Planning – The Teaching Texan

5 Ways hoopla Makes Lesson Plans a Cinch

theteachingtexan — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 20:06:05 +0000

If you’ve followed along my journey for a while, you know I am absolutely passionate about STEAM education! I have presented locally and nationally on topics relating to hands-on science, project-based learning and STEAM education and some of the most common questions I get are,

“How do you fit STEAM in? I just don’t have time in my day.”
“Where do you find resources?”
“I teach very young students (Kindergarten), can STEAM work for them?”

Thinking back to all of the planning myself and teams I’ve taught with have done surrounding STEAM education, I could probably write a book – and hey, maybe one day I will! One thing though is certain, I am so thankful that I found hoopla digital! So buckle up, I’m about to show you exactly how awesome Hoopla is for lesson planning – plus I’m going to give you a FREE lesson idea with plan so you can get started TODAY!

What is Hoopla Digital?

hoopla digital is a service that has partnered with libraries ACROSS North America to bring online/mobile (think digital here) access to literally thousands of Movies, TV Shows, Music, eBooks, Audiobooks and Comics. It’s truly at your fingertips and ready to download in a snap! Right here in Dallas the Dallas Public Library system has already partnered with hoopla digital bringing a wealth of resources to you – and all you need is a valid library card!

I love a trip to the library as much as the next teacher, but it can be so frustrating when the book you need for a specific lesson is either checked out or not carried at that location. With hoopla digital you always have access to their huge library and never have to worry about a book being checked out!

But, how does that relate to STEAM education?

Oh, I’m so glad you asked! Y’all… it has EVERYTHING to do with STEAM education because hoopla digital has become the leading resource for STEAM content across all age ranges!

If you’re just getting started with STEAM, hoopla has such a diverse variety of STEAM resources – whether you want a book targeted directly for STEAM education, a book about inventors, or a book that can be used to create a STEAM challenge, it’s on hoopla!

5 Ways hoopla Makes Lesson Plans a Cinch

No trips to the library! All of their content is available to you digitally! The days of worrying about someone having checked out a particular book are done. Plus, as teachers we know that as students are exploring something new they inevitably have questions we don’t have the answers for. hoopla makes finding resources for the questions a snap!
Did I mention how diverse the hoopla library is?! This simple fact means that it is easier than ever to pull STEAM into any content block throughout the day – science, literacy, math… you name it!
Hoopla isn’t just ebooks! If you need audio books for listen to reading, videos, music, or even a clip of something from TV – chances are you can find it on hoopla!
Not super comfortable with STEAM? hoopla has books that lay out pre-made STEAM activities for you! Take their outline and transfer them into your lesson plans! This is the perfect way to get your feet wet with STEAM education.
There are TONS of resources that teach to growth mindset which is important not only for STEAM, but for creating resilient students! Here are some of my favorites available right in the hoopla database:

“Ada Twist, Scientist” by Andrea Beaty
“Rosie Revere, Engineer” by Andrea Beaty
“Iggy Peck, Architect” by Andrea Beaty

OK, I promised you a ready-to-go and FREE lesson plan! One of my favorite traditional content blocks to bring a little STEAM action into is a math block. Something about math centers just really lends itself to incorporating STEAM without changing the entire scope of a content block or your day.

With winter coming up, many of us will engage in some form of study of weather, seasons, or snow. Why not tie that study into a snowflake STEAM challenge?

This lesson plan guide will take you and your students step-by-step through the five step engineering process as students investigate and explore snowflakes then create their own artwork showcasing symmetry. For this lesson, I recommend using “There’s Math in My Art” by Nikole Bethea which is readily available for you on hoopla digital!

Materials are simple (and reusable) – toothpicks, pom poms, glass beads, pipe cleaners, etc. – you can see the full list right on the lesson plan guide under materials.

Students will (1) Ask, (2) Imagine, (3) Plan, (4) Create, and (5) Improve a snowflake design that features a symmetrical design.

Grab your free copy of this lesson plan guide by joining my email list below. You’ll be sent the password to visit the Freebies section of my website. Want more ideas for STEAM lessons – click here.

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Want answers to more of your STEAM-related questions? Join me as I take over the hoopla Instagram on November 7th! I’ll be answering all of your questions live, and I’d love to see you there! Click here to follow Hoopla on Instagram so you don’t miss out!

