Dinosaurs and ChatterPix

After almost two weeks, we finally finished all our hard work on our research papers.  The kids did such a nice job.  See some examples below.

We also completed a Pinterest art project to go with it.  They look super cute!

(Yes that is a stegosaurus getting eaten by a T-rex).

  A teacher's dream come true to have our science flow right into our writing and then a perfect art project to go along with it.  I love dinosaurs and I love these projects.

The final step once our research papers were published was to add a technology element to the project.  The students got to make a ChatterPix from their finished paper.  ChatterPix and ChatterKid are both apps that allow kids to take or choose a photo.  They can make up a silly greeting or use it as a digital element in their school work.  They loved it!  We lost a little steam in the publishing phase.  Typing is hard work for third graders!  But the promise of creating a ChatterPix helped us find the motivation to accomplish our goal.  ChatterPix is free on the app store and my preschool age daughters, my third graders, and my teacher husband all love it.

That Kid.

I have a challenging student in my class this year.  My friend provides daily entertainment and challenges. This is the kind of kid that you do not forget.  My friend makes you laugh out loud.  My friend sometimes makes you cranky.  Above everything else, this kid makes you question how to reach the unreachable student.  The truth in education (and maybe life) is that I cannot force a child to do something they do not want to do.  I can encourage, plead, bribe, challenge, inspire, threaten, punish, cajole....  But I cannot make a child do his/her math or listen in class or even remove his/her head from inside of his/her desk (yes that happens, btw) if he/she is really determined otherwise.  My friend has figured this out.  So what do you do?!  MINECRAFT.

It turns out my friend has a major obsession with MINECRAFT and everything that goes with it.  So, instead of trying to change the subject back to fractions, or conjunctions, I'm embracing MINECRAFT.  I spent some time looking for things to engage students with MINECRAFT and educating myself about this game, because my world at home is still basically Disney princesses. I found some awesome FREEBIES from TPT, including these editable bookmarks from a seller called Prime and Pi.

 I splurged on a paper craft item at Walmart, and we are off.  My friend is responding, but I am learning a lot in the process.   I discovered that MINECRAFT is being used in many classrooms to teach a variety of different subjects.  I'm planning a math lesson next week with it and exploring how to use it beyond simple motivation in the future.

It takes some effort to get to know your students, but it really pays off.  I'm sure this won't work forever.  Problem students can't be fixed by MINECRAFT.  However, sometimes they can be motivated by it.

Research Reports and Super Bowl Predictions

Last week I introduced research reports. We are researching dinosaurs. A little thrill of anticipation went through me as I wrote my objective for the week. Just the thought of my kids' excitement, and how much they will learn gave me a nerdy little chill. I have lots of great books from my years in second grade (there was a running joke during my master's classes about my love of dinosaurs) and the kids have been dying to dig into them.

This will be their first real experience doing research reports. I've done them before with third graders and you might think, research reports? Boring! The funny thing is 8 and 9 year olds can get on board with just about anything. We started on Monday, and they were so into it! I am excited to see how they turn out.

Meanwhile, I had to be out a day last week and I left a fun Super Bowl writing and craftivity for my kids to start with the substitute. I got this for free on teacherspayteachers.com.  Did I mention I LOVE FREEBIES! I'm pretty sure my kindergarten husband and my teaching partners find my love and sharing of freebies a bit obnoxious, but I love them! Of course all the kids (from Indiana, Colts fans, and still bitter about "Deflate-gate") were hoping to see the Patriots lose (see Tom Brady crying below). Poor kiddos!