Meatballs, Author's PIE, and Ivan

The week before any holiday is always extra busy... and this year wasn't any different.  Wrapping up a novel, adding in a little PIE, and celebrating with my school buddies for a Friends-giving made this week a success.  

I love this simple recipe for crockpot meatballs.  It's super easy - literally just throw the ingredients into a crockpot, and let it cook on low for 4 hours.  The students didn't even realize they were cooking over in the corner of the room.  It was my addition to our Friends-giving lunch potluck.  A bag of original meatballs, and equal parts of chili sauce and grape jelly.  That's it.  

I also love to do this PIE activity with my kids right before Thanksgiving.  In past years I used 2 paper plates - which meant cutting it and then stapling.  This year I simplified it and just used one plate - the top was turned into a pie (their choice of filling and coloring in a crust), then the kids used sharpie to divide it into 4 pieces and writing Authors, P, I, E.  Behind each piece the kids had to write a definition and an example of each type.  Super easy, but it was a great assessment tool.  

As for real pie, we had that too - the kids brought in donations of pumpkin pie for our Thanksgiving feast.  I split it up and served it with whipped cream as we watched a short Thanksgiving movie.  I LOVE Thanksgiving in the classroom!

We also finished up reading Ivan before break, so we created Ivan using 2 shades of gray paper, and then wrote opinion paragraphs on his belly.  An art project always seems to make finishing a beloved novel a little easier.  Directions for this craft are over on one of my old posts.  :)  

Hope you had a great day!

Food Chain Turkeys

This year I decided to have some fun using turkeys to have the kids wrap up our Ecosystem unit.  We are done.  Really done.  

Don't you love assembly line projects?  I cut up 6 colors of construction paper, making 2 inch strips. Kids went down the line and grabbed one of each color, a turkey head (similar to a bowling pin), a black piece of construction paper, and a bottle of glue.  

The kids took each one of the construction paper strips and labeled them with what they mean.  

Purple = Prey

Yellow = Sun

Orange = Scavenger

Green = Producer

Brown = Decomposer

Red = Predator

Of course I didn't write it in order on the board.  It's not my first rodeo.  :)  The kids had to put them in order from beginning to end.  I did tell them the beginning and end steps - well really they told me, and I wrote it on the board with the numbers.  Then they got to work.  

We had to have a talk about what direction the feathers needed to point, but then they were off to prove to me that they knew which order to put them in.  

Here's my example (which I didn't show them when they were creating theirs).  I had to show them how to turn the construction paper into feathers, not really a big deal though.  

Do you keep papers on the ground to dry?  Then do you have to step over them until the glue dries?  Gotta love glue projects!

I think they came out so well, the kids really understood it!  Before they could glue it down, they had to show me their feather and the color order.  I was able to check it and tell them if they needed to try again.  I will definitely be doing this again!

Turkey Art

I like to remind my students to be thankful for the everyday constants in their lives.  Some years we make mini books, and I give them a couple of minutes every day to brainstorm gigantic lists.  This year I decided to pass out a Melonheadz clip art freebie and they used it to brainstorm turkey feathers.  It was such a nice display the past couple weeks of school, students were reading other papers, and wanting to add to their own thankful turkey feathers.  

I'm thankful for MelonHeadz and all the freebies on her blog.  Her freebies were definitely my jumping off place when I started creating 2 years ago.  

I know it's been a while - almost a full month since I last posted, but this past week I finally remembered to take pictures of everything we have been up to lately.  Stay tuned over the next week as I post everything.  :)  

Hope you had a great week!

I'm SO Thankful

I'm linking up with Lucky to be in First to share what I'm so thankful for this year.

First up - I'm thankful for my Lord.  I love what He has done in my life - the good and the challenging times (yes, I mean that - the challenging times).  He is shaping me into the person that I'm meant to be.  He has carried me through many valleys, and rejoiced with me during the mountain top times.   

Of course my boys are up there on the top of my list.  I absolutely love that I'm their mom!



My handsome hubby - I'm so glad that I said yes all those years ago.  He's amazing!!
He's my love, my teammate, my helper, my encourager…



My parents are my go to advice givers.  They are experts in parenting, giving love, and support.  They understand classroom life - Mom taught for 36 years, Dad dealt with all the prep work, bulletin boards, and teacher stories around the table.



