Gobble Up Some FREEBIES

We all know that the holidays can be a stressful time... That's why we've decided to help ease up some of that stress by offering up 8 days of FREEBIES for you to Gobble Up! 

All you have to do is visit our Facebook page starting today. Check it out by clicking here!

Veterans Day Ideas

Looking for some quick and easy ideas to teach your students about Veterans Day? I've got you covered with some great read alouds, videos, and a special follower freebie!

In my classroom, we have a book station where they can explore and read more about Veterans Day! These are some of my favorite read alouds about Veterans Day. 

I love this Veterans Day book by Jacqueline S. Cotton because it is short and sweet! It gives kids the meaning behind the holiday and why it is celebrated in The United States.

The Poppy Lady is another favorite of mine! It's about Moina Belle Michael, a schoolteacher from Georgia, and how she worked so hard to establish the red poppy as the symbol to honor and remember soldiers after WWI.

H is for Honor shares all the branches of the Armed Services and shares all the privileges and sacrifices of military families everywhere in the United States. This one is a must read!

Another must do in my classroom is watching Brain Pop videos! I have them create graphic organizers to help them take notes when watching this Brain Pop video on the Armed Forces. It helps keeps my students accountable while when we watch videos. :) 

Click on the image below to grab your graphic organizer freebie!!

How do you celebrate Veterans Day? We'd love to hear some of your great ideas below!

The Holy Grail of Task Card Organization

Hey Peeps!

I am happy to share with you a quick and easy tip to organize those task cards that will make center organization that much faster.

I have so many task cards they were all over the place. I needed a method to contain them but still  have order. I decided to place the task cards by subject in cheap-o dollar store bins. 

Let's say that I am wanting to add in a certain subject for my center. 

I open my closet and I can quickly scan and pull out the bin that I need. 

I simply pull out the box and refresh my old memory with what I purchased. 

Because let's be honest, you forget what you buy, too ;)

I open the bin and voila! Every task card for that subject in in there!  

To make life even faster, print out all of the recording sheets and answer keys.

Place in a pocket protector at the bottom on the bin so you don't even need to go to your computer to print!

Would you like to start organizing now?

Click the image below to snag the labels you see below for FREE! :) 

If you want more specific task card labels (like the ones in the pictures above)

Click  {HERE} to get them!

I hope this was a peppy zesty idea for you to help get your centers moving with ease!

Easy Writing Homework - FREEBIE!

Hey guys! It's Ashley from Teach Create Motivate!

Do you want to incorporate writing into your students' homework somehow? But you don’t want to make a ton of copies each week? This year my team started something new and EASY, and we love it! Writing Homework Menus!

(side note: I am not sure why we call it a menu…it is more like a bingo board, haha. We already have a spelling menu, so this just goes along with that.)

Every 9 weeks the students get a a writing menu. It has 16 writing prompts. Each week the students are required to complete one writing prompt. It is always due on Friday. At the beginning of the year we started off expecting 6 sentences at least. As the year goes on, we increase the minimum amount of sentences, as well as add grammar expectations that they have now learned; proper nouns, action verbs, etc!

When they student has chosen a prompt and turned it in, they cross it off! This allows them to eventually write all but 7 of the prompts we have chosen for them.

We like to think of prompts that tie into what we are teaching in science or social studies  also! It is a great way to review concepts and integrate subjects for homework!

On Fridays as I am checking their homework, I let them share their writing. They really love this time. It helps build confidence, fluency, writing skills, etc!

We have the writing prompts copied onto bright paper and put in a page protector in their binder. You could also hole punch them to put in a homework folder.

It is easy, quick, and effective!

So far I have created two writing homework sheets. I put them in my store for FREE! You can get them here! It is never too late to start sending this home!

 

Get Your Students to Talk Non-Stop (The Good Way)

Some teachers prefer a quite room where students are independently working on completing a task. Not me! I love the buzzing sound of students working together and teaching one another. I find sometimes, they even do a better job at teaching one another than me standing up there! Which is why it is so important that I build talking skills into our daily work. Just like with anything, we must explicitly teach, model, and give feedback on conversational skills. I'm sharing a few things I've done in my room to help this year.

Conversational Moves

First, we need to discuss what it means to have a conversation and more importantly, how do we make it MOVE! We created this chart together. I prepared it before hand and left spaces for us to fill in. You can tell because my handwriting got all messy #teachertruth.

Give 'Em Supports

Later, we talked about the different types of way we can participate in a conversation. I made a handy hand-out that students glued into their notebooks. I however can NOT find the one that I made at school, so I retyped it up to share with you all! Click on the picture to download your own version!

We talked about 4 ways (there are more, but we are starting with these four) we can participate:

If you are looking for a more permanent display, I have sentence stems in my store for purchase here. I found that having a student copy easily at their finger tips is great for book clubs and partnership talks.

Here's the best part about this work: you can use it during ANY content! This is something you can always work into your daily work. Give your students the opportunity to have meaningful conversation and the supports and you will see their engagement and understanding of the topic just blossom!

How do you help students share their ideas with each other?

Every Digital Classroom Should Use Popplet

Hi friends!  It's Debbi from 3rd Grade Pad and I'm back again for another tech tool to share!  But, let's me honest...

