3 Little Pigs STEM Activity

I can't take credit for coming up with this idea but I also couldn't figure out where I found the idea originally (if you search on Pinterest tons come up!)..anyways, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) is big right now and here is a fun project for you to do with your students (especially at the end of the year when you may (or may not be) trying to kill some time.

1)  Read "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs"  (in my opinion you could also use the original version of the 3 Little Pigs... or do both and discuss the differences to the 2 sides of the story).

2)  Give students the task of building a new house that the wolf cannot blow away with a variety of supplies (Popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, tooth picks, newspaper, tape, etc).

3)  Use a blow dryer to see whose houses can withstand the wolf

Bubble Gum Art

I found these pieces of artwork hanging in a grade 2 classroom

I think it's a pretty good art project to do for summer.

You can easily find a number of different posts online about this project but here is one by The Teacher Wife that includes a writing activity and graphing activity to go along with it.

Here are some other art projects I've done with my students

Tie Dye Snowflakes

Australian Dot Art

Edgar Degas Art

Snowmen at Night

August Showers

This Week At School

Shortened week of school this week due to Victoria Day on Monday (a day off for us Canadians) so we got our garden planted (just in time for the on and off rain we've had this week)!

This week at school I..

- Was in the same school for 3 out of the 4 working days! 

- read an entire book (since I was in the same school for those 3 days I borrowed a book from the teacher I was in for the first day during a reading period and continued reading it during my preps and other reading periods over the next couple of days). The book was "Destined to Live" by Ruth Gruener which tells the story of the holocaust from someone who was in hiding.

- Took a class outside to enjoy one of the nicer days we had this week!

- Taught in middle years classes (grades 6 and 7) all week

- Found this interesting quote chart. It's on a roll of paper and the teacher does change it (I was in for her a couple of weeks ago and the quote was different) which I thought was cool... I'll be doing a blog post soon as to how she incorporates the quotes she writes on here into her classroom.

Inspiring quotes for your classroom

- Found this bulletin board in one of the classrooms this week

End of the year bulletin board

After a quick search I was able to find out more about it and what one teacher did was put a student name in each balloon and as the balloons get popped they spent the day celebrating that student. Another idea is to put fun activities to do inside the balloons. I was a little confused as this bulletin board had 16 balloons on it (with only 3 or so popped already) and I know for certain that there are more than 16 days of school left!

Found in a Teacher's Classroom

Because it's an important thing for EVERYONE to know... not just students.

To see other quotes I've found in teacher's classrooms click here, here, and a personal favourite here.

Plants are In!

In case you missed it... plants are in!  

They are in office spaces, homes, classrooms, and gardens (duh..)

 but more so than ever before (in my opinion at least).  

Not only are real plants in but so are plant decorations...

I've been holding on to these pictures for a while 

(you'll be able to tell by the month that the calendar was on)

succulent classroom calendar

Succulent word wall

I'm not exactly sure where this teacher got her word wall or calendar from but if you search up succulent calendar or word wall you'll get some options!

I've also posted about a teachers plant inspired giant desk calendar and how other teachers are incorporating plants (both real and fake) into their classrooms

Psst... where I live it's officially considered "safe" to plant our gardens! 

Do you have a garden?  If so what are you planting this year?

We're doing tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, asparagus, zucchini, strawberries, and raspberries!

This Week At School

This week at school...

- I was at a new to me school this week and 2 new to me classrooms!

- I subbed for the gym teacher I had in elementary school (who is now teaching middle school)!

- I was a guidance councillor one day (which meant I got to teach health to some classrooms... it was a good day)!

- I was also a middle years teacher

- And I was a kindergarten teacher

- I subbed for a teacher that really utilizes her smart board! Even when a sub was in for her... which is awesome! I've never had a classroom of my own with a SmartBoard so I haven't really had to learn how to properly use one... but I do know how to use it enough to get by when I sub.

- I had a student bring me in a "flower"

-  I also put on Storyline Online for my students and psst.. if you haven't looked at it in a while they've been adding a lot of new books lately so it's definitely worth another look!

It's a long weekend up here in Canada so no school on Monday (and I already have the rest of my week filled up already)!

1997, 2007, and 2017 in the classroom

So this Reddit post is likely a little old (I guess I'm a little late to the game here) but I saw this and thought it was pretty accurate:

I can't say I've ever had a problem with texting (or Netflix) IN class (mostly because of good cell phone policies where they are supposed to stay in student lockers)... however sometimes my students have taken exceedingly long bathroom breaks and you've got to wonder... did they really need to use the facilities or did they need to play another round of Fort Nite?

But what else is different?

I racked my brain but couldn't think of anything.

