Dry Erase Desks?

 I thought I would take the time to share one of my favorite secrets with everyone. I use dry erase boards a lot during math and sometimes I just don't have the time to drag out my student white boards, markers, and erasers. To help with this problem I often let my students use their desks as their dry erase boards. Yes I said desks. My kids LOVE the fact they get the write on their desks. On a side note, I always go over the rules; we are only allowed to draw on our desks when we have permission and only with dry eraser markers. This secret really works. I promise. I have even taken it a step further and have drawn on my teacher table during small groups. It works just the same. I have found over the years of doing this that newer markers work best and some colors are better than others when it comes to leaving residue. The student's desks allow the students to have a larger working area. It works great when we are working with manipulatives. If any residue is left after erasing, a good Clorox Wipe (or any wet wipe) will take it right off. Here are a few pictures to show you what I am talking about. I hope everyone enjoys this tip. Happy Blogging!

BTW: I do know the ones place says 9 and there are only 2 units. My student hadn't finished placing her units when I took this picture. :)





2. A little residue was left after erasing.



1. Using our desks to work on making numbers







3. Good as new after using a wet wipe!



Base Ten Bots



Too Cute!

 I feel like such a slacker. Last week was crazy. We had our GAPSS accreditation review at my school last Tuesday and we were all stressed out. Everything went fine and looking back at it; I don't even know why I was stressed out about it. I finally had the time to finish up a math performance task today that my class did a while back. It is a place value performance task, looking at numbers in the thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones place. The kids got to create their own Base Ten Bots out of cubes, flats, rods, and units. After they made their bot, they had to answer questions related to the number it took to build the robot. They had to put the number in a place value chart, be able to write the number in standard, expanded, and word form. They had to find what the number would be with 10, 100, 1,000 more and 10, 100, 1,000 less.  They also had to round the number to the nearest 10, 100, and 1,000 and more. My kids had a blast making the Base Ten Bots and I really got a chance to assess their number sense knowledge. You can check out the task by clicking on the picture. I hope your class enjoys this activity as much as mine did!

Theme Day Tuesday!

My third grade classroom theme this year is ladybugs. I also incorporated polka-dots into the design because of the versatility of them. I have decided to show bits and pieces of my room to all you that carry out the theme of my room this year. So, every Tuesday I will be posting one different ladybug/polka-dot theme idea. I always enjoy getting ideas from other teachers on the web when it comes to classroom design and I am hoping I might be able to inspire some of you as well. My first theme idea comes from my behavior management system. This summer, I was reading about Canter's Behavior Management System and I thought I would try it this year in my room. Canter suggested tally marks on the board, but I changed it to spots on a ladybug. We have a goal of 50 spots. When we get there we will be having free center time and no homework for a week! Right now we have 44 spots. I have a really good class this year. I added the caption "Spotted Begin Good", and voila, my behavior management system! I have it in the front of my room on my white board so all can see. Check out the picture below! What do you use for you behavior management system?

National Constitution Day!

       I always introduce our government unit by reading the Magic Tree House books, Revolutionary War on Wednesday and the Research Guide to Revolutionary War on Wednesday. During the weeks leading up to National Constitution Day, we read both of these books. We did several activities including a novel study that I created. At the end of the unit, we made the Betsy Ross one cut, five pointed star. We labeled each star with one of the original thirteen colonies. Then, we created the first American flag with different facts about the American Revolution. You can check out the novel study and learn how to make the flag for yourself by clicking on our class flag. I hope you all had a great Constitution Day. Happy Blogging!

New Products

Mrs. J is holding a linky party. Head on over to her site to see some of the newest teacher created items on Teachers pay Teachers. If you would like, link up your newest product and then link back to her in your blog. Here is the link below:
http://publicschoolteachersodyssey.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-products-linky-party.html

Great Buy!

My mother-n-law bought these adorable frames at the dollar store. Since my classroom theme is ladybugs they are perfect. They are specifically made to display student work in the hallway. All you have to do is remove the perforated inside (which are name labels). I decided to laminate them. This has made them a lot sturdier. This also has been great about keeping the work protected from passersby. I hot glued (a teacher's best friend) the outer corner of the frames on the sides and bottom. This way I can slip the student's work in and out without having to remove the frame. You can't get any better than the dollar store. Check them out for yourself! 





