December Currently

Hello, blog world!  Long time no see!  What better way to jump back into the swing of things than by linking up with Farley and a new Currently, so here I go!

It's been awhile...let's see if I still remember how this ol' thang works. 

I'm listening to Sunday Night Football, my dog snoring (this is not a new thing), and an excited 5 year-old talking about Christmas from his bed.  I'm loving my newest teacher-y Christmas décor that we picked up over the summer while visiting Bronner's Christmas Store in Frankenmuth, MI.

 

 

Like many of you, I'm thinking about my ever growing TPT wish list because there is a HUGE Cyber Monday (and Tuesday) sale happening tomorrow!  My store, like many others, will have everything you NEED (ok...want...badly) for up to 28% off when you use the code "Cyber".  Don't miss out!

 

 



I'm so excited about my latest product, Santa Math, which I blogged about last year.  Snatch it up on sale tomorrow and Tuesday!



 

Of course, I'm wanting Winter Break to be here quickly...but not before I finish decorating my tree and putting up the rest of my decorations.  It helps that we only have three short weeks left, and that I will get to partake in my favorite Holiday tradition, which is baking with my Mama!  Most recently, we've up the Pioneer Woman's rolls...like pumpkin cinnamon rolls, and lemon blueberry rolls, and caramel apple rolls.  But we will bust out with the cookie baking soon enough!

 

I'm hoping to get back on the blog train again, so check back soon for what we have been up to.  In the mean time, link up and share your own 'Currently'!

 

Happy Sunday!





Five for Friday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for a (late) five for Friday! So here are my five random things from this first week back to school!

1. A gecko.  That is what a sweet student lovingly brought to school to show their new teacher.  Said gecko is also what escaped in my classroom and has yet to be found!  Fun stuff!

 

2. My hubby always goes out of his way to make a big deal out of the first day of school.  This year, I came home to some beautiful flowers and an AWESOME personalized Jam Box Bluetooth speaker for my classroom.  Seriously, that thing and my husband rock!

 

 

 

3.  My babies!  My youngest started kindergarten this week and I didn't only cried a little lot.  My oldest started fourth grade and I didn't only cried a little lot.  They both LOVE their teachers, so I'm one happy Mama (despite my tears).  

 

 

4.  Do you know what's fun?!  Running over nails and buying new tires!  You haven't lived until you've bought new tires on a teacher's salary in August...

 

 

5.  The Teachers Pay Teachers Back To School Sale starts tomorrow!!  My cart already has $33 worth of materials in it, and I've only just begun.  You can save up to 28% tomorrow and Monday by using the code BTS13.  What's in your cart?!

 

Happy Weekend!





Back to School Freebies!!

If you're anything like me, you've been spending your time lately crying thinking about back to school.  I'm always excited about a new school year, but I can't help but feel a pinch of sadness for the end of Summer vacation.  But what better way to cure your back-to-school blues than with tons of FREEBIES!!!

I was so fortunate to be included in the Back to School Free-books, which are filled with tons of FREE resources aligned to the Common Core for all grade levels.  What I love most is that the standards are listed on each page, so you know exactly what you are getting!  Click on the pic and links below to snatch up your freebies!  This one is my favorite...are you shocked?!?! 

 

 

 

CCSS K-2 Math Free-Book

 

CCSS K-2 ELA Free-Book

 

CCSS 3-5 ELA Free-Book

 

CCSS 6-12 Math Free-Book

 

CCSS 6-12 ELA Free-Book

 

CCSS 6-12 Science Free-Book

 

CCSS 6-12 Social Studies Free-Book

 

Happy downloading!   

New TPT Favorite!

Have you ever bought something on Teachers Pay Teachers that you absolutely love?  Of course you have, but I'm talking L-O-V-E, love, keep a picture of it in your wallet love (kidding...maybe), so cute you don't want to use it love.  Last week, I bought this exact product from Miss Math Dork.

