Educents Bundle

Hey friends! I've teamed up with some other amazing bloggers and teacher creators in the latest Educents deal

So if you really want good resources than you are going to
love this amazing deal over at Educents!  I have teamed up with 5
other amazing sellers to load your classrooms with 10 resources to help kids
work with big numbers!  

My products included will surely be loved by your students!

I've included two of my place value products! The first one is my Place Value Workstations! This activity gives students a chance to actually build the number. I use this station set AFTER the concept as been thoroughly taught and modeled. No matter what subject, stations can not be given to the students without previous instruction. It is so important that the student has a strong foundation before we start practicing on the skill. Here is a little preview into that station packet..

My sweet friend Tessa from Tales From Outside The Classroom also has a great product in the bundle! 

For a limited time it is $10.99 from Educents which is about
70% off!  It also includes these other great products so there is sure
to things you love!  

And if you have never purchased fromEDUCENTS before.. they
always have a great deal for you! Just click HERE to sign up!

2014

Hey Friends! I don't know about y'all but I have really enjoyed my downtime the last few weeks.  I've had family here for almost the entire time and I wouldn't have had it ANY other way!

Faith, Family and Love, what more could a girl ask for?

The holidays weren't exactly my *ideal* version because we missed my dad so much, but we tried to make the best of it and keep trucking :) That's what he would want! 

I can not believe it's almost 2014!!!! My goals for 2014..I haven't really had much time to stop and think about it.. but I bet I can come up with something :)

1. Spend more *quality* time with the family. You know, turn off the cellphones, TV's, video games and just unplug. We LOVE board games at my house. So I am making it a mission to have more board game nights, days or whatever else the family wants! 

2. Focus and give God the credit for our many blessings in life. My friend just told me about the "JesusCalling" App and I absolutely love it!

3. Spend more time in my classroom with "free moments".  By free moments I'm talking about leaving the lesson plan on my desk and having free discussions with the kids about their learning and what their goals are. I think this sometimes gets left in the dust with everything we have to do, so I'm going to try and make this more of a reality in my classroom.

4. Create more nonfiction units for my kiddos so that they can enjoy their leaning!

5. Keep up my exercise routine that I started over a year ago. I just recently got back in the gym after a few weeks off, and it was tough, but I'm ready to get back to the stamina I was at before Thanksgiving happened! This is week two of the new start, and I'm feeling more motivated than EVER!

So we go back Thursday! Kinda of crazy. When I made my plans, I was thinking about different sponge and review skills we could do before we start  new material. 

We are going to start off with a review of Place Value. We are going to use my Place Value Interactive Flip Books to review this skill. Our curriculum doesn't call for expanded form yet, but I always like to teach it as young as soon as possible. As a former upper grade teacher, I understand this is an important skill that needs to be taught while they are learning the basics and setting that foundation. My Place-Value-Interactive-Flip-Books are on sale as well as the rest of my store! 

Well, I'm off to cook my New Years Eve Dinner! Happy New Year Friends ! Love y'all! 

Throwback Math Stations

I wanted to share a post I did for my sweet friend Denise at Sunny Days in Second Grade a while back..I wanted to share it with you because it includes some GREAT free resourse!!

Hey! This is Ashley from The Teacher's Treasure Chest! I am so thankful my sweet  friend Denise let me stop by! 

Through blogging, I never expected to become SUCH good friends with the other bloggers. I talk to them more than I do my "real" friends. We laugh together, cry together and talk about life together. We really care about each other. It's amazing how close we've all become. 

Now for the REAL reason you are here! I wanted to talk a little bit about Math Stations. A lot of times people think that centers are just for reading. So NOT  true. Students need to use engaging, hands on activities to truly learn mathematical concepts. Of course, you need to use paper-pencil activities as well. It's a balance, and you have to find the best way that works for you and your students. 

I typically use about 6 math stations a week. Four of the stations are directly related to the skill we are learning that week. The other two are typically reinforced skills, or previously taught skills. This gives students a chance to continue working on the skills through out the year.  One skill that you can ALWAYS use in a station, is place value. Place Value is usually one of the first topics covered in the year. I use several resources for this, but one of my favorite is my 

Place Value Work Stations! This activity gives students a chance to actually build the number. I use this station set AFTER the concept as been thoroughly taught and modeled. No matter what subject, stations can not be given to the students without previous instruction. It is so important that the student has a strong foundation before we start practicing on the skill. Here is a little preview into that station packet...

You can take a better look at it here

We also use our Place-Value-Choice-Boards-

These choice boards range in difficulty so they are great for differentiation!!

Depending on your grade level, pattern blocks can also be a great math station. I love "killing two birds with one stone", so this activity from First Grade Blue Skies is just great! She combines the pattern block activity with learning sight words! My students LOVE this. I think second graders can benefit from pattern blocks, especially when they promote higher order thinking skills. 

Another great
station that you can use throughout the year is this Time Packet.

I use binder rings  for SO many of my stations! It's a easy way to keep up with things and to make sure cards do not magically disappear...we all know that happens sometimes :) 

I also have several of Denise's activities! One of my favorites for Math Stations is Measurement Task Cards! This is another great station, that you could even store on binder rings (haha,I'm slightly obsessed!!)  Denise does a wonderful job with this product. I like it because quality measurement activities are limited and this one really promotes higher order thinking skills...and our students need that so much!!! 

