Easi-Speak Giveaway

Hello, everyone!  Learning Resources recently sent us some products for review AND offered to give a few to some lucky followers.  The first product is their Easi-Speak USB Recorder.  I read many different reviews and agreed with what many other teachers said.  This would be great for fluency practice, center work, etc.  However, I had something different in mind...  :)

The students recently completed a moon research project.  We were going to share them with parents and one child mentioned that her parent would not be able to come the day of our moon readings.  That's when the Easi-Speak recorder came to mind!  I recorded the students whose parent couldn't make it to our presentation, plugged the Easi-Speak into my computer, and emailed the recordings to those families!  The kids were so excited and their parents were so proud!  The files are saved as MP3 files so they're easy to save and email and the sound quality is great.

You can see the product on Learning Resources website (http://www.learningresources.com) or check them out at any of these sites:  https://www.facebook.com/learningresources, http://twitter.com/#!/learninghandson, http://www.youtube.com/user/LearningResourcesInc. 

How would you use the Easi-Speak in your classroom?  Leave us a comment, along with your email address, and one random winner will receive their own Easi-Speak from Learning Resources!  The winner will be announced on Thursday. 

Add this freebie to your space unit!

Space...

it's a topic that grabs all children at any grade level.  Don't you love it when the kids come to school eager to share the fun and fascinating facts they learned after you start the unit? It seems that they always go home and raid their book bins and cabinets looking for any space themed books. They love searching for more information and talking about anything space related.  It's a topic with many resources that kids can easily access and explore.

I stumbled upon this little tune on School Tube to help us learn the phases of the moon-the kids loved it! I also used The Moon by Gail Gibbons to introduce many of the facts about the Earth's only natural satellite. 

You can make an interactive moon using a foam ball (purchased at Walmart for $3), some masking tape, and acrylic paint. Tape a line around the circumference of the ball; paint half of it black and the other half white (let it dry before putting on the 2nd color). Then, it's ready to be used as a whole group and individually!!  Hold the ball in front of you and rotate it ever so slightly-have your students tell you which phase is shown.  Here's a look at the different phases using the painted ball:

First Quarter:

Waxing Crescent:

New Moon:

  Waning Crescent:

 Third Quarter:

Waning Gibbous:

Full Moon:

Waxing Gibbous: 

Back to First Quarter:

After studying the moon's phases and facts, I tested them on what they learned. Click the pictures below for a moon test (questions based off of Gail Gibbons book) and study guide:

Right before they took the test, I gathered some pie tins and sugar and had the students shake them to make the different phases of the moon. They loved this quick little review!

Sprinkle the sugar so it covers the entire bottom of the pie tin:

Gently shake the tin so the sugar resembles a phase of the moon:

Sweet fun!

Teacher Appreciation Week Sale!

Good Morning and Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!! We are so excited to share our sale with you! We are a having 20% off sale in our TpT store for 3 days {May 6th-8th}! PLUS, if you use the coupon code [ TAD12 ] you will get an extra 10% off!!!!!!

(Thank you Erica, for the cute graphic!!)

 

Click here to visit our TpT store.