Happy Monday! Today, I had the pleasure of guest hosting for Emily over at Reading Tutor/OG for her weekly Mentor Monday linky. This week's topic is MEMOIRS, which is probably my favorite unit that I teach! There are SOOOOOO many great choices to use for this topic from picture books to chapter books and even…

In this blog post, I want to share with you my tips for using Google Classroom in Special Education, specifically in a resource room.

Hi Friends. I am linking up with the Collaboration Cuties to share a favorite book to use with math instruction. My favorite math based text is Measuring Penny by Loreen Leedy. This book covers every type of measurement a early elementary teacher might ever want to talk about. The story is cute and the illustrations are fabulous. I actually need a new copy of this book because I reference it with the class over and over as we work on measurement. If you would like a free copy of the measure the room activity I used to go along with this story this year you can click on the picture below. The clip art is from Scrappin Doodles, Melonheadz, and JW Illustrations. I highly recommend this book for your classroom. Now if you would like to check out some other math text suggestions hop on over to Collaboration Cuties. Have a great week.

Happy Mentor Text Linky Day! I hope y'all have had a great week! I'm excited to share this Math Mentor Text with you! Math for All Seasons is a book by Greg Tang. The Amazon.com summary: "Believe it or not, math doesn't have to be a torture device teachers use to punish their students. In fact, with a few simple tricks, math can become--dare we say it?--fun! Greg Tang, creator of the popular The Grapes of Math, bestows his considerable wisdom on a slightly younger audience (ages 5 to 8) with Math for All Seasons. This collection of rhyming math puzzles encourages kids to think through problems, rather than relying on memorization and formulas. Each of illustrator Harry Briggs's computer-generated, color-saturated spreads features seasonal treasures such as clusters of tulips or spikes of icicles. Readers study the verse and picture, strategizing and looking for patterns in order to add up the objects without counting one by one. Soon, their eyes and minds will open to consider many ways of problem solving, not just the obvious ones. Solutions and explanations are provided in the back of the book." This fun book is adorable! It is filled with seasonal poems that each contain a math riddle. It is geared toward lower grades with addition and subtraction, but I am going to use it with my fourth graders to model some math writing. I have really been trying to incorporate more writing into math, so I was so thrilled when I found this book! It lends itself perfectly to creative math writing! We are going to create our own math poetry with multiplication and division riddles. I think my students are really going to like it!!! :) They will even get to draw illustrations to accompany their poems! Since the holidays are here, we are going to center our poems around a holiday theme. My students will write out a rough draft first on notebook paper, and then will use the publishing papers below to create their finished product. They are in Black and White too! Click here to get these papers for FREE. :) Have a great week! -Stacia :) Please Link Up! Next week's linky- Science

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I had to check the calendar when I started this post, making sure that I had the date right. Is it really only the second Sunday of the month? April already seems to be too busy... For some reason I was sure we were farther along. Wishful thinking I guess... Today I'm linking up with Collaboration Cuties with their Mentor Text Linky. Math Mentor Books... To be honest, I haven't really used math picture books with my 4th graders. I am good when it comes to Reading, Grammar, Science, and Social Studies... but not Math. Basically I'm looking forward to getting ideas. So today I'm looking back at when I taught Second Grade. I loved so many texts those years. One that I especially loved was Whole-y Cow! Fractions are Fun by Taryn Souders. I enjoyed it because it helped create visuals for the beginning of our Fraction unit. It is all about parts of a group and parts of a whole... There is a little cow and he is wandering around the farmyard asking questions, the readers need to answer the questions based on the illustrations. Fun times. :) Now, I haven't done anything with this book for a while since I'm now with the big kids - but I did find a free Teacher's Guide by the author of different ideas to do with this book. So here's my little snippet: Hope you had a great day! So far my day has consisted of traveling to 2 different hospitals in 2 different towns to visit my mom and my grandma. Mom fell last night, Grandma isn't doing well either. Both don't want to be in their hospitals... both need to get better ASAP! As far as Sunday Store Update - I'm sorry that I haven't posted anything cute, or functional, or helpful over at my little stores this past week. I'm just too busy... hoping life will slow down someday soon.

Looking for new teaching ideas? This blog post is all about our most highly-rated resources for the school year. From classroom management to ELA and math, we have recommendations for all of your needs!

Set your students up for success with my addition and subtraction books for little learners in preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten!

Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas- Mentor Text for comparing and contrasting! Includes three FREE printables!

