Greatest Pencil Sharpener Ever!

Do you every feel the frustration that a simple #2 pencil can bring?  I mean hearing "my pencil is broke" "the pencil sharpener isn't working" and the famous "I can't find my pencil".  Well my friends I have found relief this week.  My daughter, who is also a teacher, shared this wonderful invention with me and my hubby rushed on line to get it for me. (Love you!)  Here it is...... the

X-Acto Teacher Pro Electric Pencil Sharpener, Blue/Black

The absolute best pencil sharpener around.  I am on my 29th year of teaching and have been through quite a few sharpeners, but this my friends, it the answer to my prayers.  It is quiet!  It has a little blue light that comes on when the pencil is sharpened!  And best of all-- it stops sharpening when the pencil is sharp!  I am no longer saying "Take your pencil out of the sharpener". An additional perk is that it can even sharpen those cheap foreign pencils without breaking the tips.  I see to have an abundance of those pencils this year.  It doesn't solve the "I can't find my pencil" but it does solve one big frustration of mine.  Now if I can just get them to stop chewing off the tops of the pencils.  This was $40.00 well spent.  I think I should become a spokes person for this wonderful invention.  Till next time....  Have a great week!

3D Shapes and Attributes

Hello Friends,
I have been extremely busy with trying to keep up with all the extra activities that I signed up for at school.  Note to self, next year just say NO.  My latest center activity pack is 3D Shapes & Attributes Fun.  Working with my students on 3 dimensional shapes last week pushed me into making this terrific center.  You can make it a sorting center of attributes or a fun card game.  It includes a recording sheet. The answer sheet can be used to make these activities self-correcting thus eliminating a "discussion" about who is right.  I am going to use the cards for reinforcing the attributes we learned last week tomorrow.  After that, they will be all set to play the card game or sort the attributes.  Check this new activity pack, by clicking below.  I always appreciate feedback about how this works in your own classrooms.

Click "here" to see more.

Greater Than, Less Than

I know my children need more practice with greater than, less than and equals.  Here are 2 new centers to help out.  And they can be used to teach these Common Core Standards as well.

Click here to see this set.

                                                         Click here to see this set.
Another fun way to practice greater than less than is to have each child bring in a small water bottle.  Remove the label and push 2 die into the bottle.  Add a pinch of glitter and fill with water.  Super glue the top back on.  This glittery bottle can be used in a variety of ways.  This time we are using the number on the die to create a 2 digit number.  With or without a partner they write down the 2 digit numbers and then write the correct sign, >, <, =.  A fun way to practice this standard.

Another fun and easy tip.

Valentine's Centers

Just in time for Valentine's Day!

Click Here To See More

Click Here To See More

Check Out this Linky Party

The tree is down...

Well we finally did the deed this weekend.  All the Christmas trappings and tree were taken down.  I love putting everything up, but taking it all down and packing it up--not so much.

Notice my two little helpers in the midst of the chaos. Now onto bigger and better things.

I decided one day after my math lesson, to put students with a mix of abilities into the center activities that I had made(all Common Core based).  They had a ball.  They were all deeply engaged in the activities and it warmed my heart to see stronger students teaching and explaining math concepts to my weaker students.  May I say "success"!  And the best part was that when it was time for Fine Arts, they didn't want to stop.  I had to promise them that we would definitely do this again tomorrow.  Oh twist my arm!

Tens and Ones Find My Mittens Fun is so much fun when you have a friend to "play" with.

 

Here is Subtracting 10 Surfing Fun and all the boys are working together!



Here I took my Adding 10 Cupcake Fun  game and split it into 2 centers.  Since working on the white
board is so much fun for them, I added magnets on the back. Voila!



Watching this group work so hard at Tens and Ones Froggy Fun Matching Center, gave me such pleasure.

Well I now have a new center to add to my collection of Math Sets.  Just in time for Valentine's Day its

Two-Digits Plus Ones Choo Choo Fun is a sweetheart of a puzzle game.  Students practice adding the ones which sometimes require composing a 10.  At first it is a bit challenging, but I have also given you ways to differentiate.  Check it out!

Till next time, keep trying new things, you never know what you will discover.

Adding and Subtracting 10s Using Number 1-120

Well, I thought everything was going well in math.  On Friday nearly everyone could take a number from 1-119 and add one looking at the 120-chart.  So today I thought this will be a breeze having them add 10 to any number less than 110.  Yikes, put on the brakes!!!  This was not so easy a task.  I think because when you look at a 120-chart, adding 10 goes vertically down the chart.  When they write the answer, they are writing it horizontally on the paper.  So good thing I came up with these 2 new centers.  I just laminated them and will cut them out tonight for my kiddies to practice tomorrow.

Click here if you want to check out adding 10 to any number less than 110.

                                Click here if you want to check out subtracting 10 from any number less than 120.
If you have any other tricks, let me know but I think the Cupcake game might just do the trick.

Back to School Tomorrow

Hello Friends,
Well the vacation is over.  Tomorrow is back to work and I'm bringing along several new centers for teaching place value.  My newest center is Counting Penguins Fun (73-120).

The Common Core Standards now have the 1st graders counting up to 120 which can be a bit challenging.  This new packet actually includes 5 different activities with 6 different sets of numbers.  Your whole class can be engaged at the same time with this packet and the differentiated activities.  This is almost a one center fits all.  Click Counting Penguins Fun (73-120) to check it out.  I've even included a Common Core assessment to check for mastery of this standard.  If tomorrow is your first day back, may it be a wonderful day for you.