My Pinterest Projects

Like many of you I have been pinning like crazy this summer.  Then, I got a rude awakening in the mail the other day - my back to school letter!  REALLY? Only two weeks left?  I decided I needed to start putting into action all the stuff I have been pinning! (that is the point, right?).

So I pinned this:

Then made this:

I also pinned this:

And made this:

Now only at least a thousand more pins to go!

Have you finished any Pinterest projects lately?

"Class?!" "Yes?!"

Oh Sweet Mama I had fun! (Oh Sweet Mama, I had fun!)

I attended the first day of a Whole Brain Teaching conference in Union, MO today and it was awesome!!!  I used bits and pieces of WBT in my classroom last year, but this conference has me stoked to do more!  I can't wait to go back tomorrow and learn even more.  If you are not familiar with WBT, pleeeaase go to their web site Whole Brain Teaching and check them out, then go to YouTube and watch as many videos as you can.  You will love it!

This is me with Chris Biffle.  The wacky picture was his idea!

What Do You Post About When You Have Been MIA?

I have been so neglectful of this little ol' blog! May was sooo busy and then summer just started to happen... and I just decided to take a break from all things school related.  I haven't checked out any of the blogs I usually obsess over.  I am sure I am completely out of the loop.  Anyhoo,  I went to a meeting put on by my district the other day and it sort of got my brain revved up and me a little excited about school.  Then, I went to Target and , Oh My Stars!  I found the cutest, smallest, magnetic erasers for my kiddos white boards!  No more dirty looking socks or pieces of felt for me!  These look like mini chalkboard erasers!  I was so excited that I did a little dance right there in the Target dollar spot.  Next it was on to Wally world.  I found individual glue sticks for 10 cents or a package of two for 50. Hmmm, now which do you think I bought?  I did refrain from going overboard on school supplies.  I will wait until closer to school starting to buy those - hoping that maybe, just maybe, the prices will go down. (they didn't last year, btw.)  I dropped these glue sticks off at my classroom so they wouldn't melt in my truck and that made me take a look at my room.  Big mistake.  They are currently ripping out my vintage 1943 bathroom (which I am thankful for because it smells like a bathroom from 1943!) but that means the floors etc... won't be done until the week before school starts.  Big bummer.  But... it did get my brain working on how I want to rearrange my room.  I will make it work for me this year!  I think I Can! I think I can!  I think I can work around the weird, all-wall consuming fireplace with built in shelves too small for anything!  I will work around the two radiators too hot to push things against! I will work with another wall full of drawers - great storage, but no creating no wall space. 
I CAN DO IT! 

On to other things....  I have perusing Daily Five and am seriously thinking of incorporating this into my room.  I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around doing it throughout the day, after mini-lessons, instead of the more traditional literacy station/center type of structure I am used to.  I will keep you up to date on this progress as I dig more in to it. (gotta finish the last few chapters!)

Also, I am going to a Whole Brain Teaching conference this Tues. in Union, MO.  I am so excited!  I implemented different aspects of WBT this past year and it was awesome!! I always thought I had fairly good classroom management, but this made it even better!  I can't wait to learn more and add it into my classroom this coming year. 

Ok.  That is about it.  I know you were just dying to know all of that now weren't you?  Enjoy the rest of your summer break!

I won!

I won the cutest Smartboard file from Marie at It's a Jungle Out There!  I actually won this a week or so ago.  I have been so swamped at school that I haven't been keeping up with my blog.  Sad, but true!  Maybe I will catch up when school is out.  14 days to go!  Run on over to the jungle when you have a chance!

Anchor charts and Classroom charts Galore!

Well I am home again.  This time my youngest daughter is sick.  We seem to be spreading this lovely stuff over weeks and months.  Anyway, she is asleep right now so I caught up on my blog-stalking and thought I'd post a few pics of my anchor charts and classroom charts.  So this is going to be very random - no rhyme or reason at all - just the pics I could find.  I hope my sharing will help someone out there because most of these were inspired by someone else, and those someone else-s have made me a better teacher!

Our newest anchor chart on re-telling.

Our Inferencing chart.

One of our weather charts.

We created this chart together by brainstorming describing words.  They then wrote their own poems using these words.

 I have posted most of these before but I can't remember which ones. So, here they are again!

 Here are a few more from some past units.  I just didn't get around to them at the time.  My class this year keeps me hoppin'!

Based on an investigation activity from Deanna Jump's America unit.

More describing words.  We taste tested popcorn and used our five senses to describe it.

I think this is based off of Mrs. Jump's page out of her Penguin unit.

Our snowman brace map.

Our student sheet to go with the snowman brace map.

More describing words.  This time we tasted and described hot chocolate!

That's it.  I hope there is something here that is helpful to you!

Subtraction Bump Game (freebie)

I love all of the bump games out there and my kiddos love them too.  I made a winter bump game a while back and it is a favorite of my darlings during math workstations.  I decided to try and make a subtraction bump game.  Ok.  Let's see if I can explain this. (BTW: this works better when the kiddos have a fairly good grasp of subtraction!)

Each player has either 10 red or yellow (or whatever) tokens. Give the kiddos two dice. The first player rolls the dice and decides which die has the biggest number.  They then subtract the second die from the first die, find that number on the board and cover it up.  If your partner is already on that number you can bump your partner's token off.  If you bump your partner they take back their maker and have a chance to use it again.  If you roll a number that you already have covered, you can stack another marker on top of it.  Any space with two markers stacked on top of each other is locked and that space can't be bumped.  If you roll a number that is not available on the board, the next player takes their turn.  The player to use all of their tokens wins!

Was that clear as mud?  I swear the kiddos will love it.  It's just hard to explain!

Ok, here it is if you want it!
SUBTRACTION BUMP

Moving on to Subtraction! (freebies)

We recently started teaching the kiddos the basics of subtraction.  To help out I made this subtraction mat.  Here are some pictures to help explain.  (freebies are at the end!)

First the kiddos put 10 tokens in their "stash" at the top.  This is where they return their tokens after each problem is worked out.  This has to be taught to them.

I pull out a card.  We talk about which one is the biggest number and how in subtraction we always have to start with the largest number, therefore that is the amount we put in the large square

We then take away or in this case "throw away" the other number into the cup.  It is a great visual for the kids and it keeps the subtracted pieces separate.  We then find the answer card and put it on the board.  When this card is finished we put all the pieces back in our stash at the top and start over.

Please tell me that made sense!  Here is the math mat and the cards.  They are very simple but they seem to be working for my kiddos!  You'll have to provide your own cups! :)

Subtraction work mat
Subtraction number sentences
Subtraction mat answers
Subtraction record sheet