St. Patrick's Day Celebration

As a proud Irish woman, I love to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with my students.  This year I don't get to celebrate with my students since I'm on maternity leave awaiting my second baby to make her arrival any day now (already 1 week overdue!).  So I figured I'd use the time and share some of the activities I do with my class.

I always make the classroom a disarray as if a leprechaun visited our room (even in 5th grade they get a kick out of it).  I sprinkle their desks with gold glitter, use green paint and create leprechaun foot prints around the room and hide gold coins.  Students who find a gold coin are instructed by a letter that has been left by the leprechaun to trade it in with me for class cash.  I also have Lucky Clover Certificates (FREE download in my TpT store) that I hide throughout the classroom as well.  If students find one of those, they receive a fun St. Patrick's Day pencil or eraser. 

In addition to those extra fun things, I also try to tie the holiday into my other subjects.  In Religion we always discuss why we celebrate St. Patrick's Day and I show them a quick video from YouTube that talks about the history of St. Patrick's Day.  It's interesting and under three minutes.  We also discuss the metaphor that St. Patrick drove "out the snakes" in Ireland and how we think that really relates to our religion. 

In math class, we typically do our usual math lesson but I also give the students my Shamrock Decimal worksheet which can also be found in my TpT store for FREE.  In art class, I love to have my students create a leprechaun of their own for a fun arts and craft project.  I found this one here that I really like and they always turn out super cute!  She includes all the directions needed to create it and the pattern pieces. 

The project that my students usually enjoy most of all on St. Patrick's Day is our Science Lab that we do.  Students create a Silly Putty like substance.  I start by putting my kids into groups of 4 and we cover their desks with paper (green of course!). I hand out all the supplies but I do not tell the kids what substances they are working with.  Instead they need to use their senses of smell, touch and sight to determine what each ingredient is.  As they complete the lab, they work on a three page handout that I give them that correlates with what they are doing.  Students love this project and are even more excited when they find out they get to take it home.  You can download my St. Patrick's Day Science packet for FREE at my TpT store.

I only ask that if you use any of my FREE St. Patrick's Day products that you leave me feedback.  You can see them all here:  St. Patrick's Day products

Do you do anything special with your students for St. Patrick's Day?  Share below.

 

Techie Tuesday: Owl Pellets

Every year my students and I dissect owl pellets for one of our Science labs in Life Science.  I purchase my owl pellets from Owl Brand Discovery Kits.  In addition to always being a fair price, they also provide you with free printables.  We watch a quick YouTube video which discusses what exactly a Barn Owl Pellet is since most students mistake it for owl feces. 

After watching the video, I quickly go over how to dissect a pellet carefully.  The students work in groups of two using tweezers and picks to uncover as many bones as possible in their owl pellets.  When they were finished, they spent time sorting the bones and determining which rodent they came from.  In years past, I've always had them use handouts that I provided.  However, this year I purchased and downloaded the app called Owl Pellets which is developed by Carolina Biological Supply (they also have a free version too!).  This app provides charts in which students can classify the bones, a database in which they can enter the data of their discoveries and compare with other students from across the nation.  Additionally, it has videos the students can watch as well. 

After the students sorted and separated out the bones, they then had to try to construct a skeleton on a piece of black construction paper.  The different groups of students would share bones so they could construct as much of a complete skeleton as possible. 


This activity always ends up being one of the class' favorites.  It combines not only science but a hands on opportunity which I find is best when it comes to discovery.  Do you dissect anything in your science class?  Tell me about it below. 

A Lenten Activity: Stations of the Cross Dioramas

As we enter the season of Lent, one of my favorite activities that my students do every year is our Stations of the Cross Dioramas.  Instead of sending this project home, my students take a couple of weeks during Religion class to work on their chosen station.  They are required to bring in a shoe box (of course I have extras for those who don't have one) and any materials they want to make their 3-D scene.  In addition, I open up my art closet and they can use any supplies (paint, construction paper, etc. that I have).  We talk about what makes a diorama unique and after each student chooses a station they want to work on, they are let loose to create.  The only requirement I have when they choose stations is that each of the 14 must be represented. 

Prior to working on the project, we review the different stations and I enjoy showing them this Puppet movie on the Stations of the Cross that I located on YouTube.

After the students have created their diorama they then are required to complete a writing assignment on it.  They discuss in detail what is happening in their diorama scene and reflect upon why the station is important.  This project is always a favorite of the students and what I love most about it is that they are ALL student created (no parental help).  I'm amazed at the creativity that the students display.  Since they do such an amazing job, I find it important that we share our work so we invite the rest of the school to stop by during a certain time to view the different stations. 

