26 April 2012

Finding the Range and Measuring

I have new activities to share today! The first one is my freebie! This activity is to help students practice measuring different objects to the nearest half inch. I gave my students the exact rulers they will use on the PASS test (our lovely state standardized test) to practice measuring with. Just click the image below to download.


I am just so proud of this next activity! I came up with a clever name and it fit with one of my adorable clip art sets! We practiced and played this today and they were loving it!


Click my TN shop button below to grab yourself a copy!


Is anyone else happy that it's Friday Eve!??

24 April 2012

Intergalactic Fractions!

I have been doing math center review activities this week to help students practice various math skills in preparation for PASS and tomorrow we are working on fractions of a set! I made this fun little space themed activity to use and it's for sale in my TN shop!


First to comment wins a copy!

Or you can just fly on over and grab yourself a copy! 


I wish I had more to share today but I am wiped out! 

More to come!!

22 April 2012

Equation Sentences and a Tutorial

So I just arrived back home from the wedding and am trying to relax, but before I got too comfy and lazy on my couch, I wanted to share my creation from my car trip home and the tutorial for Activ Inspire I promised yesterday!

One of the standards my students REALLY struggled with on their math benchmark test was matching a word problem to the correct number sentence. Essentially, it's algebra and it's freakin' hard. Thus, this little activity was born. I didn't feel like making it all jazzy and snazzy with clip art, so it just looks like this. I plan on laminating and cutting the cards apart. You just print the second page on the back of the first page so the students can just flip the card over for the answer choices. 



Click HERE to download.

And here is the tutorial I promised introducing you to some buttons and features you may not have known about in Activ Inspire. 


Hope this is helpful!!

AND HAPPY EARTH DAY! I wish I had time to make a freebie for it! I plan on stealing some ideas to use tomorrow from Pinterest! 

21 April 2012

Even and Odd Outcome Zing

We took our Math benchmark test this week and it turns out, my students are really struggling in math this year. I am sure my 7 week absence played a role as well, but I can't help but thinking that I didn't do a good job. =(

My plan of action was to take all of the standards students missed 6 or more questions on and focus on those for the next 10 days until the PASS test. Monday, we are working on odd and even outcomes so I made up a fun little "Zing" game for students to practice. 


I hope you can use it! Just click the image above to download it for free!

I am on my way to Jacksonville, FL right now for my boyfriend's, brother's wedding. I'm able to get internet in the car thank goodness! It has definitely helped pass the time! We got a wireless hub with three free months when we bought our new Dell XPS Ultrabook. I am loving it!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Let me know how you like the game! There will most likely be many more in the coming weeks!

I also have another Activ Inspire tutorial on special buttons and features! So, stay tuned!

16 April 2012

Giveaway Winners and Font Fix Tutorial!

Hola! Turns out this PTA meeting wasn't mandatory, so I didn't go! I know! I am awful, but I have a life to live you know. 

Here are the winners of my new data pack giveaway!


This is what they won!




Thank you all for participating! 

And I'm bringing you another video tutorial today! I love these things, however I don't so much love hearing myself talk on there...

Ever tried to download a flipchart or a document and the page looks all messy and weird and it just doesn't look right? Well, that's because you don't have the correct font! In this short tutorial I am going to show you how to fix this problem!


If you wish to purchase my new unit, just head on over to my shop and grab yourself a set!


I hope everyone had a happy Monday! 

15 April 2012

Data and Graphing Mini Unit

This weekend has flown by and I am not quite ready for school tomorrow! I have spent WAAAAY too much time blog stalking and piddling around on the web today...

On a teachery note, I have finally finished working on that Data and Graphing unit that I told you about, oh like two weeks ago. I love teaching data! It's so much fun and the kids like being able to go around and survey each other! One of my favorite things we did though was a fun activity to teach line plots. I had a piece of chart paper set up before we started titled "Paper Ball Baskets." The students each got a turn trying to shoot a paper ball into our recycling bin (you could anything really, but the bin is large enough to really give everything a good chance.) The students shoot until they miss. I plot on a chart the number of times they shot without a miss. When the whole class is finished, we discussed how many shots most people made in a row and so forth! It was my BTF's (Best Teacher Friend - remember, I bragged about her yesterday) idea and we had so much fun!

