pens everywhere. We even had a bunch on our conference room table, but I think somebody took them. Or anyway, they're gone. I can't imagine someone sneaking out with a bunch of flower pens. 
-What's that you've got there?-What's what?-That bunch of flowers.-Oh. These are mine. I carry them around sometimes. To make me happy.-Oh. 
That's actually the benefit to these pens. They are super hard to steal. It's almost as good as when you go to the restroom at a gas station and they give you a key with an entire hanger attached to it. Or a tire. Or a hobbit. Except these are pretty.
Anyway, here's the low-down on how to make some pretty pens. And stay tuned, because there's even a freebie. Tanja knows how to be an awesome guest.

Hi all, this Tanja (Ms. T) from Journey of a Substitute Teacher! I'm so glad to be guest blogging for Chrissy!

While she's off having fun, I'm here to share a project that is fun, cheap, and easy. It's flower pens! I first saw one of these at one of the schools I sub for. Too many people were stealing  not returning pens and so they created flower pens which are unique.

My favorite pin of these pens is this one:

Courtesy: Simply This and That via Julie on Pinterest.

The sign says "Thank you for helping me 'bloom and grow' this year." Obviously for teacher appreciation, but you could make a variety of tags to go with the pens if they are for a gift. I love that they are in a watering can!

Materials needed:

• Pens
• Floral tape
• Hot glue gun
• Plastic flowers

I had scissors for the tape just in case. I ended up using them for the pens a lot.

First decapitate, I mean remove the flower from its stem.

Pop off the top of the pen(this was the hardest part of the whole process for me) and hot glue the flower into the top.

Wrap the pen with the floral tape.

Stick the cap back on. Or you don't have to, but I want the pens to last a bit. 

And the final product..a beautiful bouquet in a vase, finished off with a ribbon!

You could put the pens in vases, water cans, flower pots, etc. I already have a few requests by friends to make these!

And since I'm guest blogging, I brought along a freebie! Labels to go with the pens :) Labels say mom, teacher, and "Out of the bunch, I picked the best one" for generic :)

Frames courtesy: The 3AM Teacher

Frames courtesy: Mel Stampz

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Nagging II

So I've loved everyones' nagging suggestions. It seems like teachers have perfected the art of nagging nicely. It's the difference between saying,

"Don't forget to exchange your swim trunks."and "Hunny, I know you've been busy, but have you had a chance to swing by Sam's and exchange your trunks? If not, we can go after work today."
But the second one just takes soooooo long. So it only happens sometimes. I tend to offer a disclaimer. "Hunny, I don't actually think you're going to remember to exchange your swim trunks, and then we'll have to eat the 15.00 I spent, plus whatever billions of dollars it will cost us to buy a pair on the ship, so I'm going to nag you about it daily until you exchange them and I don't care if it makes you mad."**
**actual transcript of conversation with my hunny**
He'll be all right.
Anyway, I just wanted to brief you on the upcoming weeks. Because I'm gonna be out of the loop (yay no phones) I've arranged for some lovely guest bloggers to post on the days that I'm away! I'm so excited because there is such a variety of posts coming up - more varied than one person would do!
Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks to read posts from these great guests:
Heather from Peacocks and Penguins
Tanja from Journey of a Substitute Teacher
Natalie from Teachery Tidbits
Krista from The Second Grade Superkids
Casey from Second Grade Math Maniac
Jackie from Third Grade's a Charm
Simone from Busy as a Honey Bee

Also, don't forget to enter my Scientific Method Posters & Word Wall Giveaway at Teacher's Notebook! Why not? It's free!

Or buy them now at TPT or Teacher's Notebook!

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Nagging.

So I've been running around like a nutjob trying to get a few things squared away for this cruise. I've become a nagger. As in,

"Hun, did you exchange your swim trunks for the right size?"
"Hun, did you find some shoes to wear on the beach?"
"Hun, what else do you need for this trip?"
"Hun, did you get your birth certificate?"
"Hun, ___fill in blank with mundane task that he hasn't done yet______"

I think if I preface it with 'hun', it's not nagging. It's gentle prodding. It's just being nice so he doesn't have to walk naked and barefoot in the hot sand.

I did set up a giveaway, though. Something to last you until I come back :)


Head over to Teacher's Notebook to enter my Scientific Method giveaway.
You can win my scientific method pack of 11 posters & 11 word wall words for your classroom!Don't want to gamble today? Just grab them at TPT or Teacher's Notebook.

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That's a good question: The Scientific Method

So I've been in a sciency mood lately. I guess it makes sense. I've spent many days pondering some very sciency questions.

• How much cookie dough can I eat and still fit into my swimsuit?
• Where is my swimsuit?
• Can I afford a new swimsuit?
• Why do I have such a headache?
• Is it because I'm addicted to coffee now?
• Why haven't I made any coffee today?
• How long will it take for my headache to go away once I've had this entire, enormous mug of coffee?
• How many episode Bridezillas can I watch before I become a selfish, hateful bridezilla myself?
• How many more episodes of Bridezillas do I actually want to watch? 
• What else can I watch, now that I've decided to stop watching Bridezillas?

I know some of those questions aren't exactly testable, and some don't include variables (although the cookie dough - swimsuit question includes some variable pound gainage) but I still feel very scientific.

I guess that's why I put together this Scientific Method poster & word wall pack. Cause I'm so sciency.

Aren't these little science guys supercute?

You can get them at TPT!

 

 

 

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What's the Matter? Matter!

Do you like my horribly cheesy joke? Oh well. It doesn't really matter.
MATTER! Get it?!



Hahahahahahaha!
But what does matter is I have spent a week working on this new pack and I'm super excited about using it in the classroom next year. Physical Science always seems so difficult for my kids to understand. I think it's because it's all so abstract - tiny particles they can't see doing things that they don't understand to make states of matter that they don't care about. A lot of factors are playing into this, I guess.
This is also one of our first major science units, and kids are still getting into the swing of being in a new grade level and learning things at a different level, so they have always seemed to have a hard time with it.
To improve their understanding, I try to do as much hands-on stuff as I can to get them to 'see' what's happening. 
I heart foldables, by the way. And it seems that the one I hear the most is the flapbook. They're just so useful. So I want to make this one next year with the kids to represent the different properties of matter and then have them hunt through magazines to find pictures to illustrate them.

I've made this foldable several years in a row to help students organize information about solids, liquids, and gases. We used punched-out circles from a hole punch to represent the molecules. 

One of my favorite investigations to do is the Density Lava Lamps investigation. Students use basic household materials to make a 'lava lamp' that actually demonstrates the property of density. Superfun.

Grab it at TPT or Teacher's Notebook!

And grab my two-page freebie from TPT! Properties of Solids, Liquids, and Gases chart & Sorting Properties of Matter!

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