Math WebQuest

Addicted, addicted, addicted....

http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=129710

Reading Center WebQuest

So, I'm kind of addicted to this WebQuest thing.  Here's my Reading Center WebQuest:
www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=129702

FREE WebQuest Site and My First WebQuest

So, I'm still on a mission to consolidate my classroom centers and make them more "user friendly."  In an effort to cut down on papers and worksheets, I thought, "Why not try a Webquest?" 

That's when I came across this little gem: http://www.zunal.com/index.php.  You'll have to create an account, but it's free and fairly user friendly.  It took me awhile to figure out the finer details, but it wasn't too tough. 

**WARNING** You can create one WebQuest for free.  Anything more than that, and you'll have to pay, but it's only $20 for 3 years.  I thought it was worth it.

This is my first attempt at a "Study Skills Center WebQuest":  http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=129695.

I plan to put one paper at the actual center in my classroom to tell kids where to go on the Internet.  I save the link to the WebQuest on our school's shared network folder so all the kids have to do is open that folder and click on the link.

Author Study Literacy Center Idea

I'm working on consolidating and upgrading my spelling, writing and reading centers into one more awesome "literacy center."  One of the first projects is an author study.  You can download it for FREE at my TPT store:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Author-Study-of-Multiple-Authors


It includes some of my favorite authors as suggestions to the students.  I tried to pick authors that wrote more than just one genre of book.  For example, I purposefully didn't include Shel Silverstein even though he's one of my favorite authors because he mostly wrote poetry and nothing else.  I also kept out authors that mostly wrote a series as well because those books are too similar.

Editing and Revising

Some of the hardest parts of the writing process for my students are editing and revising.  They often confuse what each of those steps entail.  So, I created a color-coded checklist for each.  You can download each of them for FREE at my TPT store:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Elementary-Color-Coded-Writing-Editing-Checklist

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Elementary-Color-Coded-Revising-Checklist

Winter Writing Prompts

Well, our fourth grade writing predictor test is coming up, and this is a tough one for most fourth graders.  It tells who is ready for the big state standardized test next year, and who isn't quite there yet.

I've been trying to make my students more independent during their writing time.  Several students have been quite clingy, wanting to "conference" with me after every line or two they write.  So I made up a new rule:  You have to follow the "order of writing"  according to the poster.  Check it out at TPT: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Order-Mini-Poster.  I uploaded this at Vistaprint and had it made into a slightly larger poster.  By the way, if you haven't been to vistaprint, you should!  http://www.vistaprint.com/

Students also only get to conference with the teacher ONCE.  I know this sounds tough, but they need to be confident in their own writing and show their own thoughts.

Here are two of the writing units I'll be doing over the next month or so:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Winter-Creative-Writing-Prompts-Part-2
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Winter-Creative-Writing
 

More Alternatives to the Boring Book Report

Cereal Box Book Report

Here's a link to my Teachers Pay Teachers example that's FREE:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Paper-Bag-Biography-Book-Report
I made it into a sort of rubric.


I got the idea from http://fabulous-fourth.blogspot.com/.  Check out her post to see how she does this: http://fabulous-fourth.blogspot.com/2011/12/cereal-box-book-reports.html.

Alternatives to the Boring Old Book Report

In order to expose students to a variety of book genres,  my grade level has the students read one Accelerated Reader book and one book of a chosen genre.  We have the students take a computerized test on the AR book.  Students do either projects or summaries on the genre book.  Here's the schedule of genres and projects:

Month	Genre	Project
September	Realistic Fiction	Summary
October	Biography or Autobiography	Wanted Poster
November	Mystery	Summary
December	Realistic Fiction	Free Choice Project
January	Fantasy	Summary
February	Poetry	Poetry Book Jacket
March	Historical Fiction	Summary
April	Biography or Autobiography	Timeline
May	Free Choice	No project

Here are the links to my Teachers Pay Teachers store so you can go pick some of these projects up for FREE:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Biography-Wanted-Poster-Book-Report
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Paper-Bag-Biography-Book-Report
I just read a post about using PowerPoint to do book reports, which I plan to use next year.  Go check it out for yourself:  http://atimetoshareandcreate.blogspot.com/2011/12/book-reportthe-powerpoint-way.html

Using Picture Books to Teach Intermediate Subjects

I just came across a great free downloadable list of picture books that divides them by subject.  Go see "Teaching My Friends" blog for more information: http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2011/12/picture-book-jackpot.html.

