Just sharing...

As an instructional specialist on my campus, I have the opportunity to write "creative" lesson plans for our teachers and students.  I don't do this for their classrooms; I do it for our Saturday Academy.  This is a special instructional time, where selected students get to learn skills they are struggling with in a "new" way.  I get to create games, and write unique plans.  Then, I have to gather the materials.  That's the hard part...I have to make foldables or game pieces for 7 classes of 10 students.  Time con-su-ming...and time is not what I have a lot of at the moment!!!

I wanted to share several foldables that our students have done.  Our 5th grade students are working on inferring (yikes!!) and our 4th grade students are working on revising and editing.  All are preparing for the first round of STAAR testing the first week in April.

Let's begin with a foldable and an anchor chart for FANBOYS.  These are the conjunctions students need to expand sentences.  They include For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So.

I did this activity with my small group first.  They looovvveeeddd it!! It's something they go back and tell their homeroom teachers!! Wow!

They have also worked on subject/verb agreement.  Here is a foldable we created:

Finally, here is the foldable we used for my 5th grade group to continue our work on inferring:

I truly believe that using creative ways to reach students, which includes creating fun foldables, reinforces learning and helps students gain ownership over what they need to know.  I love allowing students to use foldables to help them answer questions or create their own questions.

On a personal note, I am working on my Masters Degree in Teacher Leadership.  I am currently working on Student Motivation and Achievement.  Though I'm excellent at time management, I found myself, for the first time since I started in January, struggling to get motivated! HOW IRONIC! (Alanis Morrisette is playing in my head right now!)  However, I completed my assignment 5 hours before it was due.  So, at least I wasn't late. Hmph.

Here is a great quote from my the creator of my favorite cartoon characters, Calvin and Hobbes:


"You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet.  You have to be in the right mood.  What mood is that?  Last-minute panic"--Bill Watterson

My. Point. Exactly.

Always,

A Little Love and A Spin Class...

 I can't believe it's only Tuesday!  It really seems like a Thursday...in my mind, anyway.

I have been blessed with a "One Lovely Blog Award" by an amazing new blogger, Jillian at Jillian's Just Tinkerin' Around .  (Isn't that a neat blog name??)

 

 I feel extremely honored and I have enjoyed the linky parties that have joined us bloggers together!  I'm approaching one month of blogging and I feel like I've been doing it for months!  It's so much fun!

As a recipient of this award, it is my duty to pass it on to my fellow bloggers.  Here are the rules:

1.  Link back to the blogger who awarded it....(check)
2.  Follow the blogger who sent it to you...(check, check)
3.  Pass the award on to 15 other lovely bloggers...(uhhhhh....here we go!)

I have found and followed so many awesome blogs, but I have several that I check daily.  I know that many of them have already received this award, but I feel like I can't skip over them...they have inspired me in both my teaching and blogging!  So here they are, in no particular order:

1.   Misty at Think, Wonder, Teach  (I absolutely love her book recommendations!)
2.  MiMi at 5th Grade Rocks, 5th Grade Rules!  (Her games are fantastic!)
3.  Lindsay at My Life as a 5th Grade Teacher  (Her blog inspired me to start!)
4.  Kim at Finding JOY in 6th Grade (She went crazy for Pi!)
5.  Elizabeth at Fun in Room 4B (I totally get her "tip-toeing" into Balanced Literacy!)
6.  Heather at Beg, Borrow, and Teach (Her freebies have me hooked!)
7.  Miss Rowley at Peace, Love, and No. 2 Pencils (She's a newbie with promise!)
8.  Jessica at Dandelions and Dragonflies (I'm so waiting for a grading fairy at my house, too!)
9.  Heather at Heather's Heart (She helps me remember my first grade roots!)
10.  Rayann and Tiffany at The Lemonade Stand (Their ideas are inspirational!)
11.  Sally at     The Fearless 5th Grade Teacher  (The "Fearless" Declutterer!)
12.  Amy at The Resource(ful) Room  (Mad respect!)
13.  Kaitlin at Beyond Teaching  (Creativity is key here!)
14.  Terri at The Creative Apple  (Love, love, love the privilege jar!)
15.  Thoughts of a Third Grade Teacher  (Excellent resources!)

So, there it is.  Check out these websites...you won't regret it!!

Ok...the spin class...

All of you "exercise junkies" can go ahead and log out.  It's not that kind of spin class! Ha ha!  Oh, and political experts can log out as well!  I'm talking about the infamous "Spinners" students create every year!

Before spring break, my students taught me how to make them.  I wanted to incorporate them into a game somehow.  I was trying to brainstorm ideas, when my son enlightened me on how spinners are played. (Obviously, at my age, I'm out of the loop...my 19 year old son, however, remembers well!  Guess I know what he did during elementary school...)

Here are the "regular" rules:  Two students spin their homemade spinners.  The one that lasts the longest wins.  It's that simple.  (That's why I have confiscated 8,000 spinners from one quarter. And  I owe my quarters from last year an apology....I always accused them of making ALL of them during class...)

Anywho, today I had all of my quarters make one spinner.  My partner teacher and I combined both classes for 30 minutes so I wouldn't have to waste time doing this!  Shout out to Morvessa!  On Friday, we are going to play "The Writing Games".  Spinners are the prize!  After they compete, the winner of the game at the time gets to challenge another quarter to a spin-off!  The top spinner collector wins a big prize! My quarters took their spinners home to decorate them and make them more "spinable".  If they lose them or get them taken up by another teacher...too bad.  They are out of "The Writing Games".   Here they are practicing:

They seem extremely excited!  I hope that tying in something they love to do with writing games
on Friday, may boost their attention levels and retention!  (Hey, at this point, I'll try just about anything!!)

Before I leave, I want to share our editing review chart we did today.  When the quarters write their expository or narrative essays, one of their jobs is to edit.  We use "CUPS"...capitalization, usage, punctuation, and spelling.  It's extremely important that they use their CUPS on their sloppy copy.

I was really happy to hear them give me instances of what they should look for in their writing!  Good day, my friends, good day indeed...

I leave you with another quote...(yes, yes, there are 7 books...I have lots to quote!)

“We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already.” --JK Rowling

We just need to show the quarters how to use it!
Always,


[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]