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!

Superbowl Fun Friday and Freebie!

Each year, right before the Superbowl, my class seems to fall into the 3rd quarter "slump".  They've been back from Winter break for several weeks, and it seems like DECADES before Spring Break.  Pair that with the all-to-frequent, too cold for recess days, and you have a recipe for some antsy kiddos! 

Around this time of year, I will do anything to keep them motivated, and "Superbowl Fun Friday" has helped me with this mission.  In the weeks leading up to the Superbowl, I begin to drop hints about his fun-filled day, and of course, their curiosity is peaked.  It's always nice to have something to look forward to, so come Friday, my students are usually very excited!

Now, it's important to remember that I am in the trenches.  I know how important and crucial every day of instruction is for my students at this point of the year.  So my secret is...Superbowl Fun Friday is really just academic concepts that we are learning about anyway, just with football themes.  Friday is also my day with no pull-outs or specials, so we have plenty of time to accomplish all that we need to accomplish.

Fun Friday starts with each group deciding on their team name.  Throughout the day, I award points to teams who complete activities, show good sportsmanship, and work together as a team.  This year, our day will consist of football themed multi-step word problems (Operations and Algebraic Thinking, anyone?) and using the Distributive Property to determine the area of a football field in math, and football-themed reading, including a book by one of my favorite players (Peyton, not Eli):   

 

In the afternoon, we play a quick round of "Superbowl Quiz Game", which is just a Powerpoint I created.  I've played many ways, but I've found that two big teams actually works well because many of the questions take some schema that not all of my students have.  If I'm feeling crazy, I might even take in some football themed treats.  

Because it's almost the weekend, and more importantly, because you read this far, you can get your very own "Superbowl Quiz Game" for free here in my TPT store.  Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

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!