Calling All 3rd, 4th and 5th Grade Bloggers!

 Lorraine at Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies is having a link-up party for upper elementary blogs! Click on the button above to check out all the neat 3-5th grade blogs there are out there...

I'll bet you will find someone new!!!

 

 

Friday's Fabulous Finds (on Pinterest)

Here are five of my favorites for this week. 

 I love to find things that I will use at school or in my everyday life!

Great Visual for teaching yard, feet and inches

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I want to do this next week but I am going to use a real umbrella!

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Love the fraction kites...always looking for fraction ideas!

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How cute is this summer wreath???

Waiting for Old Navy flip flop sale.

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My Lucky Day- Narrative Writing

I started out the lesson reading "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."  we listed all the unlucky things that happened to him during the day.  We talked about how all the things were realistic.  (I have a few friends who get carried away with their exaggeration)

The children brainstormed ideas in their journals about having a "Lucky Day" and all the really good things that could happen in one day.  We broke it down into morning, noon and night.

I had my children use:
a 4-square graphic organizer
six trait writing checklist

We spent several days writing, revising and editing.  They published their stories.  They added a LUCK sign complete with a real lucky penny!(glued over shamrock)  This is a perfect prompt for March.

      

Our MCAS long comp is March 20th.  Finally...we can move on to a new type of writing!!!!

I feel so LUCKY!!!!

Hallwarts School of Writing

We are getting ready for the" MCAS Long Composition" in a couple of weeks.  We have had two practice days as a grade level and over the next two weeks I am reviewing the six traits of writing and empowering writers. (plus many months of writing practice) I don't want to burn out my students so I was inspired by something fun that I saw on Writing Fix http://writingfix.com/traits.htm.  I tweaked her lesson!  We are going to spend the week at "The Hallwarts School of Writing." 

Click on the image:

First, I reviewed the 6 traits of writing by creating anchor charts with my students and using the posters from http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/writing/sixtrait/menu.htm.  I did one trait a day and had the kids do that step in the writing process.

I used the Fourth Grade MCAS prompt from last Year.  Write about a special memory of a teacher, a funny memory, something your teacher taught you, a field trip or a time that your teacher made you feel proud.

Day 1- Ideas (Brainstorming)

Day 2- Organization (organization)

Day 3- Voice and Word Choice (Drafting)

Day 4- Sentence Fluency (revising)

Day 5- Conventions (Editing)

I continued going over these  6 Traits of Writing at the "Hallwarts School of Writing." I put the 6 areas of writing cards into my sorting hat and had the children each draw a trait.  The child read over their final draft and identified where and how they used that trait.  The children became the experts on that trait and highlighted the skill. I had each group use a specific color marker. (The teacher could assign the traits prior to the activity but I am going to take my chances with the luck of the draw)

I took pictures of each child with their trait hat.  (for those with the dreaded bug problems...I cover each head with paper towels for pictures)  I found a star border at Walmart.

I even downloaded some musical scores from the Harry Potter movies to play while the children worked on their writing.  The children enjoyed their magical week!

Friday's Fabulous Finds (on Pinterest)

Where oh where did my Friday post go????  I had my page already to go at the beginning of the week and had it set to post on Friday.  It loaded but there were nothing there...Bummer!

My mind has been on writing...long comp is March 20

I am going to dress up for our last review day!

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Love this game...I never thought of putting stickers over numbers for larger facts.

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I am addicted to math note booking...will do this for our 3D lesson

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Great visual for parts of a story...want to make a class set!

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A must do before my April vacation~

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Friday's Fabulous Finds (on Pinterest)

Here are some of my favorite finds of the week...I just can't get enough of Pinterest!

Great Resource for Six Traits Writing...love the printable posters!

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Love this writing idea...we are a latex free school (No balloons) I was thinking ping-pong balls that are spray painted pink????

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Great idea for area and perimeter

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My fraction unit is coming up!

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New slips for my buckets!

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Regions of the United States

My Social Studies Curriculum for the year focuses on the "Regions of the United States."  My school system is currently working on a new curriculum that will be aligned with the state of Massachusetts and the Common Core.  I was chosen to represent my grade and school and I am very excited to get started tomorrow! (even though I am new to the grade level) We will be working to create more integrated and thematic units.


Here are some things that my fourth graders have been doing this year in Room 210:

I bought a poster at the Dollar Tree, cut and laminated

http://www.mapofthemonth.com/product_info.php?products_id=4&id=featmap&c=4

I was awarded a grant in the fall from MEF, Marlborough Education Foundation.  They are a independent, community-based, non-profit corporation that raises funds for new programs and educational resources.  My grant was for the Ellison Dies of the 5 United States Regions and the states of Alaska and Hawaii.  I am in the process of creating some games with them.  The children will use the cut outs to label and include in their scrapbooks.  A big THANK YOU to all the people who work hard to raise the funds!

Tacky Tourist Day

• Kick off for our unit (could be an end of the year celebration)
• Dress up like a tourist visiting anywhere in the United States
• We danced to "Party in the USA"
• Took Pictures for out scrapbooks

Social Studies Alive

• text book
• resources
• maps

Five Regions of the United States: 5 complete units
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Five-Regions-of-the-United-States-5-complete-units
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Jill-Russ (well worth $22)

• 5 study guides
• 5 printable texts (I printed and put in binders to save)
• 5 scrapbook pages
• 5 anticipation guides
• 5 tests

States and Capitals

• Little Man on the Map- AWESOME book to teach location of the states!!!!

• Bingo http://www.teachersclubhouse.com/socialstudies.htm#unitedstates
• Connect Four http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/States-Capitals-Connect-Four-Printable-Color-Geography-Game
• Concentration http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/States-and-Capitals
• Pick Up States http://mrshallfabulousinfourth.blogspot.com/2011/12/pick-up-states.html

US Postcard Exchange

• I found a group on http://www.proteacher.net/ over the summer.  We ended up with 42 states.
• Here is my bulletin board as of February 29th (I need to connect cards to states with colored yarn)