Product Swap: Kickin' it With Class

Long time Product Swap reader, first time participator here! I've always loved Jessica's product swap, as it always helps me discover so many goodies to add to my wishlist! :) So I am PUMPED to finally be able to participate. 

 I was paired with Heather who blogs at Kickin' it With Class.  

I've gotten to know Heather a little bit over the past few months and she is so sweet! Heather is a third grade teacher in Texas who is originally from the great state of Ohio, just like me! :)  As a former third grade teacher, I LOVE reading third grade blogs because they help me relive my third grade days, so I highly encourage you to kick out Heather's awesome blog, she has lots of great ideas! 

I asked Heather to send me her winter multiplication practice packet and I'm so glad that I did! Click {here} or on the picture to check it out on TpT!

 

I have a couple kiddos in my fourth grade class that really struggle with mastering their facts so this pack is perfect extra practice for them.  As a former third grade teacher, I can tell you her pack is perfect for thirdsters and is Common Core aligned! 

Heather's pack includes two bump games, which my kiddos LOVE.  One you can even customize with your own numbers!

Here is my copy all laminated and ready to go for Monday! The grandma of one of my students volunteers in my room EVERY Monday and I know she'll be happy to have a new fun game to play with some of my struggling kiddos.  I'm never quite sure who enjoys the games more, grandma or the kiddos in my class! :) 

Her pack also includes a set of activity cards perfect for scoot or a math station and she has included directions and recording sheets for both.  I put my copy on a ring to use during my math intervention time with some of my kiddos who still aren't quite proficient in their fact recall.  

 Like I mentioned before, this pack is PERFECT for thirdsters.  I can wait to send the link of this product to my BTF (best teacher friend) from third grade.  These activity cards will have your students practicing multiplication as repeated addition, arrays, pictures, skip counting and tables.  For me, it's perfect for solidifying conceptual understanding for my kiddos that are struggling to memorize their facts.

Heather also has lots of other awesome multiplication products in her store! You can check out all her free and paid multiplication resources {here}.

Lucky for you, Heather has put this awesome pack on sale! Click on the Teachers Pay Teachers logo below to check it out! :)

Heather tried out my Snowday, Sunshine Fry Phrase Game! Check out her post {here}.

Thanks, Heather, for sharing your Winter Multiplication Practice with me and trying out Snowday, Sunshine with your kiddos at home! I know my students will love using your Winter Multiplication Practice Pack!

May Currently and a little life update

It's time again for Farley's May Currently! I love, love, love this linky party, it always makes me smile, and I've been in need of smiles lately.  Thanks Farley for hosting!

 

 I loved the Pageant Title section! I am such a Control Freak at school, I hate things like letters and printables aren't "just right."  I often end up redoing things that my grade level sends out because I don't care/like the wording or font or clip art.  I'd really save myself A LOT of time if I weren't such a control freak!

It's been a really, really, really rough week for my family, so hearing that I won Primary Graffiti's Document Camera Giveaway made my week/month!  I am so pumped because everything I read is that the Luna is an awesome product and I hate scanning every single non digital worksheet I might have to display on the Smartboard to check it/model directions.  

We are down to 2 full weeks + a 3 day week, and I'm pumped. My friends are defiantly ready for summer.  My room doesn't have air conditioning and my kiddos behaviors have been really, really, really off this week.  We've had several days in the 80s with lots of humidity.  It's been no fun, no fun at all, for them or for me.  You see I don't glisten, I drip sweat, and I'm not a pretty sight at the end of school.  They're uncomfortable, I'm uncomfortable, and I'm hoping and praying for cooler temperatures for the next 13 school days!


Also, my husband and I have a prebuild conference for our new house on Monday, our builder starts digging on Tuesday! :) 

I am so happy that this cloud that has been following my family is starting to lift up and hopefully go away! 
This has been our mantra as of late:

Source: melovestorotayashi.tumblr.com via Jeanine on Pinterest

Have a great weekend friends, I'll be back in to chat about my Teacher Appreciate Sales and random classroom happenings. :)

March Currently

Can ya'll believe that it is March? I can't!  Although it did snow today.  I mean I had to scrape my car off and everything and then I got all mad because I believe if it snows, it needs to snow enough for a snow day.  Yeah, that didn't happen. 

Again, Farley is hosting her beloved Currently Linky party for March and I was so excited to join in the fun.  :) 

 I will say that I cheated and googled adjectives with P to help with the three words.  Most of the time my students think I'm patient, I think my friends think I'm pleasant to be around, and my family would probably say I'm a pretty passionate person.  

Thanks again for hosting, Farley!  Click {here} to check to get in on the fun!

Treasure friends, I worked super, duper hard and finally finished my leveled reader pack for Dig, Wait, Listen.  I'm paying for all that hard work today, so so so tired. 

Even even if you don't use Treasures, I think most of you can use the preview file from this item, a graphic organizer for problem and solution.  

 Click on any of the images to check out the listing on Teachers Pay Teachers. :)

Have an awesome night! I'm off to bake some cookies, my father in law is coming over for dinner tonight!

Homework Linky Party

Homework is kinda a touchy subject for me.  You can read all about our history here.  However, I finally have found something that works for me! PTL. :)  So I was really excited to see that The Lesson Plan Diva was hosting a linky party about homework. 

