The Paper Bag Princess

Now that I'm feeling much better after having pneumonia I've started creating some new units for TPT. One of them is The Paper Bag Princess Literacy Activities.

It's  a fun companion to Robert Munsch's adorable, modern fairytale The Paper Bag Princess. The activities include character bubble maps, a princess Venn Diagram, character puppets that can be used for reader's theater, and a Story Elements Castle Craftivity.

 

 

Other TPT literature products I've recently posted are

The Chocolate Touch Novel Activities and Lapbook

 

and Visitors from Space (Harcourt Trophy)



 

For any teachers who use the 3rd grade Harcourt Trophies anthology a site I found that has the stories on audio is http://teacherweb.com/hi/kiheielementaryschool/rwade/links3.aspx

 

Happy learning!

July Currently

Here goes my first ever "Currently" run by the fantabulous Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade ...

 

 

Listening: I developed pneumonia, which landed me in the ER on Sunday, so I've been up since the crack of dawn hacking away in accompaniment to the twittering birdies outside. 

 

Loving: In 13 days I'll be on vacation! Disney World for 3 days, Georgia for 2.5 days,  then New Hampshire for a week.

 

Thinking: My immune system better be back to normal by then! I don't want to spend the 24 hour road trip coughing in the car.

 

Wanting: I've only been able to manage a mostly liquid diet since getting sick. The prospect of a fruit smoothie is more lip smacking than the chicken broth, hot tea, Gingerale, and water I've been sipping the past few days.

 

Needing: Cough syrup with codeine KNOCKS. ME. OUT. Which is why I've been trying to take it less daytime, but definitely before bed so I can rest. However, I tossed and turned last night so am gonna need a nap before this afternoon's follow-up doctor appointment.

 

4th plans: The plan is to see fireworks, possibly at the beach. Tropical storm Arthur may change the plan.

 

 Worse case scenario, I see them somewhere else during the weekend after Arthur blows away.

 

 

Happy July!!!



Summer Bucket List

 

 

SUMMER BUCKET LIST

* Disney World, Georgia, and New Hampshire vacation

* design new TPT lessons

* create language arts center tub

* design new classroom decor

* declutter teaching folders in file cabinets

* splash in the surf at the beach

* relax at the pool

* go to Island Beach State Park

* day trips

* read e-books on my new Kindle

* garden

* eat ice-cream at the boardwalk

* aqua and yoga classes at the gym

* watch 4th of July fireworks

* family-n-friends bbq's

* soak up the sun


Wishing everyone a fun-filled, relaxing summer!!!

Blog Makeover!!!

If you've  visited my blog before you may have noticed I have a new design! I first ventured into sharing teaching ideas in Cyberland by creating an early childhood class website. Then, I discovered a ton of inspiring teachers' blogs and thought, "I can do that, too!" And, The Third Grade Learning Spot came to be. Through a lot of trial and error I created my own blog, but the finished product wasn't what I had envisioned in my head. No matter how many tutorials I watched I just couldn't get rid of the seam in my background. Plus, I wanted all the cool, cute features other blogs had. Then, I discovered the site, I Teach. What's Your Super Power? , created by Megan Favre. I learned not only is Megan a teacher and mommy, but she's a blog designer and creator of A Bird in Hand Designs. At first, I felt hesitant contacting Megan to redesign my blog. I was still getting the hang of blogging and with my Type A, OCD, perfectionist personality  it was hard handing the reins over to another. However, Megan made the process not only pain free, but FUN. Megan was consistently prompt in answers any questions and even developed my new design quicker than anticipated. She came up with a bunch of creative options for me to pick from by simply using a color palette and some fav fonts I sent her. So, if you're thinking of creating or re-designing a blog, I highly recommend Megan!


Even though there's only 2 weeks of school left, The Third Grade Learning Spot has been busy, busy, busy. I was amazed at the animal habitat reports and dioramas the kiddos created. Here's a sample ...

 

 

We also joined the rest of the school creating a garden habitat in the Home Depot garden beds on the playground.  Seedlings we planted included pumpkins, strawberries, corn, tomatoes, and petunias. The kiddos will get to see how big their plants grew during the summer on the 1st day of the new school year.

                                       future cornstalk...     

 

   Happy learning!

May Madness

It's hard to believe that it's the end of May and this school year is just a few weeks away! We started off our busy month integrating writing, technology, and art to do this Mother's Day craftivity...

 

One of the hands-on activities we did during our plant unit in science was learning how pollination occurs. Using a bee puppet, coffee filter "flowers" and paprika "pollen" we observed how pollen spreads as a bee flies from flower to flower.

 

We've now begun our "Animals and Their Habitats" unit and had the chance to meet some creatures such as a lizard...

and a guinea pig named Lolly...

I'm excited to see what creations the students design for their animal habitat dioramas and reports!

 

Happy learning!

 

Fun with Fractions

We've been having fun learning about fractions using visual, hands-on activities this past week. After learning what a fraction is, students created fraction lap books to see what fractions look like as part of a set and on a number line as well as get introduced to equivalent fractions, improper fractions, and mixed fractions. Students classified M&M's by color to create fractions...and then enjoyed eating them of course! We also created our own equivalent fraction bars project to help us visually see equivalent fractions and then learned how to multiply the numerator and denominator by the same number to make equivalent fractions. The equivalent fractions bars project is available in my TPT store:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Equivalent-Fractions-Project-1223871

 

Happy learning!

Spring Break Catch Up

Spring break has finally given me some time to catch up on blogging and share what's been going on in class. Spring's arrival has been evident in the warmer temperatures and sprouting plants, including the veggie and flower seedlings for our school garden sprouting in our classroom.

 

Speaking of the weather, we've completed our weather unit in science. The classroom was decorated with 4 types of clouds: cumulus, cirrus, stratus, and nimbus...

 

   as well as cloud and water cycle posters...

 

The students made their own 4 types of clouds foldables using cottonballs....

 

and we even demonstrated how water condensation causes rain using shaving cream, blue food coloring, and  a jar of water....

  

We've now begun our plant unit, learning the roles of each part of a plant and classifying plants we eat as the root, stem, seed, or flower.

 

We'll continue our plant unit learning what flowers and cones do and conduct a pollination experiment when we return from spring break.

In math, we've completed our geometry unit. Activities included creating different types of lines and rays using toothpicks and stickers; making 3 types of triangles foldables; classifying 3D shapes according to their sides, faces, and vertices; and classifying figures as congruent or similar...

 

One of the highlights of the unit was receiving a "letter from NASA" asking us to design robots for a Mars mission using specific perimeter and area measurements. The teams were very creative in their designs, including a drill on one robot that could break through Mars ice!

 

Wishing everyone an enjoyable, relaxing end of spring break!