Five for Friday 5.20.16

I can tell that things are beginning to calm down as the end of the school year approaches. This is two weeks running that I've been able to join...

FIRST... Last Saturday I did something that I've never done: I chaperoned our high school prom. Mind you, I am only a sixth grade teacher, but since we're a preK-12 school all of the students from the very young to the old are "our kids". The seniors invited all of their teachers to attend. Since the prom was being held on The Goodtime III, a scenic river cruise ship, I decided to accept the invite. Oh my, what a night! A wonderful dinner, fun dancing, an exciting cruise, and AWFUL weather- from rain to hail to even a little snow... YES, snow in May! What can I say, I live in NE Ohio.

A view from inside the ship during one of the downpours

The same view a little later as the weather cleared

SECOND... Early this week we finished a fun project that took us several class periods. We combined a little art (agamographs from Art with Jenny K) with a little writing as we prepared to celebrate Memorial Day.

The view from the front is rather unusual.

However look from either side at an angle...

... and it's like magic!

THIRD... Because I teach at a Catholic School, when we undergo a self-study (every five years) and create a school improvement plan we must create goals for religious/faith improvement as well as academic improvement. Our current plan's religious goal is to learn and implement the Works of Mercy throughout our school community. The first phase of this goal has us focusing on the Corporal Works of Mercy (phase two, starting next year will focus on the Spiritual Works of Mercy). Our music teacher is a tremendously talented puppeteer. She wrote a captivating puppet show script that highlights the Corporal Works of Mercy. She and her troupe, along with some of my seventh grade English students, performed the show for our K-6 students this week. It was AWESOME!

FOURTH... Today was our annual Fun Day! Our kids wait for this all year long. There is everything from a slip and slide and a bouncy house to arts and crafts as well as goodies and treats all day long. Classes select theme songs and wear like colored T-shirts. The day ends with our annual fifth versus sixth grade kickball tournament.

Some of my sixers and their second grade buddies are creating our parade banner.

Can you guess what our theme song is?

Just waiting for our time to march in the Fun Day parade

FIFTH... The highlight of our Fun Day, at least for my sixers, is the dunk tank. My kiddos wait for this moment from kindergarten. They get to be the ones who get soaked! This year there were fifteen brave sixers who volunteered to get dunked.

View on Flipagram

Be sure to stop by Doodle Bugs Teaching where you can read many more fun Five for Friday posts. It's a great way to keep current with the teacher blogging world!

Make Your Masterpiece #tptsellerchallenge Week 3

It's hard to believe that this is already the third week of the #tptsellerchallenge. Hosted by Ashley from Teach Create Motivate and her best blogging buddies, the challenge has asked us participants to makeover a TpT product, share our dreams about our TpT stores, and now, for this week, create a masterpiece... a brand new product!

Drum roll, please.......... TaDa, my masterpiece(s) featuring my brand new theme!

I am so excited to share these new products. For the past several years I have been utilizing a teal, green, purple polka dot theme in my classroom. My "stuff" looked like this.

I am switching classrooms this year. We have had a major addition to our school: a brand new gymnasium along with ten brand new classrooms. Although I am not moving into a brand new classroom (these have been reserved for our high school grades) I am moving into a different classroom with different accent colors. I decided to switch it up by changing my classroom theme to better suit my NEW room, thus my new BRIGHT TWEENS themed products.

First up: Steps for the End of the Day Poster Set

Contained in this packet are cards with various posters for ending the day smoothly. Use them to create an attractive room display that will help your students develop an effective dismissal procedure. Featuring a Bright Tweens theme, each has an attractive border in either red, blue, orange, or green and are especially suitable for the middle grades.

Here's how it works:

1. Determine the procedures for your dismissal. Over a dozen possible steps are provided in this packet. Pick and choose those that will be most effective in your classroom, or if you need others, there are blank cards upon which you may write. Included also is a Power Point file with cards that can be edited on your computer.
2. Print the cards that you need.
3. Cut around the outer edges of each card.
4. Laminate the cards for durability.
5. Arrange the cards in your chosen order and affix them to a wall, door, or bulletin board; or slip them into a pocket chart.
6. Refer to these steps daily at the beginning of the year until an established routine is formed. Then use the display as a reminder when needed.

Next up: Writing Process Clip Chart for Big Kids

In this packet you will find six posters detailing the steps of the Writing Process. The descriptors on each poster are perfect for older students, TWEENS.

The steps I've included are...

Prewriting
Drafting
Conferencing 
Revising
Proofreading
Publishing

Simply print the pages and laminate them for durability. Arrange the steps vertically in order, attaching them with ribbon or tape. Then hang them in a prominent yet accessible place.

To use the clip chart, write the name of each student on a clothespin or special clip. As students work on their writing, they place their markers on the poster that corresponds to the step on which they are working. You can see at a glance where each student is in the writing process.

Both are available in my TpT Store. Just click on the links above or visit my store and check out my Recent Products. Speaking of recent... just as I completed this blog post, I also completed a new product in this line: Bright Tween Grouping Cards. Be one of the first to check it out HERE. I LOVE grouping cards and use them for all sorts of activities, from forming Literature Circle groups to groups for STEM projects.

Be sure to also check out additional #tptsellerchallenge masterpieces by visiting Ashley over at Teach Create Motivate.

Top 5 in 2014

I think it's safe for me to say that 2014 has been a productive year in my blogging adventure. This post will be the 196th and last post for this calendar year, an increase over last year's total which was one of my blogging resolutions I made last January. Here are my top 5 posts (minus giveaways and sales notices). Just click on the pic of each post to read more about it.

Which of my top five is your favorite?

Hop on over to Ideas by Jivey to catch up on more Top 5 Posts by Teacher Bloggers.

The First Day of School... Classroom Reveal finally!

Welcome to my world! Enjoy the look around. If you are reading this post between the hours of 7:00am and 3:30pm then this is where I am, happily ensconced with either 22 sixth graders, 23 fifth graders, or 25 eighth graders, celebrating our return to school.

I hope EVERYONE has a WONDERFUL school year!

Happy Teaching, Angela The Teacher's Desk 6

Lovin' and Pinnin' Wednesday

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I LOVE WEDNESDAYS! I get to blog about Pinterest and talk about things that I love. What could be better?

This week I am LOVIN' my new home laminator. I took the plunge after reading so many of my bloggy friends extol the virtues of their machines. I really didn't want to spend the money, but the laminator at school is on the fritz and it doesn't look like it will be fixed anytime too soon. I dug in my drawer and found a slew of Barnes and Noble gift cards... we used to have a B&N store in town before the recession and e-readers became popular. I had over 200 hundred dollars worth of certificates so I ordered my laminator and 100 sheets of film and didn't have to spend a dime! LOVIN' that especially!

The laminator arrived last Saturday and has been working hard ever since. So hard that there are only 30 sheets of film left. I ordered another 300 sheets with the rest of the gift certificates today. Here is my new toy working away at laminating my monster/polka dot themed word wall cards and CCSS "I Can" Statements. LOVIN' it!

I'm LOVIN' this idea from Pinterest. I think it is one of the easiest and most clever ideas I've seen. I'm working on customizing a mini-office for my 5/6th grade Language Arts students in my polka dot/monster theme.

You can visit the original site HERE.
I'm LOVIN' these behavior beads from Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera. My sixers would go WILD over them!
You can visit the original site HERE.

I am LOVIN' that I got many TpT items completed this week.




You can view the original site HERE.
I'm also LOVIN' that so many of my bloggy friends are celebrating giveaways this week. Please stop by their blogs for chances to win some awesome teaching resources and terrific gifts.

Kristin over at Teach n' Tex is hosting a 3x3 Giveaway. What you see here is just part of it!

Desiree over at Kinders on the Block is celebrating her second blogiversary.

Jessica from Joy in the Journey has a blogiversary in the works as well!

Happy Wednesday,
Happy Teaching,
Angela
The Teacher's Desk 6

Wild about Word Clouds

I just had to blog about word clouds. I am WILD about them! 

I discovered them several years ago and have used them in my classroom, both for decoration and for instruction, ever since. If you're not familiar with what a word cloud is take a trip over to Projects by Jen. She's best known for her Guess the Wordle daily word cloud. Each day she posts a brand new word cloud for students all over the world to puzzle out.

