Freebies!!!!

Well, I made a huge change this year. I am no longer working for the same district. :-( I happily moved to a district I live in and a school that I went to from kinder to the middle of 4th. In addition, my mom, dad, 2 uncles, sister, brother, great uncle and my kids went to. How neat is that? I will be teaching with some of my old teachers! Best part is I am 45 seconds away without traffic. haha. 1 minute and 30 seconds with traffic. 

I am teaching fourth grade, all inclusive. I am nervous about teaching reading and writing, but I have been doing research and signed up for some good trainings with the district. Plus, my bestie is an ELA teacher for 5th. She has been a huge help. 

I am excited about math this year. I bought a new iPad and I am going to try to get more donated to me for my classroom. I just think it is important to have in your classroom and for stations. I am going incorporate task cards this year and will be getting those ready soon. 

Now time for the freebies!!! 

This is similar to the Pride Paws I use to do at my old school. I will implement this as a normal classroom management. You cut out the owls into squares and then give as many as you see fit for good behavior and on getting right answers. Really, anytime you want. I will do a drawing at the end of the week for one student to get a prize. I got the pictures from http://www.mycutegraphics.com/graphics/owl/black-white-owl.html   

This is going to be my transportation display. I am going to laminate them and add clothes pins to mark where students are. This will help with the beginning of the school year and for subs. I got the idea from Pinterest. I will cut them out and paste them on a bright color card stock paper. The big blank circle is my out line for the bright color card stock paper. I will show pictures this week as I make them. I will add ribbons to connect them. Below is the sample I got the idea from.

Click for the link to for the above website

These are free downloads. If the images are not working then leave a comment I will send you the document. 

Until next time,

-PFons-

New Title and New Things!

If you did not notice or are new to me, I changed my blog title. I am no longer a 3rd grade teacher. I am looping with my students to  4th grade! I am extremely excited and cannot wait for the next school year to begin. 

The TEKs have changed for 4th and there is not a lot of material out there for these TEKs. I plan to create several items and I have already started taking notes of the new things to create. I have seen several things from Pinterest that I can add to stations or make for my students for review. I want to get a jump start on stations because I spent a lot of my time creating stations last year. Since I will not be teaching 3rd grade my old stations need to have a lot more rigor and meet the new standards.

I have also started Graduate school! I am studying Curriculum and Instruction. It will be really nice to say I have my Masters in the next year and a half. I am currently working on my philosophy of teaching ELLs and how it fits into my instructional setting. FUN! 

The end of my school year ended fantastically. I had a carnival theme for the end of year party and the students absolutely loved it! They also have no idea that I will be their teacher next year. I want to surprise them with a letter right before school starts. Wouldn't that be exciting? Some may not be thrilled. 

I wanted to give a heads up on me and I WILL be posting more throughout the summer with ideas and freebies. I need to update my current number lines by adding decimals and more rigor on the fractions. That is my first project of the summer!

Until next time,

-PFons-

Multitasking and Health

There has been a lot that I am trying to get involved in. I have been trying my best as a teacher 

Such as prepare for everyday and week. 

Plus, allow my creative side out. Doing bulletin boards really are an outlet for me. 

I am currently making a blanket for a friend. Trying to update my TELPAS training. In the process of motivating myself to workout. I have been eating healthy for a while. It's finding the energy to workout. So, I have been taking SPARK for that. Which leads me to 

My new adventure 

Yep, I am now a distributor. I am excited about this because I want to be able to make extra money and I use their products. Plus, this is the motivation I needed to get back in shape. Here is my direct site

https://www.advocare.com/140244500/default.aspx

Copy paste it. Link thing does not work on the iPhone, if so not sure how it works, new to iPhone. I ordered some new products and cannot wait to get them in. One I am really excited about is called catalyst. It's supposed to help you tone fast, feed your muscles, and help with muscle recovery. This is exactly what I needed. 

In addition, I found this amazing lady who does Zumba and is starting to make it big. Here is her link to her site. I have been doing her videos and they are perfect. Great motivation to get back into working out.

http://www.dancefitnesswithjessica.com

I am so ready for bed.

Until next time,

-PFons-

Measurement!

This week we have been working with measurement. In third grade measurement consists of length of customary units and metric units. Also, we measure time, perimeter, area and temperature.

