Student Council Treasurer Poster Ideas

Just thought I would share these ideas for posters to make if you are running for student council treasurer. My daughter had worked really hard on these and thought they deserved more recognition.

20 - 3rd Grade Level AR Books About Birthdays

It was just my son's birthday recently! So, let's check out what books are out there at the 3rd grade level about birthdays. He's only a 1st grader, but is a very good reader. Both my kids are. Proud mama!


3.1
A Hat for Ivan by Max Lucado
Happy Birthday to You! by Dr. Suess

3.2
The Meanest Birthday Girl by Josh Schneider
Three Cheers for Catherine the Great by Cari Best

3.3
Happy Birthday by Gail Gibbons
Happy Birdday Tacky by Helen Lester
Scaredy Squirrel has a Birthday Party by Melanie Watt

3.4
Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School by David Mackintosh
Martha Moth Makes Socks by Cambria Evans

3.5
Angelina's Perfect Party by Katharine Craig
Lyle and the Birthday Party by Bernard Waber

3.6
A Birthday for Frances by Russell Hoban
Cam Jansen and the Birthday Mystery by David Adler
The Matau by Eric Walters

3.7 
Happy Birthday Mallory by Laurie Friendman

3.8
Moira's Birthday by Robert Munsch
The Foot Stomping Adventures of Clementine Sweet by Kitty Griffin
Under the Same Sun by Sharon Robinson

3.9
Over and Over by Charlotte Zolotow
The Princess and Her Pets by Angela Kanter

Halloween STEM Sculpture Activity for Kids

Aldi's sell these fun bags of Halloween Shapes (pumpkins and ghosts). Encourage kids to build a sculpture using regular mini marshmallows and these other holiday shapes. Have them problem solve how they can use these shapes that are different sizes on different ways and how they make have to change their design (especially if they have done this project with only mini marshmallows)/

I had bagged up the marshmallows in individual bags for each of the kids in my daughters classroom. We did this project 2 years ago and I just now got around to sharing it. :( Sorry I don't have sculptures to show you, but it was really fun when they had to try to figure out how to work with what they had and with the odd shapes. Makes them think!

Teacher Appreciation Gift Idea #3: FREE Printable Fill-In Paper About Teacher

I made both of these for my kids to fill out for their teachers. Feel free to print them off and use for the special teachers in your kids' lives. Even though teacher appreciation week is coming to a close, there are still these last days of school to let a teacher know that they made a difference.

Gifts don't all have to cost money. Gifts that come from the heart will mean even more than another coffee mug. I also like to send an email to the principal letting him know what I appreciate about each one of the teacher's my kids have. I know he appreciates hearing it and sends on the info to those teachers.

16 Accelerated Reader Books About 4th Grade

3.3
Fire Up with Reading by Toni Buzzeo
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
Who's Afraid of Fourth Grade by Nancy Krulik

3.7
Betsy and the Boys by Carolyn Hayward
School Trouble for Andy Russell by David Adler

3.9
Miss Matched by Shawn Stout
The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School by Candace Fleming
The Secret's Out by Kim Wayans

4.1
Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally) by Lisa Yee

4.3
Penelope Crumb Never Forgets by Shawn Stout

4.4
Clementine and the Spring Trip by Sara Pennypacker

4.5
Dilly for President by Cynthia Copeland
Step Fourth, Mallory by Laurie Friedman

4.6
Help! Somebody Get Me Out of Fourth Grade by Henry Winkler

4.8
Rules, Tools, and Maybe a Bully by Rachel Vail

5.1
Rosie Swanson: Fourth Grade Geek for President by Barbara Park

20 - 5th Grade AR Books about The Planets and Space

5.0
Earth's Crust and Core by Amy Bauman
The Sun by Paulette Bourgeois

5.1
Discovering Mars by Melvin Berger
Jupiter by Larry Brimner
Why Does the Earth Spin? By Mary Kay Carson

5.2
Planet Earth by Steve Potts
Saturn by Steve Potts

5.3
Dwarf Planet by Susan Ring
Laika: First Dog in Space by Joeming Dunn
Mercury by Susan Ring
Venus by Steve Potts
What if We Lived on Another Planet? by Olive MacDonald

