School and the City

I was inspired by Cult of Pedagogy to keep my classroom a rigorous, engaging, meaningful classroom environment EVEN on the last week of school. We usually do theme days during the last week. I stuck with the idea of theme days, but put a little more effort into them so that students' time was valued AND I was still able to wrk on packing up my classroom. One of our theme days was Art Day , and I think it was one of my favorites!! I decided to do the most structured activity first before students got too fatigued. This is a project that third grade has done for years, so I adopted it from my wonderful teammates! First, students trace their hand. I modeled to show them how I wanted it to look so that their hand and wrist took up a large amount of space on the page. Next, students created a border of some kind. Then, they decorated the border and their hand. Some designs were realistic, while others were more abstract. Last, they filled in the white space with writing all...

I did it! I survived my fifth year teaching, and I can genuinely say that I did my best to make every last moment count. I was totally inspired (and convicted) by The Cult of Pedagogy's article about the last week of school: What To Do On Lame Duck School Days . In her post, Jennifer provides a categorized list of low-prep, medium-prep, and high-prep ideas for the last week of school, standardized testing days, or really any time that you are tempted to show a movie. Of course, videos have their time and place. And the last day of school - at my school at least - is always "movie day." Jennifer's article got me thinking: How can I do better? I wanted my students to feel challenged - even on the last day of school - and get excited about learning something new. I wanted them to put into practice all of those skills they mastered throughout the year one last time before the potential summer slide. I wanted my students to have something meaningful to say when th...

I've taught economics every year that I've been a teacher. (See my second grade plans here .) This year, however, I'm teaching third grade, and the standards are much deeper than what I've covered in the past! First, and foremost... BOOKS I'm doing my best to keep my classroom a print-rich environment for my students. I'm trying to keep my personal spending down by using my local public library as a resource. At the start of each new unit, I fill my car (then my bookshelf) with related texts! Check out my economics finds: Nonfiction books are always valuable! These books are fictional, but related! I found a few books about entrepreneurs who created brands that are popular with kids. (If you use Epic! as a resource, there are a TON on there, like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates!) Lastly, my favorite find was What Does It Mean to be an Entrepreneur ? I'll be purchasing a copy for myself. LOVE IT. Now for our culminating project:...

I was very lucky to get a Donors Choose project funded recently. I titled my project "Diverse Books for Diverse Readers," which I totally copied from my friend Erin over at The Elementary Darling ! Erin created a list using suggestions from Vera, who has tons of suggestions over on her blog, The Tutu Teacher . Make sure to check out their posts, and see the list below of books I scored for my classroom! Paiute Princess: The Story of Sarah Winnemucca The Girl Who Could Dance in Outer Space: An Inspirational Tale About Mae Jemison (The Girls Who Could) Fancy Party Gowns: The Story of Fashion Designer Ann Cole Lowe Going Places King for a Day Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker  The Water Princess I Got the Rhythm Beautiful Daniel Finds a Poem  Ron's Big Mission She Persisted Around the World: 13 Women Who Changed History It's Back To School We Go!: First Day Stories from Around The World I Am Enough A Piece of Home Hidden Figures:...

Maria Dismondy has done it again! Her newest release, The Fruit Salad Friend, is just as adorable and touching as the rest of her books. (Trust me - I own them all!) All of Maria's books aim to teach children lifelong lessons. This one in particular shows kids how to appropriately handle things that may go wrong in a friendship, and how to find "the recipe" for a lasting friendship. Maria Dismondy and Emily from Third and Hollywood have worked together to provide you with some amazing freebies that you can use along with this book! It's perfect for the beginning of the year or any time your students need a refresher lesson about how to problem solve and speak respectfully to each other. Click HERE to purchase the book on Amazon (affiliate link). Click HERE to download the FREE coloring pages. Click HERE to download the FREE printable reading guide. Happy reading!!

Hey teacher friends! I am so excited to show you my new tool for goal setting and data tracking in my classroom. But first, let's rewind to August. During the first week of school, students filled out these goal sheets. They wrote in one goal for each category. It made for a gorgeous, colorful, and meaningful bulletin board for the first half of the year!  A few weeks ago, I pulled my students in small groups to revisit their goals from the beginning of the year. I took them off the bulletin board so we could look at them carefully. They put check marks in the boxes of goal they had achieved, and wrote "not yet" in the boxes that they were still working on. They loved seeing how many goals they had already achieved, and they loved seeing how their handwriting had changed since the beginning of the year! I encouraged my students to use their slips as bookmarks to be a constant reminder of their goals. You can grab a few variations of these goal sheets...

I teach in a great area of Metro Atlanta that is a true melting pot. The diversity in my classroom is truly amazing. I have learned so much about other cultures and languages from my students.  That being said, I can't do Christmas in my classroom anymore, so I thought I'd share an activity that I did a few years ago.  After Thanksgiving break, I chose Flat Stanley's Christmas Adventure as our read aloud. It's short and sweet, and the kids were thrilled to hear that they would get to take Stanley home! We were working on letter writing, and I thought it would be a fun way to learn more about my students and differing holiday traditions. It went so well!  I chose to use two notebooks, since I had 25 students and I didn't have 25 school days until Christmas. Split in half, it took a little over two weeks to get the project done.  I had a schedule taped inside the notebook, along with instructions and a pocket for Flat Stanley.  (I ha...