How to Plan a Wedding By Yourself: A Guide for Teachers (or Anyone) Who Works Full-Time

theteachingtexan — Sun, 13 Nov 2016 23:22:00 +0000

Your significant other has popped the question, you’re adorning a beautiful new ring, and everyone from your grandmother to your students at school are so excited for you and your fiancé! But, what now? You’ve taken that first bite into wedding planning and are feeling overwhelmed. I’ve been there, done that.

Here are my top 10 tips for teachers-or anyone-who work full-time to plan a dream wedding on a budget!

Schedule times to discuss the wedding and set goals.

When you realize everything that has to be planned – caterer, cake, decor, floral, entertainment, attire, guest list, and the list goes on – wedding planning can quickly become overwhelming. My husband and I even thought we’d hire a wedding planner to help with the stress level. After a consultation we were in love with her and her work. However when we found out the price tag we quickly realized a wedding planner was not going to fit into our budget. What’d we do? We got brave and decided we could and would do the planning ourselves! We set specific times to discuss the various elements of our wedding, beginning with the most time sensitive (venue, caterer, etc.). During these “meetings” we set goals for when we would reach out to specific vendors and when we would make a final decision.

Select the RIGHT time of year.

We all know there are times of year that are busier than others for various reasons. Trying to schedule and plan a wedding around back to school, parent conferences, the holidays, or other busy times of year was something we had no desire to partake in. We chose an early October wedding so that I could spend some of my time off during the summer planning. This was so helpful when school began in August because we had so many of the details ironed out already. I realize we can’t all have, or don’t want, a fall wedding. My advice is to seriously consider the busy times of year for your fiancé and yourself and select a wedding date accordingly.

Create a secret Pinterest board.

Since we we’re our own wedding planners we knew we needed a way to keep track of our ideas. The Pinterest nerd in me quickly came out and created a “secret” board for us to track ideas that we saw when scouring Pinterest. Why a “secret” board? We didn’t want everyone to see what we we’re planning! We wanted a “WOW” effect when people entered our venue. You can also invite collaborators (your vendors) to view your secret Pinterest boards.

Research costs and set a budget.

As you’re finding all of those beautiful, exciting, and perfect ideas on Pinterest the price tag of your wedding can start to rise quickly. My husband and I set up a simple Excel spreadsheet with estimates for vendors, decor, attire, etc. after doing some research and pinning ideas to our secret Pinterest board. While we didn’t stay completely on budget for every ticket item, we were able to plan for some give and take because of the organization we created from the beginning. And hey, you’ve already saved a ton by deciding to plan the wedding yourself!

Plan early for invites/thank-you cards.

I can’t stress this tip enough. Do not wait until the last minute to order your invites. For starters you will be much more stressed, and if you order early you save on not paying a “rush” fee. We selected our wedding suite with all of the pieces/upgrades we wanted and then watched the website we were going to order from like a hawk. Why? Many sites like [Minted] and [Wedding Paper Divas] have sales and coupon codes that they run. We saved over $100 by planning ahead and ordering early when a sale hit.

Pay the extra fee to have envelopes pre-addressed.

When we ordered our Save the Dates I thought I’d be super-duper-Pinterest-crafty and do some Falligraphy (AKA fake calligraphy) to address the envelopes. Many, many hours and discarded envelopes later we became a bit wiser and decided the extra fee to have envelopes pre-addressed pays for itself in dividends! If you order when there is a sale you can afford to pay the little extra to save yourself hours of time!

Pare down your guest list.

One of the biggest ways to save on the cost of your wedding is to pare down your guest list. When we first set out to plan the wedding we had a much larger guest list than what we ended up inviting to the wedding. We decided that at the end of the day we didn’t want to pay upwards of $100-$150 a person for people to attend the wedding whom we weren’t truly close with. It’s hard, but let go of the popularity contest and the idea that a “large” wedding is better and save that money for your honeymoon! Plus with a wedding around the size of 80 people we were able to talk with everyone throughout the night and not stress about making the rounds.

Pick a venue that offers more.

