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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Quiz-Quiz-Trade

I wanted to take a couple minutes tonight and tell you about another structure that I did in my class. I  originally wanted to tell you about this structure last night, but I was so tired I fell asleep at 8:30! Sometimes these school days take a lot out of me. 
OK, so back to the structure that I did with my class. I did an activity called quiz-quiz-trade. You start out by making flash cards with questions that you want your students to practice. You put the question on one side and the answer on the other side. The kids each get a card. They find a partner, and each one answers the question. When they are done answering the questions they trade cards and then raise their hand and find a new partner. Then the whole thing starts over. It's great because the kids can quickly practice the skills that you want them to learn. I did this yesterday to review for a quiz that they were going to take today. 
Here are some pictures of the kids doing the structure.

 Here is what the cards look like. The kids have a question on one side and then the answer on the other side. They look at the answer. 

 Here is the class working hard. 

 Here they are giving a high five to show that they are ready to work as partners. 



What do you do with your class to review concepts?

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Another nomination

I received another nomination for the Liebster award. Thank you so much Ms. H over at Live, Love, Laugh in 2nd Grade.

Here are the 11 questions that she asked:
1.  If you could be any superhero, who would you be and why?
I would want to be Wonder Woman because I think she is cool. 
2.  Who is your favorite music artist?
I really love Point of Grace and Jason Mraz
3.  Name your most memorable student.  Why is he/she memorable. 
My most memorable student was a boy in my second year of teaching. He was such a sweet kid and wanted to always do his best. He had a hard time with school but he always worked so hard. 
4. If you could go back in time, which era would you want to live in?
I would want to live in the 1940's. I love that time period. I love the clothes, hairstyles and music.
5.  Pepsi or Coke?
Coke
6.  What has been your biggest challenge so far?
Taking all of the tests for my credential
7.  What is something you would like to learn to do?
I would love to learn to play the piano. I come from a very musical family and I play the flute, but I never learned the piano. 
8.  Name your guilty pleasure.
I love ice cream
9.  Dogs or cats?
Dogs
10.  What can't you live without?
My family
11.  What is your favorite children's book?
This is more of a young adult series, but I love the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" books. 

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Leibster Award

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving and a restful few days off! My Thanksgiving break is almost over. It has been a very busy few days. I spent the first part of the week in Las Vegas for the LEC (Lutheran Educators Conference). I sure did learn a lot of new things for the classroom and I am excited to share all of that with you. But first, before I do that, I was very surprised today when I found out that Tracy over at Multiage Days nominated me for a Leibster Award. Thank you, Tracy, for the nomination!

The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  It’s to show that new bloggers are appreciated and help spread the word about our little pieces of cyberspace.

Here are the rules:1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.2. Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.3. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.4. Choose 11 other blogs with fewer than 200 followers to nominate and link them in your post.5. You cannot “tag back” the other blog, but leave a comment on this post with the URL of your Liebster post so I can learn more about you & see who you nominate.

Ok here we go! Here are the 11 random things about me.
1. I am an only child and my husband is as well.
2. I have the best family ever. My cousins are like brothers.
3. I have known that I wanted to teach since I was in 4th grade. I come from a long line of teachers. There are about 8 of us.
4. I am married to the most amazing man anyone could ask for. He is my best friend and we love doing things together. 
5. I love to travel, I have been to about 20 different countries.
6. I love to craft - quilting, scrapbooking, any kind of craft, I love them all! 
7. I am a huge Disney fan. I go to the parks a few times a month. It helps that my husband works there. 
8. I walked the 2003 LA marathon. Hardest thing I ever did! I don't think I will ever do a full marathon again, but at least I can say I did it. I have since done a few half marathons. That is more my kind of race. 
9. I love all kinds of gadgets and electronics. I always have to have the new and upcoming things. 
10. I love looking at Pinterest and other great blogs to get ideas for my own classroom.
11. I love stationery and pens. I never can have too many. 

