Fresh Face

    If you follow Thrifty Third Grade, or if you're just visiting, my little blog will be getting a fresh face (and a new name) in February. You can find most of these posts, and all my new ones, at Eclectic Elementary. I hope to see you there, and as always...Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year!

   I hope your holidays were jolly and filled with warmth and love! Speaking of which, I took a short blogging break to give a little love to my family over the holidays. My munchkins were starting to tell everyone that I was ALWAYS on the computer.
   Today was our first day back to school from the holiday break and my students were surprisingly calm... Tomorrow is a new day! LOL. We will be working on our New Year's Resolution for 2014. Goal setting is an incredibly important life skill for students to learn! If gives students a clear focus and sense of what they need to do to accomplish their ambitions. They can carry this skill with them through every grade level and on into adulthood!
    I usually start off new skills with a piece of literature. Here are a few book suggestions:

"A Chair for My Mother"

• "A Chair for My Mother," written and illustrated by Vera B. Williams, is about a young African American girl who saves her money in hopes of one day purchasing a large, comfortable chair for the apartment in which she and her mother live. The young girl saved every penny, and when her financial goal was reached, together the girl, her mother and her grandmother went shopping for a new chair. This 1983 Caldecott Honor Book, written for five- to seven-year-olds, is about working hard to reach a financial goal. With folk-art illustrations, "Vera Williams enhances this heartwarming story about the values of saving and working together towards a common goal," according to Scholastic, the book's publishing company.

"Oh, the Places You'll Go!"

• In "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" best-selling and award-winning children's book author and illustrator Dr. Suess uses purple elephants, floating castles and humorous characters to capture a story of succeeding in life, despite the wide array of hurdles and frustrations, according to Random House Inc., the publishing company for Dr. Seuss books. In the book, Dr. Seuss tells readers that "all journeys face perils, whether from indecision, from loneliness, or worst of all, from too much waiting," according to Random House, Inc. Despite the dreaded "waiting place" and other issues, children learn that by setting goals and staying focused, they are likely to conquer life's "great balancing act." "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" is categorized as juvenile fiction.

• "Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream"

  • "Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream" is a children's book that tells the story of how basketball legend Michael Jordan, as a child, considered giving up his dreams of playing basketball, according to Simon & Schuster Children's Publising. He almost gave up on this dream because of his worries of not growing tall enough to successfully play the sport. Despite this fear, he used his parents' wise words to always have "patience, determination and hard work." This book, written by Delores and Rosalyn Jordan and illustrated by Kadir Nelson, was created for children aged four to eight. This book is "a tale about faith and hope and how any family working together can help a child make his or her dreams come true," according to Simon & Schuster Children's Publising.

  "Being Teddy Roosevelt"

• "Being Teddy Roosevelt" is a book about a boy who, after writing a school report on President Teddy Roosevelt, learns how the former American leader perserved by using his "bully" spirit to accomplish goals and solve problems, according to Macmillan, a book publishing company. Written by Claudia Mills and illustrated by R.W. Alley, this heartwarming 96-page chapter book is primarily for older elementary-school aged children.
• *book summaries from http://www.ehow.com/info_7847140_childrens-books-related-pursuing-goals.html

    You can also find an informational video about winter holidays on Brain Pop, Jr. This FREE video is very short and covers Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Years.  http://www.brainpopjr.com/socialstudies/holidays/winterholidays/

    After gathering information, we will discuss what resolutions are and goal-setting. We'll brainstorm some ideas together and I'll model how to create a resolution. Then I'll give my students a Happy New Year printable so they can create their own New Year Resolution. Once they complete the brainstorming sheet, they can create a mini-poster to display. I'm considering laminating them this year so students can revisit them periodically. 

If you would like a freebie to write your own class resolutions, please visit my Teachers Pay Teachers link:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Happy-New-Year-1040289 and follow me for more budget-friendly resources!

Giving Back

 
     As we move into the holiday season, I always start reflecting on all the important things in my life. My incredible husband and my three beautiful children are definitely my most wonderful blessings. I can't imagine my life without my sweet loves. Even though we're by no means wealthy, we've never gone without our basic needs. I have a roof over my head, food in my pantry, and clothes on my back. And for those things, I am so grateful.
    So when my church began a project in Tanzania to help the Shalom Orphanage, it really touched my heart. These sweet babies are across the ocean without so many of the things that we take for granted everyday. Many of them have incredible stories of survival. Here are some of their faces:

 

      The little boy on the right is “Goodluck”.  He was found by a Good Samaritan, and his whole body was buried, from the neck down. His parents don’t even know his birth date. When he was brought to Shalom Orphanage he was approximately 5 months old. After many prayers and close attention, Goodluck is doing fine, by the grace of GOD. He is now 3 years old.

     
       To read more stories from the Shalom Orphanage Center, visit:       http://www.goldsboroworshipcenter.com/Their-Stories.html 

   I've been pondering how I can give back to this project for some time. This month I'll be donating a portion of all my TpT sales to The Tanzania Project which will provide a stable income to support these, and many other, precious children. If you'd like to give back please visit my Teacher Pay Teachers store for some budget-friendly resources or visit the link below to donate directly to this incredible project.

http://www.goldsboroworshipcenter.com/Tanzania-Project.html

Thank You!

Soaring Through the Solar System

    

       

       My students soared to the stars during our solar system unit. Many of the science concepts are abstract and therefore tough for third graders to wrap their minds around. To help my kids out, we watched The Magic School bus take an adventure through our solar system on Discover Education (streaming videos). We also explored deep space on our ipads with several apps (FYI: We scored all these apps absolutely FREE through the "Apps Gone Free" app).

