Fall in Love With Teaching Blog Hop {2015

Welcome to my little blog! I am so excited to be participating in this fabulous blog hop with some great third grade teachers!

I am going to show you how we get our students learning the Scientific process in the beginning of the year. This time is crucial to set the kiddos up to correctly complete scientific investigations throughout the year. 

Because I work in a magnet program, these students must always be challenged beyond the average. So, our magnet team leader (who is an absolute genius!) developed this exciting project to challenge all of the students. 

Welcome to CSI! Our students work together in our classes and among the grade levels to solve the crime and figure out who the criminals are! 

It is set up by creating bios for all of the suspects (aka- our teachers!) and ensuring that they follow a similar pattern so the students don't figure it out too quickly. All of the teachers collect and submit evidence such as empty food containers and such before CSI starts so that evidence can be placed in the crime scene. The goal is to get the students seeing everyone eating and drinking from their

submitted evidence- this is when the fingers start to get pointed! ;)

We also submit samples of our footprints, fingerprints, hair samples, and writing samples. The students will actually thoroughly examine these and process them as evidence. The students evaluate all of the footprints and measure the length and width. They also evaluate all of the crime scene fingerprints as well as their own. Finally, third grade evaluates the various writing using chromatography to see who's pen matches the crime scene ink. The amount of work that the kids put into this is incredible! 

We had our huge reveal this past Monday - here is the video. Enjoy! :) 

https://youtu.be/ay6JYeY8oBM

Finally- the giveaway times! I am having a giveaway for any one of my TpT products and the grand prize giveaway is awesome as well, you can win a gift card for TpT! All you need to do is enter the Rafflecopter giveaways below!

Jump on to the next blog!

http://mrs3rdgrade07.blogspot.com/2015/09/fall-in-love-with-teaching.html

a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway

Classroom Reveal!

Hello my wonderful friends! I'm so stinking excited to FINALLY post my classroom reveal! Things have been (expectedly) crazy these first few weeks of school, but I'm back and ready to blog! 

This year, I really wanted my room to be more functional and my use of space was my top priority. This has literally taken me two years to figure out how to rearrange my room to make it work for my kiddos and for me. I am so happy with how it turned out and I feel like it is so much more functional. 

The first thing I did was swap my reading and computer area. The back of my room used to be closed in by desks and computers and it literally drove me CRAZY! Now, you can see that it is wide open and perfect for easy navigation, plus the reading area is so much more welcoming! 

The next area of focus was using my wall space and whiteboard to a maximum.  I decided to transform my whiteboard into the perfect place to put my focus board and agenda up. Also- it gave me the perfect space to hang my ELA anchor charts for easy reference. I absolutely love how it turned out and that I was able to use this space more efficiently this year. I used my A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Silhouette machine to cut out the headers and bought those adorable magnetic divider borders from Creative Teaching Press (found at Joann's with a coupon!). They serve both a cute and functional purpose! ;) The focus board heading cards came from the fabulous Third Grade Hollywood and I just completely adore them! 

My other large bulletin board in my room I decided to use for my Reading strategy posters (Also by the so creative Third Grade Hollywood) and for my Math anchor charts. It helps break up the space a little and I was able to use the super cute whiteboard banners and burlap sticky letters from the Target dollar spot to make the headers! I love how this board turned out. 

I also used one of my bulletin boards and another space on my wall to create my space for my Daily 5 rotations in reading and for my Math stations. I designed these sets because I wanted something bright and fun, but also something that was easy to read. If you like how they look- find them here in my TpT store! 

My last bulletin board in my room is being used for my calendar area this year to help make it more of a focus. Our daily calendar keeper, meteorologist, and daily calendar math kiddos will keep up with this daily. I'm really excited about this board! 

My bulletin boards outside needed to be used to display student work and also showcase our classroom because it makes the students proud and accountable for their work. My large board was inspired by some pins on Pinterest and I just made it my own by adding the hand cut trees and the numbered chalk board clips to hold each student's work. I absolutely love how this board turned out and my students are chomping at the bit to get their first BRIGHT work put up there! ;) The other board outside my room is my Instagram board where I will display our classroom happenings and hashtags to match. This has been a serious fan favorite! My administration, fellow teachers, and parents have absolutely loved this board and I love how it turned out! I love taking pictures and I can't wait to display them for students and parents to see. 

Finally, my student desk setup is a group horseshoe shape to help aid with Kagan structures. I also bought these rolling carts to hold their supplies and notebooks this year. I think they will help keep everything looking nice and organized! Another thing I did this year was created book boxes for my kiddos so that books wouldn't shoved into desks and messed up. This also helps me keep track of where my library books are! 

I really hope you enjoyed my classroom reveal and that I've inspired you all as much as you have inspired me! I cannot wait to see where this year takes my class! Happy New School Year everyone!