Showing posts with label middle school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label middle school. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Educents Deal!

Educents contacted me and offered a deal for new members!  By clicking on the picture below and signing up for Educents in July you will receive a $5 credit!  You can't beat a deal like that!


What is Educents?  Educents is an awesome store with resources for teachers and parents of children who homeschool their children.  They have worksheets, centers, books, magazines, etc.  Everything is always heavily discounted so your $5 off can go a long way!  Currently you can save $10 on Zoobooks, which I absolutely love.  My Kindergarten and 2nd grade students have always loved looking through those magazines.  They currently have some neat author study lapbooks, a brown bear literacy bundle, as well as some free items, among other things!  Check them out by clicking on the picture!

As an added bonus for 4th of July weekend, you can get 10% off and FREE SHIPPING from Educents by using the code JULY1HOPKINS   This deal is good for anyone even if you are not a new member!  Click the picture will take you to Educents.





Monday, February 17, 2014

I'm Back With Cooperative Learning Activities

Wow, it has been a full month since I last blogged.  I was really hoping to at least keep going with my Positive Fridays, but I have been so very busy.  The hour trip to work and back takes extra time from me especially when I have an inservice.  I am not complaining though as it is so worth it to work in an incredible school with amazing students, administrators, fellow teachers, office staff, custodians, etc.  Next Thursday night I will be staying for a parent after school thing, where I am in charge of helping out at child care until 7pm.

Anyway here are some cooperative learning ideas that I learned at inservices lately that will help keep your children engaged.  You can use them as formative assessments.  I will try to do another blog post with some more of these ideas in the future!


Inside Outside Circle - Divide up your class evenly.  Have half of your class get into a circle and then turn around.  The other children find a partner and face them in a circle so they are on the outside.  Call out a question from any subject or a get to know you question and have either the inside or outside give the answer.  The other side can either praise/coach their partner or add on to the answer.  Then give the other side a question.  Next call out a number and have everyone on the outside move that many partners over. For example move 3 partners.  So they would move over to the 3rd new partner!  Then do it again.  I gave mine each a lowercase letter and they had to give the name of the letter and the sound.  Share in the comments how this could be used in your classroom.

4 Corners - Put a different concept or answer on 4 different posters and put them on each corner of the wall.  Give a question that can be answered going to one of the 4 places on the wall and students move there.  I have done this by putting 4 letters on the wall and giving a word and they have to move to the correct place.  You could do it with Seasons of the Year, 4 numbers and give a math problem, cardinal directions, etc. Share in the comments your grade and how you could use this your classroom or have used it?

Commit and Toss - In this activity students write the answer to an open ended question on a piece of paper or draw it and crumble it without their name on it.  Then they toss it around at each other for a few minutes. When you tell them time is up they each pick up a paper.  Everybody stands up.  Call on one student. Anyone with that answer or close to it sits down.  Keep going until you have gone through everyone.  This is great to get background knowledge or find out if part of a lesson your students didn't quite get.  I'm trying to figure out a way to use it in Kindergarten as I have heard this is a one popular activity.  If you have an idea send it to me in the comments!

Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings.  Keep on hoppin!


Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Whole Brain Teaching Book Club

Has anyone heard of Whole Brain Teaching?  I absolutely love it and it is something I would love to try if I get my dream job, unless of course the school is against the idea.  It is so engaging, that I believe it will work with the most difficult children and they will be having fun while learning.  It cuts down on a lot of pointless worksheets.  There is a fun attention getter, gestures, etc.  I could go on and on.

I am joining the Book Club for Whole Brain Teaching that they are having.  It is under way now, but you are not too late to join.  Order the book from Amazon.  I would love it if you ordered it through my affiliate link by clicking on the picture.


If you want the Kindle version click HERE!

Once you have the book and you are ready to begin Whole Brain Teaching head over to the Whole Brain Teaching Book Club and join us by going HERE.

Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings.  Keep on smiling!


Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Finding Kind - Girls Bullying Girls


IndieFlix gave me the chance to review the movie Finding Kind for free 3 month subscription for myself and 10, 2 month subscriptions to giveaway!  I was not paid any money.  The video is on the site now and is not coming soon so ignore that on the banner!  You do not need to input any credit card information if you are one of the ten winners!

