If I lived in a snow globe

Like I said in an earlier post I give my students writing prompts everyday, well this is another one I used that I thought was cute. If I lived in a snow globe.... You could have the your students write on white lined paper and then cut it out and paste it onto a black piece of paper and have your students draw a picture based on what they wrote on a blue circle. If you paste them together you have a snow globe. It is super cute, and is fairly simple. Let me know if you give it a try.

Superbowl Commercial Activity

So Superbowl Sunday is coming up and even though I am not a sports fan I cannot forget about it in my class. I thought it would be a fun writing/creative activity for my students to create a Superbowl commercial. This will be a group project. I supply the products for the students to advertise. Each group will be given a product and they must create a commercial for that product. This project will take a few days to complete. On the first day the students will brainstorm and complete a graphic organizer. The second day the students will write out the scripts.  The third day the students will be able to make props for the commercial. And the final day the groups will act out their commercial and I will record it using a flip camera. The next day I will show the commercials on our smart board.

  Some guidelines that I have set up for this project is that the commercial has to be within 30-45 seconds (I tell them that they only have enough money to buy that amount of air time), all members of the group must be in the commercial, and all parts of the project (graphic organizer, scrips, props, final product) will be graded. I think this will be a fun and interesting project for my students, let me know if you have any fun Superbowl project ideas.

Desk Organization

I bet your desk looks like mine did at the end of the day, with papers everywhere!! It would take me 10 minutes at the end of the day to organize it all. I made this cute and simple file box and it fixed my problem. Instead of putting the papers on my desk, I just slip them into one of the drawers.

This was so easy to make! I think from start to finish it took 10 minutes. I started with a basic plastic drawer unit.

And I printed off the categories I needed to keep me organized.

I then cut them to size 

And used double sided tape to put them in place. I measured the last one a little short, but it will work!

If you have an organization tips let me know!

Literacy Packets

Reading is such an important skill for kids to master! Many kids struggle with it and because of this they hate to read. The more kids read the better they will become and I try to get kids to read outside of the classroom. One of the ways that I promote reading outside of school is with literacy packets. These are easy to make and can make reading fun at home.

You might be thinking what is a literacy packet? Well these are kits that you send home with students that include a book and 3-4 activities that go along with the book. I use large zip lock bags for my kits and they work well. Inside the kits I include a letter to the parent (instructions and a questionnaire) a book, and all the supplies needed for the activities. I have 5 of each kit (I split my class into 5 groups so 5 kits makes it easier for me to keep track of who had which kit), and I let the student keep the kit for 2 days. My students get excited when its their turn to take home a kit, and the feedback from parents has been positive as well. I found this website which has great ideas for literacy packets.

Storing all the kits might seem like a problem but I clip them with pant hangers and hang them on a empty coat rack in my room.
If you have any ideas for literacy packets let me know! I'm always looking for more ideas!

Update!! Big News!

Hello everyone!!! So I have BIG news!!! I was accepted into the Teach For America program!! I am very excited to start this new journey! It is so nice that after only about a month after graduation I have a job lined up!!! I was so nervous because as soon as I became a education major and anytime I told people that I was a education major I was told I would never get a job so HA! LOL Anyway just wanted to give a update!

Science Is Fun! Acids and Bases Lab

This lab is one that I used with my 6th grade student teaching placement. They loved it! Hope it helps with your students!

Red cabbage juice is an indicator, so it will change color based on if something is a acid or a base. If you mix it with an acid it will turn red, if you mix it with a base it will turn blue.
To make cabbage juice all you need is

• A head of red cabbage
• Cheese grater
• Water
• Strainer

Take your head of cabbage and grate it into a bowl. Cover it with water and let it sit for a few hours (warning this does smell very bad and the sent will linger). After a few hours strain out the cabbage and there you have it cabbage juice!

I didn't have a long class period so I pre-measured the cabbage juice into containers for my student but you could let your students to this part. I split my class into groups of 5 and gave them 6 beakers with an 1/8 of a cup of cabbage juice. I then had table spoon for each group. I had 6 chemicals to test (one for each beaker) I gave my students lemon juice, Windex, dish soap, water, baking soda, and vinegar. I would have the students pass the chemicals around to each group. I had the class mix a tablespoon of each into the cabbage juice then record what happened.

If you have a short class period or cannot do this experiment in class there is a virtual one online. PBS Zoom does a great job. Here is a link Cabbage Juice

I had my students keep a lab binder. For each lab we did I gave them a hand out (which I had hole bunched) and they put it in their groups binder. This is an idea of a handout I would use for this lab.

Names:
Directions: Write what chemical you are using on the line. Then add one table spoon of that chemical to the cabbage juice. Color the beaker either red or blue depending on the result of your experiment. Write if the chemical is an acid or a base on the line.

(I would have 6 of these for each chemical but you get the idea)

Chemical Name:________________________
Acid or Base:__________________________

I Have a Dream Writing Prompt

Every morning  I like to have a writing prompt on my smart  board. My kids know that when they come in to sit down and to write in their prompt journals. This works for me because it keeps the class quite while I do my morning duties like attendance  lunch count, etc.... I also like doing this because I get insight into my students thoughts and feelings. I feel like I know my students better after reading their prompts. This also gives students writing practice everyday so I know where they strengths and weaknesses are, and I can monitor progress.

My prompts are generally whimsical, but when important days come up (like Dr. Martin Luther King Day) I like to have my students write about that. This is an example of the prompt I would use on Dr. Martin Luther King Day.

Good morning boys and girls! Today in your prompt journal I would like you to write about a dream you have for our country. Maybe you dream about ending hunger, crime, or drugs. While you write your prompt I would like you to think about Dr. Martin Luther King and his dream for everyone to be treated the same.

Normally after about 5 minutes after the bell rings I would ask students to pass their journals up and we would move on with our day. But I feel this is an important subject to talk about so I would ask for their opinions  and we would read I Have A Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This book is more suited  for older students about 4-5 grade.  It illustrates the I Have A Dream speech.

Let me know some prompts that you use in your class! I always need more!