Singular and Plural Concentration Game -- Freebie!

Here is a fun freebie for your kids to use to practice singular and plural forms of words. These words are the Spelling words for "What About Me?" in the Third Grade Scott Foresman Reading Street basal, but can be used as a review no matter what series you are using. If you download, please leave me a comment......and think about clicking on my Limeades for Learning project at the top right of my blog!

Steps of the Writing Process Poster for Writing Notebook

Here's a new freebie for you! My kids are going to put this in the front of their Writing notebooks/journals as a reminder of the steps in the writing process. Click on the pic below to download. If you download the poster, please leave me a comment.

Celebrate! It's Our Fall Break!

We are on our "Fall Break", known around here as Horse Show Break. We have been in school for three weeks, but are out now for the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. Many of our families rent their houses out and leave town during the Horse Show, so schools have traditionally let out for the full week of the Show until the day after Labor Day. To celebrate our break, I'm giving you a freebie on rounding numbers to the nearest ten. Click on the pic below for a Google Doc. If you download, please leave me a comment.

I'm planning on going to my classroom tomorrow to get everything ready for our first day back after Labor Day. Keep checking back here for more freebies as I have time to post them! 

(And if you haven't already become a follower or left a comment that you ARE a follower OR added my button to your blog, go HERE for your chance to win the Target gift card! Be sure to leave the comment on the original post.)

Nightly Pinterest Journey

On my nightly Pinterest journey, I found one of the best Math sites I have ever come across. It has task cards to accompany suggested children's books that can be used in learning stations and is correlated to the Common Core Standards. Click on the picture below to go to K-5TeachingResources.com.

And why haven't I thought about using the game "Guess Who" to teach how to ask good questions when reading???!!!! Click on the picture of the game below to go to ReadingResource.net for more great literacy ideas!  

And to try on my iPad....

ScreenChomp. Haven't used it yet, but it's a free App that lets you doodle on a white board with markers, and share your screenshots with your kids! Click below to go to iTunes for more info.

And because who can go to Pinterest and NOT pin something to eat....

S'More Croissants! I actually made these this weekend and they are yummo!

Click on my Pinterest button to the right to check out my other pins. And if you are already hooked on Pinterest, share your finds in the cool Pinterest Linky Party over at Michelle's Math in the Middle. Click on the pic below to check out the Linky Party.

Visions of Place Value Dance in My Head!!!!!

We have worked on Place Value all week long and my kids are beginning to get it! One of the activities we did to work on ordering numbers with four digits was to try to get every student in the class lined up in the correct order in under thirty seconds. They beat the clock and ended the week trying to line up in fifteen seconds! I just wrote four digit numbers {3,024; 3,204; 3,420; 3,240} on large index cards. Each child held a card up to their chest and raced to get in the correct order.

Tomorrow I plan on dividing the class into three teams. Each student will get a card with either a number or comma on it. When I call out a number, the students will have to race to their team's place value chart and stand under the correct heading. Click on the picture below to download the Place Value Headings. Print on bright paper and laminate so they will withstand the racing! They aren't fancy and there's no clip art, but it will save you time!

I'm going to put Number Play in one of my Math Stations. Click on the picture below for the Freebie!

We are going to fill out a graphic organizer to put in our Math Journals to help the students remember the different ways to write a number.

Please leave me a comment if you download any of the Freebies. (And if you haven't already become a follower or left a comment that you ARE a follower OR added my button to your blog, go HERE and do it now for your chance to win the Target gift card! Be sure to leave the comment on the original post.)

Woot Woot Giveaway!

Third Grade Meanderings has reached 300 followers and has a FABULOUS giveaway to celebrate. Go on over to her site and leave a comment for a chance to win a Miss Malarkey book PLUS a Barnes and Noble gift card! Click on the pic below to go to her blog and enter!

Grade Level Linky Party

What a great idea! The Teacher's Lane is hosting a grade level Linky Party so that we can always have a place to go to find blogs on our own grade level! 

Click on the picture below to link up.

Place Value Marathon -- Another Place Value Freebie!

