Fortune Teller Project

I found this idea on Pinterest awhile ago and have tried it twice this year. 

The first time was when technology failed me horribly. One day I had a lesson planned where I needed the computer and internet, and I just couldn't get them to work. Luckily my conference period is first thing in the morning when I realized my day wasn't going to work. I remembered this foldable and sent my intern to cut some large 11x17 paper to square size.

That day, we reviewed science vocabulary. The students chose 8 words from their science notebook. On the top triangle, they put the vocabulary word. Underneath, they put the definition and a picture or example of the vocabulary word. The students loved it. Who doesn't like  making fortune tellers in the open instead of trying to hide it! Best of all, if they didn't finish that day, they got to pull it out later in the week when they finished something else. 

The second time I used it, I planned it out a bit more. At the end of our unit on Renewable Energy, I set up a choice/menu board. One of the choices was a fortune teller.  On the top triangle, students wrote the 4 types of renewable energy they chose and included the pictures. Underneath they wrote the advantages and disadvantages of each. 

Some students, really did their best work on this. These are some of my favorite examples. 

Christmas Vacation

It is almost over! My husband went back to work today (teaching high school debate) and I go back to work tomorrow.

It has been an amazing break. I got to see family and I didn't 2 hours of work over the whole break. I would have done more, but then I decided that it was my vacation and I didn't have to work.

But it is good. Because now I feel rejuvenated, which I have been hoping, praying and wishing for since Thanksgiving break ended.

So, I'm back. The year is half way over. And that pile of papers I left ungraded just might get graded this week.

How do you feel after the Christmas Vacation? Are you ready?

Declaration of Independence

I love Social Studies, but I find it harder to teach than science. I want it to be as interesting as science and I want my students to come to conclusions and make judgements on their own. But if they lack background knowledge, it is hard to get them to do that.

So I am always on the look out to make social studies more interesting. In Texas, 5th grade is US History. I found this video. It is Too Late to Apologize, but re-written about the Declaration of Independence.

My students loved this video. I wish whoever did this would make new videos. It isn't just the lyrics to the song that are great, but the music video that goes along with it.


There is another video that includes the lyrics on the screen. I usually watch that one.

And now they actually remember the three rights in the Declaration! Hopefully it sticks.

Survival Mode

Our AP passed this out at a mentor meeting this year, saying that our first year teachers were probably going through the survival mode and then would moved further down.

I don't think it is just the first-year teachers going through this. I know that I am in the survival mode. The many plates I am balancing just get more added to them.

I do remember my first year teaching though. November was the worst and I wasn't sure if I was going to make it. My goal this time around it to not sink that low. (Third time's a charm, right)

Please tell me, it isn't just my school.

I also haven't given up on the idea of this blog. I am still trying to make it work.

Can I stop to breathe?

Just for a second?

The first eight days of school have flown by. (I say 8 because, yes, I had to work on Labor Day.)

I have hardly been able to catch my breath. This is how I felt all last year and I am determined to get some sort of organization in place.

Just not this week.

I have been informed that I will have a education student intern in my classroom every Tuesday and Thursday. (Someone to assist me? Yes, please!)

I am also a mentor to a teacher down the hall.

I am trying to keep my own head above water.

But... I love my classes. They are pretty much the best group of students I have ever had. My homeroom class is just so easy to teach. I can give them a task, explain it once, and they are good. I just walk around and facilitate. We are working on the other two.

Quotes from my classroom this week:

"This is pretty much my favorite class!"

"Do we have to leave?"

"I love school! I am having so much fun!"

Pockets in Science Notebooks

Sometimes when we work on things in science, they don't get completely done. Pockets in science notebooks are an easy way to store things for that purpose. Or to store a cardstock ruler, or some vocabulary cards. Or a candy bar. Whatever.

This one requires no extra product. Take two sheets of paper. Fold one over diagonally, glue the side and bottom to the second page. And eureka! there's a pocket.

 For this one, you could use an envelope or a sheet of paper folded over. Just glue it to an inside cover or a sheet of paper. 

This envelope is cut up the side and has the flap cut off. 

Science Tools in the Science Notebook

I have said it before. I love Science Notebooks. I have used every year I have taught science (that would be, count it, 2 whole years) and I am excited to use them again this year.

I want to do a lot more with the science notebook this year and have a lot more information in it. Sometimes it is like pulling teeth with 5th graders to get them to care about the science notebooks as much as I do, but it is worth it in the end.

This is an activity I am doing this week. One awesome part of G-camp was getting to talk to Jr. High and High School Science teachers. I asked them what they think us elementary teachers need to hit on better. 

They mentioned science tools. Students don't really know how to use them or what they are. So I am going to try to be better at it this year.

So I have collected all the science tools that the Great State of Texas says my 5th graders need to know by the end of the year. The students will work in a groups and I will give them a few of the tools at a time. As they go through each tool, they will name it, draw a picture, and write a brief description of what it does.

Because they are working in groups, someone is bound to know at least what each tool does. But if by chance nobody knows, their instructions are to draw a picture and leave everything else blank.

Throughout the year as we use each tool in class, we will go back to these pages and fill in the blanks. 

These are my example pages. I learned this format in a workshop I went to this summer. It is an easy way to give the students a limited space for each tool. Because you know some students will go crazy on the pages. They still might.