5.4
Jupiter by Steve Potts

5.5
Neptune by Steve Potts
Pluto by Steve Potts

5.6
Mars by Steve Potts
Space by James Harrison

5.7
The Earth in Space by Peter Riley

5.8
Albert II: First Monkey in Space by Joeming Dunn

5.9
Mercury by Steve Potts

10 Fourth Grade Level AR Books for Easter

I have compiled a list of 10 Accelerated Reader Books that are at the 4th Grade Level that are Easter themes, plus a bonus 5th grade level one. I did not include anything that was the about the history or traditions and I also did not include anything that was religious.

4.0
Peter Cottontail is on His Way by Andrea Posner
Rachenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco

4.1
Angelina and the Easter Bonnet by Katharine Holabird
Racing for Birdman by Katrina O'Neill
The Bunny Who Found Easter by Charlotte Zolotow
The Easter Bunny That Ate my Sister by Dean Marney

4.2
Gordon's Great Escape by Astrid Lindgren

4.4
Nibble O'Hare by Betty Paraskevas

4.5
The Country Bunnies and the Little Golden Shoes by Du Bose Keyward

4.6
Winnie the Pooh's Easter by Bruce Talkington

BONUS!!!!

5.0
The Easter Cat by Meinert De Jong

12 - 4th & 5th Grade Level AR Books About Birthdays

My son's birthday is tomorrow! So, let's get our READING on!!!!

4.0
A Party for Papa Luis by Diane Bertrand
Saturn for my Birthday by John McGrnaghan
Wish Upon a Party by Phoebe Bright

4.1
11 Birthdays by Wendy Maas
The Surprise Party by Linda Chapman

4.4
A Toad for Tuesday by Russell Erickson
Cherry the Cake Fairy by Daisy Meadows

4.6
Lila and Myla: The Twins Fairies by Daisy Meadows
Mallory's Super Sleepover by Laurie Friedman

4.7
Skateboard Party by Karen English

5.2
Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry

5.7
Bernadette and the Lunch Bunch by Susan Glickman

25 - 4th Grade AR Books about The Planets & Space

AR Books about The Planets and Space

4.0
Earth's Crust by Conrad Storad
Mars: The Red Planet by Patricia Demuth
Planet by Melvin Berger
Rocky Planet by Kyla Steinkraus
Saturn for My Birthday by John McGranaghan

4.1
Eclipses by Nick Hunter
Greetings from Planet Earth by Barbara Kerley

4.2
Exploring Exoplanets by Deborah Kops
Meet the Planet by John McGranaghan
Our Solar System by Amanda Davis

4.3
Saturn by Susan Ring
Space by Chris Oxlade

4.4
Earth by Susan Ring
Uranus by Susan Ring

4.5
Giant Gas Planet by Kyla Steinkraus
Solar System by Sue Hamilton
Uranus by Larry Brimner

4.6
Earth's Layers by Jason Nemeth
Neptune by Larry Brinmer
Neptune by Susan Ring

4.7
Jupiter by Susan Ring

4.8
Saturn by Larry Brimner

4.9
Planet by Lynda Sorenson
Pluto by Larry Brimner
What's So Special About Planet Earth by Robert Wells

Crystals Experiment in the Classroom

I did this experiment at home a couple years ago, and then again this year with my kids. But I took it a step further this time and did it on a larger scale with each of my kids' classes.

You can see the original experiment to make snowflake crystals in this post and read all the directions there, but basically you need a ratio of 1:4 or borax to hot water.

I used a plastic shoe box and filled it with 12 Cups of boiling water and 3 Cups of borax. We were able to hang lay 11 rulers across the top to hang the creations with (I used ornament hooks to hang them) and we did place a label with each child's name on the ruler.

And then in my daughter's classroom I did read the book Crystals by Connor Dayton, which is a 5.0 Level Accelerated Reader book, worth .5 points. It was above the level of many of the kids in there when I did this with her class in 3rd grade, but it really helped introduce a lot of concepts to them and think about all the crystals they see every day.

