Throwback Thursday-Elapsed Time

We are linking up for a Throwback Thursday with  The First Grade Parade.  I am sharing a fun post we did about Elapsed Time.  As Kerry tells you below, teaching Elapsed Time is like teaching 3rd graders how to perform surgery.  Not a pretty site... So read below to see how it became a bit easier this year.

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Hi Friends!

I'm not sure about any of y'all, but teaching elapsed time to third graders used to rank up there with getting a root canal or cleaning the whole house.  IE-not fun.  At all.  :)  I'd fumble and cross my fingers and kinda hope for the best.  This year was totally different for us.

Emily made this cute little poster for us to introduce the concept.  We did several example problems before we let the class try on their own.  However, they were begging to do it "alone" WAAAAAY faster than in years past!  It was also very helpful when we played Elapsed Time Scoot earlier this week.  

Z is for Zoomed!  How much time has ZOOMED by?

We played Scoot with some pretty tricky task cards and our kids did so much better once we introduced this new strategy.  They simply round to the next whole hour until they reach their final time.  Then add up your zoom lines.  Lots of fun!  If you want to check out our new pack, click here.

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Finally, rejoice!  Tomorrow is Friday!   We can do our Friday happy dance! Enjoy your weekend! I am having a massive GARAGE SALE on Saturday so I must get ready.  Get rid of junk, here we go!!!

Throwback Thursday-Visualization

Today in Throwback Thursday, linking up with The First Grade Parade,  I am  reintroducing a wonderful book I found that would be great for Visualization.  The kids loved it and it worked perfectly.  So take a look and see what you think.  There is a freebie involved as well!!

Whaaaattt, wait a minute, I used to want to be a dental hygienist, but not if they are letting sharks in the chair.  Have you ever read this book?

It is super duper cute and hilarious.  I happened upon it as I was reading to Super G one night and my teacher brain took over.  We laughed as we looked through the pictures and imagined "watching a movie with a giraffe" and "sitting next to a porcupine on the subway."  I couldn't stop thinking about using this for visualization.  Since we are in between writing projects and guided reading novels... I thought this would be a perfect, little activity.  Boy, did they have a blast with it!

First, we went over visualization and the importance of using mental images as we read.  We made this fun anchor chart as I introduced the book.

Then, I read the story to them, without showing the pictures. I made them VISUALIZE what it would actually look like "if you invited ants to your picnic."  We laughed and laughed.  Then I reread them the story and showed them the pictures.  Every page, I got an OHHHH, OHHHH, WOW!

Each student chose an animal and completed a web about the animal's characteristics.  Next, I had them list what they would NOT do with their animal.

Finally they came up with a "never."  It was super cute and they loved it.  Everyone got a good chuckle as we shared aloud.  Click here to get a copy of the worksheets I used.  Enjoy!

Gettin' Piggy Wit It and a FREEBIE!

Emily and I were talking about making a place value pack and she sent me some cute frames with pink polka dots.   I immediately thought "Awwwww, cute!  Let's do a little piggy place value to match the pink frames!!"  Then I went to name the pack and started singing this hot jam from the late nineties:

Don't try to tell me you didn't sing along to this song whilst wearing your Mary Janes, rocking your sweet butterfly clips, and sporting your favorite coffee colored lip smacker.   You know you did.  If it was good enough for Cher Horowitz, it was good enough for all of us!

Anyway, moving on to the point of this post.  Place Value!  How on Earth do we teach Place Value?  We have a few tricks up our sleeves and we have certainly needed them over the years.  Our math series has the 2nd grade learning place value to the hundreds and the 3rd grade learning place value to the millions.  For anyone counting....THAT IS AN ENORMOUS JUMP AND MAKES MY HEAD SPIN!   AHH!

We have always taught children to remember the difference between place and value using this little gem of knowledge.  Place means where the digit lives.  Value means how much a digit is worth.  Our kids faithfully draw a house around the word "place" and a dollar sign above the word "value" on every paper, every homework assignment, every test, every journal activity, etc, etc...you get the idea.  This trick is 99% fool-proof and our kids always knock this (test section) outta the park.  If they don't, I usually bang my head against the wall offer an after school review.

