Workshop Wednesday: Bring an Idiom to School

So excited to link up with my BBB Jivey for an idea I think you'll LOVE!

 I love teaching writing, especially figurative language...it's my favorite!

I created this fun activity to review or introduce new idioms with your students!

I call it "Bring an Idiom to School!"

Students look for objects around their house to represent an idiom and bring it to school.

They show their classmates and then they try to guess which idiom the object represents.

It's basically SHOW & TELL for big kids with an academic focus! :O)

Want to play??!! Here are some of the idioms my students brought to school!
Answers at the bottom!
1

 
2

3

4

5

6

 

ANSWERS:

1. ace up my sleeve

2. keep your eyes on the ball

3. caught red handed

4. once in a blue moon

5. apple of my eye

6. catching some z's

 

How many did you get right??!! Pretty fun right? I created this form for my students to complete and assigned a due date-easy and fun!!!

Want a copy? If you're a FACEBOOK FAN, you can have it! Just click the Fan Freebies to download! Enjoy! (Limited time only-fan freebies change often).

 



Need some idiom activities or yearlong bulletin boards? Check out these items:
Idiom Posters Bundled Set, Idiom Poster Quotes, and Figurative Language Interactive Bulletin Board.

 

 

You may be interested in one of my newest products:
Reading Non-Fiction With Post-Its

or my Interactive Character Analysis Posters (also using Post-Its!)-they make me happy!

 

 

 

Spark Student Motivation-Student Encouragement

It's S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y!!!

We have our big writing test on Tuesday! You know that feeling...one day you think they're ready, let's just get this over with, and then the next day you think I need another month? I have that feeling every other minute!
To encourage my students, I asked my former students (big 5th graders now), to sign my bulletin board with tips or advice for my current students. They're very excited about this wall and couldn't wait to read it! As a BONUS, my former students were JUST as excited... a WIN-WIN! They felt so proud to write their advice and were quick to tell others, "ONLY Mrs. Miller's last year's class can write on here!" And, I think they also liked being called "Writing Experts"! LOL
 

I only asked my former students because they've been through it and I hoped they'd remember some of the skills and tips I taught them!

I also had the help of the 5th grade teachers to allow my former students to make my current students good luck cards. (SShhh...I'll give these cards to them on the day of the test as a surprise!)

I love how she said you're not done! I ALWAYS say that! You only have one hour and you better use the WHOLE time! :)



This former student was big on using sarcasm and humor in her writing (and did very well with her technique) and wanted to pass on her tip!

Favorite line: "Give it the passion it needs!"

I love how she tries to relax her and make her feel good about the test.

 

I know there are misspellings, but the message is what's important! I can tell these notes/cards were written sincerely and with heart! I love that they tried to calm their fears and give writing tips! (It also excites me with how much they remembered!) I'm so proud of my former students and can't wait to see my current students' reactions! You know how it feels to have a "big 5th grader" make something for you??!!

I know this will help motivate my students-it shows we're all in this together and they have everyone's support, even their peers!

 

I hope you had a wonderful week! Please link up any lessons, ideas, tips, tricks, incentives, ANYTHING you do get your students motivated or excited!

Don't forget to grab my button and link back to this post!

Check out all the wonderful ideas from my friends who link up and don't forget to leave some love by commenting....we LOVE comments!
***Please include the topic in the link up with your blog name.

An InLinkz Link-up

Five For Friday!

Five For Friday!

I haven't linked up for months to this fun linky with Doodle Bugs Teaching! Glad to be back!
My most exciting event from this week was meeting one of my BBBs!
Do you know Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper? Well, I got to meet her in real life!
She's so sweet, caring, and we hit it off right away! When we met, she hugged me so tight, I felt like I was reuniting with a friend I hadn't seen in twenty years! :) She's beautiful inside and out!
We met at Rebounderz, an indoor trampoline arena, so our kids could play together and we could chat. They loved this place, but it's hard work jumping non-stop! Then we went to lunch where we talked non-stop there too!

