Pumpkin Biographies & A Halloween Sale!

Today was the day that I look forward to all year! Yes, yes....almost as good as Christmas! *Almost*! Today was pumpkin decorating day and let me just say, it didn't disappoint! Last week, the students spent time researching people that were influential in the history of South Carolina {our BIG state standard}. Then, they wrote a biography or informational report...trick or treat style! 

I have to say...I love the way that these turned out. The students were so proud of their hard work and learned a tremendous amount of information from their research and from one another. They were so excited about what they were learning, that many of them shared facts and information along the way. Maybe I won't have to teach SC History after all...I will let them take it from here! ;) 

Now...of course we have to have pumpkins to match these sweet reports! DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!!! Introducing our 2012 Pumpkin Biographies...South Carolina History Style! 

Are those not the cutest things EVER?!? Love every. single. one! However, if I must choose a favorite...

Such a fun day! Such wonderful learning! AND...the kids couldn't be more excited or thrilled about learning even more about our beautiful state! 

If you would like to create pumpkin reports with your class, all four of my Halloween units are on sale until Sunday at midnight! Click on the pictures below to check them out on TPT! 

Hope you are all having a great week!!!! 

I Can Explain & Where I’m From Unit {FINALLY}

Y’all… I can explain! I know I have been away from this neglected blog for some time now, but trust me when I say that I have missed my blogging world. Here is why I have been MIA for.eva!!!!! I am pretty sure that I don’t even have a home anymore! In fact, I am a little unsure of what that word even means these days. Sheesh! I have spent lots of time traveling and having a blast meeting lots of wonderful people. Last weekend, I spent some time in Myrtle Beach presenting at the SCCTM {South Carolina Math Conference}. Presenting was so much fun {even if my computer did crash minutes before my presentation} and I was able to meet lots of wonderful teachers!

Then, this past weekend, I spent some time in Chicago with some of my sweet friends! We had the time of our lives and completely took over Chicago! More about this later…but here are some of the lovely ladies that I spent my weekend with…{I bet you may even recognize these pretty faces!}

Love these girls!

Okay…now onto school stuff! I *finally* finished putting together my “Where I’m From” unit. This is such a fun project that allows students to share a little snapshot of their past! You can read more about our Where I’m From projects HERE!

Here are a few pictures from our projects!

   

 

You can pick this up…right now…at my TPT shop by clicking on the picture below!

Hope y’all have a wonderful night! Tomorrow is our big pumpkin creation day! Can’t wait to share lots of pictures with you! Night, friends!

“Marvel”ous Writers

I just finished uploading my newest unit to TPT, called “Marvel”ous Writers!

You may remember my Suzie Adjective Unit that I posted for my early childhood friends…

Well..here is the 2-5 Version

This unit will help young writers learn about adjectives and how descriptive language can make our writings powerful!

Here are a few activities included:

Adjective Runway Show - Perfect for Halloween!

 

Superhero Adjective Glasses:

Super Secret Hero Riddles:

And here is a peek inside the unit:

If you would like to create “marvel”ous writers in your classroom, head on over to TPT and pick up one of the units below!

   

Hope you are having a fabulous weekend, sweet friends!

What We’ve Been Up to in Writing…

Over the past several weeks, we have been focused on building our writing fluency and working our way through the writer’s process! Some of our writing has been in our journals/reader’s response notebooks, so I won’t be able to show you everything, but here are some of the writings that the kiddos have enjoyed the most!

Super Secret Heroes

We spent a week discussing the use of descriptive language in our writing and how we can really expand our sentences so that our writings will appeal to our reader’s senses. During this time, the kiddos wrote riddles to describe some of their favorite things. We then attached a silhouette to help our classmates solve the riddles!

  

   

I have to say…the cowlick and bow are too stinkin’ cute!

After our riddles, we continued practicing descriptive language through poetry using a mentor text as our guide.  We read this book:

Then, we wrote poems about where we are from and what reminds us of our short pasts! Their poems were super sweet and really helped us build an even stronger classroom community by learning more about one another!

   

Along with their writings, the students created individual timelines to highlight some of the events that make up their life!

 

After both assignments were complete, we shared with our classmates! BUT…not in the typical author’s chair kind of way! Third graders can’t handle 19 individual presentations! Plus, I didn’t want to take three writing periods to present!  So instead, we tried a little gallery walk! The students used sticky notes to leave comments and feedback about the timelines and writings! Their comments had to be specific and focus on the positive!  They loved this! {Note: I think that presenting in front of a group to build speaking skills is EXTREMELY important! Trust me…we get plenty of practice! I just prefer to allow students to practice this skill through a “teach the class” kind of way by using and applying content knowledge!}

  

This was a great way to expose the students to their classmates’ writing! Plus, they loved seeing all of their sticky note compliments!

  

 

This week, we spent time working on a persuasive writing piece titled “Bring Back the Pigs.” They are writing an essay to explain why I should bring the guinea pigs back to our classroom! I can’t wait to share their final writings.

Both of the activities above are part of my two {brand spankin’ new} units! These will be out this week…so stay tuned!

Have a happy Sunday!

A Little Talk About the Birds and the Bees

Yes…yes…we start them early at my school! :) This week, we have been all into plants! We even discussed…dare I say it…reproduction! Sorry parents…hope that didn’t begin any continuing conversations/questions! Ha! Seriously though, plants have been a lot of fun!

We planted a few seeds two weeks ago and the kids have been recording plant episodes (journals) on the iPad! They wear special glasses and everything {they are kind of a big deal} so that they can look just like a real scientist! They totally play the part as they describe the life cycle that they are observing! We will put our clips into final episodes once our plants have completed the entire life cycle! This was a nice change from written journals and the kids are loving it!

Then, yesterday (after our talk about the birds and the bees) we learned about how the color/smell of plants attracts insects, birds, and other animals which is essential in the reproduction of seeds. To nail down this concept, we did a little lesson on pollination (thanks to one of my sweet parents)!

(You call this disgusting…we call it pollination!)

The kids each began the lesson with a flower di-cut, juice box, and Cheetos on their desk.  Of course, the flowers’ color and smell attracted the students. Once the students “landed” on their flower, they drank a little bit of nectar (juice box).

  

As they were drinking, pollen just happened to find it’s way onto their fingers. For this part, the students were instructed to eat their Cheetos without wiping their hands. The cheese dust = pollen!

After they finished their juice box, they flew around the room to other flowers. When they landed on other flowers, (a.k.a. wiped their hands on another flower) they saw the power of pollination!

I’d say the concept stuck! ;)

Today we began plant adaptations. We watched a few videos and did a little notebooking! Here is the chart that we completed. If you would like a copy, click on the pictures below!

I am hoping to be back tomorrow to share all of the writing that we have been working on over the past two weeks! Have a great Wednesday!