You may already know this tip and if you do....man, I wish I knew you/stalked your blog ten years ago. :)  If you want to download the poster, click {HERE} and if you need some task cards for Scoot click {HERE}.  Any of yall want these for free (today)?  Just follow us on BlogLovin or Instagram, send us an email at kerryandemily15@gmail.com, and they are all yours.  Already following us?  We love you!  We will send them to you, too!

Thanks for reading yall, enjoy your hump day!

Vacay Recap and a FREEBIE!

Hi Everyone!

I'm back from a much needed vacay with my girls.   Due to some recent craziness in my personal life, I needed a 'lil break from reality.  I'll spare you the boring details and save that for my therapist (and Emily!).  ;)  ;)  Insert my girl, Kristin Wiig, from Bridesmaids and you have a mental image of the week I had!

I'm going to be a Braggy Braggerson for a minute and recap my trip to Florida.  I'm the worst picture taker and always rely on my friends to send me some.  Luckily my BF is an incredible photographer! Here is a little peek at what I managed to accomplish while chilling here:

 Drank a Nespresso each morning followed by a Vitamix Smoothie.  The healthiest part of each day!  YUM!

  Laid out on my BFs dock and took in the views.

       

     Read The Hunger Games trilogy and Brandi Glanville's Drinking and Tweeting.  Guilty Pleasures!

Watched the entire season 2 of Scandal snuggled up in Hermes blankets.  Yep, Hermes! And I know I am so obnoxious for pointing that tidbit out.  But you know what....I may never snuggle in that cashmerey goodness ever again.  A girl can dream.  ;) 

Watched Admission, Identity Thief, and Safe Haven.  SO Good!  Hellooooo Josh!

Went on a heart attack inducing paddle board ride in gator infested waters (NOT a highlight!!!).  Looks pretty here.... then we made a turn, went under some bridges, and entered GatorTown.    

                                                   

     Took this cutie for lots of bike rides around the neighborhood.  Much better look than the old ladies pushing their dogs in strollers, dontyathink?

Mixed fitness with pleasure as we attempted to recreate Karla's (aka her personal trainer's) workout.  He quickly texted her that we had bad form.  Aw man, we were so proud of this....we even instagrammed it!  Snap!

Had an insanely overthetopneverwilldoagain shopping spree at the Tory Burch Outlet.

Drank a *few* glasses of my favorite white wine/fun enducer.

Dressed up in these outrageous numbers after a flight delay.  Mine was ridiculously comfy.  I will hereby stop judging the JLos of the world who wear their adult onesies with pride.

And got in some much needed bestie time!

Seriously, what would we do without our girlfriends?  I cherished every single minute of this trip and can't wait to see these girls again.  It's funny how the happiest moments of our life are when the real you comes out.  When you don't care about the past and you don't worry about what the future holds.  It was fun to feel like a kid again!  

Ok, so you made it to the end of this brag-fest post and are wondering where your freebie is?!?!  Thanks for letting me indulge.  Your reward is to download {THIS} cute freebie!  It's 36 Spelling Task Cards that you can use with any list.  If you like them, please leave some feedback to make us smile.  I promise it will make our day!!  :)  We will prob put it up for $2 after the weekend.

Alright, I'm starting to look like Tan Mom (AHHH!) and need to get my life organized.  Time to unpack, pay bills, go to the gym, grocery shop, and do all the other grown up things that I have skipped out on during the last week!

Just change tweeting to blogging and I think that ecard is a winner!  Thanks for reading.  Hope yall like the freebie!  And I know this is more like Fifteen for Friday, but I had to join the party.  Link up with Doodlebugs and let us know what's going on with you this week!

PS-All of the grainy/fuzzy/scary pics are from my iPhone and all of the pretty/clear/fabulous pics are from my friend Christina.  She is in photography school right now and I have no doubt that she will be famous someday!

Tried it Tuesday-Grammar and a Recipe!

Today we are linking up with Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried It Tuesday!  Check out her awesome blog HERE.

To get us through the inevitable Grammar review we need to do before ERBs next week, Emily and I have been playing a lot of new games.   We made up one for those common homophones that drive us all crazy...you know which ones they are.  Those ones that are constantly getting mixed up in YOUR student's writing.  THEY'RE constantly using them incorrectly and IT'S a huge problem.  Really, we needed something to reinforce A skill that seems to be AN annoying problem for us all!  So here it goes...

