Welcome Back

Welcome back to school! I hope that you had an awesome summer!

There are many exciting things planned for this school year. I hope you are ready! I am so excited that you are in my class. I look forward to working with each of you!

Enjoy your last days of summer! See you on Thursday, August 10th!

Hugs and Loves,
Mrs. Morris

Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Indian Graphic Organizers

Here are the last 4 graphic organizers for the Indian Poster Project. We copied most of this in class today!

Creek

Cherokee

Choctaw

Chickasaw

Hope this is helpful in finishing up your Indian Poster Projects!!!

Mrs. Morris

Fractions on a Number line

Good Evening! I have a video from today for you! We are currently working on those ever-hated FRACTIONS! I know, RUN! HIDE!...AAAGGGHHHH!!!! I hated them too, as a child, and never could quite "get them". Luckily, what we are doing is pretty easy to follow. I hope that you find this helpful! Please email me any questions that you may have or any insights to what you see your student struggling with in fractions.

Enjoy!

Enjoy your evening!
Mrs. Morris

...and we are back

It has been awhile...but there are new concepts to cover. We have started working on time and elapsed time. This is a HARD concept for the students. We are going to try and take it easy and get it just right for them. Something I need for you to work on at home is having them use an analog clock to tell time. Most of them struggle with figuring the time out to begin with...so don't allow them to rely on the good ole, easy digital clock. They MUST master telling time on an analog clock.

Here are our Math Notebook notes on Time and Elapsed Time!

Here is the video explaining how to complete number 1 and 2 on homework. I explained finding elapsed time on a number line and finding elapsed time using an analog clock. If you have any questions, please send me an email. Thanks for all you do!

Have a great evening!

Multiplication Properties (Zero and Identity) and Vocabulary

Finishing up from last week. We got the last of the Multiplication Properties in our Notebooks. I do not have a reteach lesson because they are pretty straight forward. I am placing a copy of the notes here on the blog site.

The students also received the Vocabulary words that will be on the test on Thursday, September 29th. One word was left all this list (factor). I will double check Notebooks on Monday to make sure all notebooks have that word listed as the 8th word on the list.

I hope this helps some.

Mrs. Morris

Commutative Property of Multiplication

This is the first Property of Multiplication that we have covered. Hope this is helpful in reviewing homework and preparing for the next Math Skills Test.

Notes from Math Notebook:

**Sorry about the typo in the title of the Math Notebook Notes...we will correct that tomorrow!

Video:

Please feel free to email me with questions or homework problems.

Mrs. Morris

Multiplication Strategies

Sorry that the videos got behind. I have all the strategies ready for you in this one blog. I hope that these help you when studying for the next Math Skills Test.

Equal Groups Strategy
Notes for Math Notebook:

Video:

Repeated Addition Strategy
Notes for Math Notebook:

Video:

Skip Counting on a Numberline Strategy
Notes from Math Notebook:

Video:

Array Strategy
Notes from Math Notebook:

Video:

Hope these are helpful! If you have additional questions please send me an email!

Mrs. Morris

Multiplication Strategy: Equal Groups

We added a new entry to our Math Notebook today. We have begun working on Multiplication Strategies. These strategies will give your students multiple ways to figure out problems and solve word problems that involve multiplication.

The strategy that we added to day was Equal Groups. This is a very visual strategy, as you will see in the video. I hope that the video is helpful...and sorry about my blunder in the middle!

Send me an email if you have questions, or if your child is stuck on a particular problem tonight with homework!

Mrs. Morris

Using Place Value to Subtract

Today, our Math Notebook notes are about Using Place Value to Subtract. I have included a picture of the notes (they were only 1 page long today) so that you can compare your child's notes to mine. These notebooks will be used on the skills test next week!

Then I made a video walking you through the notes and I worked an additional problem.

Email me with any problems! Hopefully this will bridge some gaps for you and help you help with homework!

Good Night!
Mrs. Morris

Test Correction Form Help

As most of you have discovered (or will soon discover) the Math Vocabulary test was not the best! The students pretty much passed or failed it. So, we are going to complete a test correction to hopefully help the grades out. The grade will be averaged with the original grade. I have made a video of expectations on the form and how to fill it out. Only complete it for those that the answers are wrong...the correct answers stand! If you have questions, feel free to email me!

I am also including the picture of the Social Studies Vocabulary sheet that your child should be studying for the Vocabulary test on Tuesday, September 6th.

This is the map for the World Map test on Friday, September 9th.

Hope this is helpful!! Again, email me if you have questions!

Mrs. Morris

Rounding to the Nearest 100

So sorry this is late! I did not have time to video on my break...then I forgot my Math Notebook (shh! Please don't tell on me!!)! It has been one of those days...too much to do and too little time! But I did manage to get it together finally!

Today we learned about rounding to the nearest 100. I think some of my friends are a little stuck on rounding to the nearest 10, but they will soon catch on! First, I am going to post the video that we watched in class today from Khan Academy!

Next, I will post my video using the numbers that are in the Math Notebook (I think!). Again, if you need to contact me, please email me at my school address. Thanks!

 

 

Thanks for checking in and have a great evening!!!

 

Mrs. Morris

Rounding Homework and help!

Below you will find a video that we watched in class today from Khan Academy (on YouTube) to teach about rounding to the nearest 10.

After watching this video we took some notes in our Math Notebooks to help with our homework tonight. The notes pretty much follow the video from Khan. I hope having a little explanation to what you should find in the Math Notebook is helpful! Please email me with questions or if you/your child is really stumped by one of the problems on the homework!

Enjoy!
Mrs. Morris

3rd Grade Student Binder

This post is about how to use and maintain the 3rd Grade Student Binder!

Hope this helps you understand our Third Grade Binder!!!

Mrs. Morris

...and so it begins...

Tonight was "Meet the Teacher" night at my school! I love this night. The kids are excited, the parents are excited and the teachers are excited. The kids are excited about all the new things that they will be doing and getting to see old friends and/or making new friends. They are most interested in who else is in their class! The parents are excited for a routine...new or old...a routine helps so much in a household and the parents love it! Some are excited that they will not have kiddos following them around all day, others are excited that the daycare bill decreases!!! Last but not least...the teachers are excited...they are ready to start a new year, ready to watch new brains grow!

Tonight I meet about 20 of my 24 homeroom students, and several of my switch class. We have the sweetest Little Rangers at my school! They are, by far, some of the best students I have taught in my 12 (short) years! I love where I teach...we are family...students and staff! And I love a family gathering...which is what tonight felt like...a family reunion! I can't wait for it to continue this year!

Here is a cutie that will be in my switch class...all smiles!!!

 

 

Bring on the 2016-2017 school year! We are ready!! 

Blog Changes for 3rd grade!

So....I am going to be using my blog once again. It has been FOREVER since I have been here. But I have decided to use this space to post videos from my classroom. These videos will be about what we are learning in class. This will be a space to help with homework and help parents understand what their children are learning. I hope that this will be helpful to students and parents alike. I can't wait to get started! School starts for us on August 10th!! So, I will be back soon!!

Finally back!

I have been computer-less....aarrrrggghhh!!! I have learned it is hard to survive without a computer. My laptop did not do what I expected it to do and I got angry...I did not throw it, like I wanted to. However, I did slam it shut and unplug it without a proper shut down and it decided not to work any more. I have to admit it was a great computer for the last 8 years...the guy at Best Buy was shocked that my Toshiba had lasted 8 years....but it did and was a great laptop. I hope my new HP is as good! So far I am loving it.

I have been working at school but I can't save PDF at school...I know! I just wish they would update us. Anyway, I am going to post some freebies at the end of this post...and at my TPT store.

Santa sent my class an elf named Elvin to watch over us for the holidays.Here is how he arrived!

Yesterday, he was found in our sand table (which houses our pompoms), he had written his name...and was playing in the pompoms! It was cute...see...

Unfortunately, one of our friends touched him and from what Santa sent in the letter with Elvin, he should lose his magic. :( Yesterday afternoon we were all so sad. I am home today for a doctor's appointment...so I will have to see if he has shown up when I arrive tomorrow. I don't think that he will, I think he is going to be gone. I have a plan though! We may have to write Santa some letters to see if he can reset Elvin's magic and send him back to us. 

So, I do several different units to help the students enjoy the holiday season. I try to have fun activities and educational activities. Here are a couple of FREEBIES to help you out during this season!

Gingerbread Counting Book

Gingerbread Men Graphic Organizer

Gingerbread Writing

Santa's Elves Graphic Organizer

All About Santa's Elves Writing

Hope you enjoy and have a happy holiday season...or better yet MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Jen

Apple Pickin' Time

Well, we welcomed fall this weekend and if you are an early childhood/elementary teacher (as I am) you will probably celebrate Johnny Appleseed's birthday this week! I am looking forward to the celebration...this is one of my favorite times of the school year. My class will do a number of activities that revolve around apples and the apple life cycle. I found lots of great things on Pinterest...how did we ever teach before Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers??? These are two of my greatest sources of activities. Some of the things that I found on Pinterest were printables, so of course, I printed them! Other things were photos of activities and I was able to recreate them. One was an apple investigation. If you click on the apple below, you can download a copy of the sheet.

I hope that you are able to use it. We are also making homemade applesauce, as well as making Johnny Appleseed pan hats. But my favorite part is the taste testing. The students are so funny during taste testing. They are so sure that they will not like something, that they usually find is not so bad after all! Can't wait to see what our favorite form of apple product will end up being. 

Happy fall y'all! Have fun this week!

