Chickadee Jubilee

It's All About Choice

2018-01-22T18:41:00.001-08:00

Flexible seating might be the trendy thing to do, but I have been giving students seating choice for years. I like to choose where I work, why wouldn't kids as well. Assigned seating drives me crazy:-)

Here is what seating choice looks like in my classroom.

Before we start, we go over how to make appropriate choices.

A traditional table and chair is always a choice.

Lowered table and adirondack chairs. Students also use the pillows and sit on knees or bottoms.

Tall wooden stools.

The carpet is a popular choice...with or without lap desks.

Some students created some very clever seating choices, and they actually worked out really well, so we kept them.

We started with exercise balls, but I have swapped them for Hokki stools. I have about 12 Hokki stools. We also used to have risers, but students kept finding screws and bolts on the ground, so they had to go away because...safety.

A white bench I found at ikea.

Scoop seats and a raised table are next on my list of choices to add.

Themes from Lyrics

2014-10-06T17:38:00.002-07:00

#onlytwokiddaysthisweek #icanmakeit

Every year, I make a class playlist. Each student tells me their favorite song and I add them to a playlist. I love it! There are songs I hear now and I think, "oh that is _______'s song." Many songs, I know and don't worry about content/lyrics. This year I had a handful of girls chose Ariana Grande songs. I read through the lyrics...no bad words and then I started thinking about the message some of the songs were sending and decided to let the class decide. I put the lyrics on the projector and we read them...not sang them and immediately the kids were not fans of having the songs on our playlist. It was an interesting thing to notice that when you take the tune away...you are really able to focus on what the song is saying.

The lightbulb....we are beginning our study into themes in literature...and there was clearly a message in the songs we were looking up. SO this week we are studying the themes in some popular songs before we dive into literature.

The kids loved it. We did are starting our study with Frozen's Let It Go. We read the lyrics and watched the sing-along video version. Then I printed the lyrics out for everyone.

Finally we talked about needing proof for our thinking. I gave them a sentence frame to help them get started.

Next up is The Lego Movie's Everything is Awesome.

Happy Monday,

Mixed Media Art Awesomeness

2014-09-29T18:24:00.001-07:00

We finished up a mixed media art project today. It turned out better than I expected and I always love that! Last Friday we traced and designed our hands using lines and shape zentangles.

We did some Color Factory ala Annie Painter. I am always amazed at how all the papers look so different with just three colors!

Then we played "musical friend adjectives" When the music played, move around the room. When the music stops find a friends card and write an adjective that describes them.

After finishing our "game" we chose the three words we liked best and wrote them on black pieces of paper; and finally put it all together into our masterpieces!

Happy Monday

Wordless Wednesday

2014-09-24T17:10:00.002-07:00

It is Wednesday #wishitwerealreadyfriday Check other people's Wednesdays at Second Grade Sugar and Spice.

Field Trip to the Local Library

The Return of Television

What shows are filling up your dvr this week?

Thinking blue everyone!!!! #itfdb

Happy Wednesday,

Story Sunday

2014-09-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite stories to read aloud is Martina, the Beautiful Cockroach. It is a Cuban folktale about a cockroach on her 21st day has to choose to give her leg in marriage:-) Martina's grandmother tells her to use the coffee test on any potential suitor to see their true colors.

After we finished reading it, we started to think about how we choose who our closest friends are. I had students come up with a test that they could use to see how people would react to them.

This one is about asking someone to play.

This test involves, "accidentally" forgetting to give one person candy when passing it out.

This boy is going to "accidentally" step on someones foot and see how they react.

Many are still working on creating their test. Interesting conversations came up about what would be requirements for a friend. Some students wanted to make a test that was about whether or not someone else was just like them. So we talked about how maybe our friends don't have to be just like us or like the exact same things.

Anyway my class loved it and my Spanish speakers were so glad to help me read the Spanish words interspersed into the story. If possible, find a copy that comes with a CD audio version...also fun to listen to.

