Monday Made It: April!

Today I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It (well, er, Tuesday Made It).

I know I've mentioned this one before, but I'm just so excited about it!  Say hello to PAIRS of PEARS!  

It's full of activities to help teach your kiddos about homophones!  It has three different sets of word cards, tons of worksheets, and a "Pairs of Pears" writing activity.  Just head on over to my TpT store, or click the image to snatch it up!  :)

Can't wait to see what you all linked up for your Made It!

Until next time,

- Miss Woodward

Five for Friday- April 4

It's Friday!  Which means I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

Here's what happened in Miss Woodward's Class this week:

1.  TpT Conference

Last night, I told you about some exciting news!  I will be going to Las Vegas this summer to attend the Teachers Pay Teachers Conference!  Read all about it here.  I am SOOOO excited!  Anyone else out there going, too?

Click the image to learn more about the conference.

2.  SNOW.

It's snowing right now.  Last night we got like 6 inches, maybe more.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

3.  Awards Assembly

Does your school do any type of Awards assemblies?  Each quarter we all gather in the gym, and teachers give out awards to students who showed exemplary behavior and hard work that quarter.  The awards we give are Perfect Attendance, Principal's List (all A's), Achievement (all A's and B's), Most Improved, and the RHINO award.  

Our school mascot is the Rhino, so the Rhino Award is for students who show any of our five core behaviors:

R- Respect

I will be kind.

H- Help

I will help.

I- Inspire

I will encourage others.

N- Never give up

I will keep trying.

O- Overcome

I CAN do it!

4.  Fact and Opinion Game

Every day for 30 minutes, 3rd grade does SHINE time.  SHINE time is a time for students to work on reading and math skills.  We have all of the 3rd graders divided into five different groups, based on their needs.

My group has been working on fact and opinion, and thanks to my lack of planning, I was scrambling to find something for yesterday's SHINE time during my prep.  Oops!  I went down to our Title I room and found this game to play.

We divided into teams, and it worked perfectly!  The kids were engaged the whole time, and it really helped them practice their fact and opinion skills!

The game is from Lakeshore Learning.  There are TONS of other games like this to practice other reading skills.  If this seems like something you could use in your classroom, check it out here!

5.  Macy's Flower Show

Last weekend, I went to the Macy's Flower Show at the Macy's Store in downtown Minneapolis.  Every year, Bachman's puts on this lovely show of beautiful flowers.  It always puts me in a spring-y mood.   :)   The theme this year was "The Secret Garden".  Check out some of the photos I snapped.

How was your week?  Link up so we can hear all about it!  :)

Until next time,

- Miss Woodward

SO EXCITED!

EXCITING NEWS, EVERYONE!!  Are you ready?

Being a Teachers Pay Teachers seller, I have been invited to attend a conference in Vegas in July.  I pondered it for a while…. I thought it was crazy to go, since my sales aren't super impressive.  After talking with a few colleagues, I decided that that is the exact reason why I should go... to improve my sales!

My step-mom, Teresa, and I booked our flights, reserved our hotel reservation at the Venetian, and I registered for the conference.  I am officially going to Vegas this summer, and attending the TpT Seller's Conference!  WAHOOOO!

If you're a premium seller on TpT, you should register for the conference!  Today was the last day for "early bird" registration, but paying a little extra for LOADS of awesome workshops will be totally worth it! 

If you aren't a premium seller, why not upgrade today?  The immediate selling benefits on TpT are awesome, AND you'll be able to register for the conference!

I am SO pumped!  I will get to see Deanna Jump from Mrs. Jump's Class, Deedee Wills from Mrs. Wills Kindergarten, and Rachel Lynette, and... oh my!  I can't wait to meet all of the top sellers on Teachers Pay Teachers.  I'm a little star struck.  :)

Anyone else out there in blogger-land going to the conference?  Let's exchange information so we can meet up!  :)

Until next time,

- Miss Woodward

New Product- Homophones!

Hello everyone!  It has been quite a while since I've written, which I am very sorry about!  In the last few months, though, I have gained a few new followers, so welcome!!

I have JUST posted a new product in my TpT store, and it's all about homophones!

The product includes oodles of homophone activities, like:

-- 2 Homophone Posters

-- Homophone Word List

-- Word cards

-- Word cards with sentences

-- Word cards with sentences, missing the homophone

-- 11 Homophone worksheets

-- Pairs of Pears writing activity

Take a peek!  Click the image to take you to my store.

Until next time,

- Miss Woodward

Gearing up for the BIG Sale!