I'm linking up with Stacia and Amanda at Collaboration Cuties for another Mentor Text Linky! This week, I'll be sharing my favorite Mentor Text for Math: Math Curse by Jon Sciescka and Lane Smith! Amazon This book is a little different than other Math Read Alouds like A Remainder of One and The Greedy Triangle. Rather than introducing one topic, this book shows us all of the math we are surrounded by everyday. It's a GREAT beginning of year read aloud and I think will make a fun read aloud for the end of the year too! The story focuses on a child whose math teacher, Mrs. Fibonacci, tells the class that there are numbers all around. Then the child sees math everywhere! There are fraction problems at lunch, probability while getting dressed, division when it's time to share cupcakes and logic while the parents decide who is right. It's such a fun book with so many opportunities to have your students stop and solve the problems, but beware that the answers are on the back cover! I love this book because its so fun for the reader to act out. As the story evolves, I like to read with a sort of frenetic voice to mimic the character's energy as he is plagued by all the math following him around! The kids get really into it! I also love this book because it is a great way to get your students to think about all of the applications of math they use every single day. When I read this with my students, I have them write their own scenes to add into the book. Without fail, I have students who come to school the next day and want to tell the class about the math they saw when they left school! What book do you use to help you teach math? Be sure to link up with the Collaboration Cuties!

Free reading posters for 4th and 5th grade! Click through to get the posters and read how to use them to help your students master the reading standards.

Hey there! We began our unit on fractions this week! I'm feeling really behind, but hopefully we will get it all in, and if not, my hope is that my kiddos will at least know what I've taught them REALLY well! We shall see!! We started by reading the book Hershey Fractions and using Hershey bars to create equivalent fractions and parts of a set. You can read more about how I use this book HERE. Friday, we made our own fraction strips. We do have fraction bars as part of our manipulatives, but I do think it's helpful for students to make their own fraction strips. They are manually folding, cutting, and labeling them so they can hopefully SEE the parts and WHY it's 1/2 or 1/8. Of course, cutting in 5ths, 6ths, and 10ths isn't that easy, but they were great sports and we did quite a bit of problem solving to figure out how to fold and make them even. We put them in our math journals by sticking them in this pocket (free from Ashley Hughes!). Now, they have a resource they can use anytime plus they know how to make a fraction strip if they don't have my fraction bars right there or they need them on a standardized test! So, onto why we are here today! A math must read!! I'm sort of cheating this week because I am sharing a book that my good friend AMC at Looking From Third to Fourth shared several months back! The book is called Full House by Dayle Ann Dodds. Here is a synopsis from Amazon: "Miss Bloom runs the Strawberry Inn, and she loves visitors. All through the day she welcomes a cast of hilarious characters until all the rooms are taken. It’s a full house! But in the middle of the night, Miss Bloom senses that something is amiss — and sure enough, the guests are all downstairs eating dessert. Readers will be inspired to do the math and discover that one delicious cake divided by five hungry guests and one doting hostess equals a perfect midnight snack at the Strawberry Inn. Piece of cake!" This book is really cute! It rhymes and has some really silly characters, which students love. I wanted to do this activity and THEN post on it but we didn't get through as much as I had hoped this week, so I haven't done this lesson yet, but will this week. This book is really simple in regards to fractions, but it's so fun I had to think of a way to use it! We have to teach composing and decomposing fractions, so I thought I could use this book to jump off on composing and decomposing fractions. As each guest comes into Miss Bloom's house, we will compose our fractions (also basically adding fractions). Then, we'll use the book to pull apart the fractions as well (or decompose them). Also, all of the guests get a piece of Miss Bloom's cake and it's in the shape of a circle. I'm going to use this book in small group, and we are going to use the circle fraction pieces to make the cake. Then, we'll start with 6ths, since that's in the book, and compose and decompose the fractions. Then, we'll make "cakes" with the other fraction circles and practice composing and decomposing those as well! Hopefully that makes sense! I wish I could have pictures for you today, but I'll have to add them in this week! Also, here is a poster I found on Pinterest. It was a dead link, so I can't give credit unless you know who made this? I hate not giving credit because I love this poster! Here's another poster: Source I hope to remember to come back and add my pictures this week!!! I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Next week's linky- Science

Let’s be real…Grammar is important, but it can also be very dry. Since boredom is one of the easiest ways to make our students check out, it’s up to us to find ways to make grammar interesting and possibly even entertaining (imagine that)! I’m always on the lookout for ways to spice it up and […]

Implementing guided math in your classroom is easy! Rea our blog series on the components of Guided Math and watch your students succeed!

Making inferences worksheets and activities aren't always easy for students, but there are fun ways to teach this challenging reading skill.

