Spring Literacy Centers and Freebie!

Hello darlings!  I hope your week has started out splendidly!  After having two snow days last week, I was so used to staying up late and sleeping in.  Boy, did that catch up with me Monday morning!  I thought I was dying.  (I LOVE my sleep!)

As promised, I worked my bum off on those two lovely days and knocked out six super fun literacy centers!  Kiddos really enjoy reviewing concepts while playing games.  I bet you didn't know that, right?  =)

These babies are Common Core aligned and just waiting for your little geniuses... and your laminator!  I store my playing cards in sandwich bags and place these, along with the direction sheet and recording sheets, in a gallon zipped locked bag.  I label a hanging file folder with the theme so I can find it easily next year.

Click the pic to grab these Splendid Springtime Literacy Centers!

Two lucky followers will get a set of these centers for FREE! 

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And now for the FREEBIE!

Have a FANTASTIC week!

Seuss Time

It is time to celebrate Dr. Seuss! I alway incorporate word families into my lessons when celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday. I know that is a no-brainer! We read his books and discuss the rhymes that flow throughout the pages.  I made this fun short a word family book that I am going to have my students make. I am going to do a page a day and at the end of the week, my students will cut out the hats and staple together to make a book. Are you celebrating Dr. Seuss this week?

Thanks for stopping by!

-Shelley

Prefix Game Freebie and TWO Snow days!

Hello darlings!  I feel like I have been MIA.  Sorry about that.  I have been neglecting blogging and have been making a bunch of activities instead...

How is the weather where you are?  I am in O'Fallon, Missouri about an hour West of St. Louis.  We had a big (for us anyway) snowstorm yesterday and so school was canceled.  The roads were so bad that school was canceled today as well.  I think we got about 6 inches of snow here.  Finally enough to make a snowman!  Sorry I don't have a pic of my snowman, but I do have a video of my dog going out into it.  For all my friends who never get snow, here is a little clip for you!

This is my pup, Cullen (black one) and my mom's dog Roxie, who I was pet sitting.  It is not the best quality video and yes, Cullen does use the restroom... but you can see how hard the snow was falling and how deep it was.

I wanted to give you a center activity that you could use with your kiddos next week.  We are doing prefixes in spelling, so this center activity is all about the prefixes -un and -dis.  I hope your kiddos love it! Click the pic to download.  Graphics are copyright: DJinkers.

Have a great weekend!

Measure the Presidents "Projectivity" Freebie

Hello darlings!  I have been MIA because I have been running our school Science Fair and Art and Science Explosion.  It was a blast, but SUPER exhausting! So..I'm back and ready to share!

My kiddos are learning how to convert Customary Length, so I wanted to create a fun project/activity (Projectivity) for them so they could really gain a deep understanding. (AND I wanted to use a performance event to integrate COMMON CORE!)  I will admit, this was a little tough for some of my third graders, but I pulled small groups for kiddos who just needed an extra boost.

1. They must convert the height of the Presidents from inches to feet and inches. 

2. They have to put the Presidents in order from tallest to shortest (greater than less than).

3. They have to measure out the height of Abe Lincoln with sentence strips and then measure themselves against it. 

4. They must compare their height with Abe Lincoln's.

I hope the pictures and the Projectivity sheets speak for themselves.

Enjoy my friends!  Happy Valentine's Day!

The Tooth Fairy

Last week, we learned about teeth. I had to carry it over into this week because we didn't get everything finished. Does that ever happen to you? I feel like there is never enough time! I have really great writers this year and we have been working on adding more detail in our writing. So, after reading a story about the tooth fairy, I had my students write about the tooth fairy. They could write about what she/he looks like, what he/she does with the teeth or any thoughts they had about the tooth fairy. I had them take them home and I forgot to take more pictures of them. I only have one to post, but it is a great one! Check this out!

"The tooth fairy lives in the sky. And the tooth fairy puts the teeth to live in the clouds.

It was great to see the cute ideas my kiddos wrote for what the tooth fairy does with the teeth:) Click below for the writing template!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Shelley

Writing Predictable Books

The project my class has been working on for the past week is one I thought would be a disaster. I have wanted to make predictable books with my class for a while now. Honestly, I thought it was going to be one of those week long writing lessons that would make me pull my hair out! Have you ever planned a lesson that you thought would end up bad? Maybe I'm crazy for trying it, but I'm so glad I did. We began by reading samples of predictable books that we have already read in class. Then, we made a list of sentence starters that students could choose from. Next, we wrote and illustrated a page a day. I think doing one page a day was why it went so smoothly. Once students picked a sentence, each day I reminded him or her that they must begin their sentence with the same words. Here are two examples. I wish I could show them all because I am so proud of my little cuties!

I love Brody's last page, "Spiderman is cool." He wanted to throw his readers off by changing the last page:)

Have you tried writing predictable books in your classroom? 

Thanks for stopping by!!!

-Shelley

Super Bowl Sale..get your Mouse Hand Ready!

Okay everybody...get your mouse hand ready and warmed up!  You are going to be doing a lot of clicking!  Teachers Pay Teachers is having a sale and if you enter promo code: SUPER at check out, you will get 28% off!  WOWZA!  I think I am stocking up!  In fact I am going to go load my shopping cart now, so tomorrow all I have to do is press CHECKOUT!

Here are a few things to browse while you are warming up that wrist!

Have a great day!