Trick or Treat Sale and Halloween fun for the Bigger Kids

Happy Sunday, Friends! I just wanted to stop by the ole blog and little you know I'm having a Trick or Treat sale today and tomorrow!  It's the perfect time to pick up some Halloween fun for the bigger kids. :) 

You can visit my TpT store by clicking {here}!

I have been asked a few times lately to share what Halloween looks like in my fourth grade classroom.  So I dug into the blog archives to share some of the Halloween activities I typically do with my students. :) 

One of things that I always do is make extra copies of my Halloween Graphic Organizers to use throughout the month during their independent reading. 

I keep the extra copies in a binder and tab the first copy of each. 

 Then I put the binder in the tub I keep my seasonal books in for easy access.  My kiddos having been loving the extra practice with various comprehension strategies and story elements, and I have too. :)

On the actual day of Halloween, I allow my students to read a Halloween/Fall picture book with a partner and complete an accompanying Halloween graphic organizer.  You'd be surprised by how excited big kids still get when there is a cute piece of clip art on their graphic organizer. 

Of course, I use them throughout the month during small groups too. In fact, I used the summary graphic organizer just last week!

Several teachers who have purchased my seasonal graphic organizers mentioned that they use my graphic organizers in their listening centers, which I think is a GREAT idea! :) 

My teaching partner teaches math, so she gets to use one of my favorite TpT products this week, my BooHaHa Math Centers pack!

My teaching partner uses math workshop to organize her math block and she already has the BooHaHa recording sheets copied and ready to go this week. She uses centers for the hands on portion of her math rotations. :)  

She also has a math facts rotation and she is sweet enough to use my multiplication roll and covers in this center.  This month she has been using my Halloween Multiplication Roll and Cover set. 

The kids love them and they are so easy to implement. I always put them in a page protector and my students used dry erase markers or math counters as markers.  I got my twelve sided dice from Amazon {here}.  

Fluency is something I always work on with my struggling readers.  I've been working with my IEP students on mastering their third, fourth, and fifth one hundred set of sight words.  They LOVE to play my Trick or Treat Sigh Word Game! 

We have been starting our teacher time guided reading rotation with this game and it's been a great way to get their minds warmed up for reading and have some fun too!

I hope this post helps with your Halloween planning! Have a great week!

Easter Roll and Cover and a Freebie

Remember me? So sorry it's been awhile between my posts.  Things have been a little crazy in the Fourth and Ten Household lately.  Our spring break starts tomorrow at 4:00 and am I so excited! 

I'm looking forward to the break because I have lots of classroom ideas to share with you and I will also have time to put the finishing touches of the second set of spring graphic organizers and share my spelling contracts throughout the entire year since you liked March's so much! :) 

Last night, I finally finished my Easter Roll and Covers.  My darlings, especially the girls were so excited to get them in their hands today! They are suckers for anything with pretty pastels! :)

I hope these aren't too late for y'all but my kiddos don't really mind playing with boards that are just past the prime celebration time for holidays. In fact, we are still rockin' the St. Patrick's Day Roll and Covers. :)  You can check out the Easter ones by clicking on any of the pictures above or {here} in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

Tomorrow most of our day will be consumed with our Egg Drop and some PBIS rewards like an extra recess for good behavior.  However, we will be participating in one of my favorite classroom traditions, an egg hunt.  

I always buy enough plastic eggs for all the kiddos in my class and put all my classroom numbers on them.  Inside I put a homework pass and a piece of candy.  I hide the eggs around the room and make them find their egg, aka the egg with their classroom number on it.  My kiddos always love it and it's just proof that bigger kids love cute stuff too.  

Here's the homework pass I plan on placing inside their eggs.  Just click {here} or on the picture below to access it via Google Drive.

 I'm off to go enjoy some Duck Dynasty! Anybody else LOVE that show? Uncle Si and Jase are my favorites! :) 

Source: Uploaded by user via Lisa on Pinterest

Crazy for Conversions: Measurement Fun

For the past few weeks we have been studying measurement in my little classroom, especially making conversions.  My students have done a great job and have impressed me so much. Our test is tomorrow, so I spent a little bit of time this weekend making a fun review game.