Easy Strawberry Art Project and AR Book Freckleface Strawberry

I did this during this past school year with my daughter's class. Our high school was putting on the musical of Freckleface Strawberry and I wanted the kids to know the story and get excited about seeing the play. Her classmates love when I comes in and read to them (even if the book is below their grade level) and I am pretty sure they love it even more then I bring in a project for them.

To make these strawberries I just created a couple of templates so that those who wanted to trace the shape construction paper could. I cut up green construction paper in to squares (6 per strawberry) and rectangles (1 for the stem) in advance. To make the seeds, I just gave them q-tips and a little black tempera paint.

It was a relatively quick project, but it was fun for them and I think make the book and musical even more meaningful for them.

#ad Review: Space Scouts Kids Subscription Service

Are your kids complaining of summer boredom yet?

Do you want to provide your children with continued learning this summer to help prevent summer slide?

Then you may want to check out Space Scouts Subscription Service, which is geared towards school-age children. They are the same company that also brought you Animals Trackers, which is a subscription program geared towards the preschool-age.

This top photo shows everything that is included in the 1st 2 MONTHS! I have the packages separated below so you can see what to expect each month. Each month will have some similar things (puzzle cards, constellation cards, and worksheets) that they can continue to collect and learn about new items each month.

This one is the first month. It includes our solar system map, a metal lunchbox for storing everything in neat;y and wiki stix to do an activity project with. The rest of the items are the ones I mentioned above that are similar each month.

I know this picture says you get it for $10 a week if you order by May 31st, but they still have that special pricing on their website.

The first month will arrive in a box because of the size of the lunch box, but after that you will get packages like this one filled with your items.

This is the second month. In addition to the similar items listed above, it also includes a claw grabber (for moon rock collection or just annoying your siblings), space scout magnets and plastic figurines of astronauts.

I had my kids share this package, which they have learned to do with minimal squabbles about who gets to do what. I think it helped that I got 2 months at once.

From what I can see by what they sent me in each package, I think the $10/week price tag is well worth the value of the items in them and the knowledge that they are acquiring. Also, my kids really enjoyed this program. Plus, I like to have a break from planning out projects and activities for them.

BUY SPACE SCOUTS TODAY!

I was sent the above items to review on this blog. No monetary compensation was received. All thoughts, opinions and photographs belong to this blog.

15 - 3rd grade Accelerated Readers Books about the Garden

3.0
Mrs. Spitzer's Garden by Edith Pattou

3.2
Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin

3.3
Little Sweet Potato by Amy Bloom
The Boy in the Garden by Allen Say
Tiny Green Thumbs by C Z Guest

3.4
Grow Your Own Butterfly Farm by John Malam
Plant a Little Seed by Bonnie Christensen

3.5
Eddie's Garden and How to Make Things Grow by Sarah Garland
What on Earth is a Green Garden? by Oona Gardner-Juntti

3.7 
How Groundhog's Garden Grew by Lynne Cherry
Pomelo Begins to Grow by Ramona Badescu
The Vegetable Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta

3.8 
Digging up Trouble by Kim Wayans

3.9
Examining Backyard Habitats by Zelda King
Mossy by Jan Brett

Wordless Wedneday: Egg & Vinegar Science Experiment

This would be totally fun to do for an April Fools' Prank. Tell your Kids that you are magic and you can remove the egg shell without cracking the egg. They won't believe you, but in 2 days you will show them just how magical you are.

Start with an egg straight from the refrigerator

The shell is calcium carbonate (base)

Get some vinegar (acid) too

Put egg in a glass of vinegar

Watch the reaction start

After 1 Day

The bubbles are carbon dioxide that is released as a result of the reaction

The broken down shells will be the white foam on the top

After 2 Days

The shell is completely gone and what is left is the thin membrane around the egg

50 Third Grade Level Easter AR Books

I have compiled a list of 50 Accelerated Reader Books that are at the 3rd Grade Level that are Easter themes. I did not include anything that was the about the history or traditions and I also did not include anything that was religious.


