Mind-Boggling Monday: Grades and Weather

So, what's mind-boggling this week? The weather for one! Mind you, I am not really complaining. I just am boggled. It was beautifully warm and sunny last week with temps in the 50's, early spring-like weather. Now it's dingy and cold again with temps in the 20's.  What else is mind-boggling? Grades! I can NOT believe that the third grading period is over. Tonight I have to prepare my online gradebook for printing report cards! Sigh! Where has the time gone... truly mind-boggling!

Here's this week's Boggle board to help you and your kiddos overcome anything mind-boggling in your classroom. A round of Boggle can clear the colly-wobbles, create a brain break, and set the stage for some serious word work! Just download the image and project it for your students and you to use.

Not sure how to play Boggle? Click HERE for the original game rules.

Need a Boggle board that you can edit yourself? Click HERE for a free editable board.

Want a variety of editable boards to change with the seasons? Click HERE for a bundle of fifteen.

Throwback Thursday: Fun Reminder

What is Throwback Thursday? How does it work, you might ask? Simply look through your PURR-fect Previous Posts, perhaps a particular favorite of yours, and re-post it! Purr-fectly easy and simple! Your post doesn't have to be from LOOOONNNGGG ago; it can be from last month or even earlier this week. And if you don't have a post to share, perhaps an old photo or two from WAY BACK will do! Even a favorite pin is PURR-fect! Just join in the Throwback fun!

This was such a fun activity to prepare and implement. I was so happy to unearth this older post from March 23, 2013; it serves as a great reminder.

As I posted earlier in the week, my sixers have been hitting the parts of speech pretty hard lately, at least the identification part. They do very well when each part of speech is worked in isolation, they do well when two or three are practiced at one time, but when we look at all of them together... uh oh! Some of my kiddos have even been staying after school- voluntarily- to get in extra practice. They've done worksheets, quizzes, lessons galore and are getting a bit ho-hum with the practice.

So to perk things up a bit this week, that LOOOOOONG week just before a break, we are going to have a Parts of Speech (POS) Round-up on Tuesday morning.  I've been gathering the materials and organizing everything for the past few days. Today it's all ready, except for the laminating (that's Monday morning). 

Here's how it will work. Instead of a regular Language Arts class I'll be setting up six stations, one per table, around the room. Each table will house one activity for practicing the parts of speech. Students will rotate every fifteen minutes until they have visited each station and completed the activity. 

The stations are as follows:

1. POST... a card game (available in my TpT store) for up to six players in which each player brainstorms a list of words for randomly selected part of speech beginning with a particular letter

2. Mystery Pictures based on the fowl tempered friends with whom my sixers love playing. These are available in my TpT store.

3. Egg-cellent Verbs and Egg-citing Sentences... identifying verb tenses and writing sentences with randomly selected verbs that are hidden inside of Easter eggs

4. Parts of Speech Dice... purchased from Amazon, that require students to write sentences using particular parts of speech

5. MadLibs... Easter stories, collected from across the internet, to be completed by providing missing parts of speech

6. Parts of Speech Computer Battleship... the familiar board game turned digital at Quia Quiz site

Tuesday's Round-up should make it a little more fun when practicing the parts of speech. It should also help to make the day pass more quickly... ONE MORE DAY CLOSER TO EASTER BREAK! Can you tell I'm ready?

Although I still have a little time left before Easter break this year, I am planning ahead for those days just prior to vacation, those days when students and teachers alike are anxious to be away from school, enjoying the spring weather. A round-up is the PERFECT activity for this time!

Now it's your turn for a Throwback!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday Writing PaWs

As PaW (Paragraph a Week) took shape in the late 90's, members of the 5-6Connection shared possible topics on a regular basis. Often the topics reflected "hot trends" in the field of education. One trending topic back in the day was that of school uniforms. Public schools were discussing and/or implementing uniforms for their students. Since I teach in a Catholic school uniforms are not a trend they are a FOUNDATION! They just are!

Our uniforms offer a small variety of color and style.

This week's Writing PaWs is all about uniforms. Should they or shouldn't they be? You can download your PaW instruction sheet HERE.

Other PaW (Paragraph a Week) FREEBIES currently available can be downloaded below.
Leprechauns
Earth Day
Mother's Day
Finish the Phrase
Nice
National Pencil Month
Favorite Valentine Memory
Bird's Eye View of Spring
Abe and George
Journey of a Snowflake
Color
A Tribute to Johnny Appleseed

Topics soon to appear during the Tuesday Writing PaWs:

My Favorite Outfit

Raining Chocolate

Mind-Boggling Monday 3.16.15

Mondays are ALWAYS mind-boggling to me! I am not a morning person to begin with, top that with two days on the weekend where I don't have to follow a schedule and can sleep whenever I choose, and you end up with a boggled mind. Many of my sixers seem to suffer from this same syndrome. Monday mornings are quiet, slow-moving, and just plain hard... even for THOSE kids! You know which ones I mean!

