Another December Freebie: Santa's Elapsed Time Task Cards

Here is a great set of Christmas task cards

to practice determining elapsed time.

 

Santa's Elapsed Time Story Presents

 

 

 

 

TPT Back to School Sale 2014

TPT's Back to School Sale

is right around the corner! 

 

I know many of you have been waiting for this...

 

On Monday and Tuesday, August 4th and 5th,
 you can pick up any of my 101 products on Teachers Pay Teachers for a whopping 28% discount!  Start browsing this weekend and load up your cart or wish list, then on Monday, the sale will start and you'll save BIG!  Be sure to type in the code BTS14 to get the full 28% discount. 

 

Snag even my newest products at this incredible price.

 

Alphabet Posters and Cards

The consonants are featured in black and the vowels are all featured in red. 

 

The beginning letter of each word is also featured in red,

to show the connection between the word (image) and the letter.

 

 There are three sizes to choose from to fit your space needs. 

Of course there are full pages with one letter per page. 

Here is an image of the half page size posters. 

 

 

 

 Here are posters of an even smaller size that will fit 4 to a sheet measuring 8 1/2 x 11. 

If you have a small amount of space to feature your word wall,

or if you choose to use these in centers, this size may be the choice for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another of my newest products is my Number Posters 1 to 20, in chevron,

great for decorating your classroom.

 

 

Last spring, if you started using my Daily Math and Language products for morning work or homework, my newest one for August is now available and will be on sale for this one. 

Daily Math and Language: August

 

 

Enjoy, and go shopping! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beginning of the Year Book Marks

Here's a quick and easy idea to give your students on the first day of school.

 

 

Scalloped Stitch Frames

Here is a great freebie for you!          Scalloped Stitch Frames

There are endless ways to use these cute little frames.  For our BYOD activities, I like to feature a QR code inside one of these.  They are great for number cards, library tags and so much more. 

Just click on the picture to grab your free set of scalloped Stitched Frames.  I hope you enjoy them!

As Close As Possible

As Close As Possible

 

 

Scalloped Stitched Frames Freebie

I love using a variety of frames and backgrounds for items I make for my classroom. 

 

Here is a set of Scalloped Stitched frames for you to use however you like.  I hope you enjoy them.

 

Click on the image below to get your set.

 

 

 

Easter Egg Line Plot Activity

Line Plots can be challenging for students. 

 

To meet this challenge, I made this a full set of 9 line plot task cards that I use when I introduce line plots,

as well as for review later. 

 

 

 

I've also made this Easter Egg Line Plot Activity 

for review practice,

as we get closer to the state testing,

and I'm sharing it with you to celebrate Easter! 

 

Click on the image below to get your free copy. 

 

 

Easter Egg Decimal Fraction Assessments

I missed it today!  I woke up this morning, rushed around the house like a typical Monday, and went off to school, youngest daughter in tow... and forgot it was St. Patty's Day!  - No GREEN! 

We had only made it in the school door a couple of steps when a kid, pinched my daughter!  Luckily it wasn't hard, and my daughter just thought it was funny!  Her daddy's the best though. All it took was a text, and before long, she had a GREEN shirt to change into. 

 

I had plenty of St. Patty's activities planned for my classroom, but forgetting to dress the part, just tells you how crazy rushed I am this week. 

 

We are being visited by a group of evaluators that are part of the TKES evaluation system, that we will be using next year.  For now, however, we are preparing for "guests" this week.  If a county visit for a full day does not get one's attention, there's more. 

Today, the 3rd Grade writing assessments were due to be input into the computer evaluation system.   That took a full four hours, and thankfully we were given subs to cover our classes so we could do it.  In addition to that, our grades were due into the computer by 4pm for this grading period!  Today we gave a Mock CRCT test in Reading.  Tomorrow we'll give a Mock CRCT Language Arts test and Thursday we'll give a Mock Math test. Let's see, what other deadlines and stressors are we having this week???  Oh, yes, Field Day is this Friday, and I need to buy snacks for all my kiddos during our rest period that day!

 

All of this in one week, really?  I know you are all feeling the End-of-the-Year pressure just like I am.  All sorts of things are coming due and there seems to be a shortage of time.  And still, that state test is quickly approaching!