Here are some examples from this year's class:

Interested in doing this project with your class?  You can check it out in my TpT store here.

Techie Thursday (delayed): AppsGoneFree

I'm a little late on my Techie Thursday but was so excited about this find that I couldn't wait until next week.  So without further adieu here it is.   Have you heard of AppsGoneFree?  This awesome little app gives you a DAILY list of what paid apps are on special for FREE!

Unlike AppGratis or other ones of it's kind, AppsGoneFree will list more than one app.  As of today, there were 11 apps that were listed for free.  You can also look at past dates and see what apps were free and if they are still available for free, you find that out as well.  

The apps range from educational to art to productivity.  For example, today I was able to download Fiete, which is an interactive picture book that helps children work on their fine motor skills.  Perfect for my 19 month old WHO loves fooling around with the iPad. 

For my students in 5th grade, I downloaded Mozaikr, which will allow them to create mosaics from their photos.  This should be fun to use in art class - not quite sure what I'll do with it but hey I couldn't pass it up. 

It's definitely worth having the notifications sent to you on a daily basis as you never know what will come up.  

Have you ever heard of Apps Gone Free?  What is the best paid App you ever got for free?  What app do you think I should be on the look out for?

QR Code Hunt with a Valentine's Day Theme

Last year around Easter I did an activity with my students in which they had to solve riddles that would lead them to an activity they had to complete.  The riddles would bring them to another part of the school (usually another teacher) and they would receive a plastic egg that would either contain the activity or would contain the name of the activity and they would get the sheet they needed from me when they returned.  Once they complete it and I checked it over, I would give them another riddle and off they would go.  The winning team was that who solved all the riddles first and completed all the activities correctly.

Multi-colored QR Codes

My students absolutely LOVED it!  However, since this year I'll actually be on maternity leave during Easter (only 3 more weeks before my due date!!!) I wanted to do something similar with my current class.  And of course, since we are addicted to QR Codes in my classroom right now, I knew I wanted to involve those as well.  So, in honor of Valentine's Day my students completed The Valentine's Day QR Code Hunt.

First, I created eight sets of QR codes using QRStuff.com so I could make them in different colors.  Each QR Code was encrypted with a riddle that would lead the students to another teacher or faculty member at the school.  After I created the QR Codes, I printed out enough of each one for my students and visited each staff member to give them a copy of the QR code and the activity they would give my student.  It was important that I gave the other teachers a copy of the QR Code that would lead the students to them so they could make sure it was the correct color.  If a student arrived with a QR Code with a different color, the teacher would send them on their way because they solved the riddle wrong.  (It did happen a few times.) 

I started the hunt out by giving my students the following sheet.  It explained what they would be doing, gave them a hint as to what the activities were and finally a place to put the QR Codes after they had solved each riddle.  This also helped me because when a student completed an activity, they would bring it up to me, I would QUICKLY check it and if all was done to my expectations, I would give them a new QR Code.  I could easily scan what QR Codes they had already been given because they were all in different colors. 

 

This allowed me to randomly hand out the QR Codes so my students weren't all going to the same teacher at the same time.   Now regarding the activities that the students were completing they all contained the same theme of Valentine's Day.  I mixed together puzzles with math and language arts.  And the best part about all of them - they were FREE!!  (Not signed up for TpT??? - what are you waiting for - click here to do so now and find out what you've been missing!) I was able to download all the activities off Teachers Pay Teachers without spending a dime.  However, I did make sure that I went back and left feedback thanking each of the teachers for putting in their time and effort in creating the products and listing them for free.  Here is a list of the activities I used. 

1. Valentine Mystery Word Search
2. Hink Pink - Valentine's Day Themed
3. Valentine's Day Tangram
4. Valentine's Day Wordplay Activities
5. Valentine's Day Multiplication Math with QR Codes (this one is my own creation) :-)
6. Valentine's Day Wordsearch
7. Valentine's Day Acrostic Poem
8. Valentine's Day Budget Activity

This type of hunt could be done at anytime of the year or for any holiday.  It took me less than 20 minutes to get it all set-up (as a matter of fact I did it that morning).   It kept the students engaged for a couple of hours while still having them learn.  A win-win for us all in my book!

What did you do for Valentine's Day? Have you ever done a hunt like this before with your kids?

Check out more QR Code activities here - my collection of Task Cards. 

Quadrilateral project with the Geoboard app (and a AWESOME Giveaway!)

In math class my students are learning how to identify different types of quadrilaterals and the characteristics that make them all up.  In order to assist them, I created this little handout which they put in their math notebook so they have an easy reference.

