Math Thinking Mats and Infographics

Carson-Dellosa is a company that has tons of teacher ready materials.  I was really excited to receive the following products in the mail last week:

4th Grade Math Thinking Mats

and

a 4th Grade Infographics Workbook.

When I opened the Thinking Mats, I noticed right away the correlation with the Common Core.  We use Go Math for our math program, and it is very rigorous and definitely builds on the strategies learned year after year.  The quality of the cards was very impressive to me.  Each activity comes with perforated pages that I put into baggies to keep the center together.

 I have nothing but positive things to say about this product.  The students are engaged and eager to play.  As the students get older, sometimes they will begin to lose that spark for learning that they have when they are so young.  After working in grades K-12, you can see a difference of enthusiasm for learning sometimes.  My kids regain that spark when they use this :)

When to use this product: Math centers, an enrichment activity, or a great review for your fast finishers :)
How many people can use this product: This is more of a partner center or for groups up to 4 people.  This is not a product I would use whole class.

The only thing I changed about our first center "Factor Flight" was taking a dry erase marker and underlining the 9 and 6 so the numbers would not be confusing for the kids (and so they wouldn't fight over the numbers!) :) Great product and well worth the money!

The Infographics activities are a great tool for me to review important concepts from our Social Studies curriculum.  For example, after studying the history of New York and map skills, I had the students practice reading different graphs and locating directions and specific places on a map.

Just like the math mats, these are thick, laminated material and who doesn't love to use dry erase?! :) The math activities were a little more engaging for all of my learners, but this product was a great way to help reinforce the material they learned.  And they are all cross-curricular!  As teachers we may feel we do not have enough time to do extra activities but this product combines ELA with Social Studies and even Math!

 

 When to use this product: Perfect to reinforce a specific skill, great for early finishers and perfect for a center activity.
How many people can use this product: I would say this is an independent choice (or with a partner)

Thank you so much for reading!  I hope you can check out these amazing products.  What do you do for math centers and social studies activities?

Have a great day!


Disclaimer: Carson-Dellosa sent me products in exchange for a blog post, but all opinions in this post are mine.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter :] I hope you all enjoyed your holiday and spent it with loved ones.  I just finished my Spring Break so I am a bit tired from going back to school today.  I missed the kids though and my set schedule [now I can try to eat healthier!]

 

Cute bunny picture found on www.cutenessoverflow.com 

 

I want to share first that right before my spring break, we had such a special visitor at our school.  Sweet Hudson [the Railroad Puppy] who was in an "accident" with his sweet brother and sister.  Hudson has a prosthetic leg and will live with that for the rest of his life.  To read more about his story, please visit his facebook page, as I do not know who my audience is and I do not want to reveal any information that is too much for children :]

 

Hudson and his daddy Mr. Nash make visits all over the area and all he asks is for donations to our local Mohawk Humane Society.  Look at all the donations that my wonderful school provided.  And they kept pouring in! I love animals so much and to be able to share that love and show our children how wonderful of a dog Hudson is meant the world to us.  It teaches children about disabilities and I love that they were so accepting with lots of caring questions to ask Hudson!  

 

My students are developing so much in their reading and writing.  I am so proud of them!  Here are their sneaky E puppets that they made before break too :] We are going to start working on a lot of sneaky E words to reinforce the short vs. long vowel sounds!

If you haven't checked it out, you HAVE to look into Deanna Jump and Deedee Wills' Writing Units for Kindergarten... very worth money, and can be used year after year for your students.  Here is an anchor chart that the students still love referring to with how to writings. :] I love to see themselves as young writers and writing about what interests them!

 I also have to share our bulletin board with our Rainforest animals... this freebie can be found HERE and there are so many different ways you can use it! I decided to have each student focus on one part of the rainforest and research it.  They all went by the type of animals that lived there, and LOVED it!

Enjoy your week :] I hope to have a BIG giveaway sometime soon... follow me here and on my facebook page to stay updated!

March Currently

I feel like I missed February's Currently because it seems like forever since I have gotten in touch with sweet Farley :] So excited to link up with her for the month of March.  Did you see her new blog design? Adorable...and The 3AM Teacher designed it, just like my beautiful blog.  She's awesome :]

 

Listening: Well, commercials are not on anymore, now it's the Big Bang Theory.  I make do with what I can with basic cable ;) I am usually just working up a storm anyways!

