Silly Sentences and Monday Made It

Thanks to Tara from Fourth Grade Frolics for hosting Monday Made It.  I always look forward to seeing the great projects from the talented bloggers who link up, and I have found so many good ideas to Pin, and some that I've even completed myself.

I haven't been too creative this week, but I have been at work in the kitchen.  My husband got into the Farmer's Market on his own on Wednesday and brought me back 20 pounds of peaches. I gave half of them away, then my mum and my daughter pitched in and helped me make peach pies.  I'm gluten intolerant so I used this pie crust mix from Glutino for the crust.  It was delicious!  More like shortbread than traditional pie crust, but everyone loved it.  They loved it so much that it was gone before I remembered to get a picture!

If you need (because pie is a necessity for life as we know it) to make a gluten free pie I recommend this mix (it's actually just the flour mix - you have to add everything else yourself).  The only glitch was that it was EXTREMELY difficult to get from the counter into the pie plate because it wanted to fall apart.  I eventually just pressed the bottom crust into the plate in chunks, and froze the top on well floured waxed paper and quickly flipped it onto the bottom.

A friend gave me a good tip for some delicious soup she'd found on Pinterest. It's called Butternut Squash Coconut Curry Soup with Shrimp and Rice Noodles.  I just happen to have a multitude of butternut squash growing in the back yard...... This soup was really great.  I'm going to try it with halibut next time.

You can find the post with the recipe here at Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

For years the kids in my class have loved doing an activity that I call "Silly Sentences" when they have choices during Language Arts time.  I made it up after I attended a seminar about LA centers about 15 years ago.  That session completely changed my approach to my LA block.  Last year when I introduced The Daily Five in my classroom I was happy to find that it also worked well for Work on Writing.
Originally I made a sheet for the kids to fill out that was in this format:

The (adjective) (noun-person or character or animal) (verb) (connecting word) the (colour word) (noun - thing).

The sheet was hand printed and looked like this:

I had a list of words for each blank on colour coded cards.  The kids could pick the words they liked
from the cards and fill them in until they had a complete sentence.
Then they drew a cartoon picture to illustrate their sentence.  The picture had to have speech balloons with AT LEAST 3 words in them (or else they just put things like, "YAY!" or "AAAAA").
I made the student form on a half piece of paper because the idea was to do writing and I didn't want them to spend ages on their pictures.  In fact I encouraged them to make stick figures and think about what their characters might be saying in the funny situation.  Some of them were seriously hilarious! It really brought out their sense of humour.
An added bonus was that they loved reading their silly sentences to others and showing their cartoons.  It became so popular that I told them if they read it to 5 different people (and at least 2 had to be outside the classroom) and got their listeners to sign the back I would give them a shiny sticker that I got from Really Good Stuff. Were they ever motivated to get that sticker!

This has been a great activity for emergent and reluctant writers.  They feel confident doing it because everything they need to complete their sentence is at their fingertips.  It got even the most intransigent of students writing.
When I switched to grade two a few years ago I wondered if Silly Sentences was challenging enough for most of them.  I had it out at the beginning of the year, but when I put it away after Christmas they BEGGED me to bring it out again.
So I challenged them to fill out their sheet using words that they found in the dictionary instead of on my cards if they were capable writers.  I still left out the cards and told them they could use them "if they needed them".  Most of them were quite happy to accept this new twist, and so they got practice using dictionaries as well!  Score!!
I was thinking about this center the other day and decided I would make up a new version to use and others could use too.  Here's are of some of the pages in the new version, now available on TpT.

(I made the student page with US and Canadian spelling of color/colour)
I'm so excited about this product.  Click here to see it.

It's an E-MERGENCY!

Last week I shared about the wonderful gift card that a bunch of parents from my class gave me for a year end gift.

A very short time ago...

Today I had to go to Chapters to get my sweet granddaughter Sydney a gift card of her own for her 12th birthday.  I can hardly believe she's twelve already.  The years fly by even faster when you're a grandparent than when you're a parent!

                                                                 

While I was there I browsed through the kids' section a bit and found
E-MERGENCY! by Tom Lichtenheld and Ezra Fields-Meyer. It is so clever that I really couldn't resist.


Beginning:  The letters all live together.

Notice the P in the bathroom. My little boys are going to collapse when they see this!

One day E falls down the stairs and has to be taken away in an ambulance.

Other letters can be seen looking on in horror, and Y says, "WHY isn't E even crying?"  O replies, "Sometimes E is silent.

Middle:  At the hospital E is placed on total bed rest in order to recover. While E is absent from the alphabet, O is selected by A (who is obviously in charge) to replace E because O is "so well-rounded". There are hilarious "letter-play" like this on every page. 

More Middle:  Because O is replacing E there are all sorts of mix-ups. 

More middle:  When the letters find that E is not recovering they take a road trip to make sure everyone knows that is is recovering and not to be used. 

But when they get home they find E has still not recovered. And then they realize that the narrator of the book is still using E to tell the story. 

End:  With the solution discovered E makes a speedy recovery and things return to normal in the alphabet. 