My fivers LOVE this! It's the way we begin each Language Arts class. In addition, Jen has loads of tips and tricks for using and working with word clouds, including additional add-on programs to get REALLY creative with them.

There are many websites at which you can make word clouds. Each has its pro's and con's. I recommend trying them all to find the one perfect for you. Here is a listing of some of the more popular cloud generators on the internet:

• Wordle http://www.wordle.net
• Tagxedo http://www.tagxedo.com/
• ABCya (kids) http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm
• Word It Out! http://worditout.com/
• Tag Crowd http://tagcrowd.com/

One of my favorite ways of using word clouds is at the beginning of the school year. During the first week of school, I always assign my sixers to write a single paragraph autobiography. I teach mini-lessons about paragraph formation, the six traits of writing, editing, writing process, word processing, etc. Once they have completed their paragraph, including saving it on a flash drive, they upload it to http://www.wordle.net, the word cloud generator that I prefer. The ensuing word clouds are printed, framed, and displayed outside out classroom. Additionally, I take a digital photo of each word cloud and compile them into a video that I run for Open House, parent conferences, and any time throughout the year that we have something special going on in the building.


This year I had my fivers complete Word Cloud Book Reports. What fun they had! Plus there was some great thinking going on: decisions about what words to include, what not to include, colors and fonts that helped convey a particular meaning. The finished product made for an attractive hallway display that sparked a lot of comments from parents and visitors. If you're interested in doing this project with your class, it is available in my TpT Store. The link is listed below the graphic. In the packet are directions, websites, suggestions, and two planning sheets.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Teachers-Desk-6

Happy Teaching,
Angela
The Teacher's Desk 6

Spring into a Good Book ... Again!

A few weeks ago I blogged about an item that I was working on: Spring into a Good Book and shared a FREEBIE from it. Today, I just had to share a couple of photos of our finished display. It's just in time for our Spring Open House this Sunday. Our visitors will be greeted by our mini-book reports as they climb to the second floor.

It's still not too late for you and your students to Spring into a Good Book! 

Download the FREEBIE (flower) HERE. The complete packet (four springtime patterns) is available in my TpT Store HERE.

The students and teachers enjoyed this so much that they came to me with ideas for our next book report wall display: something warm and beach-y they said with beach balls, sun umbrellas, surboards, and flipflops!  This sounds like a great Spring Break project... ONE WEEK and counting!

Happy Teaching,

Angela

The Teacher's Desk 6

teachersdesk@yahoo.com

Spring into a Good Book... UPDATE

On Feb. 27, 2013, I blogged about Pinterest and how it has given me SOOOO many new ideas to add to my teaching repertoire and caused me to spend SOOOO much time online! I also mentioned a new product that I was working on, Spring Into a Good Book, a seasonal book report/display inspired by a Pinterest project and offered a FREEBIE sample of one of the patterns.

I had to do a quickie post and share what one of my teaching partners did with my product. She added another Pinterest idea, a three dimensional water lily patterned after Monet's masterpiece, and came up with the cutest display item! A big thumbs up to Mrs. Cobb and her fourth graders for making "Spring into a Good Book" so awesome!

The third graders have finished their butterflies, and the fifth graders are working on their flowers. I've got to get my sixers going on their kites! We're the last ones to do our part of the display.

Happy Teaching,
Angela
The Teacher's Desk 6
teachersdesk@yahoo.com

A Novel Idea: Story Chains and a TpT Holiday Offer

I mentioned today’s topic, Story Chains, in my last blog entry Novel Responses to Novels on March 1, 2013. Story Chains is a fun and motivating way for students to demonstrate they have acquired the ability to retell a story, to sequence the actions in a story, to relay the main idea and details of a selection, or to summarize the plot of a chapter or book. 

I have used this activity with my fifth- and sixth-grade students who have read both fiction and nonfiction selections and with eighth-grade Science students who have read textbook material. It could easily be adapted for any grade level and any content area. In addition, it is an activity that works well as a co-operative group activity or as an individual assignment.

Directions:

1.    Assign a story, novel, or text selection for students to read.

2.    Prepare numerous 1" by 8 1/2" white (or pastel-colored) paper strips.

3.    Distribute your determined strips to each student or co-operative group of students.

4.    On one strip, ask students to write the title and author of the selection. If it is a selection from a textbook, have them write the chapter title, page numbers, or any pertinent identification information.

