September 25, 2016
The week before last we had a full moon.  It showed all around the school.  I was so ready for the weekend.  This past Friday afternoon at 2:45 our kindergartners had their annual Teddy Bear Parade. At 9:15 AM the assistant principal announced during the morning announcements that the parade would be at 2:45.  My students went berserk with excitement. Only, they misunderstood and thought the assistant principal had said 10:45 AM.  So, at 10:45, several students interrupted class to announce that it was 10:45 and that we all needed to go sit in the hallway for the parade. How much learning do you think really took place from 9:15 to 10:45 in anticipation of this event?  Hmm.  I had to break it to them that the parade would be at 2:45. Disappointed, they went back to work.

At 2:45, our class has specials.  We were on the way when we heard clapping in the near distance.  Here comes the parade, the little cherubs pulling their sweet little stuffed animals in or on adorable homemade parade floats.  They parade up and down each hall in the building.  Precious.  Absolutely precious.  All of the other kids sat lined along the walls in the halls and clapped in admiration as the little tykes showed off their toys. Thankfully, I wasn't one of the teachers who had to teach for that last 45 minutes of the day.  Thankfully, it was my planning time-2:45 on Friday afternoon.

I made the 3rd vocabulary development activity using prefixes.  This time the prefix is "a-" with three different meanings.

Click here to buy this activity. I included a page of the words and the headings for a word sort, but I think I'm not going to use the sorting activity this time.  The sort is typically by the different prefixes.  This time there is only one prefix and the sort is by meaning.  The kids would not be able to do the sort unless there is a direct instruction lesson or they know the meanings of the words already.  This time, I'm going to have the kids do the puzzles first and concurrently fill out the word chart with the word, the prefix and its meaning, the base word, and the definition.  After that, they can use their word charts with definitions to help them complete the fill-in-the-blank sentences activity. It is my hope that between the definitions on the chart and the context clues in the sentences, students will be successful with this activity.

You can try a similar prefix activity for free by clicking here.  Try it out and let me know what you think.

Happy Teaching!
~Gwen

9-17-16
Teachers Pay Teacher Store Opening!

I am excited to share that I have opened my TPT store for Full Moons and Friday Afternoons. Click here: Full Moons and Friday Afternoons TPT Store .  The first activity I posted is a sample pack for 3rd grade morphology, prefixes il, im, in, and ir. Check it out for free!

Before beginning my mini-lesson, I prepared a chart with words that I planned to use to introduce these prefixes.  As we discussed each prefix, I added the appropriate prefixes, in a different color, to the words, discussing the chameleon prefixes im, il, and ir.  I wanted the children to see the distinction of the prefixes and the words.  So many times when they are reading and come to an unfamiliar long word, they try to guess the word rather than chunking it up. This is the reason I included the activity in which the students have to break apart the prefix from the word.

Chart for Mini-Lesson

After the mini-lesson, students worked in groups to assemble the words on a puzzle mat.

Assembling the Word  Puzzle

The first trial of this activity did not include the fill in the blank sentences or the "definition in your own words" section on the chart.  It was "Back to School" night and I didn't have any student work posted on the hall wall.  Quickly I pulled out some construction paper and drew grids with the following headings:  "word, prefix, base word, definition, definition in my own words".  As students entered the classroom that morning, I put them in groups of fours, gave them a word puzzle, and had them work on completing their chart.  The result is the work that went on the hallway wall. From that experience, I developed the chart to be a component in their interactive notebooks.

Making Morphology Chart

I actually thought about the "definition in your own words" first, but then realized that without context, students wouldn't know how to construct their own meaning.  Even if we used the words in sentences orally, there would be some with whom the meaning would not stick.  Out of this realization was born the idea of the fill in the blank sentences with context clues.  Students have to underline clue words in the sentences that help them decide which affixed word to use to complete the sentences.

In the regular sized packs, there are 24 words for each lesson.  Depending on your students, you may want to spread the lesson over 2 or 3 weeks instead of doing everything in one week. Available now:  Prefix Puzzlers il, im, in, ir and Prefix Puzzlers non, dis, un.  Stop on by my TPT store to check them out!

Happy Teaching!
~Gwen

Welcome!

Welcome to Full Moons and Friday Afternoons, an account of the goings-on in my third grade classroom-the good, the bad, the ugly-well, maybe not so much the ugly.  I've been teaching since 1988, but this is the first year I've taught third grade. There will be learning moments, trials, triumphs, and disappointments. 

We teachers do what we do because we love what we do. Three days of chaos, then it hits us.  How could we not have realized it sooner?  We know, without a calendar, when the full moon is nigh. Yet amid the monthly ritual of craziness, we persevere in our quest to nurture and educate.  I want to share my journey through third grade through "Full Moons and Friday Afternoons" in hopes that you will be entertained and maybe even be inspired.  

Being new to a grade level means I don't have lots of "stuff", you know, center activities, anchor charts, words for a 3rd grade word wall, etc.... I have been perusing Teachers Pay Teachers and have found some wonderful things to get me started.  I, too, like creating fun things for my students and as we begin new units of study, I will be sharing.  

In the meantime, if you have needs for K-2 math activities, hop on over to my Primary Mathemagic TPT store and check it out. Happy Teaching!

~Gwen