What are the chances?

This week we have been learning about probability.  I have used things like spinners, dice, and bags of items to teach this concept.  

Today, my kiddos had the chance to create their own bag of items.  To begin, I gave each student a brown lunch bag.  I had several types of foam stickers that they could choose to put "in" their bag.  Once they had their items in the bags, they had to write statements about their bags using the words certain, impossible, most likely, least likely, and equally likely.  This made them really think about what to put in the bag so that they could use each term.

Here are some pictures of the activity.

Happy weekend!

Math Journals

When I first started blog stalking about a year and a half  ago, one of the first blogs I came across was Tales of Frogs and Cupcakes.  I immediately fell in love with Janaye's math journals!  She completely inspired me and I knew that I was going to have to get my kids making these notebooks!  I began midyear last year and my kids loved them!  They felt so grown-up and really used them to go back to when they couldn't quite remember something.  

So this year, we started from day one!  My kiddos are still excited to add new information and they use them all the time for reference.  "Look how thick these things are!" is something that I am hearing a lot lately.  They are not perfect, and I have already thought of some changes.  However, I am still pretty proud of them and wanted to share.  So without further ado, here's some pictures of our awesome journals.

 Overall, I am pleased with the way they are turning out.  Any suggestions?

What is Original? and a Freebie

A while back, I posted a free Number of the Day on Google Docs.  I was then notified by a seller on TpT that mine was similar to hers and that might cause her a problem since she was selling hers.  I took mine off of Google Docs.  Since then, I have had MANY emails requesting the Number of the Day download. 

That got me to thinking about "original".  What does it mean anyway?  I have seen many things duplicated by teachers on TpT and TN that I know the seller did not invent.  I purchased two Matter units from two different sellers.  Both of those packets contained Root Beer Float activities.  And what about Oobleck?  How many sellers have that in a packet?  I have seen things duplicated from Lakeshore, Really Good Stuff, Carson-Dellosa, etc.   Check out the Back to School packets.  Most all of them contain some type of getting to know you bingo with the same questions.  So the only thing original in the way it's arranged.

How many times have you thought, "Oh, this would be the coolest idea to do for ___!", only to find out someone else already thought of it?  In the world of teaching, is there such a thing as "original"?  Math concepts, reading strategies, science stuff...it's the SAME everywhere and the activities are the same.  Seriously, I remember putting celery in food coloring to see how the water travels up the stem when I was a kid (a long time ago).  Someone may put a little different spin on it or add a cute graphic and font, but the concepts are still the same.  Many of these "original" ideas came straight from a text book!

I'm not trying to cause anyone any problems.  I'm not trying to be negative or nasty.  I'm just saying that because my Number of the Day was "similar" to hers, does not mean I shouldn't post it.  So, I have decided to put it back up.  FREE FOR THE TAKING! There are 20 premade numbers and one blank so you can create your own.  I only used numbers that would make the telling time to the nearest 5 minutes.  I'll change up once we have covered time to the nearest minute.

Click here to download

I apologize in advance if this post offends anyone.  That was not my intent.  My goal is to help children become successful. And if I can help a teacher or two along the way, that's even better.  What are your thoughts about "original"?  I'd love to hear them!

Family Vacay and Made it Monday

 WooHoo!  Family vacay time.  We are packing up and heading to the beach for a few.  My girlies are super excited and I must admit, I am too!  Can't wait to hear the waves crashing and watch the sun rising up over the ocean in the mornings.  Total relaxation!

Finally went to school to start my working on my classroom.  This is what met me.

View from front door

View from back of room

I've been working really hard to get it back together, but I'm not quite ready to post pictures of the finished product yet though.

Click here to go to join the fun!

And now on to Monday Made It with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics.  One thing that I made was this "Compliment Can".  I found this cute trash can at Dollar General.  I hot glued the lid on and then created the label.  This is where the kids will put their compliments that they have for each other.  Then, at our Class Council meetings, I will read the compliments aloud and give the slips to the kids to keep.  They really get into catching their classmates doing something good.

I also put together some Shared Journals that I got from Tara, used my Cricut to cut some vinyl to put on my clipboard container and made some anchor charts for my math board.

If you are interested in the math charts, you can get them here.

Hope you have big plans for the last few days of your break!  Don't forget to link up! 
 

Monday Made It and a Freebie

Got a few things accomplished this week.  Nothing too spectacular but I did want to share.  My poor fingers should be super sore because seems like I have been doing lots of printing, laminating, and cutting.  Got my letters for my word wall completed.  I also managed to get my math vocabulary for the first semester finished, I bought Tara's Letters for Learning and got them ready, and I created a 3 Ways to Write Numbers foldable.  Other than that, I have just been trying to accomplish a few things around the house.  My classroom is ready, so I'll be heading over there in a bit to get started.  I'll be posting pictures of the progress. 

Click HERE to download this foldable.

Inside of Foldable

Some of the Math Vocabulary

Word Wall Letters

Click HERE to purchase this from Tara.

Geometric Cities

To wrap up our geometry unit, our class created geometric cities thanks to this cute activity from Lesson Plan SOS.

First, students were given a set of guidelines as to what their cities must have.  Then they had to complete a planning page like the one shown below.

Once the planning was complete, the kids began their designs on a big poster board.  They spread out all over the floor with their "construction tools"- markers, colored pencils, and rulers.

Once the construction was complete, we invited the other third grade classes over to vote on which city they liked the best.  After all the votes were tallied, this little lady won with her city "The Amazing World of Awesomeness".

It was such a fun experience for the the kids and I really enjoyed watching their creativity at work!