I’m pretty big into DIY lately (Pinterest anyone?!) and a few weeks ago one of my science teachers asked me about document cameras. Immediately I thought: iPad. I knew I had read a blog post somewhere about turning an iPad into a document camera, so I immediately began Google-ing. By the time I got home on Friday I had my list written out for Home Depot and had already roped my dad into agreeing to help me. Here we go:

I used this video to started:

It shows 2 different iPad Document Camera stands…I decided to make them both.
Here is my drawing…I am no artist, but I needed a plan to follow:

My dad cut the grooves in the PVC pipe because he was afraid I would cut my fingers off!

After we got started making the different parts we were like an iPad stand making assembly line.

Here is the iPad stand in action. The base of this one is super sturdy and the iPad fits in there perfectly.

View from below.

This is the “cheaper” stand. It takes up more room on a desk, but it works pretty well.

Another view from below.

I brought the iPad stands in on Monday and gave one to the science teacher and one to my iPad pilot teacher and they were super excited.

While we are talking about document cameras, we are also trying out these babies:

This is the Point2View ($69.00)

And this one is the Ziggi ($89.00)from iPevo. These are inexpensive, USB document cameras that we are considering buying for teachers next year. I have always used ELMO doc cams, but they run between $400-$800 each! Yikes. We bought one of each and we are having teachers try them out to see which one we like better.

Ok, enough document camera for tonight. Anyone else have a doc cam they love? Or have you made your own? Please share!

Is anyone else stressing out about standardized testing? The Education blogosphere is buzzing with opinions about standardized testing as the season of bubble answer documents, #2 pencils and “Shh, We’re Testing” signs is upon us. Regardless of your take on state tests, as teachers we still want our students to do their best, and we certainly don’t want them to be anxious. There are a few things that I do with my kids that help relieve the testing jitters:

We Can Do It! Bulletin Board.

I bought this Rosie the Riveter poster in college and I’ve had it up in my classroom forever. A few years ago I started making “I can do it” posters with my kids’ pictures! I snagged a piece of yellow butcher paper as a background and took a picture of all my kids making a “tough” face and showing off their muscles. Oh my goodness they are so funny:

I created a “I Can Do It” template and inserted all the pictures and printed them out:

Want the template? Okey, dokey, here you go! We Can Do It Template (PowerPoint). We made a grade-level bulletin board in the hallway of our “We Can Do It” pictures:

Super fun and the kids LOVED it! Isn’t that the message you want your kids to remember? I CAN DO IT!

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

I know whenever my students hear the song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” they will think of me! Each day of testing, right before we get started I have the kids take some deep breaths, think about their goals and then we rock out to “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. I mean there is singing, snapping, dancing, and a lot of “Ooooooo, ooooo, ooo, ooooooooooooo’s”. I talk to my kids about how they are ready for the test, to do their best and NOT WORRY. It creates such a positive, fun atmosphere! Warning: You and your students will be singing this under your breath for weeks!

And that goes for teachers too! Testing is stressful for you too, remember what a privilege and blessing it is to teach! Don’t worry, Be Happy!

Yesterday I was an iPad workshop and got to talking with a 4th grade teacher sitting next to me (Don’t you love that about trainings and workshops? You never know you might meet!) As we chatted, somehow I ended up showing her the Christmas Unit that I used every year with my 4th graders. I told her I would email the unit to her…but then I realized that I have never shared it with my fellow Nerdy Teachers. So here you go, Borrow and Share!

Christmas Cranks Unit Plan

This link takes you to my unit plan page. It is designed for 4th grade Reading/Language Arts, but it could certainly be adapted for younger or older students. It also crosses curricular areas because we learn about Victorian England, write a summary and evaluate the movie version of A Christmas Carol.

Other Christmas Carol Links:

1. Charles Dickens Animation
2. Charles Dickens Resources
3. Survive Streets of London Game
4. Victorian Clothing Game
5. Online Book Version (This is not the “easier” student version)
6. Free Audio Version (Story Nory)

Santa Skeletons

As I collected resources for this unit I found this picture from my first year teaching (Check out those computers!). We were finishing up our Human Body unit in science and the skeletons made our classroom look like Halloween instead of Christmas…so we made Santa Skeletons! (Note: Look closely, do you see the Spiderman Skeleton?)