Here's the synopsis of Finding Kind: 
In February 2009, two young women, Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson joined forces having both been affected by female bullying throughout their youth and decided to create change by giving females a platform to speak out about this universal experience. What began as an idea for a documentary about 
girl-against-girl bullying, ultimately became Kind Campaign, an internationally recognized movement, documentary, and school assembly program based on the powerful belief in KINDness that brings awareness and healing to the negative and lasting effects of girl-against-girl “crime.”

In this endearing documentary, a pair of best friends (who happen to be queen-bee pretty girls, but no matter) travel the country speaking with middle and high school girls about their pain and the pain they’ve caused others. It’s a sweet, earnest addition to the current anti-bullying movement. A few confessional scenes—little girls in braces pouring their broken hearts into the camera—will stick with you. LINDY WEST (the Stranger).

I believe Finding Kind is perfect for 5th grade girls and up, especially middle and high schoolers.  The movie will help girl bullies see how bullying feels and perhaps will help them think twice before bullying other girls.  Bullying is a sad thing happening around the world.  If we can stop it now before these children are adults, we'll have a much better world to live in.  At the end of the movie, I love the quote "We might not all be beautiful, smart, or have talent, but we can all be kind."

They have a neat packet of resources for Finding Kind that you can use by downloading the Google Doc, which includes discussion questions for the movie, as well as, kind pledge cards, kind apology cards, and blank kind cards.  To check these resources out click here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-S6G81Via-vUW9TR3pSbHZCLWM/edit  It's my hope that this film will help end a lot of the female bullying going on.

IndieFlix also an array of films from family movies, sports, action and adventure, romance, animations, etc.  Some are just a few minutes in length and others like Finding Kind are full length movies.  Hopefully you can find something for your class if you are still in session and if not treat yourself to some movies this summer!  We all need time to relax!  Be sure to visit IndieFlix by clicking on the banner!



The giveaway will start at midnight on the 22nd and end on the 25th.  10 of you will win the subscriptions for 2 months!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings.  Keep on smiling!




Thursday, January 10, 2013

Day 14: DNA Structure Lab - Paper Lab

Well folks after today we have just one more exclusive freebie left to celebrate my blogiversary!  I hope you have gotten all the other freebies that worked for your grade level.

99.9% of the things I post as my dedicated followers know are at the Elementary level.  I know I do have some followers though that teach middle school or high school so today's freebie is geared to you and it comes from Vanessa!  Hop on over and Biology Lab and follow Vanessa if you are a high school or middle school teacher who teaches Science!  Click on the picture to follow Vanessa.




Vanessa's freebie is called DNA Structure Lab - Paper Lab.  She was so sweet she actually donated her most popular product!  You can get her freebie today only by clicking on the picture.


Be sure to follow Vanessa's blog, FB page, and TPT store today!  She has other freebies including one on the Scientific Method in her store!

Tomorrow is my last day of my exclusive freebies and it comes from my best blogging buddy and one of my wonderful proofreaders Sara at Miss V.'s Busy Bees!  She will be sharing her new winter Mitten sorting Noun, Adjective, and Verb center with you!   Click HERE to follower her today!

Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings.  Keep on smiling!


  
 
 


Monday, December 31, 2012

Day 4: Types of Heat Transfer Foldable and Stations Activity

I hope everyone is enjoying the freebies.  There should be something for everyone in the coming days!!! This is the last post of 2012.  I hope everyone had a terrific year and I wish you all an incredible 2013.  Don't forget to smile a lot and do random acts of kindness!  The more we are kind to everyone the better this world will be!

Today's freebie comes from Tara, who is a Science teacher.  Her blog is called Science in the City and is geared toward middle and high school.

Blog Button

Children love foldables and Tara was kind enough to offer a free Science foldable.  This one is called Types of Heat Transfer Foldable and Stations Activity.  Remember it is free today only and you can get it by clicking on the picture.  Then stop by Tara's blog, FB page, and TPT and say thanks to her and maybe follow her!  Be sure to check out her freebies and other items in her TPT store as well.


