Mean, Median, Mode, & Range Foldables!

This week in math we focused on mean, median, range, and mode. What better way to learn about them than make a foldable?! My kids love foldables and writing in lots of different colored markers {just like their teacher :) }

And then since we didn't have room on the front, we added outlier on the back!

Next week we will be making these to show off our knowledge of geometric solids!

{Here's the link to my post on them from last year, but for some reason the pictures aren't showing up!} They are fun to make and a nice treat to snack on when they are finished!

The math program we use this year has a spiraling format, so we are constantly learning different concepts. It took a while to get used to, but now I am loving it! Instead of just doing a chapter on multiplication, then a chapter on fractions, etc., everything is mixed in, so they learn the basics of everything at the beginning of the year and throughout the year we just build more and more on those skills. The feedback from parents has been very positive and my students have been performing really well on their weekly assessments that test everything we've learned so far in the year. They actually get upset if we have to skip a Friday quiz for some reason because they want to "show off what they've learned!" Love my class SO much!

Happy Saturday!

Five for Friday!

This week has been super busy and since I haven't been able to blog much about what's been going on in my classroom, I thought I would link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday to give you a peak at what we've been up to!

We have been learning about some of the benefits of microorganisms in science and talking about how microbes are everywhere! We put that to the test in our class using petri dishes! Students made predictions where they would find a lot of microbes and not as many microbes, and then they swabbed the area and rubbed it on a petri dish. We even tested just the air by keeping a petri dish open for 30 seconds. So much fun! And the kids loved seeing all the microbe colonies!

{This picture was taken right after we did them, so you can't see any colonies yet!}

On Tuesday we took a train trip to Mission San Juan Capistrano! We have been learning about the California missions in social studies, and my kiddos had so much fun seeing one in person! And after a rainy Monday, we thankfully had beautiful weather for our trip!

Also, this week I started (and finished) reading The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan! I had been wanting to read it for a while, but after reading {and loving!} all the Percy Jackson books, I couldn't get into reading a Rick Riordan book without him as one of the characters! Now, since it's been a while since I read those books, I could finally get into it, and now I can't wait to read the next book in this series!

Last weekend for Cinco de Mayo {I know, a little out of order} my husband and I went to Old Town to celebrate because they were having a huge event! I love seeing the old one room schoolhouse there! So crazy to think about how different teaching was back then!

And check out these "instructions to the teachers!" Things have definitely changed!

And last, but not least, we made our Mother's Day paintings!
{I posted about them here from last year if you want to see the step-by-step process!}

Then they decorated construction paper to wrap up their gift!

Hope you all had a wonderful week!

Teacher Appreciation Sale!

So I'm sure you've already heard by now, but TpT is having a huge sale for teacher appreciation week! And of course, I'm joining in on the fun! So Tuesday and Wednesday you can stop by my TpT store to get 28% off everything!

Hope you all have a wonderful teacher appreciation week! Our sweet parents surprised us this morning by stocking the faculty lounge with delicious bagels, coffee, and orange juice! They even set the table with a tablecloth and flowers! Love them!

And while you are checking out the sale, make sure you check out Beth's amazing clipart store! She's the one who created the cute graphic above and she is so talented!

Teaching Theme

The past couple weeks we have been discussing themes of stories we've been reading. 

This is one of the neatest ways I've seen to help students remember what the theme is:

THEME = THE MEssage

Isn't that neat? I found it from Angela Bunyi and it really clicks with the students. 

I also found some amazing theme headings from the fabulous Beth Newingham! 

I can't get the direct link to the posters for some reason, but if you go {here}, 

- Click on "Literacy Links" on the left hand side

- Then click on "Reading Workshop"

- Scroll down and click on Read Aloud/Theme Study

Then you should see (and download) the posters! 

Huge thank you to Beth!

We talk about how the theme is what you think the author's message is -- what they want you to take away from the story and apply to your life. Also, there may be several different themes in one story. I make sure that they know that a theme does not only have to be one word. When we discuss the theme of a story after a read aloud, our discussion includes a lot of dialogue about how the theme applies to our lives, and then we try to narrow it down to one of the 9 themes on our wall. 

Next we vote on which theme they think fits the story the best. Whichever theme gets the most votes is where our book picture goes up!

I store all the mini book covers in this little book cover box! It keeps them organized and makes them easy to find quickly! You can read a little more about how I made it here!

4th grade common core standards addressing theme:

RL.4.2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

RL.4.9 Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures.

Happy Monday!