The Love Ride

Tis the season of community fairs! 

A few weeks ago I was subbing in a grade 3/4 classroom and I noticed a fair being set up in a mall parking lot nearby so we talked about it.  Then I gave them a writing assignment... come up with a ride that you think would be really fun and write about it (if they had time they could also draw a picture of it).  

Here's what one student wrote...

So it's hard to read and I'm blanking on some of the words but it does say that the ride would have hearts (what love ride wouldn't??) and you might find love on it!  But... if you don't find love it will be okay.  Not all people find love.

What can I say other than.... I LOVED it!

This Week At School

This week at school I...

- Was in a new to me school (and I left my number for a couple of the teachers there so hopefully I'll be booking more days there soon)!

- Took some students outside for some extra gym time. The weather is FINALLY starting to hit highs in the double digits (we've been unseasonably cold lately) and we have to take advantage of this nice weather!

- Did some painting of a tea pot for a Mother's Day tea at the school of just 9 kids... it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon "working"

- Played some Snake 

- Watched 2 presentations. One was on water and how we can conserve it and the other was on internet safety.

- Was at a school with no running water. Ok, I'll have to explain this one. At one point during the morning an announcement came on saying they were working on something to do with the water and so we wouldn't have any for up to a couple of hours potentially. Not great. Especially when you've got 25 grade 3 and 4 students. It was also at precisely this time that a number of them insisted they needed water or to go to the bathroom (where they were instructed not to flush). As it turns out it probably lasted less than an hour... but I can only imagine what all those bathrooms looked like afterwards. 

- Helped some students take care of their plants they are growing! Today my husband and I are going to purchase the vegetables and flowers for our garden... we likely won't plant them for another week as the night temperatures are still hovering close to 0. But it's a sure sign that summer has to be on its way if we are buying plants!

Classroom greenhouse

Guest Teacher Rules

I spied this (mostly because it was posted on the board of the classroom when I came in) a few weeks ago when I was subbing...

Rules for when a substitute teacher is here

Kids may know their classroom rules and may know that they are supposed to be the same (or at least very similar) when their teacher is away but it was nice to see that this teacher has a very own poster for kids to reference when she is away... something I think more teachers should have!

Book Swap

I was in a school a little while ago where they did a book swap.  

The gist of it was students brought in books from home that they were done with (it was done in an elementary school so all the books were picture books).  The classroom teacher would record how many books each of his or her students brought in and they would all be collected to one place (like the library).  Then, once all the books had made their way there students would be called to the library and everyone would get to pick out new to them books (based off of how many they brought in). 

It seemed to go over really well.

And, in one classroom one of the students brought in enough books that they made sure each of their classmates got to pick at least one new to them book.

A great way to encourage reading!

This Week At School

This week at school was a little bit of a rougher week... not because I had awful students but because I wasn't feeling the greatest. It was the kind of week I would have used a sick day at some point likely but as a substitute I obviously don't get any paid sick days... so I just went in (plus, it wasn't anything contagious - it was a sore back). 

I'm not sure how it is where you teach but here teachers get 2 sick days every month. The nice thing about this is they also carry forward so at the end of the year if you haven't taken a single sick day you'll have 20 available to you. If you are on a term and you don't use them up that's the end of them... they are gone even if you are hired in the same division the following year but if you are a permanent teacher you can even carry those forward. It isn't uncommon to run into a teacher that has accumulated 100+ sick days waiting for when they need them. Unfortunately, you don't get paid out for those sick days when you one day want to retire... so once again you either use them or you don't (but it's nice to know they there.. potentially a lot of them for when you do them!).

Other than not feeling the greatest it was an eventful week!

I was in 3 new to me classrooms this week and 1 new to me school! 

I even went back to a classroom I had a short term in way, way back before I even started blogging.

My first ever term teaching job: Kindergarten

Other than that we did some Spelling City , played a whole bunch in kindergarten, and worked on a genius hour project at the school with just 9 kids.

In another of the classrooms a teacher was already starting a countdown to the number of days before summer vacation

Except I have a feeling it might be less than 40 now!

I'm assuming that's teaching days left.

Spelling With Magnets

You know those magnet letters that covered your parents fridge growing up?

Well my parents definitely had them.

You know what's magnetic in your classroom?  

Your whiteboard.

I saw this a while ago in a grade 1/2 classroom

Use magnetic letters in your classroom

My best guess is Joey was someone in the classroom (possibly Bob as well... although you don't really see that name around anymore).  I love that the only other words that were on the board were mommy and kiss though.

If you don't have any available whiteboard space to devote to this like this teacher did then cookie sheets also work well.

If you're looking for other spelling ideas you should read my post on Spelling City!