Well...Have I got the perfect starter tool for you!

In all honesty, I can only juggle about 3 tools at a time.  Any more than that, the kids forget how to use it (time wasting).  Symbaloo and Padlet are the biggies for me.  Once my kids are proficient in those, I can bring in something else.

It is available in both web-based and for iPads.  ANY classroom with digital access can benefit!
Ready to be convinced?  Here goes!

I promise you…there is nothing SIMPLER than Popplet!  Double tap anywhere and POP!  You have your first popple.  Tap on any of the settings below to create the popple of your choice.
See the little white circles? Simply press and drag to create an ATTACHED popple.
BAM!  Instant graphic organizer!

This graphic organizing tool can easily be used across the curriculum!

This week,  we located examples of text features.  They took pictures using their iPads and added text to label & explain the feature.  Talk about actively engaged!

What an amazing job!

One of my little buddies asked to make a popplet about our reading.  Can't you see kids working in groups making different presentations for the class to EXPLAIN what they researched??

Other ideas?
Retell a story in order
Main Idea & Details
Problem/Solution
Beginning/Middle/End


In math this week, we were working on place value.
How perfect it is to start with a number:

Would this make an AMAZING center activity!  No  copies..no laminating.  Roll three dice and GO!

• Create a base 10 model and snap a picture
• Write the number in expanded form
• Write the number in word form

This could also be used to show different parts to create wholes, different expressions to express a number--the number of digits will depend on your needs!

For science & social studies, students can respond in so many ways to show understanding!
Learning about animal groups?
Learning about types of rocks?
Name the group-the popples will describe the attributes

This is all fun, but it is important that the students are focused on the task.  I give my kids an easy rubric so that they stay on track.  Since this is one of those tasks that the parents DON'T see, I add two places to check off.  One is for the students--this is their promise to have double checked what is expected.

The right side is for me to do the final check.  Kids on iPads can take screen shots or you could check them off personally.  I like the chance to discuss and help them make improvements-clarify their thoughts.  When I can, that is!

Despite the fact little buddy has HORRIBLE handwriting…yes, I WILL be using some of Melissa's tips for this guy, but…He had done an AMAZING job!  Do you give your kids feedback when they do an amazing job?  I like to give them hearts.  Love hearing when they look over their papers and are excited when they earn a COVETED heart!

I'd sure love to hear how YOU use Popplet…or if you TRY it!

10 Upper Elementary Pinners to Follow

I don't know what teachers did before Pinterest! If I am being real honest, Pinterest was my primary source of professional development  during my first year of teaching! Pinterest is very visual, full of ideas, and incredibly addicting! Save yourself some time on Pinterest by following pinners that are pinning valuable ideas (not just products), pin often and pin about the grade level that you teach. Here are 10 pinners that you need to follow if you teach grades 3-6.

(Click on their logo to be directed  directly to their Pinterest page.)

Sorry about the shameless plug for my own Pinterest boards, but I really am proud of the thousands of hours that I have spent collecting the greatest ideas and blog posts! My boards just got a big facelift.

My favorite boards: iTeach Third and Classroom Tips & Ideas.

If you are not following Rachel Lynette yet, you need to follow her NOW! I'll wait.... WOW, right?!

My favorite boards: A+ Teaching Tips and Minds in Boom Guest Posts.

Kristin is a prolific pinner. If there is a great idea out there- you can find it on Kristin's boards! She clearly spends lots of time looking for great ideas to share and I appreciate that.

My favorite boards: Classroom Management & Organization and 3rd Grade Math.

Jenn must spend all day on Pinterest! Her boards are jam packed with ideas!

My favorite boards: Classroom Ideas and Upper Elementary Snapshots.

I just love how neat and organized all of Melissa's boards are! She has some unique boards too.

My favorite boards: Teaching Critical Thinking and Problem Solving and Technology & Digital Citizenship.

Ashleigh teaches 3rd grade and so her pins are always so relevant to my classroom

My favorite boards: Classroom Management & Organization and Teacher Fashion on a Teacher Salary.

Mary has a HUGE collection of pins for every topic! I like that the focus is on upper elementary and I don't have to dig through Kindergarten posts.

My favorite boards: Classroom Tips & Tricks and Classroom Organization Ideas.

Kelly has a few amazing collaborative boards. That means that she has lots of awesome teachers pinning on her boards. It leads to some fantastic ideas!

My favorite boards: Teaching Upper Elementary and Creative Classroom Pics.

Jodi from Clutter-Free Classroom has over 150 Pinterest boards! I love how she organizes her boards so that the current holiday or season is right at the top. It makes it easy to find the ideas that I need for right now.

My favorite boards: Classroom Organization and Classroom Management.

Blair Turner has sensational boards for the upper elementary teacher. I love all of the blog posts that she pins!

My favorite boards: One Community at a Time and One Anchor Chart at a Time.


Looking for even more AMAZING pinners to follow? Don't forget to follow the boards of the 10 collaborators of this blog. They are all such talented third grade teachers who share amazing ideas with others! Click HERE for links to their Pinterest boards, blogs and other social media.

Do you teach upper elementary and have a Pinterest board? Leave a link in the comments so that we can all follow you!