Roll a Monster and Flashlight Fun!

Havin' a 1 day sale!!

Pop over to my TPT shop for some treats:)  (Thank you Krista for the adorbs banner)
 

I have a fun (late) activity to share with you:)  (sorry, I just can't seem to get my act together this year..lol)  This is another fun activity we learned about at a writing training.  A few posts ago I talked about our descriptive writing.  Well, this is another activity and I put my own little spin on it.

We started with this.  I put it up on my ELMO and gave everybody dice.  I covered each column so they didn't get ahead of me or themselves.  They rolled and drew, then I uncovered the next column and so on until they were done with their monster.  I don't have a copy of this on my computer but if you want to do it, you could maybe do a screen shot and save it?????  It may already be out there in Pinterest land......

 

The monsters turned out super cute....they looked like friendly monsters:)

This time instead of writing a little card with the monster description on it, I turned it into a writing prompt and had them write about the monster under their bed:)  The stories turned out really cute and they need practice with narratives so we killed a few birds with one stone:)

This one cracks me up.....Delilah!!!!  What a monster name:)  Love the creativity of some of my kiddos:)

 

The other thing I wanted to share was the FAB idea I got from Head Over Heels for Teaching.  Joanne blogged a few weeks ago (link here) about Flashlight Friday and it got my attention.  Well, I'm glad it did.  I ran right out and got a class set of little flashlights for my kids from the Dollar Tree.

So last Friday was our first Flashlight Friday......I put a sign on the door that morning that said "Are you ready for Flashlight Friday?"  That got their attention.....then during our Read to Self time I handed out the little flashlights......laid down the law.....you know, no shining in eyes, no horsing around.....they all grabbed a reading spot and I shut off the lights and they turned on the flashlights.

Is that cool or what?  Little lights everywhere and it was AS QUIET AS A MOUSE.....NO LIE!!!!  They didn't make a peep!  It was the neatest:)  Can't wait to do it again this Friday!  Thanks Joanne for sharing this wonderful idea:))

 

 

 



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Shopping, Words, and Fun Stuff

Hello!

 

I'm popping in to catch ya'll up on my week.  I will say that so far this quarter has been way better than last quarter:)  Yeah, happy me!  Things still haven't slowed down though and I feel terrible that I don't get to blog (or read blogs) nearly as much as I would like to.......

 

So here's what I have been up to lately.....teacher and non-teacher related...lol!  My puke of pics:)

 

First of all, I got to do a little retail therapy this week:)  I've lost 30 pounds so far and my clothes don't fit:)  That's a good thing, right? ;)  So I bought so new fun stuff and purged my closet!

Purging my closet felt really good:)

I applied for and received 2 different grants and was able to add some great technology to my classroom:)  So excited about these!  The kids have been loving using them.  My kiddos still aren't as fluent in multiplication facts as they should be so they have been doing lots of math on them.  I'm looking for any great phonics apps for my ELL students....if ya know of any, or ANY super apps, please leave them in the comments:)

We are still working on growing our vocabulary and words that spice up our writing.  This week we did a little mini lesson using word continuums.  They worked in small groups to put this little pile of words in order from quietest to loudest.

Each group had a few that were in a little different order and it was neat to hear them "validate" why they put them in the order they did.  There's really no wrong answer.....just getting them to think about the words they use and finding words that are even better:)

This little angel brought the teacher an apple!  Well, she painted a pumpkin like an apple and gave it to me:)

Had my first Starbucks since I started my diet/new eating routine....

Skinny, decaf pumpkin spice latte........umm........HEAVEN!!!!

Finally, I was supposed to go see Tay today and then plans fell through at the last minute....bummed out momma but I stayed busy and made these adorable multiplication and division flashcards from Molly at Lessons with Laughter!  They are sooooo cute and I found these adorable bags at Target (thanks Molly) to put them in for math workshop with my kiddos next week.

 

There's a look into my crazy week:)  Hope you had a great week!  Have a blessed weekend!

 

 

 

 

 



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Spiders!!! A Summary and some Facts

Happy Sunday all!  I have had quite the lazy weekend.....football, housework, nap, more football, another nap.....just chilling with my fam!  My baby (6'3" senior) had homecoming this weekend:)  Happy and sad momma at the same time......they grow up way to fast!

 

Ok....just wanted to share a quick project we did last week in our classroom.

 

We have been diving into as much informational text as we can.  That seems to be where most of my kids struggle and I really think it's most kids in general.....just my opinion:)

Anywho, we have National Geo. for our Science text and they came with awesome leveled readers.

 



We have also been working on summaries and key details.  My kiddos struggle with the summary thing too:/  So for one of their Daily 5 rotations (it took a couple of days) they made these Spider Paper bag pockets.  I did something similar last year when they did a little project on Native Americans. 

 

I just love using paper lunch bags for projects.

