Sunday, April 28, 2013

3-Digit Addition and Subtraction Fun!!

It's finally done!! WOO HOO!!  It's also kid-tested and teacher (me) approved!!  Here is my 3-digit addition and subtraction packet!!  I really hope that you enjoy it.  My kids have been having a blast and getting so much fun practice in as well!


In this jam-packed 89 page unit, you will find...

-8 different Tic-Tac-Toe game boards (4 add. and for sub.)
-3 different addition and subtraction solve and sort activities
-Addition and Subtraction Spinner Games
-Roll-A-Problem fun for addition and subtraction
-Buzz Game! (addition, subtraction, and mixed)
-Goodbye, Dragonfly! Comparison Game (addition and subtraction)
-3 different Scavenger Hunts (addition, subtraction, and mixed)
-Number Story Task Cards
-3 different quick checks

This pack would be great to use for extra practice whether your students are using algorithms or base ten blocks!  Base ten block patterns are also included for your convenience!

Take a look...



Here are some of the activities in action...

Roll-A-Problem

BUZZ!  (a class favorite!)

Subtraction Spinners!

We will be playing Goodbye, Dragonfly and Tic-Tac-Toe this week.  This highly competitive class is going to go crazy over Tic-Tac-Toe!!!  I am so excited! :)


Here is a Solve and Sort freebie!  I hope that you enjoy it!  If you do, I'd really appreciate it if you leave some feedback!!

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Five For Friday! (Saturday edition)

I'm back with my Five for Friday and excited to link up with Doodle Bugs!


1.  We have been rocking math rotations this week.  We're still working out the kinks and it's not perfected by any means, but out first attempts this week were just awesome!  For fact practice, we played Beat the Calculator.  My kids just have so so much fun with this and are killing the calculator.  (Which makes one proud teacher!)  What an improvement from playing this game even just a few months ago!  I made a little score sheet for them.  They keep their score sheets now because they are so proud!

2.  We're putting the final touches on our Story of Me (freebie from Amy Lemons).  We made it into a bigger project than she intended I believe!;)  Check out our books!


3.  The end of the year testing has begun- ICK!  Anyone else in the same boat?  We started MAP testing, STAR math, and have AIMSWeb coming up.  The testing is just getting so ridiculous!  Does anyone else take STAR math?  My kids were getting so many questions that were no where close to the 2nd grade curriculum!  I have to check out their scores to see, but I was not pleased.  They were getting so frustrated!!

4.  The weather has finally been beautiful!  We had extra recess on Friday as part of our ABC countdown, and it was perfect outside weather.  I had a blast playing jumprope, tag, basketball, and doing cartwheels with my little kiddos!  Thank you for showing up, spring!


5.  My husband and I found a new Mexican restaurant that we really love!  I got a Cosmo Rita with dinner (see number 3)!  I've never had one before, but let me say- De-lish!

Have a great weekend!  My 3 digit Add/Sub Fun should be up this weekend!!  I'm super proud of it.  I'll include a freebie as well!  Be sure to check back tomorrow! :-)



Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Product Swap!!

Well, our product swap is a little delayed due to the terrible flooding that devastated my area last week. But, HERE WE ARE....AND I AM EXCITED!!

I was lucky to be paired up with Aris form Sailing into Second.  Have you been to her blog?  Are you a follower?  If you aren't, stop what you are doing right now, and click over to her blog and become a follower.  You won't be sorry.  She has some great posts and I love reading about her classroom and ideas!.
Sailing into Second

I reviewed her Spring Literacy and Math centers, and let me tell you, they are FAB.U.LOUS! :-)

I love the bright colors and cute graphics.  They are just perfect for spring!They just can't help but make you happy, and my kids just loved them!!  We'll be using them for the rest of this week, but here is a peek at these great centers!  These centers also come with black and white pages if you don't want to use color ink!  It's such a great option!  Kid friendly instructions are also included!

