Calling All Monster Trucks!

Let's get the kiddos excited about rounding! Pull out your kids' toy monster trucks and toy cars and you have a center! This is most likely my last lesson created for 2012! Enjoy!

New Years Lessons Bundle

I'm sitting at home watching Netflix movies and uploading my New Years Bundle! This set includes a dress up photo opportunity. I think I will print my students' pictures in 8.5x11 and let them choose the props they would like to glue to their photos. There is a writing page that can be included on the bulletin board. They can write a personal narrative of what they were doing at midnight. There are several more fun activities included. My class loves the opportunity to make words, complete crossword puzzles and color! There is a coloring activity where students can create a lantern. Maybe you want your students to work on regrouping 3 digit numbers when adding and subtracting. Or, if you are like me, you want a tier reading lesson plan. There is a reading piece with comprehension questions included. The crossword uses some of the vocabulary/important words from the passage.

Wild West Suffixes Preview!

Last week my kiddos were struggling with adding -ed and -ing suffixes.  They didn't know whether to drop something, double something or just add the ending!  A couple even questioned whether they knew what a consonant and vowel were.  Oh my!  So, I came up with a wild west themed packet just for this skill. You can purchase it in my TPT store.  Hopefully this will be easy enough, that even my substitute will be able to use it!

Polar Express Unit Ready for Christmas

I just finished my Polar Express Unit in time for Cyber Monday!  The unit is 147 pages long and if it doesn't knock someone's socks off, I don't know what will!  There are all kinds of activities, experiments and lessons inside.  You even have a final exam and activities for a Polar Express movie day.

Veteran's Day Friendly Letter

Thank You For

Keeping Us Safe!

This morning I was scrambling because I realized my students brought $1 per red, white and blue outfit and that money was being donated for veterans.  It was a school wide event.  I had a really neat booklet to use from Second Story Window, but needed a writing piece to use....











So, I came up with friendly letter paper.  You are free to use it!  Sorry it is late, but you may still be able to use it this week.  There are all different types with both boys' and girls'...Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, etc!  Click on the pictures to get the Google Doc.

Thankgiving Quick Write Freebie

I know that your next couple of weeks are going to fly by!  So, I'd like to give you a few pages for quick writes!  Quick writes only take 5 minutes for students to complete, then everyone gets a chance to share!  Spelling is usually not important, however, you can do a quick brainstorm on the board before setting the timer.  I highly suggest this if you have students who won't write anything without being perfect!  When the timer goes off, the sharing part is so important, because you see students editing their wording as they are reading their writing outloud.  It's usually one of those "ah ha" moments! And, for those students who have U-G-L-Y handwriting, you get the chance to visit with them later about their inability to read their own handwriting!  I don't make students share if they don't want to read their piece aloud, but after doing several, they are usually comfortable enough to volunteer.

There are 3 writing prompts included in this freebie! They are..

1. On Thanksgiving I look forward to...

2. Once a turkey ran away from...

3. On Thanksgiving you might find me cooking...(boy and girl paper)

* Just click on the picture to get the GoogleDoc.

One Special Lady!

This year I decided to take my blog and revamp it!  So, a mom friend of mine sent me to Andrea from A Kay Web Design. Let me tell you Andrea is AMAZING!  Hooking up with her to accomplish the task was the best thing I could have done! Andrea is knowledgable, hard working and humorous!  I think she made this place look great!  If you want your blog to scream "I teach and love it!" you should head her way!  Her blog design packages are very reasonable and she is superspeedy, especially for having twins!  I would have Andrea create another blog for me in a heartbeat!  Click on her picture to go to her website!  She has her design process and examples on there!

"THANK YOU ANDREA!"

Superhero Readers

Okay, my son comes into my classroom after kindergarten each day.  Sometimes this is a good thing, and sometimes he is into everything!  Last Friday, he saw my new copies for my Syllable Types Reading Hero Unit.  Well, he decided he wasn't leaving for the weekend until he could create a mask himself!  Glad to know that the mask I created fits the face perfect.  I guess he completed the trial and error check!  Tada!