When trying to figure out ways to save time and money, we figured that selecting a venue that could offer more than just the space would be helpful. This may have been the smartest decision we made! Our venue provided floral, decor, food, beverages, and wait staff with our guidance and selection for everything. I can’t tell you how nice it was to not have to contact a separate caterer, event staffing company, decor rental facility, and who knows what else. It also made it feel like everyone was on the same page – because we were!

Delegate.

There are points in the wedding planning journey where you have to delegate some responsibility between yourself and your fiancé. Neither of you should do it alone. My husband and I would separate our tasks on our to-do list to even out the workload. As a teacher my days tend to be a bit less flexible as far as contacting vendors, but if I planned ahead for a call or e-mail I could fit it in. But don’t think delegation has to stop there. Get the family involved! We had several family members who were instrumental in helping to secure some last minute items.

Already lived together for some time? Honeyfund.

My last tip for you is to consider if you truly need a traditional wedding registry. My husband and I had lived together for 5 years before getting married so we had a fairly wide stock of kitchen and home utensils and decor. We decided a traditional wedding simply wouldn’t work for us. While searching for alternatives online we ran across [Honeyfund]. Honeyfund is a modern-take on a wedding registry. We planned our honeymoon (which will happen summer 2017) and selected pieces of the trip that people could gift to us. From excursions, to a day in Champagne, to airfare our guests were able to select what part of our honeymoon they would like to gift.

I hope these tips will prove helpful to you during your wedding planning adventure. Remember to have fun and enjoy the journey. It flies by, but is something that we know we’ll remember always.[Photography by: Andrew Knowles of AJK Images]

The TOP Teacher Planner

theteachingtexan — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 15:34:00 +0000

Who doesn’t adore a personalized, super cute, teacher planner?! I’m all about ideas for tools that keep me organized and stylish at the same time.

Today I’d love to introduce you to my brand new [2016-2017 TOP Teacher Planner]!

Why the name “TOP” Teacher Planner? Well that has everything to do with the sections included in this amazing planner.

T: Teaching
This section holds everything you need to keep your day-to-day classroom routine in check. Lesson planning pages that can be customized for you, birthday spread, year at a glance spread, important dates and holidays, checklist pages to keep track of field trip forms/grades/more, and a notes section.

O: Organization
This ~~could be~~ is my favorite part of this planner! This section is for all of the teacher-blogger/teacherpreneurs out there! Included are pages for planning blog posts, keeping track of social media growth, tracking income/expenses for your small business, and monthly TeachersPayTeachers statistics tracking plus product planning. Not a teacherpreneur or teacher-blogger? Check out my [Nautical Teacher Planner] which has everything this planner does except the “organization” section.

P: Personal
Who wants to have a separate planner for their personal life? If you enjoy carrying around 2 planners plus a notebook, by all means continue to do so – but I prefer having it all in one place. This section features double-spread monthly calendars plus two note-taking pages per month.

Ok I can’t wait any longer! Let’s take a look inside!

TOP Teacher Planners come with a durable 10 mil laminated front and back cover and sturdy PVC coil binding. You can even select your personalized cover from 9 different options!

You can also select from a bright color scheme of the interior pages or a neutral color scheme. The pictures below all feature my personal TOP Teacher Planner in the neutral scheme.

Each of the 3 main sections of the TOP Teacher Planner is separated with a divider (all pages are printed on study 67 lb card stock).

I don’t know about y’all but pages and pages of lesson plans never helped me. I’ve always found that jotting down the big ideas and key notes so that I can easily glance at them is much more effective. That’s why I love these lesson planning pages! There is plenty of space to write the lesson objective and notes to remember. Plus you have a space for to-do and prep work. These can also be customized to feature any labels you’d like running vertically and horizontally.

Also included in the teaching section are holidays/important dates, year at a glance planning, birthdays, and note pages.

And lets not forget about checklist pages! I love using these to keep track of guided reading levels, who has brought back permission slips, positive phone calls home, and more!

Teacherpreneurs are going to love the organization section! Keep track of blog post ideas, social media, income/expenses, and your TpT business.

Last, but not least, is the personal section. This is where I keep track of doctor appointments, travel, haircuts, and more.

And how will you navigate all of the awesomeness that is the TOP Teacher Planner? With the included tabs – of course!

