Five for Friday... on Sunday ;) 9.25.16

Happy Weekend!

Happy Fall!

I am so excited to be back in action, and I'm hoping that this will be a more regular thing for me. A personal goal that I had this school year was to blog more. I'm really wanting to get connected again. So I'm starting out with an old favorite of mine: Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

It was a slow process, but this week we managed to rewrite, label and discuss our first mentor sentence. We didn't do much more than that, but it was a harder book to start with! I used this book to talk about September 11th, and since we had it already read we stuck with it!  

Really working on growth mindset for a school wide initiative. We took some time this week to discuss some of these quotes and how we can use them in our everyday 

It always amazing me each year how quickly our math picks up at the beginning of the school year for our third graders.  We are already working on 2s, 5s, and 10s for count-bys, and discussion things like commutative property!  These guys are rocking it, but it's been up-hill most days! 

Speaking of an up-hill battle some days, I've really gotten creative to get us up and moving in the morning!  We are loving these math centers from Ideas by Jivey! Check them out!

I've been working really hard on a classroom redesign. It's been a slow process, however I've started to put some things together and some furniture is slowly being delivered. I've done a lot of clearance shopping this past couple weeks after the back to college items have been discounted! I'm also lucky to have had some great support through our schools PTO!

Here's a sneak---

Makeover Madness: Week one TPT Challenge

Hi there! Happy weekend. I am excited

to be a part of the TPT Seller Challenge

hosted by 4 fabulous bloggers. 

See Below!

I have been absent from my TPT world lately.

Life has just gotten in the way. 

I have on my summer list to do some makeovers,

so this was the perfect way to get started.

One of my best sellers is a set of task cards

that I use at the beginning of the school year. 

I have three sets of them. One for addition with 

regrouping, one for subtraction with regrouping

and one for place value. I also have them linked together

in a bundle pack.

My goal is to revamp the whole entire bundle,

but for now I have the first set done. 

Here is what I started with----

In my defense, it wasn't a bad start.

I use them a lot with students,

especially when I'm trying to do some assessing

at the beginning of the year. 

I decided to change it up a bit and

I LOVE how it turned out. 

I would love for you to check it out!

Click Here!

It's going to be FREE for a flash and then 

discounted. I'd love some feedback too!

I'm super excited to get on the next product

for this bundle. :)

I'm Still Here! Five For Friday {4.24.15}

Happy Friday Friends!!!  I know that I have been absent for a really long time.... I do apologize for that. I am thankful for the connections I have still been able to keep through twitter and instagram though!  I needed to take some time to focus on life and school. It sure has been a very hectic year with getting back to work after having a baby (who is one now!!!yikes!!) and selling our house.... moving in with my parents and have had almost everything go wrong in the last 5 months to move on to a new adventure.  I'm happy to say that school in winding down, after a fabulous year and a wonderful group of students. I have a lot to share from what we did and I have a lot of great news in terms of our future--- we're building a house! I'm linking up for one of my favorite linkys today.... Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs teaching to give you a little look into what I've been doing this week, and maybe a little from last week.... it's been so long since I've blogged I have so much I want to share!! Enjoy!

I've been plugging away on fractions with my kiddos. We're using math expressions, anyone else?  I missed this part of the year last year b/c of being on maternity leave so it's been a little scary for me!  However, I have to say that it's been going very well.  My team is amazing and I've also teamed up with our ESL teacher, math interventionist and another teammate to do some team teaching and small group work with fractions.  My kids are doing well, but let me tell you, it's hard!  I'd love to know some of your suggestions for resources for fractions. We've been doing a lot of hands on activities. I've found that to be best, but I'm always on the lookout for more!