Happy Sunday,

Classroom Organization With Tables

2014-09-20T14:58:00.001-07:00

This is my 12th year of teaching. I made it through about 3 months before the mess of desks drove me crazy. In my district class size just goes up and up; tables have saved some of my sanity with the 30+ kids. Shinguards would be required for moving around. So I thought I would share some of how I organize all the stuff my chickadees use on a daily basis.

Drawers-
This is where students store projects and papers they are not finished with. They also have mile marker cards (a track walking/running recess thing) and other personal items. Many of my glasses wearing students keep their cases in this space.

Cubbies-
Bookbags and Reader's Studio items are kept here. That is all.

Supplies-
All supplies, besides pencils, are stored on the counter. Students grab what they need and take it back to their table. I also have three tubs of extras if they can't find the color they need or if someone else in the group is already using it.

Binders, Folders, and Spirals-
This summer my roommate was getting rid of the two binder holding shelves....and I think they have found a perfect new home. Each student has a binder with dividers for each subject. (This is a new thing for me this year....I will let you know how I feel about it at the end of the year.) They also keep their folders for math work on these shelves and spirals for their writing journals. One side has the girls' stuff and the others has the boys'.

Happy Saturday,

Five for Friday..Reading, Writing, and Math

2014-09-19T14:50:00.001-07:00

Welcome to 3rd grade this happy #stillhoteventhoughitisseptember Friday!

We did my favorite lesson about three types of readers....pretender, dutiful, or engaged. You can read more about it here, here, and here. The kids LOVE and ask to "practice" again. I tell them they get to "practice" everyday!

We started some math workshop this week. We have "math around the room." It is ridiculous how much kids love this!

Build-an-array

Math Reading

We practiced making and then drawing our mental images.

We have been looking at authors who can help us be better writers. Obviously we need and anchor chart to keep track of all the great ideas we can refer to.

We read one of my all time favorite books, Martina the Beautiful Cockroach. It's a folktale about a cockroach who has suitors and she has to choose the right one. Such a fun read!

Happy Friday,

Christmas....in September

2014-09-16T15:30:00.002-07:00

One of my favorite lessons during the beginning of the year is about treating books carefully like your favorite Christmas ornament. I start off by telling kids about the "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornaments my brother and I had. Then share the horrific story of how we were playing I-Spy and the hidden object was hidden in the tree. During the fight over who found the toy first, my brother's "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament fell off the tree and shattered. No matter how hard my mom tried that ornament wasn't going back together. I then give kids time to talk with a partner about what their favorite Christmas tree ornament is and then tie the whole story to our classroom books. We want them to last for lots of people to read, not just this class but many classes to come. This week students have been designing a Christmas ornament that has a tip for readers who want to keep their books as nice as their favorite ornament!

Happy Tuesday,

Perseverance

2014-09-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

Our school's theme is perseverance....again a word I do not like because of its missing r. We have been having lots of fun learning about what it is and what it looks like. Last week we read The Most Mignificent Thing and watched a video about the creator of Lego. You can read about that here. Today we did a great lesson from a blog that pinterest helped me find. Check her original idea here. We started off by eating a Warhead...that candy that starts out super sour, but after 30 seconds is actually sweet. Almost everyone persevered through the first 30 second. The faces were hilarious. Then we described the experience and the two students who spit the candy out thought they should try again. Then we pulled out Horton Hatches an Egg and students shared how the the book and the activity were similar. My last question was why are we spending so much time thinking and learning about perseverance? And then we went on to math...today there were far less groans....maybe they are learning to persevere...a little:-)

Happy Monday,

Sunday Scoop

2014-09-14T12:42:00.001-07:00

I stumbled across Teaching Trio, a fun and adorable blog today....you should stop by and visit. They have a countdown linky party each Sunday.

