6:15 AM on a summer Wednesday.... WHAT....

Do you smell that smell??? It's the end of summer smell...
I woke up at 6:15 this morning in such a good mood! My husband is off for 6 days!!! We leave for Branson tomorrow with our kids!! Because my husband is home today I decided to take advantage of it and go to my classroom WITHOUT kids!!! For those of you teaching mammas, you know the importance of this. I started going to my classroom last week, but I always had my kids with me. And yes they love to come and "help" but the truth is you don't get much accomplished!!! So I am so excited to work kid free in my classroom today.
BONUS! My husband took them shopping in Wichita this morning.... So what did I do you might ask???!!! I made some pintrist posters!!

I got so tired of writing the "when finished"  choices on the board last. Then I saw this!! I had to make one and can't wait to laminate it and put it up in my classroom!! The pintrist poster said done, but I learned from my awesome mentor 2 years ago to tell the kiddos they are not done. Turkeys are done. Kids finish their work!! Love her!

I am so excited to have pen pals this year. This is something new to me. My 3rd Graders are going to write to a 2nd Grade class in our district. I made this poster to help them with their pen pal letters!! So fun!!

I actually made this last year. I just got it out so I could finally laminate it. I did get this off of pintrist too. I actually this a Thanksgiving lesson with this. I read a book, then the kids  wrote a paragraph about what they learned. I had them write each sentence on either green, yellow, or red paper. Depending on where the sentence was in the paragraph. So excited to do this lesson again. This time I want to incorporate it sooner in the school year. More fun!!

Now if you will excuse me I am off to work in my classroom WITHOUT my lovely children!!

Math Word Problems

In third grade we have already been introduced to math word problems.  We like to look into the word problems to try and find out what they are asking us to find out. My kids love to play Frog Games to work on these word problem skills. I inherited these Frog Games when I came to third grade last year.

These word problems focus on various math skills. I have my kids play in groups of three. These games also promote working together, let's face it our kids need practice with this as well. My kids ask to play these games during inside recess!! You can order these by grade and by skill. If we are working on multiplication. I just pull out the multiplication stack of cards and they play. Here is the address if you want to check them out.   http://www.frog.com/fclg/index.html

If you want to check out more ideas from other teachers click on Amber's link from Synonym Rolls & Antonym Moments.

Feels like a new pair of shoes!!

You know that feeling when you put on a new pair of shoes and you get that little confidence boost??!! WELL, that is me now!! I met a wonderful teacher/blogger who helped me with my blog. I have a new header and background. Not only did she help me with the look, she taught me what needs to be done to have a successful blog!!

My next task is to linky up with another teacher/blogger over math word problems. This is just so exciting for me to look forward to!!

SHOUT OUT
    I'd like to give MRS B'S BRIGHT BLESSING a big round of applause for giving me my confidence boost for my blog!! Also MRS. B, you need to kiss your brain for being so creative!!

Book, Books, and more Books!!

I started my summer book project today! It has been exciting.... to say the least! I am doing an inventory log of all my classroom library books. I just finished my 1st year in 3rd grade (and these kids love love love to read)! I had a problem with my kiddos having 2 to 4 of my classroom library books in their desks, so I came up with a plan of action for next year!! I am going to put a check out card in each book and have them check out my classroom library books so I know they will be reading at least one at a time AND if they don't like the book I will KNOW they put it back before getting another one!!!

                                       
                                              Here are all of my chapter book series collections!!!

                                   No classroom library isn't complete without a Dr. Suess  collection!!
                                   ( P.S. I have 3 The Lorax books!!!!)

                    My informational text collection could use some serious help!! I am going to have to hit some garage sales and find more, kids love informational texts!!

     These are my miscellaneous fiction chapter books. I have NO idea how to organize these!!!

And this is my 5 year old! She makes paper clip jewelry while mom works on her books!!

The Kingdom at the End of the Driveway

We had a very inspiring local author come visit our school! His name is Jefferson Knapp. He is from right here in our good ol' Butler Country!! The kids just loved him!! He does school visits and talks about his books, he has 3 of the 6 in the series out right now!! He also tells the kids about how he got the idea for the books. I just had to buy all three books. My son is on the 3rd book and I just started reading the 1st book. I tell you what if you are an animal and adventure lover, these books are for you!! I think I will make these books my read aloud for next school year!! Check him out on Facebook at The Kingdom at the End of the Driveway!!

Candy Award Time!

Oh my gosh there are only 6 days of school left! With that in mind I got really hungry for candy!! Just joking, I don't eat candy!

This candy (more to come) will be for the candy end of the year awards I am making for my 3rd graders!! I just know they will get a kick out of the awards and enjoy the nice candy treat as well!

OH MY GOSH I'M GOING TO START A BLOG!!

I am so excited to get started on my blog! This is going to be a learning process for me. I have no idea what I'm doing... But, I love reading blogs! I get so many good teaching ideas!! I feel I should start sharing my ideas with the world as well!!

I am so excited to take my 3rd graders to Prairie Rose tomorrow for our incentive field trip. Because of this lovely spring weather we're having in Kansas, we will be wearing our warm coats! I think the kids will not even notice how cold it is and they will just have a blast!

I will return tomorrow with the results of our winter/spring field trip!