Sister 2 left for Florida last night and Sister 1 leaves Sunday. I'm not saying I'm jealous, but I'm pretty darn jealous! They will be livin' it up with Micky and Minnie. While I'm chugging along on my homework and enjoying the 30-40 degree Michigan sunshine.
Tonight however, we will be hosting game night. I picked up a few new games, I've got ravioli bake ready for the oven, and a fruity drink to enjoy.
Our economics unit is short and sweet. It lasts about 2 weeks, we are finishing it up tomorrow with a unit test. [Just in time for spring break!] The topics we cover are wants, needs, goods, services, business, resources, opportunity cost and specialization.
Definitions are a big part of this unit. We really want the students to know what the economics vocabulary means and be able to give examples. So each student made an Economics Term Mat.
We also do a bunch of Smart Board sorting activities to reinforce the concepts.
Opportunity cost can be a hard topic to grasp. We wanted to find a way to make it a little bit easier. Grab an opportunity cost freebie here! These cards are a fun way for students to practice.
Those things are all fine and dandy but by far our FAVORITE lesson for this unit is on specialization. We start by visiting the Hershey's website. Here students can see how chocolate is made and learn a little bit about how the company started. For our hands on portion we recreate the Hershey Kiss assembly line.
We divide our kiddos into groups of three. We give each person a job, that they have to "specialize" in. The first person in the group's job is to cut the tin foil to size.
The second job is to put the [unwrapped] Kiss in the middle of the piece of foil.
Finally, the third job is to wrap it.
Once we discuss what we learned, we enjoy this little clip [and our chocolate]...
Of course the majority of the students have never heard of I Love Lucy, but they still enjoy the humor of it!
3 more days!! I don't know about you but the three of us can't can't wait!! Are you looking for a little holiday fun to keep your kiddos entertained when all they can think of is the Easter bunny?? Us too!
We came up with a few Easter fun activities that we are going to staple into a pack for some end of the week fun....you can get our Easter fun freebie here!
Sister 1 and I have been loving Oprah and Deepak's 21 Day Meditation Challenge! I usually do it before bed and I have to tell you... I've been sleeping like a rock. It really helps to clear my mind and calm my body down. This spring, we are going to be joining a yoga class. What do you do to unwind after a long day?
A week or so ago we finished up our Map Skills unit. Our culminating project was a treasure map. The kids had to create map that included a map key, compass, scale, and complete directions to the hidden treasure. Take a peek at how wonderful they turned out!
Our rooms have been busy, busy trying to finish up all our started projects before spring break. We've been working hard on geometry, fractions, and map reading in math and social studies.
One of our favorite math and writing projects is Shape Monsters. We found these adorable little creations on Amy Lemon's blog a while back. We have our students first make their monsters then write about the shapes they used to make them. And just for fun they make up a little narrative about their monster! This is super simple to whip up.
Our TpT store holds our own Shape Unit: Shapin' Up With Shapes! The topics covered in this unit are plane shapes, solid shapes, plane and solid shape attributes, and symmetry.
Our pack includes 2 and 3D shape posters... Here's a sample.
This pack also includes numerous worksheets on recognizing shapes, distinguishing between shapes based on their attributes, sorts, a shape hunt, and a craftivity.
Here is a sneak peak of one of the worksheets.
To see a preview of all this product has to offer visit our TpT store!
It is special to me because my grandma gave me this chair. We call it "Grandma's Chair." She comes to read my class a story every year and to explain the meaning behind the chair. When we have a special visitor or guest reader they are always invited to sit in it. It's something personal that holds a lot of meaning to me. I can't imagine school-life without my grandma's chair.
Do you have a special place or item in your classroom?
Wow Words... Need I say more? lol, but seriously, aren't you sick of your kids using happy, sad, good, bad? We told our classes it was time to SPICE it up! We taught them how to use a thesaurus to find interesting words. Then we split them up into groups of 2-3 to work on a Wow Word poster. They had to find the dull word in the thesaurus and then add all the Wow words around it. We reference these posters all the time and I must say... their writing is a lot more interesting to read!
We found these adorable Contraction Caterpillars on some one's blog. We just can't remember where! If it was your blog leave us a message so we can give you credit. We did a ton of contraction Smart Board games with our kids to really drive home the concept. At the end of the week we were ready for a craftivity! I'll let you in on a little secret... all you need to do is copy circles on a variety of different color construction paper and the kids do the rest!
Don't you just love that mustache!?! They are so creative ;)
I don't know about all of you, but we are "blog stalkers." Last winter we found an awesome inferencing activity from Babbling Abby and just HAD to have it! It's called the Snowy Day Case Files.
I'm not going to lie, it takes forever to prep but it's totally worth it! Our classes loved it.
