Looking for Lesson Ideas and Resources?

Teachers... Pinterest is an awesome resource. 

Check out my "pins" to see how it works. 

This is my favorite resource of 2011!

 

Printable Scrabble Letters!

Scrabble Letters are great to use in your classroom for literacy and math.


Use these printable scrabble letters for your own games, centers, and bulletin boards. Just print on card stock, laminate, cut and you’re ready to go!

• Use the tiles in a center to form spelling/vocabulary words and then add them up to see how much they're worth. 
• Give students tiles to form word families. 
• Use for ABC order 
• Create compound words 

Four sizes of printable “Scrabble” letters included!


1 1/2”, 2”, 3” and 4”


Great thing about these Scrabble Letters is that you can print out as many as you like.

Fortune Cookie Creation Station

Enjoy the New Year with this fun, authentic craft/writing activity. Everything included! Perfect for writing centers.

Create cool paper fortune cookies with your own messages. 

Click the picture for more details!

Boggle Board Freebie!

Fun word game to use in the classroom. Makes a great bulletin board. Just print and cut. Laminate and you will have it for years. Includes student blackline master, alphabet cards, directions to play.
Enjoy!
  Winter Boggle

Looking for more resources? Check out my Teachers pay Teachers Store.

WooHoo! Winter Websites for Kids

Click on the picture above.

Thanksgiving Recipe Cards

Click blue arrow to download.

Thanksgiving Recipe Cards

Free Teacher Resources

Looking for some free teacher resources?  Then stop by my other blog just for teachers.

www.kbkonnected.tumblr.com

Do you have a minute? Timed Flash Cards

Want to improve your math skills? Then head over to Vector Kids and practice with their timed flash cards. It only takes a minute. Practice every day and I bet you will improve your skills quickly.


You can choose... 

• addition
• subtraction
• multiplication
• division

A great way to check your progress would be to graph it. I will add a graph as soon as I find one.

           

Click on either picture to get started.

Dunk-a-Duck

Click on the picture to play.

Do you like word games? If you do, I think you will like "Dunk-a-Duck". It's very much like hangman except a duck gets dunked. It's your job to keep this little guy dry. You will have lots of fun while practicing word skills and learning new vocabulary.


There are many categories to choose from. You can start off playing with "school" vocabulary but check out some of the others too.

Near North Drawing Club

Near North Drawing Club Application is now online. Click on the owl below to find out more and apply. Two sessions will be held weekly so more students can participate. Read the criteria for class acceptance on the application.Make sure you circle the right day for you.

*Click on the owl to access application. 
*Click on file and then click on print PDF.

Students who are accepted will receive invitations by Monday, Sept. 26, 2011. Classes start Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011.

Return all applications to Ms. Bolotin.

Token Store Wish List

Click on picture and choose download to print.

Students here's your chance to help me choose items for the Token Store. 

     Let me know what you would like to buy with your points. This "Wish List" can be given to me until February 2012. It can be filled out individually or by an entire class. Just print it, fill it out, and get it to me.

Here's a couple of hints...

1. Try to choose items $10.00 and under. You will have more of a chance of seeing your item in the store.
2. If you know what store sells your item let me know. I won't have to spend a lot of time looking around for it.
3. If you want a certain color mention it.
4. If you need a certain size tell me.
5. Do not include items such as weapons, inappropriate movies or games, or things that are seriously sharp such as darts. I will not buy these things.
6. Gift cards will be bought in $5.00 increments. Let me know which stores you would like me to purchase them from. These will be 800 pts. each.
7. Don't yell out in the hall telling me what you want. I will probably forget. Write it down on this "Wish List"!

Remember...just because an item is on your list does not mean it will be in the store the next week. I try to buy items when they are on sale so we get the most "bang for our buck". If your item is very expensive, an iPod for example, I will not be able to buy it.

Any questions about items please ask Ms. Bolotin or Mr. Payne.

Happy Token Store Shopping to All

Sincerely...Ms. Bolotin

Online Chess 

Challenge your friend or play against the computer. 

Back to School Supply List

Supply List pdf

Free Birthday Packet!

Head over to Peace, Love and Learning (a great new blog) and find out how to get yours. Don't worry it's easy and totally worth it. 

Explore Chicago and beyond!

Wikihood is  a great way to explore Chicago. It is a Google Map and Wikipedia  mash-up. That means that it is a combination of both. You can find places you are interested in and also read about them. Click below to begin.

Have fun searching for other destinations around the world too!

Friv4School just added!

     Several students asked me to add Friv4School to our blog.  Well I thought about it and the answer is YES!...at least for the summer.  Have fun and have a wonderful summer. I'll try to add some neat things in the summer. So check back here every once in a while.

