Day 17- Wacky Give Away Day

Obviously this was quite the frenzy!! I had a bunch of items to give away, random toys I'd received over the past nine years.  I had quite a few books that I got from the International Reading Convention that haven't even been published yet that I sent home as I knew they wouldn't be on reading level for my 4th graders next year.  I also had a slew of science stuff leftover from my son's 6th birthday party- mad scientist themed.  So, as you can guess they kids were scrambling for all sorts of goodies! Kids love this type of reward and teachers look around your rooms and at home, I can guarantee that you will have some item that one of your students would treasure!!
Sorry no pictures from this day...

Day 18- Gum Day

So yesterday for our countdown the children were able to chew gum in class. Who knew such a simple "reward"  would make them go crazy!!

We also continued our class work while chewing and amazingly enough they were really quiet!  We continued working on the Web 2.0 tool, Storybird. Here is a sample of a story one of my students created. 

Along with Storybird we are playing around with Animoto.  Here is a video created by a student. Our end goal is for them to create an end of year book review on Animoto to share with our 3rd grades friends for some summer reading inspiration.  

Day 19- Happy May Day!!!

Yeah it's May....and it is going to snow today!! Really? Snow?  Come on Spring get with it.  Oh well. We are still enjoying our May Baskets! Who doesn't love some popcorn and candy to start the day?

We also spent this morning working with a great Web 2.0 tool called Storybird.  In this tool I have created a class and assigned a task for them to just practice using the features.  I love this tool for it's tie in with poetry and also for those kids that struggle writing. Everyone can feel like an author with the use of this tool.  The students can choose from a variety of images and the add in their text.  They can publish and share or purchase the book in a PDF or bound book.  And the best part....it's free!!! 

Day 20- Game Day

Today the children were able to have some fun with friends playing games that they brought from home. It was so great to see them sharing and talking while working together on a variety of games! But, that was only after we actually did some hard work of course!

Currently we are learning about plants and animal interaction. We have been focusing on the importance of pollinators in our world.  We began by studying bees and learning about their parts and functions. We then moved to flowers and their relationships to bees.  Today we actually got to dissect a flower so the children could see the parts of the plant up close and really tie it in with what they have learned.

Let the Countdown Begin!!!

Tomorrow marks 20 days of school left.  So, upon my searching on Pinterest I found some great ideas to make each day a little more special and a lot more fun! Here is the list we will be working from for the next 20 days!

Day 20- Game Day, the kids can bring in a game to play
Day 19- May Day, I'll make some little May baskets for them
Day 18- Gum Day, sure to be a favorite
Day 17- Wacky Give Away- for some reason kids love when you are cleaning up for the year and purging
               your stuff.
Day 16- Cinco de Mayo- I'm thinking maybe some sombrero time and some mexican food...
Day 15- Wacky Wednesday- dress as wacky as you want
Day 14- Chalk day- we'll be taking out math to the sidewalk
Day 13- Beach Boys- during language workshop they can relax to some beachy music as they read around
              the room on some beach blankets
Day 12- Sit with your friends
Day 11- PJ day
Day 10- Special snack day- this is a day I let them bring in whatever snack they'd like
Day 9- Extra recess
Day 8- Mystery Guest Reader
Day 7- Hat Day
Day 6- Cookie & milk party
Day 5- Movie & popcorn
Day 4- Egg Drop
Day 3- Field day
Day 2- Lunch at the park
Day 1- Kickball tourney

I'm excited!!! I hope the kids will be too. It's my last year at this building and I have had some of these kids for 3 years in a row- so I will deeply miss them!!

New Literature Discussion Groups

Today we began our new literature discussion groups.  Each group meets twice a week and I confer with them in between meetings to check on their understanding and look over their log responses.  We spent the first six weeks of school establishing the routine of a group as well as how to create a good response.  I took a lot of what I do from the Reader's Notebook and from Inside the Reading and Writing Classroom.  Both are excellent resources if you are wanting to launch a true Reader's & Writer's Workshop.
    The next series of  books the children chose for groups are Among the Hidden , Just Ella, Juliet Dove, Queen of Love, Blue Eyed Daisy, and Ida B. 

I am really excited about all of these books- they have chosen every thing from science fiction, to fairy tales! Over the next few posts I'll be sharing some of their work from literature dicussion, they are all truly gifted at sharing their thoughts about the author's craft .

Science Fair!

Today we begin our Science Fair projects.  This is my first year attempting to do a science fair in the classroom.  So far they are loving it.  Now whether it is because they get to use computers or the true joy of discovery in science I'm not too sure- I'm hoping it's the latter! I have found the most valuable resource to guide me and my students in this adventure- www.sciencebuddies.org.  A great resource for projects, it gives tips for teachers and allows the students to take a quick survey to guide them in their project choices.
    One thing we are working on in this project is to make sure we are not doing a demonstration (ie building a volcano) and focusing more on the process of an fair test in which only one variable is changed.  I can't wait to show you all what they are doing.  I can tell you that some will involve worms, catapults, and boats (not necessarily together :))