You start out by explaining inferencing. Babbling Abby included a variety of short paragraphs and the kids had to make inferences about each one... She even included a "cheat sheet" for the teacher.
We started prepping the case files a few days before we actually wanted to use them because it is quite involved with the items it calls for. There are 4 different files so you have to spilt the class into 4 detective groups.
Here's one of them...
Then the real fun begins. The groups have to work together to try and figure out what everything means. They each have a data sheet to record their inferences. Once each group has enough time to discuss and record, everyone comes back together to report out.
All the groups share what was in their file and explain the inferences they made. We then tried to put all the pieces together to figure out what Tim and Grandma did on the snowy day! Once we had all the activities narrowed down we talked about what order they might have done them in and made a timeline.
(Sorry it's shaky)
I know we are getting away from snowy days but it's a great activity to keep in mind for next year! We highly recommend it.
Well we made it through conference week! It was a few very long days but everything went well for all three of us and now we are onto our last trimester of school!! Let me tell you my class has SPRING fever!! Ok...so do I!! I am over the snow and cold weather! I am ready to be done wearing my Ugg boots and move on to flip flops or at least no socks! This week marks the first day of spring....at least by the calendar! The forecast doesn't look very "springy" with thirty degree temps! :( But we decided a great way to kick off our first week of spring and get us into the spirit would be to work on spring writing! This week we planned to have our students write an opinion piece on which season is better and a narrative story entitled "The Year I Was the Easter Bunny." Next week we will be writing another narrative piece for April Fool's Day and then after spring break it will be an Informative piece on Plants!
Hello all! It's Sister 1 and I have been away from the blogging world for awhile! I wish I could say I was out having crazy adventures that kept me too busy but....well I have mostly just been trying to dig out from the pile of things that keep stacking up!
It is SO funny that Sister 3 just blogged below about the Bachelor because that is exactly what is on my TV and my mind right now! I decided to take a night to myself tonight to enjoy my guilty pleasures....a little chocolate and some reality TV....enter "The Bachelor Finale." Who did you want him to pick? I was surprised Sister 3 didn't weigh in. I like them both well enough but watching Lindsay get her heart broken, made me so sad....and I don't even know the girl! I am watching Catherine now and getting ready to watch "After the Final Rose." Let me just say....I loved Desiree and Sarah....those would've been my pick but I never pick the right one! And btw...I did cheat and read some spoilers long ago so I knew Catherine was it! I know I am so bad....I can't help myself!
Also as Sister 3 mentioned....this is Parent-Teacher Conference week. I love this week....ok before you all think I am completely crazy....I don't love the hours because it is exhausting but it is so great talking to all of the parents and sharing how far their children have come! How do you get organized? Does it take you as many hours as it does me to feel really ready? And yes I STILL get butterflies before after 13 years!!! We have so many great things going on in our classrooms this year, I can't wait to share it!
I promise not to stay away as long next time....I am sure you missed me! ;) Hope you all had a great start to your week! Wish us luck....
The Monday after springing forward is tough. I hit a wall around 3 and gave in and took a nap around 6. Now I'm ready for the 3 hour Bachelor final episode! So I guess the big question of the night is ... Catherine or Lindsay?
Reading month is in full swing at our school! Last week we had a concert kick off. The Detroit Police Officer's band, The Blue Pigs, preformed for our school. The students and staff had a ball!
We've even welcomed a few "Mystery Readers" already! We have our "Mystery Readers" send 5 clues about themselves. The kids then guess who it might be. It's great to have parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, uncles, and aunts stop by for some reading fun. You can find the letter in all of our ReadingMonthpacks. It's a huge hit.
This week we have our spring conferences. It's always a stressful time for the sisters and I. We have to have everything just perfect. I saw this "Hey Girl" and couldn't resist!
Last night, my boyfriend and I were watching TV. An AT&T commerical comes on and he says... "This is what I imagine you do all day." "Yes babe, that's exactly what I do ALL day. NOT!" Sometimes, however, I wish this is what our jobs entailed!
The sisters and I have been working hard to get our March units together. Sister 2 created that adorable March Madness unit. The boys [and girls] will be all about it!
We also have a St. Patrick's Day mini-unit. There are enough activities in this pack to last the entire day! I just love themed days, especially for holidays. This pack includes lessons on reading, writing, math, and social studies!
St. Patrick’s Day Traditions Reading St. Patrick’s Day Traditions Question& and Answer Green is the Color to Be: Person Hunt “What Would You Do If You Found A Pot of Gold?” Writing Prompt Lucky Charms Graphing Addition and Subtraction Story Problems Addition and Subtraction Facts Word Search Synonym Match up: Cards and Worksheet Antonym Match UP: Cards and Worksheet Eye Spy Coins: Money Scavenger Hunt “How to Catch a Leprechaun” Craftivity
