The Unmotivated Reader...

A few days ago, I looked up from my guided reading group to scan the classroom. I was frustrated to see my independent readers NOT READING. A few of them were actually staring at me. Creepy. I redirected and moved on.

Fast forward to today. At our school, we do "Books and Breakfast", so after my students complete their Morning Message, they grab some grub (we eat breakfast in the classroom) and they read while they eat. Well.... we used to. Today, I looked up and noticed breakfast eaters, Morning Message-ers, but NO READERS.

I was freaking out, y'all. My READERS weren't READING. My kiddos went from telling me EVERY DETAIL OF EVERY BOOK to nada. Zilch. Nothing. I went from, "Ohhh, you made ANOTHER connection??? Really? Already?" to "Put your nose in your book!"

I knew my fourth graders were not enjoying reading.
And I knew I sounded like a JERK telling them to READ, READ, READ when they SO did not want to. I mean, isn't throwing tiny pieces of paper at your neighbor more interesting than that Big Nate book?

So I asked my kiddos to come up with some ideas to help re-motivate them (not gonna to lie, I may have "planted" some of the ideas).

My sweet kiddos said, "Bring back the reading logs!" and I thought, I reeeeaaaaally want you to enjoy reading without having to log your time because that makes it feel like something you have to do, not want to do, so I replied with, "OK, let's think of a way we can record our reading."

My sweet kiddos said, "We could summarize our chapters!" and I thought, Eh, I don't want to read 239 summaries (DON'T JUDGE ME), so I replied with, "OK, let's come up with a way to quickly summarize what we're reading."

I'm going to quickly sum up how the rest of our brainstorming session went:

Me: "What if we write book reviews!!"
Kids: *Intrigued*
Me: "After y'all read, you could summarize your book and rate it so your friends know if they should read it!"
Kids: "We could give our books stars!"
Me: "Sure! How about 3 stars!"
Kids: "Make it 5!"
Me: "Ok! 5 it is! And let's make sure we don't give away the ending... So let's just summarize the beginning and the middle"
Kids: "This sounds fun!"
Me to myself: THANK YOU, LORD! My kids want to read again! And I have a quick way to check what they're reading!

I'm not going to lie, I haven't tried out the book review thing yet... So I can't swear that it works. I'll definitely update y'all once I try it out. BUT I will say my kids are SO STOKED about reading. Like, so stoked they were ready to write reviews on sticky notes!

So yeah... I'm pretty excited to show up mañana with these review papers. I think I might shut down the classroom for some major D.E.A.R. time so they can really dig into their books.

I want YOU to try out these, too! So I've uploaded them for you to use FO' FREE! Because all kiddos  should get all jazzed about reading! Just click the pic to be taken to the download!

If you download, PLEASE let me know how your kiddos like these review papers! They're short and to the point. Book Title, Beginning, Middle and Rating. BOOM.

Enjoy!

Autobiographies, Biographies and "The Story of Me"

The countdown has started!! FOUR days until Thanksgiving Break. YIPEE!

Only problem is as the holidays grow closer, the kiddos start showing their wild[er] side... So I've been trying to come up with QUIET yet PURPOSEFUL and ENGAGING activities. 

This week we started Biographies & Autobiographies. It's pretty easy to find books and selections that are biographies, but I've found it kind of tricky to find autobiographies... So I decided to make my students the authors! 

Side note: I did use The Story of Ruby Bridges and Through My Eyes (by Ruby Bridges) to introduce biographies and autobiographies. We used a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the story elements.

Back to my student authors! Each student got an autobiography template. Here's what we did with them. 

- On the front, students drew a self portrait. They turned out SO CUTE. 

