Give Task Cards a Try and a Gift Card Drawing!

YES!!!!  It is finally here!  The annual TPT Cyber Sale! 

November 27th and 28th!

Save up to 25%!!!!!!

Want to win some TPT cash?  

Just click on the picture below to visit my Facebook page to enter!  

One winner will be drawn Nov. 27th at 9:00 p.m.!

Tasks cards....  where have you been all my teaching life?  Better yet...  all my life!  I know that I would have loved them as a student.

My kids and I use task cards all of the time.  We use them for both math and ELA.  Sometimes I use them as a pretest to see where the kids are and then we do the set again to see the GROWTH!

Task cards are great to play a game of SCOOT!  Scoot is super easy and keeps the kids engaged!  Just print out a set of task cards and hang them all over the room.  Sometimes I hang them in order and sometimes I don't.  Assign each student a card to start at.  Once we start, they read the card, record their answer on their sheet, and wait for the bell.  I use a bell sound on my phone to signal for them to move to the next card.  You can also say "SCOOT" or use any ringtone that you have.   Everyone moves from card to card around the room.

If two kids are at the card at the same time, no problem.  Some of the kids work a little slower and it is perfectly OK with me for them to take their time and do their BEST WORK!  The task card in this picture is in orange.  I print a lot of the task cards on colored copy paper to save ink. 

For a little variety, sometimes I just project the cards on my board. 

We use dry erase markers and write our answers on white boards.  I really like this way because I can walk around and see really quick who has the correct answers and who needs more help!

If you haven't given task cards a try yet, why not give it a shot!

Once you try them, I PROMISE you will be hooked and so will your kids!  I can't even explain how excited they are when they come in and see the cards hung around the room!  Are we playing this morning?  I must get asked that a million times!  They are so quiet when we play and you can see the engagement in their eyes!  Makes a teacher's heart HAPPY!  

We also use them in centers and for extra practice.  Just put the cards in a baggie or folder and the kids can practice them with a partner.  I even send them home with different kids from time to time.  

Still not sure?  Will you try it for FREE?  Download one of my freebies and see what you think?  I know you and your kiddos will love task cards as much as we do!

Just click on the picture below to go to my TPT store and download them for FREE!

If you love them, please leave me a blog comment below or feedback on TPT.  A Valentine freebie set is in the works, so check back soon!

Happy Teaching!

Back to School... Some Favorites!

Back to School brings lots of new things!  

I want to share my top 5 favorite things about my classroom this year!

The best part of this post, is that each of these adorable pictures 

are linked to my favorite things!

Where have you been all my life?  I mean SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How fun is it when all your reading centers are in colored ink?  Every math game comes to life!  Best of all no more COLORING things in!

If you don't have HP Instant Ink....  don't walk....  RUN and get yourself signed up!

The program is really simple.  Sign up for the service and your printer lets HP know to send you ink. No more running out at 1:00 in the morning to buy ink!  The ink comes right to your mailbox.

They have different plan levels from $2.99 to $9.99 a month.  I am on the $9.99 plan.  That gives me 300 copies a month!  Unused copies roll over to the next month.  (One catch is that you can only bank 300 copies in the roll over)

If you have an HP printer that is wireless you already may be in luck!  You can check on the link to see if you already have what you need. (Just click on the cute kid above!)

I bought the HP Envy 5540 at Best Buy for less than $75.   Turns out that I could have gotten a better deal at CostCo, so make sure you check them out before you buy.   Also check online for some great deals at Amazon and Walmart.  I have a few friends that have bought one the last few weeks and have gotten some great deals!

Once you have your printer, all you need to do is log in on the site and set up your account.  The huge bonus is that you can enter promo codes to get free MONTHS!  Yes, FREE MONTHS!

When I signed up I used two codes and got 7 free months of ink!  These codes worked for me and also for my friend last week, so give them a try.

6freeink

gDTW3

Don't forget to check your box because you might have scored 3 more free months like my friend did!

I promise if you only give yourself one gift this year....  MAKE IT INSTANT INK!

I am always looking for new sites for the kids to use in the classroom and this summer I discovered a WINNER!

ZEARN!

Zearn is a free independent learning program that allows the students to work at their own pace mastering their math skills.

It is rated as a Tier 1 instructional program with proven research based results.  You can read all about it on their site.

This is my first year using it and so far I am impressed with it!  The kids seem to really be engaged and want to get extra time on the computer to work on it some more!

