Five for Friday November 7th 2014 GIVEAWAY TIME TOO!

Five for Friday is a weekly teacher linky party hosted by Doodle Bugs Teaching where you post five random things from the week on your blog.  Them you link up at her page and check out what everyone else is up to as well.  I always love this linky party because I get great ideas from all of the participating bloggers! You can find the latest linky party here.

Don't know how to join a linky party?  Check out my post here.

Since Halloween was Nevada Day, we had a three day weekend! Woo Hoo!  I got to spend the day with my kiddos and one of my students (his mom had to work and he is buddies with Luke, so he spent the day with us).  We had a fun-filled day!

We started at Build a Bear where Luke got Olaf and a new bear (I of course forgot to take a pic of him - grrr!).  My student got Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon. I DID remember to take his picture since I was texting his mom with them throughout the day.

Next up was the movie theater where we saw Alexander and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  If you haven't seen it yet - you must!  It was so funny!  Even my hubby loved it!

Finally, we ended the day with a ride on the Ferris Wheel at Scheel's (a sporting goods store).

We had a half day professional development class, so I had to have a sub this week.  One of the activities that I left was this Pumpkin Pie Pronouns Roam the Room from Teacher's Clubhouse. 

 

The sub said it was by far the best activity she had ever seen in sub plans.  The students loved it, were engaged, and learned more about pronouns.  What's not to love?  Note to self - Include more roam the room activities in my sub plans!

Because my PD was in the afternoon, I actually posted these around the room while my students were taking an assessment.  They were so curious about them, I knew they would be engaged for the sub.

We have been working on elapsed time this week using t-charts.  T-charts have been the BEST way to teach elapsed time.  I explained more in this post here.

Recognize Toothless? LOL!

 

My students and I were very happy to receive our newest Amazon order. I MAY be a bit addicted to Amazon - just saying.

The Book With No Pictures is HILARIOUS!  It was another hit with the sub.  The Stink books are quite the hit in 3rd grade right now, not just in my class but the others as well.  I have a few students from other classes who come down to borrow them.  We are currently working on a fairy tale unit, so a few of the books were for that, and the new Ivan book was a must have since we will be reading The One and Only Ivan later in the year.

I am honestly so thankful for all of my followers, and I really LOVE being able to do this $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway each month.  Use the Rafflecoptor below to enter to win this month's prize.

I am adding a little twist to this month's entry with extra entry options for pinning to win.



Use this pin  http://www.pinterest.com/pin/16325617375181245/



 Use this pin http://www.pinterest.com/pin/16325617375139695/


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Easy To Make Math Game For Practicing Math Facts

My students absolutely LOVE this game for practicing their math facts!  You can watch the video below to see how we use it for practicing multiplication, but it can be easily adapted for other skills as well (including sight words or vocabulary words)!

I give complete directions in the post below, as well as some ideas for modifications you can make.

I am so excited to share this little game with you because it is a Pinterest inspired activity that I actually got around to making instead of just pinning!  I know I'm not the only one who pins something with the best intentions, but somehow never uses it.

Anyway, I ran across this pin from Primarily Speaking. I knew it would be a great way for my kiddos to practice their addition and multiplication facts.  My students always love playing games and I love finding ways for them to get better at their math facts.  Us teachers need to be sneaky sometimes!

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.  

I found these 5 gallon paint stir sticks at Wal-Mart for 38 cents.  I grabbed four of them to start. You can also find a pack of 40 of them at Amazon for even less.

Then using a sharpie, I sectioned off parts and numbered each one.  I determined what numbers to write on the paint stick based on the dice and operation I was going to use with it.  The picture above is an addition version. 

For example, if you are making an addition version using a six sided die, you would determine all possible sums from the die.  If the sum already occurred I skipped it. Here is a little "cheat sheet" below:

1 + 1 = 2

1 + 2 = 3

1 + 3 = 4

1 + 4 = 5

1 + 5 = 6

1 + 6 = 7

2 + 6 = 8

3 + 6 = 9

4 + 6 = 10

5 + 6 = 11

6 + 6 = 12

If you are making a multiplication version using a 6 sided die, you would determine all possible products from the die.  If the product already occurred I skipped it.

