Homeworkopoly!

Wow! I have not posted in a LONG time. I just can't seem to get a routine going where blogging fits in on a regular basis. Now that school has started I am going to TRY to be better.

So, I have been back teaching in the classroom for a week and I am still working to get things just like I want them. I have always wanted to try my hand at the popular "Homeworkopoly" game that can be found here. However, it was a pdf document so I could not make any changes and I am such a control freak that I needed to be able to make it my own. So, this weekend I found myself with a few hours (yes, hours) and I made my own version for my classroom. I am going to post it here so it can be used by others (no sense reinventing the wheel).

I am posting it in a format that should allow people to make changes. You may need to change or download a font or two in order to make it look exactly like it does in the picture but that is the price to pay for being able to change the wording. I used some things that are personal to my own school (Tigers, 7 Habits, Ms. Reed) that you will want to change and now you can. Please give me some feedback and let me know if it works!

I am in the process of laminating the final project and will post a picture as soon as it is done! GOOD LUCK!

Download here! (Picture coming!)

Sadness in my world...

This weekend the father of one of my former students was killed in the line of duty as a police officer. I am heartbroken by this senseless act of violence that left two beautiful girls with no father.

Read the article here.

Please keep the family in your thoughts.

Last one for the night.

This is such a simple game for reviewing multiplication facts but the kids love it!

Download it for FREE here!

And another...

This activity allows students to show their mastery of the concept of multiplication by matching a product with its corresponding repeated addition fact, array, multiplication fact and a word problem.

You can purchase this here!

While I am at it...

I was browsing through my files and found these:

You can download them for FREE here!

Another Game

Another game, this one helps students with learning the 5s and 10s facts. Purchase here!

Multiplication Games

I am going to try to spend some time this weekend working on some games I have for helping students memorize those dreadful multiplication facts. Here is the first of many, I hope...

"Seeing Double" is a game to help students with the 2s facts.

This is available for purchase at Teachers pay Teachers!

Litterbugs!

Like so many other teachers I am a PINTEREST addict and I am always finding such cool ideas. A few weeks ago I found a pin for "litterbugs" and I decided to use it as a fun activity for the ending of my Conservation unit. The kids spent the week bringing in what I called "clean trash", which meant I did not want anything with food or "goo" on it. The kids also found things (that is where the bobby pins came from...weird) scattered on the playground. They were not allowed to use anything that was not already trash. They had to use their imaginations to create a "litterbug". Here are some of them...

Animal Adaptations - Moth Project

This week we have been studying Animal Adaptations in Science, and while there were many cool projects, this one was the BEST! The kids were given a paper moth that they had to place somewhere in the room and color it to blend in with its surroundings. On Monday another class will be coming in to see if they can find all of our moths and we will go to their room to see if we can find theirs. The kids are so excited. I took pictures of some of the coolest ones.

Another Place Value Game

Up late and can't sleep so I thought I would go ahead and post another FREE place value game. Let me know what you think!

Download here!

My first freebie!

I am not sure what has happened to this school year but it is flying by. I just turned in my grades for the 3rd nine weeks! We only have 48 school days left...YIKES! This has been a hectic and full year to say the least!

We will be starting to review for our upcoming state testing and since I am the one who plans all of the math instruction for my grade, I am hoping to use this time to share some of my teaching ideas on my blog. So, to start off, I am posting this FREE game for reviewing place value. I am hoping to work on a full unit this weekend so please check back if you like this game!

Download here!

Three is a Magic Number

I decided to name my blog "Three is a Magic Number" for several reasons (3 to be exact)...

First, I grew up with School House Rock videos showing on television between Saturday morning cartoons. I think I knew how a bill became a law and what the function of a conjunction was long before I could even talk. However, my favorite School House Rock video of all time was "Three is a Magic Number". As a side note, my totally amazing 13 year old son just showed me how to insert that link.

Second, I just so happen to teach 3rd grade and I love it! I don't consider what I do every day a job, it is more of a passion. I couldn't imagine spending my days anywhere else.

Lastly, I wear three distinct hats in my life and I am sure I will post about them all. I am first and foremost the mother of four amazing kids. However, I am also a teacher by day and a crafter with my own internet business by night and on the weekends. I know that seems like a lot but I like to keep very busy and I have a very happy life.

So, that is me in a nutshell. I am looking forward to this new blogging adventure and I hope to meet some great people and share some wonderful teaching ideas. One last thing, I LOVE to collect quotes and I try to use them to inspire me in my life, so I wanted to share my first one with you as I start...

"Leap and the net will appear."

Sandy

Let the adventure begin...

I have spent countless late night hours reading the amazing blogs written by extremely talented and creative teachers and I felt inspired to start my own. After 15 years of teaching (I took off 8 years to get life rolling for my four kiddos.) I feel I might have a little bit of wisdom and some creative ideas to share with my fellow teachers. So, wish me luck, here I go...