5th Grade Science Choice Boards

These choice boards are great activities for early finishers and they provide differentiation for your students.  There are 3 boards in this set: Earth Science, Life Science, and Physical Science.  There are several ways you can use these in your classroom, but here's what I do.  I assign the choice board after finishing an entire science unit and students have approximately 4 weeks to earn 30 points.  The activities on the board are worth 5, 10, or 15 points.  The higher the points, the more complex the activity/project.  This year will be my first year using these, but with the new TKES evaluation system differentiation is a BIG part of teacher performance.  My goal in making these was to give students more opportunities to complete projects as well as to choose what type of project they wish to complete.  If you are interested in downloading these choice boards they are available in my TpT store.  Don't forget to follow me and leave some feedback!  Thanks!

Student Reward Coupons

I just finished some new student reward coupons, and I think they turned out really well.  There are 8 different coupons included in the set: radical redo, 5 point bonus, pick your seat, one more day, chow pals, silent lunch pass, computer game time, and homework pass.  

I used something similar to chow pals, called lunch with a bud, last year and my kids loved it.  It was absolutely their favorite reward. Basically it let them sit with their friends that were in another class at lunch time.  They got to sit at a special seat and even talk while the music was playing (our school plays music during lunch and when the music is on the students are not allowed to talk).  I will let you all know how my students respond to the new rewards when school starts back in August!  If you would like to download these student reward coupons they are available on my TpT store.  

Remind 101

Remind 101 is a must for teachers!  Basically it is a free website/app that allows you to send text messages to parents without giving them your personal phone number.  I send messages about activities at school, upcoming tests, and even classroom needs.  There is no fee for parents to join and no limit to how many parents can sign-up.  The only negative I have found with Remind 101 is there is a character limit on the messages, but it is easy to say everything you need to say even with the limit.  Here is the link to Remind 101.  Simply create an account, make a class, and then provide the number and message code to parents!  

To get more parents to sign-up I am going to offer an incentive.  We do "mighty money" in 5th grade and I am going to give $1 in mighty money to students whose parents sign-up at meet the teacher.  Last year I started using it in the middle of the year and less than half of my parents singed up. Hopefully the incentive will get more parents signed-up and involved!

Book and Video Review Forms

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These are book and video review forms for students to complete after they read a book or watch a video.  They give a brief summary of the book or video and then explain why they did or did not like it.  I keep them in a binder in my reading center for students to access at any time to write a review or to read reviews written by other students.  Writing a review is a great activity for early finishers.  Both are available for FREE at my TpT store.  Download the Book Review here and the Video Review here. Don't forget to rate them please and thank you!

Editable Newsletter

This newsletter is available for FREE on my TpT store.  It is a word document and can be easily edited for any grade level.  The box titled "Student Spotlight" can be used to recognize students who have been successful in the classroom.  I have also changed this box to say "Ask your child" and used it to post various review questions for parents to discuss with their child at home.  Click on the TpT link above to download.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog!  My name is Dina Thomas and this coming school year will be my third year in 5th grade.  I currently teach science, social studies, and ELA.  I have been teaching for a total of 5 years and I love it!  In future posts I hope to provide you with lesson ideas, teaching resources, and tales from my 5th grade classroom.  Enjoy!