Lenape Display

It's so interesting to watch 3rd graders create something using their own research and materials. Their creativity really shined through when they were given the assignment to create a Lenape Village based on the information they researched. Let me back track...

This is what they had to do:
1. Each student was assigned one of these four topics to research (using books and pre-determined websites)
                  --food
                  --personal appearance
                  --tools/weapons
                  --shelter/transportation

Once they filled out their graphic organizer, we did a jigsaw activity; every student was now part of a new group. Their new group consisted of one child from each topic. With their new group, a rubric, a pizza box and a bunch of materials, they had to plan how they were going to create a Lenape Village model. Each child was an "expert' in one area, so he/she was in charge of that aspect of their project. To finish their model, they added labels and captions (to tie in NF text features) and  presented their village to parents, staff, and the entire student body at my school, in a carousel-type way.

It was a huge success!

3rd graders sharing their project

Example Lenape Village

Example Lenape Village

Blog, Blogging, Blogged

A few weeks ago, I introduced blogging to my students. It had been my goal to start something like this, so I was excited to get it going! I showed them the basics, talked about a blog's purpose, gave them my expectations, and they were on their way. I still can't get over how quickly they picked up on this skill!

I wanted my kids to blog for several reasons.
1. To reflect on topics learned in school
2. To practice typing using correct conventions
3. To apply writing craft learned during Writer's Workshop
4. To have a global audience
5. To use technology in a meaningful and authentic way.

They loved it the second they tried it. They were authors and could write a journal entry for the world to see. Wow!

I am so proud of my little authors. Please follow us if you are interested! You can even leave a comment, as we will be discussing them.

http://206news3.blogspot.com/

Collaboration

       I could write about so many teaching topics that deal with collaboration. Having a student teacher and being in an inclusion classroom means that I collaborate constantly. And, it's beautiful. It's great. No one knows everything, so when more than one person is involved with a lesson or idea, amazing things can come out of it.
      Here is one example of how collaboration creates great outcomes: Last week, the special education teacher, student teacher and myself came up with a math lesson involving vocabulary word riddles. The students chose a math word that we have gone over in class, and with scaffolding, created a 5 line riddle about the word. Then, they had to demonstrate their understanding of the word by creating a real life picture. Finally, they took a digital picture. This is an example of what the finished product looks like.

Here are clues about this student's math word.

Here is this student's picture and word.

Here is the bulletin board we created.

 Observing the students figure out how to demonstrate understanding of their word was fascinating. I loved watching their thinking and creativity. This is what you might have seen if you stopped into room 206 on Friday.

 

Regurgitate

You are probably wondering why I would ever title a blog post "regurgitate." You might be wondering why I am thinking about throwing up, because, after all, throw up is not a typical or amusing topic of conversation...unless you are a third grader.

This past week, my kids learned about Barn Owls and how they swallow their prey whole and regurgitate the material (bones, teeth, fur) that they can't digest. It comes up in the form of a pellet. Cool, huh? Come on, just consider the coolness of this for one minute.

My kids worked in pairs and dissected an owl pellet to discover: a: what animal their Barn Owl ate (rodent, bird, shrew...) and b: to identify bones. They compared the bones in their pellet to human bones. Next week, they will compare them to chicken bones.

I swear...the grosser the experiment, the more 3rd graders like it! I mean, I don't blame them, really. I think I have just as much fun with this dissection as they do! Take a look at some of my kids in action. (Also, the other adult you see in these pictures is Jackie, my amazing and wonderful student teacher.)

Finally, you might be curious how I have my kids learn the main bones in the human body. See, it's very simple...through music. Be careful, though. If you click on this link, you might be singing the bone rap all day!

In case you were wondering...the pellets were sanitized prior to being delivered to the schools!

Back to School Team Building

I sometimes can't believe how much planning goes into the first week of school. Because I believe that building the classroom community must happen before getting heavily into the curriculum, planning for this past week was quite time consuming! Some of the activities I did to build community stemmed from an inservice we had, where Dave Burton presented. In a nutshell, Dave Burton believes in affective education and presented us with many ice-breakers and team-building activities, many of which we, as teachers, did!

One activity dealt with building a bridge. My team had to have the exact same bridge as the other team. To do this, we had to communicate verbally, without ever showing our structure. I decided that this was a great lesson to do (with some modifications) with my own kids to teach the importance of teamwork and communication.

Here, the kids are working together to create a structure that resembles the other team's building,

Here, the kids are communicating with one another in hopes to build the same structures.

This was such an incredible moment! The groups realized that when they finally revealed their structures, they were so similar. They discussed how they thought that their communication and teamwork was great!