Christmas Book Box

Christmas Book Box: First Year

Here is a bonus idea for you! Every fall I collected high interest books  from Scholastic book orders, Half Price Books, and the Scholastic Warehouse sale and kept them tucked away. Then the week before Christmas break I wrapped a big paper box and put all the books I’d collected in it. I kept it out in my classroom and the kids would go crazy just waiting to see what was in the box! During our Christmas party the kids would get to open the box and explore the new books that were then placed in our classroom library! (So it was a Christmas gift for me too :) I did this every year and it was always a big hit. As I started having siblings of former students they would beg their siblings to tell them what was in the box, but it was kept a big secret…such a fun tradition!

Opening the Christmas Book Box: Fourth Year

Remember a few weeks ago when I said that our kids tend to be low in Graphing, Probability and Statistics? I’ve been doing lots of hands on activities to help my students really understand probability and statistics, here are a couple of the ones that the kids really liked:

Probability Spinner:

I got this idea from superteacherworksheets.com, this is a great website  for 3rd-5th grade math practice. Find the spinner activity here. This is what we did:

We discussed the probability of spinning each color, something we have done lots of times. Red is 4 out of 8, or 4:8, or 4/8, green is 1 out of 8 and so on… They get that, but they don’t “get” what it means. So, we did an experiment. I give the kids spinners and they used a paperclip to see how our probabilities matched up.

The kids worked in partners and spun 32 times, keeping tally of what color the paper clip landed on. They they determined what the actual probability of spinning each color. We compared their outcomes to our original probability and students were able to see that it was pretty close to what we had predicted. By the end of this activity they really “got” that probability is not just a random number that means nothing, it is actually predicting what would happen.

Candy Probability

Another fun activity to learn about probability is the probability of getting the different colors M&Ms. I think they might have liked this one better, mostly because I gave them a cupful of M&Ms :)

Here is the record sheet I made for this activity:

Candy Probability:

• Word
• PDF

Here is what we did:

I gave each student a Dixie cup full of M&Ms (I used to buy the mini bags of MMs, but now I just buy the big bag and use mini cups…way cheaper!) They separated them into colors and counted them.

Then we determined the probabilities and created graphs of the different colors.

You can see this child chose a scale that was too big for his numbers...it was really interesting to see them try to figure it out.

There was lots of learning happening here with probability and graphing. The kids had to reduce their fractions and compare the probabilities. They also had a choose a scale for their graph that worked for the number of M&Ms they had. Hands-on, minds-on!

There you have it! Two hands-on activities that will help kids understand probability and statistics…and give you a little snack (great for a Friday afternoon :)

I wanted to share this April Fools joke that I just played on my 4th graders…

I copied this word find and gave it to them as bell work. I told them since it was Friday I wanted to give them something fun. I also told them whoever got all the words first would get to pick from the treasure box. They all began furiously working…but unbenknowst to them, none of the words on the list were in the word find. Except, of course, the word: APRIL FOOLS.

When they began to get frustrated I told them to “Look harder.” or “Concentrate.” I even had a student say, “Miss, I can only find the word ‘FOOL’” Bahahaha. My co teacher (who was doing the same activity) stopped in to drop something off, and when she heard my kids having trouble said, “I don’t know what the problem is, my class is already done with theirs!” LOL.