Brain Breaks--Music List

I attended a workshop in which the presenter taught us to us music clips for transition times.  It's amazing how quickly the kids stop what they're doing, clean up and get out of their seats for a minute or two of dancing!  You might think this isn't worth the loss of instructional time, but let me assure you that IT IS!!!  We do this about every 20 minutes, and I get so much more genuine attention from them afterwards that I do this religiously. 

I downloaded all these songs from Zune (another company that competes with iTunes).  http://social.zune.net/music/.  I adapted the music to include some educational songs.  Sneaky, aren't I? 

Here is a a list of the favorites: 

• "The Place Value Rap" by Rockn' the Standards
• "The Turbo Hustle" by DJ Maestro Presents...
• "Cupid Shuffle" by Cupid
• "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas
• "The Freeze" by Greg and Steve
• "Peanut Butter and Jelly Time" by Silly Kidz
• "Aint No Party Like a Number 9 Party" by Math Man
• "Let's Do Them Eights" by Math Man
• "Seven Tables (Ludacris and Pharell style)" by Multiplicaiton Hip Hop with Mr.G. & The Kiddie Crunk Crew
• "Nonagon" by They Might Be Giants
• "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" by Johnny Only
• Macarena by Los Ninos de Sara

You can also get a bunch of the newer pop songs as the "karaoke version" with no words (only the melody).  I've done this for Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, etc.  Just search for the band's name and look for "karaoke" on the album cover.  A word of caution: Listen to the song ALL THE WAY THROUGH.  Some songs have vocals randomly throughout the song, and they aren't what you want to be sharing in a classroom.

The Secret Soldier by Ann McGovern

We are getting ready to do our unit on the American Revolution.  As part of our studies, we will learn the various roles Virginians played.  I was inspired by a post on http://4theloveofteaching.blogspot.com/ about how she uses The Secret Soldier for read aloud and literature circles.  I've thought about using this book, but haven't gotten around to it. 

So I popped on down to Teachers pay Teachers to have a look at some of the things teachers are doing with this book.  It just so happens that the first thing I found was a freebie, and it fit my literature circle needs perfectly!  Go check it out for yourself:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Secret-Soldier-by-Ann-McGovern.  You might have to create an account if you haven't already, but it's free and totally worth it.

While I'm on the subject, http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/ is a gold mine!  Many of the lessons and activities on this site are free or incredibly cheap. 

IPEVO Document Camera

This is not free, and some might say that $65 isn't exactly cheap when it comes out of your own pocket, but this piece of equipment has more than paid for itself in the short amount of time I've owned it. 
http://www.ipevo.com/prods/Point-2-View-USB-Camera/IPEVO

Here are some ways I've used it to save time, and ultimately, money:

1. Use it to project a book you'd like to read as a class, but don't have enough copies of the book for each student.  I use the Interactive White Board to highlight and discuss the book as well.  Sometimes I only have one copy of a chapter book, but this allows the kids to have a "printed copy" in front of them.
2. If you have a copy limit at your school like we do, then you'll love this one.  For morning work, I often have the students complete part of a math worksheet.  Instead of copying a worksheet for each student in the class, I print one copy and put it under the document camera.  The students copy the math problems and complete them on notebook paper.
3. You click the button on top of the camera to snap a picture of whatever is below it.  This can be great for science experiments.  I recently constructed a parallel and series circuit under the document camera (live action while the kids watched) and then snapped a pic of it.  I then saved the file and was able to use that same file for several days while we explored and discussed circuits.

See Ladybug's blog for the way she uses it:
http://ladybugsteacherfiles.blogspot.com/2011/10/cheap-document-camera-ipevo.html

Also, this is a great website that gives tons of ideas on how to use document cameras.  It's divided by grade level so you can choose the activities that best fit your classroom:
http://www.edtechnetwork.com/document_cameras.html