We end the school year with a great project in 3rd grade. I talked about it last year here.  We do a pioneer simulation where students are assigned to an identity and a group and they 'travel the trail' west.  We have a heavy emphasis on non-fiction reading and learning for 4th quarter and this fits perfectly with it.  One of my favorite activities is this interactive word wall.  We've done a lot with words and parts of speech this year, so it was a great activity to familiarize students with some of the pioneer vocabulary.  I love using vocabulary boxes with them as well.  It really helps them understand the words.  

Speaking of pioneers, we have changed up our teaching of it this year and have added some STEM activities to go along with our learning. It's been wonderful.  I will do a longer post when I have time, but here is a look at what we had to do this last week. Students had a limited amount of time and resources to create a shelter for their pioneers to protect them from a coming storm. I was very impressed with their creativity and teamwork. 

We're doing a school wide writing project this year at school. It's been going amazing and also everything can't get enough of it. We're all making cardboard books or cartoneras and publishing them for a celebration at the end of the year.  The process has been amazing. I'll share more at a later post, but wanted to let you know in case you wanted to get involved. You can check out more from my co-worker's blog Books Del Sur here!

We did a twitter challenge at school this week. It was amazing. I got to step outside of my box and do some things like a twitter chat, selfie with my co-workers and share ideas to those that I don't know.  It got people on twitter that didn't know much about it and it also got us collaborating from across the halls.  We always do a great job with collaboration but this was a different way! It was so fun.  If you want to know more let me know.  My coworker Jennifer set it up for us! She blogs at Mrs. Laffin's Laughings and also be sure to follow her link to her writing blog! Are you on twitter? I'd love to connect with you. I can be found @MrsBentin3

Happy Friday!

Have a great weekend! :)

Currently...Late (Again) and Anchors Away Monday

Happy 2015!!!

I'm back from a much needed

and wanted mini-break. 

We've had a lot going on in our family the past month,

so I decided to put some energy towards that. 

Unfortunately that meant that blogging needed to 

take a back seat....

Until NOW!

We're still working on finding a place to live

{We're currently with my parents},

which has been simply amazing, 

especially with the little one---

but it can't last forever!  

I'll be sure to keep you posted!

I'm linking up with 2 fabulous bloggers today.

First: Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade for

her 'Currently' linky {that was supposed to be done on the first of the month....}

Better late than never, right???

Listening:  As I mentioned earlier, we're currently living with my parents after recently selling our house.  We have our own space, but it's not exactly away from all that goes on.  I listen to their TV every night from my bed, which is right on the other side of the wall.  I love the show "Love it or List it" though.. so it's all good!!!

Loving:  We just had our first Christmas with our little one.  He is now 8.5 months old and such an adventure each day. Christmas was so magical...just makes me wonder how much more fun next year will bring!!  It sure does give a new meaning to the holiday time when you have a baby. 

Thinking: For once I didn't go into school over break, which I think is a good thing. I'm pretty well planned this week, however I usually have a couple weeks going at a time... that is not the case right now.  I could use one catch up or work day in my classroom....  I guess I will settle for staying late tomorrow to get caught up. 

Wanting: We sold our house in early December with the plan to build. Some things went wrong with the land we were going to purchase and no longer will buy it.  So that means we are now at square one again. Not sure if we will build or buy... but right now we've got no leads. It's super frustrating, just because the planner in me wants to know what will happen.  :)  Anyone have a crystal ball?

Needing:  I got my nails done over Winter break for the first time since the baby was born.  I LOVE getting my nails done.. just no time these days.  So, I finally get them just the way I like them, and sure enough two days later one of my nails broke really low....and the manicure is ruined and also hurts! I need to just get it fixed again.  Ahhh the little things!

YES- This year I am searching for 'Balance'..... balance between being a mom, wife, friend, sister, daughter, teacher, etc.  I'm doing good, but I can do better! I WILL do better this year. 

MAYBE- I want to be less anxious about life... and just be adventurous more this year.  This is really hard for me, being such a planner and type A person.  I understand it won't happen over night, but taking baby steps in the direction of wanting it will be  huge start!

