Throwback Thursday: Word Clouds

Welcome to...

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! Then add the TBT badge to your post and include your link below! 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 on The Teacher's Desk 6 on April 8, 2013. I hadn't yet learned how to link graphics with a clickable web address, but I had figured out how to embed a Pinterest pin and a YouTube video.

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

Jen no longer hosts the Wordle a Day website; however, I do still use her materials. Before she closed that portion of her site her followers were able to purchase her wordles for use offline. Unfortunately, the materials are no longer available. I still have my students make their autobiography wordles and I still use the Word Cloud Book Report. In fact, my sixers are working on the book report right now. Here is one that Hannah completed just today. Can you guess what book she read?

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN TO THROWBACK...

Monday Make-up

I'm making up for lost time today. I forgot how busy a teacher's life gets once school resumes. How do you folks do it who, not only teach, but also have to juggle family time on top of blogging and TpT-ing? Bless you for all that you do! I am behind on grading papers, cleaning house, doing laundry, and blogging. It seems all I do lately is a hurried post with a few pictures... that's today as well. I'm sharing three things with lots of pictures each.

FIRST... Our school did something for the first time: we all participated (K-12) in the Kick-It for Cancer fundraiser! If you are not familiar with this endeavor, please check it out here. It's a fundraiser that was begun by a youngster who suffered with cancer and wanted a way to help other children like him. His idea was to host a kickball game wherein the participants would pay-to-play and the money would be donated to juvenile cancer research. The idea went viral when the Cleveland Indians heard about the game and stepped up to bat, promoting the fundraiser and raising a great deal of money each year.

We had a GREAT time today, in spite of the busing situation (I refuse to talk about this and spoil a terrific event), as is evident from the smiling faces and busy/active children.

SECOND... I'm participating in the September Photo Challenge on Instagram and have been keeping up fairly well over there. I'm sharing the photos here as well so that you have a peek into the life of an old experienced, sixth-grade teacher who still LOVES what she does! Here are days 11-15.

THIRD... Each week I've been trying to involve my sixers in a hands-on science investigation. This week we investigated the physical and chemical properties of matter by simply burning a small amount of sugar over a candle flame. By experiencing the phase changes (from solid to a liquid to a gas) and noticing the change in color, smell, and texture of the sugar, my sixers came to the conclusion that what was left in the mini-aluminum pan was no longer sugar. What it was they were unsure; however, once I showed them the chemical formula for sugar (C12H22O11), they quickly deduced that the hydrogen and oxygen burned off in the form of water vapor or steam, and what was left was carbon. Tomorrow they will be recording important vocabulary and key concepts in their science interactive notebooks that relates to this investigation, while I locate all my tools for this week's project: graduated cylinder, balance, weights, spring scale, centimeter rulers, etc.

And there you have it... my make-up work! PHEW!

Sunday Scoop

The paper monster almost unscooped me today! I normally do all my paper work on Saturdays and save Sunday for blogging and TpT'ing. I was out and about nearly all day Saturday and never had time for lesson plans and grading papers so I'm doing them today, Sunday which made me think it was Saturday. Luckily, I got my wits about me in time to join Teaching Trio for...

Have a great week, everyone! Be sure to visit the Teaching Trio for the latest scoop on the teaching blogging world.

Throwback Thursday and Photo Challenge Day 11

It's that time again (I almost forgot it was Thursday...egads!... and I did forget last week...sigh)...

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! Then add the TBT badge to your post and include your link below! 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 blog post originally was posted on Aug. 13, 2013, my first ever company freebie that I received just because I am a blogger.

I had heard about it! I had seen pictures of it on blogs! I had read teacher testimonials about it! Really? A pencil sharpener, I thought! What could possibly be so exciting about a pencil sharpener?

Now that I've had the chance to try it... WOWZA... never, mind that it's the quietest pencil sharpener, ever... it's REALLY the BEST pencil sharpener EVER!!!!!! My pencil sharpener arrived in the mail last Friday and I couldn't wait to try it out! I quickly opened the shipping box and found...

a nicely packaged green (my favorite color) pencil sharpener. OK, nothing extraordinary yet. The next step was to remove it from the box. I found two pieces: the sharpener and a clamp.

I did not want to take the time to use the clamp since my sharpener is intended for my classroom and I am test-driving it at home, so I dived right in. The sharpener has four small grips on its bottom and does not slide on a smooth surface. I figured I could just hold it with my left hand while cranking it with my right.

It took me a moment to figure out that I had to use the levers at the top of the sharpener to allow the pencil in. Once the pencil is in the sharpener, it is held securely by the sharpener itself. You do not need to hold the pencil.  The crank turns easily and stops when the pencil is completely sharpened. Here's where the pencil sharpener gets extraordinary!

Tell me... aren't these the sharpest pencils you've ever seen?

And the sharpener is indeed the quietest one you'll ever use. How do I know? Because the nosiest, most curious cat who comes running at every new sound slept through the entire process of me sharpening my pencils, and she was not four feet away. It will be GREAT to have no pencil sharpener noise in the classroom! I can't wait to show off my new sharpener and have my kiddos try it!

To learn more about this terrific teaching tool and order your own just visit Classroom Friendly Supplies online.

