Monday Made It August 25th

I'm linking with 4th Grade Frolics for the Monday Made it!

Wow! Now that school is back in session, I am exhausted. It seems I barely have time to make dinner or clean my messy house. So I haven't made a lot of things. My first item I actually made the week school started & just finished it up this week. I got the idea from HERE.  Last year I had a math word wall, but I didn't like it. I felt it was too "busy" and really wasn't helpful. I saw this idea & knew it's what I wanted. I already had the vocabulary cards. Therefore I just had to create headings. Indiana is not teaching Common Core anymore so I created my headings based on the Indiana Standards headings. Then I spray painted my yardsticks, hot glued the clothespins on, and used a staple gun to attach it to the cork wall.I used Command Hooks to hold the sets of cards. (I don't actually have them all sorted yet.)

We've been working on place value the last week. My students really liked playing this game using cards. I've played this game for years in my classroom. I just updated my boards a little bit since some of them were getting old. I have two versions I use. The first version we only go to the thousands' place. The second version I use larger construction paper and we go to the hundred thousands' place. Students use a deck of cards and the mats I created. They take turns drawing a card from the pile. The object it to make the largest number. I require the students to write their number down on their scoring sheet to compare. Then the student with the largest number has to be able to say their number correctly to get the point for that round.

I am so excited about my third "made it". We are getting ready to start rounding in my classroom this week. Rounding is such a HUGE ordeal in 3rd grade. It seems like we spend an enormous amount of time on it. Therefore I need a lot of different activities to practice and teach the same skill. I decided to make a rounding 4 corners game to use in my classroom. I LOVE 4 corners games because it gets students up and moving which helps with the restless energy. 

I also love them because there is NO printing or laminating! It's a huge time saver. You simply download the game and you can play it instantly with your class.

Click on the picture.

My rounding 4 corners game is on sale for $1.00 for the next 24 hours. 

Monday Made It

Monday Made It August 11th

What a week! We started back to school on August 1st and students returned on August 5th. This week I've had 2 open houses, mine & my daughter's at the middle school. I've a had a first week back without air conditioning for 2 days. Then the rest of the week is "worked" but my room team was easily in the 80's all week. Ugh. It was so bad that the last 2 days I just went to work with my hair wet because I decided styling it was a waste of time since it was plastered to my face by 11:00 anyway. haha. It's sad, but once schools starts I'm just ready for fall weather. I HATE being hot when I'm wearing dress clothes & trying to do my job. It seems like it's always like this. I have to think that if administration had offices as hot as our classrooms things might change. :) So this week I didn't get a lot accomplished on the "Made It" front.

I hot glued pom poms onto my dry erase markers. I've seen this all over Pinterest & decided to give it a try. They look really cute! We'll see if they last all year. 

I made a Clip Hall of Fame frame. This year I'm going to give my students little sticker gems to put on their clips when they make it to "outstanding". When they get 5 I'm going to let them "retire" their clips to the hall of fame. I like blingy things, so I hot glued sequined ribbon on the edge of the frame & used glitter ribbon to make the string down the bottom. I got the idea HERE. 

I repainted my homework club pizza pan. I then made new numbers & a new sign for it. I think it turned out cute. I'd really like a better ribbon for the top, but haven't found one I like & am to lazy to make one right now.

The final thing I have is a morning work display I made for my husband's classroom. It'd editable and it's FREE for today ONLY. If you download it PLEASE leave a rating & feedback. Thanks.

Click on the picture to be taken to my store for the freebie.

 

Monday Made It July 28th

 

Monday Made It

I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for the Monday Made it & the Primary Gal for the Blogger Boot Camp.

This hasn't been a very productive week for me. I haven't felt the best & have had some upsetting health news, so I haven't accomplished a bunch. That being said, I was still able to get a few things done.

The first thing I did was work on my husband's bulletin boards. He's moving schools & grade levels so he needed a lot of help. I created a cute back to school bulletin board outside of his room. I used the laser die cut machine to cut out football helmets on white construction paper. During the first week he's going to have students decorate and color the helmet with things about themselves. I think it will be really cute. I'll have him take a picture of it when it's all finished.

The second thing I made was a cute neon alphabet. A friend of mine is using neon colors in her classroom this year so I created this. It also matches the adorable monster nametags I made last week. It will be on sale for $1.00 on Monday.

Click on the picture for the alphabet.

 I made a cute sign for my homework club display. I have a cookie sheet that I have spray painted blue & have a pretty ribbon. (I don't have a picture of it yet because I'm not allowed back in my classroom yet.) Last year I used these adorable magnets I made out of glitter & gems. However, the problem I had was that the students were wiping off the numbers on the magnets. The magnets were also heavy & if they fell off they might break. So, I decided to use a smaller version of the numbers that I use for my lunch choices. Homework club was a huge success in my classroom last year. I don't actually assign busy work homework. I do however have students read their AR books 20 minutes each night & take required AR tests each week. Students must take at least 1 AR test & if they don't that counts as a missing homework assignment. At the end of each month any student who still has their number in the club get to have a VIP lunch in the room. I let them bring a drink of their choice & eat lunch in the room.

