Math Journal for the Year! Bundles

   I have FINALLY finished up all of my monthly math journals and word problem journals for August-May. Each journal page is aligned to a 2nd grade Common Core standard, but I also use these journals for my higher 1st grade kiddos and struggling 3rd grade kiddos. These journals are NO PREP...just print, cut in half, and staple! I save even more paper when I copy the journals front to back. They are the size of a half page of paper when assembled so they can easily be stored in a math folder, notebook, plastic tote, etc. I know most of you are not even thinking about the next school year yet, but these would be perfect to print now before the August rush in the copy room. You can purchase each journal separate or save over 30% with buying the year bundle. Grab the bundles below by clicking on the images to be taken to my store.

A Little SPRING in Your Step!

I have to do it and start today's posting with this...

   Yup! It's HUMP DAY! This was last week during my kiddos Spring break. My break is this week and it has been nothing near a break. Monday was our first official day out of our home of five years. I have mentioned before that we are having a new home built, but its not quite ready yet. Just a couple more weeks. In the mean time we are "vacationing" in my families town home. It has been so much fun for my kiddos the last couple of days. This morning though it was like driving with the Walking Dead in the backseat. Our new home is 45 minutes south from our old place and my families town home is an additional 20 minutes from there. So I had a couple of sleeping boys on the way to school and on the way home. Only 6 more weeks I keep telling them. Although, my eldest is trying to justify just staying home and homeschooling my youngest. I can just see them now swimming in the pool all day, making forts around the house, and eating as much junk food as they can find. Not so fast little kiddos...only 6 more weeks!
   I spent my day today at Barnes and Noble working on some Spring activities for the classroom and getting reacquainted with Starbucks. 5 hours and four drinks later (OMG how did that happen?) I have finally finished my Spring Math & Literacy centers and just in time to pick the kiddos up from school. Is it bad that I felt like I spent the day at the spa? The over-sized leather chair, soft music, no tattling or boogers, classroom antics, and overabundance of Starbucks put me into a Zen state of mind. Here is a look at some of the Math centers in my Spring pack.

 Skip Count by 2's

 Skip Count by 5's

 Skip Count by 10's

A Fraction of Rain

 Time for Tweets

 Springtime Measurements

 Bumblebee Fact Families

 Springtime Graphing 

 Buggy Odd & Even

    Here is my little bug testing out the activity hot off the presses before my classroom kiddos get to play next Monday. He was very impressed with himself that we could sort them all...even the 3 digit numbers!

   You can put a little "SPRING" in your step by picking these 9 Math centers and 6 Literacy centers from my TPT store by clicking on the image below. And because my mind is racing from my caffeine high I have a literacy center FREEBIE for you. "It's Raining Plurals" is just one of the activities you will find in my Spring pack. P.S. My April Common Core Aligned Math Journal is ready for your printing too. See what a little caffeine can help me accomplish??? It puts a little  huge SPRING in my step!

Out With the Old, In With the New, and a HUGE Sale!

   Has it really been two weeks since my last blog post?!?! The past two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. The fact that I am still fighting a killer sinus infection from before Valentine's is draining and annoying. My poor classroom kiddos keep asking when the frog is going to leave my throat and my voice not sound so funny. Especially when we are trying to sing our math songs. I have to admit I sound like one of those poor American Idol contestants that you watch sing and are just embarrassed for. One day soon kiddos...fingers crossed!!!
   On top of my brain feeling like a washing machine I have had to fathom that in a month we will be out of our house and "hopefully" in our new house. Oh, yeah. Did I mention the hubby and I found the perfect house last Monday that we put a contract on? The house is projected to be completed at the end of April or May. It is my absolute dream home. We put our current home on the market the next morning and had a contract on it within 10 hours!!! Luck you say? Yes, but the thought of packing and moving so quickly is SCARY!!! And the fact that I will be commuting 40 minutes one way instead of 5 minutes the remaining of the school year is a little daunting. I have to keep telling myself that if my hubby did it for 10 years I can do it for about a month or so. But with March approaching I feel like the saying, "In like a lion, out like a lamb" is so fitting for my family in this new journey! Its time to go out with the old, and in with the new. New house, new school district for my kiddos, and new opportunities!
   With being so under the weather for the past couple of weeks I have not been taking as many pics of the classroom kiddos as I would have liked to. My classroom is getting ready to transform into Leprechaun city at the end of the week so I will force myself to take some lovely pictures. I have uploaded my March Math Journals and Lucky Leprechaun {14 Common Core Math & Literacy Centers} into my store for your St. Patrick's enjoyment. Do not forget the AMAZING TPT 3 Million Sale this Thursday & Friday. Take advantage of my and your other favorite members sale. In less than a year, I would have never imagined the success that TPT would bring to my classroom and my family. So add those items to your wishlist, set the alarm clocks, and get ready to shop!

Math Journals

   It is definitely harder to get all of the activities and units completed with a new puppy in the house. But Zoe is pretty darn cute so that makes up for my "potty breaks" every 30 minutes the last two days with her.

 Playing in the snow for the first time.

These two are inseparable. 

  I did at least get two math journals completed and posted in my TpT store this afternoon. I have uploaded my March Daily Math Journal {2nd Grade Common Core Aligned} and January Daily Word Problem Journal {2nd Grade Common Core Aligned}. Each journal contains student "I can" statements, CCSS activities and standards met. When printed the journals can be printed front to back, cut in half, and stapled to save paper. You can click on the images below to get copies for yourselves.

