A lot of Work

For as much time as I haven't been on my blog, I have actually been doing a lot of school work. I just love those few people who still think teachers don't do any work over breaks. (and maybe there are a few teachers who do leave their work behind) but I have NO IDEA how that doesn't stress them out completely. 

I have been busily working on Teachers Pay Teachers products because it really is a big goal of mine for 2014 to become part of the "TpT world" and the "blogging adventure" ... so I have been busy learning and trying new things with products and experimenting with power point and so on. My aim in all of this is NOT to become a millionaire. My aim is really and truly to become a better teacher, and as I'm just a little over a month into this adventure, I can honestly say that it has forced me to become a better educator. I look at EVERYTHING with a critical eye. Worksheets that come with our pre-packaged curriculum I look at and think "I can make that, and make it BETTER" ... so I go home and do that. I look at other teachers' products and critique them, always learning from what they have done, how to use space and colors, where it's best to place clip art and text boxes, how to layer and form pages. It's been so much fun for me! 

I go to sleep making lists in my head of things I want to make, how I can help my teammates, what other teachers may want, what I want my goals to be with this adventure, and it's energizing. At one point on break, I actually went to bed, had too much going on in my head, and had to wake back up to create another product. Whoops! 

Another aspect of this that has already made me a better educator is that I have had to scrutinize the standards with every product I make. I know what they say for my grade level, and often I look ahead and below to see what they should have known and where they will be going with their information. 

So with all this cheesy enthusiasm, I am going to be throwing a sale in my store starting tomorrow in honor of the New Year, in honor of our break being over and in honor of me upgrading to premium membership (woot!) 10% off everything! 

And I just added a whole new unit for an Introduction to Multiplication for my Second Graders. I spent many days over break working on it, and I'm really excited to get back and start it! We're also going to start "workstations." Here's a visual of what the plans look like in the unit: 

In the Unit there are also 20 other pages of sheets/stations/sorts aligned to the common core to supplement the Singapore Lessons that we teach from!
Have a great week back to school, or if you're starting with PD or workdays... I know we're getting ready for a big winter storm here in MO! 

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! :)