Our girls loved each other! Guess what? They're both named Lily and they're both 6! And, do you remember Holly and I hit our 1,000 follower blogging milestone within hours of each other? And, our husbands both love ping pong? So many things in common!

After our meet up, we decided it wasn't enough time with each other, so a couple of days later her family came over for dinner.

We started getting silly trying to find the "right" background to take our pictures! You know how girls are! 

Our husbands had a great time playing ping pong while Holly and I talked the whole time!

Looking forward to our next meet up!

 

I took two of my students to dinner at Chili's for earning 600 points in Reading Counts! They are avid readers who are on a mission! They read a chapter book almost every night!

My friend Molly from Lucky to be in First is having an AMAZING giveaway that I'm super excited to be part of!

You have to check it out! TONS of prizes!

 

The winner from my Pin to Win for my new Volume Scoot Game {Task Cards} is...

 

Congratulations Rosie! I hope you and your students enjoy this game!

You can still grab this game for $1.25 until midnight tonight!

 

And my final Five for Friday is one of the reasons I haven't been able to link up on Friday nights...

KICKBALL!

My husband and I are playing on a co-ed team with my neighbors and we're doing great! Our team is 4-0, with a double header tonight! I hope to see you back tomorrow for Spark Student Motivation!

 

 

Workshop Wednesday: Tricky Math-Scoot Games

How do you teach tricky math? I think there are several ways and there's no right or wrong, you just need to do what works for you and your students.

My students like to be up and moving and playing games!

I introduced a Scoot Game a while back and now my kids want them for every concept!!!

The best thing about Scoot is that it can be used before, during and after your lesson!

Introduction (perfect opportunity to explain as you go).

Review (great to check for understanding of the lesson or before an assessment)

Assessment (use as a formative to check for understanding/mastery).

Decimal Scoot

They move from desk to desk, recording their answers on their answer sheet. 

If it's a tricky concept, they can work in partners, for an assessment, they can work individually.

Or you can use them as task cards for a center activity or small group lesson. 

My best friend's son is in my class and told her all about Scoot. (Extra credit for him!) She hadn't heard of it, but was very excited to learn! She teaches 5th grade and wanted something exciting for her kids for a math lesson for her observation tomorrow, so I made her a scoot game for volume. :)

Here is my new Volume Scoot...

 

She's ready to go! She plans to use it as a formative assessment after her lesson!

Good Luck Amber (even though you don't need it!)!

 It's a quick, easy way to check students' understanding and it little prep for teacher. Win-Win!!

I like Scoot because EVERYONE participates, it's a guarantee to have 100% engagement!  

 

This new set will be 50% off for two days or you can play Pin to Win! Winner will be announced Friday. Just pin any of the above images or from TPT, copy the URL address, and paste it in the comments.

Happy Wednesday-we're more than 1/2 way through the week! 

Don't forget to check Jivey's post for tricky math on her Workshop Wednesday!

 

Must Read Mentor Text: ScienceSaurus and A Peek at My Week

Linking up with my cute friends Amanda & Stacia for their fabulous Must Read Mentor Text linky party!

 

The following text is more of a science resource that could be used multiple ways.

ScienceSaurus

We are currently studying energy and this book has multiple pages on the different forms of energy.

My students will fill in this Energy Fill In using the information from this text.

They can draw pictures, cut examples from magazines, write examples, definitions, etc. It's up to them to be creative! Makes a great bulletin board display!

You can grab it for FREE right here! Please be kind and leave feedback if you download. :)

 

(The following samples are from last year).

Closer view of a student sample: 

 

This is a perfect center to incorporate during reading. My students will work on this activity this week. We also have tomorrow off (it's not a snow day, but we'll take it!)

This is our last week to prepare for our BIG writing test the following Tuesday, so we'll be reviewing, playing writing games, and doing all the last minute activities for the big day!

Linking up with my funny friend Jennifer for her Peek at my Week party!

 

 

Don't forget the 20% off SUN DAY SALE at my store!