Biomes Reading Passages and Notes Pages

I was looking through my Google Drive today, and I found a set of reading passages I had made this spring. They were awesome when I used them in the classroom, and I was so excited to put them up on Teachers pay Teachers, Teacher's Notebook, and Edmodo. Well, I guess I got busy because that never happened.

Thankfully, they are ready to go now!

In our third grade we spend the spring studying the structures of life which involves a lot of learning about animals and their environments. You may not know this, but I used to teach middle school science, and I especially love this topic! Actually, I love most of the science topics!

We went way beyond most of the other third grade classes at our school with our study of the parts of an environment. My third graders know abiotic, biotic, factors, and many other high level science vocabulary words.

One part of our study was reading about some of the different biomes. (The biomes include freshwater aquatic, desert, rainforest, grassland, and taiga.) I used this as a reading lesson, but it really helped build the students understanding of our science topics.

I did a jigsaw activity to use these passages in my classroom. I had the students work in groups to read one of the biome passages. They did all of the steps that we always do for close reading (highlighting, circling, etc...) Then, they worked together to answer the questions attached to the passage.

The next day, the groups met again to complete the notes page for each biome. This is where they organized what they had learned about the biomes according to what we had been learning about environments. It was really important to give them a chance to talk about this as a group because some of my students aren't able to synthesize this kind of information independently yet.

Finally, on the last day of the activity, students regrouped so that each group was made up of one representative from each biome. While each student shared about what they had learned, the rest of the group took notes on the final notes page.

Once students have the completed notes pages, they are ready to use the information in some way. I had students do an art project and paint one of the biomes. They had to include details in the painting that showed that they understood the important parts of the biome. They also had to write a paragraph to go along with the painting. (We were working on writing complete paragraphs at this time as well!)

You can purchase Biomes: Passages and Notes Pages at any of the store below:

Engage New York Math: Interactive Notebooks

Last year my grade level decided to teach using Engage New York (also known as Eureka Math). Our school district does not provide a math curriculum, and we decided that we needed some help teaching the new Common Core standards for the first year.

I really liked the Engage New York curriculum. It is designed to get kids thinking, not just memorizing. Plus, it covers all of the Common Core standards, so I don't have to search through tons of resources to make sure I cover all of the standards.

However, the lessons can be a little dry and repetitive. One way that I found to help insert some creativity and fun into Engage New York was to build interactive notebooks to go along with the modules.

Every module has guide pages to help you see how I put the notebook together. I tried to focus on the most important take away ideas of the topics in the modules when building the notebooks, so they would help kids review.

You can buy one module at a time, or the entire set at Teachers pay Teachers, Teacher's Notebook, or Edmodo.

Planning for Next Year

The school year is coming to a close. Every day on Facebook there is a message from another teacher who is done for the summer.

Well, in my class we are still going strong. We start the SBAC math test next week. Insert sad face here, but that is a whole different topic.

Anyway, even though we still have a few weeks left of school, I am at that point in the year where I have covered the major things I want to cover, so a lot of my major planning is done. It is a great feeling.

Now, it is time to focus on next year.

My school district, like many other districts in Washington, has no elementary curriculum. None. This has made the last two years a little bit stressful. I moved grades last year, so I couldn't even reuse what I came up with the year before.

Last summer I tried planning with my new third grade team, but we just didn't get as much accomplished as I had hoped. I still ended up scrambling to gather resources and create a coherent plan. 

This summer, I am working on the plan on my own, so I know I will get it done. And, I am putting everything I create up on Teachers pay Teachers, Teacher's Notebook, and Edmodo, so I can share it with you! 

My plan is to create a curriculum that works for both teachers and kids.

I have already started working on the math plan, and I am so excited about it. This year I was really excited to use Engage NY. It worked really well this year because it gave me a plan. Having that plan made math this year a lot more successful than it was last year. However, I think it can be even better. 

Have you noticed that there are some lessons in Engage NY that just don't make a lot of sense? I found myself working so hard to teach a lesson to my kids, and then saw that it was never brought up again. I understand that Engage NY was designed to help kids understand math, but some of their steps just didn't work for me.

