Let's Talk Turkey

I don't know if it's the baby, or the cold weather, or the fact that I'm getting married in 18 days but I am feeling the spirit of the holiday season in a big way this year. I usually have a strict "no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving" policy but I'm finding myself listening to Christmas music in car and singing carols to Baby T at bedtime. I am so excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas and beginning some family traditions. The spirit I'm feeling is pouring over into the classroom as well!

To get our brains warmed up for learning I had the students take out their white boards. I told them they had two minutes to write down as many words as they could think of about Thanksgiving. They were 100% focused on this, you could have heard a pin drop!

Once we were warmed up we dove head first into this week's theme --- TURKEYS. 

Yesterday, we read a turkey mini book, written by Lindsay. It is full of interesting facts! I partnered my students up to read it together. Once they read it they discussed facts they learned. Then they completed a turkey diagram. 

We've also been working hard on becoming fluent readers. Tina found a great pack full of passages for an entire year! [We may or may not have already copied all the passages we will need for this school year.] This week we are working on "Turkey Time." 

I'm always switching up how we practice our fluency. Right now what's working for me is having the kids work independently. Everyone finds a place in the room to whisper read. I set a timer for one minute. Students, as quietly as they can, read the passage. As they read they put an X on words they don't know. After one minute, they circle the last word they read. Then they count up the total number of words they read and graph it. 

I've also done partners for fluency practice. I guess it really just depends on my mood! How do you utilize fluency passages in the classroom???? 

Every year I find that having students write opinion papers is the hardest of the three so we like to start them early in the year. Sometimes I wonder... Are we picking hard topics? I think the topics are cute and age appropriate but maybe they are more difficult that I think? This week we are working on Should We Save The Turkeys? We've modeled and taught how to write opinion paragraphs. We've got a great thinking map, an easy to use organizer, and cute writing paper. Soooo why is the writing not up the par???? Grrr... this is def something we need to keep working on. 

I can't wait for more turkey fun tomorrow!

-Amy-

Animal Print, Landfills, and Turkeys

It's me, Sister 3 again… are you getting sick of me yet!?! I sure hope not!

Well GOOD NEWS… the most adorable nursery bedding came today! It was like Christmas morning when I saw all the boxes on my porch. I tore into them only to fall more in love with the precious patterns. Somebody, I won't name any names… daddy-to-be … thinks I'm nuts. But I don't care.

Now that I have it, it's time to pick out a paint color. I can't wait until our little room looks just like this! 

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The science teacher and I run our Green Team at school. Our club has 32 members… sadly we had to limit it this year because last year we had 70+ and it was just to chaotic. We didn't have the adult help so we decided to cap it at 30. How did we get 32 you ask? I couldn't say no to those 2 little faces who handed me their registration! I'm a sucker. But the 40 in my mailbox…  I said no without hesitation!

Today we took a field trip to the Waste Management Landfill that's about 20 minutes from our school. Before we got there I was praying it didn't smell… and luckily… it didn't! We got an awesome bus tour. The kids were so into it- answering questions, asking questions, and wanting more when she said it was over. Who would have guessed the landfill would be so exciting?!? Next year, we're thinking the recycling plant! 

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The sisters and I have been anxiously waiting for Thanksgiving break. To pass the time we've been working from our Gobble, Gobble unit! One more day, we can do it! 

-Sister 3-

Holiday Fever!!

Hello everyone!!!  It's November....wait....November?!?  Already?!?  I can't believe how fast the last few weeks have gone by.  The three of us have been busy (as I am sure you have been) with prepping for upcoming report cards.  This is such a crazy time!  Way more fun than those, are the upcoming two holidays!  Thanksgiving will be here before we know it....pick up a great unit packed full of activities here that will keep your little turkeys busy this month.  My favorite activity has to be the persuasive writing "Save the Turkeys!". This is a fun way to incorporate common core writing in your classroom....Sister 2 and I were just laughing about the meals we will soon be hearing about.  We love getting our kids to be creative!  Check it out!

And before you can sing "Jingle Bells" the next big holiday will be upon us.  It's one of our favorites, Christmas!!!  The three of us have been enjoying getting some great activities together, old and new, and posting them on TPT for you!  We like to be ahead of the game with our planning.  So if you are like us, you're in luck!!  We are very excited to announce that we uploaded 2 great new items for the holidays.  There are at least 2 weeks worth of activities for the holidays in our gigantic 52 page pack called "Hoppin through the Holidays.". It includes 4 craftivities as well.  You can check it out here.  Secondly, one of our favorite holiday movies is The Polar Express.". We love hosting a Polar Express pajama party in our classrooms every year.....Sister 3 has helped us get very creative with this over the last few years.  If you want to host your own Polar Express pajama party, you can get our activities here.

Looking forward to uploading 3....yes 3 (I told you we REALLY loved the holidays) Christmas literature studies. They are very cute Christmas stories your classes will love as much as ours do.  Look for these to be up in just a few days.  We are putting the finishing touches on! 

Happy report-carding to those of you in our boat! 

~Sister 1