Finally, before they reached a breaking point, I told them I would give them a hint and helped them find the “A” in April Fools… they loved it and they are all bringing them home to dupe their families and friends :)

Find the trick puzzles here: http://www.chrisdunmire.com/fun/worlds.hardest.puzzles.shtml

Or download the one I used here: April Fools Puzzle

A few weeks ago I shared about an Alexander Day I had where everything seemed to go wrong…especially a particular science activity. Even though this activity was generally a flop, it was not because it’s not a good activity! It was a flop because I didn’t think through one important detail: styrofoam cups + pointed temperature sensors = big mess! I found this fun activity online here, and I adapted it for my measurement packet:

Other materials:

• temperature sensors–meat thermometers work great. I bought a set on amazon, unfortunately they are no longer available. I bet you could just ask your friends and family to borrow theirs :)
• Plastic Cups–Again, do NOT use Styrofoam cups for this activity! You will have a very soggy mess. (I just thought of it, but it would be cool to get red and blue Solo cups to put the hot and cold water in!)
• Warm and Cold Water

Here’s what we did:

1. Give the kids a cup of hot water and cold water. (remember plastic cups!!)

2. Their task is to mix the hot and cold water until it feels the same as room temperature.

3. After they think they have gotten their water to room temperature, they will use temperature sensors to measure the temperature of the water and air and note the difference. Teacher Tip: In general if the room is cool, their water will be cooler than the air, if the room is warm the water will be warmer than the air.

4. Now they will do the same activity using the temperature sensor to get the water temp to match the air temp.

5. After they have gotten the water to within 1 degree of room temperature, they will feel the water and note whether it feels warmer, colder or the same as the room temperature.

6. When everyone has finished, discuss why it is important that scientists use measurement tools and not just their senses to take measurements.

*Click here to find the rest of the measurement activities!

Since we are looking at measurement in relation to science and social studies, I also incorporated an activity dealing with temperatures around the world. Kids in the upper elementary grades are usually just starting to realize there is a world outside of themselves and they are very interested in learning about other places. When I researched websites for this activity I found the greatest resource: WunderMap. This map tool is so cool! It gives you current temperatures around the world. I used this Weblist to do both of these activities and I also have a video of how to use Wundermaps. Here are the two activities we did with it:

1. Temperatures Around the World.

I listed locations around the world and had the kids predict if they would be hotter or colder than the temperature here. They also had to list a reason for why they thought it would be hotter or colder. Some of their reasons were a little weak, such as “Hotter because China is hotter”, but even I had a hard time explaining my reasoning for my hypothesis!

2. What affects temperature.

The next temperature activity we did was an exploration of what affects world temperatures. For this activity I went over the key vocabulary: equator, coast, and elevation, then I let the kids explore the map again. They had a much more difficult time with this because I didn’t tell them the answer. Do you have this problem with your students? They always want you to tell them the right answer? We are working on “using our brains” to figure things out. It’s a tough lesson–to teach and learn! So anyway, this activity was more frustrating, and when I do it in the future I will preface it more clearly that this is a discovery, they might not discover the right answer, and that’s ok! The next day I went back to the maps and taught a lesson about the equator, coast and elevation. In the end they really “got it” and loved using Wundermaps.

Side note: When we talked about elevation I showed my kids pictures from when I hiked a mountain with my family this summer. I showed them how we had on short sleeves at the bottom, and by the time we got to the top there was snow! They loved this personal connection and if they forget what elevation is, I just say, “Remember when I hiked the mountain…”

ALSO, in our Storyworks magazine this week there was a story about Jordan Romero, the youngest person to climb Mt. Everest and they made the connection to elevation again…so many connections! My kids LOVED this story and there are lots of inspirational videos on YouTube about this amazing kid!

Temperature is a pretty basic form of measurement, we hear about it on a daily basis on the news and weather is a pretty normal subject of conversation. So you would think that kids would have no trouble “getting it”. But there are tricky parts of measuring temperature. For example reading what I’ll call a “red line” thermometer (because I can’t find out what it is actually called) can be really tricky for 4th graders! Also, increasing and decreasing temperatures especially when you are dealing with negative temperatures is very confusing!

When I was at The Dollar Tree a few weeks ago they had garden thermometers,  so I bought one to put outside our building. Now the kids read the thermometer every time they come in the door. “Miss, it’s ___ degrees outside!” is blurted multiple times per day…but they have become very proficient at reading that pesky red line!

So one of the first pages in our Measurement Packet is our Temperature Log:

We also have been graphing the AM and PM temperatures and seeing the differences:

So that is our introduction to temperature! Up next? Temperatures Around the World!