One part of my day that is NOT crazy right now, is when my students arrive.  I already know what I am going to use each day for their morning seat work.  To help review many key math and reading skills, I am using my Daily Math and Language sheet from March.  There is a sheet for each day of  the month.  I love that its already to go.  No need for more planning!  I've done all the work already.  Each month's set features different skills in both Math and Language Arts.  These are the most important and difficult skills third graders face.  Many fourth graders need this same skill set practice.  Take a look for yourself to see if this would help you at this soon-to-be crazy time, if it's not already.   

 

 

 

I am currently finishing up the April edition, so look for it soon. 

 

I do have a new product to announce... wait for it...

I just posted it tonight and I plan on using it this week on our BYOD day (Bring Your Own Device), with our new I pad mini's. Our principal bought 3 mini's and one I pad for each classroom - Yeah!  Here's the newest addition to my QR Code Readers.

 

QR Code Task Cards:  Geometric Shapes

 

 

Well the next holiday approaching is Easter.  Can you believe it?  The year is flying by! 

 

 

 Here is a freebie for you now, even though Easter is still a few weeks away. 

Assess your students on their knowledge of

decimal fractions using a number line. 

 

 

Of course, you can use this for regular fractions as well.  The denominators will just stay 10.

 

 

Teaching About Magnets

My kiddos love experiments, and one of their favorites is when we do our Magnetic Sort.  Here is a copy I am sharing with you. 

 

Click on the image to get your copy.

 

 A friend of mine shared this song that helps her students remember what types of things are attracted to magnets.   Here it is...

 

What’s a Magnet?

(To the tune of “Ten Little Indians”)

 

A magnet is a stone or piece of metal,

North or South Pole on each end.

Like poles repel or push apart.

Opposites attract like friends.

 

Magnets attract things made of iron,

Also cobalt, steel, and nickel;

But not aluminum, brass, or copper,

Paper, glass, or a pickle!

Teaching Kids About Idioms

In recent years the number of ESOL students in my county has increased dramatically.  We now have an ESOL support teacher in every school.  The same is true in my own classroom.  Each year the number of students who do not speak English as their primary language at home grows.  Although many of these students sound like they have a good grasp on the English language when having a casual conversation, much of the language we use is in the form of idioms. They are far from mastering these phrases!  I had a father of one of my students, who is a US citizen and in our military, ask me for help in this area.  He knew he could not help his son in this area.  I gave him an Idiom Dictionary to borrow for a while.  For my students, I created Idiom Pirate Treasure Hunt.  

 

At first I show them to the whole class on the Smart board.  Then I use them as task cards around the room.  After that, I use them in my small reading groups and as center games.   Here is the response form I give my students. Grab your copy for free, here.

If you are interested in using the cards I use in my classroom,

here is a look at what is included in Idiom Treasure Hunt.

I have printed them in color for my task cards around the room, but I actually shrank them and printed them in black and white to make multiple game sets more economical (less color ink).  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section below.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. 

Have a great week teaching and remember to take time to enjoy your students! 

Minerals, Rocks and Soil Task Cards.... Finally Done!

I am so excited!!! 

I have just finished my newest product, and just in time for our big sale this

Thursday and Friday on TPT. 

Before the big sale, I am listing this new product at a FLASH SALE price for the first couple of hours after I upload it to TPT later today.  As soon as I do, I will post it on my Facebook Fan page. 

Here is that link...

https://www.facebook.com/MrsHardinsclass

This is the top half of my board game titled, "Race to the Rock Pile".

Here is a set of colored task cards.  The colors vary throughout the set.  If you choose to print a set to use as TASK CARDS,

print them without the answers on the back. 

I will print one to four sets in color and use that set to post around the room,

or put them at table groups.

 However when your ready to prepare your games, choose the black and white more economical version and include the answers on the back when you print. 

So go and LIKE my FB page, "Mrs. Hardin's Class" and hover over the "like" button until you see the phrase "get notifications", then click.  Now you'll receive a notification of each post and you'll know exactly when I publish and when the sale price starts.

 

While you are there at TPT, you may want to go ahead and make you wish list for the Big 3 Million Teachers Strong Sale on Thursday and Friday.  Although this product will go back to regular price, if you miss the Flash Sale, you'll be able to get it at 28% off. 

 

 

Don't miss the greatest skill review pages with Daily Math and Language for March. 

You still have time to get all the copies ready. 

 

Many of you are coming for your Manic Monday Freebie, and here it is. 

Grab your free Idiom Response Activity.

