5 on the 5th

It's a new month, so time for a new 5 on the 5th!  I started this series last month as a way of highlighting all the great ideas out there in blogland.  I'm sharing ideas I've used, plan on using, or are just plan awesome.  5 on the 5th even has its own Pinterest Board.  You can follow it here.


And in no certain order, here are some fab finds I came across this month . . . .

It cold.  It's raining.  For some of you, it's even snowing.  That leads to one thing-indoor recess.  A teacher's nightmare-kids trapped inside all day with no chance to run off all that extra energy.  Amber at Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher shared some tips for surviving.  She also shared a super duper Pinterest board she created to get her kids up and moving.  We did the Gummy Bear song today as a brain break.  I thought they were going to die from happiness.  Perfect for indoor recess or any wiggly day!

Okay, Shawna at The Picture Book Teacher's Edition is just ridiculous.  The basic premise of her blog is that she reviews picture books.  Easy peasy, right?  Um, no.  You get a review and then an amazing list of suggestion for every strategy and skill you can think of.  Asking questions, author's point of view, author's purpose, b/m/e, cause and effect, character analysis, classify and categorize, compare and contrast, you getting the idea here?

She also sometimes includes activities she's created to go along with it.  This blog is a must go to resource for every teacher.


Corrina at Mrs. Allen's 5th Grade Files shared an awesome upper grade reading activity.  Teaching important details + having engaged students = almost impossible.  It involved having her students pretend they were robbing a house.  Oh yeah, they were engaged.  Visit her blog to read about this activity and the super fab book of more super fab ideas that it came from.  Makes me wish my students were a little bit older.  Just for this lesson though.

Mandy at Mandy's Tips for Teachers shared a really cool website called Pebble Go.  Appropriate non-fiction content for K-3 students?  Apparently not impossible.  Go to Mandy's blog to read more.  Then go visit Pebble Go.  You can be assured I will be begging my principal for this.


Brandi at My Teacher Friend had a really great word activity.  Her students make posters getting rid of boring words and words that could replace it.  Been there, done that, right?  Wrong.  Go visit her blog to see her creative take on it.

Happy February everybody!