I'm thankful for my sister and mom - both are my best friends.  I'm so thankful for my family.


I really do love my classroom and the students that fill it - past, present, and future.



I love the beach, and I'm thankful for every chance I can to spend time there.  I feel so much peace there.  I especially love Pismo Beach… so thankful for the moments of relaxation.


Have a wonderful day with your family. We're heading over to my parents' house in a while.  Our job is to bring the stuffing.  This morning I also made Turkey Cinnamon Rolls for my boys.  We are about to turn on the parade too - just our normal traditions.  What are you doing today?  Are you hosting? Have a relaxing day!

Throwback Thursday - Remembering Last Thanksgiving

Last night I was going through last year's blog posts trying to remember what I did in the classroom for Thanksgiving.  I have plenty planned for next week, I just couldn't remember what I did last year.  That's one good thing about having a blog, it's an instant photo album - the good, the great, and the ugly.
Here's to remembering... (The links will take you to last year's posts.) Thanksgiving Spoon Puppets  
My class made little puppets to work on dialogue.

Figurative Language Turkeys
The feathers for the turkey was actually the back of some figurative language bookmarks.

Student Thankful Journals 
I have my students set up their thankful journals in specific categories to help them think.  
I know I did a ton more than that, but it was nice remembering... and getting a chance to add these back into the lesson plans.  
Have a great day!

I Am Thankful

It's November!  

Time to remember all the things I'm thankful for... I started writing up a Five for Friday and realized my 5 things were all complaints and downers - October was once again a very busy month... so I scratched it and decided an intervention was in order.... for myself!  

So here are five things I'm thankful for.  Linking up with Doodle Bugs to share!

ONE

I'm thankful for my family.

I love my crazy boys with their never-ending amounts of energy.  

TWO

I'm thankful for my friends.  I'm blessed!

THREE

I'm thankful for my students and the opportunity to do what I love.  

It's always nice to feel appreciated too.  :)  

  

FOUR

I'm thankful for my home, even when it's messy.

{Yeah - not going to show you a picture of it at the moment...}

FIVE

I'm thankful for my boys' buckets of candy.  

Sometimes you just need a little chocolate fix.  :)  

Have a wonderful weekend!  We get that extra hour!!  :)    

Blogging Thankfulness

Can you tell that I love November?  I also love all the thankfulness that is going around. :)

Today, I am linking up with Stephanie over at Teaching in Room 6 to share what I'm thankful for in Blogland. (Yes, it's a place similar to Disneyland but without the lines and overpriced food.)  

There is so much to share!  

It was last year that I really started noticing all the teaching blogs out in Blogland.  I found Charity's The Organized Classroom Blog over on Facebook and realized that there were many many teaching resources out there... and that got me going.  I started googling resources (since the stack of teaching books in my cupboards actually meant that I would have to go through a ton of teaching books in my cupboards) and that led me to find Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files.  Since moving back to 4th grade (after 4 years in primary), I felt the need to locate supplemental resources.  I pinned basically everything I could from her just so I could remember.

Then I found Stephanie at Teaching in Room 6 - another huge help with moving to the intermediate grades.  She had so many ideas and resources that were easy for me to implement.  I started checking other 4th grade blogs of Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies, Fancy Free in Fourth, 4th Grade Frolics, and Oh Boy 4th Grade on a daily basis, and everyday I found more blogs that I had to add to my bookmarks.  Learning more and more, I was sharing more and more, and my dear friend and coworker told me that I really should start my own blog.

So I did when summer started, and in the process of time I have kept growing in my learning.  The linky parties let me run into more and more super smart teachers out there.  I realized this past summer about that fun feature that allows you to "follow" blogs. :)  So my list in my bookmarks bar turned into a list of teachers that have become my colleagues, my role models.  Thank you for teaching me.  Thank you for all the resources.  Thank you for all the professional development that really should be counted toward something... 

Thank you for helping me learn the ins and outs of being a blogger.  Thank you for putting up with me.  Thank you for the encouraging words.  Thank you for answering my questions, and talking to me on FB.  Thank you for making this journey fun and exciting.

Happy Thanksgiving!   

