Multiplication Fun!

I see so many bloggers who say that literacy is their "safe place" and that they love teaching children to read. I, however, am the complete opposite. I totally struggle with teaching reading! Math is my happy place!

During RtI, my grade level is trying something new. As always, we broke up the students according to level, but we aren't exactly doing small groups for everyone. The highest and lowest are remaining in small groups with specialists. The others are in groups of 15, and they will rotate through the 3rd grade teachers on a 2 week rotation. Each of us is focusing on a different skill.

I have multiplication/division. YES! My favorite thing to teach! This cycle, I have one of the higher groups, so in the two weeks, I went through Arrays, Repeated Addition, Drawing a Picture, and Knowing your facts as strategies.

Here's what I did for arrays. And let me tell you, I was talk of the hallway! Remember these from your childhood?

Perler Beads? (sp)

Okay, me either. BUT, when I was an arts&crafts teacher at a summer camp a few years ago, this was the bee's knees. The cat's meow even.

I was browsing through the craft store, came across these, and BOOM. An idea! Students were in pairs, and every pair had a cup of these beads and the board that you use to shape them on. After introducing arrays the day before, they were ready to practice. I started small, asking them to make an array that represented 3 x 3, and I eventually built them up to 12x12. At the end, I let them each make their own array, but it would not be ironed until they correctly identified the array that it represented. Every 3rd grade friend walked out with an array that day!

They couldn't stop talking about it. They won't forget what an array is any time soon! This was an inexpensive project, as I didn't let them make an array bigger than 10x10 to take home. I can use these beads for a looong time before they run out! [These pictures are from google. I didn't take a picture this rotation, but I definitely will next go around if those friends can handle this project!]

How do you make multiplication hands on?

Um, ANOTHER awesome giveaway!

Denise at Sunny Days is having a giveaway! Seriously, once I have more followers, I'd love to do a fun giveaway! They are just so darn exciting! Anyway, I always read about bloggers finding great stuff at Dollar Stores. However, I have the worst luck when it comes to this. I never find anything worthwhile. Maybe Delaware dollar stores aren't stocked with such awesome-ness?

Anyway, I SO hope I win this giveaway. BUT, I also rarely win things! I've won a contest ONCE. I was driving home from work [during the summers, I used to work as an art teacher at a camp], and I was stuck in traffic. They were giving away Kenny Chesney tickets, and I was stuck in traffic. Naturally, I called in, hitting redial about, hm, 10 times. Well, the rest is history. This was in 2009. So I'm due for some good luck!

Thanks Denise for an awesome giveaway!

My Long Lost Blog..

So much for teaching and blogging in the same day/week/year. I'm so exhausted! I have no idea how you all do it: posting freebies, making resources, and updating more than once a month. I bow down to you all!

Well, we've just began our 4th week of school. The kids are settling in. Well not really, because since we've began I've had two students move, gained a challenging student, our RTI hasn't officially started until this week, etc. So, I'll probably be in the complete swing of things come..... December? Only time will tell.

Due to our Race To The Top grant, we have PLC time weekly. Although it is great to have that time to "collaborate with my team" AKA sit in meetings for 70% of the time, then get about 15 minutes to plan, I always leave more stressed out than I walked in. First of all, I'm having the same problem I had last year. My kids are AWFUL when they are out of my sight. There was mass chaos today in the lunch room when I didn't have lunch duty! When they were at their extra afternoon special this afternoon [because of our PLC], they were ridiculous. I mean, they aren't perfect angels for me when I'm teaching, but my goodness. I wish there was some transfer when it comes to their behavior. Another source of the stress is all of the new things that are thrown at us every meeting. Every teacher can relate, so I won't delve too much into that rant!

In other news, I'm getting observed this week. I'm a third year teacher, and under our new DPAS framework, "novice" teachers must be observed three times. Juuuust great, considering I have a huge anxiety issue and my neck and ears turn bright red at a hint of nervousness. The fact that I love my principal [who is observing me] makes it a little easier, but still, I get nervous when anyone is in my room. I  know I'm doing everything I can to help my students, so I just need to accept everything as constructive criticism and move on. Obviously, that is easier said than done. I was so happy that my principal asked what I would like her to see for my first observation. I asked her to come during centers, which I am implementing for the first time this year. I told her that this is our first week doing them full time, and I made sure she knew that it was NOT going to be perfect! There are six centers, and the students visit two per day, Monday-Wednesday. There are a few kinks in this, however. I think they will work themselves out in time. I already told my students that my principal wanted to see how well we do centers at the end of the week.

This week=Johnny Appleseed. Woo? No matter how hard I try, I can't get into it. Now, Dr. Seuss? There's a birthday I can get into. Last year we made applesauce, but I don't think that's happening this year. I'm thinking apple prints of some kind. I need to think about it! Anyone have any fun ideas, I've browsed Pinterest, but nothing is really jumping out at me!

Yes! I posted! Hi to my four followers! :)

They are READY for third grade!

Last year, my school adopted the Common Core Standards. We also began using a new testing system, DCAS, which is WAY more difficult than our previous test [DSTP]. DCAS is also on the computer, which is a whole other issue. But anyway, last year we were in limbo. Our third graders were not ready for third grade "Common Core" style. Tons of back tracking needed to be done with simple skills. Being a first year classroom teacher [after spending time as a writing teacher], I didn't know what to think. Was this the norm? Would I need to review the entire second half of second grade skills [especially math] before moving on to all of the third grade standards? I don't have time!

Well, I'm happy to report that after starting our beginning unit on base 10, my students seem ready to learn third grade standards. Is back tracking still necessary? Of course. But not nearly as much as I remember from last year. I can't wait to get into teaching multiplication and division! I will probably get to multiplication in mid-October. The babies are SO excited to learn these "big kid" skills.

I'm beat. Maybe I'm not cut out for blogging during the school year! :)

Classroom Rules

Quick post. Today was our second day of school. Yesterday we did tons of activities to get to know each other and tons of housekeeping stuff. We did the venn diagram activity, and I can't wait to post pictures of how they turned out!

Anyway, since we've spent over a day in the classroom, I felt we were ready to write down our rules. We have school wide rules that everyone follows, but of course, every classroom should have their own. I ask for suggestions, assuming that they will all pull something from our "Pledge" that states all of our rules. I call on one of my sweet, but "tough", boys. I ask him for his idea. His idea for the number one rule in the classroom?

"We need to take care of each other."

Oh my. I had tears in my eyes. Funny how little things like that get me. But it was such a precious idea, and I'm glad that I'm already well on my way to have a safe and supportive learning community for my students.