Anyway, the unit is available in my Teachers Notebook shop for $5.00! BUT, I will be giving this unit away to 3 lucky peeps! All you have to do is head to my facebook page and like it, if you haven't already! Click HERE to visit my facebook page!

Please leave a comment with your email!





I will choose the 3 winners tomorrow night! (I think...) We have PTA tomorrow so I will try my best to do it afterwards!

If you wish to purchase this unit, you can head to my TN shop by clicking my button below!

Spring Newsletter Template

I realize I have been posting a ton the past two days, but I am just in the ZONE! I can't help it! I know many of you use my holiday/season themed newsletters so I wanted to share the one I made for Spring! It even has a piece of my Spring clip art pack in it for FREE!

It is a Word Document so you can edit the file. If the newsletter looks strange, just change the fonts so it works.

Also, don't forget to go check out my Flipchart building video tutorials! Click the tutorials below to check them out!


Inserting Media/Links in Flipcharts and some Research!

So, before I went out on my sick leave, my students were finishing up their animal research reports. I was so happy with how they came out and how much my students have grown since the beginning of this year! Anyway, after they publish, we gave them this adorable animal research sheet made by my BTF (best teacher friend) as I like to call her. 


I can't give this away to you, since it wasn't my creation, but at least now you have the idea! They came out so cute that I just had to share.

Howler Monkey
Gila Monster
Wombat
Killer Whale
Bison

Aren't they precious!!?? 

Annnnnd now for my next flipchart tutorial! I had a request yesterday to show you how to insert media and links to your flipcharts. I hope you can use this!

14 April 2012

How to Create a Flipchart

I am so excited to share this tutorial video with you all today! I often get asked how I make my flipcharts so I thought I would share a quick introduction on how I begin making my flipcharts. 


If you do not have ActivInspire, you can download it for free from their website. Here is the link to a file someone out there created to walk you through the steps of downloading this software.

If you have any other requests of what you would like to see, just leave me a comment and let me know!

Was this helpful for anyone?? 


Favorite Fonts Linky!

Adrienne over at Unless Teaching, who was also one of my Clip Art Shop giveaway winners, is hosting a favorite font linky party! I am so excited to participate so I made a collection of my favorite fonts to share. 

Warning: There are a bunch! I am sure I missed some, but these are the most commonly used ones.


I turned it into a pdf so some of the fonts may look strange! That one at the bottom says (This Font Is Empty.) Anyway, I hope you guys link up!

Click here to head to her blog and participate!

And for those of you who were wondering, my first week back to school went pretty well! They got testy with me, but I got into under control! It sort of feels like the beginning of school again having to go over classroom and school procedures and having them try to test me all the time, but all in all, it went pretty great!

Well, Happy Saturday!

10 April 2012

Angle Sort Freebie

So, today was my first day back after my six week hiatus. It was a strange day because most of our third graders went on the big field trip today and I stayed behind with the students who couldn't go. It ended up being like 24 kids, which is really sad. However, it was kind of nice because I got to play catch up while they did their busy work! All in all, it was a pretty good day! Tomorrow will be the true test though because I will have my whole class back and I'll actually be teaching!

As I was catching up today, I realized that I teach a lesson on the kinds of angles tomorrow and so I created a fun angle sort! Just click the image to download!


I have also been tagged by Tessa from Tales from Outside the Classroom and by Erika at Think, Wonder, Teach and haven't had the time to get around to that!

Here Are The Rules:
* Answer the 10 questions that the tagger posted for you
*Create 10 questions of your own to ask the people that your're about to tag
*Tag 10 people and link them with your post (and let them know they've been tagged!

