Elements of a Story & Estimation!

So yesterday my class made their first estimation on the Halloween jar of candy that I brought to school! You can read the post about my Halloween estimation jars here! Would you believe that one of my students estimated the correct amount of Smarties in the jar?!? There were 53, and one of my sweet students estimated 53!! I wish I could have recorded his reaction when I said there were 53 packs of Smarties in the jar!! He literally jumped up and down and screamed, "I WON"!!! It was priceless! I am going to do these for Thanksgiving and Christmas too! The kids love it, and it is an inexpensive way to encourage math skills like estimation! I absolutely love my job! :) I can't wait to do the jar of Tootsie Rolls today and the jar of candy corn tomorrow! 

We are also studying elements of a story this week that will lead into the impact of characterization and conflict on plot later on in the week. Here is a graphic organizer (2 per page) that I created last night for my students to fill in during independent reading today. You can download it for FREE by clicking on the picture below! Hope everyone has an awesome day! :) 

Halloween Estimation Jars!!

I always try to think of some fun, creative classroom activities for my students this time of year! My school is having a Book Character Parade on Wednesday. The students and teachers can dress up as their favorite book character! I am really excited about this, and my students ALWAYS get excited about it! This year I am going as.....AMELIA BEDELIA!!! I'm so excited! I will definitely post a picture after the parade on Wednesday! :) 

A new activity I am doing this year is estimation jars with my students! We are doing one on Monday, one on Tuesday, and one on Wednesday! My jar for Monday has smarties in it. The jar for Tuesday has tootsie rolls in it, and the jar for Wednesday (Halloween) has candy corn in it! I am going to let my students make 1 estimation in the morning (on a post-it note) for the jar that I have planned for that day. At the end of the day, the student who has the closest estimation without going over will win the jar of candy! :) I'm so excited about this, and I think my students will love it! Here is a picture of my estimation jars (all supplies from Dollar Tree)!!

What fun activities do you have planned for your students this week?!? 

I'm finished!!!

Well, I know it has been a few days since my last post, but....I finished my MASTER'S DEGREE!!! Woo Hoo!! I am so excited! AND, my sweet hubby threw me a surprise celebration party this past Saturday night! Am I lucky or what?!? I have missed blogging oh so much, but I had to finalize and turn in my last few papers! Now that I am done, I am going to be spending A LOT more time on my blog! I have really developed a passion for blogging! I hope you guys enjoy my posts because there are going to be many more in the near future! I know this is a short post, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I am finished! On another note, I am almost finished putting together the story quilt that my students made. I can't wait to post a picture! To read my original post and freebie about the story quilt, click HERE! I hope everyone has had a MARVELOUS MONDAY!!!

A Story Quilt & a FREEBIE!

Hey guys! Well, next week we have a 3 day week with our students! They are out on Thursday and Friday, but we have workdays! :) I'm excited though because my grade level has a field trip on Wednesday, so really we are only planning for TWO days next week! While planning reading this week, I realized I need another major grade for my students this quarter! I consulted with the inclusion teacher who is in my classroom at that time. She is awesome! She found a "story quilt" in one of her reading resource books. Well, an idea hit us! We decided that next week, our students are going to create a main idea "story quilt" piece! I'm so excited about this! Here is the version that I created for my students complete next week! 

Basically, each student will choose a book they have read recently and design a story quilt piece! They will write the title, author, main idea, and 4 supporting details. Then, they will decorate their quilt piece to represent their book! After they complete their quilt piece, I am going to mount them on colored paper, laminate them, and create a STORY QUILT in our hallway to mimic a real quilt that would be sewn together! I am so excited about this! I can't wait to post pictures next week when my kids finish and I put together our quilt! 

All you have to do to download the story quilt above for FREE is click on the picture above! I hope someone else can use this idea too! If you do decide to do this in your class, please send me a picture of your finished quilt to polkadotsnpencils@yahoo.com! I would love to see this document being used! Hope everyone has a FABULOUS FRIDAY! :) 

Product SWAP!!

Can you tell I am just a little bit excited?!? I have been looking forward to this post ALL WEEK! Reason number 1 I am so excited is because I have a great partner I get to swap with today! I had the pleasure of swapping products with Liliris from Fourth Grade Garden!!! She is a 4th grade teacher with one awesome blog! If you have never visited her blog before, please click on the link above or her button below and go check her out!

Reason number 2 I am so excited is because I get to review this awesome product! The product I am blogging about today is her Number of the Week Daily Math Routine. Let me just tell you, this packet is AWESOME! I have had so much fun printing it and laminating it! It is so pretty! You are probably laughing at me, but I love pretty things for my classroom!!! AND this packet is not just pretty, it is a great way to have your students working with numbers EVERY DAY in your classroom! I LOVE some math so this was just perfect for my classroom! You hang a number of the week in your classroom and students complete a different worksheet each day using the number! Let me show you some pictures so you can see for yourself why this packet is fun and exciting!

First, there are FIVE, yes FIVE, designs to choose from for your main "Number of the Week" poster. The one I chose is very colorful. Here is a picture of it all laminated and ready to go!

Of course I had to pick the most colorful one!! :) Here are the other designs that are included in the packet.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them ALL!! <3

This packet also comes with 20 pages of numbers going from tens to ten thousands place! All you have to do is laminate them and cut them out! There is also a page where you can write in your own numbers! I stuck some velcro dots on my numbers and poster so they would be easy to interchange. Here are 2 pictures of how the poster looks with the numbers hanging on it! 

Don't they just look great?!? Now, here are the different daily worksheets students complete with the number of the week, and YES, there is a blank sheet for you to create your own!

I think this packet is a great way to review number sense with your students throughout the whole year! Some of the skills included are expanded form, written form, base ten blocks, rounding, ordering, number line, place value, odd, even, and fact families! This is a great spiral review tool to use throughout the whole year!!

Please go check out my friend Liliris from Fourth Grade Garden! You will be glad you did! :)