I am always on the hunt for new, fun phonics games! Teaching the same phonics patterns and skills over and over can be difficult for both my students and for me as the teacher to try and have students practice these skills without getting bored. Before we play phonics games, there is always a direct […]

So if you have followed my blog for long, you have heard about my use of what I call a “Bubble Page.” With moving from the special education setting, where I used this in strictly reading, I had to find a way to use this in general education math. As I worked my way through this, […]

Learn different ways to use Spiral Math Resources in your classroom; Including Spiral Math Homework and Spiral Language Homework.

I created some very specific data tracking forms to show how I was tracking my data and what I was doing with the data in my instruction.

Are you looking for ideas to help your students become successful writers? This post outlines the table of contents for 30+ writing mini lessons that has proven to help students write effectively. It will provide you with creative ideas to teach students sentence structure, paragraph writing, and narrative writing.

What an inspiring character! A young girl shows you should never give up on your dream. Although there were many roadblocks in her path, with determination, she found her way around everyone to finally achieve her goal. What a great lesson for all of us. And . . . a fantastic book to share with our students as they learn about the characters. The Girl with a Mind for Math tells the story of Raye Montague. Early in her life, her grandfather takes her to see a submarine. She quickly decides an engineer is what she wants to be when she grows up. This isn’t an easy thing for a young black girl in the south. The author, Julia Finley Mosca, uses narrative verse to share the life story of this incredible lady. The illustrations, by Daniel Rieley, are unique and very eye-catching. When I first read it to myself. I was struck by Raye's determination. She starts with a dream and never gives up, no matter how many people tell her she can’t. A Girl With a Mind for Math is the perfect book for helping students learn about character traits and how to find supporting evidence for those traits. I created a character trait activity to go along with this book. The activity can be used with your whole class during a read-aloud time or set up in a literacy center. Click on the image below to be taken to this free product in my TpT store. Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of this book for this review.

Bring multiplication facts to life with stories. Introduce multiplication concepts with these 4 read aloud books to make math to world connections.

Mentor texts are one of my favorite tools to use in the classroom and I love using them to teach grammar. To me, grammar is just one of those subjects that needs some spicing up. It’s kind of like mashed potatoes without any salt. Sure, it’s functional, but it’s so much better when you take […]

Rounding and estimating was always a harder concept for my new 3rd graders. We usually started off the year with place value and rounding was part of that. I used the "rounding rhyme" and that helped some kiddos. I used number lines and helped more of them. We did it over and over. But, let's face it, it's a little on the boring side. So here are 3 games that will hopefully spice up rounding practice for your students! When I used math games in my classroom I almost always modeled the game as a fish bowl activity (played it with everyone watching/participating) or taught it in a small group first. Then, we usually had a work time dedicated to playing it while I circulated and helped students as needed. Eventually, the game could go into a center or rotation, or be used for early finishers. You'll need number cards (grab my number card freebie) or regular playing cards with the face cards out for this game. Split the deck into two piles (one for each player). Each player will turn over 2 cards (or 3 for a 3-digit number, etc.). Each student rounds their number to the nearest ten (or hundred, thousand...). Whoever has the biggest rounded number wins- just like in real war! (If there is tie, they play again.) The winner takes all of the cards for that round and they keep playing. The player with the most cards at the end wins the game. I like my kiddos to record something when they are playing a math game (especially at the beginning), so I made a Rounding Wars recording sheet that they can use. They can always just record on a sheet of notebook paper or in a math journal, etc. Give two players each 8-16 index cards (or cut up cardstock- anything works) each. You can decide how many cards based on ability/time/etc. Have them write a number of their choice (2, 3 or 4 digit) on one card. On the next card they will write the number rounded to the nearest ten, hundred or thousand depending on what you want them to practice. Have each partner check each card for correctness. Do this until all cards are done. Mix up all the cards and lay face down in equal rows. Now, play the game like memory. One player will pick a card and then try to pick the matching rounding card. When they get a match they keep the cards and go again. Not a match, they turn them back over and their turn is over. The game is over when all the cards are gone. Whoever has the most cards wins! This would be a great game to play in a small group where you can really hone in and help round those numbers when the kids are making the cards. In this game, your students use a spinner to spin a 2, 3 or 4 digit number. They record it and then round it. This can just be a hands-on practice they can do independently or it can be done with a partner. If they are working with a partner, it can be more of a game- where they record the number, round it and whoever has the biggest (or lowest- if you want to change things up) number wins that round. They can put a little star or check mark next to that round on their recording sheet and the person with the most stars on their sheet at the end wins. I also would have their partners be checking them as they played that they are rounding correctly. I like them to be recording something too, because I can always look at this and see if they get it or I need to stop and sit and play with them for a bit. Grab this Spin Me Round freebie and use it as a center or small group practice with your kiddos. If you need some more ideas for practicing rounding in your classroom you might like my Rounding Pack which has a variety of worksheets for practice and task cards that would be another great math center!

