Bucket Fillers

Yikes, it's been a loonng time since I posted anything.  I was busy with some summer jobs and didn't get all that I wanted to do done this summer.  Isn't that always the case?  Summer is never long enough.

So the kiddos first day is tomorrow.  I'm as ready as I can be and this year is a group of kids I taught as first graders, so it will be nice to see how much they have changed and get to teach some of the kids I don't know very well.

The first week, I spend a lot of time building the classroom community and setting the tone for the year.  I love reading, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud.  It is a great story about how everyone has an invisible bucket and how our actions can fill someone's bucket or take away from someone's bucket.  I just made a follow-up  for it.  Students will draw and label three ways to fill someone else's bucket and three ways someone can fill their bucket.  Hope you can use it!   You can grab it (for FREE) at my TpT store!

Enjoy!
~Colleen

It's hot....

Wow, it's been hot and humid here.  It's 93 but feels like 100.  Based on the Today Show, it sounds like it's probably hot where you are too.  When it's this hot, I get lazy.  Good days to catch up on reading and tv. So I haven't being keeping up with all the things I want to make before I head back to work next month.  That is creeping up wayyy to quickly!

Anyways, here is my latest product.  And it's free!  My team will be piloting NGSS units this school year.  For one of the units, the students need to plan and conduct an investigation.  So I created some posters to help them remember all the things they need to consider.  I have materials and data collection on the same page because I think they need to consider what they will observe and what the variables at the same step.  I plan on breaking it into 4 steps:  ask a question and make a hypothesis, materials and data collection, write the procedure, and finally, results and conclusion.   Check it out at my TpT store or TN store!

Hope you are staying cool!
~Colleen

3 Teacher Chicks Bloglovin' Giveaway (and freebie!!!)

Want a chance to win an awesome giveaway from 3 Teacher Chicks?
You can win a $10 Target gift card and any product from Amy's story.  Trust me, her products/units are fantastic! I bought her Multiplication Boot Camp and the kids loved the games!  They were so engaged and loved the boot camp theme.  I didn't have time to do the drills and have the kids practice how she did, but I am using those this year.

Here's her pic of her units so you can see some of your options. Click the link below to go to 3 Teacher Chicks' to read how to enter!  And you can download a great freebie too!  :)

3 Teacher Chicks Bloglovin' Giveaway

~Colleen ❤

Pirate Math Games

Ahoy Mateys! I'm in the middle of making some pirate themed math games.  The kids love pirates and they're allowed to talk like a pirate whilst they play this game.

When I taught first grade I would play sight words CRASH with my students. We'd start with the first 25 words, printed on cardstock and placed in a big, clean coffee can.  Also in the can were  a few "CRASH" cards.  We would sit in a circle or around the table and one at a time, each student would pick a card out of the can.  He/she would have 3-5 seconds to read the card.  If he/she read the word correctly, the card was his/hers to hold onto; if he/she was unable to read the word, it went back into the can.  If a student pulled a "CRASH" card, all his/her cards went back into the can and his/her turn was over. The kids loved the game and other reading groups always wanted to play when they saw another group playing.

Well, in thinking about ways to spice up games for 3.OA.7 (Fluently multiply and divide within 100), I thought of CRASH.  But cars were not appealing as a theme for a cute new game.  And then the lightbulb turned on.....ARRGH!  I didn't have time to make nice ARRGH cards last year, I quickly printed fact cards, wrote ARRGH on blank cards, and put them in my trusty CRASH coffee can.   I started with 2. 5, and 10 since those are easier strategies if the kiddos can skip-count.  Then I added 1 and 0. (I was surprised that a handful of kids struggled with the concept of x1 and x0)

How to Play ARRGH!:
At least 2 kids need to play.  It's best with 4-6 but it depends on how many cards you put in the can.  I started with 2, 5, and 10.  Then I added 1 and 0.  
Players sit in a circle. Without looking in the can (or basket), one student pulls 1 card out.  He/she must say the fact with the product within 5 seconds. I have them say the complete equation (2 x5 = 10.) If he/she is correct, he/she holds onto the card. If he/she is unable to give the correct equation, the card goes back into the can.
The can is passed to the next person. If a player pulls the ARRGH! card, he/she must put ALL his/her cards back into the can and his/her turn is over. (I tell the students they must say ARRGH! like a pirate).
The player with the most cards at the end is the “winner”.


My first new product is  ARRGH!! Multiplying & Dividing by 2, 5, 10 and 1 (CCSS 3.OA.7).  I am in the process of making 0, 3, 9, 6, 4, 8, 7, but I am so excited about how cute it turned out that I had to post it!

 It's available on my TpT store.

And I posted a freebie: ARRGH!! Multiplying & Dividing by 2.  You can grab it here!

Enjoy!  I <3 comments and feedback!
~Colleen ❤

Multiplication Go Fish!

My county is phasing in common core.  Which has been nice because it has meant we have only need to learn one core curriculum a year.  At the beginning of next year, all elementary schools will be core LA and Math.  Last year K started core math and all grades started a new writing framework based on the core.  This year K-2 are core math, 3-5 are teaching core reading.  So as a third grade teacher I've been teaching LA Core and just waiting to go to core math. I am a dork and am looking forward to core math because I feel the curriculum makes more sense. 
Of course the switch to core next year means there may be some gaps.  The not-core does not require the students to know multiplication and division facts through 10 but core expects kids to enter 4th grade with all multiplication and division facts mastered.  So we are teaching transition units once we get back from spring break.

I am very busy looking for and making some multiplication and division games.  I have some for the facts we have taught but that's just  x0, x1, x2, x5, and x10.  To help them learn the facts and to keep things interesting I'm making different games for the rest of the facts.  My kiddos love card games so I decided to make Go Fish for x4.  If they like it, I'll make it for the rest of the facts. 

Click here to grab it!  I'd love feedback if you use it with your class!
~Colleen :)

First Post :)

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I spend quite a lot of time on pinterest and blogs to find ideas for my classroom.  There are so many wonderful things I have been able to purchase or get for free thanks to blogs, pinterest, and TeacherspayTeachers.  I changed grades this year so I spent a lot of time looking for new ideas and decor.  Thanks to Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files (and Haute Off the Printer) I have very cute schedule cards, daily five cards, a craft board, and a curvise alphabet.

Anyway, I decided it was time to start sharing some of my ideas.  Hopefully there will be some ideas you can use. :)

I Speak For the Trees

I was planning to save this for Earth day but my school is reapplying for green school status so I wanted to teach this lesson so we would be able to include it in the application.  I taught it the first week of March.  We did a week of Dr. Seuss read alouds and finished with The Lorax.  After listening to the story, we charted why it's important to take care of the earth and how we can.  Then students wrote a paragraph about how and why to take care of earth.  I have a wonderful tech teacher at my school who allowed my students to quickly take their pictures with the Lorax’s mustache in photobooth during tech class that week. 

The pictures were printed and attached to the top of the students' paragraphs.  Once their paragraphs and pictures were turned in they got to marble paint a circle to be Earth as well.  I’ll post a picture of the final project but it’s spring break and I left the camera at work.   I couldn't get a good picture of the whole board where you can tell what the kids' pictures are but here is part of the board.

Final Copy

Rubric

I made a final copy paper and a rubric for easy grading. Click here to get them for free on my TpT store.


Enjoy!

~Colleen