Writing Prompt Wordles

The next few weeks in our class are all about WRITING! J  I’ve been doing some focus lessons to help my kiddos realize how fun it is to write, and how many choices there are to write about.  We always have those few students who continually get stumped when it comes to a writing topic.  Here’s an idea for helping kids get past the “I don’t know what to write” hump!

Before we ever sat down to free write this year, I put my students in pairs.  I gave them the task of coming up with as many possible writing topics as they could think of.  From dragons to sharks to birthday parties, what would they really like to write about if they had the CHOICE?  They worked with their partners for about 10 minutes and generated amazing lists of things that they could write about.

Next, we gathered as a group and each pair shared their best writing topics.  As they did, I started typing their ideas into a Wordle (www.wordle.net).  This free site quickly and easily generates a word cloud of any text you choose.  After an extensive list from the kids and a click of a button, their writing topic Wordle appeared on the Smartboard with lots of “ooohs” and “aaaaaahs.”  They were hooked!

 We talked about how this list could help us through the year to generate writing ideas, and how we can always add more to it.  I’d like to even revisit this activity and have the students make the writing topic Wordles and glue them on the front of their writing journals.   This might even make a nice basket of class writing notebooks, all with different wordle topic lists on the cover?  Lots of possibilities, and boy was this fun!

The result has been 23 very eager writers!  All week I’ve heard students say things liike “Can I write in my journal when I’m done?” or  “I’m not done with my story—can I keep working on that tomorrow?”  Best of all, I know that the next time I hear a child say “I don’t know what to write,” all I need to do is point to our Wordle!

Math scavenger hunt!

I just LOVE the FALL! J  It’s my favorite season hands-down.  I realize that Labor Day is tomorrow and that technically it’s still summer, but fall is on the way!

My daughter (a high school senior) was chatting with me about a fun scavenger hunt that they did in her math class.  Basically, there were problems posted around the room, and the students had to answer a question and then find that correct answer on top of another question card in the room.  The moment I heard that, light bulbs started going off and I thought about how FUN it would be to do this with my 3^rd graders!  I love being able to get kids up and moving as they learn, and am always looking for new and unique math activiites.  Meanwhile, I came across some ADORABLE fall clip art, and my “FALL in love with MATH scavenger hunt” came to be!  I can’t wait to try this with my class this week!  Here's a look at the question cards.  

Basically, the answer in bold at the top of the card is the correct answer to a different question in the hunt.  This allows the students to check for accuracy as they complete the activity and also lets kids start with any question card and still complete all 10 questions in sequence.  This set includes 10 question cards that focus on number sense, math reasoning, and addition and subtraction with and without regrouping.  

I’ve modified the scavenger hunt for younger students with fall pictures so that students can easily match the question card picture to the same picture on their recording sheet.  J  I also have my students get into the regular habit of showing their work so I added a “workspace” on the student recording sheet too.  

There’s an answer key as well, making this all set for use!   If you’d like to “FALL in love with MATH” with your class, click HERE!

Parent communication made simple!

School has started, and thus the reason for not blogging in the last few day! L  Hope that all of you teachers have had a great start to the year!  I have 23 new kiddos in my class, and am already enjoying them so much.

Last week I had a BREAKTHROUGH in getting parent contact information, and just had to share.  I tried something new for Meet the Teacher this year, and was thrilled with how smoothly it went!

It started with a simple Google form.   These are relatively easy to put together, and make it a snap to gather parent emails, contact information, transportation and such.  After putting together my Google form, I added it to my class website.  This is easy to do, and allows new parents to add information later if needed.   Next,  I bookmarked our website on each of our 3 classroom computers.  When parents came in for Meet the Teacher Night, I directed each of them to kindly fill out their contact information at this computer station.  They did, and I now have a quick, accurate (yay!) record of all of my students and their families.  It took all of 3 minutes per family, and the parents loved it.  Cut and paste into my distribution list--check! :)

One more new touch—using the Remind 101 website to stay in touch with families.  It’s free and it’s a lifesaver!  Parents simply text a given number with an access code (provided by Remind 101).  Once that simple step is complete, they can receive quick text updates from me—with just a simple message and “click” on my end.  I’ve already been able to send out a quick blurb to “remember gym shoes” to the class quickly and easily.

Ongoing communication with parents and families is so important.  Thank you technology for making this part so much easier!

Ten Things About Me FREEBIE

Pretty soon, 23 new students will be walking through my classroom door!  On the first day of school, I love doing a simple get-to-know you activity with the kids.  This "Top 10 Things About Me!" is a great welcome tool to put on the students' desks as they start their first day.  Teachers can even fill one out and share with the class too!  Enjoy this freebie by clicking here. J

Behavior Chart FREEBIE

Classroom management is such a huge part of teaching.  Red, green and yellow card systems… point system….token jars…. They’re all great strategies and work really well for most children.

But there’s usually at least one child that needs just a little bit more.  Some kids need more behavior feedback, more coaching, and more positives through the day to do their best.  I had a first grader a few years ago that used this Smiley Chart with great results.  It’s easy to use—simply track the number of prompts needed during a time frame and record the corresponding smiley face from the bottom key.  This is great for self-monitoring too, as students can discuss with you how they did or even track their behavior as well.   Parents like the feedback, and this can go home in the take-home folder each day.  

Hope that you find it helpful—or maybe you won’t even have any students with behavior needs this school year? J   Maybe…   Click HERE for this freebie and enjoy!