December in a Nutshell

   The last week before Thanksgiving break has come and gone so quickly. Our First Thanksgiving Reader's Theater and 2nd grade feast was a huge success! Here is a little glance at our feast after our play...

   Our kiddos enjoyed lots of mashed potatoes, corn, rolls, pie, and turkey.  And my little kiddo got to disguise his own little turkey for his first grade class last week. Here is his before turkey...

 and his after picture of his favorite living thing on earth...a PENGUIN. 

   Helping my kiddo with his penguin reminded me that December is just a week away and it is time to prep all our holiday Christmas activities. Here is a look ahead at the month of December in our classroom.

   During our Daily 5 Math rotations we will be using my math journals and Polar Express Math Centers each day.  

      During our literacy block we will be comparing and contrasting different versions of the Gingerbread Man. Here is the anchor chart we will be using with each story using sticky notes. 

   We will also go more in-depth with sequence of details, character traits, and comparing and contrasting the settings, characters, and themes. Here are a couple items from my unit. 

   Our writing will include some activities from my Arctic Animals Nonfiction Unit. My kiddos will learn about various arctic animals, which will lead up to our Polar Express unit, and write a research book based on what they learned. This unit contains over a dozen graphic organizers of arctic animals, writing templates, and literacy and math centers. 

   And what is December without a visit from The Elf on the Shelf? This little elf will come packed in a box our first day back from break. My kiddos will infer what is on the inside on the box by using the clues from the outside of the box. Inside will be The Elf on the Shelf book, elf, student journals, and a letter from Santa. My plan is to have our classroom elf hide each day around our room the first week and then become mischievous the last two weeks before Christmas break. My classroom kiddos will draw and write what the elf is doing each morning in their journals. You can get my Elf on the Shelf unit, with package labels, Santa letter, student journals, persuasive writing templates, and math centers, and all of my other December themed units by clicking on the above images. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Finally Teaching, FALL, and Math

   Oh, my! I feel like there has been a huge void in my life not blogging every couple of days. The past couple of weeks have been CRAZY in my school life. There is so many ASSESSMENTS, changes, ASSESSMENTS, training, ASSESSMENTS, assemblies, oh and did I mention ASSESSMENTS?!?!? I have mentioned before that I teach in a small school district in northern Colorado. Being in a small district has its advantages and disadvantages. I have loved every minute of working here the last three years, but the past couple of weeks has been a struggle. A struggle to maintain my love of education. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE teaching and always will. I love my classroom kiddos to pieces.
   I have always thought long-term, not short-term. And some of the decisions and direction that education is taking is making the fun and excitement turn towards draining. But that does not mean I give any less to my kiddos. They deserve the best and not be "guinea pigs" of the system! My district is implementing two more assessments and literacy interventions. My teammates and I are going with the punches, taking out more, and putting in more time for these assessments. BOO! But, I finally think I can fully begin my Walk to Read rotation this week with our second grade intensive kiddos with all three teachers TEACHING!!! Only five weeks into the school year my precious kiddos can finally get the attention they need!
   The weather the last couple of days here in Colorado has made me so excited for fall. I love to be able to pull out the boots, leggings, and sweaters. I am so excited to be able to take Caden and Ashton to the pumpkin patch, play football outside, and bake anything pumpkin! My classroom kiddos are getting excited for fall too. I love how they mention every morning during math when we graph our weather the changes they see and feel outside. This week we will be using my Pumpkin Nonfiction Unit to write about the pumpkin lifecycle. I will be posting it in my TPT store this week once I get some pictures added from each of the activities and crafts we will be completing. Here is a little peak...

   I am so excited about the direction my math block is going. I know in earlier posts this summer I expressed my deep concern about teaching math as not teaching it last year. But, I am pleasantly surprised...actually pleasantly is an understatement! My kiddos are ROCKIN our math block! This past week our Georgia Unit was working with add addition and subtraction strategies. Here is a look at us using links and connecting cubes to solve equations...

I am so proud of my kiddos trying to get away from using their fingers to add and subtract!



   My teammates and I have 90 minutes in which we complete calendar, warm-ups (songs and videos), our whole group lesson, from the Georgia Units, cooperative learning, and Daily 5 Math. We have been spending the last three weeks building our Daily 5 Math stamina. My kiddos know that the countdown is on to fully implement all five rotations of Daily 5 Math on October 21st. Almost all of my kiddos have become experts at Math with Self and Math Writing. We have spent two solid weeks practicing what Math Writing looks like. My teammates and I are using my monthly math journals and then when our kiddos finish they get to go into the math center and pick two number cards, an operation card, and setting card to write their own story problem in their math notebook. We have really been pushing the three parts to a story problem; the story problem, pictorial representation, and equation with label. Here is an example of the three parts we have been practicing...



  And here are the two math journals we are using for the month of October. We differentiate the two journals using the word problems for the kiddos that need more math intervention and the other journal for our kiddos that can complete higher level thinking math activities. You can click on each image to be taken to my TPT store.

   Our plan in math this week is to introduce more in-depth activities with a 200s chart. We will also introduce our Math Work bins during our Daily 5 Math time. We have already used some of the place value activities in my Apples Centers during teacher time, but we will really explore all of the activities as well as incorporate my Halloween math activities during this time. You can get both at my TPT store by clicking on the images below...

   Enjoy your week and celebrate the fall season!