It’s Turkey Time! *FREEBIE*

Time sure has been flying by this year!  I can’t believe it’s almost Thanksgiving already.  Each year my teamies and I send home this awesome project.  The kids are told to disguise their turkeys so they won’t be eaten for Thanksgiving.  I’m always amazed at what the kids come up with. 

This is the pattern we give them.  The turkey is from Lita Lita.


Here are a few from this year.







We have the kids include speech bubbles with their turkeys.  It’s a short piece of writing, but it is great for discussing writing from 1st person point-of-view and persuasive techniques.

You can get your own copy of this PowerPoint file here.  I’ve included an editable parent letter that you can customize to your liking.



Have a great week!

Leave a Comment freebies, Holidays, Writing

Round and Round and Round We Go

Do you ever feel like you’re going around in circles teaching rounding?  OH MY -Rounding is such a tough skill to teach!  I really tried hard this week to teach rounding to my kiddos.  I spent a lot of time using visuals, and for the most part, it worked. 

 

We used rounding charts.

 

We worked with number lines.

 

We sorted.

 

And, we played PowerPoint games.

 

If you want need some rounding charts, click on the picture below.  There are several different charts in this FREEBIE.

 

After all that rounding practice, I feel a bit like that caveman!

 

Have a great weekend!

Leave a Comment freebies, math, rounding

Freebie Palooza

We all love a good deal and it doesn’t get any better than FREE!  Each month I’m going to showcase some freebies that I particularly enjoy.  I’m hoping that by putting them all in one place it will be easier for you.



This is a great way to show your fellow bloggers some love.  If you want to join in on the linky fun, grab some of your favorite freebies and start posting.  You can post about your own freebies but be sure to spread the bloggy love by including a few from other people as well.  Tell everyone how valuable the freebie is and show them where to snag it for themselves. 



A freebie that I really like using in my classroom is “A List of Character Traits” by Mrs. R.  You can grab it at her TpT store HERE.  It’s a 2 page list of character traits that I have my kiddos glue into their reading journal.  They refer to it all year long when we’re discussing traits.



Since we add these to our reading journals, I shrink the pages so they both fit onto one page.  I used to do this with a copy machine by reducing, cutting, and pasting.  Now I do it with my printer’s dialog box – SO MUCH EASIER!!  Your printer’s dialog box probably looks different than mine but the concept is the same.  This is what I do when I shrink & print a pdf.



After we trim off the top, right, and bottom margins, we use the left margins as a glue tab.  The trait page hangs out of the journal so we fold it back.  You can see in the picture where I creased the page.



This is how the trait page looks folded up nice and neat in the journal.



If you only put glue under the left margin, then you will be able to lift the page up and write stuff underneath.  I have my students list their own traits.




This freebie is from the wonderful Kim Sutton.  If you ever have the chance to attend one of her trainings, you HAVE to do it!  She’s very upbeat and informative.  This is her Math Riddles Set #1 which you can pick up from her TpT store. She has a ton of math resources on her Creative Mathematics website.  In the download, Kim shows you how to set up a riddle board but, of course, I like to put everything in our journals. 



I have my students cut out the cards and glue them into their journals so that each card is a flap.  Math Riddles Set #1 comes with answers (thank goodness!), but I don’t share them with my students.  We pick one riddle a day and discuss possible answers.  I allow my students to pick the answer they like best.  Then we lift the flap and write our answers.  





I found this Fakebook freebie from Best Teacher Resources on TpT.  I’ll be honest – I haven’t used it yet but certainly plan to.  This is a great way to have kids show what they have learned about historical figures, scientists, and characters from novels.  I plan to add Fakebook to our journals so I trimmed off the margins and glued it in as a flap.  I’m going to have my students lift the flap up and add more details underneath.



I would LOVE to see some of your favorite freebies and how you use them in your class.  Please join the linky and share.

4 comments foldables, freebies, journals, linky

Another Monsteriffic Monday

Welcome back for another monsteriffic Made It Monday!

One of my teaching buddies shared a cute dragon quote with me.  Of course, I had to change it to fit my monster theme.  Click on the picture below if you would like a FREE copy for yourself.  I can’t decide if I’m going to frame mine or make it into a poster.


I like having a special place just for homework.  In the past my homework tray has been b-o-r-i-n-g!  I used a plastic letter tray that was a different color than my other paper trays.  This year I’m doing something a little different and, of course, I had to make it to fit the monster theme. 

I added the speech bubble to give the monster a little personality.  I made extra speech bubbles that I plan to switch out from time to time. 


If you have any suggestions for what my homework monster could say, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know!

Here’s a plant that I monsterfied for the occasion. 



I give my new students a water bottle at the beginning of each school year as a way of letting them know they can drink water in my class.  I typically create labels for the bottles on the computer.  This year I did something a little different.



