Take Home Math Kits Review

I’m so excited to share about Casey’s Take Home Math Kits! Click {HERE} to visit her blog.I chose to share these with a small group of students who needed additional math practice (for trial purposed). My students were excited when I gave them the scoop and explained that they would be taking math games home. What?! They couldn’t believe I was going to let them take games home. BEST TEACHER EVER!! So, of course they permission slips came back quickly. I was able to get the games out right away! I decided to send the games home on Monday and have students return them on Thursday. It gives me time to sort through the games and ensure that they are ready to be sent home with a different student on Monday. I love that the kit includes a letter that explains the process.

The skill level of the activities range from first to second grade, so I chose to use activities that matched some of the concepts we recently worked on. Some of the concepts included money, measurement, and arrays. I allowed my students to choose a game on their own. In the future I think I might just assign the game depending on the student’s need. It was easy to prep the games. I did choose to laminate them for durability and placed them in envelopes. I briefly reviewed the games and explained that the directions and materials were included in the envelope.

Measuring Down on the Farm was one of the first games to be snatched up because we have just started working on measuring with a ruler. Special Shapes was another game that was quickly selected. My students love writing with Expo markers. All I had to do was laminate the cards, so that students could write directly on them. My kiddos were thrilled when they returned the games and were already asking when they could checkout a new game. 

You'll have to check out the Take Home Math Kits for yourself. These are only a few of the games that you can find included. There are PLENTY of 1st and 2nd grade games for you to choose from.

Wordless Wednesday - Scoot

I'm linking up with Sugar and Spice to share a photo I had to snap today. 

Please excuse the blurry photo. Can you tell I snapped it quickly? 

Clearly my students love Scoot! During literacy centers I noticed that this group had arranged the Irregular Past Tense Verb cards on the carpet and were playing Scoot. "Scoot!" The previous group had simply answered the questions one by one. Do your students ever recreate or play your games at other times of the day?

It's a Garden Full of Grammar

I've finally finished that little Grammar pack! I created the Contraction Action pages for my class and then kept adding pages. By the time I wrapped it up the pack was 50 pages! It's got some excellent grammar activities and printables. It's perfect for 1st and 2nd graders. My students LOVE those spinners. We have a ton of paper clips that I keep in a baggie in a spot where students can help themselves.

This week I'll add the Irregular Past Tense Verbs as a Literacy center. In order to hold my students accountable, they'll be expected to record their responses.

This pack is on sale for $1.00 until tonight at 9 P.M. (PST). Click {HERE} to see 

it on TpT.

Brainpop.com- Contractions video

Do you have a Brainpop account? If so, there is an excellent video on contractions. Click on the image to visit the site.

Now, on to that Instagram giveaway! I have drawn a winner and it is MRSELDER21! She’s won a $5 Starbucks card and 2 goodies from my TpT store!

Well, it’s sad to say today is the last day of my Spring Break. I enjoy teaching, but my goodness I am ready for a vacation. Let the count down begin!

Graphics from ZipADeeDooDah

1000 IG Followers Giveaway!

Ends 4/20/14 at 11:59 P.M.

I have over 1,000 IG followers! I think that's definitely something to celebrate, so I'm offering a $5 Starbucks gift card and ANY 2 items from my TpT store to one lucky friend. You can enter on IG and leave a comment here for an additional entry. :)

Find me on Instagram.

Good luck!

Wordless Wednesday- Workin' Away

I'm linking up with Sugar and Spice for another Wordless Wednesday! 

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Science Club: Reviewing some ROCKIN' resources

Well, I’m wrapping up Science Club (insert cry baby face) and wanted to share a few of the resources I found on TpT. My school offers teachers the opportunity to lead an Extended Learning group. The group consists of 10 students from our own classes. The purpose is to offer At or Above-grade level students more instruction in science or social-studies. I absolutely LOVE science, so of course I jumped at the chance to teach it. This is my third year doing this and it's always so much fun. We learned all about rocks and fossils. Our time together sure flew by! It was hard to pack in quality instruction into 45 minute sessions.

My Rockin Vocabulary cover was printed on construction paper to cut costs.

Here are some of the resources I used to guide and instruct my students:
Shakin Quakin Earth Rocks by Stephanie Stewart

It is nicely sequenced and is jam-packed with articles as well as interactive activities for students. It's been easy to implement the lessons in the order they were provided. My kiddos have really enjoyed reading and learning about rocks and minerals. I think their favorite so far has been learning about volcanoes. As we prepared our volcano for an eruption one of my kiddos exclaimed, "Volcano day is awesome!"

Click on the COVER to go to Stephanie Stewart's TpT store

"Classifying Rocks" from Shakin Quakin Earth Rocks

Building our Volcano!

We drew the outside, inside, and the eruption of a volcano.

Rocks and Minerals by Common Core and So Much More 

I used this pack last year and was pleasantly surprised when I found that it had been updated. It has fantastic vocabulary posters with photos and student-friendly definitions.

Click on the Cover to see this pack on TpT

Rocks and Minerals Science Unit by Full Court Learning

I had so many resources that I didn't quite get to reuse this pack this year, but it's also amazing. It has a printable booklet that's all in color. Last year, my students' eyes lit up when they found out they were getting their own color copy. It includes diagrams and plenty of vocabulary. It even has assessments in order to determine what students have learned.

Click on the Cover to see this pack on TpT

Although our after school sessions have ended, I plan to use lunch time to get in some more instruction. We barely made it to fossils! Our study trip will be to a Fossil Museum that’s not too far away, so I’d like to make sure they have a good understanding before we head there.

Now, I'm off to work on my Grammar Pack. It's Spring Break for me (Wooo!!) and I'm determined to wrap it up. 

Wordless Wedneday- Volcano Day!!

A wordless linky? Okay! Sugar and Spice has come up with the best idea for a mid-week linky party... Wordless Wednesday! This may be tricky, but I'm ready to try it. I'll post a photo and a question.

Science Club has been such a BLAST! Volcano Day was the best. 

What do you love most about teaching science?