Fifty Follower Freebie

I made a new game today to use as we are heading into FCAT crunch time. This is an excellent game for practicing reading, math, and science common test taking vocabulary. Play matching or memory - 3 sets of reading cards, 2 sets of math cards, and 3 sets of science cards (16 matches per set). Use in a center or just for review when kids finish work for fast finishers. Or, send sets home for practice. Directions for use as a center and for teachers to make up are included.

You can purchase this game at either my Teachers Notebook store or in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. However, the first two people to comment below with name and e-mail address will be the lucky recipients of this game to use in their classroom. I will warn you - I may not get to you until the weekend as I have a super busy week on tap.

Also, don't forget about the tablets for teachers giveaway going on at Teachers Notebook until January 31. You can enter once each day.





Happy Fifty Follower Freebie!

End of Year Giveaway / Winter Break Happenings

I am running a giveaway on my most popular product at my teachers notebook store. The item I am giving away is my original cause and effect game. This has been my best seller on both Teachers Notebook and Teachers Pay Teachers. Three lucky winners will win the game. Hop over to enter today - giveaway ends on January 1.

This winter break I have really enjoyed so far some down time. It has been wonderful to catch up with my Tivo, my Kindle, and my family and friends. I also went to Tijuana Flats Teacher Hero Day on December 27 and got my free meal and my mom bought a meal - we were told proceeds were going to those affected by the Sandy Hook incident. What a great thing the people there are doing to help others and to honor teachers. I enjoyed some Christmas time with my brother and nieces as they came to visit and I am looking forward to seeing my nieces again with my sister-in-law when I travel to Universal for my birthday in a few days! What fun :) Going with my aunt and my little cousin, plus meeting up with one of my teacher friends and her kids for lunch one day. This has been a great break so far. Having a puppy at Christmas time was fun too - Snowball thoroughly enjoyed the holiday! I also celebrated my mom's birthday over the break.

Licking his lips after enjoying his new peanut butter bones!

Passed out after way too much excitement for the day!

On the teacher side, I got report cards done, lesson plans for first week back done, and I made one game because I know I have measurement coming up and teaching the conversions is always so difficult for the kids. I made an "I Have, Who Has" game for both customary and metric conversion practice. If you want one, comment below (good for 4th -6th graders). I will give copies to the first 2 people to comment with their e-mail address.

Hope everyone had/is having a great vacation. May we all be rested and relaxed as we return back in January (and may the light bulbs start going off for our kiddos when we return).

New Item Freebie / Currently Linky

 Been super busy lately, but just made a new game for my fifth graders to use and have posted in in my teachers pay teachers and teachers notebook stores. These are "I Have/Who Has" games for practicing finding the Least Common Multiple and Greatest Common Factor of number pairs. There are 18 cards per game - one game for LCM and one game for GCF, plus teacher directions.  The first three to reply with their e-mail address will get a set for FREE!

Since I haven't been on a lot lately due to so much going on at work and school I decided to join Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade for her Currently December Linky Party. She has also created a cute set of Currently's for use in your classroom. Check them out at her blog.

Sale in My Stores

Check out my stores at Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook. I am holding at 10% off sale of many items in both stores - and at Teachers Notebook you can also register for my giveaway! Who knows, you might be the lucky winner? :)

MIA & Problem/Solution Freebie Game

So I've been missing in action all week - spent the week in the hospital - so not fun. Of course, this is my "haha" for lesson planning all the way to Thanksgiving break the day I went into the hospital. So much for trying to get ahead. I still don't know quite what's wrong, but I am going to try to go back to work on Monday. Hoping all stays well and that I can survive the week until I can get in for a follow up with my own doctor on the following Monday. While I was sick, I apparently picked up some new followers so I am giving away my newest game to the first 3 people who comment below with their name and e-mail so I can send it your way. Made this game up today since I am working on problem and solution in class next week. Thought this would make a fun center game.

 

You can also purchase these at my teachers pay teachers store or my teachers notebook store.

Hope everyone has a great week. :) 

Algebra Games - Exponents & Equations

My kids are sooooo excited to be doing algebra...we are such BIG kids. Poor things have been stuck doing long division since school started at the beginning of August so no wonder they are excited about it. And boy are the GOOD at it. Because I love having kids practice skills using games, I made these cute "I Have, Who Has" games for my teacher pay teacher store and also have posted it at my teachers notebook store. Because I am now just 1 follower away from 40, I am giving it away for FREE to you!!! If you think this can work great in your classroom for a review, just comment below with your name and e-mail address and I will send it your way. Thanks for following. :)

Fall Favorites/ New Item Freebie/ Currently Linky

I love Fall. Even though I live in Florida and fall is just an illusion (especially with the heat and crazy stormy weather we've been having lately), I love the season. I just got my classroom all decorated for fall (the kids love it, but they ain't seen nothing yet - Christmas is even more fun).

