Self Grading Timed Fact Tests

As part of our daily homework  using WBT's Three Star Homework model, the students practice their math facts (currently multiplication) each night.  I just found these great self-grading timed quizzes from Fun4theBrain that I am going to let the parents know about for an extra way for them to practice their math facts.  They can fill in their name, take the test, then print out the results.

I might also have this as an activity during our weekly computer lab visit.  If they don't pass a particular level, they can take it home to correct or complete.

I found this site while blog stalking 4th and 5th grade happiness.  She has a lot of great resources, so be sure to visit her blog as well! :)

Birthday Celebrations in the Classroom

I love throwing Birthday Celebrations in my classroom! It doesn't take a lot to make your students feel special and goes a long way in growing relationships with your students!

Here are a few ways to celebrate classroom birthdays with your students:

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.  

On each child's birthday I force ask them to wear this crazy birthday hat that I had picked up on one of our family vacations at Disneyland.  We then take their picture and sing to them. 

 I also give them a Smencil attached to a birthday balloon template that I got here from What the Teacher Wants.



 

1. Happy Birthday Wristbands

My students always love wearing bracelets and wristbands, so these birthday wristbands are a great gift that will let everyone know it is their birthday!

2. Birthday Pencils

If you are worried about your students having reactions to the  scented pencils, you could get these Happy Birthday pencils instead.

3. Birthday Crowns

These birthday crowns will help your student feel like royalty on their birthday!  They can wear them the whole day and then take them home to carry-on the celebration!

4. Birthday Color By Number Worksheets

I love using Birthday Color By Number Math Fact Activities during days when my students have birthdays to make them feel special while also having ALL of my students practice their math facts! I have them available for multiplication and addition.

There are 8 different sheets included, so you can use one at a time and re-use them throughout the year so your students don't get bored.

5. Homework Passes

You don't have to spend a lot of money to provide gifts to your students.  Consider printing out no homework passes for your students to receive on their birthday.

6. Decorated Desks

Celebrate your students' birthdays by decorating their desk with streamers, balloons, or butcher paper.

What do you do to celebrate birthdays in your classroom? Leave a comment below to let me know!  

And before you go, head on over to enter one of our giveaways!

The Most Important Thing About My Students

One of the projects we worked on this week was a combination art and writing project.  We used The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown as our mentor text.

We copied the predictable text with the first and last sentence being the same.  The students used this pattern to write about themselves.  We also did a tear art project which required the students tearing paper to make a picture of themselves.  It was very tricky to not use scissors!

Here are a few of our creations: (Some of them really made me laugh)

Loving My New Classroom Name Sign from Hadar!

This little beauty arrived in the mail the day of our Back to School Night and I couldn't have been more pleased!  Hadar (a.k.a Miss Kindergarten) did an amazing job, and it perfectly matches my room decor!
You will definitely want to stop by her Etsy store to see some of her other creations!

Teaching Blog Addict's Open House Week

I am linking up with Teaching Blog Addict's Open House Week!

The Schedule for the Week is:
 Monday: Meet the Teacher- tell us all about you and your teaching style!
 Tuesday: Classroom Photos
Wednesday: Handouts for Parents
Thursday: Bulletin Board Photos
Friday: FREEBIES!

So... Without further ado: 

A little bit about me:

I teach 3rd grade in a rural town in Northern Nevada.  This is my first year teaching third grade after making the jump down from 7th grade math.  It has been quite the adjustment, but I am loving it so far! In addition to teaching my 20 classroom kiddos, I am also a mom to 6 boys ranging in ages from 6 to 19.

My teaching style is very eclectic (for lack of a better word)! I love the individualized attention of Daily 5 and Cafe, but I also love the whole class methods of Whole Brain Teaching.  I am not overly strict, and my students know that I love them to pieces. I prefer Love and Logic Methods to threats.

Me in a nutshell... or two.. :)

Giveaways Galore!

Rock and Teach is celebrating 100 followers with an awesome giveaway!  Prizes include all of the usual teacher faves:

Giveaway Items include: $5 Starbucks Giftcard $5 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Certificate $15 Target Giftcard.

Tonya's Treats for Teachers is having a mega give-a-way to celebrate 500 followers with way to many prizes to mention, but it includes a $50 gift card to your choice of Amazon or Target

Who Knew That a Little Worm Could Bring About So Much Learning??

Today was one of those days when you have a perfectly good lesson plan written, and suddenly a great teaching moment lands in your lap, so you scrap your lesson plans and watch the students soar as learners.
One of my students came in with his mom and a jar with what looked like a bunch of leaves in it.  She told me that they had found this horn worm on their tomato plants, and decided to bring it in to share with the class.

I planned on just having the student share his little "friend" during our sharing portion of our morning meeting, but I would have never guessed that my students would be so intrigued!  They started asking a billion and one questions and even asked if we could do some research about the horn worm (which has a horn at it's bottom that gives it its name - we had quite the discussion deciding whether it was its head or its bottom, but when it started eating we knew the answer).

The students spent some time writing down their observations and questions.

Then they decided to do some research on the computers about the tomato horn worm.  They checked out these two sites:  VegEdge and Wikipedia.  They also loved watching this video on youtube.




We talked about how gardeners might not like these worms on their plants as much as we liked learning about them.

It was amazing how many different ways the students responded to the hornworm in our classroom.  Some of them approached their learning as artists, drawing pictures of the hornworm.

Some of the students responded as scientists formulating a list of questions they could discover and research.

This little guy lying on the carpet saw me with the camera and said, "Quick! Mrs. Malloy has the camera! Camouflage - blend in like the worm!"

We wrapped up our fun-filled learning day by writing thank you letters to the student and his mom for bringing in the horn worm for us to learn about!

All in all, this was one of my best teaching days ever- the kids were completely engaged from morning until afternoon (we actually worked past the bell and had to scramble to leave!).  One of my older boys came into my class this day because he left his lunch at home and commented about how busy all of the students were.  "It was a whirlwind of activity!" he said.

I am linking up with Teaching Fourth for Fun Friday! Stop by and Link up!