Previously, our homework was due daily and it was an organizational nightmare.  I would forget to clean out the homework clothespin bin and would frantically be taking their homework out of their clothespins moments before the bell rang or have a kiddo do it.  It often got lost in the shuffle and I felt horrible because I was asking my kiddos and their families to give up a part of their family time to do homework and I wasn't reviewing like I should.   It was just too much paperwork coming to school for me. 

Now I do a packet and I love it.  I pass it out on Mondays and it's due on Friday.  No more frantic paper trail, at least not with homework at least. 


It all starts with the cover page.  Throughout this process change, I found the kids were cutting off to bottom to use the spelling list to complete the spelling activities sprinkled throughout the packet, so I've started to include an extra list for them to use when completing them.

My students must complete a math fact practice activity nightly, which was lacking in our previous homework routine, and it's working! Our scores are going up and up! This is my addition contract, they do addition on Mondays and Wednesdays and subtraction on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

On Tuesdays, they do some type of comprehension activity with our weekly story, usually with our focus skill, but this week they are doing some comprehension questions since the skill for this week is really hard to practice again at home, making predictions.  

I also use two pages from Courtney's awesome packs of morning work as well.  Here's the link to the one I used for this weeks story.  Thanks for making these, Courtney! You're amazing. :)


For math, I usually copy pages from Today's Math, which is the home link connection for our math program.  I like it a lot better than the math that was on the homework I used to use, which was created by the teachers on my grade level team.  Sometimes I'll make up an activity to include in my packet if I can't find something I like from Today's Math, such as this:

Overall, the packet has been a great addition to my classroom!  I've noticed a difference in our math scores and it's been much easier to manage than the nightly homework.  To make it a bit more user friendly, I type/write the day they are to complete the pages on the top of the papers, to help them stay organized and they are all in order in the packet as well, which has been a big help for the kids and parents.  


What does homework look like in your room?  Link up and share!

First Post: 11 in 11

Hello friends! Welcome to my new teaching blog! However, I am no stranger to the blogging world, I've had a food blog for over a year now and have fallen in love with the blogging community.  However, during the course of the past few months, I have found myself visiting teaching blogs more than food blogs and have been anxious to start my very teaching blog.

While I will be sharing soon some of the activities I did in my classroom for Christmas very soon, I am excited to be linking up to Hadar's and Kristin's 11 in 11 Linky Party. That way we can get to know each other better. :)

11. Favorite movie you watched: 

I saw a lot of funny movies this year that I really enjoyed.  However, I would have to say my favorite of the year was Bridesmaids.  I went to see it with some of my girlfriends and to this day, my maid honor when she calls me begins every conversation with, "You are more beautiful then Cinderella! You smell like pine needles, and have a face like sunshine."  

SOURCE

10. Favorite TV series:

 My favorite new series from this year is Up All Night.  Hilarious stuff.  I mean have you seen the episode featuring Mr. Bob's Toddler Kaleidoscope and epic fight between Amy's mom and Kayla's mom?

 Source

My all time TV show is King of Queens.  I own the entire series on DVD and watch it way more than I should.

9. Favorite restaurant:
This is a hard question! Although we eat lots of Panera and Chipotle, we are quite picky about the restaurants we go to.  I would have to say my favorite meal of the year was at Old Ebbitt Grill in Washington D.C. for my birthday. We had a wonderful meal and they really know how to make a birthday girl feel special!

 SOURCE

8. Favorite new thing you tried:
I have actually been blogging for awhile now, so I can't say that! I would have to say coaching with Girls on the Run and teaching second grade.  This is my first year in second grade, I taught third grade for four years before that.

7. Favorite gift you got:
It's quite sappy really.  In June, my husband resigned from his job.  His job required a lot of travel, as in he was only home two weekends a month.  He came home and now manages at a popular restaurant chain that is referenced in question number nine that specializing in picking two things. ;)

6. Favorite thing you pinned:
Goodness.  I have pinned LOTS of things.  I am head over heels in love with Starbucks, so I giggle every time I see this photo.

Source: blogs.starbucks.com via Lisa on Pinterest

5. Favorite blog post:
I would have say the recipe for cake batter doughnuts I developed on my food blog.  It was my most viewed recipe last year.

4. Best accomplishment:
I was involuntary transferred from the school year I student taught and taught for the first four years of my teaching career due to budgetary reasons a week before school started.  Packing up and moving my classroom was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.  Surviving that mess and not requiring therapy in the end, is something I'm very, very proud of.

Oh and starting to run again.  Once upon a time, I ran a marathon.  Then I met my husband and stopped running.  It's been wonderful doing something I love on a more regular basis again.

3. Favorite picture:

This picture was taken when I celebrated my birthday at my inlaws house in Virginia this summer.  I remember wishing to "see my husband more" and he resigned from his job that next week.  Wish granted. :)

2. Favorite memory:
I have two.
1. Crossing the finishing line with one of my students while she completed her first 5k as a coach with Girls on the Run.  I was SO PROUD of her!

2. Going to Southern California to be in my best friend's wedding!

1. Goal for 2012:
I just have one word: Strength.
I hope and pray for the strength to endure the rest of the school year as a part of a very challenging team of teachers.  I am the youngest by twenty years and it makes group planning and collaborating difficult.
Strength for my body to endure half marathon training.
Strength to stick to the budget my husband and I have put in place to save for our first home.
Strength to just trust God and the journey he has planned for me personally and professionally.

Hope to see you over at Miss Kindergarten and A Teeny Tiny Teacher to join all the fun!