3.0
Corduroy's Easter Party by Don Freeman
Panda's Easter Basket by Tara Morrow
Piggy Bunny by Rachel Vail
The Easter Egg Farm by Mary Auch
The Great Easter Egg Hunt by Michael Garland
The Little Gray Bunny by Barbara McGrath
Who Hid the Easter Eggs? by Pirkko Vainio

3.1
Bunny Trouble by Hans Wilhem
Duck's Easter Egg Hunt by Dawn Richards
Hopper's Easter Surprise by Katherin Siegentahler
Little Bunny's Easter Surprise by Jeanne Modesitt
Peter Cottontail and the Great Mitten Hunt by Laura Norton
The Dumb Bunnies' Easter by Dav Pilkey

3.2 
Easter Showers by June Eding
Easter Surprise by Amy Ackelsberg
Hide, Easter Bunny, Hide by Udo Weigelt
Marley and the Great Easter Egg Hunt by John Grogan
The Big Bunny and the Easter Eggs by Steven Kroll
The Easter Beagle Returns by Alice Alfonsi

3.3
Easter Bunny, Are You for Real? by Harold Myra
Easter Egg Hunt by Sierra Harimann
Easter Egg-Travaganza by Jenne Simon
Humbug Rabbit by Lorna Balian
The Berenstain Bears and the Easter Parade by Mike Berenstain
The Big Bunny and the Magic Show by Steven Kroll
The Easter Bunny Battle by Molly Stewart
The Night Before Easter by Natasha Wing

3.4
Cranberry Easter by Wende Devlin
Dora's Easter Bunny Adventure by Veronica Paz
Easter in Harwick by W. Awdry
Teddy's Easter Secret by Gerlinde Wiencirz

3.5
Hernri, Egg Artiste by Marcus Pfister
It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown by Justine Fontes
The Berenstain Bears' Easter Surprise by Stan and Jan Berenstain
The Best Easter Eggs Ever by Jerry Smath
The Easter Egg by Jan Brett
The Easter Ribbit by Bernice Chardiet

3.6
Chicks Versus Bunnies by Kirsten Mayer
The Biggest Easter Basket Ever by Steven Kroll
The Easter Rabbit's Parade by Lois Lenski
The Story of the Easter Bunny by Katherine Tegen

3.7
Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco
Olivia and the Easter Egg Hunt by Cordelia Evans
The Little Rabbit by Judy Dunn

3.8
Peter Rabbit's Happy Easter by Grace Maccarone
The Easter Egg Haunt by Tom Stone

3.9
The Berenstain Bears and the Real Easter Eggs by Jan and Stan Berenstein
The Easter Bunny that Overslept by Priscilla Friedrich (revised edition is 3.3)
The Grumpy Easter Bunny by Justine Korman

17 St. Patrick's Day Accelerated Reader Books for 3rd and 4th Graders

This time I thought I would read my daughter's class a book that is between 3.5-4.5, but I did include a couple of bonus ideas of a 4.6 level books. Just a little something for me to remember to request when she is in 4th grade and if I am reading to her class then. I thought this might be a good list to work from next year as well. If you noticed in my Valentine book list, I try to stay away from books that are about the history and customs of a holiday. While these are good learning books, it is usually a lot of information to have to retain and I would rather set the kids up to succeed to be able to take their tests and get good scores.

3.5
Dear Mr. Leprechaun: Letters from my First Friendship by Martin Burton
The Leprechaun in the Basement by Kathy Tucker
The Leprechaun Who Lost His Rainbow by Sean Callahan
Shannon and the World's Tallest Leprechaun by Sean Callahan
St. Patrick's Day from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler

3.7
Clever Tom and the Leprechaun: An Old Irish Story by Linda Shute

3.8
Luckiest Leprechaun by Justine Korman
The Story of the Leprechaun by Katherine Tegen

3.9
The Leprechaun's Gold by Pamela Edwards
The Luck of the Irish by Brendan Paulsen

4.0 
Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato by Tomie De Paola

4.1
Mary McLean and the St. Patrick's Day Parade by Steven Kroll
The Leprechaun Under the Bed by Teresa Bateman

4.2
Leprechauns Never Lie by Lorna Bailan

4.4
A Fin St. Patrick's Day by Susan Wojciechowski

4.5 
Fiona's Luck by Teresa Bateman
Leprechaun Gold by Teresa Bateman

BONUS IDEAS!
4.6
Traveling Tom and the Leprechaun by Teresa Bateman
The Ring of Truth by Teresa Bateman

40 Ideas for Valentine Accelerated Reader Books for 3rd Grade

I developed this list because my daughter is in 3rd grade and I volunteer in her classroom for a couple hours every week. Sometimes I do projects I have planned with them, and other times I bring in an Accelerated Reader (AR) book that I will read to them and they can take a test to help them make their AR goals and much of the time I am there to listen to them read to me or help them with some homework. I thought if I started to develop a list this would be helpful to other parents and teachers looking for book ideas. I only have enough time to read them a .5 book, so that is why I developed my list as such. I am sure I will be happy I made this list when my son is at this reading level.

3.0
Cranberry Valentine by Wende Devlin
Monster Boy's Valentine by Carl Emerson
Nate the Great and the Mushy Valentine by Marjorie Sharmat
Panda's Valentine Day by Tara Morrow
The Biggest Valentine Ever by Steven Kroll
The Very Fairy Princess Follows Her Heart by Julie Andrews
Will You Be My Valentine? by Steven Kroll

3.1
Happy Valentine's Day, Miss Hildy! by Lois Grambling
Love Splat by Rob Scotton
The Best Valentine in the World by Marjorie Sharmat
Valentine's Day from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler

3.2
Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine by Herman Parish
Happy Valentine's Day Delores by Barbard Samuels
Ruby Save Valentine's Day by Laurie Friedman
Spongebob's Secret Valentine by David Lewman
The Ballad of Valentine by Alison Jackson
The Berenstain Bears' Funny Valentine by Stan Berenstain
The Valentine Express by Nancy Wallace
Triplet Trouble and the Red Heart Race by Debbie Dadey
Valentine's Day in Vicarstown by W. Awdry

3.3
Four Valentines in a Rainstorm by Felcia Bond
Love and Kisses Eloise by Marc Cheshire
Love Ruby Valentine by Laurie Friedman
Olivia and the Perfect Valentine by Natalie Shaw
Queen of Hearts by Mary Engelbreit
The Night Before Valentine's Day by Natasha Wing
The Valentine's Day Mix-Up by Amy Ackelsberg

3.4
A Charlie Brown Valentine by Charles Schultz
Pink of Hearts by Victoria Kann
Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane deGroat
Snowy Valentine by David Petersen
Today is Valentine's Day by P.K. Hallihan

3.5
A String of Hearts by Laura Elliot
My Funny Valentine by Jon Barry
Ruby Valentine and the Sweet Surprise by Laurie Friendman

3.6
I Love You Grumpy Bunny by Justine Korman

3.8
A Valentine for Norman Noggs by Valiska Gregory
The Berenstain Bears' Comic Valentine by Stan Berenstain

3.9
The Runaway Valentine by Tina Casey
Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli

Go Back to School with Crayola, General Mills and Target

This back-to-school season will be as easy as 1-2-3 with a little help from General Mills, Crayola, and Target, the one-stop-shop for all your back-to-school needs! Head to the front of the class and check out www.GrocerySavvy.com where you’ll find even more coupons for back-to-school, recipes, and a special 2012 “Grocery Savvy Crayola^® Back To School” Sweepstakes! Be sure to enter the sweepstakes for your chance to win one of the 700 Crayola^® 8-count Washable Dry Erase Crayons or one of 20 Crayola^® Dry-Erase Activity Centers Zany Play Edition.

I received the above (pictured) box of Cheerios from General Mills, Dry Erase Crayons from Crayola and $20 gift card from Target (to buy more cereal and school supplies) in hopes that I would mention them on my blog. (note: disclaimer) And they are so awesome that they are giving

ONE LUCKY READER THE OPPORTUNITY TO WIN THE SAME PACKAGE!

