Rounding to the nearest 10 & 100 (freebie)

Hi Friends! Today I'm blogging over at "The Elementary Grapevine" where I'm sharing a tip and interactive math journal freebie on rounding to the nearest ten and hundred.  I would love for you to check it out! Click on the picture below to head over to the grapevine :)

Math Mania Giveaway!

As much as it kills me, I think summer is coming to an end... and I have kind of been in denial about the fact that I'm changing grades because I am so unprepared... so you can imagine how THRILLED I was when the darling Gina from Third Grade Tidbits asked if I would be interested in reviewing her new "Math Mania" packet for third grade??  UMMM, YES please!! As I've said before, as much as I love to create things, why reinvent the wheel, right??  This was one thing that I had been looking EVERYWHERE for, and just couldn't find something that I loved.... Until now!

Math Mania consists of 36 weeks of math practice for your 3rd graders.  Each weekly page has 20 problems, and follows pretty much the same format from week to week, so once you do it with your students a few times, they start to get the hang of it.  I used something similar with my 2nd graders last year, and was surprised at how quickly they caught on.  After a few weeks, they were able to do the whole assignment on their own.  Now as I'm moving into third grade, I think this will be perfect for their weekly math homework... I'm going to try it with them in class for the first few weeks and see how it goes, but I think they will be fine!  In addition to the 36 weeks of practice, there is also an answer key for each week, which makes this packet perfect for emergency sub plans as well as self-starts, centers, homework, fast-finishers, or any other time you need something to enhance your math instruction.

Gina is offering two lucky readers a chance to win a copy of Math Mania... and if you stop by her TPT store, you can download a free preview and see what the first 2 weeks look like up close!  Ready to win??  Use the rafflecopter below to enter.  It closes Sunday at Midnight and the winners will be announced on Monday... along with another announcement that you won't want to miss!  Thanks for stopping by :)

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3rd grade CCSS Objectives Posters

Welcome back to part two of the longest post ever :) I promise to keep this one short... so yesterday I mentioned that I am switching to 3rd grade... once reality set in, panic erupted... I have SO MUCH STUFF for 2nd grade... and nothing for 3rd... this is just one of the many reasons I am SO THANKFUL for TPT.... as much as I love making things, I really don't have a lot of time, so I am happy to  buy things to get me started... Don't get me wrong, I definitely have a few things in the works, I just don't have enough time right now (well, I suppose I do, but the swimming pool is only open until Labor Day, and winter is just so long and miserable, so I want to soak up the sun as much as possible while I can!)

Okay, enough with the rambling... as soon as I knew for sure that I would be teaching 3rd grade, I decided that one thing I was definitely going to make was objectives posters similar to the super darling ones I had been using from Denise at SunnyDays (click here if you don't know what I'm talking about....this is one of my all time FAVORITE purchases ever!!)  Denise's posters are actually part of an assessment pack, and I hope to make something similar in the future, but right now, I don't have time.

NOW, let me just say... I know that I am NOT the first person to make objectives posters, and I'm sure I'm not going to be the last person to ever make them.... I just have this little problem with fonts and clip art now that I'm making things on TPT.... I'm a bit of a font & clip art snob...it's a real thing, people!  So instead of settling for something that I didn't LOVE, I set out to make my own.... and let me just say, HOLY MOLY, the 3rd grade CCSS is confusing.  I feel like making these posters was mostly for my benefit because I learned SO MUCH in the process... {pssst... keep reading... there's a giveaway at the bottom!}

Not gonna lie, I am kind of in LOVE with how they turned out. These posters are going to make my life so much easier!! I am required to post my objectives each day, so I designed these posters to be displayed on my board at the front of the room. As soon as I can get into my school, I will take pictures of my objectives in action.... But for now, here's a little glimpse of what all is included in the packet...OH, one more important thing... someone asked on TPT about the size of the posters.... these have been saved as a PDF and can be printed on a full-size sheet of paper (standard 8.5 x 11)... You can make them smaller and print 2 or 4 posters per page by adjusting the print settings in adobe acrobat (I plan on doing 2 per page to save both paper and ink; 4 on a page might be just a little bit too small for the purpose of displaying your objectives)... these posters can also be enlarged at your local print shops (fedex-kinkos has an online uploading tool)... not sure that these would need to be enlarged seeing as there's so many of them, but I suppose if you have a burning desire to have jumbo posters, it is possible :) Now, without further ado, I proudly present to you my 3rd grade CCSS posters:

CCSS English Language Arts posters: includes a total of 58 posters!  Click on the cover to view the full description in my TPT store.

