Happy New Year, Winter Math Centers, and a Small Thank You Gift!

I hope you enjoyed a safe New Year’s Eve.  I promised that I would be back soon and here I am!

My Christmas vacation is coming to an end and I am going to miss being home and having time to relax.  I return to work on Monday so I have begun getting things ready for my classroom.  My goal is to have everything finished by Friday.  I don’t want to work on anything school related this weekend.

I needed some review materials for math.  We have mid-year assessments coming up very soon and I know my students will benefit from some review after having two weeks at home.

I created 11 math centers with a winter theme.  Eight of them are for review and 3 of them focus on fractions, which I will begin teaching next week.

 

Each center contains:

·      a student direction page

·      18 task cards

·      a student recording page

·      an answer key

I created the following centers:

Place Value – Students are asked to write the standard, expanded, or written form or a given number. (Aligned with Common Core Standard N.NBT.A.1)

Comparing Whole Numbers – Students are asked to read and compare both numbers. Write >, <, or = to compare each pair of numbers. (Aligned with Common Core Standard N.NBT.A.2)

Number Patterns – Students are asked write the numbers missing from the pattern and the rule for each pattern. (Aligned with Common Core Standard N.OA.C.5)

Rounding Whole Numbers – Students are asked to round the number to the nearest ten, hundred, thousand, or ten thousand. (Aligned with Common Core Standard N.NBT.A.3)

Add or Subtract Whole Numbers – Students are asked to Add or subtract to solve the equation. (Aligned with Common Core Standard N.NBT.B.4)

Multiplication – Students are asked to align the given numbers correctly. Then, multiply the numbers to find the product. (Aligned with Common Core Standard N.NBT.B.5)

Division – Students are asked to align the given numbers correctly. Then, divide the numbers to find the quotient. (Aligned with Common Core Standard N.NBT.B.6)

Word Problems – Students are asked to decide what operation is needed to solve the problem. Then are required to solve the problem on their recording sheet showing all their work. (Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, and Fractions)

Equivalent Fractions – Students are asked to write the equivalent fractions, find the missing number, and use equivalent fractions to rename one fraction or more in each pair. Then, add the fractions. (Aligned with Common Core Standard N.NF.A.1 and N.NF.C.5)

Comparing Fractions – Students are asked to read and compare both fractions. Write >, <, or = to compare them. (Aligned with Common Core Standard N.NF.A.2)

Add or Subtract Fractions – Students are asked to Add or subtract the fractions and be sure to reduce to the lowest terms. (Aligned with Common Core Standard N.NF.B.3a)

 

 

If you are interested in having this winter math review set, just click here.

I would really like to THANK YOU for returning to my “no longer abandoned” blog!  I would like to share this FREE fraction resource with you.  I hope that you and your students find some value in it. 

 

Happy New Year to you and your family!

I will be back in a few days.

Free Conversation Starters for Reading Conferences

Hello!  Two posts in two days… I am on a ROLL! This is going to be a short post, but I wanted to share something with you.

At the end of each year (just like any good teacher) I reflect on the previous school year to see what needs improvements and what went well.  Last year, I had a difficult time stimulating conversations during reading conferences with my students.  I found having a list of questions handy helped to begin the conversations.  If a student began to focus in a new direction; I allowed them to lead the conversation and found that 9 out of 10 times I learned a great deal about the student as a reader.  There are those times especially before I know the students well that a conversation started was needed.  I use the cards below to help me.

After printing, laminating, and cutting them out, I punch a hole in them and place them on a binder ring.  There are cards for students who:

·      just started reading the book.

·      are in the middle of a book.

·      have finished reading a book.

I also included some blank cards if you would like to add your own to the collection. 

 

 

This is just a sample of the set. You can get a FULL set of the cards for FREE by downloading them from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.  I hope that you will find them useful.  If you have a moment, I would appreciate it if you left me feedback either on TPT or by commenting on this post.

You may also like my Reading Graphic Organizers.  They can be used with any book.  I use them quite often during reading workshop. They really have been a BIG time saver.

You may also like my Reading Interactive Notebook Flaps.  They are also frequently used during reading workshop time.  They are simple flaps for the students to cut out.  I prefer having the students recording information on the flaps rather than spending too much time cutting and pasting.  Students enjoy working with the flaps and having a resource that they made and can use as a reference throughout the year.  

I also posted random pictures of my classroom from last year under the “Classroom Pictures” tab above.  I had a camping theme last year and my students and I really enjoyed it.  You can read about my theme for next year HERE. 