One way to combat the Monday morning MIND-boggle is to grEet your class with a game of Boggle instead of the typical morning work. Here's a board that's perfect for this third week of March. Download the board as you would any image and project it for your kiddos to play use.

Not sure how to play Boggle? Click HERE for the original game rules.

Need a Boggle board that you can edit yourself? Click HERE for a free editable board.

Want a variety of editable boards to change with the seasons? Click HERE for a bundle of fifteen.

Throwback Thursday: St. Pat's Take Three

What is Throwback Thursday? How does it work, you might ask? Simply look through your PURR-fect Previous Posts, perhaps a particular favorite of yours, and re-post it! Purr-fectly easy and simple! Your post doesn't have to be from LOOOONNNGGG ago; it can be from last month or even earlier this week. And if you don't have a post to share, perhaps an old photo or two from WAY BACK will do! Even a favorite pin is PURR-fect! Just join in the Throwback fun!

This post first appeared at The Teacher's Desk 6 on March 11, 2013.

I've been a fan of Classroom Freebies and Classroom Freebies Too for quite some time. In fact, it was these two blogs that encouraged me to turn from a traditional website to a blog myself. I've followed Manic Monday nearly every week, checking out what's available, who the bloggers are, and downloading MANY wonderful products. Now that The Teacher's Desk 6 blog is up and running, it's time for me to be an active participant in Manic Monday. I'm offering a St. Patrick's Day Take Three. This is a simple activity that is easily adapted to nearly any grade. I'll be using this with my fifth and sixth graders this week, and our fourth grade teacher is using it with her students. My kiddos will be doing some quick internet research, writing sentences and paragraphs, and doing some spontaneous speeches about the material. It's a great filler activity, homework assignment, cooperative group project, etc. I hope you can find some use for it. You can download it HERE, or by clicking on the link below the graphic.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6Q14Z2f7SoAMWpwZzRfLWZXZXc/edit?usp=sharings

Now it's your turn to post a Throwback.

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday Writing PaWs: Making Writing A-peeling!

Routine can sometimes become tedious, to use my kiddos' word... BORING! And the last thing teachers want is for writing to become boring. PaW (Paragraph a Week) is a routine writing program; that's its special purpose, writing each week, regularly! One way we tried to overcome the "boring" factor was to include fun, timely, kid-friendly topics that celebrated unusual birthdays, events, or holidays.

This week's FREEBIE PaW requires students to write a descriptive paragraph honoring the life of John Chapman by writing about APPLES! Click HERE to download your copy of the PaW sheet.

Other PaW (Paragraph a Week) FREEBIES currently available can be downloaded below.
Leprechauns
Earth Day
Mother's Day
Finish the Phrase
Nice
National Pencil Month
Favorite Valentine Memory
Bird's Eye View of Spring
Abe and George
Journey of a Snowflake
Color

Topics soon to appear during the Tuesday Writing PaWs:

My Favorite Outfit

School Uniforms

Looking for some fun ELA activities to round out your celebration of John Chapman?

This is a bundle of three fun and engaging ELA activities (each is sold separately in my TpT Store, but by purchasing this bundle rather than the individual files you are receiving a considerable savings). The items span a range of interests while being centered on a theme. Perfect for any Johnny Appleseed celebration, the activities can be used as part of a literacy center (QR Codes are provided for self-checking), for homework, or whole class involvement.

The bundle contains the following items:

Johnny Appleseed SCOOT... 20 task cards to practice revising sentences for punctuation, capitalization, and spelling

Johnny Appleseed ZAP!... a fast paced game to practice fact vs. opinion statements

Johnny Appleseed Mystery Picture... a printable worksheet for identifying parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions)

Mind-Boggling Monday: Testing, Argh!

What has my mind boggled this Monday? PARCC testing, that's what!

 Because I teach in a Catholic school our students are not mandated to take the PARCC tests. However, our students that are on special state-funded scholarships are required to complete this new test. This means that when I am supposed to be teaching a particular class, as many as half the students may be out testing. It has boggled my mind for sure AND...there is one more week to go! Just breathe, Angela!

One way I've been coping is doing a LOT of review and reinforcement of previously taught skills. Task cards have been my friend. Here you see two seventh graders practicing point of view with Deb Hanson's task cards.

Another way that I have been coping is holding daily Boggle competitions. Here's the board we'll be using in sixth grade on testing day this week. It's free for you to download and play with your students as well. Just right click the image and save it to your device. You can project it or print it for your students to use.

This board honors Johnny Appleseed who died March 11, 1845.

Not sure how to play Boggle? Click HERE for the original game rules.

Need a Boggle board that you can edit yourself? Click HERE for a free editable board.

