Grrrreater Than/Less Than (and other math ideas)

Am I the only teacher who has file folders stuffed with worksheets from previous math texts, Mailbox printables, and assorted worksheets?

Well, in preparing for my unit where we cover place value, comparing numbers, inequalities, money, and rounding (say all that in one breath!) in, oh, 21 days or less (thanks snow!), I pulled out my stuffed file and stared at the massive collection that's piled up after 5 years of teaching second grade.  

I personally don't want to be the death of an entire forest when I want a little from this worksheet, and a little from that one.  A light came on, and I realized - why not make my own?  I mean, I'd rather NOT copy about 12 sheets about comparing numbers (because honestly, how many times do we pull out the whiteboards and markers and practice?).  So, tah dah!  I put them together in a cute little polar bear (because I love cutesy clip art pages!) themed sheet that covered each of the concepts I wanted off those 12 sheets!  I did separate 2-digit and 3-digit pages because some of my kiddos need to move a little slower than others.

Check it out!  If you'd like a copy, just click on it to take you to Google Drive.  

I also came across a goodie I created last year (sad you don't think about them till you open the folder!).  I am always so boy heavy that I remember looking for anything "boyish" for clip art to motivate some of my, er, less than motivated boys!  

I also created this "Battle for the Empire" for Place Value that my group this year (even the girls) went nuts over!  We played this on Friday and it's already in their "B" center for next week by popular demand!  (Good thing my Olympic-themed centers I have are good for a couple weeks!).

 

For inequality, I went cheap but practical with an idea I found and tweaked on Pinterest last year.  My husband said they're going to lock up these cards one of these days when they see a teacher coming!  I also created a "bird brain" center - aren't they cute?

As for Rounding, I found this great support last year that soooo helped my struggling learners.  We also had a suggestion by our math specialist to bump ahead and teach temperature (our standards say the students need to read the thermometer to the nearest 10).  Makes sense, right?


I also pulled out some rounding games I'm sure my kiddos will really like I've made over the years!

 

I keep telling myself that one of these days, I'll be happy with the units I've created and not "tweak" (or redo) them each year!  Somehow, I just don't think that will happen! :)

A Productive Day!

Well, other than the distraction of free preview weekend on the satellite AND the fact that our 2 hour delay went to closed due to ice, it was a pretty productive day!  

Thinking of some of the upcoming math topics, as well as ones we need to review, I came up with two seasonal fun activities!

 

Click on the title pics to check it out at my TpT store, or click Groundhog or Valentine for my TN links!

How Much CAN You Fit in 5 Days???

Good question.

So much, I thought I'd link up with Doodle Bug's 5 for Friday (even though it's Sunday!)



It was a busy week.  Between Famous American projects, Dr. Seuss activities, finishing our Polar/Animal Unit, and Place Value - yeah, we crammed a lot in! ;)

And now they're calling for some sort of wintry storm this week?  Really?  *Sigh*  What happened to the groundhog promising us an early Spring?  Our next teacher workday is March 18, and I am holding desperately to it!  That, and I'm ready for SPRING!  My two kids and myself are looking forward to Busch Gardens opening on March 16 - oh yeah,we are there! ;)  Even Dave Ramsey couldn't get me to let go of our season passes!!!

Hah hah.  I digress.  Back to part you're interested in, right?

It was the annual Famous Americans project.  LOVE this project!  It always turns out so cute!  My kiddos were so proud of their projects! We had 9 (yeah, 9!) Jackie Robinsons, 4 Helen Kellers, 1 George Washington, and 1 Abraham Lincoln.  Those were the famous Americans we studied back in December.  The students were allowed to choose anyone, so add to that Albert Einstein, Billie Holiday, Harriet Tubman, Garrett Morgan (inventor of the traffic sign), and Thomas Edison.  Didn't they turn out cute?

Had to put all the Jackie Robinsons together, like in their own club - neat how they all turned out different!  Have to show you this stylin' Helen Keller one of my kiddos did.  A sequin belt - I love it!

