Said is DEAD!--FREEBIE ALERT

Said. Simultaneously one of the most common words (ranked no. 47 out of the 500 most common words...) and one of my least favorite words (definitely in my top five, after a few gross swear words.

What word do students write again, and again, and again? Said.
I said. My mom said. We said. He said. She said.

Never is there an I mumbled. My mom cried. We clamored. He murmured. She exclaimed!

When they read, since they do not know a ton of words that mean said, their fluency, accuracy, and comprehension suffer.

I had to put a stop to it. As a class we decided it was time to lay SAID to rest. Said is DEAD.

I introduced the lesson by working it in with a book I was planning to read anyways. We had been building up to exploring text-to-text connections and character traits using The Three Little Pigs, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, and Porkenstein--in honor of Halloween!


(Get vocabulary cards for Porkenstein here--check my blog post on Word Work for ways to use them!)

 

The first time I read Porkenstein, I replaced every exciting word with "said" and made a great show of how BORED I was.

 

After that we discussed how knowing more words for said would improve our accuracy while we are reading and improve our writing by giving us juicier words to use.

 

Students were given sticky notes to collect better words for said while working at their Daily Five stations. We continued this activity over the course of a few days and shared a couple of words during our closing meeting daily.

 

In order to get the children excited I swapped out our Facebook bulletin board (check out that post here) to a cemetery scene.

 

I already had the black background up so I traced some tombstones on black construction paper and outlined them with oak tag. I wrote cute sayings on the black construction paper with chalk about said being dead.

 

My grandma--who taught first grade forever--gave me a bunch of goodies including a package of realistic looking paper leaves. So I scattered them all over my "cemetery" and added some cute clipart from http://www.mycutegraphics.com/ to complete the look.

 

I lined the edges with our acrostic poems about Autumn that students had written on paper decorated with autumn leaves. 

It worked out perfectly--I got the board done while students were at their special, and they had a fire drill at the end...so we walked inside and right into our bulletin board. Their responses were priceless. They were even MORE excited about finding words to replace said with.

After giving the students time to collect words, we started sharing them and creating a list. I typed right onto the smartboard as the students called out words. We continued going around and around the room until they would not think of anymore. At the end we had collected 116 words!! (Last year my students only got to 60!)

Collecting the words took an entire mini lesson time slot but the kids LOVED it.

Then, for my next mini lesson, I took the list and divided up into 19 sections, I have 19 students, and assigned each student a number. Each student was responsible for copying over their words in black marker onto a ghost outline and cutting them out.

Then I gave students a reference list to add to their writer's workshop binders.

Check out our final product below!

 

Check back each month for the new word to bury!

 

 

Measurement Math Stations--Throwback Thursday! (&Freebie Alert!!)

A little "throwback Thursday" fun to Second Grade!

Back in Second Grade we worked on measurement to the nearest inch and the nearest centimeter.

Like everything I do I wanted to "trick" my students into learning so I adapted the standards into fun and cute math workstations.

For my students who were at "Games Galore" they found plenty of fun activities to choose from.

Centimeter Memory Match

I use "Memory Match" type games for many different concepts and stations. Most students are already aware of how to play games like this so there is no learning curve with the rules for the game.
In Centimeter Memory Match, students lay out the cards face down like they would in any memory style game. They flip over two cards at a time. The goal is to get a match. To get a match they must match the distance between the lines on one card to the printed distance on another (BONUS: the numbers are in word form so students practice that skill as well!).  The game also comes with custom rules for students use.

 

Keeping along with the measurement and memory match theme I created a similar product to teach measuring in inches.

 

Inches Memory Match

 

 

 

The inches cards are outlined in purple instead of red like the CM. That way it is easier to separate the pieces if the cards get mixed up--OR allows you to mix and match the pieces.







Another option for "Games Galore" or to be used as a whole class activity

Measurement Bingo--WITH REAL LINES TO MEASURE


My students absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVED this game!
I'll admit, the idea actually came from a colleague who asked me to figure out a way to make Bingo cards with lines kids could measure.

I used different colors for lines that needed to be measured in inches than CM.
I mixed the lines with measurement vocabulary.
It is an easier game to differentiate--simply read the vocabulary words and have students mark them or give students the definition and have them find the word.

The Measurement Bingo game has directions for whole glass, small group, and partner play. It also has a "make your own" bingo card where students can measure and draw lines.