**Click here to see all my measurement activities

Has anyone else noticed that we are at the time of year when the kids need a lot of interaction and motivation to keep working hard?…spring fever has set in hard! A few weeks ago I shared the review game ZAP!, today I’m going to share another game that I named CHAOS! (Hmmm, do all the review games I invent need to be be capitalized with an exclamation point? I guess I want to emphasize how exciting they are :)   I pulled this game out of my bag of tricks this week and I thought I would share with y’all. I have used this game to review in math and to spice up test prep with multiple choice questions. Ps: Don’t try this game if you aren’t willing to put up with a little CHAOS!

Here is how it works:

1. I make sets of cards with questions on them–I usually make 4 of each card like this:

2. I print them out on card stock and laminate them…or you could just print them out and have the kids do the work on another sheet of paper.

3. Then I put each stack of questions on a desk or table:

4. Next, put kids into teams…I put them into 3-4 groups and then have each team break into partners. So each team will be working together for points, but will be working in pairs.

5. Start each pair with different cards, for example one pair gets card #1, another team gets card #2 etc… then it’s ready, set, go! Everybody starts working on their problem:

6.When they finish with their first card they bring it up to me and I check it:

7. If they are correct they get to go to the SMARTBoard and roll the dice. Whatever number they get is how many points they add to their team:

*Don’t have an Interactive Whiteboard? No problem, just use a regular dice and have the kids write their total on the board!

8. Then they put their card back on the stack, get the next number and keep going until time is up!

9. At the end of the game we add up all the numbers and dub a winner… the nice thing about this game is it has a lot of skill and little luck!

The game usually takes about 15 minutes of intense activity, but the kids are super engaged and there is tons of learning going on! During this particular game of CHAOS! I heard these comments: “Wait, it says perimeter, do we need to add or multiply?”, “Is customary inches or centimeters?”, “Check the math chart for how many centimeters is in a meter!”, “Miss O said that when it’s a square we can multiply the sides by 4, right?” Trust me, I can’t inspire that kind of math thinking…but a little bit of CHAOS! goes a long way.

Here are some resources and ideas:

Download my Perimeter and Area CHAOS! game here:  PDF Publisher

Download my CHAOS Scoreboard for SMARTBoard here: Score Board (Chaos)

You can certainly play this game without a SMARTBoard, just use a regular dice and whiteboard…I played this game all the time pre-interactive whiteboard :)

Other CHAOS games:

• Multiplication Word Problems:  PDF Word
• Multi-Step Word Problems:  PDF Word
• 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication: PDF Word
• Long Division: PDF Word

Make your own CHAOS game: CHAOS Template

*Pssst check out other games I’ve posted about here

In 4 days my little authors will take their standardized writing test. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that I’m not a huge fan of standardized testing…I know it’s necessary to hold teachers and schools accountable, but my kids get so nervous and they have worked so hard!  I could not be prouder of my class and I want them to feel empowered and confident about taking their writing test.

Enter: Warm-Up 4 Writing! For the past month we have been doing Warm-Up 4 Writing each Wednesday  to get our kids ready for the TAKS test. As you know we have been doing Writers Workshop this year, but my students still need to be able to crank out a composition in response to a prompt on test day. So each Wednesday we do a practice prompt to get them ready. We call it Warm-Up 4 Writing and we try to make it fun and exciting…my team even bought matching jogging suits and headbands :)

My team! The first day we did this we played Jock Jams, had our kids stretch and dance...it was so fun!

Only the nerdiest of teachers would wear these outfits every week, right? The funny thing is, we have started a Warm-Up 4 Writing craze at school! Over half the teachers have gotten the jogging suits…do you think it is enthusiasm for writing or because they can wear basically pajamas to work once a week? ;) We also have a school wide writing prompt that we call “Golden Pencil”, more about that another day!

Anyway, as the test approached we decided our kids needed a little incentive so we bought our whole grade level headbands and let them decorate them! They were hilarious and very creative with their decorating:

So there ya go, Warm-Up 4 Writing rocks the 4th grade! The kids really loved it and they are super pumped for their big test…and then it will be back to Writer’s Workshop!