Five for Friday

I planned to blog this week. I am admiring how others are managing to post and create products at the end of the school year. Amanda just posted these great motivation bracelets. Joanne, Molly, the ladies over at Pinkadots, and Jessica all have great linkys going on that I wanted to join in, but I am just in survival mode!

I have about 5 boxes that I keep up on a high shelf shelf. My students have been curious about the contents all year. With all the end of the year fun, it was time to pull them down today.



We have three big events planned within the last 12 days of school.We are currently questioning our sanity for not spreading things out!

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Next week is our Fourth Annual Hawks Helping Haiti event. The first couple of years we put on a play and auctioned off quilts to raise money for the Red Cross. In two years we raised about $3,000.

Last year they had a special guest come in while I was on maternity leave. This woman works with children in Haiti. She told our students that what they needed most was underwear.

Last year we put on three plays – one from each class. The admission was a pack of underwear or undershirts. We are doing the same this year.

My class is performing “Bouki Dances the Kokioko: A Comical Tale from Haiti.” The book is out of print, but it is one of my favorites! I wrote a script from the book a few years back.

Usually I have each group design their own set/backdrop. This is the queen size sheet that my students from last year designed and painted.

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We are also making a Haiku Deck slide show for the event called “Hope for Haiti.” I love this app!



I am also loving the case from the iPevo Wishpool. Both are worth checking out if you are not familiar with them!

 

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Our school does not have field day, so about 5 years ago we created our own Third Grade Olympics. We tie dye shirts, split the kids into mixed teams across classes, organize events, and have a BBQ lunch. It is a lot of fun, but it is a lot of work!

We are in the process of tweaking the even list. We do everything from sprints and long jump to kick the shoe and shave the balloon. Anyone have a favorite field day event for us?

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Thank you to everyone who posted kind words about my new position next year.

I will be using Chrome Books with my kids. Does anyone have experience using Chrome books or Google Apps in the classroom? I’m looking for ideas!

I got the okay this week to set up the room as a STEAM lab. I have a vision of what I want to do and I am extremely excited about it all!

Now to get through the rest of this school year first…

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Enjoy your weekend!

Five for Friday

Friday, again?

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My new case

My IPEVO Wishpool wish came today. I am in love with my new iPad case. Seriously. I love it. I was carrying it around with me for most of the day. One of my friends was teasing me about it. She joked that it even matched my shirt. Expect photos soon.

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Fractions

This week was all about fractions! I bought more fraction clip art than I care to admit this week. Bring on the fraction activities!



I’ve just posted this pack. We’ve broken up our fraction unit into two parts. This pack covers the fraction identification piece. Number lines are big in third grade and with common core, so I’ve included that as well.

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More fractions!

At the FCTM conference last October I went to every fraction session I could find! One of the activities I saw was fractions on an open number line.

I bought all this great fraction clip art, so I made these fraction outfits to practice on the line.
I’ll be adding this to my store once I create a few worksheets for my class…and to finish the pack.

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Shhh! Don’t tell anyone!

I have a secret. 

I’m not a big fan of the Dr. with a birthday this week. It isn’t that I don’t like his books. I just don’t feel the need to spend an excessive amount of time on in them.

I know. You can start throwing stones now!

I vaguely remember being so excited about my first copy of Hop on Pop. Then I remember asking my mom what the whole thing was actually about. At seven I was concerned about a lack of plot.

I was a bit of an odd child that way!

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Cold!

The Irishman is still getting over his cold, but this cold has to do with the weather! We are getting the longest, coldest weather of the year this week. I can’t wait! Florida cold is nothing to most of you, but I’ll take it!

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Have a great weekend!

Five for Friday

For a short week, it sure felt like a long one! It always seems to work that way though!

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Boosterthon

 

Today was the big day! After a week of cheers and pledges, today was our Fun Run. I used some of my new clip art from Creative Clips to make our class sign.

My class held the sign as they walked together around the track towards the end, so it is a little beat up! 

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Fonts

 

The font on the sign is one I created myself. I have to tweak it a little, but I almost have it ready to post. St. Patrick’s Day is a BIG deal in my family, so I had to have a font to match!
I have come across a few things written in my Sully Lovely Class List Font. I even got an e-mail from someone who said they used it all month. That made my day! I’m still starting out and improving, but it makes me feel good knowing people are using what I created!
Check back soon for Sully Lucky!

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Wishpool

 

Last week I read a blog post about IPEVO Wishpool. The teacher in the post had just received an iPad keyboard/case and a telescoping stylus. My own stylus recently met an untimely death. I have never heard of a telescoping stylus, but I love the idea of being able to reach across the table to share an iPad in a small group.

I’ll let you know how it works. My wish was granted this week and my items shipped today. I'm super excited!

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Donors Choose – Worms

 

Another blog I read last week was about a Donors Choose project a teacher had funded. I got to thinking about it and decided to apply myself.

I was awarded a grant from the local chamber of commerce about five years ago to purchase this:



I had a successful vermicomposting project going on for a while. Then I went on maternity leave. My class survived my absence, but the worms did not.



The PTO replaced my worms and all was good. Then I had baby number two. Again the class was fine, but the worms did not make it. I have no intention of going on leave anytime soon, and I have an empty worm bin that is just taking up room.

Thanks to Donors Choose, there are about 4 pounds of red worms on their way to refill my Can-O-Worms. My class is SO excited about the project. They are already planning the healthy snacks they will bring so that they can feed the”trash” to the worms. Success!

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Sharing Germs

 

I got a call from the nurse at the kids’ day care last Friday that my oldest was sick. After four days with a fever and cough we got her to the doctor and on the mend. Of course if you have kids you know that means it is onto the next one! My husband was home sick on Thursday. After two days of migraines, I’m now fighting this cold, but not successfully. At this point I can only hope the little guy doesn’t catch our germs.

My sister-in-law in in town from across the pond. We have not been the best of hosts. I’m hoping she doesn’t get sick! She did bring over some Karvol Capsules. I love these things! They are like aromatherapy oils that you put on a cloth near the head of the bed. I can’t find them anywhere in the states – or anything like them. I usually use them sparingly when the kids are really sick, but now that our stash has been replenished I am using one just for me.

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Enjoy your weekend!