September 2013

I have had MANY request for a Rocks and Minerals Interactive Science Notebook and I am happy to announce that it is FINALLY complete!

This is two interactive notebooks in one! I have combined 4.P.2.2 (minerals) and 4.P.2.3 (rocks) and created a variety activities and resources for you.

Included in this Interactive Notebook you will find:
K-W-L chart & EQ's for Minerals {4.P.2.2}
Minerals Vocabulary Flip book (FB)
How do Minerals Form FB
Mineral Properties FB
Moh's Hardness Scale
Mineral Investigation Log
How we use mineral FB
Classifying Minerals Independent Practice (IP)
Mineral Written Response Questions
Mineral Review Task Cards
K-W-L & EQ's for Rocks {4.P.2.3}
Rocks Vocabulary FB
Three types of rocks FB
Rock Cycle
Rock Collection Classification Activity
S'more Rock Activity
Rock Cycle IP
Rocks Written Response Questions
Rocks & Minerals Vocab Review sheet
Rocks & Minerals Quiz
AND answer keys!

To enter my Pin It To Win It contest simply pin any of the above images and leave the URL in a comment below. I will use a random.org to choose a winner. Good Luck!

*Contest will end Friday Oct. 4th

Anonymous

Anonymous 8:24:00 AM 8 comments

Is anyone else struggling with finding balance between, life, school, kids, housework, gym time, soccer practice, cooking, and everything else we have to do? With the boys in soccer for the first time this fall I am REALLY struggling with keeping up with EVERYTHING, especially blogging.

I thought I would at least share with you what I have been up to rather than blogging....keeping up with these boys at the soccer field :)

Maxton starting off the quarter :)

Xavier blocking the other team, look at that face of determination!

And how we keep up with the baby while his brother's play :)

Onto my FAVORITE fall stories for Collaboration Cuties Mentor Text Linky!

I discovered Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper back in my college days. I can not remember which class I took that I had to use the story in but once I read it I absolutely fell in love with it. I read it every fall to my kids. My first year teaching the teachers acted out the story for the school while another teacher read it aloud. It is a wonderful book!

Pumpkin Soup is about three friends who make Pumpkin Soup the same way every time, until one day Duck decides he wants to stir rather than put in just enough salt. The change causes the three friends to have a dispute and work together to overcome their disagreement. It is a great story for teaching theme (friendship) and there are some great mentor sentences as well! The illustrations are also beautiful fall images.

After I read Pumpkin Soup I always follow it up with reading Delicious, A Pumpkin Soup Story. In this story the three friends run out of pumpkin and try to make fish soup, mushroom soup, and other soups, but just aren't satisfied with the results. Again, this is a great story for teaching theme and problem solving skills.

Each book provides you with the recipe for the soups created by the three friends in the book.

Anonymous

Anonymous 11:15:00 PM 7 comments

It's been a WEEK since I have blogged! The past week was a busy week for us, every time I turned around we had somewhere to be (soccer, church, meetings, etc.). Thursday was my middle guy's 5th birthday so we had a great day celebrating his day along with playing with his new fart gun! {Yep, regretting that purchase.}

I failed to take an updated picture of our "Seuss-perb Data" board yesterday so this will have to do for now.

To keep my students motivated to meet their Accelerated Reader and Accelerated Math Goals I have them set a class goal. This is the first year I am implementing this and the first week I started it as well. :) My students AR goals are set based on their STAR reading test and they aren't given the opportunity to give any input. They do not have ACC Math goals, but are encouraged to do well on their assignments.

To set our class goals I let the class know how many points they currently had, current class comprehension, and current ACC math objectives mastered. They then shouted out some numbers to represent their weekly goal. We discussed the importance of setting goals that are achievable, but not too easy at the same time. We set our goals on Wednesday and they had already eared 75 AR points, 85% AR comprehension, and 181 ACC Math objectives mastered. They decided to set their goals at 90 AR points, 85% comprehension, and 190 ACC Math objectives mastered. They then set a goal for the number of students who completed all of their homework for the week, they set the goal of 18 students.

Once we set our goals, Thursday and Friday more students were taking AR test and more where completing their ACC Math assignments. I did not tell the students what they would receive if they met their class goals, I wanted them to work extra hard this week :) Yesterday, at the end of the day I announced that they had 105 AR points, 84% comprehension, 219 ACC Math objectives mastered, and exactly 18 students who completed all of their homework for the week! They met 3/4 of their goals and exceeded two of their goals! I was so proud of them!

