Guided Math: Word Problems and Spiral Review

The end is near friends! We have about 15 days of school left! I'm currently in that review status..but I wanted to talk a little bit about guided math and the benefits.

We have benchmarks twice a year. Our first one was in the fall (pre-guided math). My kiddos did not do well at all! It was very sad. I hadn't yet started my "guided math". In fact, I'd only had the kiddos for about two weeks (remember, I started in November). But I still hated seeing them struggle so much. So around Christmas, I implemented a full guided math program. 

I have five or six stations: technology, math literacy, manipulatives, spiral review, puzzles and hands on centers are just a few of the staples I use. 

 For one of my spiral review centers, I used my data to decide which centers my kiddos needed more of. I went with word problems. This is an area that my kiddos struggle with consistently.  What I loved, is that my kiddos were reading and doing math at the same time! I love being about to combine the two subjects! You get more bang for your buck that way! My kiddos loved using my word problem cards in guided math!

These cards are a great tool any time of the year! I'm working on a second set that I intend on sending home for summer review :)

Lego Birthday Party

This post is so NOT teaching related  but I have to share! My little guy (who is really not that little anymore ) wanted a Lego Movie themed birthday party! I thought that shouldn't be too hard considering Legos are all the rage these days...well I was WRONG! I had SUCH a hard time finding "Lego Movie" things! So thanks to Pinterest  and Etsy I was able to pull it off! My printables came from E &L Designs! They did SUCH a great job! And included a LOT of printables! I was able to print everything I needed! 

My little guy and his friends all LOVED it! My husband even joined in on the "Pinterest Fun" creating a "Lego Toss" game! 

He used a foam presentation board and just cut the circles out. My favorite part was that he hot glued Legos (Duplo Size) together to create six different pieces for the kids to toss. They loved it! 

It was a simple and easy game to create. He also hot glued the sides to be sure they would stand up :) 

My sister is known for amazing cakes. She said this wasn't her best "work" and that it's my fault because I bought the wrong materials...haha! Seeing as I called her FROM the cake isle, I will hardly take the blame haha!! But they were delicious none the less! I always wanted to be the mom that had all the homemade treats--execpt--I'm the world's WORST baker! I mean it! I stink at it!!! So my little sister has made just about every birthday cake for my children! She is amazing! She comes to where ever we are just to essentially bake a cake...and be there for the celebration of course!! 

My neighbor made the fabulous cake pops! I just printed the labels from  E & L Designs

These were SO easy! Construction paper, circles and Lego stickers! Boom! Cheap and EASY Decorations! 

Not the best pictures--my camera went wacky on me :) But you get the idea! Lego candy was a HUGE HIT!! 

My next favorite thing was the  Homemade PHOTO BOOTH! I'm totally taking this to school to use for parties and fun Friday!! 

I can't explain this picture. But it sure is funny!

He refused to take a normal picture haha!! I loved my "Lego Movie" Shirt find at Target! 

All and All--it was a blast! Had a great time with family and friends!! 

Science Giveaway!

Hey Friends! I'm wrapping up my Spring Break and thought I'd run a little giveaway! I can't wait to tell you all about my crazy little vacay but in the meantime..I've added a few new products to my little shop! I figured I'd give some away!

First....

                                                     

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spring is HERE

Hey Friends! Spring is FINALLY here! I mean it! I was starting to worry if the planet wasn't trying to SKIP Spring! Not sure about where you are, but here it's been so COLD! So OVER the cold weather and ready for the SuNsHiNe!!!

 So that means I am in the countdown mode--you know, counting down until Spring BREAK!!! 

This break is going to be one for the books. I'm trying to plan as LITTLE as possible! Haha! Yeah right! I  wish ;) I *think* the kiddos are just as restless as we are! 

So one of my colleagues from my very first teaching job has been sending me  goodies! She cleaned out her attic and is sending some my way. This gal is amazing, I used to try to convince her to blog because she is just FULL of ideas! I tell people, "If I'm half the teacher she is, I'll be doing good!" 

One classroom management idea she sent me for April is SO simple. And my kids are LOVING it! She sent a basket full of eggs. Inside the eggs are little "rewards". Throughout the day, if you catch the kids being good, you let them write their name on the slip of paper. At the end of the day, you call a few names out. They get to pick the egg. You would think twenty dollar bills were in those eggs! My kiddos are in love with this and are so excited to see who is going to "get an egg". The rewards are so simple. The funny thing about this is, these are all rewards that we probably do already! The egg factor just makes it so much better...hey, it's making the week before spring break FLY by! 

