Snow Globe Writing

Every year I read the story The Snow Globe Family by Jane O'Connor and have my students create their own snow globe writing. 

It didn't think I was going to get to it this year, but the snow keeps coming,

so I decided it wasn't too late! They are even calling for more snow tomorrow!!!

This year I had my students type up their snow globe stories and gave them the freedom to create an illustration however they wanted. Even though I didn't give my students a lot of direction in creating their snow globes, they turned out really well! Here are a few pictures of the final projects!

The Girl Who Could Fly

We just recently finished a new read aloud. One of my students who reads a book a day suggested our latest read aloud, and we loved it! The book is called The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester.

This fun book is about a young farm girl who learns she can fly. When her parents and others learn that Piper can fly, she is immediately sent to a secret government facility for children with extraordinary behaviors. When Piper learns that the facility is not a place she wants to be, she and her partner Conrad prepare to escape! This book is full of excitement and your students will beg you to keep reading! 

If you are looking for a new read aloud, I highly suggest checking out The Girl Who Could Fly!

Code.org-Look What We Earned!!

I can't remember if I posted about Code.org on here before or not, but for the short version it is a computer program designed to get kids interested in computer science. My brother writes code for his job, so when I heard about a coding program for kids, I was excited to share it with my class! 

This 20 hour course introduces core computer science and programming concepts. Did I mention the prizes that can be earned for completion?? Well......if 15 students complete the program, you can earn $750 to use at Donorschoose.org and if 7 of those students are girls, you can earn an additional $250 at Donorschoose.org.

My students were super excited to complete the program. I'll be honest, it was not easy! It took us a while to complete the program, but guess what?!?! We earned $1,000!!!! As a class we voted on what to use the money on and we decided to get two iPads and books for our library. We received our iPads this week and my students were sooooo excited! 

If you are interested in the program, click on the picture below!

Here is a pic of our iPads!

I promised my students that I would download some apps onto the iPads this weekend....does anyone have any suggestions??

Have a great weekend!

Wax Museum Biographies!

I have been wanting to share our wax museum biographies with you all for a while now. This is by far the BEST activity I have ever done with my students. I got the great idea from One Extra Degree. I absolutely love Amanda's blog. It is full of great ideas and she has tons of great products in her TpT store. Amanda did not ask me to write this review, I just truly think this is the best idea ever! You can click on the picture below to pick up the unit at TpT. 

This unit is packed with great resources and everything you need to create a wax museum. I started by having the students pick a famous American hero. We used the cards that were included in the packet and the students drew a card randomly. I did it this way so that the students could learn about someone new. We then spent a lot of time in the computer lab researching our American heroes. The packet includes a great note taking page that really helped the students lay out their notes, which they turned into a speech. 

Once we finished all of our research, we took our notes and turned it into a speech. I had the students create a speech that was no more than a minute long and focused on the most important parts of their hero's life. The students then spent a couple of days practicing their speeches with their peers. At home, the students worked on coming up with a costume that would turn them into their American hero.

On the day of our Wax Museum, we invited parents and the rest of the school to tour the museum. We had a GREAT turn out. Our visitor's came and pushed the "on" buttons of the famous Americans, and then the students came to life and performed their speeches. 

My students really got into being a wax statue. They did not move until their button was pushed! We received great feedback from all of the parents and other students that came to our museum. My students had a great time being statues and were completely exhausted by the time it was over. 

The students really learned a lot through this project and had a great time completing it. It was also a great way to get parents into the school!

Below are a few pictures of our famous American heroes. Let's see if you can guess who they are!

Multiple Meaning Words Movie Craftivity

This is the first year that I have used an interactive reading notebook and I am absolutely loving it! My students are too! Even better is that I have found so many great ideas out there in the blogging world, Pinterest, and on TpT. One of those great activities is from Deb at Crafting Connections! I got to team up with her for her Classroom Tested, Teacher and Student Approved series to share about her Multiple Meaning Words Movie Craftivity. 

Our word study topic and spelling words this week were multiple meaning words so this was the perfect activity to use! We started out by defining multiple meaning words and creating an anchor chart of multiple meaning words that the students came up with (I forgot to take a picture of course ugh!).

Deb's activity could be used in many different ways. The first part of her activity is a worksheet that has 12 different sentences with  a base sentence and then three different sentences that use the same multiple meaning word but in a different way. The students then have to figure out which extra sentence matches the meaning of the multiple meaning word in the base sentence. The students then use the craftivity to illustrate the different meanings of the multiple meaning word. 

I used the activity a little bit differently and had the students use their multiple meaning spelling words. I had the students pick one of their spelling words to write in the camera and then on the filmstrip they used the word in a sentence and then illustrated the meaning of the word next to it.  

Here are some pictures of the craftivity:

Deb is going to give away a copy of this craftivity to one of my followers, so stop by her blog and enter!

February Currently!

I am finally linking up again with Farley's monthly currently!

Listening: I am hooked on Dexter! We had two days off of school this past week due to the extreme cold, so I decided I needed a new series on Netflix to watch. This show is totally disturbing majority of the time, but it's got me completely hooked!

Loving: I am going to be going to school until June now, but I am LOVING these extra days off that we have had! I wish I could say that these extra days off have been productive, but I'd be lying....I spent most of the time  snuggled up on the couch :)

Thinking: Coaching is just not for me :(. I have an amazingly talented group of girls, but I just can't handle all of the drama that comes with coaching! Why do parents turn CRAZY when it comes to sports?!?!

Wanting: Seriously, I am OVER the snow and cold weather!!!! I just want to see the sun again!!

Needing: Pretty sure I am the only one on my street who has yet to shovel their driveway.....but then again it's supposed to start snowing again, so why would I want to shovel twice :)

2 Truths and a Fib: 1. Truth! My brother and I were super mature (HA!) when we were in junior high and yep, he broke my arm in a pillow fight!

2. Fib! I think my mom fed me way too much fast food growing up so now the thought of McDonalds makes me want to throw up!

3. Truth! Don't judge me....I work as the beer cart girl at a country club in the summer. It's the perfect summer job for a teacher!

Now it's your turn to link up with Farley!

Valentine's Day Flash Freebie!

No school for me today! The wind chill is expected to be around -30* today so most schools in the area are closed! I'm going to be going to school into June, but right now I'm just excited to be able to stay home another day!

Valentine's Day is right around the corner so I have a math freebie for you! This is my Rounding Heart's game. This two player game reviews the skill of rounding numbers to the millions. Click on the picture below to download the game from my TPT store. It will be free for the next couple of hours :)