 

Pet Rocks!

Free picture collage personalized with Smilebox

My third graders are in the process of learning about rocks and minerals. I always love starting the year off with this unit because my students always find a love for science during it. All of my students brought in a rock (no bigger than their fists , we don't need pet boulders :) ). We started off by taking some data on our rocks. We weighed them, measured them, tested their hardness, tested for acid, and we tested it's buoyancy. Then came the fun part. We painted our pet rocks! Since my classroom theme this year is ladybugs, we painted our rocks to look accordingly. I personally think they are too cute!! With a couple of wiggly eyes, our pet rocks really came to life. Next week we are going to be taking our pet rocks outside for a streak test on the basketball court. The pictures above are just a few of our lovable ladybugs.

Math Clue Words Posters

I have always hand written my math clue words on an anchor chart in my classroom for all my kiddies to see. Since my school's day is a tid bit shorter this year (budget), I don't have as much time to sit on the carpet and make the charts. I finally broke down and made Math Clue Word posters to hang in my math center for the kids to use all year. I think they turned out adorable and I really think they will help my students solve those pesky word problems.;) These are completely free!!! So, if you like the way they look feel free to click on the picture and get a set for yourself. I hope you enjoy them. Happy blogging!

Pirate Themed Calendar for the Smart Board

With limited wall space, but a huge variety of technology at my hands. I have created an interactive pirate themed math calendar that can be used on the Smart Board. I love using my Smart Board for calendar time, because it allows me to free up my large classroom bulletin board for other uses. This interactive math calendar, provides practice with the calendar, weather, place value, money, time, skip counting, basic math facts, and more. Please click here to go straight to my TpT site to purchase this activity. Thanks!!!

Great Buy!

I know it has been awhile, but the first week of school is always crazy. I love my classroom. The only problem I have is its size and layout. I love going online and seeing other teacher's spacious classrooms and I always want to imitate some of the great ideas. The only problem is, I don’t have the space. My room is a perfect square with a whiteboard in the front and a bulletin board in the back. Throw in some coat racks, a sink, and a closet and you have a pretty good picture of my room. Well, I decided to do something about it this year. I bought individual cork tiles to make my own bulletin boards around my room. They come in a four pack and I bought mine at Wal-Mart and at Staples. I can't remember how much they were, but whatever it was it was well worth it. I have made several small boards around my room. I hot glued mine to the wall, but they come with adhesive. These are a great addition to any room with limited board space. Here are some pictures of a few of my boards. I have them on the wall, but I have also made boards on my cabinets. I am finishing up my Ladybug Unit with my students and they have really enjoyed it. I will be posting the packet on TpT next week. Happy Blogging! 

Summer is over

So today was officially my last day of summer. Pre-planning starts tomorrow and I am trying to figure out a way to make myself sleepy. I had such big plans today, like getting the house spruced up and the yard work under control before tomorrow. I didn't know the forces around me had another plan. I decided I would cut the grass in the morning so the southern heat wouldn't be so bad. I had just a little more to cut when, wham, I ran over a yellow jackets nest and got stung ten times. I'm not allergic, but for the last nine hours it has felt like the left side of my body is on fire. So, now all my plans have gone to waste. On a lighter note, I can say that with a couple of ice packs and a nice recliner I have been able to work a lot on my Ladybug cross curricular unit and it is almost complete. My classroom theme this year is ladybugs, so I decided to make a unit with this theme for the beginning of the year. I'm really excited about it and I think the kids will enjoy it too. I even wrote a a non-fiction book to go along with it. I can't wait until it is finished and I can post it. So, in the next week or so be on the look out for my Ladybug Discovery Kit. Happy Blogging!

Great Buy!

One of the best buys I have bought for my classroom/home is the Scotch Thermal Laminator. I love it!! I have been able to make a ton of centers and labels for my classroom at home this summer. I bought the laminator at Wal-mart for about $29.00. The laminating sheets come in a box of 50 for about $15.00 on Amazon. At my school we have a laminating person and she only laminates on Wednesdays, so it is really nice to be able to laminate some of my smaller products myself without having to wait. The largest item you can laminate on this laminating machine is the same size as printer paper. If you ask me, it is well worth the money.