Click HERE for your freebie!

I hope this little freebie helps you out! 

In math, we have three weeks of graphs! I've had to lend on my blogging friends and TpT for some amazing resources to get me through!

First, I used my Graphs Mini Book to introduce graphs. This book discusses the different types of graphs and how we use them in everyday life!

 Talley O'Malley! My kids LOVED this book! We also read The Great Graph Contest! 

Once I introduced all the vocabulary and we reviewed each type of graph, we made our own! We used my sweet friend Anna's  Just Graph It unit. 

A new tip I've started is letting the kids do the writing on our anchor charts. They aren't as pretty as the teacher made ones, but I feel like it helps them retain more information. 

Tomorrow, we are graphing our favorite types of ice cream! Yum! How fun!

Seat Sacks AKA Life Savers

I don't know about y'all, but my firsties sit at tables. The kids love sitting at tables and it's great for small group work and instruction! I enjoy being able to move table to table to observe my students while they are working!

The negative side of tables---no storage! I had to fix this. Seat Sacks offered a solution to my problem!

My kiddo's love my sweet friend Kristin's Inquiring Minds Want To Know Packet! Can you spot it? 

The book baggies are perfect for my little friends! They keep my books safe and the bags don't rip like the ziploc bags!!! 

I could NOT have tables without my  Seat Sacks! I love how many different ways I can use them. My students can use them, and I can even use one on my chair to store my  guided reading materials! Win- Win! 

This is by my poetry center! The Hand -e- Sack offers great storage that you can use virtually ANYWHERE! It's perfect for holding extra supplies! Love!

On another note--My husband is earning to some MAJOR brownie points--he built me this great custom bookshelf, and has started on ANOTHER one :) 

How'd I get so lucky :)))

April Writing Center Freebie

Hey Friends! One area I've really tried to re-vamp is my writing center. I feel like my kids are ALWAYS doing the same things.
We always work with our word study words and create stories from that. We do write the room and description writing. What is your routine with writing? I'd love to hear some more ideas!!! Writing is such an important skill that kids need to learn and I am a firm believer in trying something different. Writer's Workshop is great, and I love it. I am just looking for more independent stations to use during guided reading.  If you have a great product or routine that you use, PLEASE let me know!!! We are all in this *together*. In the meantime, I whipped these little freebies and so far 

the kiddos love them! I am working on a year long packet for this, so if you like it, leave a little comment telling me what you'd like to see! Enjoy!

Using Literacy in ALL Content Areas

So my husband has this hobby--it's called HUNTING! He spend countless hours in the woods...tracking, preparing and hunting animals! His hobby costs a few bucks here and there!! Many ask me "Why do you let him do that"...well, friends, this is a marriage, I'm not keeping him hostage! But don't think I don't get something out of it return haha!! My "hobby" is my classroom! Specifically, my classroom library. This year, I'm determined to add more content area books to my classroom library. I've found a few good deals on e-bay and amazon! I've searched garage sales, but my BEST deals were found at...the Goodwill!! They ALWAYS have children's books 2 for $1.00!! I've also been saving up my Scholastic Bonus Points. Somehow, I still do not have enough books! How is that possible?!?!? haha! 

I've started making a few of my own so that my students could have literacy in ALL content areas. I may not always be able to get the books here in time, or find them *after* the fact of teaching that subject.  The good thing about these as I can print as many as I need! I like to put them in math centers and have the students create questions after reading. It's a good way to kill two birds with one stone! I don't know about y'all but I'm constantly struggling to get in the amount of read alouds I need too. This is a perfect way to help with that! A math read aloud is something you can do almost DAILY!!!

Interactive read alouds are a great way to introduce a new math skill. Not only are they getting the math skill, but this is huge for literacy development. It's like killing two (or maybe five) birds with one stone! Since I've started doing interactive read alouds in all content areas, my little friends comprehension is improving so much! It's such a great time to model fluency as well. 

So far I've created a book on fractions and money

These little books are on sale, hurry over and check them out! 

Happy Sunday Friends!