I am just beyond excited for this new planner, and if you’ve stuck with me to the end you’re in for a treat.

I’m giving one personalized [TOP Teacher Planner] away for FREE! Entry is easy using the Rafflecopter widget below. The giveaway ends on Monday, June 27th at 3:00 PM CST. Winner will be contacted to select personalization for his/her planner.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Teacher Planner Meets Facelift

theteachingtexan — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 21:28:00 +0000

Organization is the name of the game for many successful teachers. Having access to information, lesson plans, grades, and more in one place at any time is invaluable.

I remember when I started out with teaching. I ordered a fancy planner online and was set to go. While I loved the organization capabilities I couldn’t help but feel that I was paying for pieces that I didn’t need, nor want. I often wished that I could change aspects of the layout, colors, etc.

Three years ago I did just that! I created my own [Nautical Theme Teacher Planner].

Last year this planner received a few minor updates to bring it into the 2015-2016 school year, but it has received a complete facelift for the 2016-2017 school year! I am also able to offer the planner as a customizable [hard copy] now as well! This is great for anyone who doesn’t have the time (or patience) to assemble the planner themselves. And guess what? It’s still customizable! I’m excited to link up with Tara at [4th Grade Frolics] to share all the details!

Before I introduce you to the new planner… If you are a teacher-blogger, teacherpreneur, or TpT author you are DEFINITELY going to want to check out my all new [TOP Teacher Planner] designed with the teacher-author-blogger-extraordinaire in mind!

I am beyond excited to share some images of the planner with you today (and I’ll try my best to let the pictures do the talking). Meet the 2016 – 2017 Nautical Theme Teacher Planner!

For those who already own the printable version of this planner you will notice several updates right off the bat. First off, there are now FOUR editable covers to choose from! My favorite is the whale cover pictured above. What are the other cover options?

You will also notice that this planner now has tabs! OH MY GOODNESS! The ease of finding exactly what your looking for is fantastic. The printable version of the planner has a template that includes the tabs, while the hard copy planner comes with tabs installed.

Another new addition for the 2016-2017 planner is a holiday and important dates spread. Need to add more holidays or dates? No problem! There is space built in to add as you please!

What about birthdays? No worries! Keep track of your students’ and teammates’ birthdays on the two-page birthday spread!

As in the old planner, each month contains a full two-page spread and two note-taking pages. You’ll notice that the month spread have a sleeker overall design (and updated quotes for inspiration).

I am loving the clean look of the lesson planning pages! I also love that the planner can be customized to run vertically or horizontally with your choice of times/subjects/days!

Keeping a paper record of grades, attendance, or who has turned in a permission form has never been easier! Simply flip to your included checklist section!

Want to see what else is new? You can check out the editable printable planner [here] and the customizable hard copy planner [here].

Happy planning y’all!

Ready for Takeoff: My Experience with Project-Based Learning and the Solar System Part 1

theteachingtexan — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 12:37:00 +0000

A few days ago I posted about why I use project-based learning (PBL) in my Kindergarten classroom (click [here] to visit the original post). There was a lot of interest in what PBL is and how to implement it. So, today I want to share part one of my first experience with PBL. I can honestly say that there are areas that I need more development on and some steps that need improvement. However, after my first experience with PBL I know that it is an absolute essential in my classroom.

The [Buck Institute for Education] lists 8 key components to consider during the design process of a PBL unit. For the Solar System PBL unit that I am sharing today I did not fully plan the unit before diving in with my students. I’ve since learned that it is best practice -and things go much smoother- if you have the unit completely planned out prior to beginning it. This allows you sit back and enjoy the ride with your kiddos.

While a PBL topic can be centered in any subject area (math, science, ELA, etc.), it really is integrated into all subject areas. Our solar system project was clearly centered in science, but integrated across our curriculum. Here’s a look at how the unit was integrated into other areas beyond science. Check back later this week to see what the unit looked like during our actual science block.

The planning for the unit began by taking a look at the previous solar system unit of years past, as well as the [NGSS]. After digging through all of this and researching solar system PBL units online, I settled on this challenging question:

The challenging question in PBL guides learning and all activities, lessons, and learning experiences link back to helping to answer the challenging question. A good rule of thumb is that the challenging question should not be “Google-able” meaning you can’t simply search for the answer on Google. The goal for this unit and challenging question was to keep the focus of the unit on things we can see in the sky from Earth (the sun, moon, stars, constellations).