During tier time next week, my class will be using the mask to look through books for words with different syllable types.  My son used all of  the colors in the box to decorate his mask (shown above)  Your students can color their mask any way they like.  Or, you can go the quick route and copy the masks onto colored cardstock.  In this unit there are several pages of word cards to sort, a booklet for students to keep track of words with the rules, and an I Spy page.  I just love the Melonheadz Graphics sets!  The clipart tickles my heart!

Shout Out!

I need to give a shout out to some very special men in our community.  These men are from Station 35.  They've been very active with the students in the school.  Lately they've put on a production titled Fire Clowns, where they left their everything on a stage to teach students about fire safety.  They've also been in the classroom working with small groups on math facts.  Last week they played a game of mine called Super Hero Subtraction Sticks. And last, but not least, the 2nd grade class visited their station to conclude our Readers Theater titled A Trip to the Fire Station.  During the fieldtrip the firemen set up an obstacle course (resembling a bedroom, window and safety area) to help students practice techniques for how to get out in an emergency.  They also showed us the manly tools on the fire truck.  Let me tell you, the jaws of life are for real! 

Thank you Station 35 for making a positive difference in the lives of children. Your support in the classroom is appreciated!  Click here for a writing page freebie my class used when they learned fire safety rules.  Maybe you can use it next year during Fire Safety Week.

Laundry...I Usually Hate It!

My students helped me with the laundry this week.  But, we didn't put it away in drawers and hang it up like I usually do!  This is the dreaded job around my house!  I usually fold and transfer, no problem, but taking it to the closets seems to always get put on hold! 

I created a new lesson that you don't want to put on hold though!  My students had a blast getting to act as endmarks!  Who knew punctuation could be so much fun?  The worksheets attached to this lesson (located inside my TPT store) have enough questions for students to all get a chance to wear the shirts.  The class read each sentence with expression and picked the correct person for the job (sentence). 

I made the t-shirts for $8 total using my Michael's Craft Store Teacher Discount.  The shirts were 2 for $5 and then I flashed my teacher id!  What a steal!  T-shirt paints were rummaged from an old stash of paints I used a few years ago with Girl Scouts.

Healthy Snacks Freebie

This week I had each student bring a healthy snack to school. We are currently learning about the food groups and starting to graph in math.
 So, I sent home a note and everyone brought a smorgasbord of snacks.





On Thursday, we graphed, completed a worksheet and had a small plate of treats during science. You can grab this healthy snack freebie with parent note. Just click for the GoogleDoc here!

Thankful for So Many Things!

I can't wait until next week? Can it be Thanksgiving yet because I've got a lot of lessons up my sleeve!   Also, I can't wait to see one of my cousins who is coming back from college!  She is my Black Friday shopping partner!  The booklets from my unit are created and copies are made.  Now, it is time to share it with you!  If you are looking for an easy unit to implement and a cute craftivity, you've found it!  Click on the picture to snab it from TPT.  I will post pictures of the craftivity when my students finish.

Mohawks and Curls...Student Art

3D Baby!  This was a fun art project.  The mohawk on the first picture was actually sticking out from the wall...what a designer I have!  Maybe this artist can help me in the business.  The best enjoyment from this art is that these pictures actually share the personality of my students this year!  In fact, I bet another teacher could come into my class and decide who made which picture.  If you would like to grab the writing paper we used, click here!  To grab the glasses and such, you will have to visit here. 

Calling All Doctors...Help with Balancing Equations

Okay, I'm on a roll with freebies this week!  Today the 2nd grade math para and I were trying to think of a good way for students to balance equations when there were missing addends.  Students were not grasping that they would have to balance the equation by reading from left to right.  You may be able to run to the printer faster than I can.  What tricks do you have for students balancing equations?  Please share!

100 Followers Giveaway

I was ecstatic today when I rolled over to 100 followers.  So, I am sharing the love with a giveaway for everyone.  Please enjoy my newest Instant Math Lesson Instant Math Pack with Jack.  It will be a great review or introduction to any geometry unit!  There is a bingo game, flipbook, and matching game included.  Thanks for following my blog and store!  You totally made my day!