I WISH-  I've always wanted to be a wedding planner or have my own planning business on the side or during the summer months. I would love to do that!

Well there you have it!  Stop by Farley's Blog to check out some of what other people are up to!

Now on to Deb's linky from Crafting Connections: Anchors Away Monday 

I'm sharing a simple Telling Time anchor chart today with you!

I actually took all ideas from what my kids already knew and started there.  

We did the basics first like how to write the numbers on a clock, how to count by 5's around the clock, that there are 60 minutes in an hour, labeling the minute and hour hand, etc.  

After we were done, I posed questions to them to get the digital clock on the chart and then also to break the time up into quarters.  We talked a lot about vocabulary for this part, and that seems to be most tricky for them. 

What I like about this is that all on one page, are the basics of reading a clock multiple ways.  This has been up in my classroom since we made it and we've been going back to reference it a lot.  Obviously there are still more things that we discussed and made other charts for those... but I wanted to share this one, because it's been more helpful.  

Would you add anything to this anchor chart? I'd love to hear. 

Stop by Deb's blog for some great examples of anchor charts!

Have a great week! 

Tech Talk- Xtra Math

Hi Strangers!  I've been absent for awhile. Life has been a whirlwind, but I'm super excited to be blogging today for a great new Blog Hop from "Great Minds Teach Alike!"  It's all about technology! Our school has gone 1:1 this year, and I'm really trying to incorporate so many aspects of technology into our daily schedule.  Sometimes I know that can be hard, however it has been a really great experience so far and I think that it's going great. You can read about some other technology happenings from my classroom this year here.  I'm excited to be doing this blog hop to share more resources and talk about what's working and what's not. I hope that I can help some of you along the way and also pick up some tips of my own!

Stop by Tasia's blog for some other great technology posts!!  

I first want to share, that I got the idea to use this site from a teammate at school. I have not been asked to write about this site, or review it by anyone. I like how it's has been a great addition to my classroom, and wanted to share it with others!

Xtra Math:

This site is a great addition resource to my morning work.  It's a free web-based math-fact fluency program for kids. The goal is to get students to recall their basic facts without having to use their fingers to count to free up more working memory in their brains!  There are a ton of explanation videos on site for you to get started, but I'll share some of the highlights for you.

- It allows for quick daily fact practice (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and mixed) for your students.  They only use the program for about 10 minutes a day.  It can also be used at home and there is a great parent component.

-It has simple activities for students to practice their facts each day, and helps regulate how long they are taking to answer each fact.  For example, it's goal for you student is to answer in 3 seconds, to show fluency.  If they do that, then when they answer they get a smile face.  If they answer in 10 seconds or less they get a green check mark and the fact is brought back around again. After 10 seconds the answer is shown to students and they must type it in to move forward.

- If you don't have a 1:1 computer situation in your room, the program also helps you set up a roster of students to go through like a list each day. One student will log into the site, and then when they are done they can see who is next on the list and let that student know that it's their turn to go on to the program.  There is also an iPad app.

-Progress reports are sent weekly to teachers (or parents) showing how each student has progressed through the past week.

-Students also see progress grids during their practice to see where they're at.

- It's easy for a teacher to set up a class (less than 5 minutes!!! YAY!!)

- There are no advertisements on the site to distract students.


My kids are really loving this daily fact practice! I also find it helpful for them to get their facts in multiple ways, so this is just one more thing that they can do to practice them.  If you're looking for something to add to your daily routine that won't take a lot of time, this program would be perfect for you!!  Thanks for stopping by!

#MyMathJourney Part 2- Spark Student Motivation

Happy Weekend!!!

I am just loving the Fall weather that we've been having!

How is the weather by you? 

I'm excited today to share part 2 of #MyMathJourney 

with you today. 

Part 1 wasn't huge, but it was the start of everything. 

Here it is, if you would like some background. 

I'm linking up with Head Over Heels for Teaching

for Spark Student Motivation. 

