What Are Your Students DIGGIN'? {A new linky!}

Ok... the first day of school is approaching quickly and I'm ready to do some (AKA- continue to do some) shopping!

But... I want to know what the winners in your classroom are.  What do your students really DIG that you have?

Link up and show us what you've got and where you got it so we can get it too!

If you click any of the pictures, you can grab these too!  If you link up, be sure to direct us to where we can get your goodies too!  My 3rd graders love...

...this book series... my reluctant readers can't wait to get their hands on this!

...our Eggspert!  This turns anything into a team game and my 3rd graders LOVE it!  We do Brainquest cards, grammar games, math facts... anything you can think of... and it is so fun!

...Choose Your Own Adventure books.  Did you ever read these?  OMG.  I did when I was a kid and I loved them!  There are new ones that are perfect for grades 2 and up and my students LOVE doing them during "read to someone".

...writing with Smencil Pencils as a reward!  Have you seen these pencils?  They smell... and they smell good!  This is a great reward in my classroom.  Students can borrow the pencil for the day!

...scratch off tickets!  I blogged about this last summer and it was a huge hit in my classroom!

...our interactive reading buddies from Hallmark!  My kiddos LOVE reading to these stuffed pups... if you haven't seen these, they are pretty cool.  You turn them on, read the book it came with outloud to the stuffed animal, and (if you're reading accurately and fluently) the dog whimpers, barks, pants, etc... at appropriate parts in the story!  It's really cool.  I wasn't sure about it because it's something I did in 1st and 2nd grade, but my 3rd graders LOVE it!  We have this one, but there are many others too!

one more...

...our favorite end of the day activity (when there's time!) is to play "Mummy Ball".  We have a Koosh ball and the students put on all their gear (backpacks, etc...) and stand in a spot in the room.  I say someone's name and toss them the ball.  They catch it, say someone else's name, and toss to them.  If anyone talks, they are out and sit down wherever they are standing.  If anyone drops it, they are out and sit down.  It usually takes about 8 minutes to get a winner... and we usually can only play for 3 or 4 but we try to do it once a week because they love it!

Making Grammar Interactive... Classroom or Hallway Hunts Giveaway!

Workbook pages, schmerkbook pages.

That's how I feel anyway.  I know, I know... they are a necessary evil and we do maybe one per week.  Usually when I introduce a grammar skill, we complete a workbook page.  But, as part of the grammar practice, I get my kids up and moving.

We play Back-to-Back, use my classroom carpet, and usually do a game each week as part of one of our mini-lessons.

One of my favorite ways to make grammar interactive is with classroom or hallway hunts.

It is not uncommon in my school building to see sentences, words, or pictures randomly taped on the walls throughout the hallways.  Both the 3rd and 4th grade ELA teachers use hallway hunts often as a way for kids to show they know our grammar skills by doing something other than sitting and completing a workbook page.

Instead, we type out what we want our kiddos doing on cards, number them, and hang them up in the school.  Kids get a recording sheet and walk through the halls, searching for, and completing the cards.  They L-O-V-E it and I love it too!  It's fun and achieves the same goal as a workbook page, but the kids are moving and having a good time.

When we do hallway hunts, they are whole class activities.  But I also use classroom hunts.  A lot.  Instead of hanging the cards in the hallway and going out as a group, I hang cards in the classroom and assign my students to complete the hunt as part of their independent word work for the week.

While I meet with small groups, students have to budget in time to complete the hunt.  I love when I'm working in my groups, seeing kids with clipboards and recording sheets, reading, thinking, and writing as they travel around the classroom!

I have several classroom or hallway hunts in my TpT store and would love to give you the chance to win your choice of two of them... there are {in order of the pics below!} ABC order, pronouns, verbs, plural nouns, abstract nouns, contractions with not, linking verbs, contractions with pronouns and verbs, possessive pronouns, singular and plural nouns, and the last picture is for a freebie hunt for singular and plural nouns!  I've linked up each picture below so you can check them out and decide which two you'd like if you win!  :)  Several of them are part of larger grammar packs with more than just the hallway hunt activity... so the two winners will get the whole pack!

    

 

To enter all you have to do is comment and leave a suggestion for a future classroom or hallway hunt!  So far, I've only been putting hunts on TpT that I'm using in my classroom, but I'd love to hear what you'd like to see in the future.  I'll ask hubby to pick TWO random numbers on Wednesday and, not only will those people win TWO of their choice, but when I finish the activity for their suggestion, I'll send them both that one too!

I'd love to hear how you keep grammar practice fun and engaging in your classroom too.  It's such a biggie on the ACT that we've got to get our kiddos prepared now so they can continue to grow into grammar police as they get nearer to that test in high school!  How do you keep it fun and limit the workbook/worksheet pages while still practicing skills?

Pre-April Fool's Day Fun!

I've been laughing about this ever since last night...

Today was our last day before spring break, which I am now officially enjoying, and I decided to do a pre-April Fool's Day joke on my students.

I've done this in the past, but I didn't do it this last year because April 1st was on a weekend.  Well, I decided that it just had to be done this year, even though April 1st is on Sunday!

Anyway... it was a short week at school and we had our Three Bears' Breakfast today (more details tomorrow!), so I knew we'd be having too much fun to be bothered to do spelling this week.

So, my students came in and I asked them to get out their pencils and mini-offices so we could take our spelling test.  Well, my room immediately burst into shouts of "WHAT?!  You didn't give us any spelling words!" and "No way!  You said there was no spelling this week!" and "I'm going to fail!  You didn't teach us any spelling this week!".  Well, I usually run three spelling lists in my room, so I told the kids we were doing a spelling review and were all taking the same test... which relieved some of them!

I passed out my official spelling test sheet and commenced with my evil plan.

Number 1- there  "There is going to be a lot of sun today"
Number 2- is  "Today is Thursday"
Number 3- really "I am really happy to be here today"
Number 4- no "The answer to your question is no"
Number 5- spelling "Spelling words correctly is important"
Number 6- test "This is a test"
Number 7- today "Today we are going to have a lot of fun"
8- happy  "I am so happy today is our Three Bears' Breakfast"
9- early  "I went to bed early last night"
10- April  "April 1st is Sunday"
11- Fool's  "Fools are people who do silly things"
12- Day  "We attend school in the day time"
13- ha  "The clown told a joke.  I said ha"
14- ha  (But, Mrs. Bainbridge, you just said ha!)  "The joke was so hilarious I said ha, ha"
15- ha  (Ummm... again, Mrs. Bainbridge?)  "The joke was too funny!  I said ha, ha, ha"

Then I asked them to read the words... and a chorus of "Mrs. Bainbridge!  You tricked us!" and tons of laughter followed... most of it was from me!  I laaaauuughed and laaaauuuughed!  Oh it was too funny!

If you have school yet tomorrow, I'd highly recommend you try it!  The kids loved it!