Ms. Bolotin

Preparing for 2011 graduation

This year our graduates have chosen to sing "We are the World" at their graduation on the 14th.
Below are some things to help them practice! Good Luck Grads!!!


U.S.A. For Africa - WE ARE THE WORLD

Powered by mp3skull.com

Tyler Ward-We Are The World - Tyler Ward and Crew ReMake

Powered by mp3skull.com


Below you will find the lyrics to "We are the World", written by Michael Jackson, and Lionell Ritchie. You can easily print them out.

We are the World

Lawn Mower Grand-Prix

Printable Memory Book

Below is a School Memory Book that I created for Near North Students. You can print it out and create your own. You can then add your memories to the book. Add stickers, drawings, pictures and anything else you like.

School Memory Book

National Donut Day

Today is National Donut Day. 

Create a "Virtual Donut" and then make your readers' mouths water by describing it!

Click on the picture to create your own "Virtual Donut".

Get a Free Donut! 

Read the details here.

     To celebrate this festive occasion, participating Krispy Kreme and Dunkin’ Donut locations will be giving away free donuts nationwide. In order to get a free donut at Dunkin’ Donuts a beverage purchase of any size is required, but no purchase is necessary at Krispy Kreme locations.

History of Donut Day...with a fantastic Chicago connection!

“National Donut Day has been the first Friday in June for the past 73 years. National Donut Day started in 1938 as a fund raiser for the Chicago Salvation Army to provide for the needy during the Great Depression and to honor the Salvation Army “Lassies” of the First World War.  In 1917, after the US entered World War 1, the Salvation Army established places for service men to momentarily escape war and get a little bit of home in abandoned building on the front lines called ”huts”. These huts would provide baked goods, supplies for letters home and clothing mending services to enlisted men by female volunteers of the Salvation Army known as Lassies.”  via Examiner

Recycled Magazine Bowl

Recycled magazine Bowl by Justin, Room 101

     The past two weeks many Near North students have been working on recycled magazine bowls. This has been a fun project and we are working on tutorials so our readers can make some too.

Today Martez and Maurice, Room 105, took videos of each other explaining step 3 of the project.

Tips and Tricks from Martez from Ms. Bolotin on Vimeo.


Tips and Tricks by Maurice from Ms. Bolotin on Vimeo.

Room 101 took this quick video of their bowls.


Recycled Magazine Bowls by Room 101 from Ms. Bolotin on Vimeo.

Crayola Art Fun

   Click on the picture for some fun art games.

  I though some of you might want to have a little art fun this weekend. Or maybe ask your teacher when you finish all of your work.

Words of Wisdom

Peregrine Falcons Nest at the Evanston Library

Ms. Slay, Room 110, just clued me in on this one.

Nona and Squawker, PeregrineFalcons, have been coming back each spring to nest at the Evanston Library for the past four years. As many of you know Evanston is located just to the north of Chicago.
What's even more exciting is that they have four hatchlings. View the cam and read more about them below.




Stream videos at Ustream

From the City of Evanston  Below you can read about the names of the new baby Falcons.

Wilbur – named after Wilbur, the runt pig in E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. The runt of the litter, Wilbur is saved from a terrible fate by his friend Charlotte the spider.

Lincoln – named after Abraham Lincoln, born in Illinois and our 16th president. He led the nation through Civil War and brought an end to slavery in the United States.

Dewey – named after Melvil Dewey, American librarian and reformer. Dewey established the Dewey decimal system of classifying books and played a prominent role in developing professional institutions for librarians.

Rosalind – the central character of Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Some critics call Rosalind one of the most complex, fully realized Shakespearean characters. As an added bonus, there is a falcon reference in As You Like It (Act 3, Scene 3 - Touchstone: “As the ox hath his bow, sir, the horse his curb and the falcon her bells, so man hath his desires; and as pigeons bill, so wedlock would be nibbling”)."

You can read more about them here.  Thanks Ms. Slay!

What the Future May Hold for Books

Watch this short "Ted Talk" video and see what books may look like in the future. Ask yourself these questions...

• Would I read more books if they looked like this?  Why or why not?
• Would I learn more from books that looked like this?  Why or why not?
• Would I want my text books to look like this?  Why or why not?
• Would I want to write a book that looks like this?  Why or why not?

Share your answers with you class.

Fantastic Farm Cam

This is a fantastic Farm Cam. Kids can even feed the chickens every 10 minutes via their computer.

Watch the chickens and goats in the farm yard. Make sure you turn up your volume. But watch out it can get pretty noisy in the chicken yard.

