Monday 2/24 is National Fake Moustache Day!

With any reason to alleviate a little stress that comes with preparing for high-stakes testing which is only 28 school days away, we will be celebrating National Fake Moustache Day this Monday (2/24)!  Help yourself to this un moustache-ably cute freebie I'm sharing to help you bring this fun frenzy into your classroom too!

From the makers of the AgingBooth app, comes BoothStache available for iPhones and free on Androids just in time for our class celebration of National Fake Moustache Day!  Just snap a serious headshot of your student and stick a stache on their face.  Fun for all to enjoy!

In the spirit of sharing, I also found some FREE online printable moustaches:

• Yosemite Sam
• Frenchie & Tom Selleck
• Charlie Chaplin
• Easy Rider
• 1800s dude
• Lorax
• Moustache on a Stick

Keep calm and MOUSTACHE on!

If I Were 100 (Aging Booth & 100th Day for Big Kids)

Forgot to post these last month, but thought they were TOO cute to keep to myself.  After searching pinterest for some FUN bigger kid (I have 4th graders) activities, I ran across this activity from Edukate and Inspire which uses the app, AgingBooth.  Luckily, I have an Android, so it's completely free! Conveniently, I was able to snag this "If I Were 100" freebie and this became an instant classroom hit!

Also, I recently discovered this free photo publishing website called canva.com and was able to put together the image above.  BONUS:  they have plenty of free clipart / text editing images and layout to get carried away with.  Another nice alternative to creating my images in PowerPoint - however I must say that I'm much quicker when creating in PowerPoint.  

Book Publishing Throwback

When I was a kid, it felt like we spent one to two ENTIRE school days just completing a writing assignment.  We'd be required to illustrate and revise/edit the entire story independently and there were a slew of materials available to complete your final book.  This definitely was in the 90s when our teachers were not being held as "accountable" as educators of today.  There were wallpaper swatches, construction paper galore, Elmer's glue bottles, beads, scissors, yarn, hole punchers and plenty of markers!

Anyway, over the years I've always tried to incorporate a cute art activity into the publishing stage of our writing assignment, but I always felt like the kids were being served an injustice if they didn't have a chance to PUBLISH a book like I used to as a kid.  Therefore, I met the demands of our state SCIENCE test, Common-Core research writing and speaking & listening standards, as well as my creative passion through the creation of the Animal Research Project!

Awww, do you know how happy I felt to see those brass brads make an appearance in my 4th grade classroom unrelated to calculating elapsed time?  It was quite the JOYFUL experience!!  All of the student books turned out absolutely darling because they took extreme ownership over this project.  Sadly, I didn't take as many pictures of the student books as I would have liked as they were quite eager to take their graded projects home!  Sneak a peek at 'em below.

Red Wolves

 Types of Wolves

All About Caribbean Flamingos

 Diagram of a Caribbean Flamingo

Since then, my students have become quite the curious lil' investigators in their abilities to research various topics online.  So, I developed this kid-friendly bibliography sheet for my kiddos to record their print and online resources as they research.  Thought I'd share it with the bloggy-sphere since it seems to be a new expectation with the Common Core standards across MANY grade levels!  Just click the image to be taken to the promised freebie!
Finally, I'd love to do a FLASH giveaway for my newest item: Animal Research Project.  Simply be the first commenter to correctly identify the black animal that my 4th grade teacher was obsessed with when I was in elementary school.  Don't forget to leave me your email address so I know where to send your winnings!

Que VIVA Los Presidentes!