Saturday, November 29, 2014

Happy Holidays! Constructed Response Task Cards

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Are you read for December to be here? I'm really not! We're on the countdown to state testing now, so I'm excited to work in some practice on multi-step, constructed response problems.

This freebie includes 8 cards for you to use to practice these difficult problems in your classroom. Each card is holiday-themed, so your students won't even realize they're doing difficult math!






Friday, November 28, 2014

Winter Break Freebie Fun!

Happy Thanksgiving! Nichole here, from The Craft of Teaching. I am in shock to think that Thanksgiving has already come and gone. This year is flying by!

Teaching for the past 12 years, I have learned a lot about being prepared. Namely, I have learned that I'm not usually very prepared at all. I am not that kind of thinker...unfortunately for me. It means I spend a lot of time thinking and not much time actually DOING the work that needs to be done to be ready for lessons the next day. Now don't get me wrong, I aspire to be organized and a thoughtful planner. I try to make it work for me, but usually I end up reverting back to my mega-procrastinator ways!

Luckily for me, I have worked with some amazing and talented teachers who have helped get me to think a little bit ahead! Even though it's not part of my every day routine (YET) I at least try to think about what's coming up in the classroom. You know...I have a calendar for school events and I even try to write out a yearly plan for what units I will teach. Baby steps, folks.

In the spirit of thinking ahead, I thought maybe some of you awesome way-ahead-planners would be thinking about what to do after Winter Break comes and goes. Here is a fun freebie that you might use after we all return from a restful and fun holiday season.

This is a freebie I created last year to help my students practice writing complete sentences in answer to a question. We call it CSIQ - Complete Sentence Including Question. Some people who have downloaded this product have also used it for discussion starters and interview questions! There are 9 question cards, a recording sheet, answer idea sheet and a Winter Break writing paper included in this product.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Winter-Break-CSIQ-FREEBIE-1016447

I used this with 3rd graders last year, but I think 5th graders and other upper grades would be able to use it as well!

Enjoy and have a great few weeks until Winter Break!

Nichole
craftofteaching.blogspot.com



Saturday, November 15, 2014

Turkey Talk ELA Center Freebie

Today I have a freebie for you from my Thanksgiving ELA centers. In this center, students identify the point of view and practice their editing skills. I have also included a blackline version for those of you who can't print in full color. Click on any of the pictures or {here} to download. Enjoy!






Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Vocabulary.... It's truly the most important!

As far as teaching Science and Social Studies to my 5th graders goes, I love it! I love making it fun and interactive for them. I love finding visuals, media clips, and experiments to apply and increase understanding. The part that gets some of them stuck... is vocabulary.

No matter how engaging you make the activity, if they don't 'get' the vocabulary it's hard to follow and understand anything else going on in class. I always try to create a fun way to have them discover or find the vocabulary words for a new unit. For example, the foldable we created for Changes in the Plains:





This time, I went straight up old school for them since they had some schema for Electricity and Magnetism already. I thought you my like to grab it too! (Just click the image to grab your download!)


Don't forget to stop by my blog and catch up on other exciting news (ahem.. like tomorrow *wink* *wink*)

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Tuesday, November 11, 2014

The Periodic Table

The Periodic Table of Elements is a 5th grade standard in my state.  It is such a hard thing to teach the kids, because there is just SO much to grasp when looking at it.  

This year, I tried to tackle it a bit and make it a little more manageable by adding in some easy to use and fun resources for my kids.  We did a great little foldable, that had the kids looking at the various groups, and we did some Periodic Table Spelling...that the kids LOVED! Come on over to my blog to read in detail how we did it and pick up your freebies so you can do it in your room too.

http://teachinginroom6.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-periodic-table.html