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Sunday, July 28, 2013

Random Goodness and a freebie with Sunday Smorgasbord!

Hey ya'll! I wanted to use this link up from Fabulous in First to share some things that I never got around to blogging about during the last school year. 

3rd Grade Arcade
Last year I saw the video of Caine's Arcade and loved it. Check out the video by clicking here.
Since the video hit YouTube it has become a huge movement all over the world to get people creating and playing at home and in the classroom. 

I made it a goal to have my grade level create a cardboard arcade as an end of year project...and it happened! You would not believe the amount of cardboard our students brought into the school. I smelled and saw cardboard for days! 

The best part of the whole activity were the creative and imaginative games our students created on their own. The only help I provide was cutting the cardboard and holding cardboard for them when they needed me. I was super proud of them! In the picture above, one student used straws and cardboard to make a foosball table! The large picture on the right hand side is a basketball toss that gives the players a chance to rack up bonus points depending on how many holes you can get the ball through. I cannot wait to do this again next year. I will be sure to blog about that adventure when it happens. 

Write On!


Write On is a writing math station I used towards the middle of the school year in my class. This station challenges the students by asking the them to write a word problem with the given number and specific operation. I introduced each part of Write On through out the year, modeled creating a question, and had random question making challenges during whole group to get the students used to the station before allowing them to do it on their own. I laminated the activity sheets and used dry erase markers to change out the numbers. 

The students worked their way down the Write On board to complete the various questions and activities. After they wrote their word problems, they moved on and played Math Boggle. I also used this during my small group instruction and it created a lot of great discussion for building a better understanding of word problems.  The students wrote all of their work in their math notebooks and we went over their problems during individual conferences. If you are interested in trying this station, click here and download a free template!

Book Crawler 
I started working on my library and wanted to share this cool app named Book Crawler. This app allows you to scan and catalog all of the books in your library. The app costs $1.99 but it's worth the price because it's simple and easy to work with. It has various of options for categorizing your books but I am using the app in its simplest form. 

You scan the UPC code on any book and it quickly finds the book information. It also gives you an option to type in notes about the book and this is where I am typing the location of the book (ex: bin 13)

 Book Crawler has a search option that works perfectly. So when a student is looking for a certain book or I need one for a lesson, I can quickly see if I own the book and where I can find it by reviewing the notes. I sometimes forget what books I own. Am I the only one that does this? 

As you can see, I still have a long way to go. Haha! 

Happy Sunday everyone and thanks for stopping by! Until next time...

Check out more randomness by clicking on the image above. 

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for "Write On". I have saved it in my 'things I want to do this year' folder - I should think of a shorter name. :)
    -Lisa
    Grade 4 Buzz

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  2. That "Write On" ideas is genius! Love it. Thanks for linking up.

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  3. I LOVE this Write On station!!! What a great idea!

    Your library is going to look phenomenal! I love the blue and green- my two favorite colors!

    Kelly

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  4. I also love the idea of the write on math station! Thanks for sharing.

    Check out my blog if you get the chance!
    Colleen Patton
    Mrs. Patton’s Patch

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  5. Does the Book Crawler app give you the genre of the book? That sounds like an amazing app! I just started following you!

    Jen
    The Adventures of a New Third Grade Teacher

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