Thankful Linky and Deep Sea Creatures, OH MY!

When I came across this Thankful Linky party by the wonderful Stephanie in Teaching in Room 6, I knew I had to link up!  There is so much that I have to be thankful for since I started this blogging journey last summer!!

1.  Absolutely number one on my list is the AMAZING bloggers that have inspired more than I ever could have imagined!  Here is a short list of my 4th grade peeps, but there are so many more!!

The very first blog that I came across was Tara's at 4th Grade Frolics.  Her blog is what inspired me to create my blog and she is such an amazing teacher and person!  Everyone in the blogging world knows her and she must be crazy busy but she always makes time to make each of her followers feel special.  Her ideas are amazing and I always look forward to her posts!

Laura at Love To Teach has become one of my closest blogging buddies and I love that we both teach in NY!  I have many of her products and they are amazing!!  We both love pugs too and she has a heart of gold.  See her post here when she donated profits from her TN store to Green Mountain Pug Rescue.

Kelly at Teaching Fourth has also become a wonderful blogging friend.  I love her ideas and lessons that she shares.  She started a Fun Friday linky and I link up when I can get around to it!  Love her!

One of my favorite blog crushes is Farley at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade.  Her posts always make me smile and giggle a little too:)  She is famous in the bloggy world but still takes the time to appreciate her followers and make us feel special!  I am thankful for all her amazing ideas that inspire me to be a better teacher!

Another 4th grade buddy is Antonia at Forkin 4th!  I love her blog and she is such a sweet lady!  She has great freebies always posted.  I am so thankful!

Caitlyn at Fourth Grade Lemonade is an absolute sweetheart and she is another 4th grade blogger that I am so thankful for!  We both started blogging last summer and I always look forward to her posts.  She is a blogger that I can always count on!

2.  I am so thankful for all the FANTASTIC freebies and resources I have gained access to and heard about because of blogging!  Recently I won two amazing giveaways!  Seriously?  I am  the type of person who doesn't win anything ever!  

The fabulous Sara at Miss V's Busy Bees (LOVE her and could write a post just about HER!) had an amazing 500 follower giveaway and I was winner #2.  

What did I win?

I KNOW!!  I have been so busy shopping and downloading all these fabulous prizes!  SO, SO thankful!  I am one lucky girl.

Then, this past week I got an email from Bex at Reading and Writing Redhead that I won her giveaway for a $20 Walmart gift card!  Wahoo!!  I know it is $20 but I seriously felt like I won the lottery:)

3.  Of course, I couldn't forget to mention how grateful I am for all the graphics, fonts, and clipart that have totally transformed my documents recently!  Here are a few of my favs:)  Click on picture for the link.

So, that is quite the long list of what I am thankful for in the blogging world!  Thanks have been long overdue and I appreciate everyone that takes any part in this little ol' blog:)  Thank you for sharing in my journey and helping to "Flip This Teacher!"

Next, I wanted to share with you the Deep Sea Creatures activity we recently completed.  First, we explored sonar and I put various objects in a shoebox.  Then, I shook the box and students had to guess what was inside using only their sense of hearing.  I asked them, "What sense did you use to guess what was inside the box?"  It was a great review for my 4th graders!.

I found this amazing website here that is so student friendly.  When you go to this page, there is a sonar sound effect.  The website begins with a description of Creatures of the deep sea and a black box that students can scroll over with their mouse acting as a "flashlight" lighting up different sea creatures as they go over them.  

Then, there are 19 sea creatures to click on and read more about.  Each one has fast facts listed and below is a more detailed description.

I assigned each student a deep sea creature and I had them:

1. Write important facts about their creature on a notecard.
2. Draw a scale image of their creature using the scale 1/2 inch = 1 foot.

I reused the back of 2 large pieces of chart paper and labeled it 1,000 ft. increments.  See how BIG the giant squid and sperm whale are compared to the other deep sea creatures!  This part of the lesson was particularly powerful and fit well with our math curriculum.  Students who had to make a tiny sea creature were really challenged!  It was great to see the proportional relationship:)

 

 I numbered each sea creature and placed its corresponding notecard with a matching number on the side.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!  I have to work Wednesday this year (half day with students and half day parent conferences).  It will really make me thankful for Thursday:) 

I am counting even more blessings this year (you!).