Whole Class Journals - Pinterest Idea!

Today I made some "Whole Class Journals" based on an idea I saw on Pinterest. I thought these would be a great addition to my writing centers. I purchased the notebooks for 17 cents each at Meijer! Then I came up with six journal prompts that students could answer (some multiple times) during the school year.

1 - Book Review
2 - Movie Review
3 - Fun Vacation Spot
4 - If I Had One Wish...
5 - My Pet
6 - My Hobbies

I am going to put these in a bucket along with some stickers. When a student finishes a journal entry, they can choose a sticker to stick on the front of the journal. The students will be able to see which journals are popular and which need to be written in! The students can also read and comment on each other's prompts. I write the first prompt in the journal to model what a good paragraph looks like. I thought that maybe I could raffle these off at the end of the school year or keep them for future classes to read.

Anyway, just a fun, cheap, and easy way to incorporate some more writing into center time!

Tagxedo!

I'm pretty much obsessed with technology and always have been.  I remember being the first family on the block to own a home computer and learned DOS, html programming, etc.  Today technology is a huge part of my life and my classroom.

Today I want to post about Tagxedo - one of the most flexible and eclectic tools you can use in your classroom.  For those of you who have not used Tagxedo before, it is a digital word cloud generator where you can totally customize the look of your word cloud.  When you are finished, the word cloud can be printed out or saved to your computer as a picture file.



Tagxedo is much more then a word cloud generator.  You can use it to analyze speeches, create character profiles, brainstorm, create word walls, and so much more!  Here are some Tagxedo word clouds that I or my students have created.

 

This Tagxedo was used and created as a list of brainstormed words for a writing unit on scary stories.  It helped my ELL and struggling readers become confident choosing words they could spell and benefited by gifted students who could use their large vocabularies to help us brainstorm.

  You can use Tagxedo for biographies so many different ways!  

1 - have students make one before you learn about a person as a pre-assessment.

2 - have students create one after the lesson as an assessment.

3 - brainstorm what they know as a KWL

4 - create a word cloud as part of a project

5 - create word clouds and guess what person in history they are describing

6 - differentiate for your gifted kids by having them rank the events in the person's life (notice "Civil War" is the largest 

7 - the list goes on and on!

Copy and paste the text of a speech or story and create a word cloud.  You are easily able to discuss the theme of a story, something that is usually so hard for my 4th graders.  With a word cloud, they can easily pick out the theme because it is visual.

Need more uses for Tagxedo?

Pets in the Classroom

I wanted to post today about a wonderful opportunity from an organization called "Pets in the Classroom".  This organization works with large pet store chains such as "Pet Smart" and "Petco" to provide grants for teachers to purchase or sustain pets in their classroom.

We have hermit crabs as pets in my classroom, and I was awarded a grant this year that purchased a new tank, food, and two new crabs.  I plan on applying for the grant again to help offset the cost of having pets.  Honestly, the cost of maintaining crabs really isn't that great, but as with any pet, there is initial set up costs.  The grant year re-opens August 1st so make sure you apply early!

The hermit crabs really do add a lot to my classroom - they teach responsibility, coping with death, and the joys of interacting with animals. 

The "Pets in the Classroom" website provides reasons why having a classroom pet is an enriching experience:

•Even kids with no exposure to animals or nature in their home environment can see, feel, touch and make connections to the wide world of animals.
•Observing and caring for an animal instills a sense of responsibility and respect for life.
•A pet brings increased sensitivity and awareness of the feelings and needs of others—both animals and humans.
•Kids learn that all living things need more than just food and water for survival.
•Students will see directly how their behavior and actions affect others.
•Studies show that the presence of animals tends to lessen tension in the classroom.

 

 Darth Crab

The hermit crabs, Darth Crab & Boba Crab (are you really shocked they have names from Star Wars?) come home with me for the summer, and I think my cat enjoys the company.  They don't have the range of their huge cage at school, but spend the summer digging in the sand and climbing up the sides of their cage.  I'm sure they are getting excited to get back into the classroom! :)  

 

Summer To-Do List

Summer days are fleeting and I have barely scratched the surface on my "To Do" list for back to school. This summer I had to take my last two classes for my Masters in Gifted Education program, so my time has been spent writing papers, reflections, reflections of reflections....you get the idea...total creativity killer.  All this "busy work" has really left me little time to do much else, but that all ends FRIDAY! 

So here are some fun things on my "To Do" list...

The "Clutter Free Classroom Blog" has pictures of these adorable seats made out of milk crates.  I want to make a few of these for my classroom library.

The author of the Kinder-Craze blog posted a picture of her Steralite drawer makeover a few months ago...this would really make these look cute in my room!

I also have been wanting to organize my decorative letters using this amazing idea! 


These are only a few things on my to do list - I also have to review a new math textbook, update my website, make back to school tags & etc., create a new student data review sheet....catch up on sleep, try out some new wine, finish a few more quilts, and go fishing...the list goes on and on!

Penny School Supplies!

I love summer break, but there is something about amazing discounts on school supplies that get me excited about being in my classroom! Today was the first day of crazy sales this summer, and I really cashed in at Staples and Office Max! 

I do have to say that shopping at Staples was not a very pleasant experience.  First they had the wrong ad out and you have to go on a scavenger hunt of the entire store to find what you need.  You may or may not know that in the past, teachers wouldn't have to abide by the limit and could by 25 items at a penny.  They changed the rules this year, but the manager at the store I went to did not know at first and told us that the old rules still applied.  They don't.  He was nice enough to give me the glue and crayons had in my basket for a penny.  Then they had a problem at the register and I had to stand and wait for about 10 minutes.  :/

Office Max was much better - they were organized, everything was in one spot, and I actually bought more than what was on my list because I wasn't irritated.  I bought these adorable clipboards with polka dots - I just love them! 

Anyway, next Saturday I'll be scanning the weekly ads for next week's deals! :) 

 

Quilt Therapy

In addition to teaching summer school, taking two grad classes to finish my master's, completing a 3-week internship for my masters, finishing my portfolio to graduate, revamping areas of the 4th grade website, previewing a new math curriculum for next year, and planning out my new classroom, I need an outlet!!!!

That outlet is sewing...

I sew a lot in the summer because it clears my mind and I think because I have a little bit more freedom with staying up late and sleeping in, my creativity takes over.  I like to make several quilts in the summer and then leave binding (which is hand sewn) for the fall and winter...gives me something to do when Sunday = all day football.

Here is my creation I finished today - I just LOVE the colors and I think the quilt just screams summer.  I don't have a back for it yet - sometimes I like to make the front of the quilt and then see what inspires me once it is finished.  

On another note, It has finally cooled off in Chicago...after several days of 100+ degree heat we finally have the smell of rain in the air and a cool evening breeze...maybe inspiration to continue sewing today! 

Would you want to be a student in your classroom?

This article by TeachHub poses the interesting question - what would it like to be a child in your classroom?  For me, this riveting question is a wonderful way to reflect on your practices, teaching style, and classroom climate. 

It's July and that means time to start thinking about setting up my classroom at the end of this month.  I always try to set up my room so it is kid-friendly. At the end of last school year, I did a major "de-junking".  I am switching classrooms and I'm excited to have the new space to organize and decorate.  I have some ideas I have been gathering on Pinterest to revamp my classroom...