Wow!  TpT is a strong network of 3 million teachers!  To celebrate, they are throwing a sale, and I decided to participate!  I'm super pumped to be throwing my first sale in my TpT store!

The sale runs Thursday, February 27 - Friday, February 28.  Save 20% on everything in my store!  :)  Be sure to enter promo code TPT3 at checkout!

Here are a few of my favorite items that I've created.  Click the images to bring you to my store.
Be sure you put them on your wishlist before the sale starts on Thursday!

Happy TpT-ing!  :)

Until next time,

- Miss Woodward

Falling in LOVE with books!

Have you ever come across a well-loved book?  You know, the ones where the covers are wrinkled, and the spines are barely holding the pages together?  While it makes me sad that some of my books are falling apart, it is encouraging to know that my students are loving certain books.  :)  I like to think of those wrinkled books as "well-loved".  

I recently had to repair our "Dinosaur Encyclopedia".  It's a class favorite-  a large hardcover book with amazing illustrations.  It has been read so many times, its spine could no longer support it.  :(

With a short visit to the book hospital, this favorite was back on the shelf in no time.  We did discuss how the injured book had to be treated with more care from now on.

Speaking of loving books, Miss Woodward's Class celebrated Valentine's Day by writing about books they LOVE.  It was a really easy project that you can do to spice up your walls ANY time of year!

How cute are my little bookworms?

I gave each student a piece of white card stock and had them think about their favorite book that they've recently read.  They folded it in half (if they do it carefully, they can make two folds in the center to resemble a book spine!)  Then they illustrated the front cover on the right side of the card stock and wrote about why they love the book on the left side of the card stock.

While they were working, I took their pictures.  All they had to do was look down like they were reading a book.  Then I got busy printing and cutting each one out.

Lovely little head shots.

I added two pieces of clear packing tape to each of their armpits and then secured their folded book cover.  I attached it while it was slightly folded, so it would be 3-dimensional.

See what I mean?

To attach them to the walls, I used a piece of tape on their heads, and one on each corner of the book.  I just love how the books pop out of the wall!

Some of their cover illustrations were amazing!  I could barely tell which was the drawing and which was the actual book!   :)

I love doing simple, but eye-catching displays like this!

Until next time,

- Miss Woodward

All About the Human Body!

The 3rd graders have been learning about the human body!  It's one of their favorite units.  We focus primarily on the skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems.  Be sure to read to the bottom of this post to see the cool project we used to tie it all together!

We read a selection of articles relating to each system, along with many demonstrations of how our bodies can move.

After reading some articles about the basics of bones, I brought this new student in to our class to hang out.  We called him Mr. Skeleton.  :)

We used index cards to label the main bones of our new friend.  The kids had a diagram of the skeleton to look at while we were labeling.

A chiropractor also let me borrow this awesome model of the spine.  The kids loved counting the vertebrae and looking at the discs between the vertebrae.

We had a little science lab going on at the same time, too!  We soaked some turkey bones in vinegar.  The vinegar breaks down the calcium carbonate in the bones and makes them become bendy!  See for yourself-- it worked!

BEFORE putting them in vinegar, I washed them really well to remove any bits and pieces from the bones.  The bones had to soak in vinegar overnight (or longer) to see the effects.

The larger, wider bones did not become flexible.  The only one that worked was the wishbone, and only the bottom ends became bendy.  I would suggest using chicken bones (they're thinner, so they'll work better).

Look at that bendy bone!  We also talked about WHY we need calcium and what foods we can eat that have calcium.

After learning about specific bones and seeing a skeleton, we tried to assemble our own.  I downloaded a life-size printable skeleton from this website.  Each skeleton required around 20 pages.  I made 6 packets, so the kids could work in groups.

Once they had the skeleton glued together, they could cut around it and glue it onto butcher paper.

Our next step was to label the skeleton using the same diagram we used to label Mr. Skeleton.

To tie the whole unit together, and to review before the test, we created these AWESOME human body lap books (courtesy of yours truly).  It's very interactive, so students could read, fold, and flip through facts to review for the test.  :)

Each student will need a file folder and the lap book pages.  I copied each page on a different color paper, to differentiate between the body systems.  We spent a long time cutting, organizing, and gluing the pieces into the folder.

The inside of the lap book.

Students can read facts about the muscular system, and store the little fact booklet in a pocket.

Students can open and close flaps to read facts about the nervous system.

To get the lap book pages, AND other great resources for teaching about the human body, check out the NEWEST product in my TpT store!  Just click the picture to see the unit!

The kids LOVED learning about the human body!  What science topic do your kids just eat up?

Until next time,

- Miss Woodward