Sneak Peek Sunday August 21-25, 2017

Happy Sunday! How is everyone doing? I'm hoping that your August is going smoothly as many of you are preparing to return to school or have already been back in the classroom!

My plans for the week! Grab a PDF here. 

This week I've got plans for beginning digital citizenship with my sixth graders. I use Common Sense Media because not only are they a wealth of reliable information they are also FREE. We like free! Free is good. 

I am a Common Sense Certified Digital Educator! What this means is that I've taught their curriculum to my kiddos and I've done so effectively. 

I love how simple and direct the lessons are for Common Sense. They are written with the student in mind so that he or she can understand and see the effect of digital citizenship on their lives. 

Check out the Course Scope and Sequence HERE. They've got lessons for K-12. 

I'm starting the 6th grade off with Digital Life 101. We talk about the effect of using the Internet in our everyday lives and how important it is to maintain perspective. 

I use an assignment where the kids must answer "My Digital Life is Like..." and create a simile ending. Then they must follow digital instructions to create a shared slide deck of similes. 

Here's the slideshow from one class from last year. 

All of these templates can be found in the linked doc at the end of this post. 

This week I've also got a slideshow for helping students learn how to search the Internet effectively. We learn about Google shortcuts, we talk about how to use the omnibox, we decide the best ways to determine which search results are viable, and we keep up with using copyright appropriately. 

We also get to dive into our Keyboarding lessons which the kids HATE but it is so important to learn how to type correctly and the sooner the better - classrooms are getting Chromebooks in Kindergarten! If they learn incorrectly to begin with, its SUPER hard to teach them the right way later on. 

We use EduTyping. Our school has purchased a subscription, but there are so many free typing programs out there. Do a search and play around. See what works for you and your students. 

For seventh grade Study Skills, I'm still slowly working my way through the Executive Functioning Bundle I purchased from Pathways to Success last week. I say slowly because I only have about 75 minutes with the kids and they need time to do homework and studying. It is Study Hall after all. 

So we do a mini lesson, followed by some short activity, and then they have the remainder of the time to do what they need to do. I've been using the bundle lessons and creating Nearpods for my 7th graders. Since it isn't my original work, I'm not sharing the lessons with anyone. We use Nearpod because it is completely paperless and the kids can follow along on their screens and answer questions and complete activities. 

That's it! Click HERE to access the linked doc for all of the resources I've got for this week. 

Happy teaching!

Sneak Peek Sunday: August 14-18, 2017

Hi guys! I can't believe how fast summer went by. I had so many plans and alas, only accomplished a few. But I did rest up and I'm ready for this year!

Ready to also launch my Sneak Peek Sunday again! I know I've been slacking for quite some time, but new year new me, right??

 Let's get started!

MATH IT! An Easy to Use Math Centers Idea

Hi Guys!! Today I'm going to share a quick post about my math centers. I created this system as I was writing our math curriculum. This past year we decided to write our own math because we felt that using the hodgepodge of materials we were using the previous year was too disjointed and not effective with our kiddos. You can check out my math curriculum HERE.

The centers rotation I designed so the kids would get practice with new skills, practice with old skills, practice with fluency skills, and practice with critical thinking skills. I also included an "I'm Through" rotation so the early finishers would have some ideas about what to do when the center game is done. 

Each letter in MATH IT stands for something:

M: Model It

A: Add It

T: Think It

H: Hone It

IT: I'm Through

I made labels (that you can grab for free!) and attached to some bins. Each center with its materials goes into the bin each week. Placed in my math area and all is ready to go. 

The kids know where to go because I have a rotation schedule hanging on my cabinets. 

Close Up: 

I placed the group/table labels on circles and used taped paper clips to hold them. Every day I would move it one to the right. That's it. Easy peasy. 

I had five tables so I had four do the center activities and the fifth table would practice on the computer. So every day some type of skill was being reviewed and reinforced.

I would call individual students in groups based on their needs to my small group table during center time. I could reinforce, reteach, or challenge the kids depending on what they needed. 

All of my monthly themed math centers can be found in my store. 

Thanks for visiting!

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

Hi friends! I hope everyone is having a fantastic February! I don't know about your neck of the woods, but the weather here has been INSANE. One day it's 45 degrees, the next it's 89. I'm surprised we don't all have pneumonia or worse.

Anyway, because it's winter, and because the groundhog saw his shadow, I wanted to share a little activity I created last year for my firsties. This helped us to sum up our unit on place value and regrouping. Plus it's super adorable!

I needed a review activity for our Numbers to 120 unit and I love snowmen! So I made this! 

With this activity the kids can create a snowman by choosing a two or three snowball snowman, a scarf, and two or three buttons. Each addition has a value of tens or ones. They add them all together and show the total value of their snowman! 

I've included a recording page and a page to hang in the hallway with the snowman. 

Click HERE to grab this! 

I also created a QR code scavenger hunt scoot for early finishers to begin once they finished with this little activity. It was a review of all the topics we learned in the unit. 

I know you just love my photography skills. I'm the next Ansel Adams. 

Recording Page 

This one is more Annie Leibovitz, right? 

I tape the cards all over the room in different areas. 

They scan the codes, read the clue, and then they have to go off and find the answer! And NO the cards aren't in order! 

Please check it out HERE and let me know what you think! 

I hope everyone has a fabulous February!

