Tag: Love

European Escape – Days 3-7

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Bonjour everyone! I had planned to post my adventures everyday but I was so busy and preoccupied with my trip that I never got around to it. I am now back in the states, trying to avoid my jet lag, so I decided to share the remainder of my trip.

Again, I took advantage of a company called Education First Ultimate Break. This company is incredible! They have so many affordable trips around the world with everything done for you. They took care of my flight information, hotel payments, train tickets, and all of the unique activities we had the chance to be apart of.

Day 3:

This was our full free day in London and I definitely took full advantage of that. Our tour guide (who was incredible by the way) took us to a small market called Camden Town. This place was so cool and I highly recommend it. It was a mix between a farmer’s market and a craft fair but highlighting the different cultures that make up the UK. They had everything from food to jewelry. I had this AMAZING food called an arepa made by Venezuelan natives, so it was perfect!

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Once we left Camden Town we went to the UK’s National Museum and saw some pretty sick dinosaur bones! I had never seen a full size dinosaur skeleton before so it was pretty cool. We then were classic American tourists and took on the London Eye, which I loved! It was such a beautiful view. To end the day, myself and 4 other people on the tour, went to Her Majesty’s Theatre to see the Phantom of the Opera. Wow. That is all I have to say. It was incredible.

Day 4:

This day was all about travel. We left London and went back to King’s Cross to take the Eurostar Train to Paris. By the time we got to Paris and to our hotel, we had just enough time to take a quick nap before we headed to the Eiffel Tower. AKA MY DREAM COME TRUE!!

Our guide took us to see the Eiffel Tower at night so we could see it sparkle. I totally lost my sh** when it started to sparkle. The only way I can describe the experience was unbelievable. The view of the tower was so incredible that it didn’t seem real. It’s one of those things that is even better in real life. Photos do not do it justice. I mean, yes it is gorgeous in photographs but the real thing….there is nothing like it.

After the Eiffel Tower, we got a real French crepe (YUM) and took a river cruise to see all of the main buildings in Paris. It was breathtaking, but a little chilly. At this point, we were all STARVING so we went to the Latin Quarter and went to a classic, family owned, French restaurant where we each got a 3 course meal full of authentic French food. Honestly, nothing tastes better than authentic French cuisine.

Day 5:

We started the morning with a tour around the city. We stopped at all of the famous buildings and structures that make Paris, Paris. The tour ended at the Arc de Triomphe. Let me just say that the structure is also incredible. It is a sign of hope and fighting for what you believe in. They honor their fallen soldiers EVERY DAY by relighting a fire on the grave of an unnamed soldier rain or shine. Once the tour was over we got on a train and headed out to see Versailles. We got to hear the history behind the castle and got to see all of the famous rooms inside.

This day was jam packed because by the time we got back to the hotel we only had an hour before we left for a classic Paris cabaret show. It was a fun and crazy experience. We had another 3 course meal, lots of wine, and an amazing show. It was so exciting but by the time we got back it was midnight and I crashed before our last full day in the city of love.

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Day 6:

This was our full free day in Paris. Our guide took us to see the Basilica and then on a little shopping tour. I picked up all of my souvenirs for my friends and family and then splurged on some homemade macarons. Delicious! I then spent the afternoon at the Louvre. As soon as I got there, of course I had to go right to the Mona Lisa. It was crazy. She had a full sized room all to herself and the room was crowded! It was worth the crowd though, because you can’t go to Paris and not visit the Mona Lisa. It was like looking right into history.

To end our trip, we had a farewell dinner (another 3 course meal, I love the French) and said goodbye. I made so many friends and memories with them on this trip, it was sad to see it all end.

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Day 7:

This morning we got up and took a bus to the airport. My flight left at 10:10 Paris time and got back at 12:20 Minnesota time. It was a 9 hour flight so even if it was noon, my body was programmed to 7:00 Paris time. I’m trying my hardest to stay awake but it’s killing me right now (totally worth it!)

This trip was everything I ever wanted. I had dreamed of going to Paris for as long as I can remember. I’ve collected pictures of the Eiffel Tower since I was 10 and now I have pictures of my own. I am SO sad it’s over but I am SO booking another trip to Europe because I think I found the place that I belong.

If you, or anyone you know, wants to go on a trip out of the country but don’t think you can afford it, that’s not true. You can. Go onto EF‘s website and look into all of the trip options they have! Believe me, it’s more than worth it. They also have payment plans, so if you book a trip for next summer, you’d only have to pay 100 bucks a month until the trip came. You also could save some serious cash on this trip if you refer to me. If you do find a trip comment below, or on any of my other posts, and I can tell you how you’d get to save $100-250! Trust me, this company can change your life!

 

For more day to day posts and live action (and photos from my trip) go follow my instagram page @lifeoftherookieteacher. I’m also going to say this again, go look into Education First Ultimate Break‘s website. It is worth your time!!!

Multiplication Can Be Fun

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Happy Wednesday! It’s another day which also means another snow day. Yes, this is officially the 5th snow day so far this year. It’s insane but I’m starting to accept that this is beginning to be the norm. Since I have the whole day off I figured I would share with you some of my favorite multiplication games that are helping my students memorize and learn their facts in a fun entertaining way.

As most of you know, one of the main things that you learn in 3rd grade is your multiplication facts. We’ve been working HARD on this since November and we’re slowly making progress. In one of my older posts I shared our multiplication sundae incentive and that is working great but I still have half of my class stuck on similar facts.

Last year I taught 4th grade and I was shocked that at the beginning of the year less than half of my students knew their facts. I found all of these games last year and it helped them remember their facts by October. I don’t want my 3rd graders going into 4th grade in the same boat so I took out all of these games (and found more) to use daily in my room.

The first game is a HUGE hit with my students! It’s multiplication connect 4. I found this on Grace Hartman‘s store on TPT. It’s as easy as it sounds, students have 2 dice, role them and then multiply the 2 numbers. Whatever the answer is they cover up that number. Their goal is to get 4 in a row before their partner. It is SUPER easy and SUPER fun. One of my students yesterday told me it was her favorite game that we’ve learned so far.

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The next game that was a hit last year with my 4th graders as well as my 3rd graders this year is multiplication squares. It’s just like the normal squares game that most kids play at restaurants on their kids meal mats. I found this activity on Flying Through Fourth‘s page. All you need is 2 dice and 2 colored pencils. It is similar to connect 4 because students role and multiply their dice. They find that number and make a line by that number. The person who completes a square around that number gets to color it in. At the end of the game, the student with the most colored squares wins. Super easy!

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The next few are more activities that I do with my whole class at once. The first activity is a free multiplication scoot game that is just as it sounds. I’m using this tomorrow in my room as a full review. The other activity I will be trying (that I did last year twice a week) is a free multiplication “I have/who has” game. Again, just as it sounds. It helps with concentration and knowing facts fast! I found the free scoot game on Teaching with Heart in Texas‘s page and I found this version of I have who has on Erica Castillo‘s page. The last activity I will use as a “homework assignment” that is all about multiplication/division fact families. I got this from Alissa Manning-Telisak’s store and I am so excited to use it! They role their dice and practice their facts while also understanding the relation between multiplication and division.

The next few games I have never tried before but I plan to use them in the next week or so. I found all again on Teachers Pay Teachers and they are all FREE as well! From Light Bulb’s and Laughter‘s page I found a fun Penguin Multiplication dice game which is exactly like the connect 4 game except that it has a fun penguin theme and is super cute! The second game I’ll be trying is a 7s facts game. This was found on Games 4 Learning‘s page. Like most of the other games, you need 2 dice. The twist on this game is that when the 2 dice are rolled the student adds the numbers together and THEN multiplies the sum by 7. 7s are tricky for my students so I plan on using this multiple times over the next few months.

A final game that I love to use isn’t something I found on Teachers Pay Teachers because it’s a game most of us grew up playing with a twist. I love to have my students play multiplication war. All you need is a deck of cards and groups of 2 (you can have larger groups but that takes some more planning.) Just like normal war, the students each have half the deck and flip over a card at the same time. The first person to multiply the 2 cards and say the answer gets the pair of cards. The person who ends up with all of the cards wins the game. I have my students take out the Jokers and tell them that all of the face cards equal 10. That’s because we only have to memorize facts up to 10, but if you want to go higher you can make the Jack an 11 or the Queen a 12. This game is the easiest by far and can get pretty intense. Last year my 4th graders got into some heated arguments over who said the answer first.

The best way for students to learn is by having them not know they are learning! By playing these games, they get to practice their facts while having fun. They get so caught up in the games that they don’t even realize they’re doing math. I LOVE all of these activities and plan to use them every day for as long as we can! The best part about all of these is that they’re all FREE!! Who doesn’t love that!?

For more of my day to day school life and the activities we do, go follow me on instagram @lifeoftherookieteacher!

Valentine’s Day Craziness

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Hello fellow readers, and if you’re still awake after Valentine’s Day week, teachers! This was a super fun week (but yes, very exhausting.) On Valentine’s Day we went all out all day long while still incorporating our daily curriculum. I had the best day but I am tired!!

We started the day off with a Valentine’s Day surprise. I put a donut on each student’s desk for them to see and eat when they walked in. We also were celebrating our great behavior in the past few weeks by having a pajama day! They walked in and were so excited it made my day!!

To calm the craziness and chaos, they started the morning laying in a cozy spot with a book and their donut. It calmed them down from the excitement of what was to come that day and they thought it was so cool because they were wearing cozy clothes, had their blankets, and were eating donuts on the ground while reading.

For reading we did a fun creative writing project. My mom is a teacher and I got the best activity from her (I actually did the activity with her and her class 3 years ago while I was volunteering one day so the example below is mine! Haha sorry for the lame writing.) They each got a box of conversation hearts and a piece of pink paper. They had to come up with their own creative story using the conversation hearts as they wrote. They found it so silly because they had to use hearts that said “I love you” and “kiss me.” They had so much fun and I loved watching them and reading what they wrote.

During math I had my observation (of course on Valentine’s Day) with my principal so I needed to find a quality lesson but also something fun because it was V-Day and they weren’t going to focus on anything serious lesson. We are currently learning fractions (and struggling) so I went on the trusty Teachers Pay Teachers and found another conversational heart activity that related to fractions. They had a blast with this as well! I found the activity on Miss B and Grade 3‘s store. I actually did this exact same activity last year with my 4th graders but my 3rd graders did just as well with it.

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They each got another box of hearts and then had to sort out 10 hearts into their colors. They had to then create fractions of a color out of the 10 total pieces they had. They did well! (Better than my 4th graders actually!) Luckily for me as well, they were on their BEST behavior! When the principal walked in my students were talking and one of my boys, WHO ALWAYS IS TALKING, goes “shhhhhhhhhhhh guys, Mr. G**** is here.” Man, kids are so weird and unpredictable during observations. Overall, it went super well.

After lunch we braved our “party.” (Which consisted of opening boxes and listening to music for 20 minutes.) With not having school for almost 2 weeks total, we never had time to make any boxes, so they had to create their own at home. Holy cow, I want to do this next year again because they were SO CREATIVE!!! I attached my favorites below but I was impressed. When I was in school, we NEVER had boxes as cute as the ones they made.

To end the day, I turned on the Berenstain Bear’s Valentine’s Day episode (free on Youtube) and enjoyed the silence of my student’s as they intently watched this cute 25 minute video.

It was a crazy day, and a fun day, but I’m glad it’s over and that it’s officially the weekend because I’m tired! My mom said something to me yesterday that really stuck. She told me that she believes Valentine’s Day is probably most students’ favorite day of the year. That really hit me because after seeing their excitement and happiness opening their Valentine’s and doing all of our activities throughout the day, I think she might be right. Watching them and all of their reactions had to have been my favorite part of the whole thing!

I hope you had a good Valentine’s Day!  I hope that if you’re a teacher, you had fun and aren’t too exhausted from the craziness. In my personal life, Valentine’s Day is just another day, but seeing Valentine’s Day through their eyes made me see how great the holiday can be when you’re surrounded by those who love and care about you.

To see more of my day to day experiences and the live activities we do in class, go follow me on instagram @lifeoftherookieteacher!