Mathematical Monday! February 3

Hello everyone!  Long time, no see!  

I have been busy taking some "me" time, as well as creating some fun things for my TpT store.  But today I'm linking up with I {heart} Recess for Mathematical Monday!

In math for the past few weeks, the third graders have been working on Input/Output tables.  As an introductory activity, we created Input/Output Monsters!

The two white squares in either corner and the rectangle in the middle are laminated, creating a dry-erase surface that is perfect for practicing input/output!

For example, I told the students the rule was subtract 7, which they wrote in the center.  I also told them the input, which was 49.  They had to use the rule to figure out the output.  

Occasionally, I would give them the output, and they would have to find the input using the rule.  Some of my students even chose to grab their Monster when they had an input/output table, using it as a tool to complete each part of the table.

Here's how we got started:

1)  BEFORE doing the project, we cut out the squares (2.5 inch), and rectangles (4 inch by 2 inch).  Each student will need 2 squares and 1 rectangle.  Then we laminated all of the pieces and cut them out so they were ready to go for the project.

2)  We also cut out some card stock "templates" for the kids to use to trace and cut out a body.  We had circles, squares, and rectangles available for body shapes.  If you prefer, you can have students "freeform" a body shape.

Materials students will need:  

- A 9x12 piece of construction paper for the background

- 2 laminated squares

- 1 laminated rectangle

- assorted construction paper to create head, arms, legs, and body

- scissors and glue

- stapler

The process:

1) Have students cut out their body shape and staple the laminated rectangle to the body.  (Trust me, it is much easier to staple the rectangle to the body first before gluing… I learned this the hard way.)

2)  Staple the squares to the corners of their background paper.

3)  Begin to lay out the body, arms, legs, and head.  I made sure my students had their Monster exactly how they liked it before gluing.  They need to keep in mind that the top square is the IN, and one arm should be pointing up, and the bottom square is the OUT, so one arm should be pointing down.

4)  Once their Monster is cut and created, they can glue it all together.  Check out some of the creative monsters my students made!

Once they are all done, they can use a dry-erase marker on the laminated sections to practice Input/Output tables!  I showed my Monster on the document camera, and had a large blank input/output table on the board to fill in the inputs/outputs as we solved.

It's also a clear way for the visual learners to see that the input + the rule = output.

What have you been learning about in math?

Until next time,

- Miss Woodward

Halloween Happenings

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Does your school get to celebrate Halloween?  This year, we did, and it was such a fun day!

In this post, I gave you some ideas for things to do on Halloween.  Here's how my day ended up!

Meet four fab superheroes!

Ms. Tarah, Miss Woodward, Ms. Eichhorn, and Ms. Meredith

Our first initials actually spelled out TEAM, so it was perfect!

We spent quite a while (and oodles of hairspray) to get our hair look like it had been blown back from flying to school.

Oh yeah, some of my students dressed up too!

How cute are they?!

We also made these cute paper bag pumpkins.  I got the idea from this post at This Old Art Room.

One of my partners had directions for a monster glyph project, so we did that in the afternoon.

Here were the guidelines for the glyph:

- BODY: favorite shape

- EYES: Boy= 1 eye   Girl= 3 eyes

- HAIR: How old you are

- TEETH: How many people in your family

- LEGS: Your favorite color 

How cute are these little monsters?

We watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown".  The kids loved the part where Charlie Brown kept getting rocks in his goodie bag.

We ALSOOOOOO listened to the scary stories that our classes wrote.  Each 3rd grade class has been working on writing a scary story together.  Yesterday, Ms. Meredith recorded us reading them on her iPad, and added in our sound effects.  Take a listen to ours!  I'm so proud of my kiddos!

"The Graveyard Hospital" by Miss Woodward's Class

Just click on the link to listen to our story!  :)

How was your Halloween?  Did you do anything fun in your class?

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Five for Friday!

Well, we just finished our second week of school, and I am loving every minute of it!

Today I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share five exciting things from this week!

1.  We have been working on building our stamina for Read to Self and Work on Writing.  I LOVE how excited they get about writing.  I pretended to hold a remote control and press the "pause" button so they would stop long enough to check-in with me between practices!

2.  We started talking about place value in math.  We made a set of digit cards for each student.  In a little baggie, each student has cards with the digits 0-9.  They have four of each digit, so there is enough to make lots of different numbers.  We used them to create numbers, draw the representation, and write the value of each digit on white boards.  They loved it so much, they actually cheered when I said we would do a few more to practice before snack.  Cheered for place value!  (I love them already.)

3.  We read the story Chrysanthemum, and made this cute craft to go with it.  They counted the letters in their name, and then counted the vowels and consonants.  Some of them had names with 8 letters, which was tricky to fit around the flower!

4.  I got the idea for these Name Rainbows from A Cupcake for the Teacher.  They write their name in the cloud, and describing words on the colored strips of paper.  We first brainstormed a list of describing words, and then the kids made their rainbows.  They look SO cute hanging from the ceiling in the hallway!

5.  No picture for this one, but I am SO enjoying this year so far.  I love my kiddos, love my team, and overall feel more confident this year.  I am looking forward to seeing what this school year brings!  :)

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Gettin' Crafty: Decorated Clipboards

I had a very productive weekend!  I was busy making thank-you gifts for the teachers I work most closely with.

It has been a tough year for everyone at the school, and I have had many hard days growing accustomed to being a full-time teacher.  I wanted to thank everyone on my team that has given me support this year.  I had seen a picture of cute decorated clipboards online somewhere, so I decided to make some for my colleagues.

