Big Dreams and a freebie of course...

We are wrapping up college and career week at our school and the kids (and teachers) had sooooo much fun.  We kicked it off last Friday with college shirt and jean day.  We have standardized dress so anytime they get to wear jeans they are ecstatic. The halls were buzzing with door decorating and kiddos were busy dreaming up their costumes for "What I want to be when I grow up" day. 
Tuesday was career day and we had a great line-up of speakers visiting our classrooms.  We even had a visit from the town Mayor!  The kids were in awe to say the least.  So much fun!  We have been doing some career oriented and college activities all week.  I was really curious what my thirdsters actually thought about college so I decided to have them complete a quick writing assignment (freebie alert). 

Click HERE to grab it!

Here is a peek at my door.  

 

Owls!!! Shocking I know...  

Happy teaching and happy almost Friday!  Toodles!

Highlighting a couple of my faves... with a Happy Friday Freebie

It's Friday!  The STAAR test is so close and we are hard at work tying up loose ends.  I have found tons of helpful test prep units on TPT.  In fact I have been using the site almost exclusively to find anything and everything I can to give my kids more practice and review.  I just wanted to share 2 of the most amazing tools I have used in my classroom to help prepare my students. 
About 2 weeks ago, one of my teammates found this super fab pack and I am obsessed!  I only wish he had found it sooner, but I plan on using it from day numero uno next year.  It is by This Little Piggy Reads (omgoodness such a cute name!) and you can find it in her TPT store HERE if you would like.

STAAR test prep by This Little Piggy Reads

 

In addition to teaching these strategies (I call them non-negotiables because they MUST use them) we also use this gem from Laura Candler that is FREE!  You can get your hands on it HERE!

Laura Candler  is amazing and my students love this activity.  They enjoy it so much I really think they forget they are studying sometimes.  This can be used for reading or math and she includes detailed instructions. 

Now to leave you with a freebie... we have been working on capacity and building Gallon Robots but, I also taught my thirdsters about Capacity Kingdom and Gallon Castle because I think it will be much easier for them to sketch in their test booklet if they choose to do so.  I made the colored graphic to hang in my classroom and the smaller ones they glued into their math journals. 

 

Gallon Graphic freebie

 

Have a fantastic, restful weekend everyone.  Toodles!

Well, there's a first time for everything...plus a freebie!

I am super excited nervous to unveil my first literacy pack.  I usually stick to classroom decor, but there has to be a first time for everything and I felt inspired to create a Little Red Riding Hood mini-unit in my last minute preparations for the STAAR test.  My goal was to do a little review of story elements, character traits, motivations, and summary. I decided to use Little Red Riding Hood as the mentor text since fairy tales are among the 3rd grade TEKS (think Common Core).  Here's a peek at the unit...

You can grab it in my TPT store! ($4)

In honor of National Poetry Month I snuck in some poetry review.  I used Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf by one of my faves, Roald Dahl.  We focused on the mood of the poem and sensory language.  Of course I couldn't leave you guys without a freebie so you can grab my Sensory Language graphic organizer HERE!

 

If we stand on our tippy toes we can see summer y'all!  I love this time of year!

Toodles!

Down to the Wire...with a freebie

Where has this year gone?  I seriously feel like I just got this group of babies and now they are 10 school days away from taking their first HUGE standardized test.  We are down to the wire and I am finding that they are ready, BUT (there is always a but LOL) we need to brush up on some little things. 
We did a review of elapsed time and the thing that is tripping them up seems to be the whole quarter past, half past, quarter till thingy.  If anyone out there has any suggestions I would love to hear them.  In the meantime I have made some labels for our classroom clock to help them and HOPEFULLY the visual will stick in their minds.  My clock was already labeled with the freebies I snagged from the lovely Mrs. Lemons, so I just added these as some extra help.  Sorry about the terrible picture quality! Grab your freebie HERE! Toodles!

 

I'm Still Here!!!!

Oh my!  It has been wayyyyy too long.  I have been super stressed about this STAAR test and can't seem to find even a minute to visit my blog.  I wake up in the morning with the test on my mind and it keeps me awake at night.  Clearly, I need some stress management skills .  So I'm dropping by to say hello ( during a break at my Literacy Leadership workshop) and let you know that I'm still here.  I can't wait for summer so I can focus on creating  again.  I am currently (slowly but surely) working on creating place value bunting sets.  Those will be posted soon. 
Hope everyone is doing well out there in the teaching/blogging world.  Toodles!