Showing posts with label Resources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Resources. Show all posts

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Comparison Subtraction and a Candy Corn Overdose

If your fall has been anything like mine...you are running on overdrive teaching super crazy rigorous Common Core standards, while trying to fit in fun fall activities, while wearing a scarf and sipping on a pumpkin latte.

This time of the year always brings the dreaded COMPARISON SUBTRACTION train to our math unit. ugh. gross. It is honestly one of the most difficult concepts to get 6 year old students to grasp.  They can easily tell me who has more or who has less, but ask them how many more or how many less...blank stares, crickets, cute "I don't know" smiles. I can see their frustration...I can feel their frustration.  Its just one of those things. But giving up is not an option in first grade!!!! So, we bought stock in bags of candy corn @ Target, made an entire bundle of small group games, and practiced until our heads (and stomachs) hurt...and in some cases, we fell asleep.


If you are having the same fall dilemma with these tricky skills, hop on over to my TPT store, or click below, to purchase. 



This pack includes: 

-Candy Corn Comparison Subtraction word problems with work mat
-Bobbing for Apples Comparison Subtraction Match Up (students will play concentration to match comparison word problems with the corresponding subtraction equation)
-Candy Corn Grab Bag (Students draw candy corn numbers out of a bag and decide who has more and how many more)
-Caramel Apple Hunt Match and Record (Students match a comparison subtraction word problem with a subtraction equation and record on the recording sheet)
-Roll and Compare 
-Comparison Subtraction Homework Sheet



Enjoy your last week of October friends! 





Thursday, July 25, 2013

Name Drop Thursday!

During the summers, I love Thursdays!  We only teach Mon-Thurs for summer school, so today is my Friday.  And tomorrow I am beach bound!

I have been going crazy exploring the web and learning about new tricks on my computer (photoshop and illustrator have become my summer time relationship...we fight, but we love each other too). I have found some awesome blogs and sites that I can't believe I've lived without before now.  So, I'm gonna name drop a little!

First of all!  I am now a proud member of......



Seriously!  I want a shirt, and a hat, and a poster for my room!  You have got to head over to maydesigns.com Their motto, which I'm pretty sure I want tattooed on my body...is "Life is short, make it pretty" YES!  

I got these two gems for this upcoming school year...so excited! The chevron is a 2013-2014 academic planner and the hot pink anchor (background of my life!) is just a notebook for the school year. 




Next!  I found this amazing blog that has SO MANY awesome freebies, tutorials and awesomeness. Go see her now! http://www.welivedhappilyeverafter.com/ Along with a million links to fonts and backgrounds...her tutorials are the bomb.com. She helped me turn....


Into This!
Oh the joys of mastering photoshop....I actually yell at the screen "ha!  I did it!  Who is the boss now Adobe?!?!?!?" 


Finally, I want to name drop one of my favorite teachers and best friends who had this beautiful boy on Tuesday!  Camden Thomas has stolen my heart!


But his big brother already had it!  While Mommy was recovering in the hospital, I took Connor James for the night.  We had a blast with bubbles and the St. Michael's Carnival! 


Needless to say, I'm exhausted.  And summer school is about to start! 




Saturday, January 5, 2013

These are a few of my favorite things...

I was thinking today, as I watched The Sound of Music (if my heading didn't give that one away) that the reason I started blogging in the first place, was to get ideas for my classroom/life.  I was blogging way before I was actually writing my own blog.  I love seeing what others have created and tweaking it to meet my needs.  I decided to do a little snapshot into my life and my favorite things.  I hope you enjoy!


A few of My Favorite Things
1. Fonts
I lovvvee me some fonts.  To the point where I get dizzy when creating a document because I have to scroll through to find just the right one.  How do you find fun fonts you say?  Most of the fonts I use are made by bloggers like us!

-The one above, which I am soooo obsessed with right now, was made by Jenn Bates over at http://finallyinfirst.blogspot.com/.
-My all time favorites, which I use daily are from Jennifer Jones over at http://helloliteracy.blogspot.com/ . I use them so frequently that I bought her commercial use license.  Oh and guess what...she does borders too!
-I have also recently become addicted to http://www.letteringdelights.com/ . This is a super fun site that has graphics, fonts, clipart, etc. You never know what you will find!

2. Graphics
The days of Google images are numbered.  There are so many talented people sharing their talents with us!  I can't even begin to tell you how much fun I have scrolling through and picking the adorable graphics I want.  They are also great inspiration for activities I can create.  Buy a snowman graphic set, create a snowman literacy center!

-I love http://www.scrappindoodles.com/index.php?main_page=index . So much so, I bought gift certificates from them as Christmas presents for my teacher friends @ work.
-My favorite right now is http://www.etsy.com/shop/kpmdoodles.  I love her stuff!
-Etsy.com also has some also stuff you can look through.

3. Bouncing Balls
This is the coolest noise management system I have very seen.  One of the girls that works at our school found this on Pinterest and shared!  The kids actually beg for me to put it up as they work...but it does cause me to say some pretty obscene things. I hope none of my kids go home and play school and repeat things I've said like:  "don't make my balls bounce", "Friends, your are making the balls bounce", or my favorite...when the kids try to touch the SmartBoard "don't touch my balls."  Enough said. http://neave.com/bouncy-balls/

4. Sally Hansen Real Nail Polish Strips
Kind of obsessed with these right now.  I love having my nails painted, but they always chip and smear and I can't do school work as they are drying.  I found these on sale at Target after Christmas and am now obsessed!  There is no dry time and you can do cool designs you wouldn't be able to do yourself...or at least I couldn't.

5. Baskets, Crates, Tubs, Containers
 These types of things are going to be the downfall of my future financial situation.  I can say no to clothes, jewelry, shoes, purses, but you put this stuff in front of me and I go weak in the knees. I don't need a reason to have it, I know I'll use it for something!

6. My All Time Favorite
This is my "Teacher Toolbox" which is the best thing I ever did. You can download the idea and labels here. My Favorite line...
Femi: Hey Spurdog can I borrow your whiteout?
Me: Yea, definitely!
Femi: Where is it?
Me: In my teacher toolbox in the whiteout drawer...duh.
Femi: Only you.

I hope you can use some of these ideas!  I will be doing a post soon on all the things in my classroom!

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