The time of {the TeSt} is upon us......

It's here.  There's no escaping it.  There's no hiding from it.  The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness is HERE!!  As much as I'm dreading Tuesday and Wednesday (4 hours is a long time for 9 year olds).....I am sooooo ready for it to be over with.  This is my first year to be the teacher in the room, and not just an assistant or a helper......but THE teacher.  The teacher who taught it.  Talk about pressure :(

So, here's the plan. Tomorrow, we are going to create a book.  I got this nifty idea from the delightfully talented Dana over at 3rd Grade Gridiron .  She had her students create "mini math booklets".  They make a table of contents and get to makin' their book.  You can access the specific post here.  It's simple and it's student centered.  Those kind of activities are the best kind!!!  Here are her example pics from her blog {Dana....I hope you don't mind me sharing!!!}

Then, after we get done with that fun.....we are going to jump into some {Earth Day} problem solving fun courtesy of Amber at Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher!  I made the task cards last week, so we are ready to go!!

Oh, and I made a little treat for my kiddos :)

Who doesn't love Blow Pops????

 

 

Now, I'm off to bed.  This is my reading material.  Be jealous.....very, very jealous! 

Have a fabulous week, y'all :)

Keep livin' the dream,

Test Preppin' :)

Is it just me or is time just flying by?!?!  We had our Spring Break early this year and it felt like we had some time to prep for this stinkin' test we've got coming up......but now, it's like "What???  Only 10 more school days until we test?!?!?".  It's crazy.....

Before I begin to tell you about the adventures in room 14, let me tell you why I am able to blog at 11:00 {AM} on a school day.  This morning, at 5:00, we were up and getting ready to take Jaci to get some tubes put in her ears.  My poor baby has had an ear infection every month since she started daycare! The procedure was quick and mostly painless......the anesthesia makes those babies CRANKY!!  Here's my baby in her hospital gown. How cute is that?!?!?

We were back home very soon and then baby girl crashed out!  It must have been all the adorable screaming she did in the car on the way home :) 

While she is napping......I am blogging!!!  Needless to say, we have been busy in 3rd grade these past few weeks.  Who am I kidding?  When are we ever NOT busy??  It was business as usual :)  We are practicing a little bit of everything every day.  I have some "action shots" to show you just what we've been up to! 

We have been practicing reviewing our vocabulary.  We are almost done with our ABC's of Math from Teaching with Moxie. 

This has been a great refresher.  On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, we are working on our Countdown to STAAR curriculum.  It's a great spiral type of practice, but we also needed some vocabulary, so......on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we do some ABC's of Math.  The kids love it.  I also used another vocabulary resource from Amanda at One Extra Degree.  They are called formative flaps and they are great {and free!!!}. 

I had my kids write their own definitions on the top flap, and then go check their definition with the one in our textbook glossary.  Then, they wrote the official definition on the bottom.  I had so many kids coming up to me saying, "Mrs. Palmer, my definition is just what the book says!".  They were so proud of themselves.  They really know their vocabulary :)

We also do fact practice.  Every day.  It's one of my four math stations. T-teacher time, I-independent work, M-math facts, and E-enrichment.  This week we used a multiplication wheel from Jersey Teacher.  They roll 2 number cubes and add them together and that gives them their first factor.  Then, they move around the wheel, using that same factor and multiplying with the factors on their wheel.  It's great practice and the kids enjoy it. 

