Happy All Things Turkey and a Freebie

Hello Monday!
I love using superteacherworksheets.com! Do you?
I found a fantastic passage on Presidential Pardons for Turkeys. It is a fourth grade passage, a bit high for most of my friends. So after some discussion, we read it together. It was quite interesting with the history of the turkey pardon.

Then for the fun!
I told my friends to pretend they were a turkey. They needed to compose a letter to President Obama asking him for a Thanksgiving pardon. We brainstormed, learned the five parts of a letter {just click here for that post and freebie}, and then went to town.
These kids wrote great letters.

I love how this student gave up his older brother as a better option for Thanksgiving dinner. And he is so right- I know I wouldn't want to eat a smelly turkey!

This turkey thinks he is too cute and handsome to die!

This student is President Obama's BFF!

This one just made me laugh out loud!
















If you would like to do this activity with your students, just click here or on the pic below. It is a freebie!

Hope you still have time to use it! It brought a lot of giggles to my friends.
Thanks for reading =)
~lisa

Heat Energy

Happy Sunday morning!

Today, I wanted to share some more Science Fun from our classroom.

My third grade students have learned the states of matter and are now exploring energy. For an exciting Friday experiment, we used heat energy to create a tasty snack. Since it was cloudy and the temps were not cooperating, Tina suggested we use magnifying glasses to help our heat energy along. My friends were so excited to explore, predict, and learn. The snazzy snack that they created was a S'more!
They had fun figuring out how to direct the beam of light onto the piece of chocolate. When I asked how this related to states of matter, they replied with yells of- "solid to liquid". This teacher heart is very happy. Especially since I am So. Bad. At. Science.

Sink or Float~ Science Fun

Good morning!
Did you know that this is my first year teaching science in 15 years?
And I want to be honest.   It. Is. HARD.
There's a reason I taught 2 Social Studies instead of my own Science! I love Social Studies. I enjoy Science but I don't really understand it. My brain doesn't think that way!
Thank God I have such a wonderful grade level team. They help as much as they can but it is still HARD!
Anywho~
Recently, we studied the physical properties of matter.
We began our unit by giving groups of students a bag of items. The students studied, discussed, and predicted which items would sink or float. Once we tested all of the items, the students were challenged to make an object float that did not float before. I was surprised by the variety of ways students got their objects to float.

The next day, I gave the students half a stick of clay. They worked with a partner to design and make a boat that could float. Once their boat was ready, they began adding teddy bear counters. The students kept adjusting their design to hold more teddy bears. At the end of this experiment, we debriefed on the strategies that worked. It was amazing fun!

Currently November

Hello again!
I know I already blogged today but I just read Farley's Currently.
So I'm linking up!

Listening~ My son has a weekly gig singing at church and I love to hear him prepare.

Loving~ Fall y'all! Need I say more.

Thinking~ I hope Romo is healthy enough to play. Go Cowboys!

Wanting~ I don't want to clean my house. Why can't it just stay clean?

Needing~ To recharge. I was sick a while ago and have not been myself since then. Calgon, take me away!

Reading~ I just bought The Maze Runner and Gone Girl. I decided to watch the movies first and then read the books so I wouldn't be so disappointed with the movie. I never did this before a few years ago, but now it is how I roll. I usually don't hate the movie and still love the book.

Visit Farley's Linky Party by clicking on the image above.

Happy Sunday =)
~lisa

Five For Friday {on Sunday of course!}

Hello! We've been MIA for a while. Life has been overwhelming of late but there is so much I have wanted to share so here goes~ Five for Sunday ;)

Halloween Day~Tina was Thing 1 and I was Thing 2. The two other members of our grade level were Thing 3 and Thing 4. {By the way, this is a horrible pic of us but it was a. long. day. Tina, don't kill me!}

Our Halloween Carnival was last Saturday. Tina puts it together and the rest of the staff helps her. It was a huge success.

Our new administration is awesome. They volunteered to get pies thrown at their faces. The younger students did not want to do this to the principal and our assistant principal. But those fifth graders were relentless!





My favorite costume was by a wonderful first grade teacher. The kids were so afraid ~ they had no idea it was her!
















   This is the pumpkin graph that we make for our candy contest. The winning classes won free dress! Tina runs this as well.

 Our third graders make a paper mache pumpkin at home and decorate it for the annual Third Grade Pumpkin Parade. On Friday, we walked up and down the halls and into many classrooms to show off their pumpkins. The best part of the parade is walking down the kinder hallway. Their teachers have the kids sit out in the hallway with  pompoms and music blaring. They cheer on every third grader. It was fantastico!

My son performed last weekend at his university. They put on the opera, Sweeney Todd : The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He was double cast as Sweeney and did wonderful job. It was first starring role as a singer. One. Proud. Mama!

Check out Doodle Bugs Linky~

Freedom Week 2014

Hi there friends! Freedom Week begins on September 17 and we are getting ready to learn all about the Constitution.
Last year, I blogged about my plans for Constitution Week here. Well, it was a huge success so we will be doing some of the same activities.
First, I will read We The Kids by David Catrow.

I love using this book to discuss The Preamble to the Constitution. Since our third grade learning goal is to understand The Preamble, this book is a great fit.
Second, we will complete The Preamble Match and add that to our Interactive Notebooks. You can get this free from Hooty's Homeroom here.

 

Third, we will watch a few videos on The Constitution. United Streaming has a video that I love to show the students.

Fourth, we will write our own class constitution. 

Wednesday and Thursday should be fun! I love teaching Social Studies but I'm learning that I love teaching Science as well. Who would have thunk? More Science to come soon to this little blog =)

~lisa

Remembering September 11th~ A Day of Service

Hello Friends!
This past week was the 13th anniversary of September 11th. For my third graders, I wanted to focus on "A Day Of Service" in memory of this day.
So we read this book: September 12th~ We Knew Everything Would Be Alright

Have you read this book? It's a wonderful collection written by 1st graders. And it is a book of hope!
After reading the book, we brainstormed how we could serve others.
Then, we invited a first grade class over to our classroom. My third grade friends read a short book and poems from their poetry notebooks and our first grade friends read a poem.
Here are some pics~

After our younger friends left, we wrote a reflection on serving others. These kids did an amazing job.

How did you recognize September 11th in you classroom?
~lisa