Enjoy a relaxing weekend!

Dollar Tree Finds, Crayon Storage, and a Small Giveaway!

I posted here about needing to find a sturdy container for my students to keep their crayons safe. I am always finding broken, dirty, and/or lost crayons.

Well I took a trip to the Dollar Tree, which I frequently visit just in case they put out something new, and I found several goodies. 

All of the following items were located in the front of my store. They were being housed in boxes.

The first was the perfect container for a box of 24 crayons.  It is called a “Lock-Top Snack” container and comes with two containers and top lids.  They are made of the sturdy thick plastic. My store had them in blue, green, red, and purple.  If you live near me, I cleaned out the blue and green ones!

Here are some pictures of the containers.

They have secure side flaps that snap closed.

I added Avery Labels 6359 to the top of them and used Modge Podge to keep the labels from getting dirty.

 

The container with a box of 24 crayons in it.

 

These containers will be kept in their table crates.

 

They had some other great new products in the store.  Here are some pictures of some of the other finds:

I purchased a few of these items.  I will post about them soon.  Do you have the perfect use for one of the items I found?  I would love to hear your comments and suggestions. 

I want to share some addition task cards that I made for my class. You will find 4 sets of cards with a total of 100 task cards.  Students will need to add numbers up to 5-digits with regrouping.  Here is a picture of them:

Anyone who can guess my favorite color from a box of 24 Crayola Crayons will win a FREE copy. You must use the exact name from the crayon.  I will accept answers until 6:00 p.m. on Friday, June 21^st.  Don't forget to leave your email address. 

You can also pick up a copy HERE in my TPT store.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Personification Activities, Freebie, and a Giveaway!

Below you will find a few of the activities that went over well in my classroom based on lessons that I taught on personification, several book choices, and a FREEBIE!

I do believe my students had the most fun with these lessons.  They did a lot of visualizing during the read-alouds which brought on a lot of giggling.

Day 1:  To activate prior knowledge I ask the students to think of things cats can do, such as meow, climb, lick their paws, and run.  Then I asked them to tell me things that a lunch bag can do.  They came to the conclusion that a lunch bag can’t do anything, because it can’t move on its own or speak.  I then explained to them that when a writer treats an object, concept, or animal like a person it is called personification.  We looked at the definition (Personification is the act of giving non-living things human characteristics or qualities) of personification and placed it on our figurative language board.  I ended the lesson with a read-aloud “Punctuation Takes a Vacation”.  Together we wrote the examples of personification that were found in the story.

 

Day 2 and 3:  I began today’s lesson with “The Little Red Pen” by Janet Stevens.  Every year this book is one of their favorites.  Again, they identified the examples of personification that they heard throughout the book.  Lastly, I divided my students into groups so that they could work on the following two activities.  Activity 1 tells students to read sentences that contain examples of personification. They use a recording sheet to identify and write the object, concept, or animal that is being given human qualities.  Then they write the quality it is being given.  Activity 2 tells students to read several phrase cards and use the phrases in a sentence that contains an example of personification.

This is one of my products… Personification - 2 Activities. Students complete these activities independently or in pairs as a review during reading rotations. It gives my students extra practice. It can be found in my store. Click on the picture to get a better look at it or to purchase it. 

 

Day 4:  I read the book “School Supplies: A Book of Poems” by Lee Bennett Hopkins to my class.  We discussed how well personification fits into poetry and how it helps us to make great visualizations.  Next, I modeled how to use a planning guide to help with writing a personification poem.  When we finished, I had the students complete a planning guide independently.  After some peer editing, students published their poems and placed them on our work board.  If you would like a FREE copy of the Personification Planning Guide and the Personification Publishing Page, click here.  If you like the activity, please be kind and leave me some feedback.

 

Here are more books that I used with my personification lessons. 

 

Would you like to win a free copy of Personification – 2 Activities?  Leave me a comment and share your favorite books and/or lessons on personification.  I would love to add to my book collection and ideas for lessons.

I will randomly select one comment from one of my followers on Monday, April 29^that 8:00 p.m. Please be sure to leave your email or blog address so I can send you the product if you are the winner!  If you aren't comfortable leaving your email address, check back on Monday at 8:00 p.m. to see who won. 

I promise not to post too many of my products on my blog, but anytime I do there will be a giveaway included!  Follow my blog to learn about me, my teaching style, my classroom, lessons, find freebies, and to share experiences!

As always, thanks for stopping by today!