Earth Day/Week

Last Monday {and Tuesday} my class celebrated Earth Day! I saw so many neat activities online that I wanted to do with my students, so I ended up doing a combination of a few!

I loved the "stained glass" tissue paper earths that Maria made with her class, but I wanted something that would require my 4th graders to use a little more of their knowledge of the continents. Then I found this neat coffee filter tutorial and knew it would be perfect!

This project did not take very long. They just colored the coffee filters, sprayed with water (about 7-8 squirts), watched it spread, and then waited for them to dry!

To make the black frames I made one that fit the size we needed, and then pulled my students a few at a time to the back table where they traced and cut out the frame. Then they taped the coffee filter to the back!

My students looked at pictures of the earth as they were coloring in their coffee filters and tried to draw the continents in their actual positions. Some of them used a couple different shades of green and blue, which I think turned out really neat!

Hope you all had a wonderful Earth Day with your classes! And of course if you didn't get to yet, you can celebrate the earth any time of the year!

Marker Storage

Super short post tonight, but I wanted to show you a marker storage solution that I have been LOVING this year!! 

I am obsessed with markers. I absolutely love them and I don't think I could ever have enough! Lots of markers though means lots of space needed to store them. Of course I always kept them on top of my desk (always need them close by for grading, notes, etc.!), which meant that my desktop was crowded with marker containers. Then I walked in a friend's classroom one day and saw this amazing system she had to organize her markers! These are from ikea!!

I love them because they were cheap and they help keep my desk {a little} cleaner!

1st cup (closest to me) : regular markers

2nd cup: sharpies

3rd cup: Mr. Sketch markers

4th cup: dry erase markers

Hope you all are having a great week! We have our school art show and open house tomorrow and I am super excited to show off some of the awesome projects my students have been working on!

Story Stones for Work on Writing!

Like a lot of the inspiration I get for my classroom, today's post was originally inspired by sweet Tara! When I saw her post about story stones I knew that they would be a perfect addition to my Work on Writing choices for Daily 5!

I keep the stones in a little blue basket that I got from the Target Dollar Spot! That basket fits perfectly in my bigger pink basket that I use to organize all the Daily 5 choices for my students!

My students can choose to use the story stones to help inspire them with their writing! They can choose 2 or 3 stones and then take them back to their seat to start writing their story! I make sure to reiterate that they should pick their stones quickly, or else they will just stand there looking at all the pictures forever! :)

The story stones were super easy to make! I just bought some stones and fun, colorful stickers, which I stuck on the stones and then used Mod Podge to help seal them on!

I love having a variety of simple choices for my students to work on during Daily 5, and they always love when things are changed up a bit!

I'm linking up with Tara for her April Monday Made It!

School Supplies!

When I was contacted a few weeks ago by MPM school supplies asking if I would be interested in doing a review I was super excited, but I was unfamiliar with their site.

I have no clue how I hadn't heard of them before!

I went to their website and was so impressed by everything they have in their store! It is literally a virtual teacher store packed with everything! Plus, it is super organized! You can search by subject, item, or even grade.

Of course my classroom wishlist is always a mile long, so I immediately started searching for some of the top items and they were on there! 

After spending lots of time narrowing down my list, I placed my order and everything arrived in the mail quickly and nicely packed! I love getting packages in the mail!

I have been wanting GeoReflectors for several years now! They came with the math curriculum when I was student teacher, but I haven't had access to them in the classroom since then! We had a lesson on symmetry coming up, so I knew they would be perfect!

(plus, they were cheaper from MPM than amazon!)

I was also super excited to find this place value system!! I have seen this in several classrooms and went to get it at our local teacher store a while back, but the pack they sold game with a light blue background... which would not be super pretty considering our walls are painted a mint green color! So I have been missing out on one of these for the past 2 years! I am so excited to finally have one with pretty white borders! Now I just have to do some rearranging and find a spot for it in my classroom!

The last items that made it on my list (at least for this time around) are these amazing writing/story starters! I had some when I moved in my classroom, but they were for grades 1-3 and they had seen lots of love. Once again,  I checked my local teacher store (who had them in stock, but only for grades 1-3) and was disappointed. When I was searching around on MPM's website I saw that they carried several different versions for grades 4-8! One version even includes quotations, which is great because I am always working on getting my kids to write them grammatically correct!

I use these for Work on Writing during our Daily 5 rotations! 

Are you drooling over these awesome classroom goodies yet? If you are (or if you have a mile long wishlist like me) you can head over to MPM School Supplies AND they are giving a 10% discount to my first 10 readers who order! Click HERE to get the discount!