Wordless Wednesday: Root Beer Float {Yummy}

Hello, Friends!

I hope you all have had a GREAT day.  Today, I'm linking up with Miss DeCarbo from Sugar and Spice for her Wordless Wednesday linky.

We've been learning all about solids, liquids, and gases. To put it all together, we made a root beer float and wrote about what's really found inside a root beer float.  So much fun!

So, any other fun ideas you have for teaching matter? 

Lots of love,

Jeannie

Must Read Monday {Cindy Ellen}

Hello, Friends!

I hope that you all have had a GREAT Monday.  Today, I am linking up with the sweet Amanda from Teaching Maddeness for her Must Read Monday linky.

Last week, we started our fairy tale genre.  One of our standards is to compare and contrast different versions of stories like Cinderella stories.  Our favorite book to read was Cindy Ellen: A Wild Western Cinderella story.  I LOVE this story because I get to pull out my strong Southern accent.  I was born and raised in South Carolina and have a pretty strong accent.  With this book, I get to let it shine.  

They love the story and love that it takes place in the South.  They even stopped me to say that they knew what the words mean in the story.  By words they mean like 'gettin' hitched' and 'yonder'.  LOVE it!  You better believe that we were experts on comparing and contrasting different Cinderella stories lasts week.  They are always amazed at how many versions there are.  

What's your favorite version of Cinderella?  Leave me a comment below.  I'd love to see which books I need to check out.

Lots of love,
Jeannie

Drama (the Good Kind) in the Classroom

Hello, Friends!

Today, I am sharing another bright idea and joining some fabulous bloggers in the Bright Ideas Blog Hop. 

Today I want to quickly share how I integrate drama into my classroom.  Even though we use Reader's Theaters and sing all sorts of songs to help us learn, acting through tableaus is one of our favorite ways to learn. 

During my first year of teaching,  I was introduced to a word called 'tableau'. During one of our faculty meetings, we had to work together and decide how we wanted to act out a word we were given. Then we decided how to show our word thr
ough a pose. We had to become statues of our word.  I immediately went and implemented this into my room. I've been having my students create tableaus for 5 years.  Every year, they love it. 

When students create a tableau (hello higher order thinking) they have to first decide how they want their statue to look (hello Speaking and Listening Standards). Then they get to act it out. I also have my students create individual tableaus as well. I give them time to think and then we start creating. 

My students absolutely love creating their  tableaus. I love how quick and easy it is to scan the room and immediately see who understands and who needs a little more assistance.

So, here's how it looks in my room.  And...ACTION! 

Here we were creating landforms. 

In the picture above and below, my students individually created goods and services.  I spy a computer, a dog walker, hairdresser, and a taxi driver. ;-) I walked around the room and when I tapped each person on their shoulder, they had to let me know what good or service they had created. 

If you enjoyed this bright idea, please consider joining me on Facebook or Instagram for more great ideas.

For more bright ideas from 150 different bloggers, please browse through the link-up 
below and choose a topic/grade level that interests you. Thanks for visiting! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Lots of love,
Jeannie

How I Manage Math Centers

Happy Saturday, Friends!

Today, I wanted to share how I teach math in my classroom. I've read different blogs, attended different workshops, and read more blogs until I was able to put the pieces together on how I wanted to teach math.

This year I finally found a routine that has worked for me. Math Centers are a wonderful way for students to learn and review math concepts while being engaged. However, I felt like I needed more than 50 minutes. I just couldn't get everything done that I wanted to in only 50 minutes. I decided to separate math throughout the day. 

From 9:20 to 9:50, I teach my math mini lesson. This has given me PLENTY of time to introduce and review concepts before breaking off into centers later in the day. My mini lessons look different depending on the day and concept. Here's what we did this week to learn about 2D and 3D shapes.

We studied shapes and their attributes using geoboards. Then, my students wrote down their findings in their little 2D and 3D Shape Booklets. If you are interested in this little booklet click here.  It's a little FREEBIE. 

We did this all while jamming to some geometry music. They LOVED listening to these songs and singing along.

I pick up with my math centers from 12:10 to 1:00. My centers last 15 minutes each and my students travel to 3 centers a day. I have this adorable little PowerPoint to help them rotate.

I have 6 centers up and running every day in my classroom.

I am a center. Students work with me every other day. This is the best way to differentiate. This week, we played Guess My Shape which comes from my Geometry packet. I differentiated by having by higher students dig deeper with the questions they had to ask. They absolutely LOVED this. 

Teachers have to have a little fun, too. Right?!?!

My other centers include a computer center, a review center, interactive math journals, and 2 centers to reinforce what I've been teaching in my mini lessons. Sometimes I use centers that I have made and sometimes I use centers that I have found from other lovely bloggers on Teachers Pay Teachers.  This week, they came from my Springing Into Math Centers packet. 

Here's what they looked like this week:

Computer Center: I always use IXL. My students LOVE it and I can go back and see how they are doing. 