 As a closure to this activity, we discussed how lessons learned in this building activity can be related to our school day. The kids were able to make the connection that without good teamwork and communication, work will not get done as well.

It was a great first week. I feel lucky to be working as a 3rd grade teacher at Mattison Avenue ES.

To be an Excellent Teacher...

To be an excellent teacher, you must:

--Be willing to learn from your colleagues, your students, and YOURSELF.
--Be flexible. Lesson plans frequently need to be modified, meetings will need to be changed, and collaboration must happen.
-- Stay current with instructional strategies and technology integration methods. After all, if you don't, you are doing a disservice to the students.
--Be a team player. Noone knows it all.
--Communicate effectively with parents, students, and colleagues.
--Have passion for teaching, your subject area, and children.
--And, without a doubt...have a LIFE. Do things for yourself...enjoy time with loved ones.

I know that there are many more thoughts to add to this. I could probably go on forever!

Any thoughts? Please leave a comment ;)

That time...

It's getting to be that time...back-to-school sales, class lists formed, classrooms waiting to be organized... In other words...it's August. For teachers, August is a time to squeeze out that last bit of summer fun while spending time preparing for the upcoming year. By now, most teachers feel refreshed, but are still anxious about giving up their summer freedom. Before we know it, we will be buried in every day school duties. With that being said... I think I'm almost ready to get back into the daily grind.

Through my web-surfing, I came across this wonderful website by eThemes. It has a multitude of resources from grade 1-12. I tagged many of them on my delicious account for later viewing.

Happy August...I definitely will squeeze out the last bit of summer. ;)

Don't Stop, Keep Reading!

A couple of months ago, I posted a video of a middle school singing "Gotta Keep Reading." Well, I was inspired by how wonderful it was to have a group of students singing about reading and learning, so my grade level partner and I decided to have the kids re-write the words to Journey's song, "Don't Stop Believing." Although this video is a practice and they are not holding their fancy glittered microphones, they were still amazing. So, with not much more to say...here is MA's 3rd grade (minus 2) singing "Don't Stop, Keep Reading."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJb8BQhtdbo

Homographs at its Best!

After picking my kids up from ENCORE last week, they settled into their seats for independent reading time. During a brief moment with my desk, I was greeted by a rock and post-it labeled "you rock."













The next day, this rock and note appeared.

Homographs at its best!

Later, I discovered that one of my creative and funny boys placed these rocks on my desk. How cute.

They don't miss a beat!

There are a couple of things that I have learned about teaching over the last five years. First, most of what you learn about teaching doesn't come from college classes...it comes from on the job experience. Second, a teacher's work is NEVER done. Third, a teacher plays many roles each day. And finally, and quite possibly the most important, the kids will never forget the silly mistakes you make.

Case in point: During Writer's Workshop, we are working on our essay unit created by Lucy Calkins. (I'll get to her in a minute). As I was modeling how to develop ideas, I wrote my name on the board and had the kids come up with three things about me that they could write about. Here is what they came up with:

1. When a humongous spider crawled out of my bag; I screamed and went running to get someone to kill it.
2. When my computer had a run-in with a semi-open gatorade bottle.
3. When I forgot to put our egg in our contraption for our egg-drop experiment.


Forget reading, writing, science, social studies and math...what my kids will remember about me is that I make mistakes...and that they were pretty funny. In actuality, isn't that what teaching is all about? Something to ponder.

3rd graders don't miss a beat, and that's what I love about them.

Back to Lucy Calkins. I love this woman. She knows everything about reading and writing. I don't have a single child in my class who is a reluctant writer. They all like to write. Maybe that's because of my enthusiasm, but my excitement stems from the fact that "I love Lucy."

I don't have a resource to share that is relevant to this post. However, I have tagged some many awesome sites on my delicious account.

5 weeks left. Pretty unbelievable. Have a good week!

Fossils are Fun!

Last week was my school's science week. We had assemblies everyday and on Friday we had science experiment rotations. My grade level partner and I made silly putty with all of the kids. Wow! The good news was that we mastered this process by the end...which was a good thing because the first rotation was...fun...?!?! :-)

Anyway, my brain is still on science! Here are some resources I have come across recently. First, here is a demonstration on fossil formation. I like this because it uses images, words, and audio. This is especially good for independent/group work.

Here is a cute video/song about paleontologists/fossils. This could definitely be another favorite in my class.

Finally, here is Ricky the Rapping Rock. This is great fluency practice too!

On an unrelated note...when participating in a video-taped egg-drop experiment in front of the entire student body, make sure you remember to put the egg in the contraption before it is dropped.

With that---I'm out. Have a great week!

"Gotta Keep Reading..."

