Inexpensive Christmas Gift for Students - Extra Credit!

At my school, our fourth grade is departmentalized...which means I have 100+ students. I love being able to focus on just a couple of subjects, but when it comes to Christmastime - my favorite time of the year - my heart wants to give each student a little something,....but my bank account (and husband) balk at the idea of how much I would have to spend. So, I had to come up with an alternative.

All students love extra credit. So, I created these little guys to print out for my students. It's easy, inexpensive, and they love it. I like to print on card stock (in color) and then slip them into cards from the Dollar Tree. (In 2017 Dollar Tree had 12 packs of cards.) A candy cane or Christmas pencil would be a nice touch taped to the card or even the back of the extra credit card if you decide to skip the Christmas card.

And viola! There you have a gift for all the little ones that come into your classroom...and you don't have to hide the bank statement from your hubby!

Thanksgiving Stuff(ing)

Thanksgiving is right around the corner! My classroom is decorated with fall garland and harvest window clings. I don't go too crazy since we only get a few measly weeks in between Halloween (which I really get into since it can last the entire month of October) and Christmas (we won't even talk about how decorated my class gets for Christmas!), but I do like to throw out some fall decor and projects. Go now and grab a couple of strands of garland & some window clings from Dollar Tree. Your front board will thank you for it. :)

As far as day-to-day classroom activities, my Thanksgiving centers are out and ready to go. By far, my favorite is this equivalent fractions center my kids are working on this week. But, it does require some prep work.

If you're just trying to survive and cant think about prepping a new center, I've also got my Thanksgiving game boards - just add your own task cards. I use both the game boards & the (freebie) tic-tac-toe games with task cards so I can have my students practicing whatever skill they need while they get a seasonal theme added to their centers.

   

And, if you have any of my Math Ladders, you really should grab the Fall & Thanksgiving Math Ladder boards. After all, they're FREE! You can't beat that price. :)

    

So, that takes care of my centers. But, what about the last day before Thanksgiving break. My 4th grade is departmentalized and so we don't really have a lot of time. But, I do try to sneak in the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie. I like to have pumpkin bread (either make it ahead of time or in the classroom - depending on time) and have the students make butter. It's not a huge party (we did just finish Halloween & Christmas is around the corner), but it's a nice break in the afternoon.

Oh, and that last hour of the day? I'm completely guilty of getting out the Christmas tree!!! The kids love helping me decorate (and, I'll be honest, I love that I don't have to do it myself). It makes the room cheerful to come back to after our break and is one more thing to enjoy/not stress about during the month of December.

Sound Vocabulary with Harry Potter

Our unit on sound energy always seems to land right around October. And, one of my favorite ways to introduce this unit is to break out one of the BEST scores ever composed - Harry Potter's Prologue.

To do this, I use TwistedWave Online Audio's browser based program that allows me to play any mp3 file on my computer and view the sound wave at the same time. (It's free.) I like that the yellow bar scrolls with the music allowing the students to see the frequency & amplitude and anticipate what will happen with the volume and pitch. This leads us to some great discussions and drawings on the board to label the parts of the song in its entirety.

Then, we define the vocabulary needed for fourth grade. Click here to get an interactive notebook freebie for the vocabulary. 

Back to School Sale: Part II

I guess TPT figured those that don't start school until September missed out on the sale a couple weeks ago....so, they're throwing another one! Good news for us! :) I know that there are a few people on my campus that have their eyes on high-dollar products since they've changed grade levels or subjects and they'll be snagging these on Tuesday.

If you're still sitting by the pool sipping a lemonade (or something stronger), I'm very jealous. But, I'll think of you next May when I'm by MY pool sipping MY lemonade. ;)

Back to School SALE

Get those shopping carts ready!
It's almost time for TPT's annual back to school sale!

Everything in my store, including bundles, will be 20% off.
Add TPT's code to save 25%.

Rock Cycle Model/Activity (NSTA)

When I first started teaching, the rock cycle was the chapter I dreaded the most - probably because my own education was lacking in that subject. Over the years, I've learned a good amount about the topic and it's come to be one of my more favorites. One thing that has really helped my students understand the types of rocks (as opposed to memorizing basic words), is an NSTA lesson I've modified. (Original lesson here: https://learningcenter.nsta.org/resource/?id=10.2505/4/sc13_050_08_38)

There's a lot to the lesson, other than the hands-on piece, so I really encourage you to look into it. But, the main thing that I put in my lessons is the actual making of a rock using crayons.

Sediments & Sedimentary Rock: We shave a crayon down using rulers and create piles of crayon slivers. The students fold them into a piece of foil (though, waxed paper would work just as well) and take turns standing on it. Some even start twisting like a ballerina on it. :) As long as they don't let the pieces of paper shift, it will stick together like a crumbly rock.

 

Metamorphic Rock: This is where I really different from what the online lessons suggest. They want you to put your sedimentary rock in a foil boat and hold it over hot/boiling water until it becomes soft, but not melted. Yeah. Tried that. It melts too fast. So, I took that sedimentary rock and put it in a folded sheet of waxed paper which I then placed in a folded sheet of construction paper. Using an iron on a low heat setting (with no steam), I ironed the rock. If you do it just right, the pieces fuse together, but don't actually melt. Let it cool and then the waxed paper can be pulled apart revealing a fairly sturdy, flat metamorphic rock with a marbled surface.

Igneous Rock: Now you can make your foil boat (or I saw someone suggest foil cupcake liners) and melt the rock in your boiling pot of water that the kids aren't allowed to touch or get near. I've always used the foil boats, but every year we end up with water leaking into their boats or boats that are a wadded up mess when they bring them to me. It's horrible. I think this year I'm going to go the easy way and pick up those cup cake liners.

And then the kids can draw everything the did. I actually have them do their diagrams & labeling of the diagrams while I'm working with another group's rock. All in all, I use about 3 days of class to do this activity - 1 day per rock. We do the hands on portion and then take notes in our notebooks about that rock. I saw grades dramatically improve the year I started doing this, with no other changes to my curriculum.

Value of a Digit Sets 5.1-5.3 {Math Ladders BUNDLE}

With the addition of Decimals, I've finally finished my Value of a Digit series. Set 5.1 (Value of a Digit Through the Thousands Period) is one that I use to introduce Math Ladders in my classroom within those first few weeks of school. It's a skill that most 4th graders should have mastered, so it's not too difficult. Yet, they also still need some practice.

Set 5.2 (Value of a Digit Through the Millions Period) is quickly added and then reviewed throughout the year. This skill is one my students seem to catch on to relatively easily, but then forget soon after. By  having this set pop up in their centers rotation I am able to ensure that they are constantly going back to review it.

Set 5.3 is one that I use after I introduce decimals and then keep adding into the rotation - for the same reason as Set 5.2!

         

Or get them all for a discount...