We also celebrated Dr. Seuss all week long with activities.  I incorporated literacy centers I had downloaded/purchased last year (that are now gone, thanks to the copyright battle there!) in my reading groups, but used new ones for writing/read aloud time.  All these are linked on my Dr. Seuss Pinterest page.  Aren't my kids cute who dressed up for the day?

We created a wocket and wrote a sentence about it.

Created a hat from a reading glyph I got years ago from Mailbox.

Drew ourselves as a "Who" and wrote about what we'd say to Horton.  Most of my students said "thanks" and told Horton about living in Whoville.  One of my kiddos, though, asked Horton to send him a 4-Wheeler!  Not quite sure how it would fit on the speck!

Wrote green eggs and ham poetry.

Then, we finished our Polar/Animal Unit by doing a "mind dump" and creating graffiti walls.  I love this idea and like so many others, I tend to forget them until I have an "aha!" moment (since I like to keep things fresh with the kids.....SCOOT is great, 4 Corners is great, but sometimes - especially when they've been wiggly like this week - new ideas are great!).  I think they could have spent the rest of the day on it!

On Thursday, we had fun building place value with marshmallows and ringed cereal from Babbling Abby's freebie.  

On Friday, we read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and created place value houses.  This was a fantastic idea I got from The Lemonade Stand via Pinterest.   Love the castle this one created!

Sooo...this weekend, I've been getting ready for our Plant Unit - life cycles, erosion, plant parts, and uses.  That covers about 2 1/2 standards.  I've had this super cute detective clipart from mycutegraphics.com and I finally used it!  Click on the picture to check it out - it's a review game about plants and erosion (for you VA teachers, it covers 2.4 plant life cycles, 2.8 plant resources, 2.7 erosion) that can be played in any number of ways - you can make it a SCOOT game, a scavenger hunt, etc.

Place Value and a Freebie! :)

I would love to say today's freebie was my own lil' idea....but I cannot (and unfortunately, I cannot give her credit, since it's not on her sheet!).  However, I can say that I improved on a GREAT idea! :)

In second grade, we build numbers to the hundreds.  I had this great little center that dealt with rolling tens and ones, building them with base 10 blocks, and then identifying each tens and ones place.  My kids really enjoyed it!  Soooo....along comes my design (and I must say, I don't know how the original creator made those boxes, but they were very time consuming!)....now, students are rolling, building, drawing, and writing to 100s! :)

Pick it up {here} as Freebie #9 (!) for my (almost) 100 followers on Google Drive.  Hope you're able to use it in your class! :)

What We Need is a SUPERHERO!

I don't know about the boys in your room, but mine are FANatics about Star Wars, Legos (Ninjago), superheroes (of all types), Pokemon, and Power Rangers.  Well, I haven't been able to find clip art (yet) for Ninjago, Pokemon, and Power Rangers, but I was successful with the Star Wars and superheroes!

So, I spent part of my day off creating two place value games and one on plural nouns using some of this fantastic clipart I found (and bought) over at scrappinggoodies.com!  (I have been hunting for the Star Wars one since I saw someone's cute game with it!).

While I am grateful that "Frankenstorm" didn't hit our area too hard here in central VA, it did cause some flooding and we've been out of school for 2 days.  What a week - we'll start on Halloween!  I have NOTHING ready (I had cute decorations, etc.) and after two extra days off, the kids will be more off than usual!  I hope the Star Wars and superheroes will help soothe my wilder boys! :)

Be sure to check out my newest additions to my teacher stores by clicking on the pictures below which will take you to Teachers Pay Teachers.  Clicking on the link beside the name will take you to Teacher's Notebook! :)

Place Value War:  Battle for the Empire {Teacher's Notebook}

X-Citing Numbers!  Comparing with <, >, and = {Teacher's Notebook}

 

Super Hero Plurals {Teacher's Notebook}