Jen

Cool Common Core Website

Hello Friends! Just wanted to drop a little line about a website that has free log in for August and September. All items on the site are Common Core aligned. The standards are on the site for grades K-6, and have activities, lessons, Smart Board files, videos, music and all kinds of things linked up. Imagine finding anything you need for any given Common Core standard right at your fingertips (literally!). Go check it out!

http://thecommoncore.us

Hope you enjoy!

First Linky Party Link Up for me!!!

I have linked up with Teaching with Z for a linky party about the first day of Kindergarten. I have to admit that this is only my 2nd year teaching Kindergarten, so my plans are not to MY level of expectation yet...but they are coming along. So...on the to the things that I have planned for our first day...so far. 

As students arrive, our grade level has a color sheet that all students are given to color. It includes the date and our school name. It is really cute...and made with DJ Inkers clip art (link posted below). Generally, parents walk their precious little ones in on the first day of school and we (the teachers) are caught in what I call doorway conferences. 

After we send the parents off to the BooHoo Breakfast, we get down to the fun with the kiddos. I start by welcoming the students with several welcome songs inviting them to the carpet area. We always sing "Good Morning" (I think it is Greg and Steve). As that ends, we sit down and  spend some time discussing our carpet rules. We also go over "Our Promise to Each Other" and talk about classroom rules. Because I believe in keeping the students interested, we get up and sing again...this time Dr. Jean's "Hello, Neighbor", along with a couple of other songs...maybe even an alphabet song/video (from HaveFunTeaching). 

After a couple of songs, I read "First Day Jitters" to the students. We complete an extension activity about why or what they were most scared about before coming to school. This year, I am also going to serve Jitter Juice (Hawaiian Punch and Sprite)...found this on Pinterest! (Gotta love Pinterest)!

We do lots of walking in the halls the first week of school. This is mainly to get the students accustom to where everything is as well as how to walk in the halls. So, we will take a school tour, and learn how to go through the lunch line as well as find our lunch table. We will discuss lunchroom behavior while in the lunchroom. 

We also teach our students how to use their supplies during the first week of school. The first day is the use of their crayons. I found a really cool coloring expectations chart on Pinterest (click on the pic below to find it on Pinterest) this summer, so I will be creating my own to use in my classroom. We also teach our students that they must use at least the same number of colors as they are old...so, if you are 5, you need to use 5 different colors in your picture. 

We also do our first day of Calendar Math (on the SmartBoard only). We will get into the students recording Calendar Math in September. However, this year I am starting Number of the Day...and the students will help and record this activity on their own. 

Our (the teachers) main goals the first couple days of school are to make sure we get the student's fed and back home the correct way. If we accomplish anything else we find ourselves on cloud 9!!! It's like herding cats some days in Kindergarten...especially the first few! Hope this is helpful to someone!

DJ Inkers Coloring Sheet (our version and a blank)

sorry it is not editable...I am just learning some of this stuff!

Have a great first day...whenever yours arrives!

Jen

WILD TIMES...

My life has erupted...I am crazy busy with trying to put my classroom back together (from the floor waxing), get things copied for my classroom, helping the newest member of our grade level (since I was chosen as GL chair...by default...everyone else left!), and answering 5,000 questions about everything under the sun (it feels like!). 

When I returned home from school today, I sat down and my mind and hands wandered to working on my TpT store. So, I have posted several new items. You can get to my store front by clicking here. Here a couple things I posted today!

                       

I am so excited about the new items I posted. I feel like my products are getting better, the more I work on them. The last item is really for 4th grade AL History. It was a fun project that we did during class daily. The students loved and hated it. It was a wonderful classroom management tool as well. 

I have a friend that is using dogs as her classroom theme. So, I am constantly thinking of things that she could use. The dog themed binder covers come in two different organizational mnemonics, the first is D.O.G. which means Daily Organizational Guide. The second (I came up with on my own, thank you very much!) is F.I.D.O. which means For Individual Daily Organization! I am so proud of me for figuring that last one out! I hope you find them as cute as I did!

The F.R.O.G. organizational binder cover means For Really Organized Girls/Guys. I have another Kindergarten friend that is using Flowers and Frogs as her classroom theme. And she is the reason that this binder cover came to mind this afternoon. I sent her a freebie of some personalized name/lunch tags and then thought an organizational binder cover would be cute too! I have also posted a simple frog name tag at my TpT store. The name tags look very similar to the binder cover.

Funny thing is that I am not using either of these themes in my classroom. I am using owls. Luckily, my BFF is using owls too and has already made our organizational binder cover. Whoo...one less thing for me to do! 

I hope I can get my mind back on getting my classroom ready! I will try to post some pics of the room soon! Thanks for playing along tonight! Hop on over to my TpT store and buy something!

Also, please leave a comment and tell me what you think! I would love to have some feedback!