Decorated Clipboards DIY

You will need:

• a clipboard (any size, I prefer the wooden ones over plastic)
• foam brushes
• scrapbook paper (try and find two-sided, so you automatically have two coordinating patterns)
• Mod Podge Matte adhesive (found at craft stores)
• pencil
• plain paper
• scissors
• cable ties (optional)
• rounded corner punch (optional)

1.  First, I used a cable tie to secure the clip open, so it was easier to work around the hardware.  Otherwise, you'll have to hold the clip open every time you glue or adjust the paper around the hardware.

2.  Next, used white paper and a pencil to make a template of where the scrapbook paper should fit around the clip hardware.  I'll admit it took a lot of playing around, but I finally got a template that worked (thanks, Dad!).

3.  Use your template to trace the cutout shape onto your scrapbook paper.

4.  Cut out the paper and make sure it fits around the clip hardware.  Trim your paper to the width of your clipboard.  I did not make my paper the whole length of the clipboard... I used a coordinating paper for the bottom.  Cut your coordinating paper to the correct width and length.

5.  To be extra fancy, you can use a rounded corner punch to make the corners match that of the clipboard.  You can also do this by hand if you do not have a corner punch.

After cutting your papers, lay them onto the clipboard exactly the way you want them to look.  Now is the time to do any trimming (before you glue).

6.  Now it is time to glue.  Using the foam brush, apply some Mod Podge to the clipboard.  I started with the bottom coordinating paper, before moving around the clip hardware.  I used an old credit card to smooth out any air bubbles.

(Do not worry about being super neat with the gluing.  The Mod Podge dries clear, and you will end up putting a top coat on.  So if you get a little messy, it's okay!)

7.  Work slowly and carefully.  For around the clip, I first put glue directly on the clipboard, and then laid my paper on top.  I glued small areas at a time, and smoothed out air bubbles as I went.

Occasionally, my paper would not lay nicely against the hardware, so I used a craft knife to trim the paper closer to the clip.

8.  Once you have glued and smoothed your paper, apply a generous layer of Mod Podge to seal the clipboard.  Make sure to get the edges and corners well-glued!

Once your clipboard is completely dry, cut the cable tie (watch your fingers!) and enjoy your new fancy-shmancy clipboard!  You will be the envy of your office place!

What are you doing to say "Thank you" to the people you work with?

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Collage Crash-Course

Happy Monday!

As you know, we've been working on making books like author/illustrator Eric Carle.  First, we had to write our stories. Second, we painted papers to use in illustrating.

Today, we started using our painted papers to create collages to illustrate our books.  Ms. Meredith (our ELL teacher and former Art major) gave the students a demonstration on how to create collages.

The key was not to trace the animal as a whole, but instead to break it into pieces and assemble the pieces into a whole animal.

What a nice school of fish!

Aren't these jellyfish adorable?

It was only Day 1 of collages, and we will probably continue all the way until the end of the year.  Just after today though, the kids did great!  Stay tuned for a post about their progress!

I can't wait to see the final books!

Until next time,
-Miss Woodward

Author Study: Eric Carle

After we were done with our state's MCA testing, I wanted to give the kids a fun project to do as we wind down the year.

I decided to do an author study on the beloved Eric Carle, author and illustrator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  I thought this would be a big project to take on, but it really came together quite easily.  Here's how it's gone so far:

Day 1:
We started by talking about authors.  We made an anchor chart that described what authors do, and listed some of our favorite authors.  I introduced Eric Carle by reading his book The Grouchy Ladybug.

Day 2:
We read a biography about Eric Carle.  I took it right from the internet, so it was above grade-level for the majority of my kids.  Since we had just finished the MCA's, we used our decoding skills to dissect the article.  We learned that:

• He was born in 1929 in New York.
• When he was six years old, his family moved to Germany.
• The first book he illustrated was Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr.
• The first book he wrote and illustrated was The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which has been translated into more than 50 languages.
• He is inspired by the times he spent with his father in the forest, exploring nature, animals, and insects.

Days 3-5:

We divided into groups and read different Eric Carle books.  At each book "station", they filled out a story map for the book, and added it to their "Eric Carle Books" table (I will add it to my TPT store soon!).  After about 15-20 minutes at the book "station", they rotated to a new book.  We continued this until they had visited all the stories.

The seven stories they read now rest on my white board ledge, and they are quite popular for silent reading time!

Day 6 and on:

We started writing stories like Eric Carle.  I planned on having them write, illustrate, and bind their books into a keepsake.  After each step of the writing process, they needed to check in with a teacher before going on to the next step.  Because my students are ELL, writing stories is difficult for them.  Our ELL teacher, Ms. Meredith, suggested I use a "Story Board" to help them lay out their ideas.

The kids came up with really cute stories!  They even used lots of animal characters and repetition, just like Eric Carle does in his stories.  I think being able to write and draw at the same time really helped them.

This is what the Story Boards ended up looking like:

The next step was writing their rough drafts.  We use lined paper and put an X on every other line, to leave room for corrections.

The last step of our writing process was to take their rough draft and make it into the final copy.  I provided the kids with some printed lined paper.  I made some pages horizontal and some vertical, depending on what the students wanted.  This student chose horizontal pages.

After they did their final draft in pencil, they were allowed to use a fine tip permanent marker to trace over their words.  Last, they erased over the marker to remove the pencil marks and leave behind the nice-looking marker.

The rest of the page will be filled with their illustrations... done with collage, just like Eric Carle, of course!  (Stay tuned for a post on illustrations!)

I'm super excited that the kids have become so interested in the Author Study!  I can't wait to see how their final books turn out.  :)

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward