Multiplication Freebie!

Hi everyone! I was due with my baby girl on Monday and STILL no baby! So I needed something to do to pass the time. I created a multiplication freebie for all of my teacher friends. It's up on my TpT store now! You can grab it HERE!

My third graders struggle with mastering their multiplication facts so I'm always looking for new and interesting ways to get them engaged in the process. We play lots of multiplication centers so I need to have a good supply of materials so they don't get bored of the same old games. This center can be played a few different ways. I've included a cover page, directions, and 44 facts. Let me know what you think!

Fact and Opinion Bundle!

Happy Wednesday! I just posted a new product on my Tpt Store that I LOVE! This fact and opinion bundle includes a poster, two worksheets, and a center! Head on over to my store to grab it! You can use it as a center or a mini-lesson. I have an assistant that works in my room during our literacy block so this will be super useful when teaching my students about fact and opinion. Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for stopping by!

                                                                               

TpT Sale!

Happy Monday everyone! I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that my Teachers Pay Teachers store will be 20 percent off on February 25th and 26th! Make sure you head over and check out some of the products!

Some popular ones this month are...

Click HERE to snag this!

Click HERE to snag this!

Click HERE to snag this!

Click HERE to snag this!

Thanks for stopping by!

                                                                                   

Creative Writing Center

I have a few weeks of summer break left, so I'm cranking out some new TPT products! Be on the look out for some cool stuff! This week, I'm showing off my new creative writing center that you can also see here at my store. I really try to motivate my third graders to write. And they will, if it's what they want to write about. That is totally fine with me because that's step #1.

This center is super easy to set up and use in the classroom! Cut and laminate the cards. Place each set in a bag or an envelope. Have students pick one from each bag and begin writing! The crazier the combinations, the more their imagination needs to work :)

The center includes:

-a set of plot cards

-a set of setting cards

-a set of character cards

-a pre-writing sheet

Charlotte's Web Novel Study

I hope everyone is having a nice and relaxing summer! Since I've got a few minutes of extra time, I wanted to prepare some things for the study that my third graders do of Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. I've got two products on Teachers Pay Teachers so far!

My first product is a set of vocabulary words from Charlotte's Web. You can display these in your classroom or use them as a center! Click here to check it out!

 

My next product is a set of response questions by chapter. You can use these as a seatwork packet, quizzes, or homework as needed. Click here to check this awesome product out!

 

 

Tips to End the Year Off With!

We are nearing the end of the year! It's that time when we don't have new content to teach, but we need to keep the kids engaged. Otherwise, we would all go crazy! Here are a few math and reading ideas to end the school year off with: 

Reading: 

• Create a comic strip of your favorite story that we've read this year

• Write a poem about a character from one of the stories that we've read 

• Compare two stories that we've read this year using a Venn diagram and then illustrate

• Creative writing: use plot, character, and setting cards to create a crazy story! 

• Write a song or rap about your favorite story or make up your own story and create a song or rap

• Work in groups to create a story. Each student write a sentence and keep passing it along and adding until you have a finished product! 

• End of the year memory book: Create your own or grab mine HERE!

Math

• Roll the dice: roll the dice and create numbers to add or subtract-we have foam dice that the kids love

• Add it fast-take digit cards and have students each put down a card-whoever says the sum first keeps both cards. You can use this for multiplication too

• Math bingo-easy to create on your own with multiplication, addition, or subtraction!

• Have you students create their own word problems and post around the room for students to solve 

• Math olympics! 

There are so many more things that we are doing in our room, but this would be a very long post! I also do a lot of Smart Board activities that I find through Smart Exchange or TPT, but my students love playing games with each other! Any other cool ideas that you have are appreciated! 

End of the Year Memory Book

The school year is coming to an end. Although I will miss my lovely class, I can't say that I'm not itching to say goodbye for the summer! At the end of the school year I usually look online for some kind of "end of the year" worksheet. I wanted to incorporate all aspects of the school year; subjects, friends, teacher, summer plans, etc. I would love to laminate these for a keepsake for the kids. What sort of fun end of the year things do you do in your classroom?

Head on over to my TpT store right here and grab it! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Writing in the Classroom

Happy Hump Day everyone! It's been a couple weeks since my last post...a lot has been going on! On top of MSA, snow days, and grad school, I'm overwhelmed to say the least. I wanted to do a quick post about writing centers. I love writing and I want my students to enjoy it as well. I'm even writing my 40 page graduate paper on the attitudes of students towards writing!

During the Daily 5, students are able to work on writing. It is a requirement to work on writing AT LEAST twice a week. I've created a writing table where I store their writing folders and the class writing journals. At the beginning of the year I bought a folder for each student to last the entire year. They are stored in the bins shown below. This way, students won't lose them and I can see the progress that they make throughout the year. My students can write whatever they want in these folders. I have journal cards, story ideas, creative writing cards, etc. In addition to the folders, I have spiral notebooks and composition books with labels on them that I created. You can grab these for free at my Teachers Pay Teachers store here! These journals have broad topics on them so students can write creatively.

How do you promote writing in your class?