We folded them and then made a "cover" for the outside.  Along with a picture, they had to have a name on the cover and it couldn't be the same as the book. 

After reading the assigned pages, they had to come up with a summary.  That goes on the inside (after you open the folded over flap.)

Finally they had to find 5 facts about spiders and make a card for each one with an illustration.  Those 5 cards go in the open end of the lunch bag:)

The kids really enjoyed doing this and the spiders fit in great with this time of year:) 

 

Have you ever made lunch bag projects?  Would love to hear your ideas:)

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Monster Fun - Descriptive Writing

Hey, hey everyone!

 

I have a super fun activity to share today.  It is not mine.  This idea came from my sweet teammate Linda!  She is awesome and full of fun ideas!  (she was also my son's teacher when he was in 4th grade so I have a special place in my heart for her:)

 

Anyway......4th graders in Florida have to take a writing test.  We work and work all year to prepare our kiddos.  If you read my last post you'll know that most of my kids can give me the "bones" of the paper but it's lacking "meat".....those descriptive details that really amp up their paper and make it come alive!!!

 

Since we are getting close to Halloween, we decided to pull in some monster fun!  Hopefully I can explain this so it all makes sense because it is just too fun to do!

 

Here we go:

First give the kids each a blank piece of paper and read them this story.  Make sure you have the book hidden in a folder so they can't see it.  You only read to the middle (to the part where the monster's whole face is made.)  Give them time to color as you go.  When you are done and they have had time to finish show them the cover and have them hold up their pics. 

 

This is a great time to talk about details and description, or lack of....

 

Now the super fun starts....give each kiddo 2 white pieces of paper and a notecard.  Everyone draws and colors their own monster.  Once they are done, they need to write the description of the monster they drew on the notecard.  Then they trade notecards with another student (who wasn't sitting close to them to see their monster).  That student draws a monster using the description only. 

 

This was spread out over a couple of days.  Today was the best!  One at a time a student would come up, read the description on the card that they were given and then the person who wrote the description joined them and on 3 they each revealed their monsters!!!

 

1, 2, 3...

You should have heard the ooohs and awwwws coming from the kids and ME!

I was blown away by how good and close these kids got it by description on a card only!

Of course they learned the better the description, the more the drawings matched:)

Here are a few up close with their description cards

Crazy fun!!!!!

Hope this is something you can use to help drive home that message of descriptive writing with a little fun thrown in:)

Here's the link to get the book at Amazon if you're interested:)

 

I also got some better pics taken of my interactive Sharpen Your Writing board:)

Have a happy Thursday all.....Friday is just around the corner:)

 



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Monday Made It - October

Happy Monday Made It everyone!

 

Today I have one classroom made it and 2 home made its:)

 

My classroom made it I am so excited about.  I have been working on this for a couple of weeks.....what I'm not excited about are all the poopy pics I took:(  I seriously need some Iphone Photo taking lessons from the Fab Farley....hint, hint......I stink!!!  So sorry about these pics....I will try to take some better ones today and change these out.

 

Anyway, 4th graders in Florida have to take a state writing test.  Most of my kiddos this year are pretty good at the basics....what I call the "bones" of their stories.  That's it....bones.....no meat:/

 

That is something most of them seriously need to work on.  I went to a great writing training a few weeks ago and was inspired to create this interactive bulletin board set. (it's 20% off until midnight tonight:)



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Sharpen Your Writing

Included in this set are 9 overused/boring words that my kiddos have beat to death....so for each of those, there are 12 fab substitutes:)  There are also 12 sensory words for each of the 5 senses to help make writing more descriptive.

AND 12 transitional phrases and 12 onomatopoeias:)  (plus some blank pencils to add your own words) 

I can't wait to introduce this to my kiddos today!!!

My game plan is for them to use this AFTER their first draft....when they can reread and circle the boring words and then try to find substitutes.

So that's my biggie for my classroom:)

My other 2 made its were for me:)  (I may or may not have posted the planter pics already.....my Instragram life and blog tend to blur together at times:/

 A couple of weeks ago, I decided to plant some Fall planters in hopes that the Fall weather would follow down to sunny Florida:)

I love my garden and spending time outside (and don't do it enough because I get caught up with the busy disease:/) 

 

My last made it is a necklace I made with supplies from my fave Hobby Lobby.  My sister sent me a pic of a cross necklace and I LOVED it but didn't love the $72 price tag......so I went to Hob Lob and found parts and made my own for less than $10!!!  Gotta love that:)

I used to design jewelry.....a long time ago.  Forgot how much I enjoyed it....need to start taking a little more time for me:)

So there ya have it:)  Can't wait to see what ya'll have been up to:)  I am in need of some new ideas:)

Don't forget to leave some love on the blogs you visit:) 

Don't forget to link up on Instagram too!!! #mondaymadeit

 

 

 

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