Kinders and Veterans Day!

We were out for Veterans Day so we had our lesson Thursday. My Kinders really did not know a lot about the military. I grew up in mostly military communities because my dad was in the Army. I was used to my friends's  fathers and  my own father being away... deployed. This was especially true during Vietnam. It was sad for us though during those days because you did not want people to call your dad names for fighting in Vietnam so mostly you kept your mouth shut unless you wanted a fight (verbal.) So to my dad and all of those Vets that fought in Vietnam, thank you from the bottom of my heart and I am sorry for what you had to go through when you came home.

That was sad. We knew that our fathers were doing their duty, but in the 60's many people blamed the soldiers. I am sure there wasn't a soldier over there that wouldn't love to be at home in the USA, but they were doing their job.

Anyway, my Kinders had a day love filled thoughts and wishes for all of our military. Some of my Kinders had connection to the military, and I let them share with each other.
My Kinders loved thinking about our Veterans and learning exactly what a Veteran is!

I had talked about the pledge many times since we say it every day. We went over the pledge and why we put our hands over our heart. My Kinders are used to the red dots under a word so we said the pledge word by word.

It is nice to have a kid-friendly poem for Kinders to read that is related to the theme. I used this book from Amazon: 

This was a great book for Text Features. I also showed my kinders the correct way to salute. Turns out I had that wrong, my dad would not have been happy!

After the book we made a bubble map of using the word veteran. My little kinders watch so many scary movies, many of them said that they protect us from zombies. I said, well those are not real, those movies are just to scare you. Fiction! We finally came up with some descriptions after going back into the book for Text Evidence!

I had printed out the soldier beforehand but having to lean over and write with a sinus headache I put some of the have's with the are's! This graphic organizer was great for our writing though.

After lunch we did our writing. I used my Veterans Day Writing packet because it involves drawing and coloring as well as writing. This year I am really focusing on the CC standards that say: with prompting and support. I was trying to get kinders to accomplish so much with out really giving them something to start with. We came up with a paragraph that all of us agreed on and I had them copy this on their paper. I did tell them they could come up with some of their own sentences if they wanted. I did stress the writing conventions and our writing rubric.

I love the way they are using their little pointer finger for spaces between words!

During our writing we had a surprise visit from a dad who is a veteran! A marine. I had told them about how marines never leave their buddies behind. It was nice that he came in and talked to us. He also showed us the correct way to salute! 

He was really good at using the anchor chart to explain what a soldier wears and then he talked a little about what a solder does. My boys were really interested in the weapons and tanks!

I was so proud of my Kinders for working so hard! And thank you to all the military and their families for the sacrifices they make daily.

This is my packet which includes graphics and a topper! I took off the year so it just says Veterans Day on the writing page!

4th Grade Common Core Workbook

Common Core is beginning to be 'common' language to my students. In my classroom we talk about the Common Core way of learning and my students are starting to really like learning this way.

Why? Mostly because Common Core is activity or project based. I like to use the term, Craftivity. My students get excited when they know that there is a craftivity involved with their learning. They know that they can cut and paste, and glue, research and write, and color. While they are doing all of this, they are learning and processing information. I am giving them more challenging assignments, but with Craftivity • technology and the ARTS combined, they are ready to learn.

I have been wanting a new book that is now available. The Fourth Grade Common Core Workbook. 

This book is packed with Common Core Craftivities, lessons, and more .... all for 4th grade! This is the information from their website: 

This Fourth Grade Common Core Workbook is the largest collection of resources for teaching the Common Core State Standards. This workbook includes over 850 pages of Worksheets, Activity Centers, and Posters that teach all the Fourth Grade English Language Arts Common Core Standards.   

Common Core Craftivities, lessons, and more .... all for 4th grade! Go to the website linked above and look around.

I will be so excited to get this book. I'll be sure to take pictures of how my class is using this book, so please stay tuned for more!  Update! My good bloggin' buddy, Joanne at Third Grade Is The Place To Be,  sent me a note (see comment below), letting me know she had the 3rd grade preview and it is amazing! She also said there is a code to save 15% off your purchase. Had to add this! 15% off of anything nowadays is a great savings. 

As always, thanks for dropping by!

Bloggy Olympics!

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Join The 3AM Teacher, the Reading Olympians, and over 80 SUPREME education bloggers as we take you through a tour of the Reading Olympians Root Study Program!!
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My sweet class has already completed their Greek Myths  Unit. I wish we could have spent more time on this. Here are some pictures of student work that didn't get taken home!

They made Greek Myth Trading Cards. They wrote DETAILS on the back of the cards.

More Trading Cards. We did this towards the end of the unit.

We read LOTS of Greek Myths. 

My students love to color. I wrote a grant for large boxes of Crayola Crayons!

Compare and Contrast.

Story Maps.

Story Maps. I don't know if you can tell, but these are still hanging up in the hall.

More Story Maps

My class enjoyed Greek Myths. We are still working on our Greek and Latin Affixes. This will be a year long project.
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Fun and Engaging Math Puzzles for 4.NBT.4

Welcome to my new teaching blog. I love the design! Megan at A Bird In Hand, did a great job putting together all my favorite things in to my blog design. Stop by her blog for a visit. She has a lot of patience with new bloggers (ask me how I know!) 

Thanks to Teaching Blog Addict for allowing us 'newbies' to link up to her post. 

Drill and Practice! Oh how students groaned and moaned when they were handed a worksheet with problems to work out. They needed the practice though, Practice Makes Perfect! Right? I use Math Puzzles in my room and my students never, ever turn them down! They are aligned to the Common Core Standard that we are working on at the time. I can use them as an assessment or just as practice. I love color and cute, and these are both, but they are also a meaningful activity that incorporates some higher level thinking by having students think about the numbers and move the puzzle pieces around until they all fit together. 

Math Puzzles CCSS Aligned 4.NBT.4

First I took the regular Magic Squares that we have all used for years and “fixed” them up a bit. My Math Puzzles (on sale for 3.00!) are designed for groups of 4, with each student getting a different Puzzle Sheet. No more having to cut the pieces out yourself and paper clip together for each student. Also, every 4 students will have a different puzzle and you will have the answer sheet for a quick check. This is how it works for me.

Math Puzzles 4.NBT.4 

In the picture you see a Teacher Answer Sheet #1 and a Scrambled Squares for Students # 1. The fonts match on the TA Sheet 1-4 and the Scrambled Student Sheet 1-4. I put the 4 TA sheets on a Clipboard to carry with me so I can monitor my students working out the problems.

Students working in journals using Math Puzzles 4.NBT.4

The picture above shows two different students' work. After cutting out their squares, they get to work. The math problems align with the common core standard 4.NBT.4. They are working the math problems out in their journals (showing their work.) I ask them to write the answers on the math puzzle pieces because it makes putting the puzzle together easier. 

Notice one Student pasted the I Can Statement at the top of her puzzle page. This is required and is included in the Math Puzzle 4.NBT.4 packet. ( I always include PAM somewhere in the  puzzle.) They love it!

This student went to another page where she had some extra room (to save her paper) and starting working her problems out. The journals are graded every 9 weeks and kept to show students growth.

You can see where this student has written her answers in with pencil.

The 4 different fonts keep the students from glancing over at what someone else is doing. All students have the same 31 problems that match 4.NBT.6 but they are scrambled up!

Some students work methodically. 

These are finished squares from 5th grade.

After finishing, I check their work by just looking at my 4 clipboard pages. Then they glue the squares and color. Some students never get to the coloring part because they might work slower than others. The first pic shows the different between the usual Magic Squares (this one shown came from superteacherworksheets.com.)  To differentiate by giving some students less problems to work with, just take off the bottom 4 squares from your Teacher Answer Sheet. When the student has cut all of his out, take those bottom pieces away. It gives the same practice but with fewer problems to do which would be helpful with some students who cannot process so many at one time.

Hope this helps with your classroom activities. Email me with any questions for comments! Next time I'll show of the work we are doing with task cards.

If you follow by email, my next post will come to your mailbox! Thanks so much and I plan to offer a buy 2 get one free on my TPT store! You will also be able to browse and buy products from my blog.  Please keep in touch and let me know how your teaching is going!