With the challenging question decided on I started planning our learning experiences. If you take a look at the planning forms available on the [BIE website] you’ll notice a space for an “Entry Event.” The entry event is a highly-engaging experience to kick off a PBL unit. At the networking event I attended several examples were given of entry events, but they can range from a guest speaker, Skype session with an expert, field trip, or even a simple read aloud. The important thing is to hook your students into the unit and get them excited.

For our solar system unit I found a great entry event that allowed the students to go on a virtual recreation of the Apollo 11 mission. This was originally planned as a learning experience rather than the entry event, but our guest speaker fell through. Flexibility people!

The Apollo 11 recreation was designed by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, and the coolest thing about it is that you can view real pictures from the mission, listen to actual transmission between the astronauts and NASA, and you get to move through it at your own pace. We split the mission up into several days. But let me tell you, by the time we were finished with our entry event every single kid in my class was ready to learn more!

If you’re interested in the virtual Apollo 11 mission, you can find it [here].

Once our unit was up and running I used trade books, QR codes, and apps to let the kids conduct their own research. This helped satisfy the student voice and choice aspect of PBL. During our lessons on the sun and the moon I created QR codes that led to a variety of media (pictures, videos, websites) and let the children choose what they wanted to research.

Because a PBL unit extends throughout content areas, we used some Writer’s Workshop time to craft letters to astronauts. The kids were so excited to learn about both of our astronauts and then write letters to them. While we did not receive letters back in my classroom, a teammate did receive an autographed picture back. There wasn’t a kid in Kindergarten who wasn’t over the moon!

You can find information about how to write to an astronaut on the NASA website [here].

Two other cross-curricular activities (math) during the unit were creating spacecraft from 2D shapes and taste-testing astronaut food then graphing our favorite.

We are fortunate to have a shared space between all 4 Kindergarten classrooms that houses a Makerspace. We’ve been trying out the Makerspace idea during Free Choice time.

During our solar system unit the children planned their own spacecraft with the requirements of an energy source, communication device, container, and science instruments. The rest was up to them. After designing the spacecraft on paper, the students built their spacecraft using all sorts of recycled materials. This was a great learning experience for the children to see that plans on paper don’t always pan out, and that it is a good practice to return to plans to see if there are parts missing.

That’s pretty close to a wrap on learning experiences related to our solar system unit that didn’t happen during the science block. Truly integrating the unit into all content areas led to a much deeper understanding of the sun, moon, and stars than I could have ever hoped for.

During this unit I created a non-fiction unit that provides more information about the sun, stars, and the moon. This unit is full of leveled readers, close reads, magazine pages, and more! While this unit isn’t a PBL unit itself, it is a resource that is perfect for learning during a PBL unit. Check it out by clicking [here] or clicking the picture below.

I hope that this post has been helpful for you and has maybe even inspired you to venture into the land of PBL yourself! Don’t forget to check back later this week to see what this unit looked like during our science block.

First Day of School Activities That Build Community

theteachingtexan — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 23:04:00 +0000

Howdy friends!

Do you still get first day jitters? I know I do! But something happens the moment that first little learner walks in—the “teacher instinct” kicks in. My focus shifts from all the prep work to helping my students feel welcomed, safe, and excited to learn.

We had such a blast on our first day back, and I know every teacher says this, but… I’ve got a special group this year.

Now that our first week is in the books, I wanted to share some of our favorite first day of school activities for Kindergarten and first grade that build community and set the tone for the year.

Using Chrysanthemum to Teach Kindness

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes is always a beginning-of-the-year favorite—and for good reason. This was actually the very first lesson I ever taught as a brand-new teacher, and it’s still a staple in my classroom.

Here’s how we made the lesson come to life:

As we read, students took turns crumpling up a large butcher-paper heart.
Then, they tried to smooth it out again.

The powerful visual shows how words can hurt, and even when we try to fix them, the marks remain. This year I added a short kindness poem to the heart (thank you, [First Grade Parade] for the idea!). It made such a meaningful keepsake for our classroom wall.