I informed them we would set new goals on Monday for the week and they had the weekend to think about setting those goals. They were super excited to learn that they each earned $3 for our classroom economy for reaching 3/4 of their goals.

I promise to post an updated picture Monday...Tuesday the latest :)

Anonymous

Anonymous 10:04:00 AM 5 comments

Can you believe it...6 post in 7 days! I think I am finding my back to school routine :) Today I am linking up with Joanne over at Head Over Heels for Teaching. Over the summer I shared how I use a Classroom Economy to motivate my students to complete homework, do well in class, and to work hard. Today I wanted to share with you how it has been working this year.

My kids love being paid at the beginning of the month, earning money for completed homework, and for behaving well. They do not like paying desk rent, fines for changing their color, or not getting paid when everyone else is for completing their homework. Their favorite part of our class economy is our Class Store. Every Friday students can purchase items from our class store using their class checkbooks.

I post the large check on the board with a price list of items from the store. Students write their checks and are not allowed to shop until their check is completed, this is a time saver management piece. Otherwise they would take forever!

Students can purchase tickets or passes for a variety of items. This week Computer Free Time was popular.

During the week I use a class list to keep track of student deposits and withdraws. The first column shows the amount of money they have at the beginning of the week. As they earn money or pay fines I simply write + or - and the amount. I then calculate their final amount and check it with their check register in their checkbooks, I only do this on Fridays. I have some students who are saving up, not sure for what, and then some who spend every dollar they earn.

To read my original Classroom Economy Post go HERE :)

Anonymous

Anonymous 9:33:00 PM 8 comments

Happy Friday the 13th! My family celebrates today as a family holiday...why? My maiden name means bad luck and we have found a way to celebrate it on the unluckiest day of the month. We all send each other "Happy Holiday" messages every Friday the 13th on Facebook :) We tend to have good luck on these days and embrace our name.

Can you believe I am posing Five for Friday on a Friday!?! See Friday the 13th IS a good day for me :)

1. Tonight I had an AMAZING experience at our women's ministry event! I was to bring a sweet and didn't have time to make something from scratch...you know busy mom, soccer practice, and teaching. So I used my friend's quick tip...."Homemade" PB Brownie Bites. They LOOK homemade but they are store bought! First, pick up some mini brownies from the bakery, next melt some PB in the microwave use to frost the brownies, and finally sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. DELICIOUS!

2. Wednesday I shared about my students working on a Meaningful Math Task created by my district. Monday the kids explored with clocks and protractors to determine the answer. After a week of learning more about angles they answered the question in their notebooks. I LOVE when they "get it"!

3. We started making inferences from informational text this week and used one of my BBB Amelia's {Where the Wild Things Learn} task cards from her Reading Informational Text Pack {HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS!} I had an "AH HA" moment and cut the question worksheet into task cards and clued them to the back of the task card! I then used them during my small group instruction. These were great and my students did really well on them!

4. My BBB Jivey has done it again...created another INCREDIBLE product! This time she has created an Interactive Language Notebook to go along with her Mentor Sentences! Just when you couldn't imagine anything better than her Mentor Text Units, she creates an interactive notebook to go with each sentence. This week we worked on adjectives as our focus from our mentor sentence, and my students completed Jivey's adjective pie from her new product. The kids love this activity! I then had them write sentences using the adjectives. Notice this student LOVES to use the word "really" as an adjective. :) *Jivey has this on sale right now :)

5. I LOVE POST-IT NOTE TABS!!! Just had to put that out there :) I gave each student a post-it note tab to use in each of their notebooks. They simply open right up to the tab to find the next blank page, I use it to find the page they worked on in order to grade their work. Best part....they aren't too sticky and just sticky enough!

Bonus: This is my "baby" (18 mo) acting like a big boy this morning. He climbed up into his brother's chair at our kitchen bar and ate his pop tart. Love him <3

If you have a blog with less than 200 followers don't forget to link up with my Budding Blog post.

Anonymous

Anonymous 11:49:00 AM 12 comments

I haven't hosted a Budding Blog since MAY! Today I am showcasing one of my SUPER STAR coworkers, Stender. She just started her blog, as in the bud just formed, four days ago :) Stender is a 5th grade teacher and an EXCELLENT Science teacher. You can tell by her blog title she is a procrastinator, which why it has taken her so long to jump into the world of blogging. I hope you will check out her blog and become a follower.

