Their Future's So Bright They Have To Wear Shades

My 5th grade students started working on their end of the year college projects today. They made the visual for their presentation and will research their careers, pre-requisites, and college admission requirements tomorrow. I plan to have their completed projects hanging above their lockers by Wednesday afternoon. I think they are off to a great start, what do you think?

This project came from Pinterest. You can download the template and directions here. I modified the original lesson and had the student's sunglasses reflect what their future will look like. Their writing activity will go underneath.

Math Symmetry, Congruence, Rotation, Reflection Art Activity

I had to go to a meeting the other morning and wanted to make sure that my students had a review activity that would keep them occupied while I was gone. My friend Gioia posted a name symmetry project that she had done with her class on her Facebook page.

After I saw the student's work samples I knew this was the perfect activity for my kids. I found directions for the activity here. My husband and I tried it at home the night before and had some pretty good examples of finished art so the students would have a visual to refer to.

My students absolutely loved this activity. They listened intently while I gave directions and worked on their projects diligently while I was out of the room. I think their art pieces came out pretty great don't you?

My new blog design is up and running and I am so excited! I think it looks positively fabulous and wanted to thank Shannon and Courtney for doing such a great job. If you need help with your blog design like I did go to see them at Blogs Fit For A Queen. They can do just about anything you need them to do.

Finding Great Resources on Pinterest

Over the past year I have become a Pinterest junky. Whenever I get a free minute I am on Pinterest looking for things to use in my classroom. I love to create my own posters, anchor charts, and classroom resources rather than buy the premade ones, and Pinterest has proven to be an invaluable resource for me. There are scores of creative teachers who are happy to share their ideas.

As I sit her on a snowy, Sunday morning with my favorite cup of Earl Grey tea and my best bulldog buddy Bentley I have several things on Pinterest that I plan to tweek and implement in my classroom this week. I've included one of them below.

I will have to start Tuesday because I am pretty certain that school will be cancelled tomorrow! I have included them here for you to see-hopefully you will find them as helpful as I do.

If you are looking for some awesome FREE resources all in one spot, here is a link to my Free Teaching Resources Page on Pinterest.
I plan to use this for my Daily 5 work with teacher center.

Because I teach 5th grade I am going to tweek this by using the appropriate lined paper. I really like this idea because it is a win for everyone. The students will get to use the dry erase markers they love, it saves me time because the placemats are reusable, and my principal will love it because I only have to print 1 worksheet for each of the 5 spots at my table instead of 25 separate papers!
I hope you find this helpful. Drop me a note if you plan to use this activity or if there are any other great pins you use and would want to share.

Big Beautiful Pinterest Pins

Have any of you pinned your products from Teachers Pay Teachers and the thumbnails seem too small? Well after seeing some of the big beautiful pins by other pinners I researched how to make my stand out and guess what? SUCCESS. It isn't really hard, here is all you have to do.

1. First make sure that you have an image on your computer of the pin you want to use.

2. Go to the Pinterest board you want to pin on and click on the blank "Add a Pin" spot.

3. Upload your picture. You also get to add a description of your pin on the same page so don't forget to use keywords that relate to your product. Upload the pin.

4. To get a link back to the product on your TPT store you have to click on edit button on the pin and there will be a spot for your to input the link back to your product on TPT! EASY PEASY

If you have any questions about this please email me.

Fall Break

It's hard to but it is fall break all ready! I just received a call from one of my teacher friends telling me about her parent teacher conferences tonight. That got me to thinking, do any of you use a special form during conferences? I need to create a new one and am looking for some fresh ideas on the format. I also want to create a new "Homework" page to give parents when they leave so they can give me feedback on the conference and ask any questions they may have forgotten to ask. What do you think?

Great Free Websites for Summer Skills Practice

Summer is time for having fun, going on vacation, playing outside and above all no school. It's a great time to make memories with friends and family, but it is also a time when your child could forget some of the skills he was taught in school. Fortunately, there are some great free websites that you can go to that will not only help your child practice his/her math, language arts, social studies, and science skills but helps them learn in a fun way. I use many of these in the classroom with my students suring the school year and they love them. I hope you find one that fits your needs and helps your child grow. http://www.starfall.com Starfall is a great website for early childhood students. They can practice their phonics and reading skills by playing games and listening to stories. You can also order a workbook, puzzles, games, readers, and other products that reinforce what your child is learning on the website. I used Stafall a lot when I taught first grade. It's fun, colorful, engaging and the student love it. http://www.abcya.com ABCya is a website that is designed for student in K4-5th. You can choose the grade level your child is in or a higher or lower one based upon their ability.