Happy Teaching!

Thoughts on Thursday: Things Teachers Love!!

Hello!! Welcome to another Thoughts on Thursday! Thank you for joining Kristi (from Pelicans & Pipsqueaks) and I this month!

Thoughts on Thursday is our monthly linky where we share our thoughts on various topics. This month we are talking about all things we love!

Five Great Habits to Start NOW!!

Hey guys!! Today I blogged over on The Primary Punchbowl about five great habits that can make your life just a bit easier.

Click HERE to check it out now!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

It's my 35th birthday today! Yay!! And in celebration of that, I've put everything in my store at 35% off this whole weekend.

Visit MY STORE and check it out! Happy Weekend :)

Thoughts on Thursday: Resolutions!

Happy New Year everyone!! I hope your holidays were fabulous and that your new year has been wonderful so far!

Thanks for joining Pelicans and Pipsqueaks and me for this month's Thoughts on Thursday. Today we are talking all about resolutions!

Thoughts on Thursday: My Favorite Christmas Traditions!

Hi guys!! Welcome to another Thoughts on Thursday! Thanks for joining Kristi and I for December's topic: Your Favorite Christmas Traditions!

I love Christmas! It really is the most wonderful time of the year. There is so much going on all around the city and the state and the Internet and everything!

I know in our family we always do Christmas in a big way. One reason: my grandmother was born on Christmas Eve and we have her birthday party every year on that day. We do it themed and have the best time.

One year we did the Grinch!

We also have our Elf, Sparkle. She has a pet reindeer, Ginger. And graphic tees. 

We've had Sparkle for about 7 years now. She comes each Thanksgiving and hangs out with us. 

Another family tradition is the purchase of our Hallmark Keepsake ornament for the year. This year it's bittersweet because it's the final ornament in the Santa's Sweet Ride series. We started this when Carly was six and this is the tenth and final one. 

Carly and I watch movies starting Thanksgiving day. Sometimes sooner. Okay a lot of times sooner!!

Hot chocolate and movie time!! That's our favorite things to do!

In the classroom I love to decorate for Christmas!! I know that not all of my kiddos celebrate Christmas, but we can still have fun with the themes and activities!!

We even have a classroom scout elf!! 

This year I'm doing it with my sixth graders. They love it, too! It's just something fun and new for them. And they are only 11 years old!! 

Though one of them did touch Gatsby and he was sick. They wrote him get well soon notes!! 

He brought stickers!! 

And of course we love playing all sorts of Christmas themed games!! My favorite, any math game that let's us have fun and celebrate the season!!

These are from my Addition and Subtraction shortcuts centers. These centers help with Mental Math. They are helpful for reinforcing mental shortcuts like adding and subtracting 10 or 20 and doubles and doubles plus 1.  

 You can grab these centers in my store for 1/2 off right now!!

And because I love Christmas and you so much, here's a little Christmas present!! Here is a FREE center for place value sorting. 

Jump on down the Chimney for this freebie!

Well thank you so much for stopping by and reading up on my Christmas traditions, both in and out of the classroom!

Make sure to check out the linkup below to read about other Christmas traditions from my teacher friends! 

Join us for the next Thoughts on Thursday: January 5th!

Happy Holidays!

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Birthday to The Primary Punchbowl! #LetsCelebrate

Oh my goodness you guys! I cannot believe that my Punchie buddies and I have been blogging together for a whole year! The Primary Punchbowl is turning 1!

It is so exciting to share our celebration with you. I am so incredibly fortunate to know each and every one of the amazing Punchbowl ladies. They inspire me all the time and I am always in constant awe of the fabulous-ness of their lives!

So in honor of our celebration we are giving you cause for celebration as well with TpT stores on sale, a blog hop to gather some freebies, AND a rafflecopter to enter for a chance to win some more goodies!

My entire store is on sale for 20% for three days. Enjoy!

How do you celebrate exciting things in the classroom? I love to give kiddos a special treat such as line leader for the day or a giant pixi stik or a bag of candy loot. They love just to have happy birthday sung to them by the whole class! It's a policy of the school that we don't do cupcakes or actual parties so acknowledging them first thing in the morning makes for a great big smile on some faces!!

I used to give the birthday boy or girl a sticker "ribbon" to wear all day but you know stickers, they get un-sticky after being put on shirts, sweatshirts, pants, taken off, placed on books and binders, etc. and they were getting a little expensive at my local teacher store. I've also tried brag tags and birthday bags and birthday buttons. But I thought I'd try something different.

So I made some Birthday Bracelets!

So simple. I just print them out and tape them around a little wrist. They are perfect for helping to make a child's day a little more special! These are wider than most paper bracelets - they remind me of slap bracelets! I will print them out on card stock, cut apart, and keep them on hand for birthday days!

So here's your freebie! It's the Birthday Bracelets - but they're EDITABLE! And black and white! The black and white ones not only save ink, but could be given to the special kiddo so they can color it in and make it theirs! Maybe print out a blank one and they can write their own name, too!

Click {HERE} to make a copy for your Google Drive so you can start editing and making it your own. You will need to be signed in to your Google account (it's free!) to access and edit it.

Thank you so much for celebrating with us!

Hop on over to visit Elisabeth at Literacy and Lattes to continue this fabulous celebration! Make sure to visit the Punchbowl to enter the Rafflecopter and Happy Celebrating!