Want a variety of editable boards to change with the seasons? Click HERE for a bundle of fifteen.

Sunday Scoop

I missed the Sunday Scoop last week! I'm not sure what happened. I just seemed to have lost Sunday all together! Not so this week. Here's the scoop!

Housework takes the top THREE slot this week. I detest it, I avoid it, it swamps me! My house is a wreck.

In the number TWO position are two things that will probably get done before the top three just like I know that the number ONE item is being done as you are reading this!

I was invited to try the Amazon Echo waaaaaaaay back in the fall. Of course, I accepted the invitation and was finally told at the beginning of the year that I was able to purchase one. Once I submitted my order I discovered that I wouldn't receive the Echo until the March. It came early! Havin' way toooo much fun with it! Forget the housework!

Head on over to the Teaching Trio for more Sunday Scoops!

Throwback Thursday: Novel Responses

What is Throwback Thursday? How does it work, you might ask? Simply look through your PURR-fect Previous Posts, perhaps a particular favorite of yours, and re-post it! Purr-fectly easy and simple! Your post doesn't have to be from LOOOONNNGGG ago; it can be from last month or even earlier this week. And if you don't have a post to share, perhaps an old photo or two from WAY BACK will do! Even a favorite pin is PURR-fect! Just join in the Throwback fun!

For Wordless Wednesday yesterday, I blogged about a favorite novel response that I ask my students to complete. It reminded me of one of my first blog posts a little over two years ago. It, too, was about novel responses and is one of the most popular posts here on my blog. This post first appeared on The Teacher's Desk 6 3/1/13.

I've been a Language Arts teacher for a LONG time! I've seen many changes in teaching methods, philosophies, best practices, Common Core, etc., etc., etc. Some of the old becomes new again, and some of the new becomes quite old. What hasn't changed is that a good teaching activity is still a good teaching activity!

I've been sorting through The Desk lately and have come across many good activities that I've been using since my early days. One file I found was titled NOVEL RESPONSES (one of the first ideas I posted on my original website in 1996). In it are numerous ideas for having students respond to the novels that they read. I still use most of these in either my fifth or sixth grade classes. I'll be sharing many of these novel responses in the coming days.

Here's a sampling with which to begin:

• Write a letter to one of the characters in the novel. Ask him/her questions as well as tell about yourself. Pay particular attention to letter format.
• Create a newspaper page for one of the novels. Summarize the plot in one of your articles. Cover the weather in another. Include an editorial and a collection of ads that would be pertinent to the novel.
• Summarize the plot by creating a cartoon version of the novel. Use about six to eight frames.
• Rewrite a chapter or section of your novel from another character's point of view.
• Pretend you are a newspaper reporter whose job is to interview one of the characters. Write your interview.
• You have become a character in one of the novels. Describe your experience during a conflict.
• Write a poem about one of the novels. Touch on the characters, setting, plot, and theme.
• Rewrite a portion of the novel as a play.
• Choose a familiar melody, such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and change the lyrics so they pertain to the novel.
• Develop a mini matrix for your novel... more about this activity in a later blog post
• Create a mini story wheel for your novel... more about this activity in a later blog post
• Create a story chain for your novel that consists of at least ten links... more about this activity in a later blog post
• Compare and contrast one of your novels with another that you have read for class this year or last. Remember to include how the novels are alike AND how they are different. Create a Venn diagram to show your findings.
• Redesign the front and back cover of your novel. Include the pertinent information as well as a blurb on the back.
• Develop an award for your novel. Explain the criteria for the award and why this particular book was selected to receive it. A good place to start this project is by reading about the Newbery and Caldecott awards. Notice, too, the other awards particular books have been given.
• Create a triorama for your novel that depicts the most important scene. Write a summary of this scene, explaining its role in the storyline.
• Design a story map for your novel. Include important information such as characters, setting, and the plot. Write a brief explanation of your map.

As I read through the list, it dawned on me that even though these ideas had been posted almost 20 years ago, most of them align nicely with the current Common Core State Standards. Sounds like another project for me to work on!

Now it's your turn for a Throwback post.

An InLinkz Link-up

Wordless Wednesday: Responding to a Novel

I really look forward to Wednesdays and joining Miss DeCarbo for...

What kinds of novel responses or projects do you have your students complete?

This is a project that I have done with my 5th-7th grade students for more than 25 years.

Occasionally I  ask my students to illustrate a science concept or an idea from Religion class, but normally I just ask them to complete this three dimensional triorama as a response to a literature circle novel they have read.

Sometimes I ask them to display a particular literary element, such as setting or characters, sometimes I ask them to display a plot element, such as the climax or resolution.

This year I simply asked them to display and write about their favorite part of the story. The trioramas that they created are FABULOUS...

and the writing to accompany them is WONDERFUL as well!