Problem Solving - Choose an Operation

Problem solving is HUGE right now in my district.  Our state math test was almost all word problems and our students are struggling with them.  I have read several books on how to teach math that I definitely recommend you pick up!     Click on either book to be taken to Amazon.com.  Both books are by Susan O'Connell who I think is a math GENIUS!  These books totally...

Free Forms

I created a few forms that I wanted to update and I thought I'd share them with you.  The first one is a parent contact form.  The second one is a problem solving sheet for students to reflect on their behavior.   Click on the pictures to grab your copies. &nb...

Strategy Sunday: Vo"back"ulary

The strategy I'm going to share with you this week is called vo"back"ulary. This activity helps your students learn vocabulary words. It's pretty simple...write vocabulary words for any unit on index cards. After explicitly teaching the meanings (maybe posting the words on a word wall too) you can play the game. Clip a word onto a students shirt in the back. The rest of the class can give the student...

New Job?

 It was 70 degrees out today <3 spring! Every year around this time, I start thinking about next year.  It becomes really easy for me to plan ahead right now because I do test prep until spring break, the tests are the day after we come back from break (for 2 weeks), and then I am out scoring the tests for another 2 weeks.  By the time I come back, it's the first week of May and...

Classroom Organizer

How would you like to know where all of your library books are by looking at your phone?  There is a FREE app & website that allows you to scan every book in your classroom, organize them by genre, reading level, title, author etc..  You add your students and then they check out books using the app.  I set mine up where students have to review the book when they return it.  All...

Strategy Sunday: Creating Nonsense Words

I looked EVERYWHERE this week for the book Horton Hears a Who but I could not find it.  I was planning on doing this super cute glyph on Friday:  I asked teachers at 2 different schools, libraries, Barnes & Noble...the list goes on but nobody had it.  I finally ordered it on Amazon but it didn't come until after school on Friday :(  Oh well, I plan on doing Dr. Seuss activities...

A Peek at my Week

I love looking at all the activities people are doing in their rooms each week so I thought why not share my week!  I'll try to take better pictures next week.  So here is what we did this week:  My 2nd and 3rd grade math students made Fact Family Rockets: 2nd graders made addition and subtraction fact families and the 3rd graders made multiplication and division fact...