#HashtagObsessionIsMovinngIntoTheClassroom and A Look at What We've Been Up To

#IDontKnowWhyButILoveUsingHashtags.  My dad is even at the point where that's simply how he communicates with us, even if he does put a # before AND at the end of whatever it is he is saying.  

As I was typing one of my incredibly long normal length hashtags, I noticed it sometimes takes me a minute to read others!  What does this mean to my 24/7 teacher thinking brain?  Make the students EDIT sentences in the form of HASHTAGS!

I know we all spend countless hours going over what sentences need to include at the beginning of  throughout the entire year, but it still doesn't seem to "stick" as much as we'd like it to.  My little ones do a sentence editing page on the smart board during calendar time each day to help with sentence editing and finding/ correcting mistakes, but even that can get tiresome day after day.  I also wanted them to work on spelling their sight words correctly, which some of them were simply being too careless to pay any attention to this.  How can I get them to edit on their own in a fun & engaging way, yet requiring a little more higher level thinking?

Enter Student #Hashtag Sentence Editing Cards!

We spent a day editing some of these together on the smart board.

After about 2 or 3 examples, they were really starting to catch on (I was totally impressed). 

On Day 2, after a few more examples,  I released them into the wild--the wild being our very organized and well groomed classroom ;) ).

I use these cooperative grouping mats with my students for many different things, one of them being an easy way to level their independent practice. 

After diving them up according to their number (aka level), they set off to edit with their paper, pencil, and clipboards!  I had the cards taped all around the room.  Crowd control was no issue since they were only to edit their assigned "color" card.  

I just stood back, looked around, and was soooooo excited as to what I saw!!

Here's a little peak...

You can see the different levels of complexity here in the colored cards

After they finished their assigned editing strips, they came to me to check.  If they had perfectly edited sentences, they got to pick a piece of candy out of the candy basket that never seems to end thanks to the visit from my sister and my dad on Halloween.  #ALittleSweetIncentiveNeverHurtAnyoneRight

More than half of my students had a perfect paper, but I knew they could do better.  We did the same activity again the next day, but switched leveled (I had their papers copied two to a page and front to back so it only took one sheet of paper for them to complete all 4 sets). #SaveATree  This time all but 2 had a perfect paper!!! All but 2!!! #SuperProudTeacher #SuperProudKiddos #HappyHappyHappy

I then had them complete the other two sets during Morning Work the next week.  It's always good to get them up and moving whenever possible so this little activity did just the trick!

Since we had so much fun with it, I put together a little Christmas pack as well :)  

They couldn't wait to get their hands on it and there was no explaining needed on my part.  #Score

I put the Christmas Pack Sentences as their "Must Do" during our Work on Writing center during daily 5 this past week.  They loved it. I loved it.  They were all totally engaged.  They were reading, writing, and thinking just a little more than a typical sentence editing requires.  

Grab the Christmas Hashtag Set HERE and the Tiered Set HERE.

Here's a little snapshot of what we've been up to this week...

Using Popplet to tell the Plot of a Story!

Stay tuned--Follow up post to come on this :)

Snowball fight with idioms!

We read Merry Christmas Amelia Bedila and charted some Idioms found within the story. I wrote a some idioms on white strips of paper, along with a sentence to help determine the meaning.  Students balled them up, and let it RIP!  We had a mini snowball fight for 30 seconds and then chose one snowball of our own to make meaning of.  We of course had to add some Christmas Craftiness into the mix {outside of the tree is where we wrote the Idiom, while the inside of the tree told the actual meaning of the word}.

Forgot to take a picture of these cuties! I'll add it to my Monday's "To Do" list...

Oh yeah, and made these little beauties with my Silhouette Cameo ;) 

 Aaaaaaannnnnd if you already have one, make sure you stock up on your digital files! #byebyepaycheck

Classroom has been Christmas-fied, including Good Behavior Stockings which I do with my littles for the month of December. 

Everyone receives a stocking with his/ her name (iron on transfer paper).  Each day they exhibit EXCELLENT behavior (blue or higher on our behavior chart), they place a "Gift of the Day" into their stocking.  At the end of the week, they empty out their stocking and the process repeats over again.  I love doing these and the kids get really excited about their stocking printed with their name  :)   

Since our Elf {Elfie} from last year got promoted to the Head Director of the Naughty or Nice Department at the North Pole, we weren't sure if we were going to get an elf this year :/  

However, after getting our letter from Santa, we wrote him some persuasive letters as to why we should receive an elf this year!  To our surprise, it worked!  Our little Elf showed up as a Special Overnight Delivery in our classroom Tuesday morning. 

After much deliberation, we decided to name him, "Buddy."  

Could it possibly be because this guy showed up in our window, too? #Hmmmmmm

....and learned about the power of his magic from the video that was sent with him (an Elf Story which is so stinkin' cute I can hardly stand it!)

Morning Work and Center Activities

Elf Candy Contraction Match Up 

Grab the set HERE!

Since "Buddy" made his appearance this week, I thought to incorporate some little Elfness wherever possible. 

{match the candy contraction piece to the elf who is holding the two words that make up each contraction}

Fact and Opinion cut and paste for some review {and to keep our little hands busy} :) #FREEBIE

Part of Speech Cookie Sort!

Grab it HERE!

All I kept hearing was, "This is making me hungry!"  Not from my kiddos, but from me, myself, and I. :/  #NotTheyreNotGlutenFree

Next week, we'll be adding some more Christmas goodness to our day :)

Main Idea Sort and Write Pack

I love this pack!  Students draw and write about what they would take with them to the North Pole in the form of a little handy, dandy suitcase :)  Task cards, where they have to compose a Main Idea that would fit with a given set of details, and visa versa, stocking match up to keep us movin' and groovin' these next two weeks!

Grab it HERE!

Common and Proper Noun Sorting

Grab it HERE!

Love this because it's cute, crafty, and very hands on.  Lord knows we need it this time of year!

19 Days Until Santa!!! I'll be spending the day wrapping gifts and addressing Christmas cards :D and I'm sure making some soft of Christmas Crafty for my littles.  #ThatsAGiven 

Have a great weekend!

"May Your Days Be Merry and Bright!"