End of The Year Project

The big standardized test is over. (Everyone breathe a sigh of relief with me). :)

Now it's time for my kiddos to take their skills and practice being the teacher for a change!!
Each of my students has picked a TEK from this year (except my special education students who are getting to pick a TEK from other grade levels that they have mastered).
They are expected to do a presentation on this TEK, create a visual, make an activity for the class to do to practice the TEK, and write a "how to" paper about the TEK and the real world application.

So far my kiddos have been really excited about it. They're happy for the opportunity to show off their abilities. Plus it's nice to get a chance to be creative!
One of my students even said yesterday, "Aw, I don't want to go to specials. I want to keep working on my project."
I've had several students ask me if they can work on it at home. (Beams with pride).

Shout out to Ms. Richardson who came up with the idea and shared it with me!

Here is the rubric I created:

Rubric

Visual- 20 points total

Name and Date	5 points
Spelling, No Mistakes	5 points
Use of at least 3 vocabulary words that match TEK	5 points
Easy to understand	5 points

Demonstration- 30 points total

Professionalism (dressed appropriately, not giggling)	10 points
Engaging, interesting	10 points
Between 5-10 minutes	10 points

Activity- 20 points total

Matches TEK	10 points
Word Problems and Number Sentences	10 points

Written Report- 30 points total

At least ½ page typed, 12 size font	10 points
Explains “How to”	5 points
Examples of when to use it in real life	5 points
Words spelled correctly, correct punctuation and grammar	10 points

Carnival and field trip

We've been having a great time at school these days and I wanted to share a few pictures.

We had our school carnival (with wittle baby bunnies!!) as well as a field trip to see The Monkey Kingdom. 

Lightbot

http://www.willamette.edu/~fruehr/141/light-bot.html

Dr. Dower came in and showed us a really great website. :)

Vocabulary

Our big test is tomorrow so I wanted to play a vocabulary game with my kiddos.
I made a power point with the major words from this year. Each slide had 9 words.

There are different rounds.
1- Describe the word.
2- Act out the word
3- Draw the word

Kids take turns going up there and the other students have to guess which word they picked. It's really fun and a great way to interact with those vocab words.

Game

I created this math jeopardy game for my fourth graders:

http://jeopardylabs.com/play/fourth-grade-math60

Geometry

Geometry is so much fun. It's an opportunity to get away from the numbers and into the shapes and visuals. For some of my students, it's a much needed break from multiplication and division. However, without the right tools... geometry just isn't as much fun!
Thankfully, my donors at Donors Choose came in and I now have some awesome graph paper, legos, and geoboards!! :)

Here are the TEKS for geometry in fourth grade:

Geometry and measurement. The student applies mathematical process standards to analyze geometric attributes in order to develop generalizations about their properties. The student is expected to:

(A)  identify points, lines, line segments, rays, angles, and perpendicular and parallel lines;

(B)  identify and draw one or more lines of symmetry, if they exist, for a two-dimensional figure;

(C)  apply knowledge of right angles to identify acute, right, and obtuse triangles; and

(D)  classify two-dimensional figures based on the presence or absence of parallel or perpendicular lines or the presence or absence of angles of a specified size.

Shout out to my assistant principal for coming up with the idea (and tape) to put in my hallway. We made different polygons and the kiddos had to describe them to the best of their ability with as many details as possible. See an example of what one kiddo said below: