Show & Tell Tuesday: April

It's far from being Tuesday anymore, but I'm linking up with Stephanie at Forever in Fifth Grade to share some photos! 

If you follow me on Facebook, you've already seen this image. We used dried macaroni to learn about quotation marks. 



My students created "Triple Scoop" (synonym) word lists for overused words. I have a long bank of windows along the back of my classroom, and these posters have been serving double duty. Students are actually getting up out of their seats to refer to the word lists while writing, and the posters are doing a great job blocking out some of the sunlight. I know I shouldn't complain about the weather (especially seeing as it rains so much here), but sometimes there's too much glare on the whiteboard.



We wrapped up our first literature circle in fifth grade. I'm really excited about how it turned out. I'm giving away a copy of my brand-new Lit Circle Packet on my Facebook page. Don't forget to enter by clicking on the photo at the bottom of this post!


My favourite way to introduce new books to my students is by hosting a "Book Tasting". I set up by putting one book on each desk. Sometimes I've even wrapped the books in gift wrap to make it more suspenseful. Students spend 3-4 minutes with a book before rotating to the next book. Each book is numbered, so that students do not waste precious time copying down titles. They simply record the number of the book, a rating from 1-10, whether or not they'd like to read that book, and a brief summary of what they've read so far. Students can choose to read the back cover, the very beginning, or a random place in the middle of the book. The only rule is that they must move onto the next book when the time is up.  

Want to host a book tasting in your classroom? Click on the photo above to download a free template!

Want to win a copy of my Lit Circle Packet? Click on the photo to enter!


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Teacher Feature: Teaching Autism



This week's featured teacher is Nikki from Teaching Autism.



How long have you been working in education? 5 years

What have you taught? I work within an ASD unit. I have worked with Middle School age: 11 - 15 and now I am based within the foundation phase: 3 - 7.

What is your favourite part about teaching? I am actually a Level 3 Teaching Assistant. I support the Teacher and help lead/run the class. It's quite common here in UK but not so much overseas. I support planning, evidencing, making resources, target setting, day to day running of class, communication, speech and language, etc. I love making new resources to help the children reach their potential and to continue to achieve new milestones. I enjoy liaising with others within the ASD sector and sharing new ideas.

What is your best advice for a beginning teacherDon't believe everything you read in a text book! Come into a class, form relationships/bonds with your students, get to know them; through this they will trust you. I can guarantee you will see better results if your students trust and like you. Please, always remember that every child is different; what works for one may not work for another. And last but not least, enjoy every moment of it!

Nikki would like to share her 100 Follower Celebration Freebie from her TpT Store. You can download the file by clicking on the picture below.

If you download this freebie, don't forget to leave Nikki some feedback for her generosity. You can do this by clicking on "My Purchases" and finding the download in your "Free Downloads" tab. 

Don't forget to check out Nikki's Teaching Autism blog for a peek inside her journey as a teaching assistant in the UK.

Thanks, Nikki, for participating in this week's Teacher Feature!

If you would like to be featured on Primary Teaching Resources, please fill out my Google form. Priority will be given to kindergarten to fifth grade classroom teachers who are following me on social media.

Have a great week :)
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April Fools' Day in 5th Grade


Now that I teach older kids, I knew my old pranks weren't going to cut it. In the past, I've done a ten word spelling test that reads "This spelling test is really an April fools day joke".  I usually combine that with a word search where you can't find any of the words and the ever so classic worksheet that instructs the students to read all of the directions before they begin. This year I decided to change it up a bit for my fifth graders!

I started off by borrowing the National Foot Check Day idea from Denise at Sunny Days in Second Grade. I told the students that a podiatrist was coming to check the health of their feet. Each student had to take off one shoe and clean their foot with a baby wipe. To make it seem more legit, I pretended to be disgusted and urged them to please rest their bare feet on top of the baby wipes. Some students were a little suspicious about why this was happening on April Fools' Day, but most of them went along with it.

As a distraction, I had my students work diligently on Teaching and Tapas' comprehension activity about how the Earth is flat. Since this was obviously fake, they seemed to go along with the foot shenanigans for a bit longer. 

Before long, our computer was hacked and strange messages appeared on the screen:
"Why does it smell in here?" 
"Why did you take your shoes off?" 

The kids told me how to respond. They wanted the hacker to prove he could really see us by indicating which kids weren't wearing shoes. Luckily, I had provided the "hacker" with a list of kids' names and some other important information... The hacker pretended to be a parent who was observing the students' behaviour. In the end, he "admitted" to being the principal (he wasn't).  The kids ate it up! I really wish I had photos!

At this point, it was close to recess and our podiatrist still hadn't shown up. I let the kids in on my prank and allowed them to put their shoes back on. As the students left for recess, I kept several back to ask if they wanted to help out with the next prank. They were more than eager to participate!

After recess I announced we would have a spelling test. Because I figured the kids would be suspicious by now, I had my helpers pretend they had studied the night before. They managed to convince the others I'd told the class about the test earlier that week. I haven't uploaded a copy of the words I used, but Reading with Mrs. D has a great freebie in her TpT store.

During the test, I went really fast and refused to supply sentences for the words. I had asked one student to keep calling out for me to repeat the words. Every time he did, I pretended to get mad and assigned him a behaviour point. He even pretended to argue with me and tried to leave the classroom. The other kids were in shock! Afterward, I had everyone highlight the first letter of each word on the test. Sure enough, it spelled out "April Fools"!

Next, we did a following directions activity from Joy in the Journey. I prefaced it by saying, "You know I've been pranking you all morning. If you don't follow the directions exactly, you will end up looking really silly in front of the class." 

So, I'm sure you can guess what happened next. Some of the kids followed the directions but others ended up yelling out their ages and skipping around the classroom.
I also had a couple of word searches for the students to complete. One of them was a regular word search with an April Fools' Day theme from Reading Tree 123, and the other, from Spunky Sprogs, was the kind where you can't locate any of the words. Lots of kids brought the "hard" one home to trick their parents.


At the end of the morning, I thanked the students for being good sports and had them line up for brownies from our SEA (Special Education Assistant). The brownies turned out to be "brown Es". I've never seen such looks of disappointment! Thankfully, there were real brownies afterward!

What did you do for April Fools' Day in your classroom? I'd love to hear all about it!


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Paper Plate Garden Craft


Now that spring is finally in bloom, it's time to break out the crafts! The thing I miss most about teaching the primary grades is making all sorts of fun things. Lucky for me, I have a three-year-old at home who loves to do crafty things. Today, we used our Kwik Stix tempera paint sticks to design a paper plate garden.


Supplies Needed:
• Paper plate
• Paint
• Straws or popsicle sticks
• Fabric flowers or flower stickers
• Glue

Want to win a 12-pack of Kwik Stix? This is your last chance to enter, as my giveaway ends tomorrow morning!


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