The Teaching Sweet Shoppe!

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Math Mini Packs!

Are you in need of some test prep ideas for Numbers in Base Ten? Try these Math Mini Packs.

Each pack comes with a PowerPoint, a note-taker for interactive notebooks, and a practice page. These can be done in small groups with a laptop, as whole group review, or as an intervention piece. Click the pictures below to see the products. :)

Organizing My Geometry Unit

Hey guys! The big update is almost here for my geometry unit! It will go live tomorrow morning, but I wanted to share with you how I organized it for my classroom.

First, I like to keep my units in a binder with page protectors.

Print off the color cover for the binder cover.

I use the black and white cover for my first page.

Table of contents and standards list.

^The reason why the standards look different is because I live in Florida and we "technically" don't have Common Core Standards. Ours are called Florida Standards... With the exception of a few, they're still word-for-word the Common Core Standards, lol.

Next comes the lesson plans! I like to keep them side-by-side so I don't have to flip back and forth. I structure my lessons like this: Page 1 is day 1 and Page 2 is day 2. Complicated, right? LOL

I take pictures and print them out of completed activities so I can remember what I did the previous year. I also print out what I want my anchor charts to look like so as we do them together I can remember what I want to include.

Center directions and materials are kept in the same sleeve until I'm ready to use them.

I like to keep assessments and their keys together as well for easy grading.

Any time I want my kids to take notes I like to have examples of what should be in them.

Here are a few other pictures:

Organizing math units is all about what works for you. Above is how I put my centers out for display. I got this nifty sign holder at Office Max years ago. I like it for centers because if I need to make any tweaks I can do it with dry erase and then wipe it off for next year!

If you'd like to purchase my Geometry Unit, head over to my TPT Store!

Double Digit Multiplication - Planning My Progressive Anchor Chart

We've begun double digit multiplication! I wanted a way to do an anchor chart with all the different strategies we'll be using, but I didn't want to reveal them all at once - talk about overwhelming!

I decided to go with butcher paper for this chart and wrote out all the strategies across the top. As I teach each strategy, I'll put an example up on our chart.

I like to preplan my anchor charts in PowerPoint.

I type up examples of each and then save each as a picture. I then put the picture in my lesson plan so that I know what I'm putting on my chart each day and don't have to "wing it".

Below are my example pictures if you'd like to use them in your plans too!

Have a great week!

How to embed fonts in PowerPoint - Video Tutorial

So how many times have you made a PowerPoint using cute fonts and when your send it to a different computer it looks like this:

YUCK!

Here's a video tutorial on how to embed your fonts so that it looks nice no matter what computer you send it to.

Classroom sneak peek!

So excited about my room this year! ~~Better pics coming soon!~~ You can see my classroom pics in this post.

Using spray paint to keep your theme cohesive!

Got back in my classroom again! And this time I brought my husband and some spray paint.
I got the rest of my library bins on Monday and have been hard at work organizing them. Once I stepped back and looked at them, I loved the colors, but wasn't in love with the chipping/peeling eyesore that was my bookshelf. My husband, being the wonderful guy he is, came along with me today to spray paint my shelves so that they would match my other book case.

Above is the other book case that I found... hidden in the depths of my school's supply portable. It's hard to tell, but that is actually a black metal cabinet. I told him that I wanted the other cabinet to match and not be super shiny. He knew just the stuff - GRILL PAINT. Who knew this even existed? Men.

Not only is it cheaper than most other spray paints (less than $4), it dries almost instantly! My husband was able to do 2 coats in 15 minutes and I had all my book baskets back in there before 30 minutes had passed. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

I was also able to get all my Science Weekly Five resources put together! I LOVE using resources from The Science Penguin and these bins from Really Good Stuff matched perfectly.

I'll be posting some better pictures next week!

Setting up bulletin boards - Tips for easy board management :)

I got back in my room again today! I wanted to get a couple more of my boards put together. I wanted to share a couple of handy tricks that I use to help me.

One thing I do is use push pins to set up my pieces before I staple them down. That way I can move them around easily and make sure I've got everything lined up how I like it.

Here's a pic of my AR board all finished:

It's a little fuzzy, but as my kids earn their AR points I plan on stapling a card with their name under their club.

Another trick I use on my boards is... VELCRO! Velcro is great when you know there are parts of your board that you will be changing up often.

Remember my pin trick?

I lined them all up the way I wanted, but since I know I'll be changing them from time to time, I wanted to use Velcro to attach them.

Here's how I did it:

I used the sticky-back velcro, a little more expensive ($14 at Wal-Mart) but it was much easier to work with. I cut it to size, then cut down the middle and stuck the two sides together.