This same pencil sharpener is STILL going strong in my classroom more than a year later. It gets a real workout each day. Although a little worse for wear, suffering a severe fall on the first day of school this year, a little duct tape in a coordinating color is keeping it in tip-top working order. LOVE my pencil sharpener, today's Instagram September Teacher Challenge photo topic.

Now it's your turn!

Wordless Wednesday

Is anyone participating in the IG September Photo Challenge? So far, I've been able to keep up... so far! It's really fun (and sometimes quite eye-opening) to see photos from fellow IG-ers and compare them with my own. Check them out on Instagram.  #septemberteacherchallenge.

I'm linking my photo with Miss DeCarbo for her weekly Wordless Wednesday party. Be sure to stop by her blog to check out other teacher blogger photos of the week.

Sunday Scoop

I'm joining The Teaching Trio for their brand new, fun linky ...

Be sure to stop by The Teaching Trio for more Sunday Scoop posts. You'll be able to catch up on the blogging world news and perhaps make some new friends.

Five for Friday Late on Saturday

OK, OK I'm going to say it again: WHERE DOES THE TIME GO? Last I knew, it was Wednesday; now it's late Saturday night! Jeepers! I was suppose to keep up with the September Teacher Photo Challenge (I actually have on IG); I had promised myself I would be on time for Five for Friday; and I had two special bloggy friend celebrations to shout out! It's all going to be rolled into one!!!

First... Photo Challenge Day 4: Teacher's Desk (ha ha, love this one... silly grin)

It is LARGE! It is covered! This is CLEAN... believe it or not!
My goal for this school year is to keep a much neater desk than usual.
So far, so good... for me.

Second... Photo Challenge Day 5: Read Aloud

I received this book as a demo early in the summer.
I fell in love with it! It is filled with terrific life lessons,
a character who relies on God, and loads of literary skill material:
allusion, allegory, character development, conflict, et al.
My sixers are LOVIN' it!

Third... Photo Challenge Day 6: Morning Drink

No explanation needed, other than...
Hazelnut YUM!!!

Fourth... My friends over at The Teaching Trio have quite the celebration going on. They have a brand new blog design just launched, and as part of the launch a huge giveaway with 30 TpT participants. Hop on over to check out their fresh new bloggy face and enter to win one, two, or all three prize packages they are offering. The giveaway ends this coming Tuesday, Sept. 9th.

Fifth... My dear bloggy friend Deb from Crafting Connections is celebrating a HUGE TpT Milestone... 3000 followers as well as 600 blog followers and 700 Pinterest followers! WOWZA! She is celebrating with a terrific giveaway. Be sure to visit Crafting Connections before Sept. 9th to enter to win one of three AWESOME prizes.

September Photo Challenge Day 3 and Wordless Wednesday

Today's photo in the September Teacher Photo Challenge calls for a pic of a bulletin board.

How many of you change your bulletin boards on a regular basis? I absolutely HATE bulletin boards. All of mine are tied into routines, anchor charts, learning posters, etc. so I do NOT have to change them EVER! Here is a shot of one of my boards. On it students keep track of their homework, brag tag (some are currently missing), and classroom rules.

I'm joining Miss DeCarbo for Wordless Wednesday for this photo as well. Be sure to stop by her blog to see lots more fun, interesting photos shared by teacher bloggers.

September Photo Challenge Day 2

Today's photo challenge topic calls for a shot of a chalkboard.

 Hmm? Technically, there is a chalkboard in my room, but it is covered by a Smartboard and a part of a widescreen T.V.. Therefore, it's not used as a chalkboard. I use what little is left of it as a place to hang learning posters or student work.

When  I think about it, I really do not have the board space on which to write a lot of material. I find that since I am housed in this current room I rely more on anchor charts (I go through A LOT of chart paper), learning posters, interactive notebooks, and smartboard activities than on the traditional chalkboard/whiteboard kinds of teaching and learning activities of my past. I've adapted in a variety of ways, so much so that I really haven't missed using the chalkboard. I remember when I fist moved in to this room, complaining and moaning about the lack of board space. I didn't think that I would survive without it. Survive I have, and happily so... no more chalkdust, clapping erasers, or chalk prints on my pants!

What is your favorite way to present lessons to your students?

September Photo Challenge Day 1

Here it is already September 1st. Time seems to fly once school is back in session. It's hard to believe that we've put in two weeks already. Busy with school work, I've been neglecting my blog a bit although I've been posting on Instagram regularly.

There's a fun little teacher photo challenge that appears each month on Instagram.

I have great intentions at the beginning of every month but seem to peter out halfway through. I decided I'm going to challenge myself to make it through EACH DAY of September, posting a photo on Instagram according to the topic.

Today's topic is Labor Day Activitiy. I worked on making my class set of brag tags today: printing, laminating, cutting, punching, sorting, and stringing. They are all ready to go for tomorrow mornng!

My sixers LOVE brag tags! I used them with this group last year during fifth grade Language Arts class and they really helped the kiddos keep motivated with homework and studying for spelling tests. My sixers have been asking me where their tags are. I decided to wait until my class roster settled before making them since the initial set of tags is personalized with student names. We have new students enter during the first few weeks on a regular basis. This year my class has added three new boys since the first week of school.

In celebration of finishing my brag tags, here's a little FREEBIE for you. This is one of the tags that I give to my sixers in their initial set. You can download your copy HERE. If you'd like to read more about the complete product simply click on the pic below.