 These are some of our favorites:

Britannica Kids: Solar System is the prefect app for exploring the secrets of the Solar System in a fun and engaging way. Learn and play at the same time through a variety of games like Memory Match, Jigsaw Puzzles, and the Magic Square among others. Explore the solar system through a wealth of amazing images (which you can e-mail to friends!) videos and informative articles. And as it’s from Encyclopedia Britannica, you can be sure it’s appropriate and safe for the whole family.

(review from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eb.kids.solar_system.en_US.google&hl=en)

Interactive Minds: The Solar System
This app is one of my absolute favorites for exploring solar system concepts! The kids can visit all different aspects of our solar system (and beyond) with real satellite images and deep space video snippets. The visuals are stunning! Check out the video below for a visual tour of some of the app features.

                  


            


KIDS DISCOVER: Galaxies
Kids Discover is always creating new apps on a variety of topics. Keep a sharp eye out for these little goldmines in the Apple Store! They usually have 1-3 free apps available at any given time. Once they cycle off sale, they'll cost you. I love to use these apps as research tools. We can easily generate written responses or research writing on a variety of solar system related topics.
This is just one of the great apps I have from Kids Discover (there is also a super "Sun" app available).


     

                                                                          

Each Kids Discover app will open with a dashboard like this one. Students can click directly on the subtopic they wish to see, or they can scroll through all the contents one screen at a time.

                                

                 

       NASA has a large number of apps, but my top pick is the Space Place app for kids.

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/menu/space/

      The "Planets" app is a great tool for teaching constellations and how the patterns in the night sky move. In the past, I've tried to use small planetariums (you can find these at Walmart, Hobby Lobby, etc.). However, it's next to impossible to darken my classroom enough for the stars to be very visible.  This was a little easier option for me, and the kids think it's cooler since it's on an ipad. ;D I usually project the app onto my Promethean Board via a VGA adapter cable or by mirroring the image with my Apple TV.

                         

                                 

If you're interested in using this app, check out this video tutorial created by the app creator:

                                     

There are fantastic new apps coming out ALL the time so feel free to comment below if you have any recommendations!

  We're also orbiting around solar system concepts in the great outdoors (okay, it's our school parking lot). Once we got our inflatable solar system set blown up, we took them outside and explored orbiting. We started in the center of our solar system with the sun. Then we traveled to the edge of our place in space by naming each planet.  As we traveled farther from the sun, my students used sidewalk chalk to draw each planet's orbit around the sun.
 

After we practiced orbiting, we talked about how the planets also rotate on an axis as they travel in their orbit. My students traded places and the new group demonstrated their rotating skills. 

It's not as easy as it looks to rotate while orbiting!

Pumpkin Planets are a fun project idea if you want an extra extension to get your kids interested in solar system research. I saw a huge number of pumpkins that had been decorated as book characters for Book Character Day. It inspired me to use these seasonal squash to tie in some science concepts. Students can research a planet of their choice and then use a pumpkin to create a 3D model of the planet. 

Next year, I'll recommend using varying sized pumpkins for larger/smaller planets so the models have a little better scale to size.

       If you're interested in more engaging solar system activities for your classroom, 

check out my science products at TpT.

 Thanks for stopping by!

Solar System Flipbook

Pondering Planets

Tech Tools: TED, Tellagami, Gooru, Bitly, & PhotoFunia

Create Lessons Worth Sharing around YouTube videos

Check out this tutorial on how to flip your classroom with TED:

http://www.ted.com/

Tellagami

What is Tellagami?
Tellagami is a mobile app that lets you create and share a quick animated message called a Gami.









Ready to give it a try? Check out this short tutorial to get you started on this new tool!

Classroom Applications: Let students create gamis to share what they've learned and/or present information to their peers.

*I'm planning to try this out when we study historical events and to bring student biographies to life online!

Imagine a teaching tool that streamlines your class preparation process. With Gooru, a free search engine for learning, you can quickly find topic-relevant, standards-aligned resources and organize them into teachable and sharable “collections” — all in one place. 

http://www.goorulearning.org/#discover

bit.ly allows users to shorten, share, and track links (URLs). 

Reducing the URL length makes sharing easier 

(especially for younger students who have trouble typing in long address links)

Read more: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/bitly#ixzz2k6axI8UK
Follow us: @crunchbase on Twitter | crunchbase on Facebook

Get Started!

Classroom Tip: Use Bitly for student research links
 (I like to post mine on my class Edmodo page and my school website page for parents and students to access as needed)

PhotoFunia is the best way to add a spark to your photos, make them special and more original. In only a few seconds an amazing photo collage is ready, absolutely free. PhotoFunia is so straight forward to use, that anyone, at any age, can use it with ease.

How did you use these techie tools? 

Leave a comment below to share your awesome ideas!

More Techie Tools For Teachers!

Moby Max

I am just getting started with this little goldmine! 

Moby Max assesses each individual student in multiple content areas and then differentiates lessons to meet each student's needs. 

Today, I entered my entire class roster in less than five minutes. 

Tomorrow the fun begins!

My students will access the site through our class Edmodo page (this tutorial gives you info on using the Edmodo planner as well as how to link in Moby Max). 

 This terrific tool is not free. You can purchase a classroom license ($80ish) or a site/school license ($499). There is no limit to the number of classrooms your school can access so the price is really affordable as a school-wide program. 

Thank You Follower Friends!

    

           Since I've had such wonderful support since starting Teachers Pay Teachers, I'm going to start a little "thank you" for my followers. Starting tomorrow, each new product I post will be 1/2 price for the first 24 hours. I have always tried to keep my products budget-friendly because, let's face it, teachers spend a good portion of their stunted salaries on classroom materials.

          If you're not following me already, click on "Follow Me" on my TpT store front. When you follow me you will receive automatic emails each time I post a new product. Thanks for taking this journey with me!