Love,
Instant Math Mama with More

It's About Time! Classroom Organization Photos

Okay, so after fishing with my son and having a blast this summer, I spent a little (okay...a lot) of extra time this summer getting totally organized.  I went through everything (almost!).  Do you feel like you do this at the beginning of EVERY year?  Below are photos of the results.  Sorry, I should have done a before picture!  At our school we have to pile up everything on the counters each summer so they can wax the floors and paint.  I have several organization resources in my lesson plans and resources page found above.  This summer I decided to clean out the cupboard that I can't reach into.  I created labels for my reading and math games.  You know you probably buy lots of TPT games (or download freebies!!!) and need a way to organize all the games.

 Let's start off with a view of the hallway. We are doing a camping theme this year, so I used Posteriza (Posteriza.com) to enlarge clipart for decorations! The process is super easy if you have some cute clipart that you've purchased! I will try to do a post on how to do this soon. The banner is made of burlap that I pinned together with a stitch and wrote on with permanent marker. The tree just took lots of tape, staples and patience! I got very lucky that another teacher was giving away a Magic Tree House Stand-Up. I used rocks from my grandfather's pasture, moss and a cardboard fire to decorate the outside of my room. Let's go right on inside, head left.

When you walk in, here is your view. Welcome to my 2nd grade classroom! Wondering already what is behind the curtain? One guess. My new storage area! I labeled paper boxes (free...go run and grab them from the copy room!!!). Now, when it is close to say...Valentines, I can go and grab my box which holds centers, materials, manipulatives, teacher read aloud books,, etc! The labels for these boxes can be found here. Yes, you could fancy the lids with colored masking tape and more. You also have the option of adding these to plastic tubs you've already purchased. My boxes have a simple piece of cardstock taped to the front of the box the label.

My son is sitting on the new benches we made. Did you know that a body pillow fits perfectly as stuffing for a 3 crate bench. Easy route, I did! Walmart has body pillow for super cheap. The crates were found on sale at Menard's for roughly $2 each before school started. The rug area is where I work with students in small groups. I also do read alouds here. If we are working on a worksheet, students bring their show me board (dry erase board) to write on. The boards provide a hard surface so they can fill in their worksheet, etc. I like having students right in front of me! The crates (under the benches) house more book series!

Behind my son are black tubs. Inside the black 3 drawer tubs are math centers that are laminated and stored in ziplock bags. File folder games get stored in jumbo (not gallon) storage bags. It is nice to be able to go and open the "place value" drawer when we are studying that skill. The labels for these tubs can be found here. I have several instant math centers inside my TPT store....too many to name here. Go see for yourself why I am the "Instant Math Mama!"

After having the math drawers all perfect and just the way that I wanted them, I decided to do the same with my reading centers and games. They too are organized by skill. So now, when I am studying "plurals" or "compound words" all I have to do is go and open the drawer for hands on activities, pocket chart activities, file folder games, word cards, etc.! Even my tier reading paras can go and open the drawers to find the items they need which is nice. The labels for these are found here.'

Now for my favorite make-over! I reorganized my classroom library this summer. It's so organized that even the students hate to see books misplaced. On the outside of the book spine I added a garage sale sticker with the reading level for each book. I covered the sticker with a small piece of packing tape, so hopefully the sticker will last for the life of the book. The book bins came from Menards. It is really important to get bins that are not wider on top than the bottom, otherwise they will topple over. It's worth the extra little price.

Wondering what is inside the macaroni colored cubbies? This is where I keep all of my multi-sensory materials and manipulatives for reading. I have my sound deck, teacher books, FCRR activities, rice tracing materials, syllable type materials, plastic letters, favorite teacher read alouds, etc. all in one location. I added a new syllable type set to my TPT store this summer. I can't wait to laminate it this week on my plan time! It is located here. A preview is below. My kiddos are going to love completing the silent e word mat tomorrow! The fishing word wall collector is available here. I add words to the laminated pages as the year goes and as we talk about them. Mainly, the list includes often used and often misspelled words. Students like the opportunity to check and see if a word they are struggling to spell is on the wall. I included a booklet A-Z with the poster set. Students might be able to write them down, then use the booklet during writing time.

Students each have their own Math Box.  This is an idea from Everyday Math.  Inside is a calculator, money vial, measuring tape, place value maniulatives, etc.  I add each material as they learn to use it.  These are very handy.