I came across this video on another blog that I follow and thought it was excellent for a couple of reasons. First, it used a popular song (which is, in fact, on my Ipod and helps me work out!) and the lyrics were changed to deal with reading. Second, I can imagine the planning that went into this. The students and faculty had to work together to make this possible. Everyone looked like they were having fun.

It is always a challenge to motivate reluctant readers. I truly believe that involving them in the creation and production of songs/videos could really motivate them. In fact, based on the enthusiasm I have seen in my kids when learning word study songs, I can almost guarantee that the same engagement and enthusiasm will be replicated if we were to learn or create songs about reading! Hmmm...more to come...

Science "Rocks"

Ok, I know my title is totally corny...but it does fit with the theme of this blog post! Last week, I came across a new favorite website dealing with The Rock Cycle. The object of the game is to rescue Taterman, who is lost in the Rock Cycle. To do this, you must answer questions and dodge the villians along the way. It is highly engaging and interactive and my kids LOVED it. It's called "Where in the Rock Cycle is Taterman?" Check it out if you teach about The Rock Cycle...or if you having a burning desire to "step" into the life of a 21st century learner. I can assure you that I did not learn this way when I was in 3rd grade!

Have a great week!

Back to the daily grind...

Well, spring break is over and boy did it fly by! I traveled to California to visit my sister/husband and friend and had a perfect vacation! Luckily, we brought the beautiful weather back to PA.

This week (actually, the next two weeks) we will be administering the PSSA's; always a nerve-racking time of year. However, I am confident that my kids are ready, so enough talk about that.

This week, I am starting the Earth Materials Science Unit. I really love teaching science. Partly because my kids are naturally interested in it, but also because it opens the door to hands-on activitites, simulations and explorations. This week my kids will have to simulate the different rock groups (sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic). I plan to give them a few web resources/videos and books and have then decide how they want to simulate how each rock forms. Constructivism at its best...hopefully it doesn't fail. :-) Here is a video to introduce the topic. I haven't used this one yet, but hopefully my kids will like it!

Happy Spring everyone! The weather is much deserved!

Instead of YouTube...

We all know that I love YouTube. However, because it is not really filtered, I do not encourage my 3rd graders to use YouTube as a resource, without my supervision. Rather, I use it whole group, where I have control of what is being viewed.  Because of this, I am always on the look out for other resources containing kid-friendly educational videos that align with the curriculum.

Here are some of my findings:

Kideos is a database that is more appropriate for primary-aged students. Some videos are just for fun like this one, and others are educational like these. Another awesome database that contains resources is NeoK12. I have used this site many times in my class. Finally, here is a new site that I have been introduced to recently. It's called ZuiTube and it's basically a kids version of YouTube.

Happy watching!

Music Music Music!

I think I was made to be a teacher. I can't imagine any other job that would allow me to sing as much as I do as a teacher. And mind you, I am as close to tone deaf as you can get. It all started when I discovered YouTube-- a long, long time ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Ok, not that long ago, but it really feels like it! Songs and videos that align with almost all concepts I teach are located there! Bill Nye, Tom Leher, and the Electric Company are frequently found playing on my computer. Why? Well, it's simple. It makes learning fun. Who doesn't learn more when they are engaged? Or what about that song you can't stop singing? Music makes learning fun.

Case in point: The "LY" Song. You might catch me whistling this song around my house. My kids like it so much that when I say the word "eager," they break into song... eagerLY, eagerLY, eager...LY!!!  Listen to the song. You will be hooked. I'm not embarassed to admit that I like this stuff. I really do. And most importantly, my students know that "ly" is a suffix that changes an adjective (root/baseword) to an adverb and holds the meaning "being."
 
I love my job.

To be a teacher...

...you must lose your inhibitions. You are probably wondering what I mean. Well, last week at my school, we celebrated Character Day. Character Day honors literary characters from all different genres. Students and staff come to school dressed as, for example, Cinderella, Cam Jansen, and the Cat in the Hat. After much thought, I decided that I was going to dress as Geronimo Stilton, a savvy mouse. Geronimo is very popular with the 3rd graders so I thought it would be perfect. I came to school in a shirt and tie, mouse ears and a tail. Ok, no big deal, right? I felt pretty good. Well, little did I know that I was going to be interviewed by the communications "guru" to be put on WTV for ALL of the district and surrounding districts to view.

I love teaching because in no other profession would it be socially acceptable to be interviewed dressed as a mouse. But here I am, on the television completely decked out in "mouse gear." Another reason to add to my list of why I love being a teacher!

Anyway, here is my resource for the week! It's called Herd a Word. I always explore the online resources before showing them to my students, and this one sucked me in. I couldn't stop playing it. Visit the site...if you like Scrabble and Boggle, you will love this.

