Life In Teacherapolis

Big news from last night. Amazing celebrations today with the most wonderful work besties and treated by

2020-2021 : the year of taking every opportunity for a Mask-off break ❤️

What a wild ride! My class is being spaced out between two rooms this year, but lucky me - I have a little door in between the two rooms! Next week starts the beginning of a crazy year ahead!

Just a friendly reminder 😊

Over the course of each school year, our class becomes a little family. Twenty-two of us this year have gone through the ups and downs of third grade together.. Filled with fights and squabbles, but also kindness and appreciation for one another. Just one week into our separation, and it’s clear that this crew adores and misses each other terribly. I’m thankful we have access to the technology that can bring us together, even while we are apart. This situation is a real gut-punch and true testament to why I love my job so much. I’m incredibly thankful I got to “meet” up with some of my kids today and loved spending time hearing about their days and seeing what they’re up to at home. Cheers to brighter days ahead and more meetings soon! ❤️

These are great!

Talk to Kids About Coronavirus: Help them Manage Worries wondering how to talk to your kids about coronavirus and help them manage their worries? Here are 15 things we can do to help them deal!

When you get to sit back, sip coffee, and watch your kiddos learn about something new! Art Adventure with an awesome parent volunteer leading for the win!

New month, new set of books on display. February is FILLED with tons of different themes, and I love giving my kiddos an opportunity to pick up and read different kids of books!

Today we had a school-wide read aloud and project for our Spirit Week! We read “Cool Beans” by Jory John, a story about friendship, compassion and helping others. Afterward we discussed the book and made our own special beans. Such a fun way to spend our afternoon!

We loved celebrating and honoring Martin Luther King Jr by making collages at Craft Club this week! ☮️❤️✏️✂️

Modeling is an amazing opportunity to teach children (as parents, teachers, and just as a human in general), since they are ALWAYS watching and emulating those they look up to in their lives.

I try to model some of these examples in the classroom, and hope parents are willing to do the same at home.

Nice, quick read for your Wednesday!

Want to Raise Well-Adjusted Children? Psychology Says Let Them See You Doing These 10 Things This powerful parenting advice puts the 'show' in show and tell.

Yesterday, I had a few kids absent and a couple different pullout groups going on, so I had less than half my normal class size. The kiddos that were in my room finished their MLKjr activities and then asked to play “teacher.” How can you say no to that!? 💙📚🍎

Every December, my kiddos pick the name of a classmate, and make/buy an ornament for them. They learn all about their “Advent Angel” and do an incredible job and giving something special. It’s pure joy watching them open their gifts one by one, excited for what each of their classmate has gotten. It melts my heart! ❤️🎄🎁

Annual Hot Cocoa Bar after a successful Christmas Program last week!

Life In Teacherapolis updated their business hours.

We spent some time in Social Studies putting our learning about Landforms into action!
Volcanos and mountains and oceans, OH MY! 🌋🏔🏜🏝🗺

Flashback to Friday, when we had our first TASTE of division... and it tasted like goldfish delicious! Before starting up in our curriculum, we spent a math block exploring the concepts of division, creating equal groups and making connections to multiplication. It took a day out of our book work, but it helped start us off on the right foot!

Happy World Kindness Day! What are YOU doing to make this world a little more KIND?

Discovery Club welcomed a 3M wizard yesterday! He taught us about the science of sound through many different experiments, and then we made our own little sound machines!

Life In Teacherapolis updated their website address.

I’m so proud of my crusaders! This was our 3rd Grader’s 5th annual Sock Drive, and we had an awesome turnout, with almost 500 donations. 🧦🧦🧦

This week was our first session of Discovery Club, and today we mined for chocolate chips! This is an after-school club for 2nd-4th graders that meets once a week, and is focused around STEM. Today we learned about non-renewable resources and found out what it is like to mine for minerals, and the effects it has on the land and the other resources around them. Bonus points that everyone got a cookie to eat at the end! 🍪⚒👷🏼‍♀️

This past week we read “Pop’s Bridge” for LA, a story whose narrator is a boy who’s dad helped build the Golden Gate Bridge. We then put our STEM caps on, learned about how bridges are built, what makes bridges strong, and then put our learning into action! It was a blast testing out our different bridges, and a great way to enhance the story of the week! 🌉

I love finding any excuse to ramp up a lesson and find a way to get my kiddos extra excited about learning. Talking about persuasion, I gave my student an opportunity to try and convince me of what my Halloween costume should be. The results are hysterical every year, and the kids love getting the chance to be creative! 👻🎃🦄👑🐼🍌🏈🍟🔮🧹🦉

If you ever have an opportunity to hand your camera over to your kiddos (and trust them to not do any damage) DO IT! Every year, K-3rd grade does a ”mini-marathon” to celebrate our school and all the great families and people who make our community so special. We walk through our neighborhood, and I always pass my phone along to a couple of trusting kiddos to take pictures. They turned out adorable and I got candid pictures of most of my kids- instead of just those who were walking right by me! Not to mention, Ms G gets to be in a couple for once! 📸🎈🚶🏽‍♀️☺️

This is called tricking your students into learning 😍 Fortune tellers to practice vocab this week was a blast!

Field Trips are a great opportunity to see students’ personalities shine. They come out of their shell and make new connections with their peers. We took a trip to Historic Fort Snelling on Friday, and it was a day filled with excitement, huge smiles, goofy faces and tons of learning. We love field trips! ❤️📚 @ Historic Fort Snelling

We had Meet the Teacher Night yesterday, and this is one of my favorite parts! Of course, I love chatting with families- but it’s so sweet to see parents walk in to find a note left for them, and then they write a letter back for the kiddos to find in their desks the next morning. Third graders have such sweet souls