Happy New Year! I want to share how I
rang in the new year with my fourth graders because this was a new activity for
me!
Aren't they cute?
And
the content is even better.
This product
was created by one of my teacher-blogger buddies over at All Things Upper
Elementary, Mr. Hughes.
I saw it just a
little too late for January 2013, but it struck such a chord with me that I
went back to look for it this past December because I knew this was the New
Year's project I wanted to try.
I've always done goal setting with my fourth graders (and
before that, my third graders). I know
resolutions don't usually carry on past January, but I think it is SO important
to get kids even as young as upper elementary to be thinking about what they
want and setting goals to achieve it.
The fact that this project has a big visual impact as an end result, and
has what I consider to be a good balance between writing and art is what made
me choose it over other formats I've done in the past.
The panels behind each of the digits in the year have
students:
- Reflect on 2 great things that happened last year. I've neglected to do this with my students in
the past; I loved this part of the project as a warm up to the goal
setting. I had a student write "I
got my kitten in 2013," and another write, "My uncle came home from Afghanistan." Sweet memories to share in class!
- Choose one thing you will STOP doing. I thought this was a clever twist on the goal
setting. Although as teachers we try to
form our rules as positive and replace bad behaviors with good ones, this
doesn't always come naturally. For a 10
year old, deciding to end a bad habit will often come more naturally and feel
easier to work on. I had one student
write, "Stop talking back." I
am on board with that one!
- Think of one thing you wish for 2013. I joked with them, "Don't write a greedy
wish!" They laughed and got the
picture. One student wished for world
peace.
- Write 3 goals. If
you want a laugh, here's a link to one of my former fourth grader's goals a
couple years ago!
The kids were excited about this project the minute they
walked in on Monday and saw the sample I made hanging above the Morning Work
board. I have a very driven class this
year so they took it seriously, both in content and decor!
In other news: more on this past month. If you've been following my blog over the
past year, you'll know I had two blogging goals for the year.
- My first goal was to
blog every Wednesday. I didn't meet my
goal every single Wednesday, but I could probably count on one hand the number
of Wednesdays I missed up until December.
So not too bad!
- My second goal was to
write quality posts. I find that the
teacher blogs I love reading are the ones that get me thinking about positive
changes I can make in my own classroom. And
over this holiday break, I needed to recharge my batteries and shift my
priorities a bit. I think by doing so I
maintained the integrity of this blog, so I don't regret pursuing goal #1 up
there.
That being said, I do feel that those two goals are worth
maintaining for 2014. I feel like
blogging once per week is a comfortable pace when balancing family, full time
teaching, my classroom blog, my product creation process, and a few TV shows
per week, haha. Yet having a consistent
schedule is hopefully helpful for all of you who follow my posts here. So Wednesdays it is!
So besides family time, what
exactly was I up to over the past month?
I'm glad you asked!
- I read for pleasure. Not for teaching, just for me. After enjoying Hunger Games a lot more than I
thought I would I went with the next book on all the "if you like"
lists...the Divergent series. And I have
to say, those reading lists were SPOT ON.
Divergent, Insurgent and Allegiant blew my mind. It moved so fast, it was action packed, but
it also made me think in terms of sociology, psychology, and genetics. Loved it.
- I completed 12 new packets for Mentor Sentences. That's right, 112 pages
of CCSS aligned practice for my fourth graders.
:D I started working on it since
the summer, however it underwent several incarnations:
*First, I needed
a separate version for my team, because the order Journeys covers grammar is a
spiral, as opposed to distinct units.
In
order to make it useful to anyone not using the Journeys program I reorganized
it by categories for my TPT store.
*The other reason
it took so long is I wanted to make sure it was something that could be used
not just as practice for students, but also as a reference guide. I don't know about other series, but we don't
have grammar books anymore. That's why I
added an element that students could glue into a notebook to refer back to all
year.
The Mentor Sentences range in price from $1 to $3 depending on the number of pages devoted to each topic including:
There are a few freebies in the mix as well! The three thumbnails pictures will bring you to those freebies. Enjoy!
So although I have neglected this
blog, I've been very busy working on some original teaching materials! I have a few other surprises in store as
well, so I hope you'll stop back on Wednesday as I get back to my regular
posting schedule.
Once again our World Geography and Cultures Food Festivities to wrap up our Immigration and World Geography unit was a smash hit! Parents came in to celebrate, and the kids brought in foods from either their own cultural background or one that they admire. After all their hard work learning to read maps, reading and writing about historical waves of immigration, and finishing their tests, it was a perfect way to wrap up..jpg)
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World Geography and Cultures Name that Flag Competition
However, the above countries video from Marbles the Brain Store sounds a lot more current than the Animaniacs version and the kids were memorized the first time they saw it (and had fun trying to sing along when we replayed it). 
Do you have any countries videos you use with your class (either YouTube or DVDs)? I'm linking up with a bunch of my other teacher blogging buddies through Educents. 
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