Click on the picture above to go to the live Farm Cam.

Cool Flash Comments

Our Live African Safari Question Answered

     A few Near North students asked me the same question when I told them about the Live African Safari that can be viewed from any computer. Their question was, "Has an animal ever jumped in the safari vehicle while on a safari?" 
     Well, I was watching the safari late Friday night and decided to ask the Ranger Mark the question. I emailed the question to the base and guess what? He answered the students' question! How exciting!!!
Watch the video below to hear us mentioned and the answer to the student's question. 
***Before you view the video make a prediction on what you think Ranger Mark's answer will be.



If you have a question while you are watching the safari just email your question to questions@wildearthsafari.tv

Go on a LIVE African Safari!

      Do you want to view African animals in the wild? All you need to do is visit WildEarth.  Live Safaris take place twice a day. Make sure you share with others what you see.

screenshot

Don't Miss This!

Time Schedule

1. Illinois 8:00am - 11:00am   Africa 3:00pm -6:00pm (this one gets dark because it is almost winter there) (This one can be viewed at school)
2. Illinois 11:30pm - 2:30am   Africa 6:30am - 9:30am (we've seen a lot on this one)

"WildEarth Safari broadcasts LIVE Safaris daily from the Sabi Sands Game Reserve, which is part of the Greater Kruger National Park in South Africa. The safari consists of a Presenter/Expert Ranger who drives around the reserve looking for animals both big and small. A camera person sits on the back of the safari vehicle and their camera is your eyes. This gives a fantastic feeling of actually being on the back of the vehicle as it bumps through the splendid African bush. 

If you want to ask a question of the Ranger in real time, you can email the question through to questions@wildearthsafari.tv and the director may forward your question through to the ranger.

 It is often possible to see the big five in one drive. That is lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino and elephant."  WildEarth Website

Aborigine Dot Art

Room 101 has been studying Australia for International Day. They made some awesome Aborigine Dot Art for their display. Check out their terrific work below.

Cars by Curtis

Curtis, Room 104, made these two cars for his International Day presentation on France. Check out his short video.


International Day Car Exhibit by Curtis from Ms. Bolotin on Vimeo.

How to Wrap a Gift

Watch this tutorial from Jerome and Camila, Room104. They will teach you how to wrap a gift.


How to Wrap a Gift by Jerome and Camila from Ms. Bolotin on Vimeo.

Room 110 Studies England

Room 110 is studying England for International Day. Today they made shields in art.

Would you like to make your own Coat of Arms? Click on any picture below to get started.

Comics for Kids

 Comic powered by Kidjutsu

 Comic powered by Kidjutsu

International Day is Coming!

These are the countries (people) that have visited our blog. Has anyone from the country you are studying for International Day visited?  Click on the map for a larger view.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to All Teachers and Staff!

Here is a book that Near North students wrote earlier in the school year. We would like to share it with our readers.

  The book has a very special message that teachers will love.

Contributing Writers

Remiko, Atiqua, Enrique,

Tonisha, Sergio , Danny,

Tony, Jaudon, Destiny

and Ms. Bolotin

Egyptian Mummies

     Room 105 is studying Egypt for International Day. Today they made Sarcophagus', coffins for Egyptians.

Click on the book above to learn more about the mummies of Egypt.

Click on the video to learn about the Egyptian Sphinx.

Live Eagle Cam

Just thought I would share the live eagle cam that we have been viewing. It is located in Decorah, Iowa and is part of the Raptor Project. There are three eaglets in the nest and they are really growing up fast.
Enjoy!

Streaming Video by Ustream.TV

Learn about Boomerangs!

Today Room 101 will be making Boomerangs. They are studying Australia for International Day.
Click on the picture below to see how Kendall Davis makes boomerangs. He is a wonderful Boomerang maker from Illinois.

We are making our boomerangs out of card stock. If you would like to make a boomerang out of card stock like us click here for a pattern.


Click here for instructions on how to throw and catch your boomerang.







Watch this video to learn more about boomerangs.

Poetry Collection

Whirlygigs: Old fashioned fun!

     Near North students enjoyed creating whirlygigs this week. A whirlygig is an old fashioned toy that has been around for hundreds of years. It makes a neat whistling sound when it spins really fast. They were fun to create and play with. 

Check out the video below to see whirlygigs created by Rooms 204 and 207.

Whirlygigs: A lot of old-fashioned fun! from Ms. Bolotin on Vimeo.

Click on the picture above to get instructions on how you can make your own whirlygig.

Earth Day Posters by Room 202

Beautiful Beaded Prints

Today Room 205 will be making these beaded prints.

Created by Georgia