Here is a short introduction to Stender at Procrastinating Preceptor of Precocious Pupils along with some pictures of her classroom:

1. I have been a blog stalker for over a year and always admired the teachers/moms I have been reading about. I also wanted a place I could share as well so...

2. My favorite subjects to teach are science and math. I love teaching math because there is such an ah-ha moment for students, especially when they struggle with math. I love science because I am a HUGE GEEK and science is cool!

3. I am a down and dirty type of teacher. I love hands-on inquiry based or discovery type learning.  I challenge and frustrate my students and celebrate with them when they DO finally "get it" because they earned the learning I didn't give it to them.

4. Three interesting facts about me. I am an Army BRAT. I have in my entire life only spent one day not affiliated with the army. I was born into it, served in it, married in it, and finally retired in it! I wouldn't change a single day. I love to run. I am a former Air Traffic Controller, it's how I met my husband. He's a pilot.

5. I do not have TPT store yet but that is in my near future. Keep reading to find out when!

I have spent enough there though.

Now your turn to join the Budding Blog linky! If your blog has less than 200 followers please link up and show case yourself :)

In your post please answer the following questions, include the image above and link back to I {Heart} Recess:

1. Why did you start blogging?

2. What is your favorite subject to teach and why?

3. Describe your teaching style.

4. Give three interesting facts about you.

5. Do you have a TpT store? If yes, post the link :)

I look forward to "meeting" all the Budding Bloggers!

Anonymous

Anonymous 5:32:00 PM 4 comments

Last week I shared how my kiddos were doing with our Power Reading Workshop...they are still doing AWESOME! Today I wanted to share with you how we are getting started with Math Workshop. Last week the kids worked in stations after whole group instruction reviewing multiplication, I wanted to provide them some easier tasks so they could focus on my expectations rather than the content.

This week we focused on a more hands on approach during our guided practice, which took a bit longer than planned. We haven't made it to Math Stations this week but hoping to get there tomorrow and Friday as they are comprehending the focus standards more and more throughout the week.

I wanted to share that we don't always get to what we have planned and that is OKAY! As teachers our focus is making sure our students are mastering skills not completing our "to do list". If my students aren't successful with the skills then they will struggle in math stations.

I am excited for some of the hands on activities we have been working with, and wanted to share a few pictures with you. Our district has us starting with Geometry...which I really dislike, but we have to follow the rules. We have been provided Meaningful Math task by our district curriculum specialist which are to help drive our instruction. This week's task was the following:

"The minute hand on this clock moved 90 degrees clockwise, how much time elapsed? If the minute hand move 180 degrees clockwise, how much time elapsed?" They then showed a picture of a clock with the time shown.

I didn't front load my kids, just discussed what clockwise meant, and them provided them with a small Judy clock. Several pulled out their notebooks and protractors and started exploring. The hardest part for the kids was not getting an answer from me. Each day as we learn more and more throughout the week the we reference this task. On Friday they will be given the opportunity to answer the task again, and then THEY will share the answer.

Anonymous

Anonymous 12:51:00 PM 5 comments

This summer I worked on several Interactive Science Notebooks and have received great feedback on them. Many of you have requested more! This is my first year implementing Science Interactive Notebooks and have decided to do so to make my lessons more hands on. I have to be honest, teaching Science isn't my favorite and often difficult to find time in the day to do a quality lesson.

This week we started our magnets unit and the kids and I are really enjoying it! On the first day I had my students completed the K-W-L chart and we watched a Brain Pop video. On day two we focused on our vocabulary for the unit. One thing I LOVE about the interactive notebooks are that if I only have 10-20 minutes for a lesson I can complete the lessons with the interactive pages of the notebook. Yesterday we explored with magnets and my students wrote down their observations. They LOVED this activity!

I found these for $1 at Michael's, aren't they great for this uint!?!

I love using Interactive Notebooks in Science and so do my students. They are getting pretty quick with cutting and glueing their pieces so we can start exploring with our science topic. Managing Interactive Notebooks has also been quite simple for me. I grade the students for each page completed in their notebooks, this really helps with ensuring they have a good number of grades represented for their Science grade.

I just finished up my newest Interactive Notebook for Physical Properties of Matter {CCS 4.P.2.1}! I am really excited for this unit because of the variety of activities/foldables and Science Probes. This unit also includes Find-Someone-Who and a Matters Quiz. For today only ALL of my Interactive Science Notebooks are 20% off!