Working on a lil' something...

As always at this point in summer, my mind is whirling with things I need to and want to do for the upcoming school year. I was inspired by a project that Dana at Prepping for the Primary Gridiron posted...so I have started mine! 

I went out running some errands today and also found the cd cases (seems like ancient history..lol) and these file organizers that I have several projects in the making. I will be sure to post the final projects when I am done. While shopping I also found some other neat teacher finds at Dollar Tree! Check them out below:

These are some games that I plan to laminate and use for centers:

multiplication & division, fractions, contractions, and word problems 

I have NO clue what I will use these for yet, but I thought that they 

matched well with my Dr. Seuss theme this year.

More to come soon :) 

Summer Workshop Goodies

I love being out for summer break, but professional development also comes as part of my summer. Last year I signed up for a two year Math and Science Partnership (MSP) workshop. It last two weeks last summer and I left with a multitude of fun activities for both science and math to take back to my classroom. My students loved the activities - especially the science ones!

I am currently in the middle of week two of this summer's follow up workshop. We have been working on several of our Georgia state standards for 3rd grade, such as: rocks & minerals, fossils, soils, pollution, recycling, geometry, measurement, and data. Here are a few of my favorite activities thus far...

*all of these activities are from the presenters of the workshop*

1) Air Pollution Monster: I created this little blue monster and his belly or mouth (depending on how you look at it) is actually the sticky side of tape. The purpose of this activity is to hang these monsters around your classroom and school to observe the air pollution they pick up after several days. SUPER FUN!

2) Figuring Fourths Fraction Center: A two player game where students shake a cup of two colored counters (4 of them because we were working with fourths) and spill them out on the table to create a fraction. For example, if I spill the cup and get 3 yellow and 1 red counter, my fraction is 3/4. Using my bear game piece, I move the the first spot I see that represents this fraction. Then my partner takes a turn, following the same directions. We go back and forth until the first person gets to the finish line. 

3) What Does the Quadrilateral Say? foldable: This foldable has 4 sides and each side represents a quadrilateral. I created a fun picture for each side, and then write the characteristics and name of the quadrilateral underneath the picture. After completing the activity we discussed that you could do this for polygons to broaden the shapes students can include You could also make the picture a little smaller so that you can write the characteristics around it, then write the shape's name underneath. 

I will post additional activities/explanations soon :) 

Changes

Ahh! It's been so long since I have posted anything. Last year was a crazy school year and never found time or remembered to post. I have vowed that July will be my time to start this ball rolling again. I am moving schools after 7 years at my old school, I am excited about this change and ready for a new journey. I figured this would be a great time to start blogging again, and possibly have a site makeover :)

Until then...