Turkey Trouble

Last week we read Turkey Trouble, by Wendi Silvano. It is the cutest book about a turkey trying to hide from the farmer. He dresses up as different farm animals with the hope of making it through Thanksgiving without being dinner! My kids loved reading this book and seeing all the ways the turkey tried to disguise himself. 

Then, we had a chance to disguise our own turkeys. The kids could pick any animal they wanted and write why they weren't a turkey. They had so much fun disguising their turkeys. I love every one of them! 

You can click on any picture to see my Turkey Trouble packet.  It has this project as well as a variety of other reader response activities.  

November Math Centers

As part of my professional growth this year, I am working on incorporating math centers into my daily schedule. I use centers during my Language Arts block, but have not yet carried this model into my math block. This is my goal!

As a first step, I have created a set of math centers to use during the month of November. These centers are based on addition and subtraction to 10. I am introducing these centers to my students and going over expectations and routines. We have tried a few of these centers in my classroom already, and so far the kids are practicing the skills taught and having fun while doing it!

You can check out my November Centers by clicking the picture below.

Scarecrows

Today was a scarecrow day! I usually do a few days of scarecrows, but this year, we just ran out of time. But, I did manage to squeeze in one day!

In the morning we read The Lonely Scarecrow, by Tim Preston. We talked about how the scarecrow's feelings changed from the beginning of the story to the end of the story. The kids then wrote about the story using the beginning, middle and end.

In the afternoon, we read The Little Scarecrow Boy by Margaret Wise Brown.  We talked about whether each student thinks scarecrows are scary or not. Then, they wrote about their opinions and stated a reason why they thought this way.  Finally, the kids made some cute scarecrows to go along with their writing.  

     

For these activities, and many more, click below to view my scarecrow packet.

November Spotlight

I can't believe it's November already. How does the time go by so quickly? I feel like we just started school!

Now that it is November though... owls, turkeys, Pilgrims and Native Americans will be taking the spotlight. I will be posting more pictures of our activities and projects throughout the month, but for now, take a peek at my "November Spotlight" packets.

Multiplication

Multiplication... yikes! I am used to adding and subtracting, but multiplication, that's a whole new thing for me. It's been a while since I was in third grade!

But, third grade is where my son is this year.  Since I already have a lot of games that we play with my younger son, my older son asked if I could make him some games to play too. So here I am, back in the realm of multiplication. 

First, I made a 'color by product' for him. You can click the picture below to grab it for free!

Then, since roll and cover and spin games have always been a huge hit, I decided to make some new multiplication games for him.  He is having a blast playing them, and it's a great way for him to learn and practice his facts!  

If you need some fun new games for your students to practice their multiplication facts, check them out!

     

     

Click on any picture to see the full packet.

Spiders

Creepy and crawly, but oh so cool! Last week was spider week in my room. We had a lot of fun talking about these eight legged arachnids. We started by reading a nonfiction story and used our learning to generate a list of spider facts. The students then turned these facts into a spider fact book.

The next day, we read The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle.  The students made their own spiders and decorated with oil pastels.  Then, they wrote describing sentences about the spiders they created. This was a great way to talk to the kids about words that describe!

Click on the picture above to get this FREEBIE!

My favorite spider activity this week was an introduction to opinion writing.  After reading Aaaarrgghh, Spider by Lydia Monks, we created a class t-chart. The students had to decide whether they thought spiders were CREEPY or COOL. Once we made the chart as a class, my kids then wrote about their opinions. They had so much fun sharing these papers with each other!

Click on the picture below to see my full spider pack. 

Fire Safety

Fire Safety week is coming up.  This is not only an important week for teaching our kids some good safety rules, but also a fun one!

     

Firefighters are an engaging topic for my students. They love reading and learning about these important community helpers.

Here are a few of the activities we will be working on in my classroom this week.

       

Click on any picture above to view my fire safety packet.