We also do problem solving every day.  We work a few problems together, as a class.  Our state test is mostly word problems, so we need all the practice we can get.  And on top of that, we need to be growing critical thinkers.  2 birds......one stone.  You know how that goes!  Normally, I use the document camera, they work them with me.  It's good, but we were getting a little bored with it.  Then, I remembered how much my kiddos like dry erase boards and the boredom problem was solved!  Instead of pencil and paper and document cameras, we put our work on whiteboards.  My kiddos use "Look, Know, Solve" boxes to help them dissect the information in a word problem.  I've blogged about this before, but not in much detail.  With these "boxes", the kids take out the important things they need to solve the problem.  In the "L" box, we put the questions, what are we looking for? I have them write that question in that box.  In the "K" box, we write down the information we are given, or what we know.  In this box, I have them write down the information we need to solve the problem.  We used to have to write down everything, but now we are getting to where we can differentiate between what we need and what is extra information......and I wasn't even pushing for that :) Then, in the "S" box, we solve.  This is my favorite box.  Every "S" box looks different.  I love seeing how kids think!  So, using the white boards instead of pencil and paper, I had them work in groups.  I would read a problem out loud (they had their own copies as well) and then let them loose!  The rules were that they had to talk to each other and each member of the group had to make a set of boxes on their white board and each member had to have them completely filled out.  The group with all their work shown with the correct answer won the point.  They LOVED this!  The conversations were great and the learning was so much fun!!

Dr. Marcia Tate said that the person doing the most talking in your classroom is the person doing the most learning.  Yesterday was such a great example of that.  My kids were talking about the content and so much learning was taking place.....and the kids didn't even know it! 

Well, my baby is back up and is needing some mommy love!  Oh, and be sure to check out Teaching Maddeness tomorrow night!  She is showcasing my blog in her weekly "Budding Bloggers Showcase".  I'm so excited :)))  Hope to see you there!!


Keep livin' the dream,

Countdown to STAAR!

Is Spring Break really over?? Really?!?!?!? The loud and unforgiving ringing of my alarm clock this morning says "YES....it's over!"

That can only mean one thing: the STAAR test (our high stakes, standardized test here in the Lone Star state) is just around the corner.......in 5 weeks to be exact :(

Here's my plan: review, review, review......and just when I think they've had enough review......I'm gonna review some more!!! I'm gonna try and mix it up as much as I can.....to make the review as fun and engaging as possible! Luckily, I have some really creative teacher blogger friends to help me out with the "engaging" part! 

Here is a how my math workshop/guided math block goes:

1) Bell Work- this is a spiral review of some kind.  In Texas, we have something called Target Math.  We work a different color each day and by the end of 2 weeks (10 days) we are done with a set.

We do this together, whole group.

2) We practice word/story problems EVERY day.  We do 3-4 problems together, whole group.  We use "Look, Know, Solve" boxes.  The students find what we are looking for (the question in the problem), the information we are given and then a place to work it out. This is a great way for the kids to pull out the info they need and know what they are looking for!

3) Then we do stations.  This is the part my kids love!  We have tried stations 2 other times this year and we had to stop both times.....they just couldn't handle the responsibility and independence.  I had to do everything whole group (which I hate) and I couldn't meet with my small groups (which I hate even more!).  I told them that we could do fun practice and games while I met with small groups or they could do worksheets while I met with small groups.....it's their choice.  Today.....they made the right choice :)

My math stations go to the acronym T.I.M.E.

T- teacher time (work with me at my table doing a student guided lesson......right now we are working on our Countdown to STAAR curriculum)
I- independent work (usually STAAR practice of some kind)
M- math fact practice (my choice, sometimes a game, sometimes independent practice, sometimes computer practice)
E- enrichment (the fun stuff.....games!)

I'm trying this.  I really can't say if I love it or not......I'll let ya know in a month or so :)  I'm hoping it works and that I can keep it for next year, too!  In looking for items for some whole group activities and for my enrichment station, I found some great stuff on TpT (shocking.....I know!).

    Teaching with Moxie's ABC's of Math {FREEBIE}

    3rd Grade Gridiron's St. Patrick's Day Graphing

  3rd Grade Thought's Magnetic Numbers Roll 'Em

 Mandy's Tips for Teacher's Geometric Shapes Bingo

That's all for now!  Wish me luck with stations this week......cause I'm gonna need it :)