The photo to the right is my listening center pocket.  It houses books with cds and tapes.  On the labels is the reading level and title of the book.  When I am unavailable to do a read aloud because I am progress monitoring or working on something important with a furious deadline, a student is able to turn the pages while the story is being read aloud.  Life saver!  I will be adding a poster that has listing skills displayed very soon.....just trying to get to cutting out lamination!

Last but not least is my clip chart for behavior. It is seen to the far right!  I love it!  When students make it to the top twice (we don't restart each day) they get rewarded.  I put a garage sale sticker on their clothes pin when they make it to the top once, then they go back to the middle.  I don't think I'm going to have to call a single parent this year!  It's a nice reminder to myself that sometimes we have a bad day and have to clip down (i.e. forgetting homework, being rude, etc.) but overall, I have wonderful students who like to be recognized just as much for positive behavior!  The students love clipping up (standing nice in hall, first team ready, bringing back an important note, helping others in their team be ready to go, getting compliments from other teachers, etc.) and have shown a lot of community.  For rewards I use Mel D's reward coupons (55 ideas total).  They fit perfect inside my little necklace badge holders.  The rewards don't cost me hardly anything.  I hold 8-9 badges out upside down and tell the students "pick a card, any card."  Then, they get rewarded the very next day and wear their badge for the day.  Some of the rewards include wearing flip flops inside the classroom, getting a new pencil from me, sitting at my teacher desk, etc.  I love not having to purchase a lot of prizes like I used to! Thanks Mel, you've transformed the way I deal with difficult behavior!  Okay, goodnight all!  More next time.

Addition and Subtraction Mega Pack

Alright, so after a couple of late nights, I know why my favorite clipart designer named herself the "3AM Teacher."  I stayed up until 4 a.m. working on this mega pack.  Then, awoke by 8 to tutor!  All is good, because I can nap later!  This 81 pages of goodness mega double digit pack is now available inside my TPT store.  The hunk of this pack includes 4 booklets.  The booklets are 10 pages each.  There is one for addition without regrouping, addition with regrouping, subtraction without borrowing, and subtraction with borrowing.  The booklets are easy to print. I added 2 centers/games for an extra little bonus and chance for practice.

 

* Update!  Since using this product, I've discovered one thing!  The students love using their free time in class to complete their 4 booklets!  I let students add their 10 stickers all at once, to avoid lots of grading time.  When they finish a packet, I grade their whole booklet at once.  We glue these into our math journal (composition notebook) to save as a reference.  The sticker page goes into their homework binder, so parents can see when progress is made!  I need to go and create some more difficult booklets for the few that have finished all 4 booklets (40 pages!!!).  Way to go kiddos!

Chef's Needed! Division Practice

Okay, I am ready for teaching about division now!  I just finished a 13 page mini-booklet after enjoying stuffed crust pizza at Pizza Hut.  I always find it funny and a bit strange how I come up with ideas in random locations (hence...while eating pizza tonight).

Georgia O'Keeffe

One of the last art projects we completed this year was inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe.  I had the students make a large flower drawing on paper.  The flowers needed to be larger than the page, so that not all of the petals were showing.  Next, I mixed up a fun little concoction.  I poured some black acrylic paint inside 5 half empty glue bottles.  We shook up the bottles to create black glue.  Students traced their pencil lines with the black glue.  Once dried, we headed outdoors to the sidewalk and watercolored.  I'm glad we went out there because we had a couple of spills!  I love the bright colors and was really impressed with how they turned out.  You could add any color of acrylic paint to the glue bottles.  It does take a little bit of muscle to shake, never use a bottle of glue that is nearly full!  The moms really liked these and we got several compliments when they were hanging up.  Remind students that there should be NO white showing when they watercolor. The whole paper should be painted.

Summer Activities Craft

Attached is a summer activities list for students.  You can have them cut out the boxes and glue/modge podge them to popsicle sticks and/or clothes pins.  I plan to do this as an activity this summer during the art camp that I am putting on.  We will paint a square label on our jar/vegetable can with chalk paint.  Summer Activities Printable (click here)  Thought maybe all of my followers could use this activity too!  There are several chalk paint recipes on Pinterest.  Don't go out and buy the expensive stuff!  Hope you all have a great summer full of lots of fun!