Happy almost spring!

Fling the Teacher!

If someone would ask me the most important job of a teacher, I would likely respond "to build students' self confidence and foster mutual respect between the teacher and students." So, why would I title my blog post "Fling the Teacher?"

Well...apparently, games with these types of titles can be quite engaging and funny for 3rd graders. I mean, who wouldn't want to explore a game that had "Fling the Teacher" as its title? It certainly caught my eye! Students can "design" their teacher and then, when given multiple choice questions (dealing with various forms of figurative language), if they get 15 correct, they get to "fling the teacher." Seems silly, right? Just try it. I bet your kids will love it. They will love to fling the teacher. And when your students start talking about the examples they came across while playing, you will know that flinging the teacher was well worth it!

On a different note... the snow day, yesterday, allowed me to sit with my computer and do something I enjoy; web surf. I admit, it really is fun for me. Look at what I came across here. Although some links might be inactive, there are plenty that are not. This site is called Mr. Young's Bouncy "A". Check out my delicious account to view specific activities from this site that I found useful.

Happy Weekend!

Creativity in Non-Fiction

What I like most about teaching third grade is that the kids go from reading for fluency to reading for understanding. The second/third trimester of third grade focuses largely on understanding non-fiction text and gathering and processing research. Right now, my kids are doing a hero project. I am truly impressed with how well they are able to collect research! They are using Kidspiration to take notes on their hero. (From books and pre-determined search engines) With just a little bit of scaffolding, my students really are rising to the challenge.

In keeping with the non-fiction theme, I came across ABCya Word Clouds and thought that this would be an innovative and creative way for my students to express their understanding on their hero, or another non-fiction topic. It's visually appealing and forces them to think about adjectives, verbs, and nouns that describe their subject (person, animal, place...)


Here are my kids' work on a bulletin board!

:-)

While I'm on the subject of Math...

Usually I do not blog in the middle of the week, but due to the copius amounts of snow that is plummeting outside, I decided to take some time to catch up on work and write a blog post.

This Friday, I will be presenting at WSD's best practices inservice on integrating web resources into lessons to make them more engaging. In the session, the participants will also be creating a Delicious Account in order to book mark great sites that they come across. Having a Delicious account has really allowed me to search for sites when I have the time, and gather the sites easily, when I need them.

Anyway, here is one site I came across a bit ago and was a huge hit in my class. It's called 3DStarmattica and the students "travel" to various places around the world to find hidden polyhedrons. My kids love this because not only are they learning polyhedrons' features, they are learning geography. Cross-curricular learning is powerful because it allows the students to make connections.

Happy Snow Day everyone!

Music and Multiplication

It's not too much fun memorizing multiplication facts! Flash cards work for some, but not all. So, I was on a search for fun ways for my students to learn their multiplication facts! I came across this video on square numbers. What a great find! I have used this video as an activator to several math lessons. The kids come to the carpet with a whiteboard and marker. The first two times I showed this video, I asked them to write down words or phrases that helped them understand the meaning of a square number. The following two times, they wrote down square number equations that they saw on the video.

Music WORKS! I hear my kids singing the song throughout the day, which means they are learning their facts. Here is a picture of my students in action!

Prefix Fun

It is definitely true that the more fun kids have while learning, the more they will actually learn the material! We are currently working with prefixes and I came across one of the most exciting games for my students. What I like about it is that it challenges many of my students and because we play this game frequently, the prefixes and base/root words are becoming very familiar to my kids. The game is called Race to Ramses and it is great fun! We play on the Smartboard where the students work together to beat the game, and they also play on their own, on the computers.

Another great find that has really become popular in my class is the Prefix, Suffix, Roots Rap from educationalrap.com. This website gives you clips of each song, but requires you to pay if you want the full song. Luckily, the Prefix, Suffix, Roots Rap is on teachertube (after the short commercial), so we are able to listen to it for free.

The Fun Theory

Who doesn't like to have fun? I came across this website and immediately became intrigued because of its direct correlation to teaching. Kids learn more effectively when lessons and activities are engaging and...fun!

Take a minute and watch how people choose having fun over doing what is easy!
Piano Stairs: The Fun Theory

Math Standards and Technology

On my search for engaging math activities, I came across this site. What is so great about it is that it is categorized by each math standard/strand(K-2 and 3-5) Here is an example of one activity that is found under the Geometry strand that would be a great activator. Others are great for centers or guided instructions like this one. I plan to use some of these activities during math workshop time on Friday, where 2 people at a time will be at the Smartboard.

I found many other sites and bookmarked them on Delicious.

Happy New Year!