Here's how I'm doing it in math!!!

 First of all I want to give credit where credit is due. I've been following these bloggers closely and have gotten some great ideas from them to help me get started on my journey!!!  Without this blogging world I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing... So, THANK YOU!

I've also done some purchasing from TpT. 

This was a great one to get me started!

I've decided to start small, but It's been going great! 

Here's a look at our 4 centers. 

Most days we do all of them, 

but it all depends on how many activities 

we need to get accomplished from our teaching resource. 

Our school is in the second year of Math Expressions. 

Some days are a lot more difficult than others,

but I have found that doing math stations helps

to break apart the different lessons that I need to teach. 

I start my math block at 8:45 and we all start together.
Typically my mini-lesson goes unit 9:10 or so. 

There are a lot of aspects of the mini-lesson 

so it takes longer than maybe it should sometimes.  

We do a lot of math talk, 

so that is usually what takes longer. 

From 9:10-9:25 we do our first rotation. 

From 9:25-9:40 we do our second rotation. 

Rotations are:

1. Small Group- With me at the back table.  I have set up groups so that everyone does this EVERY day with me. Even when our RtI starts and kids are pulled out for intervention, they will never miss small group time with me.  The would only miss a choice rotation like computers or daily centers. Here is a sampling of our distributive property lessons in small group. 

2. Independent Word Center- This is where they work on something on their own about the topic that I've taught for the day. Typically they do this right after the small group center, except for my challenge group.  Those kiddos start the independent center right after the mini-lesson.  I like this a lot because even if they have trouble with it, the activity really gets them thinking and working together to challenge their brains. When they come to work with me, we start by going over their independent center and talk about their thought process. 

Here are two kiddos working on an assignment after they work with me at the back table. This reinforces what I teach and gives them time to explore with the topic being taught. 

3. Computer- We just went 1:1 on chrome books, so I'm trying to incorporate a technology component each week in rotations.  Right now we're just using some websites that can help us with our basic facts.  A favorite right now is 

digitwhiz. Next week I will share a new site shared with me by a teammate. 

  

4. Centers- There is a new center for each day of the week. I mix them up. This is more for review and spiraling of materials. One day is a review center from an old topic, two days are activities that work on current skills we are covering, one day is a math journal so we write about our current topics and one day is a fact practice activity. 

Centers are laid out in boxes for the week.  Don't be fooled, they mostly look like worksheets, but they aren't the typical ones.  The sheet usually give directions to them to use hands on manipulatives to answer problems. There is not always something to hand in. 

I've been making season task cards to practice skills like addition with regrouping, subtraction with regrouping and place value. These are three concepts that they need to keep in their minds as we move on with multiplication.  So far they are really loving them.  Check them out from my TpT Store! You can buy just one or the whole bundle at a discount.

Here is a set from my Back To School Pack

Here are my fall centers. 

We then come back together and discuss
or do another mini-lesson from 9:40-10ish. 

This one is dependent on how much is in the lesson
 and what kids are having questions on. 

From 1:15-1:30 we have our third rotation

From 1:30-1:45 we have our fourth rotation

It's a split block, which is hard,

 but our intervention time is in the afternoon from 1:15-1:45.

 I like to run my classroom in small groups,
especially during RtI time

 so that kids don't feel like they are missing things 

if they are pulled from class. 

Also so I can get more time with students 

who need extra help or a challenge!

Since it's not in my math core time, 

those students who get pulled 

will not miss any new core materials 

or small group time with me. 

I'm only 2 weeks in.  

They light up when it's time to do rotations. 

On the days that we aren't able to they are begging to do them!

 When my mom came to visit the other day, 

many of them shared their favorite things with her. 

Most kids shared more than one, 

but for the first time I had the majority of kids

 talking about their math rotations being their favorite. 

I'm gong to share more later! 

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know!

I hope you all have a great weekend.