Games are an important part of math class, in my opinion. Not only are kids able to practice the skills that we have been focusing on (over and over repeatedly), but they are also doing it in a format that they find fun…and anything that adds fun to learning is a plus in my book! […]

If you're teaching your students about figurative language, you'll love this alliteration activity for kids in second third, fourth, and fifth grade. Get four FREE games!

Managing Your To-Do List: Ever feel like you have an ENDLESS to-do list? I know I do. Between home, teaching, and blogging, I always have something that needs to be done. Actually, I am often asked I how am able to manage it all. Today’s post shares my method for keeping my life organized! It isn’t rocket […]

Tweet Does that say Volume 52?!?!?!?! You read it right! This is my 52 installment of Monday Math Literature which means this has been going on for an entire year! You would think I would have run out of things to say by now but I really haven't. I started this series doing quick reviews of some of my favorite math literature books and it has evolved into much more. My posts have gotten much more in depth and I have been so inspired to build whole lessons off a piece of literature. I have shown some of the lessons from the Math and Literature series and even come up with some of my own ideas for using regular literature books in a math context. Today I want to do something a little different to celebrate a full year of math literature posts. I have spent several hours compiling all of the math literature posts from the last year and organizing them by topic. You can check the list out on the page below or download the entire thing from Google docs. It will also be available on the Math Literature tab at the top of my blog! The topics include geometry, measurement, addition, subtraction, fractions, counting, 100th day of school and more! Math Literature I look forward to continuing to share with you how I use literature to enhance math class! Which book on this list is your favorite?

Summer is in full swing! I am loving the flexibility of time to get my hair cut, catching up with friends, going to a couple workshops, getting a facial... I am feeling refreshed! For my Thursday's Cooperative Learning, I wanted to discuss how I use RallyRobin in my classroom. Sometimes, I group my students in pairs or in small groups of 4-5 students. I am also joining Collaboration Cutie's Science Mentor Text! :0) When integrating science into my reading curriculum, I love using Pebble books. These books have great photos and simple text great for my little ones. Not only are they high interest books, but they are also good for those older students who need simpler text for reading. I got mine through Scholastic Books. Click below to check Lions out at Amazon.   Before reading one of these books to my kinderkids, I have them get their materials (whiteboards, pencils, & tree maps) and meet me to sit in groups of 4. I put a grouping mat on the floor, and my students pick a number to sit by. Some groups may have 3 or 5 students. Either #4 is missing from a group or I have two #4's in a group. Here is a picture of a small group of 4... The whiteboards are flipped over and used as a writing surface for their graphic organizers. My wonderful kindergarten assistant made the grouping mats for my team and I to use with our students. Before reading the book, I ask my students to brainstorm words that they think will be in this book. In each group, starting with the number 2's, they keep going around and around sharing their predictions until time is called. That is a RallyRobin structure. We continue the discussion with what we know about lions, starting with the number 4's. Then I begin reading the story, stopping at various points. I help them make connections to the book by asking if they saw a lion before. Starting with a specific # they share within their group. Sometimes, I call on a particular # in each group to stand up and share something from their group. The tree map comes into play while I read the story to my students. The above picture is not the lion tree map, but I did use this one from Kim Adsit. (My kinderkids loved this project! We also made the lion king of ing.) I would ask my students to tell what lions are starting with a specific #. Then I would call upon some children to share something that their group shared. After that, I gave time for students to write their responses on their tree maps. They helped each other and wrote down the different ideas. After reading the book and completing the tree map, they went to their seats to complete their art project. This lion project came from KinderGals website. Links are in above paragraph. RallyRobin is a simple cooperative learning group structure easily adapted into any curriculum. I love how it gets each student talking. Kagan has posters, technology, and clipart about their structures for sale at their website. Last winter, I bought the Powerpoint Pals to make my own cooperative learning structures posters. I show them on my IWB. Click on the picture to visit Kagan Online. I also use Kagan's Timer Tools to help with timing. In the lion tree map activity, I did not. Instead, I had my students show me they were done by putting their hands on their heads. This gave me an opportunity to check and monitor my students. To draw interest, I used a student selector tool to pick students to share information. This helped made them accountable for the information they were sharing with their groups. I liked it also for the ones who had a difficult time brainstorming ideas, because they got information from their groups already. Kagan also has Student Selector tools. Instead, I use two free ones that I got from Mimio Connect and Smartboard Exchange. If you have an interactive whiteboard, these are great resources to use. It is free to use. If you do not have an IWB, you may be able to use, I did before I wrote my grant for the Mimio. :0) I used my big screen tv to display the information and used the keyboard/mouse. Not the same, but it works too! I did not use the grouping mats at my tables last year. Instead, I have my students name on a ring. Each student had the opportunity to be the team leader for one day, and then would start all over again. I called on my team leaders to get group supplies or help when needed. With a new classroom, and new furniture, I plan to use these mats at the tables. I will print one for each group, trim off the credits, laminate, and put on my students' tables. Click here to get it for your classroom. Click above button to visit Collaboration Cuties and their Science Mentor Text Linky. There are lots of great ideas and freebies being shared there every Sunday! Join me in sharing how you use cooperative learning in your classroom! Link up your thoughts of how you use cooperative learning structures in your classroom or comment with your thoughts or questions. I will be in a 2-day workshop, Got Mimio? Advanced next week... so next Thursday I will be there. I am hoping to have something special for you! An InLinkz Link-up

