Plickers: You Plick the Story!

I am a huge fan of Plickers and the ease they bring to classroom assessments!  However, I also like using Plickers in other ways, such as for surveys.  Student choice can be a great factor of student achievement.  Plickers can add to the fun of student choice in a whole group setting.  This post will show you another option for using Plickers in your classroom.

You Plick the Story is a Friday activity in which students get to choose the book for the next week's shared reading experience.  This is appropriate for grades K-2 during whole group instruction.  Plan your shared reading books one month at a time (1 book a week).

1.  Choose 8 books, poems, or reading passages you would like to use for your shared reading activities.  You will only use 4 of these books for the month.

2.  Pair the books by your focus skill for each week.  I always find it difficult to choose between some of my favorite stories.  With Plickers and this activity, the students can pick for you!  This gives them both ownership and excitement over their reading.

3.  Create 4 true/false Plickers questions with the paired book titles as your true/false responses.  Make sure to leave the "correct" boxes empty.  This is a survey as opposed to an assessment.  Add them to your Queue for use with the kids.

4.  Make You Plick the Story a Friday activity to set up your shared reading for the next week.  This allows you the weekend to prepare your activities based on the story that received the most votes.  Begin with a brief introduction or book walk of the 2 stories you selected.  Then use Plickers for students to Plick the Story.  In the Live View of Plickers, make sure to keep it on the Student tab so the results are secret.  

5.  On Monday, have the "Big Reveal" of which story was chosen by the majority of the students.  Children love the idea that they are owners of their learning.  The combined use of Plickers and the big reveal add excitement to your room and set the tone for a positive reading experience.  Using the Plickers cards allows your students to have an individual voice and not be swayed by what their friends vote on.

I hope you find this activity enjoyable and would love to hear how you make it work in your classroom!

Click here for a PDF of this activity: You Plick the Story!

Mona Lisa

This is the portrait Mona Lisa by Leonardo DaVinci.  It is probably the most famous painting in the world.  The oil painting was believed to have been created between 1503 and 1506.  It is now on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.  Many people are captivated by Mona Lisa's smile.  What do you think of it?  Please respond to this masterpiece in the comment section below.  Please list your first and last name in the comment box.  Any negative comments will be removed.  Some questions you can answer are:

What art elements do you see?

How does this piece make you feel?

What ideas do you have about this portrait?

What do you think about the colors?

What do you think Mona Lisa's story is?

"WILD" About Learning!

This year, we are WILD about learning in the 4th and 5th grades!  We each decided to pick an animal and decorate our room around it.  The fourth grade classes are doing zebra themed classrooms.  Mrs. Bentley chose a tiger, Mrs. Blevins a giraffe, and Mrs. Nemeth a panda.  We always have so much fun decorating our rooms! 

Pink & Zebra Classroom 1



   I am also an Independent Creative Partner with Initials Inc, and bought these cute monogrammed containers for my room.  The bottom shelf holds my organizers for centers.  I bought the shelf at Target.  The charts came from Frog Street Press.  I taped a page protector on each one and slide my weekly learning targets in there!

Pink & Zebra Classroom 2


  I love Pinterest!  I made my rules based on someone else's blog post.  I also got the idea to add a floral arrangement from another blog.  Then it took me over an hour to figure out how to cover my calendar/cork board with black fabric and ribbon!  Thankfully Carrie helped me out with that one!


Pink & Zebra Classroom 3

  Another idea I found from Pinterest was using tissue paper as a decoration!  My husband made my alphabet chart for me.  I was also excited to find zebra themed writing process and 6-traits posters!




Pink & Zebra Classroom 4

  This is my Language Arts bulletin board.  I didn't want to use a primary colored pocket chart, so I bought some plastic and stapled it to my bulletin board.  I got the border, letters, and stuff on the right from Frog Street Press.  The flowers are from Initials Inc.  If you are in search of zebra print learning posters, check out the blog Teaching in Flip Flops.





Pink & Zebra Classroom 5

  I was really bummed when I figured out my locker labels were wider than the lockers.  But I improvised and it doesn't look too bad from a distance.  Would you believe the boys don't seem to mind the pink and black?




Pink & Zebra Classroom 6

  I teach 4th grade Arts & Humanities this nine weeks  It's hard to find decorations for this subject, so I improvised.  I did have the record jackets on the wall, but they kept falling down. 




Pink & Zebra Classroom 7



I bought this picture frame at Hobby Lobby.  The glass makes a perfect dry erase surface!  I printed out "Today's Lunch" on scrapbook paper, and placed it in the frame.  Then I accordian folded a small piece of fabric and tied it to the frame with ribbon.  That is my eraser.  Now the kids don't waste time searching for the right week and day on the lunch calendar!









School Supplies

Guess what is on Walmart's shelves?  SCHOOL SUPPLIES!!!  I am mailing my list out to students today.  Parents, when you buy pencils, please get the Ticonderoga brand.  Please, please, please, please.  I know they cost more, but they are worth it.  A child can go through 4 - 5 packs of regular pencils as compared to 1 pack of Ticonderoga pencils.  They just don't break as easily and they sharpen so much better.  You don't know how many times I have to stop teaching to go sharpen a 4th or 5th grader's pencil.  Then we usually end up throwing it away because the lead keeps breaking.  It is very time consuming and takes away from teaching time. 

Other brands I like are Crayola and Fiskars.  I am a little bummed that the Crayola crayons went up in price this year, but I will still buy them for Olivia because they are labeled better.  Some brands' label colors do not match the actual colors of the crayon.  This is confusing for students and may cause them to mess up their work.  Plus Crayola crayons have a smoother finish to them and are less waxy.

Fiskars scissors have better blades.  Some scissors will bend paper or tear it.  Other pairs are hard to open and shut, whereas Fiskars are not.  I really recommend buying these brands just to make school a little easier on your child.  School is hard enough as it is.  Don't make it more frustrating because their pencil keeps breaking or their scissors won't open.  My daughter Olivia gets upset very easily and quickly gives up on challenging tasks.  I know she will never have to worry about the little quirks of her school supplies with Ticonderoga, Crayola, and Fiskars!  

Don't feel obligated to buy these brands.  But I wanted to explain why we tend to put brand specific items on our school supply lists.  They just tend to make the school day a little more easier.  You really will get more out of them for your money!

My First Blog!

Hey!  I'm finally taking a shot at blogging!  I'm not sure if I will even keep up with this, but Pinterest has really inspired me to start a classroom blog.  This will be a site for parents, students, and friends.  I will try my best to keep this site updated for my 4th and 5th grade classes. 

My blog's name kind of sums me up.  Since I'm a  teacher, this blog will focus on "SING", which stands for Standards, Ideas, News, and Goals. I put the lowercase "i" in front because I love technology, hence the play on iPad/iTunes, etc.  Plus I love music and singing off key!   Another thing about me is that I love cake and icing, so I thought this wacky blog name would work great.

I'm getting ready to mail out my "Welcome to 4th Grade" letters!  I am really looking forward to this school year.  I love teaching 4th and 5th grades!