Beginning World Geography

We started our World Geography unit this week, and my kids are loving it so far!

We started by reading the story "This is the Way We Go to School".  It was a great introduction to the unit and how kids around the world get to school differently.  As an introduction activity, I had them do a little bit of writing.

This writing sheet, along with a few other Geography activities will be in my TpT store soon, I promise!

Some of my kids' writing was so cute!

"I wish I could get to school by helicopter, like the kids from Russia, because I can see the school from the sky and see cars and houses and stars."

"I wish I could get to school by helicopter, like the kids from Russia, because its more easy than bus or van and cars."

"I wish I could get to school by ski, like the kids from Norway, because I like to go fast and it is fun to go fast like when we jump and go side by side."

"I wish I could get to school by a motorbike, like the kids from China, because I like to ride a bike and I like bike I like bike because it is fast."

I also gave my students some time to just explore some maps and globes at their tables.  They loved trying to find North America, Minnesota, and Thailand and Laos.  Many of my students' families are from Thailand or Laos, and some of my students were even born there.

I'll update you as the unit goes on!  I'll also update you once I get the Geography activities into my TpT store, too!

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Five For Friday!

Greetings!  It's finally Friday Saturday!  I always love a weekend to refresh myself before another fun week at school.  I'm linking up again with Doodle Bugs Teaching for their weekly Five For Friday.  Here's what happened this week in Miss Woodward's class!

1.  New followers
I recently linked up with I {Heart} Recess for her link party "Budding Blog".  It's for new(er) blogs with less than 200 followers.  You tell readers a little bit about your blog, and hopefully gain more views and followers.  I am happy to say that through that one post, I gained five new followers, and eight new comments!  I'm so excited!  (Hey, new followers!)

2.  Buddy Reading
We started the "Read to Someone" part of the Daily 5 this week.  I decided to call it "Buddy Reading" and my kids LOVED it!  Our ELL teacher is in my room during that time to help out, so she paired the kids up, and I chose a spot for them.  While they were reading, I couldn't help but have an ear-to-ear grin on my face because it was such a successful moment!

3.  Target Clearance Section

Stopped by Target today.  You know how it goes:  you go in for one item, and think to yourself, "Oh, I'll just take a walk through this section..." and an hour later you're leaving with a cart full of things you (thought) didn't need.  I went to where the school supplies were, and of course, it was already filled with Halloween stuff.  BUT, there were some school supplies on clearance.  Here's what I scored:

Packs of lined paper for $0.57 each, packs of skinny markers for $0.57 each, small silver pails (perfect for organizing!) for $1.00 each, and.....

These cool Dry Erase Crayons for $1.98!  I've used these before, and they are pretty neat!  You use them on white boards, but they don't wipe off as easily as markers.  They are perfect for messages/notes that you don't want kids to "accidentally" erase.  To erase, you just use the cloth provided, or an old cloth.  It just takes a teeny bit of extra wiping.

4.  New Student Bags

Last year, I think I gained four new students throughout the year.  And it's always the days when you are busiest in the morning and the office lets you know, "Hey, you have a new student today!"  .........    I hate that.  SO... to ease some of the tension of last-minute new students, I decided to prepare myself.  I saw this post on Pinterest about new student bags, so I tried it out.

In a gallon-sized baggie, I put everything I'll need for a new student.  I made two of these to use through the year.  They only took a few minutes to pull together!

I put in folders and notebooks with blank labels (for the students' name), and my welcome letters.

I also put in the spelling dictionary my students have, a star for their name on the hallway display, a candle for the birthday board, a binder clip for their mailbox tag, a few blank labels, and a birthday certificate/sticker.  There were a few things that wouldn't fit in the bag (like a book bin and math binder), so I put a sticky note in the bag to remind me to pull those things out when the new student arrives.

5.  Team Bonding

After school on Friday, I went out for dinner and drinks with the other 3rd grade teachers.  We added another 3rd grade class this year, and it's been really fun to get to know our new team-mate!

Me, Ms. Tarah (our new 3rd grade teacher!), and Ms. Meredith, our ELL teacher.

Ms. Meredith, our ELL teacher, and Ms. Eichhorn, another 3rd grade teacher.

How was your week?  I'd love to hear about it!

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Budding Blog!

Today I am linking up with I {Heart} Recess for her linky party- Budding Blog!  It gives new bloggers a chance to showcase their blogs.  :)

1. Why did you start blogging?

My family and friends were always asking about what was happening in school, so I started my blog as a way to share all of the fun and exciting activities that we do in our classroom.  I have been following other classroom blogs for a little while now, and I wanted to contribute my ideas to the blogging world.