 

Below is just a little bit of a sneak peak! Included in this file are 20 activity/task cards for reviewing US Customary and Metric Conversions, although a few cards deal with selecting the proper estimate  for the length, weight, or capacity of an object. :) Below is a closer look of some of the included cards. :)

 The activity cards included in this pack are self checking.  All you need to do is fold on the dashed line and tape it to the back of the card.  My students LOVE whenever our activity cards are self checking.  However, you can just cut the answers off if you prefer. 

I try to incorporate cooperative learning into my classroom in every subject throughout the day.  So today, I had my students solve the problems on the cards in a Scoot/Move About Fashion with a partner.  However, each partner had to share their answer before flipping the card over and coach/teach each other if they got the problem right and their partner got it wrong.  I heard lots of great discussions/accountable talk today as my students were moving around the classroom.  Woohoo! :)

These cards would also be great as a center, a typical move about/scoot, and as partner of your teacher time during guided math/math workshop.  I have included several different suggestions for the use of these cards in the actual file as well. 

If you would like to check out Crazy for Conversions on Teachers Pay Teachers, click {here} or on any of the pictures in this post! 

I'm off to work on part one of my Spring Graphic Organizers, think bunnies and leprechauns! I WILL have it posted before the first of March. :)

February Graphic Organizers, Roll and Covers, and Fry Phrases plus a freebie!

I hope everyone has been loving their weekend! I know I so appreciate the time at home.  Since my husband and I bought our house this August, I've become such a homebody.  I just love being home. :)  

I've been busy the past few days creating the roll cover, sight word, and graphic organizer resources that I'll be using in my classroom in February.  

Which I have to admit was a challenge.  I'm typically not a big in Valentine's Day kind of gal.  Thank goodness for cute clip art to inspire me! :) 

I know my kiddos will go CRAZY over this insect inspired  fry fluency game. A few of you have emailed me about just how I use these in my classroom. So look for a post this week on how I incoporate these into my ELA intervention block. 

We don't always get to spend a lot of time doing seasonal things in fourth grade, so my kiddos LOVE our seasonal organizers.  I typically use these instead of the organizers that come with our reading series.  It's amazing what cute clip art can do to movitate some bigger kids. :) I included graphic organizers for President's Day, Groundhog's Day, and Valentine's Day. 

 I also have Roll and Covers for this month.  My kiddos have loved the challenge of the 12 sided dice.  I got mine from Amazon {here}.  They shipped super fast!

I love using Roll and Covers for fact fluency practice and while most of my kiddos are ready for the 12 sided dice version, some of them need more practice with factors 1-6.  Like always, I've uploaded this version as a freebie to my Teachers Pay Teachers store. :) Just click on the picture below to download it from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Just click on any of the pictures to check out each item in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  

Enjoy what's left of your weekend!  :)

Fourth Grade Algebra Fun and a Giveaway!

Before I begin this post about algebra fun in my classroom, how awesome is this? :)

Source: school.failblog.org via Lisa on Pinterest

A few weeks ago, my students and I went through a wonderful experience together.  I taught them algebra. ;)

Want to blow a fourth graders mind? Drop a few letters in a problem, smile at them and say, "Solve.  Have fun." 

The beginning of our unit produced a lot of blank stares.  Which made me sad because well, I really loved algebra in school.  So while lesson planning, I really tried to remember what my math teachers did in high school to make it so painless.  

One of my favorite high school teachers ever, Mr. Crosby, was a tall man with a mustache who talked in a funny voice and waved at the window whenever he heard a siren.  He made algebra fun.  So one day, I put on a fake mustache and taught them everything Mr. Crosby taught me.  About how neatness is important, to always get the unknown by itself and to check, check your work. Oh my goodness, it worked.  My principal came in for a pop in and asked a student, "Why is your teacher wearing a mustache?"  One of my sweethearts replied, "Oh, we are just learning everything that Mr. Crosby taught her about algebra," and then recited, "neatness is important, get the unknown by itself and always check your work." All while holding his expo marker over his lip like a mustache.  Bless his heart but being silly and making fake mustaches so worked with my kids with this difficult concept!

