St. Patrick’s Day Flash Freebie!

Telling time has been rough for my kids this year. To help, I came up with  QR code game to help my students practice. My class used it twice, but I never got it posted.



Because I’m Irish by marriage, I have posted this as free in my store for today (St. Patrick’s Day) only. Enjoy!

In other news, I have recently surpassed 100 followers and am thinking of doing a giveaway at the end of the month. I am still working out the details, but that is my plan!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Five for Friday

Spring break can not come soon enough! It was one of those weeks that went by in a flash!

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LOVE THAT POEM 

We usually do a big poetry unit in April. The project has been passed down to third grade teachers at my school for over a decade. In the last couple of years we have added an analyzing poetry component. Last year I did both writing and analyzing at the same time. This year we looked at our data and decided we wanted to look at understanding poetry before the state test. We looked at figurative language. We hit the third grade common core “literal and non-literal language” standard. We spent two weeks on similes, metaphors, hyperboles, and personification. (We’d already covered idioms.)

Love That Dog is a poetry must read. Even though we are going to focus on writing poems in April we did write our own “Love that…..” poems this week. I remembered a former student teacher had done something like this with the fake book covers and all. I’m quite happy with how they have turned out!

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Stories in the Stars 

Last weekend we went to the star lab at the local science center. We’d were wrapping up a unit on stars, and our kids had the constellation bug. After a playground conversation with the third grade team, I whipped up this quick project.



I’d been looking forward to seeing the finished product all week, and they did not disappoint!



I posted the project in my store if you are interested.

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Harlem Shake…or not 

Last year our faculty did a flash mob on the last day of school. We were going to do another at the faculty basketball game, but participation was weak so they canceled it. The alternative was that we would all come to school on Wednesday dressed in costume.

We filmed our own school appropriate version of the Harlem Shake to show at the half time of the faculty basketball game. If the kids asked why we were dressed up, we had to tell them to come to the game to find out.

I posted a picture of my outfit on my Facebook page on Wednesday.

I wore a dress that was my mom’s back in the day. I had a hard time leaving the house though. My daughter did not understand why she could not wear a Cinderella dress to school if I was wearing my fancy dress. It was more than her three-year-old mind could understand. In the end she stamped her foot, pointed at me, and told me that when SHE is a grownup she is going to wear THAT dress.
In the end I actually missed the filming. Just before the top secret filming there was white smoke in Rome signaling a new pope. The new pope was going to be named any second. I decided that it just seemed wrong to pass up the pope for the Harlem Shake.

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One to Remember 

I had a former student stop by yesterday to see me. He is now in 10^th grade. It took me a little while, but I remembered his name. We chatted for a while and then as he was leaving I embarrassed him with a story I remembered about him. We’d been reading The Talent Show in our basal that week. The question on the test said something like, “What did Beanie learn about herself after working with Carol Ann?” His answer was, “She learned not to take any krap.” Funny enough he was spot on!

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Be sure to check out Gina’s Birthday Bash next week! 

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Enjoy your weekend and have a happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Five for Friday

So I started typing this on Friday, but it is already after midnight. We’ll just pretend it is still Friday!

Times have Changed
I posted on Facebook yesterday about our school bus. I was looking around at the seat belts and air conditioning. My how times have changed! I don’t think I’d have minded riding the bus to school nearly as much with AC!

Math March Madness
The Math March Madness is underway. We’ve had “Top Dog Thursday” and offered prizes to the student in each class who has answered the most questions correctly. I spent all day finalizing prizes. I’m still waiting to hear back from the local college sports teams, but I got enough together to share before the end of the first round.



There is a buzz about the place over SumDog. I love it! Kids are choosing to play at home and have answered thousands of questions on their own free time. It makes all the time I’ve spent on it worth it!

Still Dreaming of Fractions
Next week we will finally finish our fraction fun. I created these fraction cards for a time line activity. I put a piece of tape on the ground and then to had them place the cards where they belong on the open line.



I have since used them for SO many things. Fractions greater than one, mixed numbers, equivalent fractions, ordering fractions, etc. I actually e-mailed them with my newsletter for my students to use to study this weekend.



When I was student teaching, the fifth grade teacher I worked with used to give musical quizzes.



The idea is just like scoot, but it is set to music. We call it musical math. It is amazing how adding a little music and moving around the room makes an otherwise plain review come to life!



I love teaching math, but I’m ready to move on from fractions. Bring on geometry!

Time Check
It is the time of the year where we begin to wonder how we will fit in all the math we want to teach before the state test. We have started working time into other activities. I’ve added “Time Check” to my Class Dojo points. I’ve started calling, “Time check!” and picking a students to tell me the time. If they get it correct they get a point. If not, they will get another chance someday soon. It is a little thing, but it is working well!

Giveaways
There are so many great giveaways right now! I have donated items from my store to a few.
Elizabeth is celebrating 101 followers. I love her little twist on the 100 followers. So creative!



I’m always one for an Irish theme! The fabulous Sister Teachers are celebrating 400 followers!



And of course there is the Collaboration Cuties 300+ followers giveaway. So many of my favorites with so many reasons to celebrate!



Lots of great prizes and lots of great blogs! Be sure to check them out!

Have a great weekend!

Math March Madness

I’ve mentioned before that I love SumDog. I gave a Tech Tuesday presentation to interested colleagues earlier this year. In the course of the training, someone mentioned having a tournament. I’ve been throwing around the idea all year. Now that March is here, it was time to act!

