President's Day Freebie: A Ready-Made Research Project

Here is a *freebie I am sure you are going to love! Do you want to assign a take-home project? Are you  overwhelmed with testing, grading, RTI, and other everyday teaching challenges that seem to weigh on you like a ton of bricks this time of year? If so, this ready-made assignment has everything you need to assign a president report to your students. This mini activity unit comes with a directions page for your student, a grading rubric, an oral report rubric, a calendar for scheduling oral reports AND information cards for EACH United States president. All you have to do is hand it to your students, everything else has been done for you! 

Download HERE for *Free

Find more February Freebies by heading over to Laura Candler's blog and checking out her February Freebies linky party ! 

Enjoy : ) 

Using Glyphs in the Classroom and a *Freebie

Download HERE

A glyph is a chart that shares specific information. Short for hieroglyphic, a glyph is a type of picture writing that conveys information. Glyphs are made by collecting data and developing a legend. Components of the final picture express specific information or ideas. The legend highlights the meaning of each feature found on the glyph. The idea is that the final picture tells a simple story about the individual who created it. 

The information complied from the data can be used in a variety of ways. It can be graphed, it can serve as conversation or story starters. It can be displayed to help create a responsive environment. Children can discuss this information in pairs or small groups.  Glyphs are great for team building activities, interpreting data, icebreakers and/or time fillers. Students love using the legend to analyze their peers!! Here is an easy to use *freebie. This is perfect for a "snowy day" activity! Save it to your toolbox and share with your colleagues : )  

Apple Turkeys and a SALE!

When I was in second grade I had a wonderful teacher, Francine Porter. She was great for so many reasons. I remember playing a hand clap game that I play with my students now when practicing parts of speech...I remember how she always smelled like hot coco with miniature marshmallows mixed with a dab of coffee....I remember laminated game pieces that attached to a game board with Velcro...I remember going to see Michael Jackson's last concert in Philadelphia the year I was in her class. I remember her red lipstick and Chinese bob haircut...I remember her coming next door to speak with my mom when I acted up in class one day (her parents lived next door to me and I only remember her having to make ONE house visit!!) Best of all, I remember her making apple turkeys with my class for Thanksgiving and I vowed that WHEN I had my own classroom, filled with my own students, I would make apple turkeys (and games with laminated pieces that stuck game boards with Velcro) too! I've been making them ever since : ) 

You need apples, marshmallows, toothpicks and raisins

Create the apple turkey's frame using toothpicks

Use a large marshmallow for the head and the smaller marshmallow and raisins for the feathers and legs

Let the students become creative! 

Apple Turkey!! 

The students really enjoyed this activity : ) 

It's that time again!! Time for a TPT Sale!!

 I always look forward to TPT's big sales! It is usually the time when I really get to shop around and find really great resources to use for teaching! I used to think, "why buy it....I can make it!" But I soon came to realize that there was no need to reinvent the wheel and besides....if I can buy it from someone else, I  have more time to focus on things I really like to create! TPT is a gift from Teachers' Heaven!! It is THE best way to cut down on planning time! What I enjoy creating are cool games for differentiation  and small group instruction. When you have great games that engage your students, they get to practice important skills while having fun. I've learned that when teaching in an inclusion classroom, it is important to have a variety of hands-on activities for every skill. This provides reinforcement and it allows students to "feel their way through".....hands-on learning is very beneficial for most students.

Check out all of the games I have in my store and grab them on sale this Monday and Tuesday!! Here are a few of my favorite :)

Visit My Store

Visit My Store 

Visit My Store

Visit My Store

Visit My Store

Visit My Store

Many teachers will be hosting sales this Cyber Monday! Below you will find links to participating teacher stores. Be sure to visit all of them, this is THE best time to stock up for winter! 

Have a GREAT holiday weekend! 

A Not So Wimpy STUDENT MEMORY BOOK

It is the end of the school year and things are finally starting to slow down. Over the next few weeks I will spending a few periods each week facilitating activities that my students have chosen to do. All year they ask to learn certain things....do certain things. But due to testing, sometimes we just don't have enough time to get to anything that isn't in the curriculum. Now that testing is done and we have a little more breathing room, I have been taking student requests! (How cool is that!!) One day while having a conversation about internet safety and how things that are posted in the internet are forever in "cyberspace", one of my students started talking about thier facebook page. After stressing that they aren't old enough for facebook (I teach 4th grade), some students insisted that they have an account while others stated that they wished they could have an account.... and then......VOILA!! It came to me! Why not create a "classbook" page!! I thought about creating a bulletin board that students could "update", "share" ideas on and"comment" on. But, I wanted to create something that they could keep forever. So, after tossing the idea around for a little bit, I came up with the "memorybook" idea. I shared the idea with my students and they were excited!! We talked about things I could put into the memory book and then I got started on it. I am happy to share this resource with you because I know your students will LOVE it!! I will be doing it with my students at the end of May.