I had been eyeing her Perfect Personalized Planner for a few weeks.  I saw it first on her blog, and have had it in my TpT wish-list for awhile now.  Last week, I finally bit the bullet and ordered my own, because every teacher needs a planner.  She quickly sent me the Google Doc to fill out, and we were off.  Within hours, Jamie was sending me proofs of covers to look, which totally floored me!  Within 24 hours, she had created this beautiful creature:

She was so accommodating, even taking last minute tweaks I had.  Needless to say, I followed the directions she included on her blog, and sent it to Office Max to be printed that night!  I chose to put glossy cardstock front and back covers, and it came out perfectly. 

 

It has 2-page calendars, a place for notes and my to-do lists, product and blog ideas, TpT stats, and a year-at-a-glance calendar. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, it came out great.  I L-O-V-E, love it, and would highly recommend Miss Math Dork and this planner.  It is easily my most favorite purchase from TpT, which considering how many things I've bought on there, is saying a lot! 

 

What's your favorite TpT purchase?  Feel free to share links in the comments, I'd love to see some of your favorites!        

Five for Friday!

 

Even in the Summer, I get excited for Fridays because they just feel special.  But it is the end of June, which means my Summer is half-way over!  Eeeeeeeeeeek!  So in effort to not think about my quickly-fleeting summer, here are the five random images that sum up this past week. 

 

1.  Rainbow Chevron Labels

 

 

I made these for my TPT store, but they're just so...cute.  Never mind that I already have my supplies labeled. 

 

 

 

Forget the fact that it took me several hours to print, laminate, hole-punch, and attach my book basket labels last summer.

 

 

I. Just. Have. To.  So needless to say, my printer is printing, and my laminator is warming up.  Time to do it all again!  You can get your own Rainbow Chevron label cuteness here.  

 

2.  It's been SO hot here.  Like too hot to function.  

 

  

 

It's been so hot that I don't even have the energy to elaborate further on this one. 

 

3.  Because it's been hot, we've spent most of the week inside!  Yesterday, we went to a local jumpy balloon place where my boys ran like wild animals for a few hours.  The air conditioner in this place was icy, so we were all happy! 

 



 

 

4.  Because it's been so hot (see #2 above), we've spent most of the week inside (see #3 above).  We decided to hunker down in a cool, dark theater and see "Monsters University".  

 



 

It was so stinkin' cute, I would highly recommend it.  Both boys loved it, but my 9 year-old said, "That was my favorite Pixar movie of all time!".  If that doesn't seal the deal for ya, I don't know what will. 

 

5.  Finally, I tried something new this week.  For the first time in my entire life, I put on soccer cleats and joined my hubby on the field for a just-for-fun game.

 

 

 

Was I any good?  No.  Were the matchy-matchy pink socks necessary?  No, I didn't even wear shin guards...but they sure are cute!  Was it hot?  Yes (see #2, 3, and 4 above).  Did I have fun?  Yes.  Will I do it again?  Yes.  Moral of the story- try something new, you might surprise yourself.

 

Happy Friday!  



Teacher Appreciation Sale!!

Have you heard?!?!

There is a two-day TPT Teacher Appreciation Sale starting tomorrow.  My cart and wishlist are full and ready!  My entire store will also be on sale, including Year-Long Common Core Daily Language Practice, Multiplication Boot Camp, and cute classroom labels!  Don't forget to use code TAD13 for a full 28% off!

Thanks to Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs for the cute graphic!

What's on your wishlist?!  

Math Night and a Freebie!

Just few weeks ago, we were celebrating all things literacy in true Dr. Seuss style.  This week, we went all out for math!  It should come as no surprise to you that I look forward to this night in a way that some people look forward to the birth of a child.  That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I have always had a flair for the dramatic...

Anyway, I do really look forward to nights like this because it is an opportunity to meet families, educate parents about your personal/school/district math teaching philosophy, showcase student work, and have some fun with math.  This year, we were lucky enough to be able to send simple math activities and manipulatives with students so that they can practice at home.  Kids went classroom to classroom to learn how to play a game, and then collect their loot.  It was like math Trick-or-Treating!