2. What is your favorite subject to teach and why?

Last year, my favorite subject to teach was math.  Mathematics Education was my minor in college, so I feel more comfortable teaching math.  This year, though, my favorite subject to teach is reading!  We have been doing the Daily 5 for the first time this year, and I have loved every minute of setting up the components and helping to build students' stamina.  I am excited to see how much my students grow as readers this year!

3. Describe your teaching style.

My entire class (19 students) is ELL.  Because all of my students speak Hmong as their first language, I have had to adapt my teaching style to better meet their needs.  Our school trains teachers in SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol), so I use lots of modeling and background building.  I make sure my students have opportunities to practice skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking every day.

4. Give three interesting facts about you.

I love to bake cupcakes.  If I had a different career, I would open a cupcake shop.   :)

I have never dyed my hair.

I love the show Grimm, and can't wait for the new season to start October 25th!

5. Do you have a TpT store?

Yes, I do!  Go check it out!  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Ellie-Woodward

Thanks for checking out my blog!  If you like what you see, follow me!

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Monday Made-It: Birthday Board

Today, I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made-It!

Here's what I recently made!

For my birthday board this year, I wanted something that would take up very little space.  I really liked this birthday board, so I decided to recreate it myself.

I wanted to use the back of a bookshelf for my birthday board.  Here is what I started with:

I drew cupcake wrappers and cupcake tops for each month.  I used a marker to embellish each one a little bit.

I used my school's die-cut machine to cut candles in different colors.  My candles are about four inches tall.

I cut the flames off of the yellow ones...

And glued them on top of each colored candle.

I love this little glue roll!  It comes in handy for so many things. 

Pretty soon I had a bunch of candles!

On the board, each student has a candle with their name and the day of their birthday.  Then I grouped them according to month.  It's a great visual for kids to see which month has the most birthdays and least birthdays.  It also helps me keep track of who has a birthday coming up!

What do you think of the finished product?!

How do you display your class' birthdays?  I would love to hear about it!

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' Techy!

Slowly, but surely, I am getting the hang of all things "techy".  My latest endeavors: creating social media buttons and organizing my Pinterest boards.

I followed this tutorial from Diary of a Grumpy Teacher to create my own social media buttons!  It was actually pretty easy.  If you look to the right of my blog, you can see my three buttons I designed and created.  Click one to send me an email, one to go to my TpT store, and one to my Pinterest boards.  Pretty cool, huh?

I also organized my Pinterest boards.  Instead of one Classroom Ideas board, I divided my boards into subject areas.  I dare you to try clicking my Pinterest button and check out my new boards and board covers I created.   :)

What do you do to stay "techy" in this 21st century world?

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Back to School Week

After a wonderful first day of school, I was all set for the rest of the week!

It was still HOT in our classroom... In fact-- on Thursday a fuse blew and the power went out on our side of the building.... which meant no air and no fans... so we went down to a Kindergarten room that did have air, and read to the kinders while they restored our power.

Here's how the rest of the week looked in Miss Woodward's Class...

We continued practicing Read to Self.  They are doing wonderfully with this!  They are also very honest when it comes to the check-ins between practices.

We discussed our "Hopes and Dreams" for the school year and for the future.  We wrote about what we hope to learn this year in third grade, and what we want to be when we grow up.  We displayed our Hopes and Dreams with a craft.  

How cute are these little hot air balloons?!  :)

I had a template for them to trace their balloon and basket.  I also printed out their first day of school pictures for them to cut out and put in the basket.

 When the fans are blowing, their little baskets sway back and forth as if they are really floating through the room!  :)

We also made some "post-it" posters.  I found this idea on another blog.  :)  I wrote a question on chart paper, and they used a sticky note to write their response.  I asked these questions:

-What do you hope to learn this year in third grade?

-What should kids in our class be doing to make things go as smoothly as possible this year?

-What will Miss Woodward need to do to help you this year?

-What will YOU need to do this year in order to be successful?

-School is important because _____.

-Our classroom should be _______ every day.

Some of their responses were kind of funny.  They thought our room should be calm every day, they asked for lots of homework, and thought kids should be nice to Miss Woodward and each other.  :)

This week, we also did a "Who am I?" book.  

They first wrote a page about themselves... leaving out their name.

Then, they wrote their name on the next page and drew a picture of themselves.  I can't wait to bind this into a classroom book to help kids get to know each other.  I also think this could work for kids as young as kinders.  :)

You can download my version for FREE at my TpT store!

And finally, we decorated our book bins.  Read about our book bins here.  I found these book bins at Ikea in a package of five for $2.

It was quite a busy week!  Can't wait to start another one!

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward