Tried it Tuesday-Published Books

Happy Tuesday everyone! I'm excited to link up with Holly for her linky party Tried it Tuesday.

At the end of November I blogged about a book that my students were writing. The students were working together to create a class book. Each student wrote a different page of the story. We then sent the book to Student Treasures to be published.

Earlier this month the published books came in! My students and I were so excited to rip open the package.

Cover

Title Page

The student's parents had a chance to order a copy of the book. I received a free copy. As I was looking through my copy, I discovered that my book was made of the originals. I was so excited to have them bound together in a book, and my students were so excited to be able to take their books home to their parents.

If you are looking for a fun way to motivate your students to write, I highly recommend you check out getting a book published. It was well worth the time and effort!

Flashback to the 1950s? Oh, it's just the 50th day of school

It's Tuesday, and I am excited to have my act together enough to link up with Holly for her Tried it Tuesday linky!

We celebrated our 50th day of school yesterday. The 50th day normally passes by without any acknowledgement from me, until this year. Our kindergarten teacher came up with a fabulous idea that the rest of the classes jumped in on. We dressed like 1950s!

My boys came in with slicked back hair, rolled up jeans and t-shirts on. A few of them had leather jackets or button up sweaters. A few of my girls wore poodle skirts, the rest had rolled jeans and cute shirts with scarves on their necks.

My kiddos are so cute, don't you agree? (I do know I am totally biased!)

I also created a little 50th Day of School question page that my kiddos filled out while they ate 50 M&Ms. You can grab it by clicking the link or the picture below.

 

Do you do anything to celebrate the 50th day? What activities do you do?

Tried it Tuesday-Pumpkin Style

Happy Tuesday! I'm excited to link up with Holly today for Tried it Tuesday!

This week isn't exactly a teaching post. What I tried this week was pumpkin carving. Growing up we would carve pumpkins for Halloween, but those pumpkins were the classic Jack-o-Lantern face.

My husband on the other hand creates pumpkins like this:

His pumpkin from the 1st year we were married.

So this year, he and I worked to create pumpkins based off the movie Nightmare Before Christmas.

What do you think of our handiwork? Mine is on the left, Glen's is on the right. What have you tried this week?

Tried it Tuesday-Causes of the American Revolution with Smarties

I love starting back to school on a Tuesday...if only every weekend was a three day weekend! I'm linking up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried it Tuesday

Last week my students and I studied the causes of the American Revolution. Earlier this year Mary from Fit to be Fourth blogged about a Smarties activity she used to introduce her students to the causes of the American Revolution. She was so kind to send it to me.

Since I only have 14 students I had my student teacher be the Queen. I was Parliament, two of my students were tax collectors and the rest were colonists. My student teacher read out the new tax laws while the tax collectors collected the taxes from their classmates. They passed the "taxes" to me and I passed a large share onto the king. The tax collectors were able to keep one Smartie for each new tax, I as Parliament kept two and we gave the rest to the Queen.

The students got very vocal about the situation and quickly let us know that they did not find it very fair.

As you can see the Queen had a very large share.

The colonists did not end up with much.

Once the activity was over, we had the students reflect on how they felt about the activity (after I gave them all more Smarties so they stopped thinking I was the unfair one,) and how they thought the colonists felt when they had to give up their money.

It was a fantastic activity that really helped the kids have a taste of what the colonists may have felt.

What have you tried recently? What do you do to help your students understand the American Revolution?

Tried it Tuesday-Linky Party

It is Tuesday, and I am excited to link up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried it Tuesday!

On Thursday last week, I celebrated Talk Like a Pirate Day with my class. I've done it for quite a few years, but this was my first year celebrating it as a blogger. I decided to host a linky party for those that might want to celebrate it with their kids as well. 

I had never created a linky before. I used InLinkz (which is what I think most people use.) I followed this video and it was a piece of cake.

I was so nervous that no one would link up...but four of my lovely blogging buddies celebrated Pirate Day and linked up.

If you've ever wanted to have a linky party, go for it. It was much easier to set up than I thought it would be.

I also wanted to let you know that I recently changed my freebie on my Facebook page. It's one of my students favorite activities, so I hope you swing by and grab it soon! 

What have you tried recently?

Tried it Tuesday-baking edition

The Tuesday after Labor Day-Happy first day of school to my friends who are just starting.
I am linking up with Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried it Tuesday.

 

Today's post has nothing to do with education, but rather with baking. If you aren't a baker you may want to skip today's post.

 

Yesterday I made Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread cookies. I've been on a quest the last few weeks to find a recipe for these cookies that sounded like the kind I had at a great Italian bakery in Rhode Island. The only problem is that I haven't been able to find unsalted pistachios....so I decided to make the cookies yesterday with salted ones. I just cut the amount of salt I was supposed to add to the cookies in half.

The cookies are good, but I do think they would be better with unsalted pistachios. They are more of a sweet/salty treat, than a sweet/savory shortbread. The only other thing I would do next time is I think I will sprinkle a little raw sugar on top...just a little for texture and flavor.

Any idea where I can pick up unsalted pistachios? What have you tried recently? Head over to Holly's blog to see what other people have been up to this week. 

Just incase you've mist it...don't forget to enter my giveaway this week.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tried it Tuesday-Facebook Fan Freebie

Well, yesterday did not go as planned. I was supposed to go to school for teacher workday. Instead I spent the day with a very sick husband. After a doctor visit, chiropractor visit, and a CT scan, all tests are coming up clean. By the afternoon he was able to keep food down (and medicine) so I was thankful for small blessings. He still feels off this morning-so my praying friends, if you would offer up a prayer for him I would appreciate it. He went to work today but three days with a migraine is enough to drive anyone crazy.

While he was napping yesterday, I was able to play around on Facebook and set up a Fan Freebie Page. I followed the video tutorial Ideas By Jivey shared on her blog when she created hers. The video makes it extremely easy to set up and Jivey's extra notes at the bottom make it easy to edit the picture for the Freebie Tab. I don't have paint (the program Jivey used) so I uploaded the drawing to photobucket.com and was able to size the picture there.

You can head over to my Facebook page and download one of my newest products on TPT for free.

 (If you download it, let me know that it worked for you!)

Special thanks to Holly for running Tried it Tuesday. It helps to motivate me to try new things that I normally would avoid!

What have you tried recently?

Tried it Tuesday-Trying New Things

 Today is a big day! I'm helping to lead an all day workshop called, "Unpacking the Common Core State Standards for Reading," using Best Practices.I know some of you asked me about it last week.  I'll be sharing some of the highlights with you tomorrow.

This week I'm linking up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper to share some new things that I am trying! I apologize now for the lack of pictures in this post. I promise to have some next time!

I'm in the process of getting a new blog design from A Bird in Hand Blog Designs. I can't wait to see what the final product looks like! Since I am getting a blog design, I decided to bite the bullet and create a Facebook account for my blog. I followed the directions that I found here...easy peazy!

I'm on Facebook!

I'd love to have you follow me there. I'm looking forward to holding flash freebies and doing other fun, quick things on there, and I'd love to have you be a part of it!

I also followed this tutorial and transfered my blog from my school account to my personal g-mail account. I didn't realize when I first created my blog that I was logged in on my school account. I'm all set now!

What have you tried recently? Be sure to link up with Holly and check out what your fellow bloggers have been up to! 

Tried it Tuesday and Giveaway Winner Announced

I admit it, I did it, after reading blog post after blog post I broke down and bought one...

I received a gift card to Amazon and decided to pick up one of these lovely laminators. I decided to try it out this past weekend after I had printed out some of the task cards I had purchased on TPT. This laminator is fantastic. It cost me $32 from Amazon and I wish I had bought it years ago. I spent Sunday night laminating.

My husband enjoyed laughing at my glee while I spent and hour laminating. I am thankful he gets a kick out of my "teacherness." (Is that a real word?)

What have you tried recently? Be sure to link up with Holly for Tried it Tuesday to share what you have tried recently!

Also my 200 Follower Giveaway ended last night. The winner is Ashley C. Congratulations! Be sure to check your e-mail.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

There are big things brewing for tomorrow-be sure to stop back here!

Tried it Tuesday and 200 Follower Giveaway

It is time for Tried it Tuesday. I'm linking up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for her Tried it Tuesday Linky Party.

 

With being MIA last week I was very surprised to discover that I reached 200 followers yesterday. I knew I wanted to have a giveaway and I have found a lot of blogs where people have embedded a Google Form into their blog. I had no idea how to do it, but knew I wanted to try it. So I googled "How do I embed a Google Form in my blog" and out came this video.

As you can see below, using the video, I was able to figure it out! It was actually very simple. So if you ever need/want to embed a document watch this video for quick and easy step-by-step directions.

Since I did reach 200 followers and I learned how to embed this form...if you would like to help me with my giveaway please fill out the form below.


What have you tried recently? Be sure to link up with Holly and share what you have tried recently!

Book Recommendation Wall-Tired it Tuesday

It is Tuesday, tomorrow family will begin to come into town for my husband's graduation, so I wanted to link up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for her Tried it Tuesday before everything gets crazy in my world!

