Math Manipulative Storage!!

I posted some pictures showing my math manipulative storage at the beginning of the school year, but didn't really go into detail. I am excited to share these pictures with you now because I am SO proud! After state assessments last school year I spent a few days going through and reorganizing all of the manipulatives that I had in order to make room for MORE. Anyway, I will let the pictures speak for themselves--enjoy! :)

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Numbers, Numbers Everywhere! Games

Looking for place value practice games?? Check out my newest games, "Numbers, Numbers Everywhere!" These games are available individually OR in a bundle (at a discounted price). Each game follows the same format--students practice reading and writing numbers in standard form. The first 3 people to comment (with an email address) will receive a FREE copy of the game bundle!

You can check the games out in my Teachers Notebook store. :)

Thanks, and ENJOY!! :)

Awards!

I am actually responding to awards in a (somewhat) timely manner this go-round!! Yay for me!

I am honored that some of you thought of me when you were making a list--thanks a bunch!! I received this award from:

Jennifer @ Teaching With a Smile
Mrs. L @ Life With Mrs. L
Emily @ Circus of Learning
Jennifer @ Herding Kats in Kindergarten
Jen @ Teaching, Life and Everything In Between

This award is from Andrea @ One Teacher's Take.

I received this award from The Teched Out Teacher

I am pretty sure I got everyone listed.....pretty sure. I checked twice! :)

THANKS AGAIN!!!!! :)

Belated Seussy Project

Here is one of the Seussy projects my class did a few weeks ago! They were challenged with the task of creating the next Seuss super star (a little competition for The Cat in the Hat)! The only rule was that it had to rhyme. Here is what they came up with:

Possible extension activities:

• Create a class book of the fun new characters.
• Write and illustrate your character's first book!
• Write a persuasive letter to Dr. Seuss describing why the new character is worthy of being published.

What other extension ideas do you have?? Post below!

Virtual Teaching Expo

The Everything's Intermediate Virtual Teaching Expo is right around the corner and yours truly is one of the presenters!! I am very excited/nervous about this (yikes!!). We are currently looking for a few of you awesome teachers out there to donate items to the virtual goodie bag each participant will receive. PDF products worth over $5 are now being accepted! To donate, please CLICK HERE.


Thanks, and SEE YOU SOON!!! :D

The return of the SMART Choice bucket

I posted about my SMART Choice bucket wayyyy back at the beginning of the school year. I use it to randomly reward students that make smart choices! That could be anything from standing in line quietly or helping others to simply using good manners. I just updated the file with the free download of the label and added 9 more labels with all different themes! Click on the picture to return to the post and grab a copy for your SMART Choice bucket!

Keeping Students Accountable

Standardized testing--any thoughts on them?? Just kidding! We don't have enough time for that!! ;)

Standardized tests are such a BIG deal in Texas. I'm sure those of you in other states feel pressure about your testing system too. We are required to have students take practice tests--benchmarks--to assess progress every 6 weeks for all three tested subject areas. As fun as these are (NOT), the kids get worn out and oftentimes will deem them useless. I believe that well-written benchmarks can be useful. Whether or not the ones I have to give my students are, in fact, useful, I want them to feel like they are so they will always do their best on them. I don't want to pass on any negative feelings that I may have about them. I always make sure to let students know how they did on these tests. We sometimes reflect upon their progress in an informal manner and make goals for the next benchmark. I have also had them keep track of progress on a graph before. But we don't do that every time (for a number of reasons). Anyway, I decided that I needed to enhance the page that I currently use in order to better keep them accountable. I created this little minibook for them to track their progress. Check out the book below and feel free to download it! I am not sure how many of you can actually use this, but I hope there are some of you out there that can!

I have not used this version with my students, but I know that they will enjoy it, since they enjoyed my previous history form. Enjoy!

You have my permission to PIN!

You have probably come across blog posts regarding Pinterest's terms of use here lately. Basically, if you pin something you are agreeing that you have the right to pin it; Pinterest can then use the images in any way they see fit. Check out this post by Laura Candler for more information on the issue. Also on her post is a list of blogs who have granted you permission to pin. Know that you have permission from the blog author to pin whenever you see the red button (above). If you do not see the badge then you will need to contact the blog author for permission.

That being said, consider this my official post granting you permission to pin images from my blog! Also, click below if you would like to check out my boards on Pinterest:

New Multiplication Game!

I've just added a new game to my store! Multiplication Madness can be used to practice multiplying 1-digit and 2-digit numbers. Click on the picture to view it in my store.

My students absolutely LOVE this game! They don't even realize I'm making them practice how to multiply. :)

I would love to give away 3 free copies to the first 3 people to comment with an email address. :D

Math Notebook Setup Part 2

Welcome back! This is part 2 of my notebook set up series. Click here if you missed part 1!


4. Table of Contents

Directly after the personalized cover page comes the Table of Contents. As you can see in the picture, we record each entry with the date, title and page numbers. I decided to use subcategories in this year's notebook (picture #2). (You can see that is is much more specific than last year's (picture #1).) We will usually record the date and title before making a new entry; the page numbers are recorded after the pages are complete (so we are sure that it is accurate).

5. Vocabulary Section
The very last page of the notebook marks the beginning of the vocabulary section. We put all of our vocabulary cards back here.

We complete the cards together, with the students providing the information for each section. If you would like a copy of the Frayer model vocabulary card click here to download it from my store. There are several different versions out there--the version I have works well in my classroom. You may find that a different version is better for you. :)

6. Page numbers
We number each page, a few at a time. I like to have them number about 10-15 pages ahead of time. This keeps the kids on track and ensures me that they are on the right page when we are about to add a new entry.

7. Storage

Above is a picture of my almost-completed classroom (from back in August). Next to the table you will notice a plastic drawer set. This is where students keep all math journals and math class folders. Each class has its own drawer. These get VERY messy, VERY fast so it is important for me to stay on top of them! We clean them out frequently (some more than others!).



I have SO. much. fun. incorporating these journals into our classroom!! I hope you enjoyed these posts. :)