Teachers Are Heroes - TIME FOR A SALE!

Who doesn't love a sale?  Teachers spend countless hours and dollars getting their classroom ready and preparing great lessons for their students.  Teachers truly are our heroes and deserve a sale!  My products on Teachers Pay Teachers will be on sale for 28% off with the promo code "Heroes" on Wednesday, February 25th!  Happy shopping!


Five For Friday!

I am so excited to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!



This has been a crazy week to say the least!  Here is what I have been up to!


I have not been to school for a full week!  Why, you may ask?



We have had record breaking cold and snow every day this week!  This has meant some much appreciated time with my girls, to get my taxes done and get my house back in some sort of order!  LOVE SURPRISE DAYS (or in this case...WEEK) OFF!


Test scheduling adjustments...UGGGHHH!  This has been the bane of my existence this week.  My state is taking part in new assessments this year and I have been asked to put together the testing schedule for our students with special needs.  This was all ready to go - until the snow week!  Now I have redone the schedule for the 3rd time and have my fingers crossed that testing will begin on Monday (or it is back to the drawing board again).





Spending all the extra time at home this week has made me realize just how much kids love MINECRAFT!  I have two daughters and in the course of this week I have seen them play this game, build MINECRAFT legos, read books and guides to learn more about it and get into deep discussions about how to best build a house to keep enemies away.  I cannot seem to get away from this game.  This got me thinking....how can I best use the excitement for MINECRAFT to help my students learn new concepts?  The first thing that came to mind is for them to "build" a MINECRAFT inspired figure (it would be so cool to do this somehow in a 3-D format...but I haven't figured this out yet) on graph paper.  Since all figures on this game are very boxy it will be easy to do on graph paper with the lines.  Next, we will be able to calculate the area and perimeter of each part of our figure (head, body, etc).  I don't have pictures yet, because this is just ideas running through my head.  Possibilities are endless...they can write about their figure, and so much more!  I would love to hear about some of your MINECRAFT inspired classroom creations.  If you can't beat them, join them...right?



I was able to work on a new product this week to add to my store!  YEAH!  Facts and opinions...an important reading comprehension skill that can be tricky for some students.  Instead of your typical worksheet with matching for fact and opinion, my new product includes 2 fun activities for practicing this skill.  



The first activity is a fact and opinion creativity where students get to build an ice cream sundae!  They will first sort ice cream scoops (with assorted statements about ice cream) into fact and opinion categories.  Next, they will glue these onto the appropriate bowl and add a cherry on top.  Answer key is included and you have an instant display to add to your classroom!


The second activity included in this product is a fact/opinion task cards or scoot game.  The 12 included cards showcase a variety of question types to help lead students to a deeper knowledge of this subject.  A student response sheet and answer key are also included.  My students have loved both of these activities!  It is always such a good feeling to finish a project!



Finally, I am celebrating my 1 year anniversary on Teacher's Pay Teachers!  YEAH!  I am so grateful to all of the wonderful teachers who have inspired me over my career!  I am planning a giveaway and sale to happen in the very near future!  Stay tuned!





Gee! It's Geometry Time!

I LOVE the math topics that seem to always be taught around this time of year!  From fractions to measurement and geometry...the topics lend themselves so well to fun, hands-on learning!  Of these topics, however, geometry has to be my favorite.  Geometry is such a broad topic that requires students to have strong background knowledge in attributes of shapes as well as other geometric terms to be successful.  To practice this background knowledge I love to get students up and moving. We use our bodies to create a variety of shapes and angles (laying on the floor),  get outside and draw shapes and other geometric terms using sidewalk chalk, use food items such as marshmallows and pretzel sticks to build models of these terms, and so much more!

One of my favorite ways to practice these terms is to make a class dictionary.  Our class roams the  school in pairs with digital cameras and iPads/iPods and take pictures of a list of geometry terms (example: quadrilateral, hexagon, parallel lines, obtuse angle, etc).  Each pair is given a checklist of items to look for as we walk.  When we finish our hunt students can either create a collage or powerpoint presentation of their findings (adding labels to each picture using a geometric term).  I then choose a few pictures of each term to print out and create a class book.  This book is a great reference tool for the class and students enjoy applying this knowledge to the real world.

My TpT store has many products lending itself to an elementary level study of geometry (grades 1-5) from polygons, geometry terms, perimeter and area, etc. Check it out!  Here are a few of my favorite products:



  


      Lines and Angles Matching Game and Worksheet
This matching game features many key geometry terms with images for students to match in a "Go Fish" style game.  An assessment worksheet is also included along with answer keys.




   



       Differentiated Polygon Scoot and Worksheet
 This product includes 3 levels of practice with polygons ...perfect for print and go differentiation!   Play it as a scoot game or use as task cards (answer keys included).  Differentiated worksheets/assessments are also included in this purchase!




Stop by my TpT store where I am putting all of my geometry items on sale for the remainder of February!




 











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