Take a peek at it and see if it will help your kiddos!

This book is FANTASTIC!

This is one of my favorite ways to start the school year off and we always revisit this clip every so often to help use make sure....

We aren't being a VOLCANO!

At the end of last year I read about NAIER and had to take a look!

NAIER is basically a teacher paradise with all kinds of supplies we need at HUGE discount prices!

You have to apply to be a teacher member and it does take a few weeks to get approved, but it is worth the wait!

I ordered 24 rolls of Scotch brand packing tape, 12 tablets of sticky notes that were 12x12, 6 rolls of duct tape, markers, pens, tape dispensers, and more!

Total cost.....  $47

Yes, you read that one right!  The only drawback is that it does take a few weeks to get your order, but it is so WORTH the WAIT!

If you haven't checked it out yet....  take a look!

Well...  that one is a WISH!!!!!!!!!  A classroom that is all set and ready is just a DREAM!  Every year I stress and worry that the kids will be disappointed if everything isn't perfect.

THEY DON'T CARE!  All they want to do is spend time with YOU!  The decorations, name tags, and color coded stuff can come later.  All they want to do the first week is spend time with YOU!

It is so easy to get tangled up in all of the stressful issues that surround us each day, but this year celebrate the JOY and SUCCESS!  That joy and success is far more important than anything else!

I hope everyone has a wonderful school year.  Enjoy every minute with your kiddos.

Happy Teaching!

Math Game Monday!

The next few weeks I'm sharing some of my favorite activities and ideas!

This week is Math Game Monday!

GUESS MY NUMBER!
A few years ago I need a quick group game that we could play on a regular bases and would be student led.  I made up this chart and laminated it.  You write a number from the chart on a sticky note and put it in your pocket.  The students have to ask yes and no questions to try and figure out what the secret number is!  As they ask questions, you cross off different numbers that it couldn't be.

You could use any group of numbers depending on your kiddos ability level.  This game is great to reinforce key math concepts and really helps the kids formulate quality questions.  When you first start is a learning process.  They have to practice and listen to each other.  After playing a few times they get the hang of it and now the BEST PART.....

Let it become STUDENT LED!  Yes you read that right, let a student run the game!  The student that guesses right gets to become the next leader. They can play this FOREVER if you let them!

Once they get good at being in charge of the game, this frees the teacher up to do some quick reteaching for a friend that needs extra help.  Everyone stays engaged and best of all....  they are having FUN!

BUMP!
Another favorite math game is BUMP!  If you haven't discovered it yet, you are in for a real treat!  TPT has BUMP game boards for lots of different ability levels and skills.  The best part is that I have been able to find one for anything I needed that was FREE!

My kiddos LOVE IT!

Ready to give it a try?  Click on the picture to download one for free from my TPT store!  Just make copies, get some dice and cubes.  You are ready for the kids to use this in small groups, in centers, or for early finishers.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Happy Teaching!

Oh it's TESTING TIME!

Holy cow BATMAN!

It's testing time already!  Where did the year go?

We are in count down mode....  only 6 teaching days until the BIG DAY!

I spent the morning trying to come up with a list of things I am confident they know and what we need to revisit this week.  My lesson plans are a list with a ton of sticky notes attached to it!  Ha Ha!

For my class, the ELA portion will be much harder than the math.  Might it be that I am a better math teacher than ELA....  afraid so!

I made this anchor chart to give them something new to look at this week and hopefully they will remember to do some of these things next week.

Test prep is SO BORING!  So I wanted a plan that will keep them engaged.

To help get ready for the reading portion, I have picked a different story to use each day as my read aloud.  Each day we are going to focus on the same skills with each book.  My kiddos love to write on sticky notes.  So I made these charts to use.  After we read they will work in groups or with partners to identify their answer and write it down.  We will talk about all the answers and evaluate them.   The best ones will be left on the chart.  Then, one student will be blindfolded and use a pointer to pick the winner!  And....  the winner gets a TREAT!  Nothing like some candy to keep them working hard!

Here are some of the charts I'm going to use this week:

We can't ever get enough practice with this skill.  I'm going to make them write in a complete sentence to get some English skill review in at the same time.

I put some "starters" at the bottom to get them thinking.  Towards the end of the week, I'm going to cut off the words and see how we do without them.  FINGERS CROSSED!

This is something that we really struggle with.  So we are going to do a lot of practicing this week!