--->On the inside, there was a blank time line and a map. On the timeline, I had students write the year of their birth, then we filled in dates all of the students shared (start of Pre-K, Kinder, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc). I then modeled how to sequence specific and important life events and record on the timeline. Students added a few dates that were meaningful to them. On the map, students marked where they were born, grew up and now live. 
--->I then had students write an autobiography. I provided them with sentence stems they had to include in their composition. They included:
      - My name is…
      - I was born on…. in…
      - I [now] live in….
      - I started ____ grade in…
      - An important live event was…

--->My kiddos SERIOUSLY loved making their books. Once the autobiographies were finished, I paired students with a partner. They read each other’s autobiographies and then wrote a short biography on their partner. I then let them present their biography on their partner to the class!

Would you like your own FREE copy of "The Story of ME"? I've made it a Facebook Follower EXCLUSIVE! All you have to do is go to my Facebook page, LIKE IT :) then scroll down to the bottom left and click on the Freebies for Followers button! SO EASY! 

Enjoy!! And thank you for reading and following!! xo

Body Angles

If you're a 4th grade Texas teacher, you know that protractors and measuring angles are part of our new TEKS (the equivalent of the CCSS). A lot of the changes in TEKS  have given me a headache... but I actually REALLY enjoyed teaching my students how to measure angles!

I attended CAMT (Conference for the Advancement of Mathematics) last year in Dallas and was lucky enough to sit in on a presentation from some AWESOME teachers with some great ideas for introducing angles. I'm trying to find their names, because this activity was inspired by them!! 

After introducing my students to protractors and how to read them (SHOUT OUT TO GEOSTIX! pictured above), we started a fun project called "Bendy Bones".
- First up: brainstorming angles we see in real life.
- Next: brainstorming angles we can make with our joints.
- After that, students chose 4 joints to create an angle (elbow, knee, neck, etc)

- Then, student pairs took turns making an angle with their joint while the other created the angle with a pipe cleaner and estimating what they thought the angle measurement would be

- Finally, students put the pipe cleaner onto a protractor, measured the angle, and classified the angle as obtuse, acute, or right

My students LOVED this activity! I literally had to PROMISE we would do it again. I love when students LOVE LEARNING!!

I want YOUR students to enjoy this activity, too! So click the pic to be taken to the link and download it!!

xoxo
-Katie

Posters!!

I've already started thinking about my decor for next year...
YES. I know the current school year is not over.
YES. I know summer has not even begun.
But once my brain starts, it won't quit. So I've already started planning, buying and MAKING!

I've made some adorable classorom posters for my room next year... I can't tell you WHERE or WHY the idea came about (that will have to wait), but I can give a small hint... Basically, I'm going to turn old, worn out aspects of my classroom (my school is kinda dated) into ADORABLE.

Remember what I did to my ugly cabinets last year? It's along those same lines... I'm seriously stoked about the end result. So STAY TUNED!

Last year I took my old, ugly mismatched cabinets and covered them with contact paper. From LAME to FAB! 

Anyway. Back to my classroom posters.
I love them so much I decided to make them a $1 download on my TPT. I've made them with clipart frames and without (both option is in each pack) so you can either print, cut and hang 'em right away OR print, cut and buy an adorable frame to put them in.

Here are the posters I've made thus far... If you like one, just click the pic to be taken to my TPT store, "Katie Texas"!

5"7"s

 

4"6"s

Want a free one? Just pin a pic of your favorite & blog about it and I'll hook you up! Just comment with the link below. (Limit 2 per person and only open to the first 5 people who leave a comment)

Have a cute saying you'd like made into a poster? Comment below and if I decide to make it, I'll give you a free one! YAY! 

~xo~

TESTING FREEBIE!!

The STAAR Math and Reading test are next week...
Tuesday the 22nd my babies (students) will show everything they know and ROCK that test...

In preparation, we reviewed skills and strategies this week. On Monday, we did a rotating review. There were 1-3 questions at each desk (depending on difficulty) and students rotated around answering each.  My kiddos ROCKED OUT and answered over 40 questions withing a 1 hour and 45 minute time period... And it was so fun they didn't even REALIZE or COMPLAIN! Teacher win!!

On Tuesday, I told my kids I wanted to give them a present for their hard work... iPADS! Of course they were stoked, until I handed them out PAPER instead of an ELECTRONIC.... There was laughing/ "Awwww man"s and "you tricked us", but once they saw they were making their OWN iPads they started to dig the activity. I picked out 20 KEY math strategies that I thought the kiddos needed to review OR strategies that applied to a large majority of the test. We looked at the breakdown of Readiness/ Supporting standards (TEXAS STAAR) and how many questions they would probably have on each skill (my awesome math partner made the breakdown - love her).

Reviewing these standards and practicing our strategies accomplished SO many things:
- I was able to check that my kids had their strategies down
- The kids saw how many questions came from each skill
- The kids were able to see that the test is NOT that scary
- IT WAS FUN!
- They had an awesome reference we used all week

I even had the kids help make a large iUseStrategies board display so while the the kids were refering to their iPads, I could refer to mine.

Basically, the iUseStrategies iPad ROCKED my classroom. And I want it to do the same for yours. So I've made it a freebie in my TPT store! GO GET YOURS NOW!

~xo~

NEW TPT GOODIES! And FREEBIES!

I've think I've said it before but... I LOVE TEACHING GEOMETRY. Do you? I think it's so visual and can be so hands on. I really dig it. I try to excite my kids about it too, because you know what I don't love? 10TH GRADE Geometry... I remember it like it was yesterday... However, the only thing I remember about it is that it was awful and I sat by my best friend. That's how I survivedPlease don't ask what I learned...

I'm positive the reason I love teaching math so much is because I struggled in math. I want to make things FUN for my kids, help them LEARN and LOVE math. Not hate it like I do... I mean DID! :)

Back to Geometry.

I've put together all the fantastic activities I do in my classroom to teach Transformations to my students into one pack.

The pack includes note taking with hands-on examples, a hands-on activity using FOOD (yum), a song to get your kids up and moving, AND a game! They will be TRANSORMATION experts when you're done with this pack!! 

Want a copy? Just click this link ---> KATIE TEXAS <--- to be taken to my Teachers-Pay-Teachers store! 

**WANT A FREE COPY??? (You know you do!!) Here's how you can get one: 

- Pin this activity pack to pinterest (put the link in the comments below)

- Become a new follower (if you aren't one already) 

- PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE blog about this pack and include a link to my blog and pack! (If you do this one, I'll throw in my MATH JOURNALS BASIC-SET up for free as well! YAY!)

**THIS IS ONLY OPEN TO THE FIRST THREE PEOPLE**

Here are two more FREEBIES in my TPT store that you can get with no-strings attached :)

These Classroom Schedule Headers are FREE for you to enjoy!! I've made a set for Early Childhood-Elementary (that includes pictures) and a set for Secondary-Highschool (that includes subject headers and 1st-10th period). Both sets comes have clocks on each header so you can let students know what and when things are happening. ENJOY!  

Happy Teaching!

New TPT Goodies from me means FREEBIES for you!

I've added several new items to my TPT store.

Halloween is approaching, and I like to make sure we learn AND have fun on that day. So I made a Halloween activity pack which includes candy graphing, Halloween Categories, a Pumpkin Glyph, Witches Brew recipe page, a maze AND a Halloween Pennant Craftivity! Also included is a teacher printable so you can treat your students to "ghost poop" (marshmallows). Want a free one? I'll tell you how... but not yet! :)

I also have two Math Journal sets for purchase. One includes two Cover Pages (hundreds board OR multiplication chart), a Table of Contents, ons of objective specific templates with instructions AND blank templates for you to personalize your own entries.

If you don't need all of the objective specific templates, no worries! I have a Basic Set-Up as well that includes both Cover Pages, a Table of Contents page, a Math About Me page and all of the blank templates from my full pack.

My Skeleton Symmetry set isn't new, but since it's season appropriate and AWESOME I want to post about it!

NOW. Time for freebie info. Want a FREE Halloween Activity pack, Math Journal set AND a Skeleton Symmetry set? All you have to do follow my blog and post about this awesomeness on YOUR blog. Don't have a blog, no worries, become a follower and PIN IT! Just comment with the link  to your post below and I'll hook up the first five peeps!

