Five for Friday Linky

1. SNOW!

While I was prepping my classroom for March, I realized it was snowing outside!  We have had several snow days at our school district.  It was snowing so much that I had to leave and go home!

2. Prepping for Dr. Seuss Week!!! These are pictures that my mom drew.  She is absolutely amazing.  She made Horton my first year of teaching.  The right picture is from Dr. Seuss' ABC Book.  

This is the door that my mom made last year when I was in Kinder.

3. Spring Writing Freebie

During the snow days, I have been able to create a few products.  Here is a FREEBIE that I made.  There are two different versions. Click  here to download from my TPT store!

4. Spring Math and Literacy Centers

Now that I am SO ready for Spring, I would like to talk a little about my Spring Math and Literacy Centers pack.   There are several activities in this pack including: Write the Room, Spin a word(CVC), Elkonin boxes, Short Vowel Sorts, Make a Sentence(For Pocket Chart), Spin a Number, Roll a Number(Using Ten Frames), Counting On, Color by Number, and Several Word Problems!

Spring Math and Literacy Centers TPT Link

5.  Loving my Scotch Laminator!  

I purchased a Scotch laminator last year and it has been a lifesaver.  I love that it laminates pretty thick so that my center activities LAST! You know how tough kiddos can be on things.  I purchased it from Wal-Mart.  It was only $19.95!

Saving One Classroom at a Time Linky

I am teaming up with other TPT sellers to tell you about a product that has been VERY helpful in my classroom!  I created a Fraction Memory game in which students play like of course, the game Memory.  They scramble all of the cards and place them upside down.  The first player turns over two cards.  If the cards are equivalent, they get to keep them.  Ex.) A student draws 2/4 and 1/2, then the student keeps those cards.  I have included a "Loose Your Turn" card and a "Game Over" card as well.  When the "Game Over" card is drawn, the game is automatically over and students count their cards.  The student with the most cards wins!  My kiddos absolutely LOVE this game.  Its SIMPLE and its FUN! I just added this to my store last week!

You can grab it my TPT store right now on SALE!

Writing Freebie and a SALE!!

Hello again!

Alright, I have had my snow days, now I am ready for SPRING!! Here is a Spring Writing Freebie that I finished over the weekend.  Enjoy! Here is a link to my freebie!

Now, lets's talk SALE!!!!

My ENTIRE store will be on sale Wednesday, February 25th.  Stop by and grab up some goodies!Please let me know what you think!

Click Sale to shop my TPT store.

Spring Literacy and Math Centers

I wanted to take a moment and blog about my Spring Math and Literacy Centers pack.  There are alot of activities within this pack.   I loved using this pack in my Kindergarten classroom last year.  I have included several CVC Elkonin boxes that work great for small group.  There is a short vowel sort that could be used whole group, then used as a literacy center.  My kiddos LOVED "Write the Room" last year.  I have included a sight word "Write the Room" in this pack as well.  Here is a list of all of the activities included:










         

Click here to view on TeachersPayTeachers!

Fraction Memory Game *Giveaway*!

I just finished a new game for my classroom!  It is a Fraction memory game.  Students take turns turning over two cards at a time.  If the two fractions are equivalent, they keep the cards and so on.  Anyway, I am planning on using these during math stations, and during small group.  I will be giving away a copy tomorrow night, so head on over to my Facebook page to sign up here it the link: https://www.facebook.com/mandy.mistlerkinder

You can also snag a copy for $1.00 until tomorrow night as well!!!


Fraction Memory Game

Teaching Blog Addict Linky Party

Fractions, Fractions, Fractions!

So I am beginning a unit on fractions in my Fourth grade class.  I have been rereading Extendng Children's Mathematics by Susan B. Empson and Linda Levi.

I began my unit on Monday by posing an Equal Share problem to my kiddos.  The word problem asked them to share 7 pizzas with 6 children.  While students are working the problem, I am walking around with my clipboard(that has 3 sticky notes on it for my 3 math classes).  I quickly jot down names of students that are having a hard time with this problem.  I did this with all three classes. Later, I will make sure to have a small group lesson ready the next day for the students who struggled.  I do small group instruction 2-3 times per week.  While I am working with small groups of students, my other students are playing math games(that I have bought from TPT, computer activities,etc..Now back to my word problem lesson- While I am watching my kiddos work, I also engage conversations about the problem with students.  I usually hone in on students that are "stuck".  Its really important to question these students so that they can still come up with their own strategy for solving the problem.  After about 10 or 15 minutes into class, I let the students talk with someone close about how they solved the problem.  This leads to VERY meaningful conversations about the problem!  I love this part!  I always say to talk about how they (the student) would solve the problem, and to see what is the same and/or different about their partners strategy.  The students already have a sound understanding of this whole process, because I strategically start this at the beginning of the year.  My students are very accustomed to listen and/or watch other students share their strategy.  We then share about 3-4 strategies.  Sometimes I let the sharer(the student showing their strategies) talk about all of the steps they took to get to the answer, but sometimes I question other students to see if they can figure the strategy out.  I also allow time for other students to question the sharer.  Here are a couple of my students' work:

So now here is the ultimate question... How do you teach fractions?