I wanted this to be different than the PIE chart that we have in class.  We are GREAT at naming the author's purpose, but struggle to find ways to express how the author feels.  Hopefully working with these questions will help us get some practice.

Easy as can be, helps us review for the test, and everyone will be engaged!    

For math I'm going to do a lot of white board review and some Skittle Math.  If you haven't downloaded my Skittle Math Freebie, click right here.  The kids love it and work so hard to earn those Skittles!  

I'm also going to pull out some math task cards.  One of my favorite ones is a set that reviews all of the Common Core math standards.  It has 4 questions for each standard.  

Are you looking for a test prep bundle that covers both math and ELA?  

Take a look at this edition for second grade!  Just click on one of the pictures!

Take a look at this edition for first grade!  Just click on one of the pictures!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and if you are getting ready for state testing....

A HUGE HIGH FIVE for YOU and your KIDS!

Happy Teaching!

Making Arrays

One of my favorite things to teach each year is ARRAYS!

I just love them!  It makes the kids feel so grown up because now they can multiply.  And let's be honest, it is a great break from three digit subtraction across zeros!  Ha Ha!

I had this great lesson planned to introduce arrays and low and behold I forgot my flash drive at home that morning.  Well no problem it's in the icloud....  Oh no it isn't!  Well drats!  Quick thinking and I came up with this little activity.

We divided a paper into four sections.

We wrote the problem in the first section.  I gave them about 10 different ones they could pick from.  I kept them under 5x6 so that everyone would be able to meet with success since this was one of our first day working with arrays.

In the next section they made their sets.  We used all those little stickers that we all have in a drawer someplace because we never seem to use them.  I let everyone keep their page of leftover stickers to take home.  You would have thought I gave them a MILLION DOLLARS! They were so excited!

In the bottom sections we wrote out our problem in words and as repeated addition.  Can I say a BIG SCORE for this one!  The kids loved it and the best part....  they asked for more paper to make extra arrays on.  Two days later and they are begging to get more stickers to keep practicing.

Isn't so funny that sometimes the best lessons are the ones that you pull out of the air because what you had planned didn't work out?  It happens to me every so often and they always are a hit with the kids!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Looking at Math Differently!

Just wanted to share some quick pictures of our math review today.

We have been working on different ways you can add two-digit numbers.  After learning all these different ways most of the kids have a go to strategy that they like.  When we practiced today it was SO MUCH FUN to walk around looking at their "method".  We explained our "method" to our Turn and Talk Partner.   I had them revoice how their partner solved it so they could work on explaining it back to the student that originally wrote it.  We had some tongue tied moments, but all in all they enjoyed it.

I really liked this one.  The model in the left corner was her first idea and then she said she "scrapped it" for another method.   When  I asked her why she didn't erase it, she looked at me puzzled and said, "You always say to leave everything, so you can see our mistakes!  That was a mistake, it was WAY easier the other way!"

It is completely amazing to see how differently they all think and what makes tick.  I think about how I taught math 19 years ago and it is NOTHING like what I do today.  I have no textbook, workbook, or a stack of worksheets.  We talk more than I ever thought possible and the kids talk WAY more than I do.  They experiment and try to figure things out for themselves.  They draw and question.  They discuss and create.  They are learning math at a level that I would have never thought possible.  OK off my math soap box!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Teaching!

Bringing Back Some Old Favorite Activities

It might be a NEW YEAR, but I'm bringing back a few of activities that I had completely forgot about.

Over the holiday break I was going through some old files trying to PURGE the pile and I came across some old games I used a long time ago.  They were ragged and I threw them out.

WHAT!!!!!

Then I realized that the game pieces were trash, but the concept was a WINNER!

Old fashioned memory cards and letter tiles need to be added to my stations STAT!

I found a cute packet on TPT for New Years and SNAP....  it had letter tiles!  We had the best time moving the tiles around and trying to make as many words as we could!  It was a great way to celebrate our first day of 2017 together!

I loved to walk around and watch how each of them organized their paper letter tiles differently.  Some of them lined up the vowels and then lined up the consonants. Some of them had them in random rows or just in a pile.  This little one spelled out Happy New Year and then pulled tiles out to try and make a word.  Then she put them right back into their original place.  When I asked her about it, she said well I already found three words just by organizing them into Happy New Year!  I love listening to them explain the whys and hows of their methods of doing things. It really makes me understand their thinking so much better.  