I wanted to end with a list of some of my favorite FREE Math Stations! Thank you for stopping by and be sure to head over and check out my BLOG!!!


Free Math Stations:

FREE-Addition-Math-Center-

Multiplication-Facts-Game-Left-Right-Learn-

Back-to-School-Ten-Frames-Practice-Sheets-

AdditionSubtraction-Halloween-EYE-SPY-Game-

Four-FREE-math-games-

Guided Math and More Guided Math

Hey friends! We've been slammed the last few weeks, so I'm so sorry that I haven't had much time to stop by.

We've been hitting some major skills the last few weeks. From Problem and Solution , Main Idea and Author's Purpose, Text Features..AND Cause and Effect! We've been jammed packed! On top of all of that we've been working on our guided math routine. I know y'all can relate to the crazy life we call teaching! Sometimes I can't even believe we are able to teach our little ones so much! With all the workshops, meetings, and trainings, it makes prep time super precious!! I know I'm preachin' to the choir here ;)

Guided Math Centers

So let me tell you how I've adapted to the lack of planning time. I HAVE to teach with hands on centers, it just has to happen. For the first time, I'm at a school where colored ink is like liquid gold..LITERALLY! So I've had to change up my centers a bit. I'm no longer blessed with AS MUCH ink as I wanted (like in Texas). 

So I've been using quick and easy centers. These Math Stations are so easy to put together. I've made them so that I have to spend little time cutting, and I just laminate, hole punch and go! Some centers do not even have to be cut out.

I am absolutely love giving my kiddos an option of their learning centers. So these Multiplication Choice Boards are perfect for that! And they are differentiated so that you can use them for all of your students, no matter their level! 

The students complete these and record their answers in their math journals. 

I made three versions, a full page color version, a full page B&W Version and a half page version.

I also use these math centers in my guided math routine. Each basket has a centers on a previously taught skill. The skills we've been working with is Place Value, Multiplication, Rouding, Addition and Subtraction. All of these skills are in my Fall Math Center Packet for Bigger Kids

I have these work station cards in addition, subtraction AND multiplication. They are easy to assembly and the kids love how they are themed. 

You can check out all of these centers right here.

Story Elements Anchor Charts

We've also started story elements this week. I've always created and used anchor charts, but now that I'm in  4th grade, we create them together. I create one as I introduce the lesson. Once I've introduced the concept and thoroughly instructed it, the students create one in their Reading Binders. I found these binders on TpT and absolutely LOVE THEM! So the kids really have enjoyed creating their own anchor charts and making them different from mine :) It's also nice to see them reference their anchor charts during the week..that's what we make them for, right :) Now, I haven't posted any pictures of my anchor charts for one reason...and one reason only..I do not have the pretty handwriting we see all over pinterest :) This is why I do EVERYTHING on the computer!!! 

Here are a few examples of our anchor charts:

For the skill Story Elements, we read "Crickwing"! What a cute book! I will have more from that lesson in a few days :)

Till next time! 

Flipping for Place Value

As I was packing up my classroom to prepare to move across the country, I found such a great teaching tool that I wanted to share with you. I made this a few years ago.  My kids were struggling with understanding place value and the order that numbers go in. I've never had an issue with students mixing up the hundreds and the tens place like I did this year. I made enough of these charts so that the students could work with a partner to make our numbers. We discussed how each numeral has a place and the value of that numeral.

                                                                                                                       

These were so simple to make! I just used cardstock, binder rings, index cards and a hole punch. I used card stock for the back to make it sturdy. Then, I laminated it using a hard laminating film. This made a difference in how the charts held up. The ones I laminated with the soft film, didn't make it through the year! We used these charts a lot this year! I hole punched three holes at the top. Next, I wrote numbers out 0-9 on three sets of index cards. Then, I attached the cards to the backing using binder rings. During small group instruction, I would write a number using words only. The students had to make and stretch out the word. (I also have a set of flip charts that the numbers are in expanded form. I couldn't find them for a picture though! Everything is a bit hectic :) We also played games using the flip charts. I would use post it notes to write numbers on them and then place them around the classroom. The students would go on hunts and make the numbers they found. This really helped with the switching of the tens and hundreds place!


Once we developed a strong sense of place value, we work with work station mats and  task cards.



                                          

Just an inexpensive and different way to put learning in the hands of students that I thought I would share!

Cruising Through Math and Literacy Mini Packet

I had a few requests for a "Cars" themed packet! So I began trying to create something different and something that would be useful to a variety of classrooms.


So I created this Cruising-Through-Math-and-Literacy-Mini-Packet !! This packet contains a variety of skills.

*Fill it up--Even & Odd Numbers Sort
*Expanded Form Number Match
*Doubles Addition Facts
*Sight Word Race
*Speedy Word Sort (Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives)



 I've included a place value center that uses expanded form to improve students skills.

I love this center because most centers available now only offer recognizing the actual place, and expanded form is a skill that some students really struggle with.

I hope you will visit my TpT Store and check out my current sale!!

~Till next time :)


~Ashley~