As I was stalking Pinterest in the spare time that I don’t have, I ran across some really awesome grammar videos. At the time, I was teaching subject and predicate, and this video I repinned is so cute. My kiddos loved it, and they actually ask to see it on a daily basis. The best thing is, they actually learned how to identify subject and predicate without me pulling my hair out. I showed the video and paired it with a Promethean flipchart that one of my coworkers found on Promethean Planet.
Here is another one I repinned for reviewing nouns. I can’t wait to use it throughout the year!
To see more of the videos I found, just visit my board here.
I truly heart Pinterest, and I am so thankful for all the wonderful teachers out there that pin and share great teaching ideas through their boards! If you need an invite, just email me and I will send you one.
Wow! That’s all I can say. Wow! (Do you know what awesome children’s book that line is from?)
This week has been FULL, and I have had absolutely no time to bloggy blog. I really hope things will slow down soon (who am I kidding), and I will be able to blog more often.
Anywho…I started teaching my kiddos how to round today. We will be learning how to round to the nearest ten, hundred, and thousand in the coming week. To introduce rounding, I put my students in groups and gave each group a post-it with a number written on it and a sentence strip. I asked the kids to envision that the sentence strip was a number line, and they needed to place the number they were given on the number line and decide which two tens the number is in-between. They were then instructed to put their number on the ten it was closest to. This got them thinking about what rounding is.
After this group introduction activity, I showed this CUTE video:
My kiddos LOVED this video!!! It was a big hit with the entire third grade today!
After watching the video, we started learning how to round numbers. A few years ago, I found this great idea to introduce rounding using “bully” and “wimp” numbers. I teach my kiddos that 0,1,2,3, and 4 are wimps and 5,6,7,8, and 9 are bullies. We sing a rap to help remember the steps for rounding a number.
Here is a sheet I created for my students to keep in their binders:
*The Bully and Wimp idea is not my original idea. I saw it on a teacher created worksheet once. I have adapted it to fit my needs. *I found the Rounding Rap here, but I changed some of the lyrics to work with my teaching strategy.
These strategies have really worked well for my kiddos the past few years. I hear them singing the rap all year, and it brings a big smile to my face! Do you have any fun ways to teach rounding?
If you are a teacher you have heard these words, “I am finished, what do I do now?” It is essential to have something ready for those students who always finish before everyone else. After watching a video at Teacher Tipster, I decided I would make some chart folders for my kiddos to use when they finish their work early. I wrote about this awesome idea in a previous post, and I promised I would share some of the pages I would include in my chart folders.
The start of school has been EXTREMELY busy, but I did manage to get these made! I plan to house the sheets in binders. Each page will be placed in a sheet protector, and the students will use dry-erase markers to write on them.
I will be adding more throughout the year, but here is what I am going to start with. Feel free to download them for FREE in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. *I used www.math-drills.com to create the addition and subtraction practice.
As I was browsing around You Tube this morning trying to find a video about writing numbers in different forms, I ran across a great website! I love when I find things I am not looking for that are useful. Let’s just disregard that I was totally sidetracked, and I still haven’t found a video about writing numbers in different forms. If there is one out there that you know about, please share it through a comment or email me.
So anyway, I found Teacher Tipster!!!! This site was created by a teacher who shares some wonderful ideas for keeping your kiddos engaged throughout the day. He is so CREATIVE!!! I literally smiled the whole time I was watching his videos. I want to be a first grader in his class. I really got excited about trying some of his ideas in my own classroom.
One of my favorite management ideas that he shared was Chart Folders. Here is the video about that:
I am definitely going to get this going for my third graders. I will just have to adapt a few things. After creating my pages, I will be sharing them here.
I also love this idea for celebrating student achievement:
I am so excited about teaching my kids these!!!
I could go on and on about the great ideas Mr. Smith has to share, but head on over to www.teachertipster.com to check it out.
I don’t know about you, but I am obsessed with binders. I have so many different binders in my classroom, I am beginning to think I just might be a binder hoarder. Oh no! There is just something about arranging items in a binder and having it look so neat and organized. What if you could house some of that “stuff” online? Did you know you actually can?