Here is another Place Value Freebie! The kids draw a number card, then rotate from task to task, using the number on their card to complete the task. Click on the picture below to download Place Value Marathon from Google Docs. Please leave me a comment if you download.

Place Value Freebie!

I am giving away a $10.00 Gift card to Target when I reach fifty followers, but......

since I'm super excited to have already reached almost 30 followers......

here's a Place Value freebie!
Click on the pic below to download a Google Doc. (Please leave a comment if your download!)
(And if you haven't already become a follower or left a comment that you ARE a follower OR added my button to your blog, go HERE and do it now for your chance to win the Target gift card! Be sure to leave the comment on the original post.)

Super First Week!

It's been a great first week in Third Grade. Even though I am looping with my students from last year, we have nine new students who were not with us last year. The "old" students were welcoming to the "New Kids on the Block." This first week was still sooooo much easier than last year since most of the kids knew our procedures and routines already. One of the activities we did was to compare the way we were in second grade with the new and improved us in third grade. Students brainstormed ways they were the same and different and designed a Venn diagram to show their ideas. If they were in our class last year, the kids glued a second grade picture along with a third grade pic onto their diagram. Otherwise, they just drew a portrait.

One picture I left out of my earlier posts was my rocking chair. The kids all sign it on the last day of school. It was one of the first things they looked for when they came back this year. 

Ultimate Linky Party!

Teaching Blog Addict is hosting the Ultimate Linky Party. Click on the image below to find some great Linky Parties and to link up your own. And while you're there, add your favorite Vocabulary Idea to my very first Linky Party!

Almost Too Tired to Post!

Yesterday was a half day with kids and today was our first full day. When I look at the list of things we did today, it doesn't seem like much....but we were busy every spare second!

1) Started organizing student binders. We use clear pocket protectors with labels so the kids know exactly what goes where. It makes it easy to say, "Turn to your Important Paper Pocket and add this note."

2) Introduced two new students and took their pics for our pirate door. My mini-Black Beards wore my pirate hat and I framed them in black mats from Dollar Tree.

3)  Reading Benchmark Test  (Now I have to grade it!)

4) I PICK lesson....kids looooved it! I used The Sisters' suggestion of bringing in a variety of shoes to talk about "Good Fit Books." I also showed an I PICK video I found online at TeacherTube.com.  (I've been rapping I PICK in my head ever since!)

5) Kids picked out three books for their book buckets......hopefully we will read tomorrow!

6) Journal writing and sharing

7) Lunch

8) Activity Period -- PE

9) Short break with other Third Grade classes

10) Dismissal

Last Day Before the Kiddos Come!

Our team worked at school today finishing up....trying to finish up....pretending to finish up....our rooms before the kids come tomorrow. We have fun no matter how tired we are. (Or how sad....my daughter went back to college today...insert pouty sad face here.) Here's what I did today.

Reading Focus Wall....We use Scott Foresman's Reading Street.

FACE Board....I just think the kids like FACE better than CAFE. We are going to go over the strategies they added to the board last year in Second Grade and add them again. The kids do the writing, not me. Below the FACE Board is our Word Work Station. We are really going to concentrate on prefixes and suffixes this year, so there are lots of materials for the students to explore based on that.

Job Chart and Dismissal Poster....Right by the door! Dismissal will be the most harrowing part of the day tomorrow!

Close up of Job Chart

Tic Tac Toe Station...We review skills from all areas of the curriculum here. The mailboxes are for the kids to file papers until they are sent home. I used the cookie sheets attached to my cabinet doors for Word Work last year. I'm thinking they are going to hold my Daily Five/Station Rotations this year. I've ordered free magnets from VistaPrint, but they aren't in yet.

Wish me luck tomorrow. I'm excited to get to have my same group of wonderful, fun-loving, zany kids again this year!

Woo to the Hoo! Classroom Library!

I've done all I can do on my classroom library for now and I'm pretty proud of it. I posted an earlier picture of my daughter labeling and leveling all of my books for me. Now they are all organized in baskets by author or topic. Each book has the Lexile level written on it and a label to match the label on the basket so it's easy to put the books up.