Looking for some fun ways to teach math? Check out some of these fun books to teach math for kids. You'll get them excited to learn!

This blog post features a contraction anchor chart. Plus, two free concentration games are provided... one contraction game for lower elementary and one for upper elementary!

I often get questions about how to set up small group lessons in upper elementary. Strategy groups are one framework that can work for a variety of reading skills. Check out this post to learn more.

Need creative ways to teach division? This post has tons of ideas to use to help make teaching division easier and more interesting!

Teaching about character traits in reading can be challenging but fun! One of the hardest parts for kids is that in most pieces of literature, the character traits are somewhat abstract. The author doesn’t directly tell the reader what the character is like, which forces kids to have to learn to piece it together by […]

Tweet Welcome to year 2 of Monday Math Literature! If you missed last week's post that contains the grand list of almost 100 math literature books reviewed on this blog, you can click on the Math Literature tab at the top of this page to access it anytime. It is free to download or you can just peruse it online. Today I want to share with you one of my very favorite books for teaching 3-D shapes. It is by the very talented Cindy Neuschwander who has written several of my favorite math literature books. You might have read some of her Sir Cumference books. Mummy Math: An Adventure in Geometry In this story two siblings go on a trip to Egypt with their parents. They accidentally get trapped in a pyramid and have to use the hieroglyphics on the walls to help them find the way out. The clues are all about different geometric solids and the pair uses what they know about them to answer the riddles and get out of the pyramid. It is a very engaging story, and kids get hooked in quite well. There are quite a few words on each page, but the pace is excellent and kids definitely remain engaged. It is an excellent addition to any unit on 3-D geometry and reviews the different shapes as well as terms such as faces and vertices. I have used it in grades 1-4 with great results. The next time I do this lesson in the classroom, I plan on using my shape posters to have kids do a 3-D shape hunt around the classroom. I will spread out the posters around the room and have kids bring examples of each type of shape back to the poster that it matches. My 3-D shape posters are available in red, green, purple and blue! You might also want to check out this lesson that combines literature and 3-D shapes! Does anyone have any other recommendations for children's literature that can be used to for a 3-D shape hunt?

Incorporating reading into your math lessons can be a great way to engage kids in math learning! Here are 5 simple ways to teach with math story books!

P-I-E is a classic but limited way to teach author's purpose. You need receipts! Teach students to "get the receipt" to determine author's purpose.

Students love learning about space! Teaching the order of the planets from the sun is such a fun lesson, and students love making this Planet Flipbook. I created this flipbook as a hands-on way for students to learn the order of the planets, but also to pull in some fine motor skills practice. To begin […]

Are you looking for a fun way to teach about procedural writing? I found an awesome book for this genre! Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin is the PERFECT story to teach about procedural, or how to, writing. After reading the book, Dragons Love Tacos, I explained that we would be writing a procedural, or […]

Making Inferences is a hard skill for both teachers and kids. But, with a great resource, it's a little easier. These passages have 3 inferences built right in and the passages are short so they do not overwhelm kids that are struggling with inferring.Buy the Bundle and $ave 20%Here's what The Fun F...

We've started learning about the reading comprehension strategy, Inferring, this week. I L.O.V.E teaching inferring!! It's so fun to see the kids' gears turning and putting the pieces together to figure out what's really going on!