-xo-
Katie

Kiss Your Brain - Monday Made It

Linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for another Monday Made It!

Only one craftivity today - but I'm pretty excited about it. While Pinteresting, I found a picture of a "Kiss Your Brain" jar, which is a jar filled with Hershey Kisses. I LOVE this idea- when my students are doing something exceptional, I love to reward them with food! They love it too... So I knew I had to make one!

I took an old gum ball container (from Party City) and tried to rip of the labels. This didn't work, so I just decided to cover them!

Then I made some cute labels for the sides and top, whipped out my Modge Podge, and got to work. 

When I Modge Podge'd, I slathered it all over the container, as I usually do when I use the goo... However, since this was a clear container, it dried messy. So I had to clean some of it off. My tip: glue the label down first, then Modge Podge a 2-3cm thick border. I also MP'd all over the label to kind of laminate it. It worked, but some spots got crinkly. I'm not too worried about it though, because it turned out SO CUTE!

I'm currently the only one kissing my brain right now... But I'm sure my students will enjoy this once the school year starts!

Like the labels? Tell me below and then download HERE!

-Katie

Monday Made It - Part 4

Hello All! I'm linking with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics again for another Monday Made It!

The last weeks of summer are flying by. And not at jet plane speed, either. That I could handle... But this lighting speed crud?? Come on!! Didn't I JUST say good-bye to twenty-four 4th graders?? Anyway, this week's Monday Made It contains a lot of "made its'. And I'm including a Freebie! Yay!

First up, my out-of-classroom-passes & sign for my sharp/unsharp pencils.

Last year I made REALLY cute passes (they were lost) and bought REALLY cute passes (they were also lost) so this year I QUICKLY made a-ok passes. I totally realize I will need to make more toward the end of the year. Last year I would just hand random objects to my students when they left the room... Paper flowers, a Native American talking stick, rubber bands-- Basically, whatever I grabbed. I got my super cute broken pencils / sharpened pencil printables from The First Grade Derby HERE!

Next up, classroom manager positions! While in college at the University of Houston (GO COOGS!), I attended an inservice called Consistency Management and Cooperative Discipline. As described on the website, CMCD is "is an innovative school-wide (preK-12th grade) research based, classroom-tested classroom management reform program that builds on shared responsibility for learning and classroom organization between teachers and students." Summed up: it's great. One of the points was having classroom "managers" with legit jobs that help the classroom function. Did I mention there needs to be a job for EVERY student?? Yes, that means I created 24 manager positions... As you can see from the pic, one is "Classroom Detective". Job Description? Helping me find items when I've lost them... hehehe! Also, my students will interview for their positions. I'll rotate them out every month or so to make sure everyone gets to manage their area of choice. FUN! Last year, my students took their jobs VERY seriously (and came up with the CUTEST interview answers) and it truly did make the classroom a functioning, cooperative place!

And now to my new system of turning papers in... Magnets! While at CAMT, I attended a session by Nikki Bitzer. She has a set of numbered magnets in her classroom and when students complete their assignment, they get their number magnet and use it to secure their paper to the board. The numbers are assigned in alphabetical order-- and students keep them in the correct number order on the board-- so when you collect the papers, THEY'RE IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER! Gradebook WIN! Also, it's super easy to see who hasn't turned their work in. Love this idea! 

Lastly, I pinned an awesome "STOP: Please stop what you're doing and make a better choice" sign weeks ago. When I finally got around to following the the blog link, I was taken to Ms. M's Blog. Great blog- but I could not find the sign anywhere. So I made my own little guys. I think these are an awesome and discreet way of redirecting a kiddo while teaching. Just walk up to the student and place one on their desk and they'll get the hint! I'm always circling the room so other students wouldn't even realize what's happening. Awesome! Want some? I've uploaded mine HERE. 



Well, colleagues, I hope your summers have been fantastic. Enjoy these last lazy moments!