Since we have the iPads, I also created a little Quadrilateral booklet project for them to work on.  The project requires the students to create the shapes using the Geoboard app AND be able to identify these shapes in real life and explain how they are use. The students were thrilled to be able to play with the Geoboard app as we've had it on our iPads for sometime but never used it.  Just like if they were using real Geoboards, they have the ability to pick different color rubber bands but unlike the real Geoboards they can also fill in their shapes.  Best part about this app......it's FREE!

The possibilities for using it are practically endless!  Students can represents fractions, figure out area and perimeter, and so on.  It's really easy to use too.  A win win all around. 

You can get a copy of both my free handout and booklet project at my store.  Hopefully your students will enjoy it as much as mine are!



Also, in case you haven't heard or seen it already, my friend, Krystal Mills, over at Lessons from the Middle is having her First Bloggy Birthday!  A bunch of us fellow bloggers got together and donated TONS of products for her to give away ranging in all grade levels.  Head over and enter to win some awesome prize packs whose total worth IS $500!

And don't forget to download the Geoboard App for some virtual rubberband fun! ;-)

Enjoy! 

Techie Thursday: MyHomework App

As my 5th grade class continues the pilot program for the 1:1 iPads which will be in place school-wide next year, we also continue the search for a great homework app.  Of course, each student at my school is provided with an agenda book where they can write out by hand what their homework assignment is.  There are of course pros and cons to this.  In my classroom, I'm all about accountability and responsibility.  So my philosophy was always that the students are RESPONSIBLE to write their homework down.  Of course, as teachers we know that as wonderful of a philosophy that might be, it doesn't always happen.  Which then leads to issues of parents not know what the assignments are, which leads to parent/teacher conferences to try and solve the problem which leads to me having to potentially check EVERY single agenda to make sure students have written down their assignments.  And I'll be honest.....that's just not going to happen.

Sooooooo.....in efforts to save time for us all, still make my students accountable but even more importantly inform parents of what assignments are so they can be sure to provide the support needed at home, I searched out apps for students to record their assignments.  The first app we tested out was called iHomework.  It was nice and had many cool features but I found that it was unreliable at best and didn't work for what I needed.  Many times it would force close, didn't provide a link to parents, tended to confuse students on how to enter in assignments and on top of it all, cost $1.99 per iPad (of course you could get the educator discount if you bought 20 or more of it).  Don't get me wrong - this is probably a perfect app for a high school students or even college students but for 3rd - 8th grade it didn't cut it. However, it may be perfect for some.

So while my students had the option between using the iHomework app or using the traditional paper/pencil agenda, I continued to look.  After doing some research I came across MyHomework.  The app itself is free (however I think if you load it onto a computer it costs money).  The app itself requires students to create a personal login and password (unlike iHomework).  It does request that the students are 13 or older but with parent permission that isn't a problem.  Students have the ability to create different classes (which is great for middle school students) and can enter in Lessons, Assignments and Tests.  They can also download this app onto several devices and it will seamlessly sync between all of them which is what iHomework lacked.  With this ability, my students' parents load the app onto their smartphone or device and login using their child's information.  This way they can see what the assignments are and when they are due.  However, this is only TRUE if the student is recording all the assignments down. 

This is where this app gets EVEN better!  There is also a teacher component available as well (FREE).  As a teacher, I can go in and create my class(es) and add in assignments, lessons, tests, announcements, syllabi, etc.  Students can then search for me and "JOIN" my class.  Instantly providing them with all the information I'm inputting.  When I first signed up for this resource, I still made it the responsibility of the student to input their assignments in.  But I found time and time again that a couple of my students just would not enter them all in.  Which resulted in their parents still not knowing what was due and a lot of incompletes and zeros.  I have since started to input my assignments in daily (it takes me less than 3 minutes!) and still makes my kids accountable for actually doing the work.  Because when it comes down to it, I'd rather them be completing the work instead of just writing it in their agenda.  Again, my students' parents see everything I'm putting in because they either are signed in as their child on their device or they created their own account and "joined" my class.  How awesome is that?!?!

What the students see on their iPads

And again, the best part about this app and all it's fabulous features - it's F-R-E-E!!!  You can't get better than that. :-)

So don't waste anytime - check it out.  (And no - I don't get royalties.....though I should! haha)

Here are the two links you need:

Student Login: https://myhomeworkapp.com/
Teacher Login: https://teachers.io/

When you sign up as a teacher, you need to first input your email and you'll receive an "invitation" via email.  I'm not quite sure why the developer went that route but I found that I received my invitation in a matter of hours of requesting it.  Students can sign up immediately. 

Give it a go and let me know what you think!