Loving: I am so happy to have the experience teaching Kindergarten. My class is so sweet and are making such growth.  I am so proud and love each of them!

Thinking: How was the TPT sale for you?? I definitely bought some great clipart and fonts so I am ready to CREATE.  Very excited and I hope that I can make some wonderful products for all of you to use!

Wanting: This is one is self explanatory... I can't get anything done in a day! ;)

Needing: I had a long chat with a great friend of mine, and I realized that I really do need to make a lifestyle change. So, it starts now.  I have never been successful to achieve my healthy goals, but I have a great feeling that if I use all the strength and willpower I have, I can do this.  

The answer to my question is 3 1/2 years...a little bit of a toughie, but I wanted to be creative!

  --------------------------------------------------------------

 I leave you with my sweet student Avery's Target book she made.  Who doesn't love Target? Well, this is what my wonderful little Kinder did at home... it was around 10 pages long!

We also did Christine Statzel's "Me on the Map" unit! Loved, loved, loved. So glad I purchased it... here is my lovely Cooper's amazing coloring and completion of some of the pages!

Have a wonderful night ladies and gents!!

3 day weekend

Hey teachers! How's it going? I haven't heard from a lot of you lately.. how's everything going? How's your 2013? I hope everyone is doing well.. 3 Day Weekend!! So very happy.. I never want Mondays to come, so it will make a huge difference not having Monday.  Martin Luther King, Jr. is such a hero to me, and did everything a human being could to fight for equality among all men and women.  Being Asian, I grew up feeling different at times, and did have people make fun of me.  I now love and embrace my ethnicity, but it took me until I was older XO.  Happy Birthday Martin Luther King, Jr. and it falls on my mama's birthday this year as well :) She is the most amazing woman, and I am so happy to have her in my life and to be adopted by my wonderful parents. I am very blessed.

 

I have been working on my state testing practice with my kiddos and the best way to go about working with them.  I have been doing comprehension homework all year so far with them, and it will definitely help them with the reading.


Some topics that my kids need a little more practice in are fractions, line of symmetry, word problems, measurement, and then I think we will be good to go with math..
I also want to incorporate technology to help them practice and I came across Math Slice, which has online tests for students to practice for grades 3-5.  Check it out: http://www.mathslice.com/mathmocktest.php

 

My beautiful friend Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper has this fabulous product that I cannot wait to try out with my students... her Monster Fractions Unit for Big Kids has AMAZING activities and I am so excited to use them!! Check it out!

 

I also want to tell you that there's still time to enter Teacher's Notebook's Tablet for the Teacher!!! You can enter once a day until January 31st! How sweet of Debbie and Steve... they are just amazing and so sweet.  Please consider opening up a store with them if you haven't done so already.. They are the nicest people and you receive 100% of your profits!! Only $20 to start a membership :) I will never forget when Terri from Terri's Teaching Treasures bought my membership for me when I didn't have any money.. I am just SO freaking blessed with wonderful people. (That means YOU, Sara Ventrella!! My angel!!)

 

 

For Social Studies, I introduced DBQs for the first time to my class :) I do not know when they start in "full force" (probably 5th or 6th grade I imagine?) but I figured that my kiddos could handle them, and what better than to start with the Revolutionary War.. I loved teaching about this war.. if only my kids could field trip to Saratoga (for the Battle of Saratoga).. I don't think we can afford a whole bus for my little old class and have them pay.  Maybe I will look into it though for a weekend trip and meet the kids up there or something with their parents.  With only 7 students, I can do a lot with them!



 

I started a 90 Day Challenge this past Monday to lose weight and feel great :) I have a beachbody coach Monica, since I started Insanity last year.  Well, I did complete Insanity and it was terrible (but worthwhile!) and then winter and Christmas came, and so did the weight.  So, I am determined more than ever to be successful and eat right, exercise, and lose lots of weight.  My overall goal is 25 pounds, but my goal for the 90 days is 10 pounds (but also gaining tons of muscle from Insanity again!) I am doing the program 4 days a week, instead of 6-7. I am extremely busy with working and my other jobs to make ends meet, and I need time to hang out too.

