Five for Friday and Saturday Snapshots

Completely and totally random thoughts and happenings, five of them for Five for Friday with Doodlebugs {First Grade Rocks} and some of them for Saturday Snapshots with Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera.

1. I have become a TV freak this summer! I have discovered that I LOVE BBC programs, especially the dramas... LOVE "Downton Abbey" and "Copper." I'm wild about "Larkrise to Candleford!" So what am I doing watching "Primeval?" Seriously, like all 36 episodes this past week? I guess one never outgrows a love for dinosaurs! LOL!

2. I love learning new things on the computer and try to constantly keep up with the latest. It seems that the latest is QR codes combined with teaching resources. I've been seeing loads of QR task cards being offered on TpT and Teacher's Notebook. I thought QR codes were only for use with iPods and iPads and SmartPhones... NOT SO! I found an app for a regular old PC. It's called QuickMark. By downloading and installing this little beauty I am able to work with, create, and read QR Codes. Here's what I created for my eighth grade Language Arts students. They had to read The Coffin Quilt by Ann Rinaldi over the summer. This is what waits for them... a QR code takes them to a Padlet wall whereon is posted a question. Sure beats the typical question and answer worksheet. I also included a "short" url in case they have no access to a QR Code reader.

3. I had the chance to work a little bit on my classroom this week. I started by spreading all the things that I have been working on this summer. There's my class jourrnals, my table signs, my MOVIES bulletin board... all the polka dot monster themed materials.

4. Here are some of my bulletin boards. You'll notice all my polka dots and monsters but you'll also see Sabra from Teaching with a Touch of Twang's genre posters... LOVE them!

5.... and a must for every Saturday... Ms. DaisyMae who is NOT very happy with me once again. She had parked herself on my lap, promptly fell asleep, and stayed there for nearly an hour while I was watching "Primeval." (see no.1 above). I was pestering her, interrupting her beauty sleep by shifting about in my rocker. I happened to have my camera nearby for a change and was able to catch this pic of her. Too bad it wasn't a video because she was muttering a bit as well. However, if she were able to speak English we would not be able to include her words.

Happy Teaching,
Angela
The Teacher's Desk 6

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Lovin', Pinnin', and Playin' Games (a FREEBIE)

It's another tri-linky day. Today I'm linking up with Glitter and Glue for What I'm Loving Wednesday, with The Vintage Apple for Oh How Pinteresting!, and with The Teacher's Chair for the week long School Linky.

This Wednesday I am LOVIN' the weather in NE Ohio. We had struggled through excessive heat and excessive rain for most of June and early July. Now we are having EXCESSIVEly beautiful sunshine and moderate temps in the mid-70's. GORGEOUS!

I'm also lovin' the fact that I can now pin on the TpT collaborative boards on Pinterest. How fun is that! And speaking of pinning. I started three new boards this month, one for each of three books that I'll be using with my students during the first weeks of school: The Coffin Quilt by Ann Rinaldi, Underground by Jean Ferris, I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic by Lauren Tarshis. I've been collecting photos, videos, newspaper clippings, etc. and pinning them to my boards... everything in place for when I am working on lesson assignments, Power Points, Prezis, Sqworls, and instaGroks, and in the process I've been learning lots about Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, the relationship of quilting to slavery, the passengers on the Titanic, and more... lovin' it!

Finally... Lovin' one of my all time favorite classroom games

EEEEEEEEEW!

A Whole Class Game to Review/Practice Science Vocabulary

Divide the class into 3-4 teams of nearly equal size.

Similar to Kaboom, Kerplop, Boom, or whatever you call this type of game, students randomly draw strips from a container, sight unseen, read the word on the strip, discuss the meaning with teammates, and then respond by stating the definition aloud. If the student is correct, the team keeps the strip. If the student is incorrect, the strip is returned to the container.

At the end of a specified amount of time, play stops and the team with the greatest number of strips is declared the winner.

But there’s a twist… Inside the container are several cards with the interjection EWWWWWWWW! on them. If a student draws this card, the team must return all of their strips to the container as well as the EEEEEEEEEW! card.

You can download a set of strips for vocabulary for The Five Kingdoms of Living Organisms EWWWWWWWW! by clicking HERE or on the graphic below.

Tips

·   Use a Pringle’s can for your container. Cover it with colorful paper and add a label with the game’s name on it. Better yet, design a label on your computer.

·   Make several sets of words for various concepts. Store them in envelopes/plastic bags on which the game and concept are written.

·   Using a word processing program, utilize the table feature to easily make strips.

·   Use this game idea for all subject areas but give it a different name. For example EEEEEEEEEEW! for Science, Kaboom for Language Arts, and Kerplop for Math.

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

Pins, Podge, Products

Modpodge... LOL! This is such a popular product today and popular in lots of blog posts of late.  I really chuckle each time I see the product. Besides the silly sounding name, there are some silly memories behind the product. When I was in junior high and high school, ModPodge was all the rage. It was sold everywhere. We made all kinds of goofy items, usually collage based (covering glasses or pieces of wood with magazine cut-outs) and we would protect and preserve them with ModPodge. ModPodged tchotkes were EVERYWHERE!

Then the product basically dropped out of sight. The only place you could purchase it was in a craft store and some of them didn't carry it either. Nearly 40 years later it's back. Goes to prove-- What goes around, comes around! I just pinned an item on Pinterest for making your own ModPodge.,, which brings me to the second part of this post. I'm linking up again this week with Mrs. Carroll over at The First Grade Parade for Favorite Pins Friday.

Today's first pin is, of course, for the make it yourself ModPodge. How could I not include it? I'm not sure if it works, but I plan on trying it out.


You can visit the original site HERE.

Next up is a pin for a project that I have wanted to complete for months. I've seen this idea pinned multiple times and from many sites all over Pinterest. I bought the notebooks today at Walmart and will work on designing my covers and topics this week.


You can visit the original site HERE.

A third pin I'd like to share this week is of a coffin quilt. I'm sure some of you are wondering what this is. You may already know that I will be teaching a section of 8th grade English this year, something I haven't done in over 25 years. The class had been assigned two novels for summer reading. One of them is called "The Coffin Quilt" by Ann Rinaldi. It's about the Hatfields' and McCoys' famous feud. This is a coffin quilt, a quilt designed as an instrument for recording the deaths of family members.


You can visit the original site HERE.


The last pin for this Friday serves as a reminder that there are only two days left to enter my 100 Followers giveaway. You can win a baker's dozen of terrific teaching products. Hurry and enter before time runs out.


You can visit the original site HERE.

And when you finish entering my giveaway, please visit my sweet bloggy friend Carla at Surviving Sixth and enter her 100 Followers giveaway for another chance at winning MORE terrific teaching products.

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