Stuffed Linky Party

I'm linking up with Lyndsey over at A Year of Many Firsts 

to share  what I'm thankful for.  

   

I am thankful for my husband.  I know I've shared it before, but he really is the rock in the family.  He remains calm when the chaos of raising 3 boys and teaching full time becomes overwhelming.  

 I am thankful for my oldest son.  I can't believe he is already 8 1/2 years old.  He just grew out of his "new" shoes in the past 2 months.  I'm having issues with him getting older.

 I am thankful for my middle son.  I can give him credit for the majority of gray hair on my head.  The past 6 years have been a blessing.  He is so independent!   

I am thankful for my little guy.  He is about to turn 3, and the time has flown since he was born.

I am thankful for my class, coworkers, and school community.  I am thankful for the roof over my head and the food on the table.  I am thankful for technology and the ability to learn from so many other teachers out there in Blogland.  I am thankful for good friends and laughter.  I know I can complain with the best of them (I'm working on it), but I'm thankful for the life God has given me.  I am blessed!      

Figurative Language Turkeys

We made figurative language turkeys today.  

My class has been using the bookmarks that Addie Williams created (it was a free download) to review similes, onomatopoeia, personification, alliteration, metaphors, rhyme, etc.  I printed off 2 pages (8 bookmarks) from her packet of stuff that was perfect to cover for the 4 days this week.  We did 2 per day.   

Click the picture to take you to TPT.

When I first started this week I was only going to make a little fan booklet from the bookmarks, but then decided that I really needed to create some type of turkey art as well - especially after seeing all the cute primary art that people have been posting on the blogs.  The colors on the turkey above are on the back of 5 of the bookmarks.  When the turkey is turned over, the bookmarks with the figurative language can be read.  I ended up cutting off the clipart from the bottom of the bookmarks before I glued it on so there is a bit of extra clip art that can be added to our Thankful books.  

The students did the same steps.  

Here they are in a bit more detail:

Prep work:  I cut my 12 x 18 brown construction paper into 6 x 12 pieces (3 per sheet).  Those brown pieces I then cut into 2 sizes (7 x 6 ) and (5 x 6).  The 5 x 6 I cut in half to make 2.5 in x 6 in. size.

I also took the bat eyes and the triangle nose from A Cupcake for the Teacher and used them for the beak and eyes of the the turkey.  Those are cut, ready for the kids.  

Click the picture to take you to TPT.

Students will:

1.  Cut out an oval shape with the 7 x 6 paper.  

2.  Take 2 pieces of the 2.5 x 6 inch paper and accordion fold them, then glue onto the bottom of their oval (to create the legs).

3.  Cut out their bookmarks and choose 5 of them for the turkey.  The other ones are theirs to use as bookmarks.

4.  Cut the clipart off the bottom of the 5 bookmarks.

5.  Color the back of the bookmarks, glue onto the back of the oval shape so the writing faces the back and you can see the colors.

6.  Decorate the face using the eyes and beak.  

All done!  The kids saw mine yesterday and are so excited to create theirs today!  

Thanksgiving Spoon Puppets

This past weekend I found this activity on Teachers Pay Teachers.  My class needs to work on dialogue and editing sentences with quotation marks.  So I decided to have them create skits using spoon puppets for their writing this week.  Yes, I know... I'm drifting from the typical Turkey Persuasion Essay that I would normally do.    

I printed off just the sheet from this free activity that contained 2 Native American children, 2 Pilgrim children, and a turkey.  My own son colored my sample and we attached it to white plastic spoons.
I put 5 spoons into each bag for my students - I thought that by sticking them inside a sandwich bag we will be able to keep their individual characters together.  The plan is to have them decorate their puppets today, and as they are creating they are going to brainstorm how these 5 characters are going to interact.  
They will then get a chance to create a skit that must include all 5 characters and each character must somehow speak at least 3-5 times (even the turkey).  These will be short skits, not more than a couple of minutes long, and I will want them to present to the class by Thursday afternoon/Friday morning.
I have a trifold board that will be perfect for them to sit behind and show off their skit, and then I will be able to have a quick grade to see if they were able to use quotation marks correctly by looking at their dialogue.
Click the link above to head over to TPT to pick up this free activity.  There are other outfits available as well, I just chose the Thanksgiving page to use for this week.