Right now I am reading The Kid Who Ran For President by Dan Gutman with my 5th graders. It is on the lower end of the 5th grade Lexile range, but I am finding so much to teach from it. First we have talked about the election process, the rules of government, the ages/rules etc. for the different offices. Second, the book is rich with idioms and figurative language. Then, an unexpected teaching lesson came about. I have a few old copies of the book and bought 17 new ones to make a class set since 17 of my old ones walked away over the summer. Well, interestingly enough the book isn't EXACTLY the same as the original. Names have been changed to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent. LOL Instead of jokes about Arnold "The Terminator", now the jokes are about Chuck Norris. The new book references Google, You Tube, texting, etc., while the old one references calling directory assistance and using a video camera. Why? Well the book was originally published in 1996 BEFORE all that stuff came out. What a great lesson for my kiddos who think that stuff just always existed. We even turned it into a center where they looked up the dates the stuff was invented - and get this - they actually asked to do that! I LOVE it :) SO much better than just reading a boring old textbook story, they are actually diving in and getting to know characters and learn about real life, plus they are developing a love for books.

In keeping with the fall theme, I just made a fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving center at my teachers pay teachers store for the younger grades (2-4) for practicing ABC order, making words, and finish a story prompt. Check it out at here. Comment below - first one to comment favorite fall memory will win a FREE set. PS - I will be holding a 10% off sale on all my fall items and a few others October 8-10 at teachers pay teachers.

Finally, I am linking up with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade for her Currently October Linky Party. She has also created a cute set of Currently's for use in your classroom. Check them out at her blog.

Teachers Notebook

Just opened my Teachers Notebook Store. I am so excited by how well things are going on Teachers Pay Teachers that I decided to check them out too. If you use either site, or especially if you use both, please comment with your thoughts of which you prefer and why. Thanks :)

Cause & Effect Game Fall/Halloween Edition & Winter Edition

Just created and posted a cause & effect game for use in literacy centers to go with a fall/Halloween theme. These are for sale in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I hope you enjoy them. I know I am looking forward to using them in my classroom! My kids loved the first cause & effect game I made so I am sure this one will be a hit too. :) Click on the pictures to go to the store.

 

I also made a game using a winter theme with sentences about the snow, Santa, Hanukkah, Christmas, giving gifts, families, and New Year's to engage students while practicing cause and effect. I think my kiddos will really like this one! These are also for sale in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Click on the pictures to go to the store.

Greek and Latin Roots / 30 Follower Freebie

Spent the day resting and then creating 2 new items for my Teachers Pay Teachers store. In fifth grade, we work on Greek and Latin Roots, however it doesn't come up in our textbook until after FAT (statewide test). I decided to make a game that they can use in centers now, with little instruction to at least give them some exposure to the topic. The games I made this weekend are the first batch I am going to make. These games have students match the root to its definition. The next batch I plan on making will have students sort words and match up with their appropriate roots. I plan on making a final batch in which students will figure out the definition of a word, based on using the knowledge learned of the roots.

Check out these games. You can purchase them by clicking on the picture which will take you to my Teacher Pay Teacher store. The first 2 people to comment below with their name and e-mail and how they will use them will WIN them free in honor of my getting 30+ followers!

New Stuff / Freebie Linky Party

I am linking up with 2nd Grade Pad in her Favorite Freebie Linky Party.  My favorite freebie I have created is a group of 3 since they all go together. I have made black & white polka dot jobs & classroom numbers, black & white polka dot calendar icons, and black & white polka dot classroom objective signs/labels.

The story behind these is this year our school wide theme was detective and I could not find much to go with it. Plus I was in a car accident in May which left my summer funds pretty depleted. After trolling Pinterest and blogs all summer, I decided to try my hand at graphic design and make my own things for the classroom. I have had a ton of downloads of these items from my teacher pay teacher store.

Hope you can enjoy these items!

So I spent some time this morning making new games for my classroom and that I could put on TeachersPayTeachers.

I have created two new center games working with prefixes and suffixes.

You can download samples of the games or purchase from my store. The games are geared for 3rd-5th graders. The first 3 people to comment below with their e-mail address will get a free copy of my new games.Also, the first 5 new followers will get a copy of these games and one item of their choice of my TeachersPayTeachers store so send your friends on over.

Here's a "snapshot" of the new games. Click on the pictures to go to their pages on my tpt store.

Book Report of Choice Project

     Another book report project I enjoy doing with my students is the book report project of choice. Students all fill out the same packet which asks them to find publishing information, describe main characters and setting, summarize the main events, identify/illustrate the problem and solution, and write a book recommendation.

    In presenting the book, the project is differentiated in that students select which style they want to use to present:

• Scrappy - make a scrapbook of the main character's life
• Artistic - create a poster showcasing the main events in the character's life
• Dramatic - act out the major events from the book
• Constructive - build a scene using materials of choice
• Choice - students can submit other ideas - most of mine choose to create a Power Point or a Windows Movie Maker file

This is a fun project, because it's always so neat to see what the students come up with for their projects. This is usually the second project my students do during the year.

Click here to get a free copy of the first page.

Click here to purchase my book report project of choice.