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Saturday, December 28, 2013

Center Neck Hangers

I am a Daily 5 kinda teacher.  I do make my own adjustments but one reason for sure is that I am able to work with students one on one or in a small group.  It is hard for the kids to sit there with a worksheet in front of them.  In Daily 5, they are able to make some of their own discoveries.  The biggest struggle I have had lately is my students want to come up and tell me non-relevant information.  "Mrs. Elder, I made a star with my flash cards."  I have to redirect them and tell them to tell me at the end of the station.  I still got to hear all the cute things they wanted to tell me BUT I got the time I needed with THAT group.

Before Christmas break, I started saying, "Blood, guts, or broken bones."  Then there was the dilemma that, "What if I need help with my computer?" "What if I need help with..."  The list could go on and on.  I have jobs in my classroom already.  I have decided I would make cards that the kids could wear if their job was that week.  This should help with who does what. 

I have attached a picture below!  This is going to be a free download on Teachers Pay Teachers!  I hope you will download it and say nice things about it!!
 


God Bless,
--Shann

Friday, December 27, 2013

That's a Fact Jack! - Multiplication Cards 2-12 Givaway!

 
Another giveaway coming your direction!! 
Comment below letting me know that you have shared this on Pinterest (along with the link) and there will be 5 winners for this product announced on December 31!  This product actually hits the store December 28th if you can not waitCLICK HERE!
 
I don't know if you are a Duck Dynasty or not but man, I just love the show.  Even if I have seen the episode before, I have no problem watching it again!  Anyways, my newest game is comparable to SPOONS.  That was always a game I played when we had all of the family over for holidays.  The directions are in the product that you can purchase pretty much how it works is, all the students sit in a huge circle.  There is a card dealer who passes out 4 cards per person.  Each person must keep the cards in their hands until they have a match.  Once the card dealer starts, he will pass the cards one by one to the next player.  The cards will be going around the circle. The objective of the game is to find your match.  For example: I have in my hand 11 x 11.  I going to keep the 121 card when it comes to me.  This helps kids learn their facts quickly and in a fun way.  Personally, I will use this game on the end of the 2nd day of multiplication facts.  In this deck, there are cards from 2 x 1 all the way to 12 x 12. 
 
 
Good luck and God bless,
-Shann

Check out my Pinterest at: Shannon's Pinterest
Follow me on Teachers Pay Teachers
** I am looking for one more person to be a proofreader for me and in return I will send you my products for FREE!!  If you think this is something you would like to do, please email me at: seldersclass@gmail.com, and we can talk about it. **

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Multiplication File Folder Games Detailed Instructions or Me Just Rambling......




I have worked really hard to make this unique and different.  I believe I can teach almost anything we need to learn in math in game form.  Yes that takes more time for me BUT my students deserve it!  I will be posting a few pictures in a couple days of ways I have made worksheets into games that my kids BEG for!

Now, I will give you the low down on how I am using this in my classroom.  I am going to use jus the card games for about 2 days where that is the main lesson.  Then the third day, I will start working on the word problem cards.  I will give details on how I do the word games at the bottom.

First, I get a file folder.  I make the first page the cover for the folder.  That helps the kids know what they are going to get.  Then, I cut out the directions and put them on either side.  This helps with the, "I don't know how to play this" OR "I was in the bathroom when you taught this" comments.  I have a laminator at my school so I have them all laminated so I can reuse them again next year.  I cut out all of the cards and have them in a plastic baggie with the name of the game on it so we do not mix bags up. 

I have two ways that I introduce a game.  1.  I choose a random person to be my partner and we play the game together.  My cards would be face up and the partner or opponent's card would be on the floor.  This helps with any game to teach strategies.  I then have them play against me.  Sometimes I let them win other times I win,  I try to keep it fun.  ;)  2.  I have a reward system and one of the rewards is "teach a lesson to the class."  This is the time I usually use this reward.  I work one on one with that child and they get to learn the game.  Once I feel like they can teach it to someone, they lead the class in the game just like I would have.  This lets them feel confident and the class feels more like a team.

 When the games are ready, I put them in the middle of the floor, where my big carpet is.  I then pull sticks on who gets to go to the carpet first.  When they get to the carpet, they must choose a game that they have not played today.  Since there are cards 2-10 for multiplication, I would put the easy ones out first.  Maybe 2, 3, 5, 9, and 10.  If you laminated your file folder they could use wet erase markers to work any problems they might not know off the top of their heads.  If you could not, let them use a scratch sheet of paper or dry erase board.  Letting them work it out is very important.  Each time we have a "round," they must have a different partner.  I NEVER pick partners for them just for the fact that this is their learning time and I want them to feel comfortable on what they are doing.  I also will set a timer on my phone between 10-15.  Depending on where we are going.  Make sure you have a back up for kids who can not behave in the rounds with the other kids.