Thank you Tara for the awesome exclusive freebie!  You are the best!  Don't forget if you downloaded the freebie to leave a nice comment.

We will ring in the new year with Christina from Krazy In Love With Kindergarten!  Go give her some love and come back tomorrow for an exclusive freebie from her!  Thanks Christina!

Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings.  Keep on smiling!


Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Class and Team Building Activities

Do you need ideas for class and team building activities?  If so you came to the right place, I have some ideas for you that you may or not have seen before.



1. The first one I've read about online, but I don't recall the name of it.  I will call it a tangled web.  Take a ball of yarn and have your whole class get into a circle.  Start by saying something about yourself that nobody in the class knows.  Then holding the end of the yard throw the ball of yarn to a student.  They name something that nobody in the class knows and holds the end nearest the ball of yarn and throws the yarn to another student.  Each student shares something that nobody knows about them and throws it to a different student.  You then have a web of yarn.  Each student then one at a time takes their hand off the piece of yarn they are holding and they will see how the tangled web starts to fall, which demonstrates team work.

2. Never Have I Ever - Students sit in a circle and put all 10 fingers out and on the floor.  One students starts and says something they have never done.  For example  Never Have I Ever played on a football team.  Everyone who has played on a football team would fold one finger.  The ones with fingers left when time is up are the winners.

3. Compliment Game - Each student has a piece of paper on his or her desk.  They walk around from desk to desk and write down something nice about that person and sign their name.  The child then has a nice keepsake to take home.  It is best if you can steer children away from just saying you're nice or you're pretty.

4. Jigsaw - If you want something academic try Jigsaw.  This is a popular one that most everyone probably already knows, but have you tried it in your classroom?  I think it is perfect especially for 3rd and up and I did use it in the 5th grade short term that I had last year as well as during subbing.  If your students do not sit in groups, put your students in groups.  Then number them off (try to give each student in each group a differnet number).  Have all the 1's go to 1 area, 2's another area, 3's, and so forth.  4 in a group seems to work best.  Each group has to read and summarize part of a topic that you are learning about in class in Science or Social Studies or Nonfiction reading.  Then they go back to their seat and the 1's start by telling their group what they learned, then the 2's, 3's, and so forth.  You can hold them accountable by having each person in the group write down something they learned about each topic.


Those of you have that have viewed my blog earlier in the year or have read my All About Me page know that I am a huge reality tv fan.  The Amazing Race is a show that pairs of people have to work together.  An awesome website that I stumbled upon called UpLift Events.  They had a great Amazing Race event in October of 2012.  You can view the video by clicking on the hyperlink for UpLift Events and see what else they have to offer with team building!

What do you do in your class for team and class building activities?  Share in the comments!

Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings!  Keep on smiling!


Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Turning In Work

In a previous post, I talked about my favorite way to turn in work by using Laura Candler's organizational paper drop system.  Today, I thought I'd share another option that I found interesting while subbing at two different schools in Kindergarten and in 3rd grade.

Give each student a file folder and let them decorate it. 

 Put their name on it with permanent marker.  Either have your students put them in a stack between their desks if you have them in groups or on the corner of their desk.  When work is completed the student puts the work in the folder.  At the end of the day have them put their folder on the corner of their desk so you can easily collect it after they go home or have a student collect the work for you.

I see advantages and disadvantages to using this system.

The advantages are:

  • Students don't have to leave their seat.  This stops any problems that could occur between two or more students turning in work at the same time.
  • There is no waiting on another person to put a paper in the bin or manila envelope (paper drop system) so it saves time.
  • You'd put the papers in the gradebook probably one student at a time instead of by subject instead of the whole class by subject, which makes handing back the papers quicker and takes less time on your part because they are already grouped by student.
  • You know who has no name on the paper because you pull it out of the folder of who it belongs too!
The disadvantages:
  •  It would probably take longer putting grades in the gradebook due to going student by student for each subject instead of doing the whole class by subject.
  • You can not tell instantly who has not done their assignment until you have put their grades in the gradebook.
  • Little ones need to move so letting them turn it in somewhere would give them this opportunity instead of just putting it in their desk.
I am interested in knowing how you have your students turn in work.  Let me know in the comment section!

Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings.  Keep on smiling!


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