Family Unit

We only have a few weeks left of school, but we still need to cover our Family unit. I am feeling very rushed this year, but the show must go on! During our Family Unit the students will write family stories, poetry and share special family moments with our class.  

I cannot attached photos right now- Jeez Blogger you're killing me over here! However, you can download the Family Journal cover I have created here.

and the list of topics I will have the children write about here.  Our writing genre for the end of the year will be recount so true family stories fits right in. We also have the kids make timelines of their life from the ages of 0-7 which turn out so super cute. I will write a seperate post of those little bad boys later this week!

Do any of you teach a Family Unit and if so what is your favorite learning activitiy?

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mommies out there!! I have my students Authors’ Reading this morning where they will be sharing their AMAZING poetry with their families. It is also the book fair and international food festival. It is always such a fun day.

Yesterday my kids made the sweetest Mother’s Day portraits of their moms. I got the idea from Lesson Plans SoS and Oh' Boy 3rd Grade. I also had the kids make the top ten reasons why their mom was the best (from What the Teacher Wants). 

 I love how this little cutie created a veil for his mom's portrait!

They turned out SO freakin’ cute!!! I was dying at some of their choices for their moms. They made them look so close to the real thing it was unbelievable. I will definitely be doing this project next year!!! 

Have a lovely weekend friends!!

Tens in a Row--BINGO!!

Hi blog friends!!! I just got back from a fabulous, but EXHAUSTING trip to Disney with my whole entire family!! My nieces and nephews had the best time and I’m so glad I went just to see their smiling faces at each new attraction. Now it is back to work!! The end of the year is coming and I have SO much to do, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel!!


This week we are beginning double digit addition. My babies aren’t babies anymore and are getting SO darn smart!! Every year I forget how much they learn from September to June…it’s crazy! Anyway, I always begin this unit by reviewing place value. I made up a little game which we called Tens in a Row—BINGO! It was inspired by the math program my school uses (Houghton Mifflin- do any of you use it?!) It reviews mental math: adding tens.


We started by reviewing with base ten blocks on the activboard. We played this game.
Then I wrote the #s 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80,90 and 100 on the board. I told the children to choose 9 of the #s and fill them in on their grid.
Next I described numbers like this- the number I am thinking of has 2 tens plus 3 tens and the kids had to find that number (50) on their grid and put a marker on it. I did this until someone called out TENS IN A ROW--BINGO!!


Examples- 1 ten plus 3 tens (40), 7 tens plus 2 tens (90), 4 tens plus 3 tens (70)


My computer is being a real pain and will not allow me to post pictures right now?!?! but...


You can download the grid paper here.


Enjoy!!