Another good old game we have brought back was MEMORY MATCH!  How did I ever forget this one?  I have no idea!

We have been studying geometric shapes and are struggling to recognize some of them.  A pentagon is a tough one!  Not to mention if a hexagon is thrown into the mix.

The words are on the blue cards and the pictures on the green cards.  The kids pick one blue card and try to match it with a green.  It they make a match, they keep the pair.  If they don't, it goes back into the game.

We played in groups and had the best time trying to remember where the different cards were. Not only did we practice identifying the shapes, but we had a great lesson on the strategies to help you win. Did I mention that we had two lose a turn cards and two put one pair back into the game cards?  This helped make the game last a little longer so they could work on their strategies to remember which cards were where.

I hope everyone is enjoying 2017 with their kiddos!

Happy Teaching!

For the LOVE of TASK CARDS!

Tasks cards....  where have you been all my teaching life?  Better yet...  all my life!  I know that I would have loved them as a student.

My kids and I use task cards all of the time.  We use them for both math and ELA.  Sometimes I use them as a pretest to see where the kids are and then we do the set again to see the GROWTH!

Task cards are great to play a game of SCOOT!  Scoot is super easy and keeps the kids engaged!  Just print out a set of task cards and hang them all over the room.  Sometimes I hang them in order and sometimes I don't.  Assign each student a card to start at.  Once we start, they read the card, record their answer on their sheet, and wait for the bell.  I use a bell sound on my phone to signal for them to move to the next card.  You can also say "SCOOT" or use any ringtone that you have.   Everyone moves from card to card around the room.

If two kids are at the card at the same time, no problem.  Some of the kids work a little slower and it is perfectly OK with me for them to take their time and do their BEST WORK!  The task card in this picture is in orange.  I print a lot of the task cards on colored copy paper to save ink.

For a little variety, sometimes I just project the cards on my board.

We use dry erase markers and write our answers on white boards.  I really like this way because I can walk around and see really quick who has the correct answers and who needs more help!

If you haven't given task cards a try yet, why not give it a shot!

Once you try them, I PROMISE you will be hooked and so will your kids!  I can't even explain how excited they are when they come in and see the cards hung around the room!  Are we playing this morning?  I must get asked that a million times!  They are so quiet when we play and you can see the engagement in their eyes!  Makes a teacher's heart HAPPY!

Still not sure?  Will you try it for FREE?  Download my newest freebie and see what you think?  I know you and your kiddos will love task cards as much as we do!

Just click on the picture below to go to my TPT store and download them for FREE!

If you love them, please leave me a blog comment below or feedback on TPT.  A Valentine freebie set is in the works, so check back soon!

Happy Teaching!

Double Digit Regrouping!

Oh it is TIME!!!!!!!!!!

Time to teach one of my favorite things in WORLD!

REGROUPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Serious.....  it truly is.  It might be one of the toughest things for the kids to master and the struggle is REAL!  But I love teaching the concept.

We just started this past week and this year I didn't use my old base ten blocks.  We broke out bags of pretzels and marshmallows!  Much better choice if you ask the kids.

Everyone got a bunch of pretzel sticks and tiny marshmallows.  First, we organized our treats.

Then we talked about how these would help us model our new skill.  It was important that the kids understood that these are non-proportional models.  To show that these were non-proportional models we talked about how we know that a pretzel stick is equal to 10 and a marshmallow is equal to 1.  We lined them up to show that they are not proportional like the base-ten blocks.   

                To throw in some measurement I asked them to estimate how many pretzel sticks 
                                          they think would equal 10 marshmallows.  TWO!  
                                          Why not hit another standard while we were at it!     

We started by modeling a problem on our paper.  

This was a hit!  The kids were totally engaged!  

Then, we traded out 10 marshmallows for a pretzel stick. 

The last step was to draw a model of what we did. 

We practiced three together as a whole class and they did fantastic.

Now it was their turn.  I put the problem on the board and they had to create their "food" model, trade for a ten, and then draw the model in their notebooks.

It was a SUCCESS!  The kids loved it and everyone completely got the concept!

This lesson took HALF the time as my starter lesson did last year.  The best part is that we understood the concept so much better than we have in the past.

Lesson learned.....  add more food to our math lessons!

Give this a try.  Even if you have already started this unit.  You and your kids will be glad you did!

Happy Teaching!