Friendship Recipe

At the end of February we were studying functional texts, including advertisements, flyers, directions, and recipes. When we were focusing on recipes, we read the book Enemy Pie by Derek Munson! This book is so good and I think students can really relate to the characters in the story. It is also a great book to use to talk about making predictions. 

There are TONS of great Enemy Pie activities and resources available on the web! Anything from sequencing, problem and solution, to a grammar hunt. In my TpT store, I have a character trait packet that helps students recognize 'higher level' character traits (more than just happy, mad, sad...you know you are tired of those words!). Students recognize character traits by the characters thoughts, actions, and words. Then students write their own stories with characters that show their traits!

                                                

With my class, we spent time creating 'Friendship Recipes.' Students used their knowledge of fractions, measurement, and sequencing to write a recipe. (This was great because we are also in the middle of our measurement unit in math!)

Students brainstormed and wrote their draft recipe in their writing notebooks, then edited and transferred their work on to their final draft. Students used a template that I created on PowerPoint in the outline of a recipe to write the final. Students use markers, colored pencils, and crayons to decorate their recipes. We took this and glued it on to a piece of construction paper. Students then colored a template of a head, arms, and legs to look like themselves. They attached the pieces to the construction paper and then TA-DA! We had a super cute, friendship recipe!

                      

We hung them out in the hall on our clips. I got the string at the Dollar Tree - it is for hanging laundry and ordered the wooden clothes pins from Amazon. This is an awesome way to display items in the hallway - 1) because students can put things up and take them down themselves, 2) you can use it every year, just take down the string, keep the pins attached, 3) you can add and remove pins as needed.

                    

I love how these turned out! Let me know what you think! 

Love & Sparkles,

Miss Jones in Third

Writing a Weekly Newsletter

Something that I have done since I started teaching is sending home a weekly newsletter with my students. I think it is so important to keep communication open with parents and let them know what is going on the classroom and how they can support learning at home. The parents love it and it makes them feel more connected with what their child is learning in the classroom.

My newsletter has evolved over time. My first year, I started out by writing a document in Microsoft Word, adding some clip art, proof-reading, and then printing out the copy and making 1 copy for each student to take home in their Thursday Folder. Thursday Folders go home with student papers, fliers from school, and other important forms and information.

My second year I added a question to my Open House form about how parents would want to receive a newsletter. The majority of parents preferred email, so I adapted. The information in the newsletter stayed the same, I just sent it out via email on Thursdays (and no more cute clip art). I created a 'Parents 2015-16' distribution list, now known as a Contact Group (I didn't know you could do this on Microsoft Outlook until my third year) and send it out as 'bcc' to respect everyone's privacy. It made emailing so much easier. 

Here is a general outline of what I include in every weekly newsletter - 

Salutation, 

Quick Hello/Connect to something that's been going on outside of school or weather.

In language arts this week we.... Talk to your child about this that we've been working on...Moving forward we'll be working on...

In math this week we...Make a connection to how parents can help students use this skill in real life...Next week we'll be working on...

In science this week we...Ask your child about this...Next week we will be...

In social studies this week we...Work on/Look for/students need to know...Next week we will...

Any extra information about what is coming up in class (recorders, field trip money, forms, in class events, etc.)

Important Dates
Look at your school's website and add any important dates (PTA events)
Add any test dates
Add any holidays, early release days, etc. 

If you aren't already doing a newsletter, I strongly encourage you to start one! Parents will love it, it will create a stronger home/school connection, and it lets you reflect on and summarize your week.

Love & Sparkles,

Miss. Jones