Example Card:

and super cute space markers!

Another "Games Galore" option was Hop To It!

 

Students could pick from the Metric version to practice CM or the inches version.

 

In both versions students flipped over a card with a measurement on it.

(Like memory match inches were one color, cm another)

 

 

Once they measured their card they "hopped" their bunny

(I glued the bunnies to mini clothes pins)

down the line. The first person to reach the finish line won!

 

 

 

In order to track my students progress I had them fill out what I call a "tracking sheet"

I could check their measuring skills by comparing them to the cards and check their addition skills by seeing if the moved the right amount of spaces!

 

Get your CM Memory Match Here

and

Get you Inches Memory Match Here

 

 

When we did our Measurement unit, I had my students use some of the measurement assessments on ThatQuiz.com They loved using the iPads and I loved the data I got from it!

 

I also had students make flashcards with Measurement data. Check out my freebie here!!

Measurement Vocab

 

 

 

 

 



 

Thanks for taking a walk down memory lane with me!

 

 

Open House-Twins and Facebook!

In order to jazz up our Open House I had my student's create "twins" of themselves.

I created a tracer for the head and body, and for the t-shirts.
Students were allowed to "cut" their own hair and decorate their t-shirts any way that they wanted to.

While we cut, colored, and decorated we had fun listening to some Disney music!

Once the students left for the day, I used wooden rulers and packing tape to secure their "twins" to their seats.

 

 

 

Since their "twins" laid flat against the seat parents were able to come in that evening and sit down without worrying about ruining their twins. It was so much fun to watch the parents "find" their children when they arrived for open house.

 

 

 

 

During open house I walked parents through a "Day in the Life of Third Grade" and how we are transitioning to the Common Core and computerized testing. I made sure to print out copies of my PowerPoint for each family. Students whose parents did not attend brought home the print out the next day and I linked it to our class website.

 

While waiting for the PowerPoint parents were able to read their student's "Facebook" pages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I created the student's "Fakebook" pages in Microsoft Word. I added a "cover picture" that was similar to the sign on our door and created a "conversation" between myself and the student.

 

I printed their "Fakebook" pages in black and white on letter sized paper first. I let students answer questions about their favorite foods, books, etc. I checked their drafts for errors then they copied their answers, in pen, onto the colored versions of "Fakebooks" that were printed on legal sized paper.

 

The students, especially the ones who had older siblings who were on the real Facebook, LOVED the activity. They were so excited to have their parents come in and read their "pages"

 

Now that I have created the template, and students are familiar with it, I am thinking it will be easy to modify in the future for "Famous" people! I can't wait to revisit it in some of our Social Studies/Biography Units.

 

Click here to get your template!

 

 

After open house, I left the "twins" sitting in the student's chairs so they could see them when they came in the next morning.

 

The student's loved seeing their classroom "full" of their twins. I snapped a ton of cute pics of students with their twins to put on our classroom blog. Parents LOVED them.

 

Since our first unit in Writer's Workshop is related to autobiographies, I used the twins and Facebook pages to create a quick bulletin board. My students loved showing off their Facebook pages!

 

 

 

 

All Hands On Deck! Pirate Job Chart & Description

 

 

All hands on deck!! All hands on deck!!

 

After dividing my giant bulletin board into three sections

(CAFE Menu, Class Contract, and Job Chart)

 

I wrestled yellow (fadeless!) paper onto the last chunk to brighten it up and display my job board.

 

Again I used my favorite dollar store find of ocean boarders and dressed it up with some fish from Oriental Trader.

(See previous posts for more info about those)

 

Keeping with the themed signs around my room I titled my job chart "All Hands on Deck" using the sane beach-y chalkboard labels I used in the rest of the room.

 

In order to keep things simple I only have six jobs in my room.

I have seen some classes that have enough jobs for a student to have a job everyday but for my management style it is much easier to just rotate jobs once a week.

 

In my job chart packet (click here for yours!)

I included blank outlines of boat anchors. I wrote the names of my students on the anchors and used clear thumbtacks (another love of mine!) to secure them to the board.

 

I randomly assign a student to each job, and sometimes two to post master.

 

Jobs:

First Mate:

Basically my teacher's helper. My first mate brings down the lunch count and notes to the office, helps me lead our morning meeting (more details on that here), assists with calendar time, and acts as my line leader.