The game I played is one of my all time favorites because it can be used to address so many important math concepts, including computational fluency.  Since 3rd graders are expected to be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide to solve multi-step problems, "Bowling for Numbers" seemed to be a good jumping off point.

In this game, students roll two double-dice to come up with four digits.  These numbers are then used to build as many equations using all four operations as they can to come up with an answer in the range of 1-10.  When they come up with one of these numbers, they "knock it down" by crossing it out.  If students get stuck, they get a second roll to try and knock down the remaining numbers.  At the end of the game, all remaining numbers are added up to determine a score, and the lower the score, the better.  My students love this game, and it was a pretty big hit with parents, too.  I love this game because students happily sit and practice using all four operations, and it can be modified and differentiated for any grade level.  Get your own copy by clicking the pic above!  

Enjoy, and Happy Friday! 

PS- Have you seen double-dice?!  Kids will do ANYTHING you ask if double-dice are involved! 

Spring Cleaning and GIVEAWAY!

The weather here in New Mexico is perfectly Spring...which makes me think of the dreaded SPRING CLEANING!!  Considering it's almost the end of our Spring Break, and we head back to school on Monday, I'm not thinking about cleaning out my closets, I'm thinking about cleaning out my wishlist on Teachers Pay Teachers!

Seriously...I have more items in my wishlist than I'd like to admit, but lucky for us, many sellers on TPT, including myself, are having a sale this weekend!  Click on the image to head to my TPT shop and receive 20% off until Sunday.  Clean out that wishlist!!

  

 Since it's Spring, and this weather has me in a seriously good mood, I'm giving away 3 of my classroom label bundle packs when I reach 10, 15, and 20 blog followers!  That's over 90 classroom library labels and over 25 supply tub labels.  All you have to do is follow my blog (in the left hand column) and leave a comment below to let me know you're interested!  I'll randomly pick a follower when I hit those numbers.

Which will you pick?!  Visit my TPT shop for more details and to see more.

  

Happy Friday!

A Few (more) of my Favorite Things

A few weeks ago, I posted about some of my favorite things.  Needless to say, that was only just the beginning!  I am constantly in awe of the amazing resources that other teachers have found, so I'd like to share some more of the things that keep me a sane and happy teacher.  

Book Retriever App
This app was so worth the $0.99 I paid for it!  Over the summer, I was able to catalog my entire classroom library by scanning the barcodes on each book using the camera on my phone.  My.  Mind.  Was.  Blown.  Not only does it keep track of your books alphabetically, but it also levels them (DRA, AR, Lexile, etc.), which means I can easily check a reading level by scanning the barcode.  It also has options for inputting student lists and parent contact info so that you are able to check books out to students (and alert their parents if a book goes missing), but I have yet to play with this feature.  If you knew how many times I've stood staring at the endless shelves in Barnes & Nobel wondering if I did in fact already have a book I was considering buying, you would also know how handy this app has been for me. 

Teachers Pay Teachers

This is a no-brainer, and I'm sure any teacher nowadays would agree that TPT is on the top of many of our favorite thing lists.  My love for TPT is two-fold: I have found TONS of high quality, cute, creative resources to use with my class, and it has provided me with a (small) second source of income.  My students have loved each and every activity, and I appreciate not having to create everything myself...because there is no way I am that creative!!   

Donors Choose

We all know how much money teachers fork over from their own pockets to supplement their own classroom.  From supplies, to books, to technology and more, it all adds up so quickly.  Our students are like our own children, and we want to give them the world, but unfortunately, we cannot always afford to provide everything we would like.  That's where Donors Choose comes in.  Teachers can create a project by selecting items through their online mall, write a rationale for potential donors, and post up their project on the DC website.  Friends, family, corporations, and even complete strangers can make tax-deductible donations to help fund your classroom project.  Many large companies (like Kia, Horace Mann, Sonic, etc.) offer match opportunities where they will automatically fund half of your project costs.  Over the past two years, I have been fortunate enough to have had four projects fully funded on DonorsChoose.org. I've received math centers, science supplies, and most recently, five Google Chromebooks!  It is definitely worth a shot to help supplement some of the costs associated with loving your students!