Have to---In my summer move, I somehow unpacked and misplaced all my scentsys. I have the burners found, but the wax melts are being elusive. Have you heard of refrigerator oatmeal. My aunt introduced me to it and I sort of love it.

You can find a great recipe here.

Hope to--My next scheduled book club meeting is next Friday and I haven't started the book yet. Today may be a great day to break that open! My year long plan is almost done, I just am having a difficult time planning out the year of reading. Anyone have 3rd grade suggestions.....?

Happy to--now that the Dodger's can't be swept and can only be tied for first in their division, the stress level from today's game is far improved so I can watch the game in peace. Hoping for the bubble machine to get lots of use and Kershaw to have an amazing game...he is a pretty awesome human being! #freethebubbles

Happy Sunday,

Five for Friday Finally

2014-09-12T15:30:00.001-07:00

It is Five for Friday. Here is what happened in the land of some 3rd grade chickadees this week-

Our Donor's Choose project was delivered. It was like Christmas! Hokki Stools are such a great piece of classroom furniture.

We started some Engage NY math....I took pages home and circled incorrect answers. Then students worked in groups to correct their work. They did such a great job teaching...not just copying!

Our school theme is perseverance. (I can't tell you how much it bothers me that the spelling of the word seems to be missing the letter r!) Anyway we read The Most Magnificent Thing and watched The Lego Story and then had a great discussion about perseverance and how the book and video showed that trait.

I love anchor charts! Today we made a chart for stamina. Like this one from Creating Readers and Writers.

But I wanted kids more involved in the creating it. So I split the class into 2 groups and had each group work on half the chart. Then we came back together and added any other ideas that we might have missed. It was great....although a bit a girl drama had us have a mini session about how to work together and lead vs. boss.

My aunt is in town this weekend! Which means we will be going to Papa Haydn's for dessert. The place is a.m.a.z.i.n.g! If you ever visit Portland, you must stop there. They have real food also, but I have never tried it:-)

This is the display case of deliciousness!

And then they make your choice all beautiful on the plate!

Happy Friday...and GO DODGERS!!!!

Library Shenanigans

2014-09-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

We are into our second week of school....so fun learning all kinds of new procedures and guidelines! This week we are focusing on the classroom library. There are a LOT of books in our classroom....picture books, easy readers, beginning chapter books, and middle grade reads. Kids have a hard time getting books put back, so I thought I would give them a resource. First I showed them a powerpoint explaining each section of the library. We discussed as we went along. Then they each had to take a "test". They were given a book and had to return it to the library. Students who correctly returned the book were given a "license to read" and thought they were pretty fabulous. (Everyone got lots of mulligans when returning books, so we are now all licensed readers.) Maybe you would like to know how to be a licensed reader in B-7!

Happy Tuesday,

What Do Readers Look Like?

2014-09-08T19:30:00.002-07:00

So there are not words for how great it is when the two grades before you teach versions of Daily 5. We made it to 20 minutes of read to self without stopping in just three days. So great! Before they got started I told them I was going to look for great examples of readers that I could take photos of. They were great.

Then I sent the pictures to get magically printed and picked them up. The next day, we did a little mini-lesson on non-fiction features. I gave each student their picture and they glued it onto construction paper. Finally they labeled the picture with what Great Readers Do....

Happy Monday,

Word Wall Before and After

2014-08-27T14:55:00.003-07:00

3rd grade is growing on me....one of the things that takes up a huge amount of space on the wall but doesn't seem to be very interactive or a tool for the students it was created for. Here is a picture of my old Word Wall.

I loved the colors. I loved the student done words. I did not love that once the word was up, it was never referred to. Then I stumbled across Mrs. 3rd Grade's Blog and found some inspiration.

Each letter on the word wall is portable. SO clever! We can add words I purposefully choose. We can add words students frequently use and need to refer to. We can add words we find as we read. My next step was figuring out where I would put such a thing. All the walls I had left were low and in frequently traffic-ed places where they probably wouldn't last too long. I do have lots of giant windows and spent the afternoon trying to figure out how to make them work. I love the 3M hooks, but didn't want the back of the window to look messy with 26 little hooks showing through the other side. Then my aha came!