Tessa's Questions
1. Who made the biggest impact on your decision to become a teacher?
My freshman high school English teacher, Mrs. Hein. She made everything so much fun and engaging and I knew then that the decision was made even though I always dreamed about it as a child.
2. What has been one of your favorite teaching moments?
My favorite teaching moments are always overhearing students say how awesome you are as a teacher when they think you can't hear them! I love those times.
3. What is your favorite thing to teach?
I love teaching Social Studies! I know...weird. In 3rd grade in our state we teach all about South Carolina history and I just love all of the history that has happened in our state!
4. What is your favorite thing to do outside of school?
My favorite thing to do outside of school is to spend time with my close friends and family!
5. What do you plan to do over summer break?
I have lots of plans to create, create, create for my teacher store and blog! I really want to work on making the ELA word wall word cards.
6. If you weren't teaching, what would you be doing?
I honestly have no idea because I have never imagined doing anything else!
7. If there was only one thing people knew about me, I wish they would know....
that even though my face might look like I'm mad, I'm most likely not! I can't help it!
8. What is your favorite tv show?
WALKING DEAD! I love this show and I can't wait for it to come back on in the Fall!
9. What are you addicted to?  (think Diet Coke, flip flops, etc!) :)
Wine. Nuff' said.
10. What is the best non-children's book that you've ever read?
The Help


Erika's Questions
1. What is your favorite recipe?
I love making country style pork ribs marinated in OJ and garlic. Grill for 20-30 minutes glazing with teriyaki for the last five minutes! I like to pair it with mashed potatoes and glazed carrots!
2. Where do you find resources for your classroom? 
I find SOOO much stuff on Pinterest. I also find quite of bit of great things on other teacher blogs. And I also create a lot of what I use!
3. Name 3 organizational supplies you can't live without.
My library baskets!
The students PIRATE binders where they keep all of their homework and papers.
And this bad boy from Lowe's:

4. What are your favorite colors?
I love orange and teal.
5. What is your class or personal motto? 
Respect yourself, others, and the environment.
6. Do you use the common core standards in your classroom? 
We will be using the Common Core standards for Math starting next year. We will implement the ELA standards in the coming years.
7. What are your thoughts on whole brain teaching? 
I saw a video on it once and I was baffled at its awesomeness! I need to learn more about it!
8. Name 3 things the you need most for your classroom.
Paper! Those kids are like paper monsters! I don't really know that there's anything else I need, but I really would like some of those chair pockets and some iPads!
9. What do you do to celebrate a big accomplishment?
I treat kids to an off campus field trip to either the movies or Frankie's Fun Park! They don't often get those experiences so I try to provide those when I can.
10. Are you/do you plan on becoming nationally certified? Why or why not?
Not right now. I have a lot of plate right now, so I am just trying to get back into the swing of things!

Here are my questions:
1. What is your favorite book?
2. How do you motivate your students?
3. What is your favorite creative way to assess your students?
4. What is the best field trip have taken with your students?
5. What do you do to stay in shape outside of school?
6. What is a quick and easy recipe you cook?
7. What is the most exciting lesson you have ever taught?
8. What is the best teaching advice you have ever received?
9. What is your favorite read aloud?
10. What is the coolest thing you have ever learned at a professional development?

I am only tagging five friends and here they are:




Mandy's Tips for Teachers

Miss Smartie Pants



I can't wait to learn more about you guys!

AND last but NOT least, my clip art shop giveaway ends tonight at midnight! Don't forget to go enter! You could win my ENTIRE clip art shop! 


Just click my button below to head over and enter!




07 April 2012

Charts and Graphs Clip Art

I am STILL working on this Data unit and it seems to be taking forever! I hope to have it completed soon! However, while I have been working on this unit, I have created different types of charts, graphs, and data displays to use in the unit and I thought it would be great to share them with you all! 


You can click the image to head to my shop to purchase it!

Or, you could head over to my clip art blog and enter my AWESOME giveaway where you could win my ENTIRE clip art shop!! Yes, the whole thing! Head on over to my new clip art blog to find out how to enter and win! It's super easy!


01 April 2012

Clip Art and Giveaway!

Hey friends! I have been busy ALL last night and this morning creating some new clip art for Easter and Spring! And, I am also having an UH-MAZING giveaway on my clip art blog!

Here is a preview of the art:





Head on over to check out details on my Clip Art Giveaway! Click my clip art blog button below.