There are 6 literacy centers.  Each center comes with a recording sheet perfect for second graders! 
 The skills that are covered are:
-compound words
-synonym matching
-syllable sorting
-verb forms
-noun sorting
-spring picture writing

My kids' favorites were the Cloudy Compound Word center and the Syllable center.  The Syllable Center was just perfect for us since our spelling words this week focus on syllables.  It was so cute to hear and see them clapping the syllables out!  If they finished early, I had them put all the words in ABC order- it was so cute and they were so so proud of themselves!  In the Cloudy Compound Word center, students had to match the cute little clouds to make compound words.  There is then a recording sheet that also lets the students use the words in a sentence.  My kids were so proud of themselves finding the compound words.

The writing center was adorable.  Your students will pick a card and get to create a story using the adorable picture on your card.  My kids thought this was a really fun activity since we really haven't done anything like it before.  I will have to add that into my lesson plans more often!

Here are the literacy centers in action!





Here are also 6 math centers included in this pack!  The skills are absolutely perfect for 2nd graders!
The centers in this spring pack include:
-addition
-subtraction
-making numbers
-even and odd
-word problems
-number pairs

I loved the Windy Word Problems because my students definitely need extra practice with word problems.  It was a fun way for them to get that extra practice!  They worked in pairs and one student pretended to be the teacher, it was adorable!

My kids' favorite was the Bee-utiful Number center.  They need to choose three numbers and make the bigger number possible.  My class is ultra competitive and started comparing numbers at well.  It was super cute!  Mr. 570 was pretty upset after he realized he should switch his numbers around but still wouldn't win! ;)



It truly is a great value and I hope you go check it out!   Go put them in your cart now for a great way to end the year.  Also, it's never to early to stock up for next year!  Thank you to my new friend, Aris!!  What a great product!!


Sunday, April 21, 2013

Coming Soon...

Since I had two unexpected days off last week, I had some time to work ahead and get ready for my math stations/rotations.  I'm still undecided on what I want to call them! :)

First, I am working on a 3-digit addition and subtraction unit.  It will be perfect for the math stations and give students the practice they need to be able to add these numbers fluently!

Get excited- it should be coming your way this week!

Next, I'm working on an end of the year review for math stations.  Here's a little sneak peek.  It'll be Common Core Aligned to help review the skills we've learned through 2nd grade and it will be some of the same games with a fresh twist and some new games and activities.  I'm really pumped about it...

Hope you had a great weekend!! :-)  Have a great week!!


Saturday, April 20, 2013

Product Swap...Almost!!

I was matched up with Aris from Sailing in Second Grade for the product swap!  I have a great product from her store to review, but due to all the flooding in my area and no school on Thursday and Friday- I'm not quite ready to post about it.  I want to have tons of pictures to show off her fabulous unit!  Hopefully we'll be posting our great product swap on Tuesday!

In the meantime, go check out her great blog!
Sailing into Second


I'll be reviewing her Spring Math and Literacy Centers!

Have a great weekend!


Friday, April 19, 2013

Five for Friday and a Freebie!!

I'm linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs again for this week's Five for Friday.  Here we go...


1.  Rain, rain, go away!!  We've had so much rain.  This includes some pretty crazy storms.  This led to Flood Day 2...no school again today!  While it's nice to have a four day weekend to catch up on some things, it'll stink going back to school the week after Memorial Day.  Like I said yesterday, my school is right by a river and it's just a mess.  The river isn't even expected to crest until Sunday.  Hopefully we are done with rain for a while...
Shopping anyone?  This is the mall by my parents house...


2.  Our ABC countdown was suppose to start on Thursday.  Since we didn't have school yesterday or today, Monday will be the big day.  My kiddos are beyond EXCITED!!  Click here to see our version of the ABC end of the year countdown.


3.  I'm trying to go through my closet and purge clothes that I don't wear.  (See, trying to make the most of being stuck around the house!)  If I haven't worn it in a while- it's out!  I also really want to organize all my shirts by color...but I don't think I'm that motivated yet today!
This isn't my closet...but isn't it so so pretty?  I can dream... :)

4.  I'm going to start math stations/rotations on Monday!  I'm not sure what I want to call it yet :)  I blogged about it a few days ago.  I'm pretty stoked and ready to take the dive! :)  A huge thanks to Krystyn from Ms. Richard's Musings for being so willing to help me with my questions. My goal is to try and work out the kinks so that next year I feel ready to go right at the beginning of the year!  Are you going to look into starting math rotations?  Here are a few blogs that I found very helpful...

