Engagement

Two blog posts in one week?! Watch out, I'm on a roll!!!

As many of you know, I was recently engaged as of December 13, 2014.  My fiancé is the sweetest and proposed on a day that he knew we would never forget~ 12.13.14.  (Actually, I just lied.  He had no idea that was the date!)

I was debating what to do for engagement pictures.  I had seen so many cute photo (outfit) ideas for cold and warm weather.  I put a post on my Facebook asking for photographer advice where I live.  I KNEW I wanted beach pictures.  Not too long after, I get a text from my blogger (and real life) friend Ashley from The Teacher's Treasure Chest offering to take some of our pics for us! She had taken pictures for some of my friends before so I thought it was a great idea!!

Long story short, we went to the beach a few weekends ago and she captured some images that I absolutely love and I wanted to share them below :) She did such a great job!!  

My wedding photographer has offered to come down (we are getting married out of town) and do a beach session with us as a part of our wedding package.  Now, I will have some warm outfit pictures and some cold outfit pictures!! Thank you Ashley, I absolutely love the moments that you captured.  We were FREEZING but it was totally worth it!! (My hair ruined about 90% of the pictures because of the wind but some turned out perfect!) 

There are more to come that she is still working on but these are my favorites so far!! Which one do you like best? Let me know!! Thanks for reading and sharing this happy blog post with me :) 

xoxo

Spiral Review

New product alert!!!! I wanted to take a moment to introduce my newest product.  I am very proud of this product and will be working hard to make a bundle for each month.  My goal is to eventually have an entire year's worth of Math Spiral review for fourth grade (and then maybe even move on to other grades.) It has become so evident to me lately that spiral review is absolutely crucial, especially at this time of the year.  As we approach testing, this is a great opportunity to keep information fresh! 

Here is how I use these spiral review units in my classroom.  Each worksheet looks like this: 

There are four rows with four problems in each row.  My students complete one row each morning (Monday-Thursday) for morning work.  At the beginning of Math, I show the answer key using the document camera for the row that they completed that morning (answer keys are included in the bundle.)  Then, during Guided Math, there is a "review round" where students spend time correcting problems that they missed and asking any questions that they have.  Since we don't have a lot of time to review, this is a good way to get the review in without it taking away too much time from the new concepts that I'm teaching. Another idea would be to add one row per night for homework (4 additional review homework questions per night).  You could also have the students complete these problems in a guided math round and review whole group.  There are so many options!!!! 

On Friday, students spend morning work time studying their completed Spiral Review sheet for the quiz that they will have. On each quiz, I selected 10 questions (with different numbers) to include from the worksheet.  The quiz only reflects what the students worked on that week in spiral review.  The quiz that accompanies the above picture looks like this: 

Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are represented on each and every spiral review sheet because it seems to be something my students forget unless we are CONSTANTLY practicing it. 

Lastly, since I eventually plan on having a spiral review unit for each month of the school year, they are numbered by month and week.  September will be unit 1 and June will be unit 10.  February is the 6th month of school (for me at least) so this is unit 6.  Spiral Review worksheet 6.1 (as pictured above) is month 6, week 1. So, for example spiral review worksheet 6.4 is February, week 4. 

If you love this product, you can find it here at my store.  Feedback is greatly appreciated! Don't forget to find me on instagram at @fourthgradefab and on Facebook. 

xoxo

January-June Math Interactive Notebook

Hello everyone and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2014 flew by so quickly, I can't believe it is already 2015.  It's been awhile since I have blogged (maybe I should make that a New Years resolution?) but I'm glad to be on here to write about one of my new(ish) products.  It's been posted for a few months but I haven't given it much attention since it was primarily made for the second half of the year!!  (Lord knows in November we can't see much past Winter Break, right?!) I had such amazing feedback from my August-December Math Interactive Notebook, I decided to make a sequel! You can find it here at my store. 

This notebook is designed to accommodate fourth grade Math for January-June. This was based off of my district's pacing guide, but whatever isn't covered in this edition is covered in the August-December edition! I always include what is covered in the description of my products so that you know exactly what you are purchasing!

