FREE St. Patrick's Day Styled Images

Top o' the mornin' to ya!

Sorry about that - I may or may not have Irish on the brain because of my latest project that I can't wait to share with you!

Do you know what a styled photo is?

You most likely do - even if you don't know that's the name for it.

Styled photos are stock photographs taken for use online - for blog posts, social media, product covers, etc. It's a growing trend that's really gaining popularity - especially among teacher bloggers and product creators. 

Here are some examples of how I've used styled images recently:

You see - the possibilities are ENDLESS! :)

Because I love the versatility and crisp clean look of styled photos, I decided to jump in and try my hand at taking some. I have created this set, just in time for St. Patrick's Day - and they're FREE for you!

This download includes 10 crisp images that are cropped to square (for social media) and 4:3 (for product covers) so that you have easy formatting options.

Here are some ideas of how you could use these St. Patrick's Day themed styled photos:

These styled photos are available for personal or commercial use - so what are you waiting for? Download them HERE and start creating! :)

Like what you see?

I have another set of school-inspired styled photos - in a fun NEON theme! :)

Happy creating!

FREE Opposite Day Activities for Monday, January 25

Good-bye teachers!

Sad similar night no one!

While that may read like a bunch of gibberish - it isn't! I'm practicing for National Opposite Day! :)

You see, that's how I greet my kiddos every year on Opposite Day - which happens every year on January 25th. So what I'm really saying to them is:

Hello students!

Happy Opposite Day everyone!

Get it? :)

As a 5th grade teacher, one of my goals was to engage my students to such a degree that they wanted to come to school each day. One way of maximizing student engagement without compromising learning time was creating packets that capitalized on their interests and let them have FUN while developing and practicing important skills.

Here is one of those packets:

National Opposite Day (yes, it is a real thing) is coming up! This year it's Monday, January 25th. Carve out some extra time to have {structured} fun with your students. It will be a day they won't soon forget! This *FREE* packet includes a poster to hang on your door as well as some ideas for celebrating Opposite Day in the classroom/home.

It also includes 5 activity pages that will stretch their imaginations while reviewing important skills.

1."My Opposite Age" asks students to imagine that the numbers in their age have been switched!  They must write a journal entry about what their life is now like – and include a picture!. (For example if they are 06 years old, they pretend that they’re 60! If they’re 12 years old, they pretend they’re now 21.) Note: If they’re 11 years old, they can choose to be 1 or 110 :)

2. "Antonyms are Amazing" gives students practical experience with opposites - antonyms!

3. "An Opposite Adventure" tells a strange story - the students must read it and switch out the underlined words for their opposites - and re-write the story so it makes sense.

 4. "A Day of Opposites" is a creative writing prompt that asks students to write about a day they have in which EVERYTHING is OPPOSITE

And finally, 5. "Opposite Learning" gives kiddos some practice with basic skills - but with an OPPOSITE twist :)

This was good practice, even for my 5th graders - they were a little rusty on their alphabet and basic math facts. It's good to brush up every now and again :)

You can download this packet for FREE here:

Opposite Day Activity Packet

If you use this packet and enjoy it, please leave feedback! Also - if you take any pictures of your students' work from this packet, I'd love to feature you on my blog! Please e-mail me at joyinthejourneyteaching@yahoo.com - and I'll send you a FREE product as a thank-you! :)

FREE Back-to-School Graphic Organizer: A Good Classmate

The first week of school is crucial for setting the tone in your classroom. I always spend considerable time setting my expectations for not only the quality of their schoolwork and the effort I need to see, but also their behavior. 

I am looking for role models and they know it!
For kids (especially the youngsters) sometimes the word role model can be a little ambiguous. Each year I take the time to discuss what a role model is. 

I'm not looking for 2-dimensional stock characters; I want living, breathing, good-decision-making classmates. But that doesn't always happen naturally. Sometimes students need to be taught.

