Contractions

Today in class, I gave each student an index card that had a contraction or the two words that make up a contraction.  The students had to quietly walk around the room and find their partner.  When they found their partner, they had to do a little hand clap that I showed them.  The students really enjoyed moving around the room, finding their partners, and performing the hand clap.   Does anyone have any other ideas for quick and easy contraction review activities? (or antonym/synonym ones)

Benchmark Tests

Testing, testing, testing! Oh, the testing! I feel that too much pressure is put on teachers and students in education today.  I have to give my students their Reading benchmark tomorrow morning, and I pray that they will do well.  We did a practice this week and some kids really struggled. I hope they will use the testing strategies we discussed and apply them to their test tomorrow. I can only hope...

Technology

Technology is so important in today's world! Teachers have so many opportunities to use technology in their classrooms...it's just a matter of us taking the time to research and discover things.  With that being said, if anyone has any ideas for third grade activities for incorporating technology into reading or math, please feel free to share! :)

Search Engines

In David Warlick's Redefining Literacy 2.0, he discusses the use of search engines.  I often use search engines but have never really thought about the process that goes on.  I just type in what I'm looking for and then look through the various links that it brings up.  There's a quote on page 35 that says, "The true intelligence of the World Wide Web is between your ears."  This quote is absolutely true.  If you take the time to use the internet, you can find so many resources that can be used in your classroom.  All you have to do is look for them!