Here's a Language Arts poster - notice the kid-friendly language and graphics, as well as the "we are learning" and "we can" statements clearly printed at the top of each page.

Sample of one of the reading posters

Sneak peek at a few of the posters!

CCSS Math posters: includes a total of 34 posters! Click on the cover to view the full description in my TPT store.

Here's a math poster - again, all written in kid-friendly language with examples and hints to help clarify the CCSS standard being taught.

another cute math poster :)

I can't even handles the cuteness! These turned out even better than I pictured in my head!

both packs include two CCSS checklists... a student version that you can use to track data on each individual student, and a teacher version that allows you to track either the DATE you taught the concept, or the LESSON that covers the concept, if you have a required text to teach from... principals LOVE these!!

Click on the photo to buy the bundle (you save 25% when you buy them as a bundle!)

Still with me?!  I would LOVE to give a few packs away to some of my awesome readers... use the rafflecopter below to enter!

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3 new products, pin it to win it!!

Woah.... I have been busy this past week!! If you're not following me on facebook  here's what you've been missing! Keep reading to find out how you can win one of these awesome packs!!

 Up first is "time-o" -- a fun and educational twist on a popular card game that kids know and love :) This packet features colored and black line cards and has EVERY TIME to five minutes (in both digital and analog). That's 200 pages of time-telling goodness!!

No sooner had I finished making "time-o", I had a lightbulb moment and decided to make another uno-style game for all of the basic math facts.... Thus "math-o"  was born!!

 

Math-o features 4 decks of cards: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Each deck of cards has 36 problems along with their respective answers. The problems are called the "basic 36s"... If you are not familiar with the basic 36s, you can read more about them here. This is a great review game for any time of the year.  I plan on making a few sets to keep on hand for indoor recess!!

And as if those games weren't enough, I also made a whole pack of first grade common core aligned math vocabulary word wall cards  This has been requested for a while, but I just haven't had the time or energy to do much of anything! I feels good to be back in creation mode again :) I am hoping to make the 3rd grade set soon, so hang tight if you teach 3rd grade. Ummm, hello?! These are even cuter than my original second grade set!! I think I might have to give those a little makeover. I'm already jealous of the adorableness of this set!!

 

One more thing before the giveaway.... Did you hear the big news from TPT?! They are officially THREE MILLION MEMBERS STRONG. And that is a great reason to throw a sale :) the sale is on Thursday and Friday this week, and you can save up to 28% in my store by using the code TPT3 at checkout. My cart is already overflowing with goodies. Go load up your cart now and the products will all go on sale automatically on Thursday :)

 

And now it's your chance to win. Simply pin whichever product you would like to win, and enter the link using the rafflecopter below.... I'll pick a winner on Thursday so that you will know who the winner is before the sale ends on Friday (but don't worry, I'll leave my store on sale all weekend just in case you forget!)

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Bar Model Detectives - Vol. 2

Well, hello everyone!! Sorry I've been kind of MIA lately... I've been sick off and on since Thanksgiving, and am so over this winter gunk that's been going around. I swear I just come home and collapse at the end of the day! But I am thankful that I was able to catch up on some much needed rest over Christmas break.  And speaking of Christmas break, I was also able to meet up with a few local teacher-bloggers for lunch... It was so fun to eat and chat like old friends, even though some of us had just met for the first time that day! 

Nikki - aka Melonheadz Illustrating, brought these cute little gifts for us.  She is too sweet!