A bucket with paper for adding more words the the rings.

After moving this summer, I had a leftover curtain rod and hooks. I grabbed a couple of the bigger 3M hooks for the ends of the of the curtain rod. Attached to each clip is a loose leaf ring. Then I made a cover letter for each stack of blank paper and throughout the year we will add to it! I can't wait to see this in action!

Happy Tuesday,

Reading Magic Monday Made It

2014-08-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

Monday Made It is one of my favorite parties. So many great ideas!

I wanted to share my new reading bulletin board. It was inspired by Ramona Recommends. She has a BEaUtIFul library! This is on the wall in her library--

That phrase perfectly describes how I feel about books and I want so badly for my students to KNOW the it is true! So I copied her phrase and made it into a banner for my reading area.

Come back soon and see what this curtain rod turned into....

Happy Monday,

Meet the Teacher

2014-08-19T16:53:00.001-07:00

I am interrupting my reading marathon to join the teacher blogger linky party. I shouldn't....in order to complete my summer book-a-day challenge, I need to finish my last 16 books by Monday! Anyway I love this week of linky parties. I get to learn about a bunch of new bloggers and sneak inside classrooms across the county...so cool!

Oregon is my home. I have lived just outside of Portland my entire life. I love the rainy days and the weird things that go on in Portland....as long as I don't have to participate:-) I have an adorable lhasa apso named Reese...who is not going to be happy next week adjusting to back to school schedules.

This will be my 12th year teaching. (My first class of 1st graders are seniors!) During the past 12 years, I have taught 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and a couple years with 2/3 blends. I honestly don't know if I have a favorite....but I do really enjoy reading with 3rd graders.

Q: WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITES?
Dodgers, So You Think You Can Dance, Leverage, Pinterest, and Reading

Q: WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOUR WEREN'T A TEACHER?
Play for the orchestra that plays for John Williams or Disney film scores.

Q: WHAT ARE THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU?
Caring, Kind, Shy

Q: WHAT WOULD YOU PUT IN THE BLANK, "___________, SAID NO TEACHER EVER!"
"I love having a budget for decorating my classroom, said no teacher ever!"

Q: IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY AND YOU CAN INVITE ANYONE (DEAD OF ALIVE) TO THE PARTY, WHO ARE YOU INVITING?
Loisa May Alcott, L.M. Montgomery, Kate DiCamillo, Joshua Radin, Sara Bareilles, Josh Groban, Clayton Kershaw, Jackie Robinson, Zooey Deschanel, and Jimmy Fallon.

Q: IF SOMEONE WROTE A BOOK ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD BE THE TITLE?
My brother helped with this one....Book Bums.....sharing my love of reading and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Q: WHAT SUPERPOWER WOULD YOU PICK?
I think I would an ability to take on characteristics of other people.

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE OR SAYING?

Q: IF YOU HAD TO SING ONE SONG ON AMERICAN IDOL, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
It's a toss up between Sweet Caroline or Uptown Girl.

Q: ARE YOU A MORING PERSON OR A NIGHT OWL?
Night Owl....teachers report to school at 7:15. It kills me! My best schedule allows me to sleep from 2am-10am:-)

BONUS: SOMETHING ELSE YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT ME

When I was growing up, my grandmas had a giant jar full of fun shaped or colored soap. I now have her jar and have started my own collection of soap.

#determinedtoblogmore
Happy Tuesday,

Reading in the Wild Chapter 1

2014-06-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

If you have not heard of Donalyn Miller, stop reading this post and go to the library or book store right now. Find a copy of The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild and read them. Then come back and join the summer book study for Reading in the Wild.

