National Poetry Month

Did you know that April is National Poetry Month?  When I was teaching 3rd grade, I always used my Poetry Writing Journal during the month of April.  It’s a great way for students to get creative juices running during a month that is often filled with test preparation and/or long testing sessions.  Students will brainstorm and write 10 poems, and then choose their favorite to “publish”.  We always published our poems by typing them on the computer, adding clipart and putting them together into a book that was a great keepsake for the end of the year.  Grab a copy of the poetry journal from my TPT store for just $10.00. 

If you are looking for more poetry ideas, Laurah from ESOL Odyssey is having a linky party specifically for poetry products – stop by and check it out.

10 Free Writing Prompts

After having so much fun with last week’s You Know You’re a Teacher When Linky Party, I was super excited to see that Diary of a Not-So Wimpy Teacher and Classroom Magic were teaming up to have a Picture Writing Prompt Linky party.  It was perfect timing too, because I was just getting ready to make some writing prompts with the awesome clipart my husband makes.  Apparently, I got over-excited, because I made 10!!!  So, instead of a Top 10 for this week, I’m giving you all 10 prompts for FREE.  Feel free to print off the pictures themselves (by right clicking and saving image) or even easier, click on each picture and you will get a free sheet from Google Docs with the writing prompt and a space for your students to write.  Enjoy!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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You Know You’re a Teacher When….

Jeannie at Kindergarten Lifestyle is having the coolest linky party!  You Know You’re a Teacher When…  Who doesn’t have a ton of examples of this?  Here are my 5, hop on over to Kindergarten Lifestyle to find more!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Calendar Math Linky Party

How do you use Calendar to teach Math?  I LOVE Calendar, because it can include so many elements of math at so many levels.  Link up your Calendar Math post to this post, and let’s all learn from one another! 

Please provide a link in your post back here so that everyone can find all the wonderful Calendar Math links.  Please also link up a direct link to your post, and not a generic blog link.

 

 

Calendar Math in My Classroom

We do Calendar Math every day.  I confess that it’s not super cute.  I have resources that I’ve created to make it super cute (like these calendar numbers), but I have limited access to color printers and lamination, so instead of cute, we focus on function!  Here’s our routine:

 

1.  We sing & talk about the days of the week (What day was it yesterday?  What day is it today?  What day will it be tomorrow?)

 

2.  We talk about the number we will be writing on the calendar.  We say that number in English, French and Arabic – to help out my students who have difficulty with higher numbers in English, but are familiar with them in their home language.

 

3.  We write the number in a color pattern, thereby working on various patterns.

 

4.  We record the number of days we have been in school.  We also say that number in English, French and Arabic – to help out my students who have difficulty with higher numbers in English, but are familiar with them in their home language.

 

5.  We talk about the weather and record the weather on our calendar itself, creating a real-time record of the weather we’ve had for easy access when talking about seasons and weather patterns.

 

6.  We write and read the date and the count down to the 100th Day of School.  (After the 100th day of school passes on February 13th, we’ll be counting down to the last day of school!)

 

7.  We dissect the number of days we’ve been in school, writing it on a place value chart, drawing it in base ten blocks and use the 100’s chart to add 10, subtract 10, add 1, subtract 1, add 5, and subtract 5.

 

8. We add American coins and Moroccan dirhams to our “change purses”, working on coin combinations, coin names, and counting money.

 

9.  If time allows, we do number aerobics, and skip counting.  (This was in the beginning of calendar in the beginning of the year!)  BTW – the cute hands and feet are from Sparklebox.