So, why not head back to school courtesy of General Mills, Target & Crayola. And with all the back to school sales going on at Target right now, that $20 might just be all you need to buy all the school supplies you need. Well, until they get older and need those special calculators.

Available exclusively at Target Stores during the month of August:

• Purchase specially marked Nature Valley® Crunchy Granola Bars, Pillsbury® Toaster Strudel® Pastries, and Big G Cereal packages and you could save up to $5 on Crayola products
• Participating Big G cereal boxes will feature a fun Crayola coloring activity on pack
• Save on General Mills products when you purchase specially marked Crayola 64-CT Crayons

I am going to try a new way to do a giveaway by using Google Docs rather than Rafflecopter. I will use Random.org to choose the # of entry. Each person has an equal opportunity to win. Leave me a comment on this post on your thoughts about using this way of entry vs. Rafflecopter.

WINNER MUST BE A FOLLOWER VIA GFC, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, GOOGLE+, OR EMAIL TO WIN. You don't have to follow all of those ways, but you can! :) You just need to follow one of those ways.

Disclosure: The product, gift pack, information, and additional sample have been provided by Crayola, Target, and General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Head Back to School with Tiny Prints

Allergy Alert Cards

BACK TO SCHOOL WITH TINY PRINTS

 Kids are heading back to school before you know it. My daughter will be heading back to school the Tuesday after Labor Day, but we have friends who head back to school next week and some other friends who are already back in school THIS WEEK! Where did our summer go?

Well, in case you are not quite as prepared as you had hoped, you can still place an order through Tiny Prints to create customized products that include Allergy Alert Cards, Paper Notebooks, Mom Contact Cards, Lunch Box Notes, Custom Stickers and Labels, Teacher's Stationary and many more items.

I have already ordered some custom labels to out on my daughters notebooks, folders, crayon box, marker box and inside her pencil box. I love that I was able to pick out the design that she liked the most, well, I actually bought 2 sets for her because the designs were so cute and it was even hard to narrow it down to 2 choices.

Personalized Paper Notebook

Personalized Labels

For writing this blog post about heading back to school with Tiny Prints, I was provided with a gift certificate in order to sample more products from them. (note, this is my disclaimer!)

I am really think about getting a notebook made for my daughter with pictures of our family on it. I think she would treasure that.

Lunch Box Notes

Teacher's Stationary

I am also very intrigued by the Lunch Box Notes. It might be fun to have those to put in her lunch box once a week as a surprise, or even in my husband's lunch box. I am sure he would love to have a little note from me.

Also, I was thinking ahead at teacher gift for Christmas and Teacher Appreciation Week and I am thinking the Teacher's Stationary might just fit the bill.

Thrifty Thursday: Dollar Store Workbooks

Help your kids out and prevent some of that loss of reading/math/etc skills that is lost over the summer months and pick up some workbooks. Sure, you can spend more money and buy some online or spend money on ink to print of sheets, or you can just run to the Dollar Store and pick up some workbooks. The only catch is that I have not seen any about Grade 3 & 4 (I did pick up some preschool ones for my son too.)

I also picked up a couple of books with science facts in them (animals & space) to read segments to my daughter. These were from the dollar store as well.

The other packets & reading chart came from her soon-to-be 1st grade teacher to work on over the summer.

We had been sent home a brochure to order a Time for Kids workbook (which included a "free" magazine subscription) that was about $15 and included enough pages equivalent to only 1 -2 of these workbooks. I didn't need the magazine subscription and knew $15 was kinda spendy for the workbook, so I went in search at the dollar store since I had seen some there before.

Also, someone had come around trying to sell educational books similar to the ones I picked up from the dollar store. The ones that were thinner like these hardcover ones were $10, whereas I paid $1.

I bought 6 workbooks (she already finished one after only a few days out from school, my little eager beaver, even though I told her my expectation was to finish 3 this summer) and 2 hardcover science books for $8, whereas it would have cost me $25 to get the equivalent of 2 workbooks & 2 science books.