These water bottles were much more time consuming than the ones I’ve done in the past.  I think next year I’m going back to designing the labels on my computer.

If you haven’t entered my Mastercard giveaway, click here.  Time is running out!

Also, be sure to check out all the other Monday Made Its at Tara’s blog.


Have a great week!

14 comments classroom theme, freebies, Monday Made It, monster theme

Monster Pillows

Once again it’s time for Monday Made It!  This week I decided to make some pillows to keep my monster wreaths company.  I’m really getting a kick out of all this monster stuff.

Here’s pillow #1:




And, the other one:



I have a bright red futon in my classroom that the kids get to sit on during DEAR time.  These guys will be our new couch buddies.



I also made a set of rules to post in my room.  We are required to post the school rules in our classroom so, I change mine out each year to fit the theme.




Of course, I also needed to make another one of these signs.  This sign is just too important to leave out.  The idea for this sign was borrowed from Pinterest.  I can’t find the original pin so I can’t give credit to the appropriate person.



If you need a monster themed reporting vs tattling sign, click on the picture above.  It’s FREE! 

I’m sure I’ll be back next Monday with some more monster décor.  Have a great week!

10 comments freebies, linky, Monday Made It, monster theme

Foldable Fun + Freebie

I love foldables!  I love math journals!  AND, I love seeing how much foldable goodness we can add to our journals.  I even enjoy seeing just how poofy our journals get.  I have a tip for you at the bottom of this post if poofy journals bother you.

My favorite type of foldable is one that requires very little prep time.  It’s even better if it’s FREE!  I found this neat freebie on Mrs. Lyon’s blog and it happened to coincide with what we’re studying right now.  Without hesitating, I snagged it right up. 



To add a little pizzazz to our journals we trimmed off the margins.  Then cut out the title and cut off the note at the bottom. 



We folded over the name section and cut it into strips to create flaps.



We then glued all our pieces into our journals.



Viola – a fast, quick and FREE resource for our math journals. If you want your own copy of this freebie, drop by Mrs. Lyon’s TPT store.

Poofy Journal Tip
Buy a package of 7 inch rubber bands.  I got mine at Staples.  Punch a hole at the top of the back cover and thread the rubber band through it.  Then the rubber band can be as a strap to keep the journals closed.  I’ve noticed that using the rubber band has made my journals less poofy (and easier to manage).  You can see an example (although not a very good one) at the top of the picture above.

Leave a Comment foldables, freebies, geometry, notebooks

Fractional Relationships

Don’t you love the word “rigorous”?  If you’re anything like me, you have heard that term enough for rigor mortis to set in!!  Anyway, in an effort to make my math instruction more rigorous I typed up this fractional math sort.  I gave this to my class towards the end of my fraction unit after we had discussed fractions on clocks, fractions in measurement, and fractional parts of a dollar.


I told my class to cut out the cards and sort them but I didn’t tell them how to sort them.  I wanted to see what would happen.  Not surprisingly, a lot of my kiddos put all the clocks into a group, all the coins in a group, etc.  I was amazed to see that many of my kids sorted them by the fractional relationship.  After some guidance, everyone had their cards sorted the correct way.  We then added the sorts to our math journals and the kids had to explain the relationships.



This was an enlightening activity.  Even though some of my students really had to stretch, I was glad we did this.  It is very rewarding to see some higher level thinking taking place.

If you would like to try this one with your class, you can download this freebie at my TpT store or by clicking on any of the pics above.

2 comments fractions, freebies, math, notebooks

Paper Bag Matter Book Revisited

Hey, everyone!  It’s been awhile since I’ve posted.  I’m still here but I’ve been uber busy working on a few projects.
I recently updated my Matter Book that I posted about here.  It’s now bigger and better than it was before!

Here’s an example of a Sink or Float foldable I use every year.  I used to have the kids draw their own chart but too many of them have difficulty organizing their work space.  To preserve my sanity (what little bit is left), I created this chart.  Click on either pic below to get your own copy of my Sink or Float Recording Sheet for FREE.


If you’re interested in the entire Paper Bag Matter Book file, you can find it in my TpT store.
If you haven’t seen this yet, then you need to go check it out.  My bloggy friend Megan at I Teach. What’s Your Super Power?  is having a humongous 500 Follower giveaway!  There are a lot of awesome prizes to win but it ends this weekend so hop on over.

Have a great weekend and good luck in Megan’s giveaway!

1 comment foldables, freebies, Giveaways, Science

Creating Flaps for Interactive Journals

Hey, everyone!  I’m guest blogging today over at Learning 4 Keeps while Leah is on vacation.  Hop on over to see some of the ways I use flap templates in my interactive journals and student created books.  I’ve included a freebie template that will help you get started if you’re new to the wonderful world of foldables.  Happy blog hopping!

1 comment foldables, freebies, Guest Post, journaling, notebooks, notetaking