I want to feel great about myself again :) Wish me luck!

Great purchases!

Since all the TPT Back to School Sales were going on, I decided to share some of my purchases for fourth grade next year.. I am committed to being the best teacher possible for my kiddos and of course, I want the best resources.  I am going to be creating a Native American Unit or Revolutionary War Unit soon.. maybe a Common Core Fourth Grade Math Unit too, since my Common Core Third Grade Math is such a hit!

My 5 favorite purchases were ones from three ladies that I admire and love: Sunny Days, One Extra Degree, and Shelley Gray, Rachelle Smith, and Nicole Shelby. Fabulous products!

Denise from Sunny Days had an amazing product of 50 printables for early finishers.. who hasn't had a student that finished early and struggled to keep them engaged and challenged? Her printables will be perfect for this year! She is the best, and very sweet :) Always the best products and you have to check out her generous prices and freebies!

Amanda from One Extra Degree has the most incredible products.. one of the best sellers on TPT, I could not pass up her unit about government.  Cute graphics and fonts, thank you Amanda! I will always keep your items at the top of my wish list!!

Shelley Gray is another one that has the best products especially for the intermediate grades (which is right up my alley).  She has created a bunch of very cute back to school bulletin board ideas about your class's summers.  Check it out, she is wonderful!

Wow.. one of my most FAVORITE sellers on TPT is definitely Nicole Shelby.  She has the best units for the intermediate grades, especially her science units.  They are hands-on and engaging and full of wonderful information.  I purchased her May the Force Be With You unit and I love it!

Another one of my most FAVORITE Top 5 sellers is definitely Rachelle Smith.. who does not love her and her cute fonts/activities? So engaging and perfect for the primary grades, and can be used in my 3rd and 4th grade classroom as well :) A top favorite is her Holidays Around the World Unit and I had to purchase it since it's been on my wishlist forever.. so glad I did, it's perfect!

New Government Unit

SPRING BREAK!

I have been waiting for this since... well, probably my last break in February :) Today was my first day of my vacation, and boy, do I know how to have fun! (Insert sarcasm here)... I got my oil changed, and car inspected (it failed), cleaned my apartment, grocery shopped, donated clothes, and went to the gym.  As my mother says, "all grown up things".  I had to buy 3 new tires today.. not cool.  I am getting all the "fun" stuff out of the way so I can really relax next weekend. But that never happens, I always find something to work on.. especially when it comes to blogging/products!

I was pretty exhausted tonight, but I finally finished my Government Unit! I am very excited about it, since it contains a lot of information that I feel all students should know.  It's a lot of reading comprehension and outlined for students to do a review and take short notes, so it is definitely designed for older students.  It was a struggle trying to get it under 50 Mg, so I had to delete a page.. oh well, it's still a good unit :)

Please check it out on Teacher's Notebook or Teacher's Pay Teachers!! 







It is now 12:30 AM so after 3 hours of finally uploading my new product I am going to bed :) Sale on both my stores is coming very soon!! So be on the look out :)

Geography Unit!

Hello followers! I hope you are enjoying your weekend.. I was so excited on Pinterest to see my Daily 5/CAFE wall pinned over 50 times within minutes yesterday!

Just finished my 23 page Geography Unit :) Very excited to put it on Teachers Pay Teachers!
Please check it out <3

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Geography-Landform-Unit


Sometimes I come up with last minute bulletin board ideas.. I just went with something simple for St Patrick's Day. My Lucky Leprechauns and they all decorated and wrote in a pot of gold of what they felt lucky for :) (Still working on their cursive) Enjoy the rest of the weekend!!

Travel Brochure Freebie

It has been a very tiring week.  I am sure that everyone is excited for February break (I sure am).  It is also my significant other's birthday and we are going away for the weekend (not too far, but it still counts!)


A few months ago, my students created their own travel brochures after studying one of the 50 states.. they loved doing this and I wanted to share it with you all.  After my kiddos researched their states, they took notes and organized the information the way that would interest readers - I continued to ask them, "What would make readers interested in your state?"

Here's how they turned out and the link to Teachers Pay Teachers:

Travel Brochure Freebie on TPT

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