Once the gears were clicking on the basics of algebra, we were able to play a lot of fun games that my students LOVED.  Most of them are Kagan activities that I can't share with you due to copyrights. 

However, I do have a few tools that made teaching algebra a lot easier and fun for my kiddos. :) One is an algebra word wall! :)  I had a math wall when I taught second grade and my kids used it all the time, so I've been trying to really hard to make them for each unit for my fourth graders.  If you really stress things like this are a tool, they WILL use them. 

My kiddos would often go back to our math wall to help them solve problems, especially with remembering the difference between equations and expressions.  The visuals really helped all my kiddos, especially my strugglers.   If you are interested in using this resource with your kiddos, I have uploaded my algebra math wall to my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  :) Just click on the picture above or {here} to check it out!

One of the things my fourth graders needed to do for our end of unit test was to be able to generate equations or expressions for different scenarios.  Think things like "What equation would math this scenario?  A number multiplied by 3 is equal to 9."  Which would be n x 3 = 9.  

I made a four corners review game to use before our test and they LOVED it.  They keep asking to do more four corners games. 

  
 I displayed the A, B, C and D signs throughout the the room.  Each student had a recording sheet and then I displayed the scenarios included in the file on my Smartboard.   If you don't have a Smartboard, any active board or projector would work too!  My kiddos read through the scenarios and then when I gave them a signal, they moved to the poster that matched their answer.  

They loved getting up and out of their seats and I loved how I could visually see who got it, who didn't and everyone got instant feedback because we talked through the answers together.   If you'd like to use this game with your class, I've uploaded it to my Teachers Pay Teachers store as well.  Just click {here} or on the picture to check it out!

Since today is my blogging anniversary, I'd love to give these two products, or any other two products, of the winners choice from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.   The winner will be the first person who correctly guesses, or tells if you already know, which three grades I have taught! :)

Good luck!  

Blasts from the Past {Product Updates}

I started blogging and creating this time last year and boy have I learned a lot.  I've had updating some of my early products on my to do list and since I've been snowed in, today I was able to do so. :)  

For those of you who don't know I taught second grade last year, and one of our science standards had to do with the seasons changing.  When we returned from break last year, we did so many cool things with winter.  My kids and I had so much fun with this little unit!

 
Last year, my kids LOVED the science experiments, where they experimented the effect of salt on ice and snow, making snow paint snowflakes, and learning about winter animal adaptations.  I went through and cleaned up a lot of the pages today. I added easier to read fonts and different graphics to many of the pages. 

If you already own this unit, please go redownload all the awesome changes! :)  All you need to do is sign into your dashboard on Teachers Pay Teachers and click on My Purchases. Once you find the unit, the click download to download the updated unit for free.  

You can also access my winter unit on Teachers Pay Teachers by clicking {here} or by clicking on  the picture below.

 


I also updated my Double Digit Addition and Subtraction Scoot.  I love, love, love using scoot in my classroom.  It's amazing what a clip board, a recording sheet, and a set of equation cards can do on a cold winter day when your kiddos have had indoor recess.  :)  My original file had Valentine's Day clip art but I wanted to update my file to have more generic clip art, so it could be used year round! 

Again, it's amazing what an easy to read font and new graphics can do to a product! :)  I love the new look! :) I also included an answer key for easier grading/checking. I hope that your kiddos enjoy this updated pack. I know my kiddos really enjoyed the original last year! I would be including this in my back to school plans next week if I was still teaching second grade. :) If you would like to check it out on TpT, just click {here} or on the picture below!

Updating these products was such a walk down memory lane.  Even though I love my fourth graders a ton, I really enjoyed teaching second grade after January last year, they had matured a lot and I was over my "this isn't third grade anymore" culture shock. 

Before I hit publish, I wanted to remind you that Fourth and Ten has its own fanpage! One of my blogging goals this new year is to be more active on my fan page.  Click on the picture below or {here} to check it out and to follow Fourth and Ten on Facebook! :) 

Off to finish the laundry and catch up on my DVR. I LOVE Christmas break! :)