Live Binders are online binders where you can house information you find on the web. You can create binders for anyone to view and use. The binders can be embedded in websites, blogs, and you can even create shortcuts on your desktop that link straight to particular binders for your students. The idea of a Live Binder is much the same as pinning on Pinterest. You know how I love some Pinterest! There is even a pinning tool for your toolbar for easy saving. I am sure this is going to be one of my new favorites.
This is going to be great for keeping everything I want to show my kiddos on the Promethean Board. I don’t have to search my flash drive or anything. I just sign into the site, find the binder I want to use, and I am ready to do some teaching.
Here is one I am working on for teaching the six regions of South Carolina.
There are tons of binders that have already been created by teachers that are ready to use! So, give up trying to remember where you found that cool website or those neat pictures. Put it in your Live Binder!
Once upon a time I had a scanner in my classroom that was the best thing coming. No more trips to the copier! I loved my scanner, and it is still used in my classroom, but mostly by my students. Why is that you ask? I discovered Cam Scanner in the Android market.
With Cam Scanner, I can scan documents and pictures and automatically convert them to PDF files right from my phone. At first, I was a bit skeptical about the quality of the document I would get from using my phone to scan, but it works just as good, if not better than an old school scanner!
After scanning a document, you can email it, send it to Dropbox, and share it via IM. I send most of my scans to Dropbox, open them on my computer and print. Love it, love it, love it! I can also add them to my Good Reader on my iPad since they are PDF files. You can read about how I use Dropbox and Good Reader here. This handy app is also available for the iPhone and iTouch.
How do I use it?
*To scan pictures my students have brought in to make slideshow. *To scan documents I want to copy. *To scan a page of a textbook that I want to display on my Promethean board. *To scan written paperwork that I have to turn in to administration and keep a copy for myself.
Try it out! Cam Scanner has saved me loads of time and has freed up some desk space!
I’m back!!! The real world has crept back into my life this past week with the start-up of school. Teachers went back this Wednesday and the new lovelies join us this coming Wednesday. I enjoyed meeting most of my students on Friday night during Meet The Teacher. I have to say, I am quite excited to get this new year started!
I thought I would share some apps I use on a daily basis for personal organization in and outside of the classroom. I would be L.O.S.T. without them!
Dropbox is my all-time favorite. I have it on my PC, iPad, and Android phone. Dropbox allows you to upload files to a web-based folder (cloud), and then access that folder anywhere there is internet access. Did I mention this app is FREE!!!
How do I use it?
My grade level team plans, so we have a lesson plan template that we all share via Dropbox.
I store pictures to share with my kiddos in class.
Pretty much everything I want to bring from home to school, or vice versa, I drop it in the box!
Good Reader is an app for the iPad that I use to view PDF files when I don’t have internet access. Dropbox can be synced right to Good Reader. You download the files you want to have handy anytime, and voila!
How do I use it?
I always download my weekly lesson plans in PDF format to Good Reader from my Dropbox. No printing lesson plans required!
Pocket Informant is my BFF!!! This handy app is a daily planner that syncs with most web-based calendars. The possibilities for planning your time are endless with this one app.
How do I use it?
I have all my Google Calendars synced with my Pocket Informant. I have a school calendar, grade level planning calendar, family calendar, and personal calendar all synced in one spot!
I also use it to make Task Lists.
Teacher Pal is a great friend to have! This little app allows you to organize classroom contacts, attendance, and grades. You can also enter notes about behavior. This app syncs with Dropbox to backup information as well! Yay Dropbox!!! This will be my first year using it, so I will have to let you know how I use it effectively.
I hope you check some of these out if you haven’t already!
I am a National Board Certified teacher in the great state of South Carolina. I am currently an Instructional Coach for a wonderful elementary school. I taught third grade for seven years and first grade for one year. I love everything having to do with technology, and I am excited to share my ideas with fellow teachers.
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