Time and Money Review

If there's one thing Math Investigations does NOT cover well, it's time and money.  Last year, I did a whole separate unit on those two subjects, because I was worried about waiting until the end of the year to combine it with Unit 9 Measurement. 

Well, with our snow days this year (we're out again on Wednesday), I'm worried that we may not even have time for that!  So, I created two centers that dealt with time and money. 

I have a mix of students in my class, from students with special needs, ESL students, students who are on grade level, and advanced students.  Everything I make, I try to create a variety so that a student isn't frustrated nor bored.

So, today, I decided to create "clip cards" after seeing something similar on Pinterest that was definitely higher than 2nd grade!  If I'm not too busy copying and laminating everything tomorrow :) I might create one for sentences and punctuation!  (Also, I have "homophones" on the to do list since some of my students still think these are rhyming words!).

I thought they turned out pretty well.  I mean, I have to do something to support my clip art habit, right? ;)

Click on the pics below to take you to Teachers Pay Teachers or if you're a Teachers Notebook kinda person, click {here} for Time and {here} for Money.

Snow Day Freebie!

Well, I wasn't sure if they called out schools a little too early, but finally it's actually looking like snow!!!  Not that I'm complaining.  I mean, I told my friend the other day if it was going to be this cold, we needed snow!  Guess I got my wish! (Even though, believe it or not, it was 50 degrees yesterday - winter in Virginia!).

So, I was thinking I haven't posted a "blog only" freebie in a while.  So, I thought I'd share one of my review games I was making for my kids!  I still have several that have trouble with their basic facts, and my kids love dice games, so I did a making 10, 20, and 25 cents ('cause who doesn't need money review?).  I'm also working on a money recognition game or worksheet for my ESL student that I hope to either edit and add to the post later, or will add in another post.  Until then, enjoy your freebie and thanks for following me! :)  Click {here} to get your dice games!

Confessions of a Clip Art Junkie

I have a confession.

I am addicted to clip art.  (Or is it clipart?  I am never quite sure!).

It's sad, but true.  I have a huge folder that is filled with clip art.  I try my best to use every piece, but sometimes I just buy it because it's on sale or it's too cute and a great price, etc.  It's almost as bad as my container addiction (which keeps me out of Dollar Tree - my husband got tired of the argument that it was only $1!).  Sooo....I have so many pieces of clip art (and yes, I download every free one that's in the teacher stores newsletters!) that some, I actually forget I have and haven't used it!

Also, is it taboo to use it again after you used it once?  

So, wanting some almost forgotten (but not quite) pieces of clip art to feel some love, I looked through the files to find something I could use for comparing numbers (a skill some of my students have difficulty with).

Ninjas.  Ya gotta love them!  How could I have not used this before???? (I ask myself this every time!).  Click on the title picture for TpT and {here} for Teacher's Notebook.

Then, knowing my 2nd grade readers are struggling with cause/effect, I decided to use fairy tales to make a game/practice for them.  I mean, who doesn't know fairy tales?  I figured this way, we weren't reading AND reviewing at the same time.  (I'm also going to use the "If You Give A" books as well).  Looking through my vast folders, did I find any fairy tales?  Two.  Rather, one and a half, since one was mostly princess (and that group is boy-heavy).  

Sooo....yep, you guessed it.  Had to go and look for more.  The good news is I found a new clip art vendor!  Bad news - it just fed my addiction more!  Yikes!  *Sigh*  Is there a 12-step program?  Click on the title page for TpT and {here} for Teacher's Notebook.

Google Fail? Freebie Alert!

Okay, now that I have your attention :)

So, I have a Ukrainian student who was adopted by one of my family's this Fall and he started after Thanksgiving.  Love him - great personality, loves to learn and explore new things!  However, I never realized the huge difference between his language and ours!  Watching a video about their number and alphabet system, I have the utmost sympathy and admiration in his and his brothers' acquisition of our language!  Have you ever tried to pronounce it?  It gives my student giggles since I cannot wrap my tongue around some of the words he tries to teach me!

Orally, he's really picking up English fast.  However, during our Writing time, after my other students are busy with a prompt or activity, I pull him aside and work with letters and numbers.  He's more interested in math and numbers right now (I can imagine it's a little less intimidating), so we've made our way through the teens and are ready to keep moving.

I had this great set of trace and write and count numbers from education.com (love that site!), but I couldn't find any sets above 20!  That's where the Google fail (gasp) comes in.  Don't get me wrong.  LOVE Google!  How did we survive without it?  However, after an image search, as well as several ESL sites, I couldn't find what I needed.  Boo hiss

So, spent most of the afternoon creating my own set!  I'd rather keep the consistency with him with what we've been doing already and didn't simply want a tracing sheet.

So, 35 pages (and many hours) later, it's done.  Whew!  I am sharing it as a FREEBIE since I figured 1) I hadn't posted a freebie for awhile and 2) not sure how many more will get a use out of it besides my student!  (However, I do have some other students who might benefit from it).

So, here it is....click on the title pic below to go to TpT or for Teacher's Notebook click {here}.

So, a quick update:  my student LOVES these pages!  He didn't want to stop and kept asking for "more".  So cute. :)  I decided to link this up to Freebie Fridays so I can share this with others with struggling students!


. 

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!

Happy New Year and Currently!

Oh my - I have neglected my blog this month!  

In my defense, though, it was a crazy December AND we had a family trip planned with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law's families to Florida!  We flew out Christmas day and came back very very late on Friday the 3rd (which also happens to be my son's birthday - yikes!  I'm a mother of a teenager - 13 years!).

Soooo....I hope that's excuse enough!  It was fun, although the workaholic in me misses the time I could've spent in my room cleaning, organizing, etc.  I'm here today (Sunday) and even though I worked my tail off in December so the first week, at least, would be planned for January, I am still simply overloaded as I came in today!  

So, first things first....Currently January thanks to Farley!  Be sure to link up!

 

I think most of it is self-explanatory, especially the "wanting."  As teachers you know how it is - you have NO CLUE how those kids will walk in after 2 weeks of break!  Will they remember anything???

As for New Year's Eve - we didn't quite celebrate it in the same way this year, but we always do an "at home" celebration complete with finger foods and watching all the specials on TV.  Sounds boring, but we manage to make it fun, dancing, yelling, singing, etc.  Last year, a friend shared this great idea about balloons and popping one each hour and doing the activity inside.  I blogged about it last January in 2012. :)

Now, so what have I been up to?  Well, ever since I saw Educasong's Winter Olympics clipart, I knew I wanted to do some sort of packet for February.  I LOVE the Winter Olympics (more than summer).  Just fascinated, sitting there watching the events!  I also love her clipart - be sure to check it out and follow her shop - she discounts the first 24 hours that she puts anything up!

So, thinking about what we'll be studying in January, this is what I came up with:

I'm pretty proud of this packet - it comes with 2 Geography, 5 Math, and 6 Literacy activities!  It took me almost a month to complete, and I am sooo excited to use it with my kids come February!

 

Here's a sneak preview of some of the activities inside!

I hope you'll check it out!  It's available on TPT {here} and Teacher's Notebook {here} and Resources4Teaching {here}.