Nikki, Becca, Me, Rachelle

Natalie & Rachelle in the back, Nikki, me, Becca, and Lory in front

 We had so much fun eating and chatting! I hope to see these lovely ladies again soon.  It's so fun to meet other teachers who are so passionate about education!  

So, between sleeping and being sick, I really had planned on finishing this packet over Christmas break.... Obviously that didn't happen!  I think I only turned on my computer twice the entire 2 1/2 weeks!  It was nice to not think about anything!!  At any rate, my new bar model packet is FINALLY done and I'm happy to give you a little sneak peek!

If you are not familiar with the bar model, it is an AWESOME tool to use when solving tricky word problems.  It is very popular in Singapore Math, and also appears in many common core aligned text books.  The bar model is generally introduced in first grade as a part/part/whole model for addition and subtraction, and in subsequent grades, it extends to multiplication, division, repeated addition, etc.  It is such a POWERFUL problem-solving tool when used and understood correctly.  I will admit, I did NOT like it at first... I had never seen it before, it confused my students, and it just made teaching math HARD.... so I didn't spend too much time on it, and just quickly taught it and moved on... but then it popped up again.... and again... and again.... and I soon discovered that it was in each and every chapter of my math textbook, and it was clear that it was NOT going away... that's when the bar model detectives idea was born.  I needed to teach my kids how to use the bar model, and we needed to practice it more than once per chapter in order to really understand how to use it, and make it a more natural problem-solving choice.  

When I made my first packet, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to accomplish, and was surprised at all the positive feedback I got from other teachers who were so happy to have a tool to teach the bar model successfully.  I was also pleased with my students' growth as we practiced each week.... they went from NOT understanding the bar model at ALL, to using it as their preferred problem solving method whenever they were told to "choose a way to solve".  I quickly added even more pages to the original packet, and also added task cards to put in a center.  It was quite the labor of love to give the first packet a big makeover, and hopefully it made this new packet worth the wait!!!  You can download a free sample from each packet if you click on "preview" on teachers pay teachers.... here's a few of the worksheets for you to check out:

each page is included with and without a bar model picture... that way, you can choose if you want to have your students LABEL the bar model, or if they are ready to draw their own bar model ;)

if you're looking for a way to save paper, you can also use the smaller 1/2 sheets that include 2 different versions of the problem on each page. 

Both of my bar model packets are on sale until Tuesday night, but you can comment below to win one on Monday! Just leave me your email and tell me what you're doing on your day off tomorrow.  I'll pick a winner before I go to the PINK concert tomorrow night :) (yes, the concert that I was *supposed* to go to back in October... Pink apparently got sick and had to re-schedule TWICE! I keep saying I'm too old to go to concerts on a school night... Tuesday, please be kind to me!) Have a great week everyone :)

Check out Bar Model Detectives Volume One here!

Check out Bar Model Detectives Volume Two here! 

2nd grade vocabulary cards!!

IT’S DONE… the project I started working on clear back in MAY is finally done :) I am so happy to finally present my 2nd grade math vocabulary word wall cards!  I don’t know about you, but switching to the common core was a HUGE jump from what 2nd grade used to be just a few years ago!  I have been teaching with the Common Core edition of “Go Math” for the past 2 years and am FINALLY starting to get the hang of it… but the vocabulary… oh my goodness… I have searched high and low for a really great vocabulary resource, because I was seriously at the point where I would have MUCH rather paid for a set that was already done than have to make it myself (maybe that’s why I’m just now getting around to finishing it??) Well, I was never able to find something that was exactly what I was looking for, so I started making my own.  Anyway, it’s finally DONE and I would love to give away 2 copies to some awesome 2nd grade teachers! 

 

Take a look at these cards…. Each card includes a bright picture and a kid-friendly definition that makes it easy for the kids to understand.  You know the drill by now… enter using the rafflecopter below!  And if you can’t wait to have these, they are on sale for 20% off this weekend in my TPT store :)  The giveaway will close Saturday at midnight and I'll post the winners Sunday morning... my store will be on sale for 20% off through Sunday night! Have a great weekend!!

 

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