Interactive notebooks are such a fun way to get your students engaged and keep them organized! I love the hands on activities that it allows, while also allowing your students to make a cumulative record of everything they've learned throughout the school year and keep it organized in one single place. I've seen a lot of my students this year take pride in their notebooks and keep them nice and clean! I am going to be so glad that I have Interactive Notebooks for all subjects when end of the year testing comes around because it will serve as a fabulous study tool! This was my first year doing interactive notebooks in my classroom and the kids and I are loving them!!  

Here is a list of everything that my Interactive Notebook (January-June edition) has to offer: 

**Product comes with pictures of examples for a visual on how to use INB in your classroom! Pictures are included for ALL pages and activities listed below**

Decimals
-decimals anchor chart "Why do we use decimals?"
-place value street (decimals place value chart through the thousandths place)
-place value with money and base 10 blocks
-write the decimal captivity (with base 10 blocks)
-adding and subtracting decimals (step by step "interactive anchor chart for INB")
-graph paper squares for students to work addition/subtraction problems with decimals

Measurement
-measuring length fill in the blank/interactive "anchor chart" 
-measuring our classroom items activity (foldable)
-tools for measuring length
-measuring weight/mass fill int he blank/interactive "anchor chart"
-conversions tables 
-measuring capacity (land of gallon) poem/story
-land of gallon (gallon house)
-capacity cut/paste activity with conversion chart
-measurement conversions anchor chart for INB
-length, capacity, and weight conversion charts

Elapsed Time
-interactive foldable clock to assist with telling time
-elapsed time strategies (use a clock, make a t-chart, mountains/hills/rocks with examples of each)
-elapsed time practice problems (foldables)
-elapsed time word problems (foldable)

Geometry
-geometry notes including definitions and examples of: point, line, line segment, ray, angle, endpoint vertex, intersecting lines, parallel lines, and perpendicular lines
-congruent vs similar shapes interactive page
-geometric transformations (rotate, translate, and reflect) cut/paste activity
-polygon/NOT a polygon cut/paste activity
-polygons: triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, nonagon, and decagon cut outs (including an example of labeled sides)
-quadrilaterals page including trapezoids, parallelogram, rhombus, square, and rectangle with examples and definitions of each

Probability
-probability spinners (Blank for the convenience of customizing. Create your own problems with these blank spinners.)
-probability with M&Ms activity (with cut outs and foldable)
-probability statement number lines (impossible, unlikely, likely, most likely, certain)

Patterns
-shape patterns labeled with letters (continue the pattern by filling in the blank)
-number patterns (continue the pattern by filling in the blank)
-goldfish patterns (students create their own patterns with goldfish and label with letters-- teacher directions provided)
-input/output patterns chart (blank for the convenience of customizing)

This product is going to TEMPORARILY be on sale in honor of the NEW YEAR!! Beginning at 5pm on New Year's Day, this product will be 50% off for a limited time at my store. That means that you will be getting all of this for only $4 (regular price is $8).  Don't miss the SALE!!!!

Have a safe and Happy New Year's celebration tonight! Bring on 2015!!!!!

What an Exciting Week!

I know I have been promising this blog post for a few days now and I am finally getting the time to sit down and do it! I have had such an exciting week and I have so many awesome things to share!

First of all, I am ecstatic that my Instagram page is growing as rapidly as it is! I have decided to do a HUGE giveaway when my page reaches 1,000 followers so if you're not following, make sure to head over and follow to be eligible for the giveaway! My Instagram name is fourthgradefab.

Secondly, I received the sweetest package EVER from my generous blogger buddy Lindsey at Thriving In Third.  I mentioned to her that I loved her Mrs. Frizzle costume and wanted to know where she got it.  She had it specially made and offered to send it to me so that I could borrow it for "Favorite Book Character Day" at school! Thank you, Lindsey!!! I promise to take good care of it.  If you're not following her blog, you are seriously missing out! Make sure to check out her page! The costume is adorable and fits like a glove!!

