How Long

How much longer to YOU have until break!? 

We have 4.5 days. Not that I'm counting. 

And since the kiddos will be going on break, I made up a packet that they could take home and do independently. People may look at the packet and say "why isn't there regrouping?" "why aren't there more pages with larger math numbers" "why aren't they doing more complex grammar worksheets?" 

Weelllllll.... the thing is, I want them to be able to do these pages while they are driving to grandma's house and mom and dad are navigating. Or while grandma is cooking dinner. Or aunt and uncle are taking care of the cousin and wrapping presents. Maybe they can do it before they go out to play in the snow! ;) 

The trick is, if they get the pages done and bring it back, they get a treat! 

go {here} to pick up your copy 

ALSO I spent today getting my Secret Santa her gifts and small gifts for my students (stickers, pencils, band-bracelets). Do you give gifts to your students? Do you do secret Santa at your school?? 

Naughty or Nice?

Today in class we had to have "the talk" ... the talk about whether or not they thought they would be on the naughty or nice list. Well don't you know that they all thought they would just be on the nice list. hmm.. 

I've been working like an elf, so I have a BIG new unit in my TpT store... it's 30 pages of goodness! Woo! 

Go Get it! 

Cyber Monday (and Tuesday)

Alright people, tomorrow everything in my TpT store is 15% off! Get yourself on over there and do some shoppin'! I know I will be...

{Click Here} to go to my store! 

Catching Fire...flies!

Today I went to see Catching Fire with my mom... It. Was. Awesome! Of course, I have read all of the books. So I knew what was coming. (they left out a few parts.. but that's book-movies for ya) Anyway... the whole time my mom is all "Does that REALLY happen?! Is that all?! Is that really how it happens?!" Ummm SHHHHHH ... that's what I kept telling her. No questions, please. Alright, I need to clean and do some baking-- my break is almost over! 

But before I go to do all that, I have a freebie for ya'll... It's based on Catching Fire...flies haha! Ya know when you'd catch fireflies in the summer and put them in a giant Mason Jar. This is JUST LIKE THAT! Except not. It's a quick "shake and drop" game for making equations for ten! how fun! 

Pop on over to my TpT Store to get it! 

Hopefully your breaks have turned out just as you wanted!! 

Busy Break

I hope everyone has had a SAFE and happy Thanksgiving holiday! We had a major gas explosion very close to my hometown, but luckily no one was injured. Though it was many miles away from my house, the explosion still woke me up and kept me up!

Although I've been on break, I have been working really hard to get some things ready for ya'll at my TpT store for the big sale Monday through Tuesday!

I compiled a HUGE list, booklet, packet, whatever you want to call it full of ideas for parents for math homework to focus on fluency. We have been having such a hard time with that lately, and I'm hoping this will work: 

THEN I spent a fair amount of time working on some Journeys vocabulary cards. I have done up through Unit 3. Our third grade classes use this format, and I'm hoping if we begin this, they will be better prepared for third grade. The ones I have made are slightly different for our kiddos, of course. 

And FINALLY, I re-made a Native American ABC booklet that we've used in Second Grade. It turned out pretty well! I know it's a little late, but you can use it next year or whenever you need a little content :) 

I've also been working on some math place value and regrouping projects... oh, and my grad school homework (I just have one last big project and I'm done for the semester!), dealing with softball stuff, singing at church, traveling for Thanksgiving, and studying up for Bar Models (That's what's coming up next for us in math EEEK!)

Have a GREAT rest of your break, and a fabulous start to the stretch before Christmas! :)

Today was our final day before Thanksgiving break, can I get an amen! 

Because we are departmentalized, I have four sections of math. 

Today we were all at just a little bit different places with our math tests, so I decided to have a finishing day, and then we'd have a calm, relaxing day before we go on break. These kids work hard, and I mean really hard. 

I got myself on Teachers Pay Teachers to see what some clever friend made something awesome for me to use, and there was awesome freebies that I could use for math; so I downloaded this set from I'll Have Seconds, and we went for it! The kids had a great time figuring everything out and sharing their colors they used and patterns they found to use. 

Be sure to head to my store if you're using Journeys for ELA, I'm cooking up some of the vocabulary cards to use during small group lessons.

I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday, eat too much and be happy with family! :) 

Today has been a great day! My mom and I sang at church and it was so uplifting! Then we had a potluck, and I had dish-washing duty. So I didn't get back home until late. 

I finished up my Christmas Math Workstations! They are on my TpT site. 

And then I've been working hard with my friend Tara to get some word problem packets together for second grade, they are avilable on HER TpT site! And they are AWESOME for students to be able to represent their thinking in multiple ways! 

Hopefully you don't have too much longer before Thanksgiving break! Gobble Gobble!

-Hilliary 

Tired

Ya know those days where you feel emotionally, physically, spiritually, and every other kind of drained? Today was that day.