Here are your chapter 1 hosts:

The first chapter is about dedicating time to read....not just in your classroom, but in everyday life. I really like what Donalyn calls, "Edge times". Read when you wait for the car people, read when you are at a siblings soccer practice, etc. I love the idea of having kids come up with a list of places that may provide "edge times". Oh my gosh...could an edge time be waiting in line at recess? (Could I give up control and let them take a book outside) Something to think about..... Last summer, while in New York, the 30 minutes Subway ride was my daily edge time in the midst of a busy vacation.

Kids could also share about how to make edge times happen. Do they make sure they always have a book with them...in the car, in their bag. They take their ipods everywhere...do they have a reading app on it? Books at their fingertips. My purse buying criteria always involves whether or not it can hold at least one book.

Chapter 1 Application to Classroom:
Anchor Charts-
"Where Can Readers Read...for a Long While?"
"Where Can Readers Read...for a Short While (Edge Time)?"
"What Tools Do Readers Need to Read During Edge Times?"

What do you think? When to you cram in some reading time? What are your reading plans this summer?

Happy Thursday,

Summer Plans

2014-06-18T15:48:00.002-07:00

Summer Plans in Pictures-

Happy Friday,

PS....already finished 8 books for my bookaday challenge!

Fractions and Literature

2014-06-18T15:38:00.000-07:00

The Math and Literature series by Marilyn Burns is one of my favorite math teaching tools. The book suggests books and lessons that tie math and story together. Kids come up with al kinds of ideas to explain because they have such an unstructured way to respond to the math prompt. The story form gets kids who often get stuck a different way to think about math concepts.

This lesson was all about how to equally share cookies based on an event from Little House in the Big Woods.

Happy Wednesday,

Reading Response Journal Gallery

2014-04-15T15:54:00.001-07:00

I love reading what kids have to share about their reading! Every week, students have to turn in their journals. Five students each day, so I don't end up with 29 all at once to get back to them! Recently, I went to an amazing conference with Mary Ehrenworth...so great! She inspired me to add creativity to our Reading Response Journals. I showed my students some examples. They searched for ideas and we brainstormed them. Here is the awesome-ness that was found-

Problem and Solutions

Character Descriptions...Look closely...he made new words from each of the two descriptive words.

Pictures and descriptions of bad guys or memorable characters

Coded post it notes

A story map

She made a symbol for combining the parts of the book.

This guy drew a picture and then bottom sketches are symbols he made up that would represent each of the characters.

Comparing two books in a series

Comparing two books with similar ideas.

Then we had a gallery showing and shared our work with our friends.

So fun and it put more life and energy into writing about reading!

Happy Wednesday,

Expert Groups...from Science/Social Studies to Math

2014-04-14T15:44:00.003-07:00

Originally this post started out a State Testing Bashing Rant...however, I "Pollyanna'd" it and am, instead going to share the good that came out of preparing for the test.

To trying and at least get some practice with the stuff we haven't learned yet, we have been using expert groups. They are not my own creation, it is a modified version of something from GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Design). I have never used expert groups with math before. Usually a small group studies something then shares out. For example, during science we are studying birds. Groups worked together to learn about different bird habitats, then shared with rest of class.

I thought why couldn't something like this happen with math.

Here is what we have been doing-
Friday-Students are chosen to be expert group leaders. (Before Monday I figure out what I want them to do.)
Monday-we have a "working lunch meeting." I go over the three or four concepts I want the class to work on. They choose the one they feel most comfortable teaching.
Monday-Share their lesson with two groups of studnets
Tuesday-Share their lesson with two groups of students.

Then we repeat the process with new groups on Wednesday and Thursday.
So far we have gone through the process twice.
Round 1-Three Expert Groups
Shapes with lines/no lines of symmetry

Names of different polygons

Balanced equations-apparently the class photographer missed this group:-)

Round 2-Four Expert Groups
Exploring 3-D shapes

3 dimensional shape organizer

Different kinds of lines

Different kinds of angles

I am amazed at how well it has been going. I don't think it is something I could keep up with all year long, but it has been far more smooth than I thought it would be and everyone is learning something better than if I tried to do giant whole class lessons about all these different topics.