Here are the questions from Tracy. 
1.  What is your favorite comfort food?
My favorite comfort food is a good hamburger and a scoop of ice cream. I love ice cream. 
2.  What is a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?
The song that always makes me happy is Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat's song "Lucky." My husband even created a flashmob at our wedding to sing the song.
3.  What sound do you love?
I love the sound of birds chirping in the morning.
4.  If you could throw any kind of party, what kind would it be and who would it be for?
I love dinner parties because we love all kinds of food. I would have all of my best friends there to enjoy the delicious food.
5. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
I would love to learn to play the piano. I have lots of musicians in my family, but I never learned how to play. 
6.  If you could be any fictional character from a book you read aloud in your classroom, who would you be?
I would want to be Ramona. She seems like she has so much fun in life.
7.  What is one chore that you dislike the most?
I really don't like doing the laundry.
8.  Who do you admire most in your life?
I admire my grand-ma-ma. She is an amazing woman. She helped raise me and each of my cousins. She is loving and caring and she lives each day to the fullest, even at her 92 years of age.
9.  When your school days are over, where do you want to retire?
I want to retire in Maui, Hawaii. It is beautiful there and I always feel so relaxed when I am there.
10. When you have 30 minutes to yourself, what do you like to do?
I love to read a good book. 
11.  What is something that you treasure?
I treasure my marriage. My husband is amazing and he takes such great care of me. 

Blogs I am nominating:

Nominees here are your questions
1. Where is your favorite place to travel?
2. What is your favorite thing to do when you are not in school?
3. What is your favorite blog to follow?
4. What is your favorite thing to do with your class?
5. What is your favorite Christmas song?
6. What is your advice for a new teacher?
7. What is your favorite site to get cute clipart?
8. What is your favorite children's book?
9. What is your favorite grown up book?
10. What is your favorite food treat?
11. What is your best accomplishment?

Remember to link back to me so I can learn more about you. Have fun!










Wednesday, November 14, 2012

FInd Someone Who

   Today I decided to do some review with my third and sixth graders. The English program that we use is pretty difficult, so I wanted to make sure that the kids were practicing all the skills that we had learned. We did an activity called "Find Someone Who." All of the kids did a really great job with it. For this activity, the kids walked around the room and found people who could answer each of the questions. Then they had that person sign their paper. 

Here are some pictures of my third graders having fun with this activity. 




They all had lots of fun and enjoyed walking around the room. 
I also did this same assignment with my sixth graders and they did a great job as well. Here are some pictures of them having fun: 







I think the sixth graders got more into this assignment than the third graders did. It was really fun to watch them get so excited that they knew one of the answers. 
 I am going to include the activity for you to try in your classroom. I even added some fun Thanksgiving clip art to make it a little more festive. 

I also changed my AR bulletin board for my second graders today. Here is a picture of what I created. 


I am really happy with how it came out. Every child in my class has a different point goal based on their reading level. They will get to move the penguin for the different percentages that they complete towards their goal. 
I hope you all have a great rest of your night. It is time for bed for me. 4:30 a.m. comes pretty fast! 

Monday, November 12, 2012

Teaching tips


   I am linking up with Miss Kindergarten with her teacher tip linky party. I have loved reading everyone's great tips.  Here's a great tip for you!
   With my second graders, I use folders for everything that they do for the day. On one side of the folder it says "Finished Work" and on the other side it says "Unfinished Work." I love having the kids put their work in a folder because when I collect them, all of their work is already in number order. If a child forgot to write their name, I know whose paper it is. Also, I don't have to take lots of time to put all of their work in number order.

   Be sure to go over and link up with Miss Kindergarten and take a look at all the other great teacher tips. Enjoy everyone!


Sunday, November 11, 2012

A freebie for you

Here is a fun way to display your classroom rules. I cut them out and laminated them. Then I put them up on the wall for the kids to see. The kids really enjoy the fun colors. I hope you all enjoy them too! Just click on the download button and have fun!








Saturday, November 10, 2012

Rally Coach

   Recently, I had my third graders do a rally coach activity. Rally coach is one of the structures designed by Dr. Spencer Kagan. I love using his materials in class. His structures are easy to tie into any lesson. There is hardly any prep that has to be done.
   This activity worked out to be a great review for our test on sentences. The kids all really enjoyed getting to work together. When I told them what we were doing for the day, all of the kids got so excited! They remembered doing this activity several time last year and were ready to get to work. Below are some pictures of the kids working hard on the activity:





 
The kids all worked really well together. I was so proud of them and all of their hard work!

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