This FREE graphic organizer is meant to spur discussion of what makes a good classmate. Take time to brainstorm as a class (or have your students work together in groups) to fill out the graphic organizer. It can be displayed in the classroom and/or referred to periodically throughout the year.

I saw this idea on Pinterest and knew that I wanted
to try it with my students:

As a class we brainstormed what it looked like to be a good classmate. We filled out this anchor chart and the students filled in one at their seats as a reminder to keep in their binders. We also had a great discussion about how these qualities don't only apply to being a good student - they make us good friends, good sons/daughters, good siblings, etc.

I have created this *FREE* template if you would like to use one of them with your students/children:

For those using this at home, I've included some additional templates for you to use:

          

If you download this product, please leave feedback!

Also, if you use this product with your class, please take some pictures and e-mail me at joyinthejourneyteaching@yahoo.com - I'd love to feature you on my blog! :) 

What are your best activities for setting the tone in your classroom? Share them in the comments below - we'd love to hear them! :)

FREE Titanic Activity Packet

Hello everyone!

This is Jessica from "Joy in the Journey" here.

Today I'm here to share a new *FREEBIE* with you:

Last year my students were Titanic-crazy, 

so I decided to build on their interest and do a week-long unit on the tragic sinking of the RMS Titanic.

This FREE packet includes a summary article

and graphic organizers

and you can download it for FREE here:

Titanic Activity Packet Sampler

and if you download it, please leave feedback :)

Looking for more Titanic fun?

Check out the full 40-page MEGA packet:

Human Body, Anyone?

If you are a 5th grade teacher, you probably do a fair amount of teaching about the human body.

Sometimes it's informal, like: "Please remember the importance of a shower and deodorant every day!" If you teach upper grades, you KNOW what I'm talking about...

And sometimes, it's more formal learning about all of the body's amazing systems and how they interact.

We have just wrapped up our study of the human body in our science class. In order to learn about each system, their important organs and functions and how they all interact, we started out by thinking about our prior knowledge and then questions we had. We started with the digestive system, but you could start with whichever one you want (or the one your district suggests).

Throughout our research, we used several free online resources that I wanted to share with all of the awesome Fifth Grade Freebies followers!

Discovery Kids

The Discovery Kids website has great articles about each of the major body systems. They are fact-filled and interesting to read. You can even print them out if technology isn't readily available at your school! Once you are on the site, just search for the system you want and look for the articles!

Kids Health

Kids Health is a website with TONS, and I mean TONS of information. There are articles for parents, kids, teens and resources for teachers. They have great videos too, with activities and printables.

Biology4Kids

What I love about Biology4Kids is the articles have a video at the end of each one that is related to the system you are reading about. For example, after the article about the skeletal system there is a cool video about bionic limbs! The kids loved watching it.

Computer Simulations

One of the kids' favorite things to do during this research phase was the computer simulations. The one the 5th graders liked the best was the digestive system. They could pick any food from the table and ride along through the digestive process. I'll let you see for yourself if the simulation goes ALL the way through...

These were just a few of the websites and resources out there to help kids access information about the human body!

What resources do you use to teach about the human body in your classroom?

 

Free Coding Lessons

There are so many free resources on the internet.  The trick is figuring out which ones are worth your time.

The 4th through 6th graders started out using Khan Academy to learn to code.  The enthusiasm around school was refreshing.  Now all of our 3rd through 6th graders are learning Math with Khan Academy.  This was all started by a specialist on my team that teaches in our computer lab.  If you'd like to read more about it, she recently did a guest blog post for me here.

Khan Academy can be a great motivating early finisher activity.  If you are looking for a free math website, that motivates kids, I highly recommend it.  (They haven't asked me to say any of this.)

Recently some of our 5th grade girls were at an ALPs event and I made these signs for them.  They had a great time sharing their coding skills with people from around our district.

Maybe you'll find a use for them as well. :)  Download them here.

What are your favorite free math websites?

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