 

Ship's Librarian:

Responsible for making sure our library looks neat and tidy. Also responsible for checking periodically to make sure books are in the right bins. Since I allow students to return the books from their book bags themselves it is helpful to have another set of eyes making sure materials are placed back correctly so we can find them in the future.

 

Ship's Reporter:

My newest and the job I am most excited about this year! This helper is responsible for writing a blog post for our class blog at the end of the week. Throughout the week I use my iPad and iPhone to take pictures and upload them to our blog but I LOVE LOVE LOVE having a student perspective. They can pick anything they want to write about (that we did that week) and I help them find/take pictures to add to their posts. I love seeing what they took away from the week and parents LOVE reading it when their children are the "Ship's Reporter"

 

Quartermaster:

This student is responsible for the organization of our community school supplies and sharpening our pencils. Nothing annoys me more than a student interrupting a lesson because they do not have a pencil or loudly sharpening a pencil when we are having a discussion. So each morning, and if need be during snack or break times, the Quartermaster takes pencils from the "need to sharpen bin" sharpens them and places them in the "good to go bin." The Quartermaster also takes a minute to check that extra glue, crayons, pens, and dry erase markers are in the proper bins. When students need a pencil they simply drop their old pencil in the "need to sharpen bin' and grab a ready-to-go pencil.

 

Postmaster:

One of my favorite jobs! I hate spending my time sorting mail into students mailboxes--especially when it's not just a flyer but something with their names on it--or putting things into their portfolios--yuck! So that is the job of my postmasters. Before school or during snack they sort the papers and flyers into students mailboxes. Love, love, love! In order to make sure we don't fall behind on handing back papers I normally have two students assigned to this job.

 

Boatswain:

The last of my classroom jobs--and possibly the simplest. The boatswain is around to make sure our floors and cubbies look clean. If not they remind tables and friends to tidy up!

 

 

 

 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pirate-Themed-Job-Chart-919151

Whalen--A Whale To Help Kinesthetic Learners With Fact Fluency

 

 

Whalen is a class favorite!!

 

I snagged him off of Amazon.com back in the spring along with the inflatable pool he sits in.

 

Wal*Mart was a great place to find the ball-pit balls.

 

Each ball has a different math fact-to start the year I only have addition and subtraction balls in the pit.

 

In order to help me differentiate I tried to use "cool colors" for subtraction and "warm colors" for addition--so I can quickly grab a type of fact and throw it at a student.

 

I use it as a quick check in and students can dig out facts as a math station as well.

 

It is a great classroom management tool--students quite down the minute they see me with the fact balls--only quiet students get a ball thrown their way.

 

Every now and then I use Whalen. The balls pop out of his spout and the students catch them.

 

SOOOOO much fun!

 

A tip I picked up I need to do?

After writing on the balls with permanent markers seal the writing with clear nail polish!

 

Even though I remind my students to hold the ball where there writing isn't it is still rubbing off.

So that'll be my next project, coating the writing in clear nail polish.

 



 

Word Work-On A Cruise Ship of Course!-FREEBIE ALERT

 

Word Work (or Work on Words) is one of my favorite Daily Five stations!

 

It is ALWAYS  a popular one with the students as well.

 

Why? Because they get to plan a ton of really fun games while working on their vocabulary, grammar, and spelling skills!

 

It's been slow going but we've learned almost all of our word work stations.

 

Current favorite?

 

Word Wall Bingo

(version one-second grade words, check a future blog post for my 3rd grade spelling words!)

 

Scoop and Spell

 

Trace It, Write It, Add It

(version one-second grade words, check a future blog post for my 3rd grade spelling words!)

 

Sight Word Bingo *Fairy Tale Style*

(works with reading comprehension and sight word recognition! kid favorite!)

 

Puzzler

(great for the hands on learner!)

 

ABC Order

 

Memory Match

(check future posts for vocabulary word/definition cards to use!)

 

 

Check my future blog posts for more FREEBIES including vocabulary cards to use

& information on CrabBoggle!!

 

 

Super cute buckets from the dollar store to keep with the underwater/beach theme!

 

 



 

 

 Hanging seahorses?? DOLLAR TREE <3

 

I had three extra cubbies so I chose to use them for word work--seeing the activities gets the students super excited, and I like that I have free counter space and they can easily get all of their materials.

 

Check back soon for a freebie with my Disney Cruise Line Word Work Labels!

 

xoxo