It's Friday before we take off for Thanksgiving next week, so any kind of instruction I was trying to do with my math groups was floundering, like I felt like I was being punked.

So.. by my third group, I finally succumbed to their ways and said "this half of the class gets to get out math books, and this half you can pick a math game, half way through, we'll switch."

Voila`, my stress level dropped ten points.

One of the games I have handy is a fluency/number sense game that develops awareness of making ten. We call it "snap ten" but I'm sure there are other clever names. You give each group two sets of ten frames, they lay them out, and call out "SNAP TEN!" when they see a match that would make a ten. Then they have to justify why it makes ten. "I know that 6+4 makes ten because I can see...."

You can go to my TpT store to download it!

WINDS-Day

Well, today is NOT Wednesday. But it has been VERY WINDY here in good ol' MO. On the way home from church there were even some stop lights that were tangled up, pretty dangerous! 

When I got home from church, I sat myself down, turned on some football, put on a pot of stew, and cranked out a set of math workstations! 

I'm new to this whole Teachers Pay Teachers thing, and when anything is new and shiny I just can't get enough of it! I'm super excited so if anyone wants to head on over to my store and give me some constructive criticism, I'd appreciate it as well! 

Have a wonderful Week!
-Hilliary

Phew!

Well, today I opened my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I mean business. Since the first thing you put on your store has to be free, I did that. Check!

I uploaded my game that my students LOVE. I usually teach it to them pretty quickly in the school year, it shows me who knows the most about place value and where I have a lot of work to do.

Anyway, I will put it up on here for you all. I break students into pairs, and then give them three dice. I also provide them with these things I bought at the dollar tree that have three compartments, that I wrote "ones, tens, hundreds" inside of the compartments. I think they're for dips or planting things.... I don't know!

Then you hear the clickty-clack of dice everywhere! (the containers help keep the dice.... contained!)
The paper, titled "Roll Away" has them record the number they rolled in expanded form (ones first..) and then put it together in standard form, their partner does the same. THEN they have to compare their numbers, and whoever's is the greatest, gets a point. They LOVE this game! They don't even realize that they are learning!

Here's a quick link to my store and my Roll Away game!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Roll-Away-979399

Alright, today I'm getting stuff done. Including grad school homework and work for regular school! :)
Have a happy day! 

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Phew!
This weekend was a blur, and this week will not be much different!
We don't have softball open fields/weights, BUT I have a meeting almost every day, AND I'm frantically trying to get things done for my room because I can't physically get into it yet (they haven't finished waxing!).

So this weekend I went to Kansas City to surprise my bff Megan for her birthday. I'm never the surprise! We got a hotel, and went to dinner at Harry's Country Club, then to Howl at the Moon (her fave piano bar). And the next day we went to City Market and the Liberty Memorial (both new KC experiences for me) and then to the Westport Flea Market for lunch and then went to make a deal to get Megan and Jeff's wedding dishes before heading home! I was popped!

Here are some views from the Liberty Memorial:

             

It's just Monday and I can't believe it! 

I had a Math Training today for the Math In Focus, Singapore Math. Does anyone use it?

And like I said, have a million things to do/make/move/create/meet with/help/find/etc before I feel ready for school to start! ahhhhhhhhhh! 

BUT! I'm super excited about my classroom! Can you guess what the theme will be based on this CUTE fabric I found!?! 

AAaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhh Mateys! 

Math PD

      I have spent the past two days in MCTM math training, going over the Geometry Common Core State Standards for Kindergarten through Second Grade. In Second Grade, there are three geometry standards. It took us two days to go over everything, and we have a day and a half of training in the fall. Holy Smokes! My brain is fried! 

      If you ever get a chance to go to the MCTM conferences, go. You get a ton of materials, both printed and electronic. We talked about the model curriculum on the DESE website, assessments posted on MARS, etc.

      One of the best websites we received that you can use quickly is Sparkle Box. It is a website from it UK that offers free materials for all subjects. Including signs and labels, theme packs, games and all kinds of other resources. 

REVAMP

I have put my blog through a MUCH needed re-vamp! And I'm hoping that this year, instead of making three blog posts and then waiting two years, I will keep up a little more with this blogging opportunity.

So the THEME this year is REVAMP.

In Second Grade, we are trying departmentalizing, so we are dealing with the logistics of that. (I will just be teaching the math portion) We are beginning the Universal Breakfast Program, SW-PBS (School Wide-Positive Behavior Supports), and we are starting to put our grades on our district's online system and not "paper-pencil."

And those are just my districts big changes. Personally, for myself: I will now be coaching softball AND taking graduate courses, which are big changes for me, while teaching my Second Grade sweeties.

We still have four weeks until we have students, but those weeks are full of conferences, workshops, PD, softball practices, the Missouri State Fair (yes, I'm working) and hopefully getting my classroom ready at some point!