Teacher Tip: Keep the heart hanging up for a few weeks and refer back to it during those tricky early-year moments when students are still learning how to speak kindly to one another.

This year I added a little poem to the heart after we were finished. I got the idea for the poem from the wonderful [First Grade Parade].

Exploring the School with Pete the Cat

No first day is complete without a tour of the school! Even though most of my students already know the building, a new grade level means new spaces—and it’s always helpful to revisit expectations.

To make our tour extra fun, we used a Pete the Cat scavenger hunt:

We started by watching Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes. (The singing in the video is too good to pass up!)
Next, the students noticed a note with a blue paw print in our meeting area.
That kicked off our scavenger hunt, where Pete led us around the school.

You can grab an editable copy of our Pete the Cat scavenger hunt by clicking the image below. Customize it to fit your own school tour!

Building Classroom Community with Swimmy

Finally, we wrapped up the day with Swimmy by Leo Lionni.

After the read-aloud, students created their own fish—no templates, just creativity! This gave me a quick, informal assessment of fine motor skills like drawing, cutting, and gluing.

Then came the best part: as a class, we combined our fish to create one giant fish, just like in the story.

At first, everyone placed their fish randomly. But when we realized the big fish wasn’t taking shape, one of my students suggested using a pointer so each child could propose where their fish should go and then vote as a class. My teacher heart melted watching that leadership and collaboration unfold!

Teacher Tip: Keep your “Swimmy fish” displayed during the first few weeks of school as a daily reminder that you are stronger when you work together.

These first day of school activities—Chrysanthemum, Pete the Cat, and Swimmy—are simple, engaging, and help build a strong classroom community from day one.

If you’d like to save time and have everything laid out for your own classroom, I’ve created a Pete the Cat Scavenger Hunt that’s editable and classroom-ready. It’s designed to make your school tour interactive, fun, and stress-free while reinforcing routines from the very first day.

Grab the Pete the Cat Scavenger Hunt here and make your first day unforgettable!

With the prep done for you, you can focus less on logistics and more on getting to know your new group of students.

TPT Seller Challenge Week 1: Makeover Madness!

theteachingtexan — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 23:38:00 +0000

It’s week 1 of the TPT Seller Challenge!

If you don’t know about the challenge, you should definitely check it out and consider joining. It’s going to be a fun 4 weeks of teacher authors challenging themselves to be better!

Let’s take a snapshot of my beginning stats…

These numbers may not be high to some TPT teacher authors, but I am so proud of them! This is after 2 years of blogging and only one year of being a TPT teacher author. I hope for another successful year, and I know this challenge is going to kick start it!

This week is all about re-creating a cover or a product.

Well… y’all know me. I can’t just do one or the other. Yup. I did both – I re-created a product AND designed a new cover for it!

I decided to work on my [Editable Nautical Theme Teacher Planner]. The product needed to be updated for the 2015-2016 school year – and I never really created a cover for it in the first place.

Now this spiffy baby has a shiny new cover, product preview, AND has been updated. Excuse me while I pat myself on the shoulder! This was also my first exploration with using a real picture as a cover image. I must say I like it!

I love, love, loved this planner this year. When it was all said and done it cost me about $15 (much less than some of those other super expensive planners out there)!

Monday Motivation: It’s a Zoo In Here!

theteachingtexan — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 23:04:00 +0000

This week it’s literally a zoo in our classroom – in more ways than one!

First off, today through Wednesday is STAAR testing (our state accountability exam). During this lovely period of time K-2 gets to pretend that we don’t exist – I kid, I kid. Well, sort of. We really do have to nix the outdoor recess, stay super quiet in the halls, have grouped specials… the list goes on. Needless to say the kiddos start to get a bit antsy after being cooped up so long. (Hence the zoo reference part 1)

Luckily we will be visiting the Dallas Zoo for our Spring field trip next week so we are learning all things zoo animals leading up to it! This is helping to keep us a little more motivated to learn. (Hence the zoo reference part 2 – see, I kept my word!)

For today’s Monday Motivation post I want to share a new resource that I created to accompany our zoo unit. I love this pack for the ease of bridging literacy, science, and social studies!