Wednesday:

To start this week off we made a foldable. We talked individually about each unit we will measure (unit, foot and yard). After we discussed the inch the students went around and measured items that look like an inch. We did this with the other units as well. The only thing we could not measure, but we mentioned, was a mile. We also discussed the difference between customary and non-customary units. The students really liked it.

*To help measure inches I made sure students used the TEA math reference materials.

Thursday:

We used line segments to measure to the nearest inch. I first used classroom items to measure to the nearest inch. I used the TEA math reference material to measure items to the nearest inch. I always started at zero on the ruler when comparing to the nearest inch. After a few examples of this I stopped measuring from the zero. In both classes no one caught on and added the extra inches.  I immediately fixed this misconception and we continued with a few more before moving to a worksheet with line segments. After each example I had students talk in groups to help each other discuss the nearest inch. I also introduced what a line segment is when they started the worksheet.  I had the students do the worksheet independently while I walked around and assisted struggling students.

Friday:

Friday we did the same activity but we covered to the nearest half inch. I also extend by first reviewing nearest inch then adding nearest half-inch. Both of my classes did wonderful. I had them do a practice sheet to find the nearest inch and half inch.  I was really impressed with how my students picked up on measurement so quickly.

We had an ice day so no school on Tuesday. Monday we finished the unit of fractions on a number line. You can find fractions on a number line at my TPT store or click the image below.

I also made an end of the unit assessment over measurement. You can click the picture below to get it at my TPT store.

I also made a checkpoint for measuring to the nearest inchand nearest half inch.  You can get it at my TPT store for FREE!!! It has 15 questions that is all STAAR related. The centimeter and inch checkpoint unit will be uploaded soon too!

I started making materials because there are things out there that do not work for my students. I make items that will work for my students and that will meet their needs. I make sure everything is STAAR related but extends students thinking. Everything is open ended and no multiple answer choices. I notice that my students do a lot better when they do get answer choices. 

I went to a training recently over the new TEKS and wow. Third grade is going to pick up a lot of Geometry next year. This will be interesting and fun. I was never a huge geometry fan but after teaching it last year it has become one of my favorite subjects to teach. 

A quick run down of other things outside of the major lesson is I am writing a lesson for my guided math (pictographs), making stations (adding new ones..fun), and writing a lesson for tutorials we start on Tuesday. oh, I will have a huge unit up hopefully by the end of the day over all math TEKS for third grade. They are cards students will paste onto card stock paper and solve. This will be like a warm-up and the students will ring clip their work together and it will be their resource book for STAAR. Example below...

I wish I would have done this since the beginning of the school year. I am working on that currently. That is just math.. haha.. I still have science. I need to research animals for students to find the animals inherited traits and learned behavior and write about them. I think they will love this. We discussed a raccoon and its adaptability. Students loved it. 

I better get going and get this done soon, it is SUPER BOWL day!!!

Until Next Time,

-PFons-

3rd Grade Fractions

It has been a while but that is the life of a first year teacher. Oh wait, the life of a first year teacher of a testing grade. I have enjoyed it so far. Let's move on.

Well, we have been doing fractions since the beginning of the 2014 year. This is the first time since I started teaching that I feel I have a hand in what I am teaching. Here are a few pictures...

I just love this anchor chart. I found it on Pinterest. I have used it everyday since I made it. The students are actually using it too. I have been pushing my students to use the anchor charts I have in the room. 

I also want to give a way a FREE fraction assessment (TEKS correlated 3.2C and 3.10A) that I made for my 3rd graders and FREE fraction practice cards you can use as warm-ups, a station, partner work, or whatever you decide to use them for. I have not used them yet in my class but will Monday. These are 3rd grade TEKS correlated (3.10A). My students love to have problems on strips of paper that they can paste on bright construction paper and solve. I will pick a handful of them and post them on my bulletin board along side their picture. They really love this!

Oh, did I mention that both are editable? You need to email me or comment with your email address for the editable version. I have the latest Microsoft so you may need to do some formatting adjustments. 

The fraction assessment - Fractions Assessment

Fractions on a number line cards - Fraction Cards

                             
I hope that you enjoy these FREE items!


Until Next Time,

PFons

*UPDATE* Here is the TPT store link to get your editable Fraction Cards! TPT - Fractions On A Number Line

Week Three Accomplished!!

It has been a crazy three weeks. My students have done such a great job with projects and with stations. I am so proud of them and they have so much to be excited about. It is shaping up to be a great year so far (knock on wood). 