Now, I want some serious feedback on the next subject at hand! My school is going to begin implementing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) at some point this year and I have this obsession with QR codes.  I want to know how you guys use QR codes in your classroom? With BYOD it should be easier because I currently have no iPads/tablets/etc. that I can have the students use.  I am thinking that once BYOD is implemented, there will be a way for students to use their own devices but I have to wait to find out for sure until after our BYOD training next week (so excited!)  Of course there are many rules that have to be followed in order to do it properly so I will not begin doing this until my school allows it! Do any of your schools use BYOD? Here is how I am THINKING about using them (this is just me thinking and I would love to hear from all of you!) During Guided Math, there are usually three rotations in my classroom.  I am so lucky that I have a co-teacher so we are able to have TWO teacher groups during Guided Math and one independent work round.  During that round, I would love to have the QR code activities set up so that students can work on whatever Math we are currently doing and check their answers with their devices using QR codes. Math seems to be such an ideal time to use these for self checking because it is so important for the students to understand if they are doing the work correctly.  Do you use QR codes for other subjects? How do you use them? Does your school use BYOD? If so, how? I'd love to hear all about from as many people as possible. Isn't sharing ideas what this whole blog thing is about anyways?! Here is a picture of the activity I'm going to use for long division practice next week (hopefully on a borrowed iPad that belongs to the school). You can find it for FREE here at Tanya Villacis's TpT store.  

Lastly, before I hop off of here and go to bed, my primary friends just started a TpT store.  Head over to their store Aplus Primary and follow! I'm sure that some amazing activities are in store :) 

I hope that everyone has a wonderful and relaxing Sunday in order to get ready for this crazy Halloween week.  I hope to hear feedback from you.  As always, please check me out on Facebook and TpT.  Also, don't forget to head over to my Instagram and follow! Thanks for stopping by!

Reading Group Discussion Cards

Is it possible that I'm really finding time to squeeze in a blog post?? Working on making sure I blog more often because there are so many amazing things going on that I would love to share! 

I am beginning my regular reading group rotation this week now that all of my conferencing and goal setting is complete! Goal setting is one of my favorite things.  I love watching the students get excited about reaching their goals in order to grow as readers.

I love reading group time because it allows you to discover so many things about the students through discussion.  In order to ensure discussion takes place, I created this product to use during group time.  These Reading Group Discussion Cards cover many reading comprehension strategies and activate deeper level thinking to keep students engaged.  These cards could be used in many different ways and I plan to put them to action in all of these ways in my own classroom:

1.  Teacher led group discussion

2.  Student led discussion with peers

3.  Resource for parents to use at home to monitor comprehension with nightly reading.  

4.  Communication tool to assess learning both at home and at school. Parents can communicate with teacher which cards students struggle with and vice versa.

Thanks for stopping by to check out this product! You can find it here at my store! 

Place Value Bundle Pack

Are you teaching place value right now? I am!!! I decided to join two existing products with two new products to make this amazing bundle! It covers place value, base ten blocks, comparing numbers, AND rounding! 

The bundle includes the following: 


-8 Interactive notebook activities (cut/paste) for place value including base ten block "build me" activities, place value chart, expanded form, word form, finding the place value, finding the VALUE/worth of a given digit, comparing numbers, and rounding. 
-32 Place Value Task Cards (find the place and the value of a given digit)
-32 Rounding Task Cards (round to the underlined digit)
-Double sided Place Value work mat where students must roll a number on a dice and write it in the place value chart. Students must then build it with base ten blocks, draw it, expand it, spell it, and round it. 
-2 anchor charts (cut paste) for Interactive Notebooks (comparing and rounding)

You can find some pictures of my new product below! It is also temporarily on SALE so make sure to go get yours now! You can find the product here at my TpT store! 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope everyone is having a FAB year so far!

~Brittany

Reading Interactive Notebook

I am so excited, I can't sleep! I finally finished my Reading Interactive Notebook and I wanted to squeeze in a short and sweet blog post to tell you a little bit about it!  

My reasoning for starting Interactive Notebooks in my classroom this year is because of the high level of student engagement. I have read and studied so many success stories from fellow teachers that use them.  Students take pride in their work and enjoy seeing their collection of things they have learned grow.  It's amazing to watch how the organization of these works.  

The Reading Notebook is meant to be a reference tool for students to use throughout the year as we continue to grow and become better readers.  The notebook will be full of anchor charts with strategies that they've learned with examples and little tricks to help them remember them.  I want students to be able to reference this notebook during an assignment to help jog their memory if they need it.  Below are some pictures that I've included of what the notebook looks like! I have put this notebook bundle on sale for Labor Day Weekend! A full description of this item is located here at my Teachers Pay Teachers store, Fourth Grade Fab.  Go grab yours now and follow my store for more product updates while you are there!  Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous weekend :)

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