Happy Monday,

Five for ValenFriday

2014-02-14T08:54:00.004-08:00

This week flew by! Monday was a snow day, yesterday was our Valentine's Shenanigans, and today is a teacher work day. So how bout a 5 for Friday Review?

1-Heart Art
Sharpie, Markers, and a Rule. Two colors for the heart and two different colors for background. Color checkerboard style.

2-Valentine Party Shirley Temple Floats
Easy Peasy: Cherry 7Up, Ice Cream, Cherries, and Whip Cream

3-Fraction BINGO Valentine Book Swap
Instead of exchanging cards, students wrapped up a book and we played BINGO for books! About half the class still did bring and exchange cards:-)

4-M & M Sorting
We began fractions...hoping candy tricks students into believing they are fun!

New Read Aloud
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane....best.book.ever! I did not get to read this last year, because I looped with half the class. So happy to be sharing it with a new group of Chickadees!

How was your week? Have you survived the Snowpocalpyse....Full Moon/Valentine Combo???

And just a reminder...you have 11 more days to enter a custom made canvas giveaway. Can I enter my own giveaway???

Happy Friday,

It's Wednesday....How Bout a Giveaway!

2014-02-12T15:27:00.004-08:00

It snowed here...finally! We ended up with a four day weekend because of the weather. I watched all of Downton Abby season 4, some Friday Night Lights, and got a small stack of books read.
My puppy loved it too--

Anyway to celebrate the snow and share some Valentine's love, I have a giveaway! A very talented friend of mine makes words into really cool canvas art.
Her facebook page:

Her etsy page:

She will make a canvas customizable for whatever events are in your future....a baby shower, teacher appreciation, friend/family birthday...you think it she can create it. You pick the background, the words, etc. and she will masterfully put it together on a 10x10 sized canvas.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck and Happy Wednesday,

Rollin Some More

2014-01-19T13:46:00.002-08:00

One of my favorite things about teaching 1st grade was all the really fun units that drove the year. Then I moved to second and while we still had units it just didn't have the same feel as first grade. This year is my first year teaching a straight 3rd grade (the past couple have been blends). I was determined to find units that would be new, fun, and include the academic stuff too. We started with Bears....I have a bunch of pics that I need to get into a post. We have now moved onto Forces and Motion. Last year we did this unit in mini-form. It is one of my favorites! Thought I would share some of the work we have done so far.

Some anchor charts-

A place to keep our work.

Inside our file, we keep two books. The journal is for any writing, thinking, and ahas we have during our experiments. The data log is for recording our experiment information.

Before we could begin our experiments, we had to set some standards so that everyone tested their ramp with the same experiments. That way each outcome had a "fair" chance to win.

Then we did some pre-planning

And finally began our tests

For further reading on forces and motion click here or here or here.

Happy Sunday,

Five for Friday

2014-01-10T14:52:00.002-08:00

Friday took for.ev.er. to get here this week! Here are some random pics from the week!

1. I finally got all my Chickadees login information in one place. Once we get to the lab, they use their card to sign it to whatever we are working on that day.

2. We are starting a unit on Forces and Motion. A great way to teach is through games. SO as soon as my class earns all the Mousetrap pieces, we get to have game day!

3. "Clubs" Clubs make everything cooler! We have a "Work Done Club", and a "Homework Club". We just added "Series Club". Read 5 or more books in a series and you add you name to the wall. "Double Dog Dare Challenge" If you are a boy...read a book with a girl main character and vice versa.

4. Seating....all the places my kids choose to work cracks me up. I wish college could have been that way:-)

5. I gave pairs of students a math packet to review multiplication and division. They each had a colored marker and completed the math packet. They could work together, but this way I could make sure they worked equally.

Did your week feel as long as mine?

Happy Friday,