1 X 1 = 1

1 X 2 = 2

1 X 3 = 3

1 X 4 = 4

1 X 5 = 5

1 X 6 = 6

 2 X 4 = 8

   2 X 5 = 10

   2 X 6 = 12

 3 X 3 = 9

  3 X 5 = 15

  3 X 6 = 18

 4 X 4 = 16

 4 X 5 = 20

 4 X 6 = 24

 5 X 5 = 25

 5 X 6 = 30

 6 X 6 = 36

 I used the red/yellow disks instead of the linking cubes because I happen to have a lot more of these (just in case the kiddos manage to lose one or two). Each student picks a color and then lines up their pieces around the paint stick.

The students take turns rolling the dice.  They find the sum (if they are using the addition version) or product (with the multiplication version) and then take their opponent's piece away from that number.  The object of the game is to take as many pieces of the other player's pieces as you can.  If they roll a number that has already been removed, they simply lost that turn and it is the next player's turn.

 

They absolutely loved the game and begged to play all week long!  You can easily modify this game for greater or less challenge by changing the numbers or the amount of dice you use.  You could even make a division or subtraction version if you want by using one die that has bigger numbers than the other.  For bigger numbered dice use these or these double dice (add the 2 numbers together). Easy, cheap, and fun!

For more ideas like this, be sure to follow my Pinterest Boards to see what other things I have pinned!

Currently November 2014

I was looking at some of our Accelerated Math (AM) print outs and noticed that we are over 25% of the way through with this school year.  I know I should have realized that since we finished the first quarter, but somehow seeing that had a bigger impact. This year is literally FLYING by!  It is already November and that means it is time to link up with Farley for Currently! I am so excited to be her sponsor this month!

Listening: My boys have been elaborately sorting and trading their Halloween candy all day long!  They even paid some taxes to their parents (without even being asked!).

Loving:  I may have bought three new pairs of shoes this week when I went to buy Luke new shoes.  But I NEEDED new boots, ballet flats, and mules, so totally justified - right? LOL!

Thinking: One awesome thing about teaching in Nevada is that we get a day off in honor of Nevada Day - which happened to land on Halloween this year!  Woo Hoo!  Nevada Day is technically October 31st, but they changed it to the last Friday of the month for celebration reasons.  I am loving my much needed three day weekend!

Wanting: As I sit typing this, I am wanting a new office chair.  This one has definitely seen better days!  It is on my Christmas list this year, so hopefully Santa comes through!

Needing: I have a half day sub this week for professional development and I have to prepare lesson plans for it.  Am I the only one who HATES planning for a sub??? Especially on a PD day - it seems like double the work!

Reading: I have been wanting to read Number Talks forever and luckily our admin purchased a book for each grade level to share.  I am the lucky one to have it first!  I will share some ideas I learn when I finish it!

What are you Currently up to?  Link up and share!

Five For Friday October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween! Time to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday! We have had a crazy busy fun filled week!  Lots of history and lots of candy make for an exhausting week!

My week started with a field trip for the Earth Science STEM class I am taking.  We all met at the Churchill County Museum in Fallon, NV (which we toured a bit before leaving) and then headed to a place called The Hidden Caves which were used by Native Americans.  It is the site of several archaeological digs, and they have opened it up to the public.  Here are a few pics from our visit:

 

 

 

 

Monday, I took my own class on a field trip to City Hall as part of our social studies curriculum.  They were able to meet and greet with the mayor and then take a tour of the building.  They had a ton of questions for our mayor!  They were also able to see voting in action as we are currently in the middle of early elections.

They were so surprised to see their teacher's picture on the wall (I am on the city council).

They even got bags of goodies!  They were filled with pencils, city pins, Nevada pins, along with candy and glow sticks.

We received dictionaries from the Rotary Club this week and they were so excited to each have their own!  They also noticed that there were resources in the dictionary such as a map of the United States, common conversions, and even a multiplication chart.  They were quite amazed by the longest word in the English language and were extremely thankful that I would not be putting it on our spelling test this week!

In Nevada, we celebrate Nevada Day on October 31st, so we actually have today off!  Yesterday we participated in a record breaking attempt at the most people singing Home Means Nevada as part of our state's 150th birthday celebration.

 

We also learned about the Pony Express - complete with a reenactment!  Photo creds to one of my third grade team members.

And since we have today off.. we celebrated with our Halloween party yesterday.

 

 

Be sure to link up and share your week as well!