Paper Snowball Fight - Help to Get the Wiggles Out

The call just came that school is cancelled for tomorrow!

It's going to be too cold for the kids to safely get to school.

The kids haven't gone out for recess the past two days because...

it was too cold.

That's Chicago weather for you!

When the kids don't go out, 

they are nutty the rest of the day.

On "No Recess" days, I try to keep them active in the afternoon.

Today we had an INDOOR SNOWBALL FIGHT!

During math, we were doing a ton of paper cutting

for our interactive notebooks.

I told the kids to throw the scraps on the floor 

as they cut their paper.

The first time you tell them to do this,

you are going to get a ton of weird looks.

"Has my teacher gone crazy?"

When we finished cutting, 

it was time for the fight.

I reviewed the rules ahead of time:

1. No throwing paper at faces.

2.  When I say "stop" you need to stop immediately and clean up.

The snowball fight began and the kids LOVED it!

They threw the paper and kept picking more off the floor.

I gave them a minute of fun.

When I said, "Stop,"

everyone stopped.

It was a short amount of time,

but it got a few of the wiggles out.

What are some fun activities you use for "No Recess" days?

Some Laughs and Third Grade Summer Review

I found these on Pinterest and I couldn't stop laughing.

Can you relate to these?

It's coming to the end of the year and 

I'm trying to find anything to help me through it.

The kids are starting to check out and I'll admit that I'm starting too as well.

 

I've already had four parents request work for

their children to do over the summer. 

I decided to put something together that I can use this year

and make slight changes for each year after.

 

 

This has 12 weeks worth of summer review for students

leaving third grade and entering fourth grade.

 

 

There is a day of math review and another for math facts.

 

 

There is also grammar practice,

writing prompts,

sentence review and

reading responses.

 

I know the parents at my school will

 LOVE this summer structure.

I'm also going to add on a little incentive for the kids.

Anyone that returns a completed packet in August

will be invited to a pizza party in my room.

I'm pretty sure this will encourage a lot of them

to complete all of the activities.

 

How are you dealing with the last days of school?

 

 

Let's Get Acquainted Linky Party

 

I've been so busy lately and I really wanted an easy and fun post. 

That is why I am linking up with Latoya for...

 

 

TOPIC - Skittles Game

 Here is the code:

Red- Favorite Ice Cream Flavor

Orange- Favorite Memory from College

Yellow- Favorite Sports Team

Green- Favorite Fast Food Place

Purple- Wild Card(Tell anything about yourself)

 

Red - I have a very specific ice cream that I love to eat...Oberweis Chocolate and Peanut Butter. 

It can't be in a container from the store. 

It must be from the Oberweis Ice Cream Shop. 

The best is when half the ice cream scoop ends up being peanut butter. 

 

Orange - I don't remember much of college.  Just kidding. 

Meeting my husband was a great memory for me.  Isn't that sweet?

 

Yellow The Chicago Cubs - This is the year!?

 

Green - I'm not much of a fast food person. 

 I would have to say any place that serves sandwiches with chips.

 

Purple - My favorite season is summer because of the hot weather. 

I wish I could move somewhere that is warm all the time. 

The spring weather here in Chicago has been awful. 

I need warm weather now!

Friday Flashback, Wednesday Workshop and a Sale

This week I was busy, but I didn't mind because.....

It's Spring Break!

 

Tonight I am linking up with Amanda from Teaching Maddeness for

 

  

And the last part of my post is for this Wednesday Workshop.

 

1.  The one thing that took most of my time was my little girl.  She's only 11 months old and she has a terrible cold.  It's so hard with little ones because they can't tell you what is wrong.  I'm so glad it is spring break so she can rest and get better.  I stayed home with her on Monday and Thursday.  I love surprise days at home with my girls.

 

Here she is on a better day.

2.  Emergency Sub Plans - I was so glad that this was the first year I put together emergency sub plans.  It was an entire days worth of work for the sub and I didn't even have to go into school.  Of course, now I have to change them, but I don't mind.

 

3.  Last Saturday we had the family birthday party for my now four year old daughter.  Her gift was a night with just mom and dad at a hotel with a pool.  It was a busy but fun weekend.  These are some of the awesome cupcakes that my husband made for her. 

 

4.  I finally finished making my informational text and literature foldables.  I loved using them this week with my students for reading.  We added them to our reading journals.  It gives the kids a great way to organize their thinking and they are all aligned to the common core. 

 

 

 

I'm really looking forward to this week with my girls.  We don't really have any plans and I am fine with that. 

 

Who else just started spring break?  Do you have any plans?

 

 

Have a great weekend.

 





 

 



Let's Get Acquainted Linky Party

For this fun link-up, I had to share things that I like or like to do using my initials - JMH.

J - Jogging

I think I have used this letter on another link-up, but it is true - I love jogging.  I hate the time leading up to the jog, but it feels so great afterwards.  My recent goal was to jog three days a week, but usually it is two.  My first race of the year is at the end of May, so I need to step it up.

 

 

M - Mom

I love being a mom.  I have two wonderful girls, ages 11 months and 4 years.  The older one just turned four the other day and she has reminded us everyday of that fact.  Anytime I tell her something, I hear, "Mom, I know.  I'm four."  She is a little spitfire.  My husband and I joke that if her behavior continues into the teenage years, we're screwed.

 

H - Hummus

It is so delicious to eat with vegetables or crackers.  I love to make hummus.  It's so easy!

 

         

 

There you have it!  Some new facts about me.  Enjoy the rest of your week. 

 







Positive Peer Feedback

A few weeks ago I posted about a fun inferencing activity we did with magazine pictures. 

You can read about it by clicking on this picture.

It was a fun activity and I wanted the kids to have a chance to share their work. 

I had everyone put their picture on their desk. 

On a Post-It, they wrote one sentence describing their picture. 

The instructions were to take some Post-its, go around the room and leave a positive 

comment about three other pictures. 

 

 

I told the kids to try and make sure everyone had a few comments.  I even got in on the fun and left a comment for each kid.  I first tried to get to the pictures that didn't have many comments because then my little lemmings students came over and left their thoughts.

 

 

Believe it or not, the room was silent during this activity.  Everyone was really into it.  After three comments, the kids could continue on or read silently. 

Many kept on writing and it NEVER got noisy in the classroom. 

 

 

After about ten minutes, everyone went back to their desk to read the comments. 

It reminded me of the excitement of Valentine's Day when the kids open all their cards.

I plan on using this concept for other activities. 

 

What are some peer feedback activities you have tried?

 

Have a great week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bubble Gum Fun

Gum!  That was the exciting part of our Thursday afternoon.  Our school's librarian read the book, "Pop!: The Invention of Bubble Gum" by Meghan McCarthy.



She had a great lesson about facts and opinions.  The kids really got into the book.  You should have seen their excitement when they found out they would have a chance to test out the bubble blowing capabilities of various types of gum. 

We partnered up the kids and everyone got a baggie with four different types of gum: mint chewing gum, Hubba Bubba, two gumballs and Dubble Bubble (the rectangular one).  There was also a recording sheet for each student.  We went over the rules of having gum in the classroom and a quick tutorial on how to blow a bubble. 

Then we blew bubbles! 

 

And we recorded our findings.

 

I wish you could see all the pictures I took that day and the eyes on the kids' faces. Some of the best pictures were when the kids didn't know how to blow a bubble and were trying really hard.  We had a blast!

 

Here is a recording sheet that you can use with this activity:

I have it as a freebie on Tpt.  I've also included different sheets depending on how many types of gum you use.  

 

Let me know if you use this activity or have another fun gum activity. 
Have a great week!