I managed to put together 16 teams from grades 1-6. I logged onto Sumdog and created teams based on each class. Then I entered an activity for each match-up. The two classes compete to have the highest average score. On Monday morning we will announce the classes that move to the next round in the bracket. Because the questions are adaptive, the students can compete across grade level for the highest number of correct answers.



I created this bulletin board to track scores daily. I used these awesome free basketball frames. I'm writing the scores on the teacher’s team sign using dry erase marker. The visual has been a big help to the students who weren’t too familiar with the bracket idea before this contest!



I often use SumDog contests in my classroom. I had monthly contests to find the “Top Turkey” and “Top Elf".” I offer the top 5 finishers a homework pass. To sweeten the deal I offer an extra homework pass for ever 5,000 correct answers. One month my top students answered over 15,000 math questions correctly. That is a LOT of math questions!



I created this little freebie that I use to award my “Top Dogs.” Click on the picture to download a copy for yourself!

While last year I did just fine with the free features, my school does now have a subscription to SumDog. For our summer challenge, the top student answered over 30,000 questions correctly. The numbers are impressive. The kids love the games. They will answer Common Core aligned questions for hours at a time. They do not view it as work – in fact they see time on SumDog as a reward! With numbers like that, I was able to convince my AP that it was worth the cost to get the reports and extra features.

This is not a sponsored post. I just really love using SumDog in the classroom and at home. I do not have to give nearly as many timed multiplication tests as I used to do. SumDog at home and school is a much less painful option!

Have you tried SumDog?

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I’m linking up my Spring Bulletin Board with a Techie Twist:

Happy Tuesday!

Currently

March is one of my favorite months! I’m loving the Currently template this time around!



LISTENING: So I starting working on this last night. While a napping three-year-old would be ideal, it is not looking likely right now! Though it is just about time for the little one to head to dreamland…

LOVING: My husband is from Cork, Ireland. His parents and five siblings all still live there. I take advantage of my “Irish by Marriage” status year round, but especially in March!

THINKING: I rolled over in bed a couple of nights ago and realized that I had been dreaming about fractions. My student teacher is at 100%, so she is doing all the teaching right now. Math and specifically fractions are the thing she is least comfortable with, so I have been working on some activities for them to do to help her out.

WANTING: One of the Irishman’s sisters was in town last week. She’d offered to babysit so we could go on a date night. Instead we had sick kids who got the two of us sick. I was reading this post and drooling. We are lacking in the babysitter department and usually only go out when we have family visit. My dad is the next to come visit. Here’s to hoping he offers to babysit!

NEEDING: All those fractions I’ve been thinking about? I’ve only finished 1/4 of the products I’ve started. I’d started this font back in January and finally finished it last night:



Then there are the projects around the house. My to do list might stand a chance if I didn’t keep adding to it! Sigh.

LIKE, LOVE, HATE: I know I cannot be the only ‘J’ in the world who hates finding things that start with the same letter as your first name. I play a game with my summer camp kids each year and think the same thing.

I’m a team player though, so here goes: I like jello. It isn’t my favorite. I don’t hate it. It is just a like.

I LOVE jellybeans. When I am REALLY stressed I can go through a bag without stopping. Both times I went back to work after maternity leave my husband bought me a Costco sized tub of jellybeans to get me through the first week.

I HATE juggling work and home. I throw my all into everything I do. Try as I might, I still feel like I am juggling to keep everything balanced. I always feel like I should be doing more!

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I am part of The Sister Teachers’ 400 Follower Giveaway. I found this blog through a pin on Pinterest and have been a follower for a while now! There are lots of great prizes, so stop by and check it out!

Five for Friday

Friday, again?

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My new case

My IPEVO Wishpool wish came today. I am in love with my new iPad case. Seriously. I love it. I was carrying it around with me for most of the day. One of my friends was teasing me about it. She joked that it even matched my shirt. Expect photos soon.

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Fractions

This week was all about fractions! I bought more fraction clip art than I care to admit this week. Bring on the fraction activities!



I’ve just posted this pack. We’ve broken up our fraction unit into two parts. This pack covers the fraction identification piece. Number lines are big in third grade and with common core, so I’ve included that as well.

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More fractions!

At the FCTM conference last October I went to every fraction session I could find! One of the activities I saw was fractions on an open number line.

I bought all this great fraction clip art, so I made these fraction outfits to practice on the line.
I’ll be adding this to my store once I create a few worksheets for my class…and to finish the pack.

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Shhh! Don’t tell anyone!

I have a secret. 

I’m not a big fan of the Dr. with a birthday this week. It isn’t that I don’t like his books. I just don’t feel the need to spend an excessive amount of time on in them.

I know. You can start throwing stones now!

I vaguely remember being so excited about my first copy of Hop on Pop. Then I remember asking my mom what the whole thing was actually about. At seven I was concerned about a lack of plot.

I was a bit of an odd child that way!

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Cold!

The Irishman is still getting over his cold, but this cold has to do with the weather! We are getting the longest, coldest weather of the year this week. I can’t wait! Florida cold is nothing to most of you, but I’ll take it!

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Have a great weekend!

Check it out!

I do most of my blogging/TpT work late at night after my kids are in bed. With company in town from across the pond, illness, and projects, this week has worn me out! Wednesday night I had to struggle to stay awake until my three-year-old went to bed.

I meant to post all week about a giveaway.



I’ve donated any two items in my TpT store to the winner. Be sure to stop by and check it out!
In other news, I have just finished a fraction pack I am really happy with! The Irishman is proofreading it for me so I can post it tomorrow. I decided I had to finished a couple of these projects before I could start another!