 
The next thing is something that is very helpful in my classroom. In the past I have used generic ones that I found in back to school books etc. I finally decided to create one that had the questions I really wanted to know to help me get to know my students better.  I send this parent survey home at Open House. It's free on my TPT store!

 

I actually made this before school ended because I knew we would not be able to get into our classrooms until days before school started. I got the idea HERE.  My classroom colors are lime, aqua, with pink accents. So I decided the use those colors in paint chips for a free border.

Monday Made It July 21st

Monday Made It

I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for the Monday Made It. Be sure to head over & see what other teachers have done!

I purchased a flip flop holder from Bed Bath & Beyond. Then I made a simple sign to attach to the top. (I don't have a home laminator & we're not allowed in our building to work until 4 days before school starts, so it's not completely finished yet.)

 

I spray painted a rolling storage chest for my husband's classroom. He's moving schools & grades this year. The storage bins were given to me by a friend, but were a baby blue color, so I updated it for him.

 

I also made an alphabet to display in his classroom. I teach 3rd grade & he's going to be teaching 2nd, so I only had to change the background of the alphabet I had made for my classroom to fit his color scheme. I put it in my TPT store on sale for $1.00 right now! (I also made him a clip chart & nametags that match this theme. They're in my store too.)

Click on Picture

 

I made some adorable monster themed editable nametags/ deskplates for my TPT store. They're on sale for $1.00 right now. 

Click on Picture

 

The final thing I made is on this blog. I didn't actually "make" anything, but I'm proud of myself anyway. I figured out how to get a side Facebook bar, a hovering Pinterest symbol over pictures, and a pop up Facebook like box. This was a big accomplishment for me. Now, the only I need to figure out how to do it to add some new fonts to my blog. The default font is too small no matter what I do to try to make it bigger & I'm not a fan of the other fonts that are on Blogger. So, that's my challenge for this week. :) 

Monday Made It July 14

 

I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for the Monday Made It.

I've been busy this week! I've been trying to create all of the things I've put off all summer long. Summer is coming to an end & I've realized that I still have so much on my "to do" list. 

 

I made the CUTEST "I have Who has" game for my classroom. 3rd graders are supposed to have their multiplication facts memorized by the end of the year. In my classroom we have a "Fun Friday". On Fridays I try to play whole class games (Bingo, Around The World, Multiplication Ball, etc. ), do math craft projects, or play partner math games. Since multiplication facts are so important in 3rd grade I wanted another option to help them practice their facts while having fun. I just loved the cute Owls by Melonheadz. Check it out in my TPT store. It's on sale for $1.00!

 

Click on the picture for the game.

 

My corporation adopted Pearson's Reading Street Common Core edition last year. Although there are many things I like about the series, there are also many things I don't like. One of my complaints is the difficulty of the spelling words. Wow! They are hard, especially the "challenge" words. I created a roll & write spelling center to be used in my classroom this coming year. My school is having a music theme next year. I decided to make my theme a 50's Rock & Roll theme. So my spelling centers have adorable 50's clip art. So far I have Units 1-4 done. Whew! Just 2 more units left to do. I've put each unit on sale for $1.00 this week.

Click on picture

 

The third thing I made this week are some ADORABLE super hero nameplates/ desk plates. I had purchased this clip-art to use to make some centers. It was so cute though that I wanted to make something decorative with it. I wish my school had a super hero theme. We have 7 different themes that we rotate. I'm not sure who came up with them because we didn't actually get to vote on them when this idea originated 7 years ago. So we have some themes that I don't like such as Toads, Bees, and Stars. I'd much rather have a Hollywood theme or a Super Hero theme. But....since I can't, I decided to make these cute editable desk plates for those that can. :) They're on sale for $1.00 this week too.

Click on picture

This is one I didn't make this week, but I finally figured out how to add a Fan Freebie tab to my Facebook page. Wow! That was way harder than it needed to be. So you can get the following Freebie by clicking on the Fan Freebies Tab on my Facebook page. I created this information card to use this year in my classroom. These are so valuable. I print these on card stock & have the parents fill them out at the beginning of the year. Then I hole punch them, put them on a metal ring, & hang them on a hook by door. When we have fire drills, tornado drills, or I need to contact a parent, I have all of the information I need right there.Click on the picture to be taken to my FB page. "Like" my page & grab the freebie for yourself.

Click on the picture

I made the cutest morning work display. Actually...I made two. I made a music theme morning routine display in my classroom colors & a sports dog one for my husband in his classroom colors. I can't decide if I should make editable versions to put in my TPT store or not.

Have a great Week!