Bug Exterminator: A Lesson on Place Value

Ever feel like you need to catch a small break?  Well, the customers in my place value game need a break with the bugs that are in their house!  They've called the exterminators (aka your students).   My students had a blast at math center this week!  Students raced to find the number called in by the "customers."  They used some cheap (but adorable) fly swatters to swat the numbers taped to the dry erase board.  The winner of each round was able to stay.  This activity was sort of like board races, if you will.  I mad 2 sets, and worked with students who struggled at the back table.  We will be pulling out this lesson again soon! 

.

Area and Perimeter

Area and Perimeter

Do you have square tiles on the floor inside your school building?  If you do, you are in luck!  This week we had area and perimeter as one of the skills in our Everyday Math book.  Well, one day of area and perimeter will not let those two concepts stick inside the little brains.  So, I taped off shapes on the floor.  You can see the pictures below to get ideas.  I created 7 shapes and broke my class into equal teams.  The first day we did perimeter and the second day we did area.  To make it work, my class had to raise their hand when they thought they had the correct area.  I went to initial their worksheet when the team was ready to move to another shape.  Two teams could not be at the same shape at the same time.  Also, if they were loud in the hall, they got one warning, then they had a team time out.  Thankfully, they didn't get to this point.  My pictures provide a few shape examples.  Grab the free worksheet. Everyone in the building was intrigued by the shapes on the floor.  Some knew right away that we were measuring.  The kindergarten class thought they were fun shapes to walk on and jump through.  Even the secretary had couldn't help but ask what we were using the shapes for. 

Super Sleuths Needed

Super Sleuths Needed

Today a few of my students were having trouble with reference sources, so what to do? Well, if you know me, I spend part of my evening creating something for them to practice the skill. So, what I came up with is this...a Super Sleuth Detective Skills Task Card Pack. Click here to find it in my store.

I think the students will be excited with the new learning opportunity Monday. I've put 4 teaching ideas inside the pack so the task cards can be used in a variety of ways. You know the old saying, "What works for one, doesn't always work for another."

Baby Chicks!

Let's Learn About the Chicken Life Cycle

We've waited 20 days and can't wait for the chicks to hatch in our 2nd grade classroom!  Today we could hear the babies cheeping inside their shells!  There are 41 eggs inside the incubator and we can't wait to count the number of chicks that crack through their shells!  Tomorrow we will set up the brooding box, food supply, water and heat lamp.  Last year we tried to hatch 24 eggs and ended up with 18 chicks.  They hatched on the Sunday before we came back from Spring Break.  They came a couple of days early (maybe due to heat and humidity) and hatched while I was away shopping :(.  So, stay tuned and we will let you know what the next couple of days bring.  I almost feel like camping out at school over night so I don't miss anything!

If you look really close, you will see a heart on one side.  I put an x on the other side so I could tell if I had turned them.   They have to be turned twice a day.  Unfortunately, our automatic turner couldn't keep up with the large number of eggs this year.

Update 1: We had 10 chicks hatch on their own.  I ended up applying a moist paper towel to the last one that was going to hatch and he got "unstuck" from inside the egg. He struggled to get out on his own.  I believe there may have been a problem with the humidity.  I did have to unplug the incubator and take it home while on jury duty (lucky me!).  When I disposed of the eggs, I wished I had Tempelton (From Charlotte's Web) to carry them off for me.  Thankfully, it looked as if most of the eggs were never fertilized.  And, with it being cold out, I don't know how long the eggs were sitting outside before being incubated.  One child asked if we could eat the eggs that didn't hatch.  "Um, no!"  I'm just glad atleast one egg hatched for my class.  We had a couple of green eggs that gave us black chicks.  The others hatched yellow chicks.

Update 2: After several weeks of journaling and learning all about life cycles, my class had to say goodbye to the chicks today.  The chicks have been in their "classroom coop" for two weeks.  Now they need something a little larger.  This week the chicks really started trying to find their "pecking order."  They even pecked one of the largest chicks to the extent of bleeding while we were out of the classroom.  Once blood is drawn, they all pick on that same chick.  One of my students went over to the coop and scolded the other chicks.  It was pretty cute.  "Shame on you chicks.  Quit being bullies."  I did a little research and it said that applying cornstarch works.  It did help a little bit.  Glad they get a new home today.  One of my students said, "Can we take a picture of them in our head to remember them?"  Why yes, of course!