 

Sentences and Fragments

Happy Hump Day everyone! I hope you all are having a great week so far! I have a new product to share with you, which focuses on developing sentences. Many of my students have trouble developing sentences, as they are writing fragments. What a perfect way to get rid of this habit...a few printables and a center that focuses on sentences and fragments! These activities could be used from 1st  grade to 4th grade, depending on the needs of your students. I teach 3rd grade and I created this for my class, although it can be differentiated. This awesome bundle includes 3 printables and a center! Click here to grab this at my TpT store!

 

 

 

 

 

Black History Month Part II

Happy Hump Day everyone! I am so excited to share my new Black History center! After watching the movie, The Butler, I became even more intrigued about Black history. If you haven't seen it, you need to watch it (not with your kiddies of course). It gave me a new insight on history and what African-Americans went through. I was hooked the entire time. I thought having Oprah in it would throw me off, but she did an amazing job. I want my kids to learn about Black history and appreciate what they have now. Check out the trailer below, then go to Redbox and get it! :)

 

 

 

 

 

And now for my center, called "Who Am I?" Click the photo below to grab this awesome center!

 

 

 

 This easy to assemble center on requires laminating and cutting! Use this as a literacy or social studies center, whole class activity, or differentiate it and have students research the figures.

Includes:
-Cover page
-Directions
-Answer sheet
-Recording sheet
-9 character cards
-27 facts

 

What are you doing in your classroom for Black History month? If you'd like to see a similar center for President's Day, click here. Happy blogging, teacher friends!

 

President's Day FREEBIE and GAME

Here in Southern Maryland we had a snow day! This meant that I could spend a few hours creating some new products. Since President's Day is coming up, I figured I could focus on that. Check it out!

Who's That President? You can find this for $4.00 at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Click here to grab this fun game! In this game, students read a fact about a president and have to match it to one of the six presidents. Ideally, there should be some background knowledge, but this can also be a learning tool that you can use with groups!  

Here is your President's Day FREEBIE! :) After teaching about President's Day, have your students write what they would do if they were president. This would be an amazing writing sample to hang in the hallway or laminate to send home in a portfolio. There is an intermediate prompt and a primary prompt. Click here to grab this one :)

Thanks again for stopping by! I hope you enjoy these products! Let me know what you think :)

Long Vowel Sort

I spent several hours on making this super cute center academically appropriate and easy for the teacher and students to use. I'm very excited to have it in my TpT Store. This long vowel sorting center is perfect for both primary and intermediate students! I geared my words more toward third grade because I'll be using it in my classroom. This center can be easily differentiated by using it in different ways and altering it using the extra blank cards that are included. Click here to get this product! Let me know what you think! :)

 

 

All I did was laminate the entire file, tape the cover page and the directions onto the folder, and place the pieces in a bag!

 

 

 

Entire Store 20 % Off

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you enjoyed your weekend. It snowed a little bit here in Maryland, so we went into school two hours late and left 90 minutes early! What a nice surprise! :) As a little Happy Monday gift to you, my ENTIRE STORE is 20 % off! Click here to check out all my products, or click a photo to go directly to one of these products!

 

 

 

Thanks!!

 

24 HOUR FREEBIE!

Hello fellow bloggers! It's been a few days since I've posted! I have my observation next Friday so I've been super busy lately, as you can imagine! I'm excited about my new product because it reinforces the skill of suffixes and prefixes and incorporates writing! This can be easily differentiated for every learner. If you are interested in the 24 hour freebie, click the photo below!

 

 

 

Thanks again for stopping by!

 

Holiday Freebie!

Happy Monday everyone! This Monday actually feels great because it's a two day week! I am so ready for Thanksgiving break. I will actually be working on a fall snack for our class' fall festival tomorrow! I'm so excited to share it with you when I'm done. I promise I will post pictures of this cute AND yummy snack! For today though, I have a new TpT product from my store.

Since I am in the holiday spirit, I thought "Why not make a holiday center!?" Check it out!

 

 

This center is so great because it can be used for multiple grade levels and differentiated for every learner! Have intermediate students? Make it a grammar lesson on subjects and predicates. Primary kids? Focus on forming sentences and illustrating a picture. Maybe a creative writing center? You can really go any direction with this. Check out my store to download this awesome freebie here or click the photo above! I included ideas for how to use this cute center. Do you have any super cute centers that you use during the holiday season? Please share and don't forget to follow my blog and other social media sites to keep up with the latest news @ The Elementary Life!

 



Compound Words & New TpT Product

I've been on a roll with updating my TpT Store. It's so much fun creating new products for my students to use and to give other educators a chance to use as well! Here is a preview of my new Compound Word Center from my "Whoo's Made a Match?" collection! I really like this center because it can be easily differentiated for every learner.

 

Differentiation Ideas:

• Remove difficult words
• Let students pick one word and make up their own word to complete the compound word
• Have students use each word in a sentence after making a match

Click on the photo to see more details at my Teachers Pay Teachers store! :) I have an awesome freebie as well, which you can check out HERE.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to follow my blog, TpT Store, Pinterest, and Twitter using the icons to the right!