The plan is to focus on one animal per day during the literacy block and then again during the science block (double whammy!). As we complete each page of our journal I am collecting them so that we can compile them later on. I chose to print the writing page and labeling (science) page for each animal front and back to keep it simple.

Today we started off learning about elephants with a fantastic story called “Elephant’s Story” by Harriet Blackford. Can I just say that the kiddos were enthralled listening as the elephant grew up. This is such a great book for introducing just enough factual information, while following an engaging story line.

After we finished “Elephant’s Story” we created a class Can/Have/Are chart. I love how much the kiddos had already picked up on from just our first exposure to elephants.

I think Can/Have/Are charts are so awesome for getting a ton of information into one space AND are super helpful for struggling writers because they can easily pull pieces from them to write sentences if needed.

You can also see two of the other books we used throughout today (one for a quick Read Aloud filler, the other for our non-fiction science lesson).

After verbalizing our knowledge about elephants, it was time to write! I am just so proud of how far my little writers have come this year.

I love how matter-of-factly this friend let’s her reader know that elephants do not eat peanuts, LOL!

Here’s a look at a friend hard at work labeling the parts of an elephant.

If your class is visiting the zoo this Spring, I hope this will inspire you to get your kiddos brains soaking up knowledge about the animals that they will be seeing at the zoo! Click the picture below to snag your freebie by downloading the product preview!

Monday Motivation: Fishing for a Freebie!

theteachingtexan — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 21:24:00 +0000

Dentist.

I feel like that word alone can spark fear and raise blood pressure – or am I the only one? I’m currently recovering from my second visit to the dentist in the last 5 days. I’ll go ahead and say LESSON LEARNED and move on from the subject…

For today’s Monday Motivation post I want to share an easy and effective activity the kiddos recently completed to help learn the parts of a fish.

This kids had so much fun with activity and got so into that there may have actually been a few moments of silence! Now you know it’s engaging when they get so focused they forget to partake in the usual chattering!

Interested in making these with your kiddos? Check out my visual instructions below and keep reading to grab the FREEBIE!

Click the picture below to grab your free copy of this activity.

I included types labels as well as blank labels (pictured) where students must write the words themselves (also great if you need these in Spanish because kiddos can create their own!).

I hope that your kiddos will love this activity as much as mine did!

You Oughta Know About… Writing in the Clouds

theteachingtexan — Sat, 04 Apr 2015 13:06:00 +0000

Happy Easter weekend! I know I get so excited about changing seasons, but there’s just something about this time of the year that is magical. We’re in Fredericksburg, TX for the weekend doing some shopping, spending time with family, and visiting some vineyards, but as we drove in yesterday it was just rolling hills of Bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush. So. Beautiful.

Anyway, I’m not here today to talk about flowers. But I am here to join some of my blogging buddies to share some great lesson ideas, apps, and other classroom must-haves!

This time of year it’s amazing to look back at where kiddos began and where they are now, and I’ve particularly been reflecting on writing lately. I feel like I’ve been pretty darn successful this year on gradually releasing my kinder friends so that they can be awesome little writers – so I wanted to share a lesson idea that fits perfectly with Spring!

A couple of weeks back we did a unit on Weather. When you’re doing a unit on weather, you have to talk about clouds, right?! So I started thinking about how to help my little friends become more descriptive when writing about clouds (let’s be honest there was a lot of “Clouds are white. Clouds are fluffy,” which is great but I wanted to push them a bit further). I was inspired by Mrs. Schmelzer’s [blog post] from a while back.

Then I had a light bulb moment! I remembered 2 awesome books that talk about the shapes that clouds can appear to take. If you’ve never read “It Looked Like Spilt Milk” by Charles Shaw or “Little Cloud” by Eric Carle with your kiddos, please jump on it!

I just think that they’re both such great options for discussing clouds that we read both! After reading these stories we came up with a new list of describing words for clouds (much more expansive now).

Then came the fun part (and my secret way of motivating my little writers, shhhh!). Each kiddo designed their own clouds using cotton balls and glue.

Now that we have some super cute, child-created clouds what do we do? We write!

I just love seeing what little ones come up with, don’t you?

I hope that this lesson idea will be helpful for you, and I hope that you will visit some of my other blogging buddies to see what they are sharing about!

An InLinkz Link-up