5.    On each of the remaining ten strips, the students should write a sentence or two detailing important events or main ideas from the reading selection. Remind them to include events from the beginning, the middle, and the end of the selection. The chosen events should summarize the selection or identify the main idea and supporting details.

6.    Require the students to include various visual symbols that support the information on each strip as well as page or paragraph numbers where the information is found.

7.    When all the strips are completed, the students are to staple or glue them in an interlocking chain in order, similar to holiday paper chains.

8.    Ask the students to share their chains with the class.

9.    Use the chains to decorate a bulletin board or hang them in the hallway for all the students in your building to enjoy.

As I looked back at this activity that I’ve used almost since I began teaching, I noticed that it aligns nicely with the grs. 5 and 6 ELA Common Core Standards for Literature and Informational Reading. I’m sure it could also be adapted for other grades as well.

Happy Teaching,

Angela

The Teacher’s Desk 6

teachersdesk@yahoo.com

P.S. Did you notice that The Desk is WEARING THE GREEN? Happy St. Patrick's Day!

To help celebrate this holiday, I am offering my St. Patrick's Day Parts of Speech Mystery Pictures in a bundle. Each individual picture is priced at $1.00. For the month of March I am offering the bundle of THREE for only $2.00... you get one FREE! Click HERE or on the link below the picture to download your bundle. Erin go bragh!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/MARCH-SPECIAL-St-Patrick-Parts-of-Speech-Mystery-Pictures-BUNDLE

Pinterest... How did I survive without you?

I am wild about Pinterest! If I don't get my daily fix I go into withdrawl.

Well... not literally, but close!

Just take a look at my boards. I've only been truly active on them since Thanksgiving and already they are loaded with great ideas. http://pinterest.com/teachersdesk/

I am not alone in my addiction either. My second floor colleagues at St. John School are also addicted to Pinterest. As a result, it's not unusual to see Pinterest ideas hanging in our hallway, in our rooms, being worked on by students- you get the picture.

Recently on Pinterest, I found a terrific art idea for my sixth graders based on famous glass-blowing artist, Dale Chilhuly's glass chandeliers. While his are crafted of glass, ours are crafted of plastic water bottles and Sharpie markers. The originals that he and his artisans create are beautiful; however, the ones that my sixers designed and fashioned are GORGEOUS... all thanks to Pinterest! Take a peek. What do you think? If you want to know more about this project, it is pinned on my Just For Fun Pinterest Board.

This isn't the only great Pinterest idea that can be seen in our hallway. At Christmas I found a clever idea on Pinterest for promoting reading and decorating the hallway. It was a cut-out of a Christmas light to which a brief book review was attached. All of the students in our hallway, grs. 3-6 each fashioned a light and wrote a book review of a recently read book. The lights were printed on brightly colored paper, cut-out, then strung together on green yarn. The "string of lights" were illuminated with the sign READING BRIGHTENS OUR LIVES. It was a hit!

I especially liked that we were promoting reading. I went in search of more ideas like this on Pinterest and struck it lucky. During mid-January through this week, grs. 3-6 promoted reading once again when they invited everyone to WARM-UP TO A GOOD BOOK. This Pinterest idea featured a large mug of cocoa on which was attached a brief book report. TOO CUTE! Both of these ideas can be found on my Pinterest Language Arts board.

These two ideas inspired me to create my own book promotion display for the upcoming season of Spring. Titled SPRING INTO A GOOD BOOK, students can write on a small label about a book they have recently read and attach it to a spring shaped background. These book reports can then be displayed for all to read and perhaps find a book to SPRING into! Here's a FREEBIE sample of this activity. It contains one spring shape, a flower, and the book report labels along with directions for assembly. You can download the FREEBIE HERE or by clicking the link below the graphic. The full version has four shapes to choose from (flower, frog, butterfly, and kite) and is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Our St. John students will be working on their shape report over the next several days. Our display should be ready by early next week, just in time to usher in Spring- I can't wait!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6Q14Z2f7SoAWWl5bVpQcFozb3M/edit?usp=sharing

Happy Teaching,

Angela

The Teacher's Desk6

teachersdesk@yahoo.com