 

To provide visual for my students in my classroom, I created Idiom Pirate Treasure Hunt.  I project the images on the smart board for whole class instruction.  Students often work with partners to choose two favorites and illustrate using the freebie above.  I show 4 or 5 each day during my unit.  Each day student complete their response activity sheet, then I staple them together into their own Idiom Notebook. 

 

After I have introduced many of them, I print the slides as task cards and put them around the room.  I also print them to go with the game board included in this product.  If you are limited on your paper or copies, try printing in a slide version to make more cards fit on one sheet. 

 

If you are interested in the product Idiom Pirate Treasure Hunt, here is a preview, and if you click on it, you'll be taken to my store where there are additional thumbnail visuals.

 

 

Two new Subtraction Stragegies & a New Product Reveal!

 

Everything in my store will be 28% off on Thursday (2/27) and Friday (2/28) - even my newest products.  Two of those show previews down below.  I have another almost ready... It will be up by then, and with this great sale, it'll be a great price!  I have already started my "shopping list"!

 

Now is the time to buy!

 

 

After President's Day our teachers had a professional learning day which was divided up into several segments.  One of the segments introduced two new subtraction strategies.    They are simple and can really help those who seem to always be off by 1, or those who just take a really long time. 

The first one is called "Down Over Ten".

It looks like this...

 

Click on image above if you would like to download this as a teaching tool in your classroom.

Here is the second one.  It is called "Take Ten".

It looks like this...

 

Click on image above if you would like to download this as a teaching tool in your classroom.

 

My favorite was the first strategy.  This second was great for some problems, but there were some that I felt like it was more complicated to use the strategy than working the problem out another way.

 

I want to switch gears here and tell you what I've been doing in my classroom these last couple of weeks.  At this time our school has 6 weeks left before state testing, which blows me away that this year has flown by so fast.  Anyway, I did some assessing to see what previously covered material I needed to revisit at some point.  I was a bit surprised at some of the results... some positive and some not so positive. :-( 

 

My assessment was in two parts, math and grammar skills.  In math, I was happily surprised that my kiddos did well with fractions and for the most part with multiplication and division as well.  What surprised me was their poor performance in telling time, not even elapsed time, but simply reading a clock!  Needless to say I have pulled some small group and done some intense reteaching. 

 

In language arts, I was happily surprised at how well they did with affixes, prefixes and suffixes, except for a couple of my ELL sweeties.  We're still working on that.  But when it came to identifying subjects and predicates, which we worked on for four full weeks, many still struggled.  Their error was identifying verbs that were not action verbs.  I know we worked on linking verbs and on helping verbs, but this action verbs have been drilled so much in the earlier grades, that they flip out whenever they are confronted with sentences that don't have them, but other verbs like "is" or "are" instead.  More small groups as well.  

 

I automatically pulled out my Verbs: Grammar Games which provides a lot of practice with these exact helping and linking verbs.   My remediation has been interrupted with all the snow/ice days, even down here in the south, but we'll be using them all next week! These are the verb grammar games I use.  Notice the cards on the left hand side.  There are a ton of these included (actually 30), and the answers are on the back.  These are my kiddos favorites, and they go with the game board shown below them (only half of the game board is shown in this preview).

 

I am adding a daily review component as morning work, which has them practicing a small amount of each of these skills and other key 3rd grade troublesome concepts.  After lunch, I review this using the document camera, and as I circle the correct problems, they are to either put a small check with their red pen if their answer is correct, or they are to use their red pen to make the proper corrections.  Afterwards, they write at the top, "Review with parent tonight and get parent signature."  The next day the ones who returned it get a Skittle or an M&M.  Small treats, but I have 100% participation almost every day!  My parents love this too, because it provides them specific skills to work on at home.  Of course there are those who won't, but they have been informed and offered opportunities to help, and most parents sincerely want to help, but often don't know how. 

 

Her is an example of the daily review component I am using. 

 So far, I have made a set for both month of February and March.  I added seasonal clipart to make it even more enticing for my students.  Normally when work is finished, they must read or do other unfinished work, but with these, I will allow them to color I the clipart pieces.  They love this so much that they don't let me forget to hand out their morning work each day... I'm loving that!

Here are the two products where you can find these pages and more like them.

 

 

 Both of these products offer answer keys for each page that you can easily slide under a document camera, or just have for your benefit and save you time.  

 

I'd love to know your thoughts, whether its on this post, the math strategies or these skill products. 

Remember to find time to enjoy teaching your students!

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