Teacher Tuesday: Bookshelf Facelift and ORGANIZATION!

So, I decided to go to school... DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REINACT OR RECREATE THIS STUNT.

I've been itching to get in the classroom and work on a few projects and I love how they turned out!

My first project was this white bookshelf I had in the classroom. It didn't really go with anything else, so I decided to use my leftover wall paint and spruce it up.

Even after the bright paint, I felt like it needed a little something extra! So, I painted some fun Dr. Seuss-ish lines on the side and looked up the word "read" in different languages. This end of the bookshelf juts out into the center of the classroom, so it's going to be a great focal point!

My second project was this GREAT cabinet in the classroom! It had a blue striped curtain hanging over it, which I  used as a drop cloth for painting... WOOPS! 

I decided to go through all the supplies hidden in the cabinet and see what I could use and what needed to GO. I ended up storing most of my math manipulatives and resources in the top portion and my FOSS kits in the bottom.

I also picked up some bright fabric from the sale bin at Wal-Mart and my momma sewed together these fun curtains to replace my drop cloth curtains!

I ended up going off on an organizing tangent and managed to get my social studies resources organized as well! I lined them along our shelf in chronological order. I plan on putting a timeline above them, so the students (and I) have a visual to go along with our lessons through time!

I ended up finding a ton of cool science stuff in the big storage cabinet and decided to take them out and put them on display in our "discovery center." By having these materials out I'm hoping students will be more willing to jump in to science and not be afraid of the different instruments! 

I know it doesn't look like much, but I feel like it's all coming together. My biggest goal right now (one month out!) is to see what all I have to work with! As you see, I still have a long way to go! 

This is my next big project... the classroom library! I want a fun, inviting space that encourages students to discuss and promote what they're reading! I've got a couple ideas in my head, but I'd love to hear yours! 

Happy Tuesday!

Writing Autobiographies!

Hi all! We have been busy bees in the third grade class that I am doing my student teaching in! 

Two weeks ago it was finally my turn to teach the whole reading unit! SOLO!

It was a little nerve racking, but SO, SO fun! 

Here's what we did.

I found this AMAZING autobiography pack from The Teacher Wife's TPT store and it rocked my world.

We tweaked a few things, but overall it was a fabulous pack that covered pretty much all bases! 

This week we were reading Author: A True Story from their Treasures reading book, so it fit perfectly! 

Of course throughout this week we had state assessments to take, a freak snow storm, and in class speakers, but hey, this is supposed to be like real life teaching, right? Haha. We still managed to squeeze all of our plans in and the kids ROCKED their autobiographies. 

We also learned about Author's Purpose this week as our skill. I was able to use the "Easy as P.I.E." saying to help the kids remember them. 

After a long week I brought in my fancy rocking chair I painted over the summer... remember this post?

This was our "author's chair" for the day and we had a BLAST sharing. Luckily this little one covered her face while reading so I was able to capture the moment and legally put the picture up! I'm so mad at myself for not taking more pictures of their work! 

I finished my unit up by giving the kids writer gift bags filled with Post-It notes, pens, pencils, gel grips, and erasers! 

They really worked SO hard and I was SO proud. They are currently typing them for West Virginia Writes! 

Character Traits

As mentioned in my previous post, last week we worked on character traits in our leveled reading groups. I thought I would share the lesson because the kids seemed to respond really well with it! 

This is a 3rd grade class, but I think it would work well with any grade! 

We have reading groups for 15 minutes Tuesday - Thursday and I see 3 different groups a day. 

Tuesday: 

I introduced each group's book for the week to them.

The books I used were Officer Buckle and Gloria, The Story of Ferdinand, Crysanthemum, and Elmer.

I got a FABULOUS character trait package from Amanda Nickerson. I used her inferring character traits by dialogue on the first day where my students and I read through the book and inferred the main character's character traits by what they said throughout the book. 

Wednesday: 

We went back through the book and used the second chart from Amanda's unit where we inferred character traits through the actions of the main characters. 

Thursday:

I created a vinn diagram sheet for the students to reflect on their own character traits, the traits of the main character, and traits they had in common. 

You can get this worksheet here!

Friday we got together as a whole group and made fall character trait mobiles to hang up in the room. 

We cut out a green circle and hung leaf colored shapes from it with each student's character trait hanging on them. I instructed the students to write "THEIR NAME's Character Traits" on the top of the green circle and we put their picture in the middle. 

They turned out great and once we hung them it made it look like autumn leaves were falling from the ceiling! 

We had so much fun learning about character traits! This week we are tackling author's purpose and writing autobiographies! WOO HOO! 

Ain't Gonna Paint No More!

Although I did this activity a while back I thought I'd share anyway because it has been one of my favorites!

In my 2D-3D Elementary Art class we read the book Ain't Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont and I absolutely adored it! At the time I was working as the lead School Age teach at a child development center and Wednesday was our Art Club day. The first thing I did was read the book to the children. Note: I had children age 5 - 10. This book was perfect because it was hilarious, so it kept my older kids interested, and it included prediction and rhyming which held my younger kids' attention.

After the book was over I told the kids we were going to create our own Ain't Gonna Paint No More! boy. luckily I had a small enough number of kids to assign a body part to each child. (I think it was 11?) Anyway the kids had a BLAST decorating their body parts. I gave each a plain piece of computer paper and they went to town!!

We then assembled the body on our wall to make one unit! It looked hilarious, of course, because the arms end up two different sizes as well as the legs and hands... etc.

What I loved most about this activity is that it not only includes literature and art, it incorporates science (anatomy specifically) and it requires teamwork! I loved it hanging in our room because it was something we all had to do together and without one part it just wouldn't have been right! :)

I feel like this could be a fun way to lead into a science unit on the body! Anyway you use it I think the kids will LOVE it -- mine did!

I did take one picture of the finished project even though I wasn't blogging at the time!

Thank you Miss Taylor for the fun letters! :) 

We had a blast doing this! Please share pictures if you do it! I'd love to see how it would work in a large classroom!