Friday, July 17, 2015
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
I am addicted
Yes, that is right. I am addicted...to all office supplies and stationary. I think that I was destined to be a teacher. From a very early age, I have been obsessed collected notebooks and pens. In my classroom, I have more pens than it is even possible to use but I keep buying them. Not only that, my dear husband feeds into my addiction. During teacher appreciation week last year, he bought me flowers...and pens. What a good man!
Anyway, I wanted to share with you that Maysbooks.com is having a "Christmas in July" sale and everything is 50% off. If you have not bought from Mays Books, you must go there NOW! They have the cutest notebooks. And if you spend $50, you get free shipping. I have officially stocked up on appreciation gifts for next school year. I am always needing a little something for my secret pal or another teacher who has helped me out.
Here are the designs that I select. I can't wait for them to arrive. Until then, I am off to Dollar Tree to see what goodies I can find for my classroom.
-Emily
Anyway, I wanted to share with you that Maysbooks.com is having a "Christmas in July" sale and everything is 50% off. If you have not bought from Mays Books, you must go there NOW! They have the cutest notebooks. And if you spend $50, you get free shipping. I have officially stocked up on appreciation gifts for next school year. I am always needing a little something for my secret pal or another teacher who has helped me out.
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-Emily
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
The Struggle is Real
Last year, one of the concepts that my third graders struggled with was rounding. They could not grasp when to round up and when to round down. One of the ways I helped them was to make a visual chart. I printed, laminated, and attached it to their Everyday Math Journal.
For weeks, we went through the steps...underline the place value you are rounding, draw an arrow next door, what is the number the arrow is pointing to...you get the picture. After a while of trying to come up with a way for my struggling students to grasp when to round up and round down, one of our lovely third grade students explained how he remembered when to round. He explained to the other students that he imagined the number in the place value we were rounding had balloons attached to it. To figure out how many balloons were attached he had to look next door. If the number next door was four or less that would not be enough balloons to make the number float(up to the next number). However, if it was five or more, that would be enough balloons to make the number float up off the ground to the next number. It was genius! Why didn't I think of that? Almost all of my kiddos understood when we started using that analogy.
You can get my rounding guide in my TPT store for FREE!
Happy Tuesday!
For weeks, we went through the steps...underline the place value you are rounding, draw an arrow next door, what is the number the arrow is pointing to...you get the picture. After a while of trying to come up with a way for my struggling students to grasp when to round up and round down, one of our lovely third grade students explained how he remembered when to round. He explained to the other students that he imagined the number in the place value we were rounding had balloons attached to it. To figure out how many balloons were attached he had to look next door. If the number next door was four or less that would not be enough balloons to make the number float(up to the next number). However, if it was five or more, that would be enough balloons to make the number float up off the ground to the next number. It was genius! Why didn't I think of that? Almost all of my kiddos understood when we started using that analogy.
You can get my rounding guide in my TPT store for FREE!
Happy Tuesday!
Monday, June 22, 2015
What day is it?
Hi there blog friends! I hope you are having a great Monday. I am joining in on my first ever Linky Party. I am joining in with The Primary Peach to share how we organize our classrooms. Be sure to check out all the great tools to help you organize your classroom.
Today I am going to share with you one of my favorite parts of my classroom, the class calendar. The first classroom that I was in had a HUGE white board along one of the walls. I was able to put my class calendar on a section of the white board. Unfortunately, the classroom that I am currently in does not have a big enough white board for my calendar. It does, however, have a chalkboard along one of the walls. So, I had my wonderful husband make my new class calendar on the chalk board using electrical tape.
I love that this calendar is big enough to be seen throughout the classroom. It houses any important dates that the students should know about throughout the month. My students keep a daily agenda and they know that they can not ask me what the date is. I simply respond with "What was the date on Friday? Look at the calendar and you can figure out today's date." It only took a few weeks for my kiddos to help each other out when someone was struggling with the date. I also love it because the students get so excited when they come in and see the events for the new month.
What type of calendar do you use in your classroom?
Today I am going to share with you one of my favorite parts of my classroom, the class calendar. The first classroom that I was in had a HUGE white board along one of the walls. I was able to put my class calendar on a section of the white board. Unfortunately, the classroom that I am currently in does not have a big enough white board for my calendar. It does, however, have a chalkboard along one of the walls. So, I had my wonderful husband make my new class calendar on the chalk board using electrical tape.
I love that this calendar is big enough to be seen throughout the classroom. It houses any important dates that the students should know about throughout the month. My students keep a daily agenda and they know that they can not ask me what the date is. I simply respond with "What was the date on Friday? Look at the calendar and you can figure out today's date." It only took a few weeks for my kiddos to help each other out when someone was struggling with the date. I also love it because the students get so excited when they come in and see the events for the new month.
What type of calendar do you use in your classroom?
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Uncharted Territory
I am so lucky to have the BEST third grade teammate anyone could ever ask for. It took us all of two minutes to form a friendship. Last year, we were both new to teaching third grade and I was new to the school also. Needless to say, we learned so much. Our school uses the Everyday Math series. It took some getting use to it and as with all programs there are pros and cons that go along with it.
Anyway, this year we have decided to start Guided Math. I am sure that there will be a lot of learning along the way but we are super excited. I have read almost everything on Pinterest that I can find on Guided Math.
I have decided that we will have four rotations during Guided Math.
T: Teacher Table (complete the pages in our Math Journal)
I: Independent Work (working on the skill of the day)
M: Math Facts (this will probably be Xtramath on the computer)
E: Essential Skills (games and task cards to practice skills we are working on)
We are lucky to have 90 minutes of Math instruction time.The first 10-15 minutes of class will be an overview of the days lesson. I try to play a fun informative video of the skill we are working on at the beginning of each Math lesson. The video will be during this time also. I am going to have each station be about 15 minutes. That will leave us with about 10 minutes at the end to finish with a reflective question. This is new to me this year. I got the idea from Step into Second Grade's Blog.
I am so excited to implement Guided Math this year. Stay tuned for more updates.
Here is a freebie that I made to help set up my Guided Math Binder!
http://https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Guided-Math-Binder-1911987
Anyway, this year we have decided to start Guided Math. I am sure that there will be a lot of learning along the way but we are super excited. I have read almost everything on Pinterest that I can find on Guided Math.
I have decided that we will have four rotations during Guided Math.
T: Teacher Table (complete the pages in our Math Journal)
I: Independent Work (working on the skill of the day)
M: Math Facts (this will probably be Xtramath on the computer)
E: Essential Skills (games and task cards to practice skills we are working on)
We are lucky to have 90 minutes of Math instruction time.The first 10-15 minutes of class will be an overview of the days lesson. I try to play a fun informative video of the skill we are working on at the beginning of each Math lesson. The video will be during this time also. I am going to have each station be about 15 minutes. That will leave us with about 10 minutes at the end to finish with a reflective question. This is new to me this year. I got the idea from Step into Second Grade's Blog.
I am so excited to implement Guided Math this year. Stay tuned for more updates.
Here is a freebie that I made to help set up my Guided Math Binder!
http://https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Guided-Math-Binder-1911987
Hello world!
I have finally done it! I took the jump and started a blog! My hope is to share my life of being a mommy, a wife, and a third grade teacher with the world (or at least a small part of the world). Wish me luck!
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