 

This year was my first year running a true Reading Workshop. I'd done some of the aspects of Reading Workshop in the past, but never the true experience before this year.  I'm obsessed with books, I've always loved to read and I love sharing books with my students, but I know that students value their peers suggestions more than mine at the start of the year (until they realize I actually know what I am talking about.) Because of this I created a Book Recommendation Wall in my classroom.

It is very simple-the students just jot down the title of a book and the author as well as their name on a post-it. They then hang it onto the wall. It is near part of our classroom library, so when students are looking for books they check out the recommendations of their classmates. I enjoyed watching students look at the wall, and then go talk to a peer about their recommendation. Sometimes they were asking for more information about the book, other times they were asking where the book was in our library.

What I will do differently:
Next year I want to give the kids time to talk about the book they are recommending in our share time at the end of Reading Workshop. I found that it was always the same few students adding to the wall-I think if I give them a chance to do a quick class-share the day they put it on the wall it will encourage more kids to add their recommendations too.

What do you do to encourage reading in your classroom? How do your kids share book recommendations with each other?

Tried it Tuesday-A Roller Coaster Day

It is the last Tuesday of the school year and with only a few days left of school I knew I wanted to do something that would keep my kids engaged and busy but would also be fun. I decided to pull out a product I purchased during the TPT sale. Erin from I'm Lovin Lit's Roller Coaster Day Unit.

Since my students had library today and we also needed to make our volcanoes erupt I pre-cut the file folders and taped them together so the base of the lapbooks for each student were made before we started.

My example

The students really enjoyed this activity. The directions were very clear and easy to follow. My kiddos enjoyed learning about different roller coasters (especially since we are going on a field trip tomorrow to an amusement park.) 

I am glad I did this activity with them, and I will totally leave this plan for a sub one day.

 

Be sure to visit Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for some other great Tried it Tuesday posts!

Tried it Tuesday-Differentiated Instruction-TAPS and Next School Year Linky

Happy Tuesday everyone. I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend as much as I did. Only 8 1/2 more days of school for me (that is counting today!) I'm "double-dipping today" and joining two linky parties.

First, I'm linking up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried it Tuesday.

If you read yesterday's long post, you know I plan to share many of the ways I have started to differentiate in my classroom. Today I want to share a quick and easy way that you can differentiate your instruction. That is by using TAPS. As a self contained classroom, I try to use TAPS each day. The acronym TAPS represents the ways we should be instructing our students and the ways they should be working on assignments or activities.

T-Total-this is whole group instruction
A-Alone-students working alone, or meeting with you one-on-one
P-Partner-students working with a partner or meeting with a partner
S-Small Group-students meeting and working in groups of 3-4 (I find groups of 5 get a bit crazy)

When I first learned about TAPS I was excited to see that there is a place for whole group instruction in a DI classroom. I was also excited to see that I use TAPS all the time in my classroom. I think most of us who teach elementary students naturally do this. Since learning about it though, I have tried to be more on-purpose with doing TAPS each day. I naturally use TAS (because my students sit at tables groups are easier than partners) so I have had to be a little more creative to add the partner activities. One of the best ways I have found to quickly partner kids up is using "Clock Partners."

It takes about an hour to set up the clocks with the kids during the first few weeks of school, but once you have them set-it is done for the year. I have my students store them in a sheet protector in their binder. You can download a copy of my clock partners chart here.

Do you use TAPS in your room? Which part of TAPS do you have to be more "on-purpose" to use in your classroom?

Even though my year isn't over yet, I'm also linking up with  Finding Joy in 6th Grade for her first linky party.

 

Here are a few of my plans for next year!

I am super excited about implementing this next year!

I love to read, but during the year I tend to struggle with finding time to read for myself.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who struggles with this!

What do you plan to do next year? Link up with Kim to share your plans for next year.

Tried it Tuesday-Behavior Checklists

What a year, so many sad events. My heart goes out to those affected by the storms and tornadoes in Oklahoma.
It has been a long day, but I am linking up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for her Tried it Tuesday linky.

I have to admit, with the end of the school year only a few short weeks away I'm just trying to "push" my kiddos along as we try to wrap up our last few major projects. We are working on a lot of group projects right now and one of my boys has struggled this year with getting along with his classmates and other adults. He is a good kid, but he is very stubborn and argumentative. I honestly don't think he means to be disrespectful to others but he just can't help himself.

To try to help him with this his parents and I have started using a behavior checklist that I created. I fill it out each day, and then put it in his assignment book. He and I talk as situations come up during the day. So he has a pretty good idea about how he scored for the day before he even gets his report. His parents have consequences at home based on the report-while I have my consequences at school. It took him a little while, but I really think he is starting to improve. He is learning when it is time to stop and listen and when he should stand his ground.

If you would like a copy of it that you can edit to fit your kiddos needs you can download it here. What do you use to help your kiddos that need a little more monitoring than others?