My new cool chairs are from Lowes. The kids are going to looooove them! And check out my new READ sign. It came in just in time for our first day on Monday.

The basket on the table holds materials for Buddy Reading. The sign lists options for the Buddy Reading Station. I have some of the You Read to Me, and I'll Read to You books in the basket, as well as lots of joke books (especially knock, knock jokes)!

I'm sooooo proud of my pirate lamp! I added pirate wall decals to a plain blue shade on my lamp from Target.

I also have task cards for Readers Response stored in baskets in the library. These are coded with different color stars so that I can differentiate for my students. They can then make their own choice from the appropriate cards.

Here is our new Listening Station. Last year we only listened to the stories on our basal in the Listening Station. I've added songs on CDs that correlate to our curriculum. There are various levels of task cards clipped to the station for the students' responses, as well as a notebook with other ways to respond for their choice. Again, I have these coded with different colored stars to help me with differentiation. I'd love to hear your ideas for Listening Station activities.

How Do I get it All In?

School starts Monday and I have to get my daughter packed up for her return to college on Sunday......a wedding tomorrow morning.....birthday party tomorrow night.....have to cook birthday lunch for my sister/going away party for my daughter on Sunday... Why does the outside world expect to go on when teachers need every spare moment getting their rooms ready????

We did our home visits this afternoon. I saw most of my kiddos. They all looked a foot taller since I last saw them as second graders in May!

My room is close to being ready. I've posted a few pics to share. Many of the things you see either came from ideas or free downloads on blogs, are from pins on Pinterest, or are things I've been using and have just re-worked.

This is my bucket fillers chart. I've ordered free business cards from VistaPrint to use to fill the buckets. You can't tell by the picture, but the sign is held up by Scotch Restickable Shapes. One of the walls in my room is dry wall and we cannot use anything that makes a mark on the wall to hang materials.  These little babies are SUPER for hanging!

The other sides of my filing cabinets hold my Poetry Station. The task cards are in magnetic photo pockets. The file folder holds different response forms and bookmarks the kids need to complete the tasks. Our poetry books are in the tub on the floor. It also holds a couple of rhyming dictionaries. The blue magnetic pocket holds copies of the weekly poem for the students to glue in their poetry notebooks. The markers and glue sticks are gathered in a shower caddy held up by suction cups. Magnetic poetry tiles and different response cards are also hanging on the cabinets.

This is our Word Wall. Looks bare now, but it will be filled up soon! The pirates are sticky wall decals I ordered off Amazon. You can see a little of my classroom library to the left. The lamp (from Target) has a plain blue shade that I added more pirate wall decals to.

The last pic for tonight is my Writing Station. I replaced the cards on another writing center I purchased from Lakeshore. The plastic pockets hold some of the materials needed to complete the task cards clipped to the board. I still have to add the rubric sheets. Other materials are on the shelves under the center. There are dry erase boards, dictionaries, different kinds of paper, pictures for prompts, I Spy books, wordless picture books, and lots of other goodies to inspire writing. I shared a list of some of these books in an earlier post. The circles above the center are dry erase circles that I can write messages on. These are from Office Depot, but I've seen lots more at different stores selling supplies for dorm rooms. This is still that dry wall side that I have to be careful with.

Hope you are having fun getting your room ready!

Target Booty for Fifty Follower Giveaway!

Don't forget to follow me and leave a comment on my original post announcing the giveaway. When I reach fifty followers I'll give away a $10.00 Target gift card. Just think of all those goodies waiting for you at the Dollar Spot!

Readers' Response Cards and Blog Link

Here are some Readers' Response Task Cards I made today for my classroom. Click on the picture below to download them from Google Docs. I've gotten so many great ideas that I wanted to pay it forward!

I just found out today that one of my friends has a blog. It's Third Grade Meanderings. Click on the button below to visit!

Great New Resource!

Check out Me and My Gang! It's a new blog for teachers to "hang out" and share ideas. Today is the first day for the site. Clink on the picture below.