Rockin' Songs Grades 3-5


I love incorporating music into any lesson.  My kids love it too - it adds so much and the songs help them remember the material as well.

We add it to the beginning as an introduction, in the middle to review, or right before the test to help us remember!  Songs are an integral part of our learning.  I wanted to share some of my favorites from this year.  I'd love to hear what your favorites  are too!



We love this one to study the rock cycle!





Another Great Rock Cycle one!





Hands down the best States and Capitals song out there! This is forever on repeat during those in between times since 4th grade is the crucial year for studying those in our state.




Here's one that I wrote for our Circuit Study and we used this in an ad for Circuit Day.  We LOVE country and my kids were just wow'd by it!

I wish I could show you their video - we had sunglasses, special effects and everything.



Here is the audio from the video that might help if you don't know the song. 



Image result for flocabulary



Flocabulary is another great video resource.  It is priced (some videos are FREE) but so worth it! 

We use this for reading skills, science, and social studies.  As a teacher you get lyrics students can fill in, quizzes, and activities that go with that topic. It is well worth it.  So many videos I just love!! The fact that they are so catchy is only good!

Some of my absolute favs are: 

Point of View
Context Clues
Plot Elements
The Water Cycle










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Top 3 - A First Day of School Post for Upper Elementary






How to have the best first day and set the tone for the rest of the year!


Obviously setting clear expectations from the start is essential!  I have an awesome 3rd grade teacher (I jokingly call her my job security) because the students really are beautiful when they get to me. Yes I teach in a school with only 1 section per grade...

I want to set a fun but somewhat serious tone our first day. They were all pretty confused by our raft.  I had on a life jacket and went through a short presentation I prepared about how our class works which leads into our rules.
  
I had notes that went with each slide that related to this metaphor.  We can refer to this throughout the year and use our cheap (>$20 raft) as a great reading spot)








I also wanted to have clear signals and LESS downtime in between transitions! I have been stalking the Amazing Elizabeth Raff  and even used Whole Brain Teaching to model expectations for different parts of school! Really loving it so far!  If you click the videos at the top there are some great ones to watch! It only takes a little practice to get kids started!




I have some new awesome ways we are building our community from the start!

1.  We did a teamwork challenge which you can read the details about here - it involves hidden scratch off letters and solving a puzzle!!



We also already starting handing out Positive Notes at our Morning Meetings!!



You can find these in my store by clicking the picture below!



They fit perfectly in the adhesive pockets from Target and are already being displayed on student desk!!!! Makes my teacher heart happy!!

Because parents are an ESSENTIAL part of our community too. I made sure to start sending home positive emails from Day 2!  I've heard back from them all and it truly is one of the best things ever!  Credit: thehungryteacher5th (below!!!)



The third and maybe most important goal I have for the first day is to orient students with our classroom library. Some might not have read over summer and are anxious to get back in the swing of things.  I heard Colby Sharp talk this summer and made a big deal about how much I love to read just like he does the first day of school.

We had these packages awaiting us:

A photo posted by Amber Nicole (@sssteaching) on

We were too busy to take any pictures of opening but they were new books! I explained different genres (briefly) to students and split them into groups to help shelve books.  They used our color coded labels and we reorganized the library (to be honest - this took until day 2)

The thrill of NEW BOOKS and excitement really overwhelmed the room!!   I quickly previewed each one before they set to work.

They worked together, talking about books, discussing characteristics, ID'ing genres, and organizing.  The best part was the ownership! They knew where almost all the books were from day 1 - ones they want to read or want to find later.

EVERYONE went home with a book on day 1 - and they were so excited to read! I'll show more of how I'm keeping track of their reading with a new system later.





Reflecting back on the day - it truly was magical! 4th year in and this might be my best first day!


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BEST FIRST Day Activity! Teamwork!


I wanted something engaging and exciting the first day of school!  We really emphasize working together and supporting all of our class so an activity that showed that the first day was ideal.

I briefly saw the scratch off technique while browsing through Pinterest and I've used it before on cards I've made and such but not in school.  My next step was to create a banner - I just used triangle shapes and circles then kept copying and pasting in Powerpoint to make it.

1.  Banner printed.  I made a phrase that has 22 letters for how many students I have this year.
2. put a piece of clear tape over each letter
3. mix paint (any color): 2 parts paint, 1 part dish soap and paint on 
4.  I really only needed 2 coats and some touch up to fully cover the letters
5.  Hide around room or tape under chairs.




Here are some pictures of the steps I took along the way - from my Insta story - @sssteaching

**sidenote** I planned to put a little dot on the letters of first words to help out since I didn't really want this taking a LONG time and since the whole class would be working together, but I forgot. On the banner I wrote how many letters were in each word (hangman style) so hopefully that helps them solve it faster)

The poem below was what I had displayed on the board after explaining class rules and how our class works.  Since teamwork is a major part of any classroom community I asked if they were ready for their first teamwork challenge?!


I read the poem once and under their seats took no time at all!



Scratching off the letters took no time at all!



Putting together the puzzle was the trickiest part.  I labeled the black paper to show how many letters were in each word and it proved to be the perfect clue!

I did give them the first letter of first word and told them when they got it right - from then on .... it was all them! It only took about 5 min and they worked great together.  Next year - I might do 2 puzzles (color coded) just so each person can help more since 21 working together is a little bit tricky.



Our finished product - we received Tootsie pops to eat while we discussed books from our summer and moved on to other first day activities!  It went so well.  The scratch off letters were a great pay off!



I love their personalities already! Can't wait to learn and grow with this group, this year!




We began a little work on our Emoji Intros which will finish up by tomorrow! You can click on the picture to learn more about it.





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FREE NO PREP - Morning Work - ANY GRADE!

Here's a great tip for any classroom!

I hate Hate HATE copying morning work! I hate the paper wasted and wish that there was a way around it.  Some years I did various activities but I always found that morning work was needed.  This site is such a lifesaver! You could even use it as a sub!



BOOKMARK IT

STAR IT!

PUT IT IN YOUR FAVORITES NOW!!

I have a student that pulls this up everyday ( I have it saved as an icon on my computer) and my kids do their morning work in the back of a notebook - they work backwards from their writing notebook since that is the one that often has pages left at the end of the year.  They can fit about 1 weeks just on one side of a page and that goes a long way toward the whole year.

My students respond to reading when they finish the language arts and math questions.



Other reasons to love it: 

- no copying (praise the Lord - I hate how morning work is needed but wastes so much paper)

- no answer keys - it's right there.  We have a student lead the checking!

- you can pick your grade level

- you can go back if you don't get to checking it that day (we do this frequently but easy to do)

- aligned with CCSS with no worry!




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Emoji Intro Back to School!




Are you looking for a unique easy back to school project to get to know your students - look no further!
This Emoji Intro is great for grades 1-6!
Easy to prep - students cut out emojis, fold in half, and answer the question!

We mount on colored paper for some POP! My students LOVE anything tech related so this already puts them at ease and gets students interacting with each other!
The questions are engaging and little humorous to break the ice those first couple days!  

We display these on the sides of our desks and share with the class when finished to get to know each other better!



Click on any of the pictures to find out more information.  If you hurry- you can still catch this on the sale happening now for an extra 28% off make sure to use code: BESTYEAR

With 20 different questions it is sure to be different and exciting for each student.  After they are cut up, my students have to pick their 5 randomly and answer before displaying!

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