I have to say, my favorite part about doing stations like this is the communication between the kids.  I have only taught my students the 2, 3, and 9 deliberately.  They knew 10, 9, 5, and 1 just from second grade.  They work with their partners to learn how to do the rest.  I taught my kids the 9 trick with the fingers.  (Let me know if you would like me to teach you that.)   They caught on QUICK!  After each station, while they are cleaning up and putting them back where they found it, I will call out facts.  The kids will yell it out as they know it.  You would be surprised how quickly they will start saying the answers. 

I constantly walk around to listening and helping different groups.  I love hearing them saying things like, "how do you know that 6 x 6 is 36."  "Oh you did an array to find it out?"     They love playing games with each other but they are learning so quickly tricks they taught themselves. 

For the word problems, I have a large carpet in the middle of my room.  I ask all the students to sit on the perimeter of the carpet.  I then throw all of the word problem cards on the ground and have each child get one.  Once they have one, I throw the answers out.  They have to get one of those too.  They must each have something they can work the problem with and a way to show they did the work.  I say go and they must find the person who has their answer and the person that has their problem.  My kids think it is so fun to hunt for the person.  When we are done the first time, I collect all of the cards with the answer and go over how the person solved the problem.  I want them to see how there are so many different ways you can solve the problem, picture, array, multiples, groups of, or just knowing it from your head.  They will have chances later in the week to play this in one of their stations again.
 
It is also an option to do, "I have, who has" since each person has one of each kind of card!

I hope you have found this useful and not me just typing on and on.  I would love to communicate with you and see how you liked my product.  I am also in need of one or two people that can proofread and edit products for me.  In turn, you may use the products in your own classroom.

 Thanks for following!

 
God bless,
Shann

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Emails have been sent! Merry Christmas!

Thank you all who commented or sent me emails.  I hope you found the product to be useful!

From my family to yours, I hope you had a bless CHRISTmas!
 


 Little man is excited to play with his new toys!
 

God Bless!
-Shann

Monday, December 23, 2013

Christmas Gift for Followers

I am making my newest item that I am going to put on Teachers Pay Teachers on December 27th.  Before I do though, I would like to give my followers the first chance at it.  The email will go out December 25th.  DON'T MISS OUT!!
 


My multiplication cards, file folder games, and more will be sent in email form to any follower who comments with their email OR emails me at seldersclass@gmail.com telling me that you are following this blog.
  This is my Christmas gift to you!


 
 
Merry Christmas and God Bless.
 
-Shann

Monday, December 16, 2013

Our Family Photos

 
I love my life! I am a blessed woman!!
 



 

God bless and a Merry CHRISTmas!!!

-Shann

Probability Interactive Notebook Kinda Day


I stinkin' love my job!  I love my district and I love my students and school.  Overall I have no complaints!  Today I had such a good day with the students.  They were excited about learning wanted to keep working even though it was time to go to PE. 

I started my "hard core" lessons on probability this week.

 Before they got into the room, I made 6 different kinds of bags, buckets, or boxes.  Glitter, camouflage, Dr. Seuss, or a sand pail to be exact.  Choices really do make kids feel like they have more control in their learning.  Each one had the exact same amount of blocks in it.  I then had the kids choose their bag that they would want to work with.  They had to tell me what the fraction would be for pulling out each color, the chances of which one getting the most drawn, and the least drawn.  They had a blast.  Here is our notebook and the kids doing the activities. (Not my notes are not perfect but this is how I taught it.)




Sunday, December 8, 2013

Our Hallway Projects

Our AR Points Keeper
I let the kids choose what the teams they wanted and then we put them all at the 50 yard line.  Once they got AR points they get to move their player.  So far, this is where we are!

I wish I could take credit for this BUT Taylor Spoon was nice enough to let me copy her!!  I love this idea!!

Our Interactive Board in the Hallway
The kiddos all got M&M's in a bag.  12 to be exact.  I gave them each a copy of the M&M's sheet from TPT Page of the Activity I love! <--- Not mine, but I want to give her credit for her awesome work!
 
 They were also required to write a question on the other side of their paper.  We covered the answer so that someone in the hallway can walk by, read the question, solve it, and check their work.
 
Merry CHIRSTmas!!
 



What we having been doing in 3rd Grade!

Gingerbread Exchange!
I feel so blessed to have been included in the Gingerbread Exchange with 30 different teachers around the country.  First, we talked about important facts about Texas.  We wrote a letter together that I wrote telling facts about Texas.  Then, the kids colored their gingerbread men/women with the Texas flag and different things that represent Texas.  On their own, they wrote a page to the class describing the city and neighborhood around them.  Finally, we sent our gingerbread men to each teacher on our list. 
 
 
We just started getting other teachers gingerbread men back Tuesday!  They are so excited!

A coworker traced the WHOLE United States so that we could cut out regions to learn about each one. 
While the kids read their letters from other states, they are taking notes on a sticky note to give facts about the state they are learning about.  We then went into the hallway and posted their sticky notes on the map.  They learned where the state was.  What I love about this so much is that other classes could come by and learn about the states in a different way other than a text book.  My students became masters of their state....at least on what they were told about it!

I got all of our gingerbread men laminated and hung up in the hallway.  I also stapled their envelopes to the wall.  I love Christmas time!!