VISIT MY TPT STORE

Are you thinking about providing a memory book for your students? If so, you have use this template! It is all created for you, all you have to do is add paper! With only a few weeks left of school, you can use this hands-on activity as a workshop/center, partner, or small group activity.

AND THE WINNER IS.....

On Wednesday evening I posted a status on The Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher's facebook page announcing that arrival of my student memory book. I asked for teachers to share the grade they enjoyed most when they were in elementary school and received over 40 comments! Congratulations to comment #15, Jennifer Marron! You have been randomly selected to win your free copy of the Not So Wimpy Student Memory Book. Comment on this post with your email to receive your PDF!
Thanks for stopping by!

CELEBRATING 300 Facebook Friends with A FREEBIE!

YAY! The Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher is growing!! To celebrate AND to show how much I truly appreciate all of the love, I am sharing a FREEBIE!

Is it time to assign a report? Are you swamped with test prep, paperwork, grading papers, blah blah blah......? Well, if you need to assign a writing project and you are super busy, this freebie is perfect for you!! The President Report: A Ready-made Assignment, has everything created for you. I am providing you with a grading rubric, student directions, a rubric for an oral report, AND quick for facts for EACH president. All you have to do is pass it out! I hope you LOVE it, it really does make assigning a report (written and oral) super easy.

Stay posted, I have some REALLY great reading activities in the works! I had the pleasure of attending the African American Children's Book Fair today and I picked up some great new reads. I can't wait to share them with you : )

Selena, from Classroom Magic, has also created a great mini activity unit that is great for President's Day. She has a math lesson perfect for reinforcing statistical data, a writing assignment, and my favorite, a biographical poem. She is giving this activity away for free on her blog! Stop by and pick it up, let her know Kathie sent you! 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, 

Awesome Freebie...BUT putting myself on a "BLOGGING TIME-OUT"!!

I literally spent the ENTIRE day working on this awesome masterpiece that I am about to unveil. I knew once winter break came that I was going to spend lots of time on the computer, but I think today was overkill! Since Friday evening I have literally slept with my laptop every night! I am definitely putting myself on BLOGGING TIME-OUT! for at least ONE FULL vacation day! That is the plan anyway..... The good thing is I can scratch off another item on my list of goals. I have completed THE BEST Frindle Literature Guide that I have seen yet. It provides graphic organizers, daily discussion starters that activate prior knowledge, writing prompts that set a purpose for listening with each chapter and creative printables that can be added to a class book to celebrate your students' published writing. I plan on using this the first week we go back to school. After completing all of the activities, my students will use their story boards/ reading logs and workshop drafts to create an outline their very own commercial. Once they summarize the story and go through successfully complete their peer/teacher writing conferences, they will have the option of: 1. Creating a podcost (for the camera shy individuals) 2: Create a video (for the not so shy individuals) or 3: Create a book trailer (for those who are interested in a little of both). There is always room for improvement and this is my first official literature guide that I have created to share with the public. Please share any and all comments if you have any suggestions on ways I can improve this product. Enjoy : )

Prior to writing my own literature guide I did a search to see what was out there. Betterlessons.com had some pretty good reproducables I posted them to my pinterest board if you are interested in checking them out.

click HERE to download

OREO COOKIE STACK UP : )

Earlier this year we were studying statistical data. I like to use authentic assessments when appropriate. For this exercise I wanted to provide an opportunity for my students to collect and interpret real-life data. The OREO Cookie stack up was a classroom favorite. I found a variation of this activity about five years ago on a site called: 

projects by jen 

I've changed it so many times since then to fit the needs of my class and I never really posted my actual results to her site. Anyway, this year we did it and I made a mini movie of the project to share with the class. THEY LOVED IT! After watching the movie they asked me if they were "SUPERSTARS"! I answered with, "of course you are!" Here is our video posted below. After we watched the video, we wrote summaries about the project. The forms I made to use with this project are posted below. 

Enjoy,

Ms. Wainwright : ) 

OREO Cookie Data Sheet
OREO Cookie Summary Sheet