We have been learning about place value up to the 999,999 and comparing up to the 100,000. We made these really neat riddle cards but they are to advance for most of my students. I may just use these as a warm-up and if they get them right, they can get a Pride Paw. It is an award system the school has as a whole and the students love it. 

In Science, we have been working with all things matter. 

Is it matter or non-matter. Most students got it. Plus, they decorated their pages. The students worked really well together. 

We also worked on mass. This is the start of what we will be working on in the upcoming week. Students received mystery items and had to be the balance scale and make a prediction on which was heavier. Then they balanced their items to see if they are correct. Monday we will actually weight our items with gram stackers. 

Another activity students had to do was classify matter. I had soft items,  rough items,  green items, etc. for students to classify. They did very well!

After we had classified matter, the students did sink or float with some of the same items they had classified. They really enjoyed this. Me too!!

Here are the students acting to be balance scales and writing down their prediction on how much they think their secret items weigh.  

One of my favorite activities is Number Talks. The students have learned 10 strings. They are not pros yet but thought it was time to introduce a new strategy, friendly numbers. Great job to them!!! I wish this one was on an anchor chart. 

I have learned a lot this week as well. I have learned that I am not perfect and I will never be perfect at teaching. I have gotten to know a lot of my students and know that a lot of them need some extra help. That is where I have been learning how to make effective stations. I currently have my small guided station, computer station, addition station, subtraction stations, and place value/comparing station. I need to find a way to make the place value/comparing station more fun. I found a really neat Math Boggle station on the TPT store that I will implement this week. It aligns perfectly with next weeks math unit. I will share pictures as they come. 

I have been writing lessons for my team and I try to make them as effective for my students as possible. It is hard to have every lesson to be hands on, fun, and group/partner work. Sometimes we have to just have a quiz. I need grades. Plus, it lets me see what they know. The problem I am facing right now is getting the students to read the questions. They are not looking to see what the questions are asking them to do. They just raise their hand and expect me to help them. Some students of course I need to read to but everyone? This is where I am in a pickle. So, I had them start to use question strategies. We need to start circling KEY WORDS!! Half do, the other half don't and some don't even show their work. I have to break this habit ASAP! Advice!?!?

I have been planning every weekend and I try to only plan one day or a couple of hours out of each day on the weekends. I do not want to get burnt out. I love to plan and find new ways or tweak things that would be more beneficial to my students. I love math foldables and the students do too. I allow them to use their foldables as help and a guide. That is why they are there and why I had them do it. 

Time for some planning and setting up my Math Boggle worksheets. 

Until next time,

-PFons-

It has been forever!

  It has been crazy crazy since school has started this year. I have officially survived two full weeks of teaching and planning. I absolutely love my school, students and co-workers. Here are a few pictures of what we/I have been doing.

A great way to end the second week of teaching! Proud of my students! #NumberTalks #lionslove2learn @RoyalwoodLions pic.twitter.com/CzHFYzia5Z
— Patricia Fonseca (@Tricia_F) September 7, 2013

They started getting it on the 2nd day of school. #10strings #NumberTalks @RoyalwoodLions #lionslove2learn pic.twitter.com/mg8iirs2W1
— Patricia Fonseca (@Tricia_F) August 28, 2013

Meet the teacher night. @RoyalwoodLions #lionslove2learn #3rdgradeteam #teachers #teaching pic.twitter.com/koRLQRVpLs
— Patricia Fonseca (@Tricia_F) August 23, 2013

These pictures are in order, almost. The lion is new and a new addition to my classroom and family. The picture of my desk is after one of the school days. Majority are in order of how the events in the beginning of the year happened. I have spent the past two weekends planning. This weekend I went over the beginning of the year assessment and it is subtraction time 2-digit and 3 digits by 1 and 2-digits. I have been making groups and now looking for a fun but effective reteaching ideas for subtraction.

I want to give away a freebie. It is division cards! I went up to 6x6. It starts from the 2s. I ended making multiplication cards too. I will upload those at another time since they are saved to my work computer. I use these as a station. The students use popsicle stick or tiles to help with counting. They fold their paper in fours and do four problems at this station. In each section they have to have ___ groups of ___, a picture, and repeated addition. Students love it. Here it is for you..... FREE!!! They format is the same for multiplication. If you want the editable version email me, fonsecap9679@gmail.com or comment below! I will gladly give both to you for free!!

Click the picture for the division cards!

Here is the picture of what it will look like while students are working.

Time to get back to planning!

Until next time,
PFons