3rd Grade Thoughts

5.  Having some extra time off has given me a chance to get some of my TpT units finished and posted.  Check it out here!  It's on sale for the weekend!!!  Don't miss out on this great deal!


This unit includes:
-3 different SCOOT games (reading a clock, drawing hands on a clock, and mixed)
-Telling Time BAM! (my class' favorite!)
-Telling Time memory Match
-Many Names for Times activity
-Telling Time Board Game
-Practice Sheets/Assessments
*Every activity comes with an answer key*

Here are my little sweeties having fun while playing Telling Time BAM!


Here is a little freebie from my unit!  Click here!  I would really appreciate if you left some feedback!  Thanks!!
Freebie Fridays

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Flood Day...

Well, we have been hit like crazy with storms last week and this week.  Yesterday and today we had such heavy storms and most schools in the area were closed today, because so many roads were impassible.  The town I live in was declared a state of emergency as were a few others around here.  

Three of the major expressways were even closed in parts.  This morning was absolutely insanity in the Chicagoland area.



Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we try to recover from this.  My school is right by a major river and I worry about my students and their families.  There is major flooding going on right now.  Hope you are having better weather in your neck of the woods!

I'm trying to take the chance to get some schoolwork done.  I'm working on a big Spring math fact unit with tons of practice and games!  Get excited! :)



Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Love These!!!

I had a few of these dry erase pockets from the dollar section.  I used them when students were working in centers since I only had a few.  Well...I hit up Amazon and I found a pack of 25 of them (in bright fun colors!) for a decent price!  Of course I got free shipping on them!!  I am in love! :-)


I am a firm believer in presenting material in a variety of ways and giving students a variety of mediums as practice.  I whipped these bad boys out in math this week and you would have thought that we were doing a time activity for the first time!  HAHA!  They were just so pumped to be using the pockets!


Just a quick post today to share my love for my dry erase pockets!  Happy Hump Day! :)

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Teacher Dollar Days Linky Fun!!

I'm linking up with a Teacher Without a Class for her Dollar Days linky.
A Teacher without a Class

My favorite recent dollar find is from the Target dollar spot.

I love the little mini eraser two packs.  They are perfect for individual use of whiteboards.  My students are obsessed with them!  They are even magnetic which adds an extra fun element for my kiddos!  I found some in the beginning of the year.  I just last week found more.  I was so excited and now have a full class set and then some.  I have found that they hold up really well! :)

Here are a few dollar products from my store!  Check them out!

(One of my most popular items!!)









Monday, April 15, 2013

Let's Get Acquainted and Math Station/Rotation HELP!


I'm linking up with Latoya from Flying into First for my first Let's Get Acquainted Linky!  This week's topic is...SKITTLES!!  YUM!! :)

Here we go...
Red- Favorite Ice Cream Flavor
I'd have to go with Cookies and Cream or Reeses.  I really can't choose- please don't make me!


Orange- Favorite Memory from College
Hmmm...my friends and I used to have sweat Sundays.  It was THE BEST!  After a fun night out Saturday, everyone would come over to our apartment in their sweats and we'd watch a movie and have snacks.  It's such a fun memory!

Yellow- Favorite Sports Team
Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears...HANDS DOWN!!
Go Cubs Go!! I'm a diehard Cubbie fan...but they are having a terrible start to the season!

Green- Favorite Fast Food Place
Hmmm...I'm not huge into fast food. I guess I'll say Jimmy Johns.  I always get a Slim 1...I am so boring!  But..YUM!:)

Purple- Wild Card(Tell anything about yourself)
Hmmm...I love getting manicures and pedicures.  It is just so relaxing to me and I love having my toes ready for flip flops or sandals.  I LOVE SPRING and wearing open toed shoes!!


I'm going to try and start math stations or rotations for the rest of the year.  But, I need HELP! I know I've seen blog posts about it, but I can't find what I'm looking for.  I'm going to post more about it for the rest of this week, but let me know...
What do you love about it?
What do you struggle with?
What advice do you give a newbie to math stations/rotations?

I have this book  and have read it.  I'm going to reread it and really dive into it now.  I think I'm finally ready!  I'd love any and all other tips!