Review Center: We were working on money. We spiral this skill all the time. Money is such a hard concept for little learners. 

Math Journals: Two words. Reagan Tunstall. Go look her up now if you don't know her. Love her stuff!

Geometry Themed Centers: I found a geoboard app. AMAZING! I gave them little cards telling them what shape(s) to make. The other center was a true or are shape sort. They said this was EASY. 

6 centers. Students Learning. Students Engaged. 

Happy Teacher

Thanks for stopping by!

Lots of love,

Jeannie

Must Read Linky-Tall Tales Anyone?

Hello, Friends!

Today I am linking up with the talented Amanda Madden from Teaching Maddeness for her Must-Read Monday linky.  Yes, I'm linking up on a Tuesday. Don't judge... ;-)

For the last three weeks, my students have been diving in to tall tales.  They have LOVED learning all about these wild and crazy characters.  Today, I want to share a few of my favorites with you.

My favorite tall tale that you HAVE to read to your class is the amazing Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett. First, I love the illustrations in Stephen Kellogg's books.  Such an amazing author and my kids love his version of the tall tales.  Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett is the wife of Davy Crockett.  When she was a baby, she could "out-talk, out-grin, out-scream, out-swim, and out-fun any baby in Kentucky".  As she grew up, she lived in the wilderness, cuddled with grizzlies, and finally saved her future husband. My students and I just love to read about her.  She has some amazing adventures.

Thunder Rose is an ADORABLE tall tale.  The author of this book, Jerdine Nolen, wanted to create a tall tale set in the Old West and create an African American character who would become the heroine of the story.  Let me tell you that my students LOVED reading about Miss Rose.  Rose was born just a talking and told her parents that she was mighty partial to the name Rose and since it was thundering outside her name came to be Thunder Rose.  She drinks milk straight from the cow, builds buildings tall enough to scrape the sky, and created barb wire.  She can even calm storms just by singing up song.  Like I said, we LOVE reading all about Thunder Rose.

Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson and Nancy Carpenter is the cutest little tall tale.  It is about how a brave pioneer father brings apples, peaches, pears, plums, grapes, and children across the plains.  This story explains the process of traveling west.  The daddy in the story is mighty partial to his fruits and when a big rush of wind comes he makes everyone help to cover his little darlings.  This means their petticoats, trousers, and even daddy's drawers.  My students LAUGH and LAUGH at this page. One of our favorite parts is when the little girl fights Jack Frost.  We love this story!  Super cute and has such a a great meaning.

I love teaching tall tales!  Any other tall tales my students and I should check out?

I hope you are having a GREAT week so far. Tomorrow is HUMP DAY! (Did you read that like the camel in the commercials?)    ;-)

Lots of love,

Jeannie

Bright Ideas Blog Hop: Classroom Motivators

Hello, Friends!

I am so excited to be part of this amazing blog hop. No advertisements, no products, just bright ideas. Get your notebooks out as you learn some tips and tricks from over 180 fabulous bloggers!

I wanted to share today a way that I keep students quiet in the hallway. Two words: Mystery Walkers.

First, sorry for the look of the container. We've used this sense August and the adorable paper I had surrounding the container finally broke. Still works regardless of how it looks. 

All you need is a container with a lid, I used a Crystal Light container, and Popsicle sticks. 

Here's how it looks in my classroom.

My line leader for the week gets to pick who the mystery walkers are every time we leave the classroom. If they are quiet and showing correct hallway behavior, my line leader awards them with a treasure token. (Our school gives out Treasure Tokens for following expectations)

I don't have my students decorate their own sticks because the people chosen has to be a secret. ;-) Just blank sticks with their names on it.

This works every time. Such a simple motivator to keep them quiet in the hallway. :-) Easy, peasy and the kids LOVE it.  

Lastly, the sweet Blair from One Lesson at a Time has an AWESOME idea to help you collect homework.  Click below to for another bright idea.

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

Lots of love,
Jeannie

Long Time No Blog

Hello, Friends!

I can't believe March is already here. February flew by and I didn't blog at all. Sorry! It was quite a busy month. 

Here's a few things you missed.

It snowed AGAIN! I have lived in the South my whole life and have never experienced this much snow. Ready for Spring!

We were out for Valentine's Day due to the snow so I spent Valentine's day stuck in the house with my munchkin'. My husband brought home pizza, so at least I didn't have to cook. ;-)

Here are the Valentine treats I made my class and Brayden's daycare class. The minions were a huge hit. 

Brayden's teachers got a mug with some hot chocolate. 

At school, the only thing I snapped pictures of  was practicing for our tall tale puppet shows (thanks to Teaching Maddenness for the great idea). They turned out so cute and my kids loved it. Definitely made teaching fables more fun. ;-)

Yesterday, my class took the reading portion of the MAP test. One of my precious students wrote notes to me and her classmates to do their best of the test. Love her!! Such a sweet thing for her to do. 

Finally, check back tomorrow for another great blog hop! 

Lots of love,

Jeannie