We saw this cute game on Pinterest where you sort words into categories using those plates with the 3 dividers.  I can't seem to find the original post, nor do I have those kind of plates.... so just work with what yo' mama give ya!!  Enter the plastic cups and foil square plate thingys.  Emily made sentences with each type of homophone we were working on (their/they're/there, your/you're, its/it's, a/an).  We know a/an aren't homophones, just bear with us ;)

Then, sort your kiddos into groups.  They review the rule by reading a silly short story, and then they sort the sentences into the correct category.  For example, _____ ring is over there.  The answer is your so the sentence goes in the your cup.

 It's fun, easy, and a great group game.  They rotated through each of the 4 centers in about 30 minutes.  Done and done!  If you need to review this skill or just want to add to your files, click HERE.

Our second Tried It Tuesday link is for a recipe.  I swear Emily and I spend half of recess discussing the previous night's dinner.  Was it Pinterest inspired?  What blog did it come from?  Did the hubs like it?  Will my kids eat it?  We go through the whole thing.  Last week I tried THIS recipe from sweet Cara Carroll's cooking blog Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour.  It was AH-MAZE-ING.  So scrumptious that when I gobbled it up for lunch the following day, Emily rushed out to get the ingredients.  It was a homerun in both of our households!  Do yourself a favor and get involved in some of this Creamy Avocado Chicken Salad goodness!  It's awesome!


Alright y'all, tomorrow is Hump Day.  We are so close!

Bowling for Decimals

Happy Weekend!

We wanted to share a really fun lesson for introducing decimals.  We were inspired for this idea from a freebie we saw on tpt.  If you want to see the original, click HERE.  It's so fun!

Start by relating fractions and decimals as parts of a whole.  We explained a decimal as a number with one or more digits to the right of the decimal point. I've never met a teacher that didn't multi-task...so it's a great time to review place value, too.    :)

Introduce the recording sheet and then take your kiddos outside for some bowling.  They will record the fraction, the decimal, and the word name. Click here to download it!  Oh, and hopefully you can raid the PE closet at your school because you will also need pins and a bowling ball!

And bowl away!  Your kiddos will love it! 

 

Of course we had to bowl, too!  Look at that form!  Maybe we missed our calling!!!

                                                         

Lastly, it's Saturday and we have to end with something kinda fun.  Did anyone else hear this rumor for a hot second this week??  Adam Scott as the new Bachelor?  So sad, friends.  It's not true.  Ugh, which is sadder...he is not eligible because he has a girlfriend or we don't get to watch him on Monday nights??  Either way, you can thank us later for the eye candy!  :)

Anyone else out there forced to watch the Masters last weekend and then realized... hmmm, watching this guy isn't that bad?!  HA!

Have a great weekend.  Stay safe, Boston.  We love ya!

Favorite Writing Mini Lesson Linky

Hi Teacher Friends!

Today we are linking up with Jivey for a little Workshop Wednesday.  Today's topic is: Our Favorite Writing Mini Lesson.  WOOHOO!

We usually teach narrative writing explicitly during the first quarter and then circle back throughout the year reviewing prior mini-lessons.  We do a Lucy Caulkins/6 + 1 Traits Combo....which has been really great.  We have a lot of freedom to teach our curriculum the way we want to teach it.  Emily and I love the flexibilty to be creative (and stalk Pinterest)!

One of our favorite mini-lessons to teach students is that writers create their "leads" using mentor texts as inspiration.  The kids get so motivated and I personally get a kick out of my students talking casually about famous authors.  There is nothing like hearing an eight year old say, "I like the way Cynthia Rylant started The Relatives Came with an action so I tried to do that, too!"  Melt my teacher heart!

The three leads we teach are action, dialogue, and setting.  We added some mentor texts below that can help inspire your children to write leads that sound like literature.  However, there are SO MANY out there. You can open any book and this mini lesson will work!

Action Leads:

Setting Leads:

Dialogue Leads:

In case you want to add a freebie to your files, click HERE for a graphic organizer on leads.  Thanks y'all!

We want to end by saying our hearts are in Boston.  Sending love and prayers to those affected by the tragedy.