So again, I have to ask...what are some of your favorite things?  Apps your students love?  Sites you frequent?  Products that make your world go round?  Share away!



A few of my favorite things...part 1

Just like our students, no two teachers are alike.  Because of that, I LOVE to talk to my teacher friends about their classrooms, their students, what they are reading, what they are doing, all of it.  Most of all, I love to hear about their favorite things because I usually walk away excited and ready to try something new.  So in the spirit of sharing, here are just three (of 392,948,002) of my favorite classroom things.     

1.  Math.
It took me a LONG time to get to this point, but I can now say that I love all things math.  Teaching math, designing math tasks for my kiddos, math PD, math trinkets, talking math...everything! A wise friend once said that math is the great equalizer, and that really resonated with me.  Students who do not fear math are also not afraid to pursue higher education and job opportunities that are math-intensive.  Because of this, I surround my students with math, and make every effort to help them connect math to the world around them. 

Geometry Toms.  I may or may not also have red Calculus Toms.

2. Organization
What can I say?  I love to see things in their place.  I wish I could say that my home was as organized as my classroom, but if I said that, I would be a liar!  But I have invested lots of time into organizing my classroom, which has been time well spent.  My classroom library is organized by series or author, which cuts down on the amount of time students spend browsing so they can get to reading.  This also makes for putting books back where they belong super simple.  Supply tubs have similar labels so students have easy access to resources so they can use them as needed.  However, I should also note that I live in the real world of teaching kids, which means that sometimes, the only thing organized in my classroom is the chaos!          

3. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, by Judy Blume, and Clementine, by Sara Pennypacker
 These are two of my absolute favorite books to read aloud to my students.  Both of these books have characters and situations that most (if not all) of my students can relate to, a good balance of humor and seriousness, and always manage to spark an interest in even my most picky readers.  Both are the first book in a series, so once I've managed to hook them in with the read aloud, they have options for independent reading.  Plus, they are highly entertaining for me, no matter how many times I've read them! 

What are some of your favorite things?  I'd love to hear all about them in the comments below!

Mathy Monday! And a GIVE-AWAY!

I've always been honest with those around me about my "relationship" with math.  We used to be enemies, but now we're very close. In fact, we are so close, I allow math to spend much of the day in my classroom, alongside my students.  We're practically B.F.F's.

With that said, my views on teaching math are constantly evolving, and I think any teacher implementing the Common Core Standards can probably relate to this.  As I make my way through the Common Core, one third grade standard  in particular really sticks with me:

3.OA.C. 7 Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division (e.g., knowing that 8 × 5 = 40, one knows 40 ÷ 5 = 8) or properties of operations. By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

The underlined part is what gives me the biggest pause, I am now responsible for determining if a student is proficient at memorizing facts!  I CRIED over memorizing multiplication facts when I was a kid!  REAL TEARS!!!!!!! 

Now, we've spent months developing our conceptual understanding of multiplication and division, as we should have, it's a critical area in 3rd grade.  I fully understand that knowing multiplication facts from memory helps students solve more difficult problems down the road.  I had to memorize facts as a kid (remember, tears?!).  But as a teacher, I've never been one to focus on "answer production", and in all honesty...I've never required my students to formally prove that they know their multiplication facts.

Instead, I have always addressed computational fluency through games- card games, dice games, array games, computer games, etc.  And so far, no tears from the students (or me).         

So my wondering is...how do you address computational fluency at your grade level?  What activities work well for your students?  Do you have a "no-tears" approach for math facts?!

Now for the give away!  For surviving Monday, I will give the first 3 people to leave a comment my "Multiplication Boot Camp" packet from Teacher's Pay Teachers.  It has 12 of my favorite "games" for practicing math facts, quick fact assessments, a progress tracking sheet, and a homework log.  You can find more info here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Multiplication-Boot-Camp-Grade-3
Just leave your email in the comment box and I will send it to you!

Good luck!