Spring Cleaning Sale - Me Too!

I am so late with this, so my Spring Cleaning Sale is today through Tuesday - everything is 20% off!! Have a look! Happy Shopping!!

Global Collaborative Project

 

Reaching out to classes all over the world is so easy now thanks to the internet, blogs, and collaborative projects. The Flat Stanley Project has been around for ages, but it is still a fun activity to learn about where other people come from, and how they spend their day, foods they eat....  To collaborate on a Flat Stanley Project you can sign up directly on their site here and you will be contacted (I guarantee it) to do a writing exchange project. At this site, you will also find FS templates to use for your project. This is the second year in a row I am pairing up with a school in New York. Last year, I also paired up with a school in Japan.  There are schools all over the world looking for partners. I recommend reading the FS stories in advance so the children understand the concept before beginning the project. We started reading the stories in the Fall and begin the project now. This way the children have also developed good writing skills.   Yes, you do need parent participation, but this is a fun project for all involved. Parents always have alot of fun with this project and this is a way for them to get involved in their child's school activities.  We always culminate this activity with a Skype visit so we can see how our partners look - this is always a big curiousity -  and share questions with each other.

Here is the link to the free Flat Stanley App from the ITunes Store. I also found a link to a simple FS reader's theatre which I was very excited to find. Get it here.

More Center Idea Freebies

 
I found some great freebies for centers last week while on Pinterest so I thought I would share with you.

Rounding is a bit difficult for first graders, but I managed to find a great rounding game. The children had to choose two numbers from their stack of number cards, then put their chip on the two multiples of 10 their number came in between. They then determined which multiple of 10 it was closest to. This freebie came with a worksheet which was even better.Get this rounding activity here from the Classroom Game Nook.

The next freebie I found was a noun/verb/adjective sort. These grammar activities are on going so anytime I can find a fun center activity based on word structure, I use it. Here, the children sorted the words in the appropriate column, then wrote their words out on the included worksheet. Get this activity here from 2nd Grade Stuff Blogspot.

This next one uses QR Codes and the QR App reader which is easily downloaded.  See my earlier blog post on QR Codes to download this free app.

The children had to sort the numbers according to whether they were even or odd. Then using the QR code reader app, they checked their work. Get this activity here from iTeach 1:1. I had them complete a simple activity sheet that I created as there wasn't one included. Click here to download this sheet.

Hope you all enjoyed these freebie ideas. Be sure and leave some love for the teachers who created these great products!!

 

Story Starter Ideas

Teachers, if you are looking for fun, interactive story starter ideas for your class, check no further than this interactive site from Scholastic here.

Guest Blogging

   Hey all! I am guest blogging over at Rakis Resources about the Six Writing Traits.  I love the Northern Nevada Writing Project and all their ideas  and I think you will to. Please go on over and have a look.

500 Follower Giveaway!!

   

A Series of 3rd Grade Events is having a 500 follower giveaway. Head on over to her blog to enter the giveaway. There are 3 prize packages worth over a total of $300!! The drawing ends Sunday 10 March - Good Luck!!

Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds

   

Hi all. Here to share with you another great site called Wordle. This is a terrific site where your possibilities are endless. In a nutshell, you create word clouds, perhaps based on a topic and press go and your words are put into a lovely artful display - you can control how you would like your image to be displayed. For example type in a bunch of words related to a single topic and have the children guess the topic, use Wordle to introduce a new topic of study and see if they can guess the new topic, compare and contrast, character traits - ideas are endless. You can edit the word display through color, layout, and font. Here is a great link to ideas for using Wordle in the classroom. There are many more if you search the net.

In this example, I asked the students what kind of stories would I find these types of words in?

In this example I asked them what topic are we discussing here?