I think that this book will offer not only great entertainment, but an opportunity to point out why it's important to use correct letters in words.
I made this sheet for my class to do after I read E-MERGENCY to them. 

                                    Click here if you'd like to use it too.

I'm linking up to Book Talk Tuesday with  Deanna Jump today.  Check out the other book ideas over there too!

The Best Buy of the Summer! and Canadian Money Task Cards

I linked up with Joanne from Head Over Heels for Teaching for Spark Student Motivation Saturdays.  She had so many great ideas that it was a no brainer to start following her blog. SHE was linked up with Elementary AMC for another great linky called Why'd I Buy It?  This is a monthly forum for showing off purchases you get for your classroom and why you think they're great.

                                

I really should've found this link-up LAST summer when I did a lot of updating in my classroom and got all sorts of exciting new stuff, instead of this summer when B.C. Teachers are on strike with no end in sight.

Nevertheless, there are a couple of things I couldn't resist buying. 

Here they are:

#1.  Not the sort of thing you'd normally buy when you've been without a pay cheque since mid-June and wonder when the next one will be. 

                                    
The regular price at Michael's is $99 here in Canada (OUCH!!). BUT they were 60% off - make that $40.  You know the coupons they always have for 40% off a regular priced item?  I had one for 40% off ANY single item! - down to $24. AND I had a 20% off my total purchase coupon - now $24. BUT that wasn't all!  I also had a 20% off my total purchases coupon, AND they also gave me the 15% Teachers' Discount(!!!!) making the final price less than $20!!  I could hardly believe it. Have you seen that IKEA add where the woman runs out, jumps in the car and yells, "Go, Go!"? That's what I felt like. I can still hardly believe it!

#2. While I was there I also picked up this patterned cardstock which will be great to use for my Math task cards. I can print them in black and white to save ink, using regular paper, then glue them on to this paper before laminating them.   They were 3 packs (100 pages) for $11 ( and then the 20% discount...).

#3.  I actually bought this at Costco in May before we went out on strike, but I haven't installed it yet because I'm trying to use up the coloured ink cartridge on my old printer.  Before I got this new printer (HP4500 WIRELESS!) my old one was running out of ink about every other week and the cartridges are ridiculously expensive.  Now the last one has lasted months.  What's with that?  I'm about to start printing all the goodies that I got at the BTS sale, and the new products that I've made over the summer, so the ink will be used up pretty quickly.

The ink cartridges are about half of what my old ones cost, and when I bought the printer Costco had a discount coupon for them, too, so I bought a bunch.  The thing I'm really excited about, though is that it can print wirelessly.  That means I'll be able to print pages from my iPad that I can't download from Google docs.

For a Freebie today I'd like to share my Canadian coins task cards, because this might be the only money I'll be seeing for a while if this *!#*! strike doesn't settle!  I made these with pennies even though we don't officially have them here any more (except for the millions still very much active in primary classrooms across the country), because the kids still remember them, and they need the practice counting by 25's, 10's, and 5's, then switching to 1's and counting on.

Hop over to my TpT store to see them.

Happy Labour Day, everyone!

Green Pens and a Freebie

I'm always trying to come up with new ideas for marking Math that will leave me more time to work with individuals.  Here are some things I've tried over the years:
1.  Mark after school, at lunch time, at home....We've all done this and wished we didn't have to.  Apart from the obvious drawback I found that students needed immediate feedback on their errors for best results and there's never enough time the next day to work on corrections.
2.  So I went to having everyone line up and wait while I marked on student's work at a time, then did their corrections and went to Math centers.  Better for getting the corrections done, but OOHH that line got noisy!
3.  This was better:  When work is done students stand behind their chair and work on a Math colour-by-number sheet, and I circulate and mark.  When the marking is done, the student does their corrections and goes to Math tubs.  I did this one for a long time and it worked pretty well.
4.  Last year I wanted to do Guided Math and I needed that marking time to work with small groups.  So I went to my latest system:  Green Pens.
I put out two answer keys for the daily Math sheet, and 2 green pens.  When they are done they head over and mark their own sheet using a green pen.

If they get all the answers right they take a green pen and an answer key to an open space in the room, get a mini desk, and become an Official Math Marker.

Students who finish can then go to either the Official Math Marker or to the second answer sheet (if they haven't both been claimed already).  If they don't have all their answers right they return to their desks, do their corrections, then go to Math centers. 
Each time the Official Math Markers marks work that is 100% correct they pass the pen along to that person and go to Math centers.  I make this optional.  Some kids would rather just go to centers. 

It's a WIN/WIN set up.  Students are highly motivated to get all their answers correct the first time around, and I get to have time for my small groups! Yay!! (And they love going to Math centers so it's not a huge negative if they get one or two wrong).

As an added incentive I always have a set of stickers that are related to the season or theme that we're studying.  If all their answers are correct the first time the Official Math Marker gives the one sticker for the front of their Math book.  They put them on in lines of 10.  Each time they fill a row they earn a tag for their lanyard.
Here's the tag I made for them:

Click here to get a free set. 

I just found this excellent linky from Head Over Heels for Teaching as I was blog surfing, and thought I'd join in this week.

 There are so many great ideas here!

Have a great long weekend. And check in next week.  I'll be offering more freebies.

Last Friday of Summer? and a wagon load of freebies

Five for Friday link

Here in B.C. we go back to school the Monday after Labour Day.  Usually.  Almost always.  Every year I can remember since I started grade 1 myself (and that was a LONG time ago).
But not this year.  We are on strike.  We went out on strike on June 13th after being locked out by the government before school, during recess and lunch hour, and after school :(

We are all hoping this will be resolved soon so we can get back into our classrooms (hastily abandoned in June) and do what we love and want to do - TEACH!

Meanwhile, I'm resolved to put on my Pollyanna face and make the most of my extended summer "holiday".  Five for Friday is a perfect venue for that.  And it was a wonderful week!
The weather was beautiful, with warm days and cool nights, and a hint of fall in the air.  Here are my five weekly highlights:

I have done a better job of blogging this week.  I am resolved to get this thing under control and become a fluent blogger. I offered several freebies this week.  I'm going to include them again in this post.  They'll be available for free in my TpT store until Saturday morning, and then I'll make them paid items again.  If you want them PLEASE follow my blog, then go download them by clicking on the titles.
1. Monday - Pattern Train Task Cards

2. Tuesday - Back to School Survey Questions

3. Thursday - Weigh Away

5. Friday - Two for today because I missed Wednesday!
Telling Time

and Roll and Order

My daughter did the weather this week on our local television station.  She did a terrific job and I'm so proud of her!

I walked 3 miles every day this week!  I started walking 2-3 miles a day at the end of July and have managed to keep it up at least 4 days a week since.  My dog, Jack, loves to come along. My grandson Noah came along yesterday, too.

We live in a hilly area that is built on silt bluffs.  This makes walking a bit more challenging and provides spectacular views of the South Thompson River Valley.

This actually happened last week, but I'm still reaping the rewards:
I won a HUGE Giveaway from Marcy at Saddle Up for Second Grade. THANKS SO MUCH and congratulations on your 1000 followers milestone.

I received amazing items from a generous bunch of teachers who donated to the giveaway.  Thanks to:

Marcy at Saddle Up for Second Grade,  Courtenay form Ramoma Recommends, Angela from Hippo Hooray for Second Grade, Heather from Second Grade Perks, Chelsea from Kickin' It Whole Brain in Texas, Arisbeth from Sailing Into Second, Dixie from Teachin' Little Texans, Allison from Stuckey in Second, Sarah from Rocky Top Teacher, Lori from Owl in a Vowel Tree, and Cassandra from Mrs.3rd Grade!!!!!!!!!!!

As if that wasn't lucky enough, earlier this month I won a $10 TpT gift coupon from Victoria at Enchanted Learning. It was just in time to use it in the Back to School sale!

Victoria has uploaded a whole bunch of books that she reads for kids onto YouTube (and run through safeshare software). They are available in her store in sets of 4. I spent a chunk of my windfall on a couple of her sets. My kids love listening to books. I bet yours do too.  

Have a wonderful Labour Day weekend!

Mark Less and a FLASH FREEBIE

Anyone out there having issues with time?  Management, I mean.  

It seems to me that the days at school FLY by and even though I work through most recesses, and usually only grab 15 minutes for lunch, I was still ending up at school until 5:00 most nights.

Not that I didn't love being there (I do), but by the time I got home, cooked supper, watched a TV show or two, and read a couple of blogs I was worn out and ready for bed.  I had no time left for healthy planning, exercise, keeping up with friends, social activities, or blogging.  I was done.

One of the things I've done to try to rectify this situation is MARK LESS.  It's taken me 20+ years to realize that I do not need to see everything that the kids in my class do, much less mark it.  Most of what they do in Language Arts or Math centers is practice what they've previously learned (and I've seen and marked).  When I set up the centers I put a cover sheet with the instructions in a sheet protector, back to back with the answer key so that they can mark their own when they've finished.  When I first started doing this I thought there might be a problem with students who just copied the answers down instead of figuring out the answers for themselves.  This actually rarely happened for two reasons:
1.  Davey Do-Gooder and Watchful Wanda (every class has a couple) were quick to report that copying was taking place.

2.  I made sure that the activities in the centers were about the right length for the time available (maybe even taking a wee bit longer than time available for most kids).  Then if somebody was done a center in 5 minutes when it should take 20 to 30 I would know right away.  They didn't usually try it again.
3.  I tried really hard to provide open-ended centers that would be interesting and hands on so that they would be engaged in the activity. 

Here is a center that I just finished making for my class to use.  It is part of my start up Math unit on patterns.

The center is one I've used for years in my Math centers (it just looks better now...).  The kids love it because it's fun and I love it because it is easy for them to be successful at it.  
The kids choose a task card and make the pattern indicated on it.  This picture shows on of the more challenging patterns in this set of task cards.

Once they finish making their train they draw, colour, and label it on their sheet.  All I need to do is glance at their papers after they've finished drawing their train. I can quickly see if they're understanding the concept of a repeating pattern.

If you'd like to grab it click here.