I also hated the tests. I felt like the exit tickets did not get the kids ready for the tests which were really heavy on the reading. This was a nightmare for all of my ELL students.

My goal is to create a curriculum that takes the best parts of Engage NY, uses specific direct instruction, creativity, and fun to teach math. I have already come up with the framework for the year, and it looks so good! I have time for every Common Core standard with buffers built in because you know we are always behind. 

Now, it is time to create the lessons, worksheets, quizzes, foldables, anchor charts, etc...

Five for Friday 5/15/15

It has been a most exhausting week! Probably one of the most exhausting weeks since the beginning of the school year. When was that? Five, six years ago?

Anyway, I don't think I have ever been so happy to come home on a Friday afternoon. Here is a look at my week as I link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching  for Five for Friday!

Here is the thing that is most on my mind. I am going to lose a student next week. He is not moving or getting promoted to fourth grade. He is being transferred out of my room. I feel so mixed about this. First, I am sad, and I feel like a failure. 

This is a kid I have been working with all year. We have had some really good times, but we have also had some really bad times. The idea of him being transferred was brought up earlier this week when he was sent home for poor behavior. He was supposed to get it together to be able to stay. Unfortunately, though circumstances and his own choices, he was not able to do this. 

I said I wanted to keep him if we could work things out, but it was best for him (and the rest of the class) if he moved. The trouble is another kid was moved into my class (from another class in our school) a few weeks ago, and the combination of these two is just terrible! They are feeding off of each other. If I would have known this would happen, I would never have accepted the new kid. 

So, while part of me is feeling terrible about all this. Another part of me feels relieved. About 75% of all my time is taken up by this one student. Not just school time - all my time. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking of ways I can help him be successful. About 90% of my school day is redirecting him. I adore this kid, but he is exhausting me. 

Another reason this week felt so long is that our school district participated in the Washington state rolling walkouts. This was a tiring day for so many reasons. First, walking around holding a picket sign is more work than you would think. Second, I had my kindergartner and first grader with me, so lots of child management going on. And finally, I do not like conflict or controversy, and that who issue is full of both. I really need to build a thicker skin.

We started our morning at a local intersection. It was great to hear the horns honking in support of the students and teachers of our school district!

It is not very much fun for a kindergartner to picket, so luckily there was a tree to climb!

Later, we meet with other school districts at a rally in downtown Vancouver. I missed the speakers here because the girls wanted to play at the park, and it had already been a long day for them. How could I say no? Plus, this adorable girl made her own sign that said "It's time... less testing, more learning." She said she wanted to take it home and show it to her teacher. Although, I bet her teacher would totally agree!

 My week started off with a wonderful Mother's Day surprise. My wonderful husband got tickets for the big girls and me to go see Varekai - a traveling Cirque du Soleil show. To say that it was amazing does not do it justice. I was blown away by the costumes, the music, and the talent of all the performers. If you have not seen a Cirque du Soleil show and ever have the opportunity - Go!

Pre-show - Aren't they adorable?!

Post-show: Practicing! 

Both girls are totally doing dance, gymnastics, and circus camp this summer. They are so excited!

 Have you seen that Edmodo is starting their own teacher resource website? It is very similar to Teachers pay Teachers. I was experimenting with it last night, and I really like how easy it is to use. I hope that this site takes off!

Well, I don't really have a 5 - and I have to go get the little kids from daycare. So, have a great week!

Author's Point of View

Do you need materials to teach or assess your students on the Common Core standard RI.3.6? Well, then this is the product for you!

Students start by reading about one event from several different perspectives. A cat runs away from a dog, and it is described by the cat, the dog, a mouse, a mother, a little girl, and a little boy. My third graders especially liked this activity, and it really showed me who was reading carefully for the author's point of view.

The next step is to read an article about elephants. There are two versions for different levels of readers. This gives students a chance to answer both multiple choice questions and a short answer question. It gets to the heart of understanding the difference between the author's point of view and the reader's point of view.

Also included in the product is a short reading passage about homework and two short answer followup questions and a short quiz that tests author's point of view.