Wrapping Things Up

Only 3 more days. We're soo close but summer still feels so far away. I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the Five for Friday (or should I say Saturday) Linky. 

I realized my kiddos were having difficulty subtracting with zeros, so I made these task cards. CLICK HERE to download them for free.  

 I also taught them this really cool trick. 

It's difficult to subtract with zeros because you have to regroup, so if you need to subtract from 700, take 1 away to create 699. However, you must KEEP THE DIFFERENCE THE SAME so since you took 1 from 700 you also need to take 1 away from the other number. Then subtract. Since you kept the difference the same, your answer will be the same as well. 

 

We also worked on different shades of meaning for verbs and adjectives. I introduced it by showing them four different shades of blue. They quickly caught on to the word "shade" and easily applied it to different verbs and adjectives. 

These cards come from Teaching and Tapas Charades of Meaning product. We had a blast with all the different activities in this product. Click on the picture below to check out the product -- it's fantastic. 

We also completed one of my favorite writing activities. I give my kiddos this prompt on one of the first days of school and I collect their papers. I hold on to them until the end of the school year and I have them complete the same writing prompt (they always forget that they did this at the beginning of the year). When they turn their papers in this time, I surprise them with the beginning of year version. We compare the two pieces of work and discuss how much they have improved as writers over the year. I have them bring the two papers home to share with their family. This activity brings so many smiles and sense of accomplishment -- I'll do it every year.

I've always wanted to use arrow cards to teach my kiddos place value. I came across this great blog post from Tara at the Elementary Math Maniac blog (she actually did a guest post on Kids Math Teacher blog -- which is where I found the info) and she wrote about using magnetic arrow cards. MAGNETIC arrow cards --- LOVE IT! So I made one set of magnetic arrow cards and slapped them on my white board.  I have stayed away from paper arrow cards because of the management aspect (I just think it would become too much).

I went to Wal Mart and bought a pack of magnetic paper that contained 3 pieces ($6). Then I used a ruler and permanent marker and started creating.  I cut them out and added color around the edges (red for the hundred cards, yellow for the ten cards, and green for the one cards).  I'll take a pic of the completed cards and post it on Monday. 

This is totally random, but I came across this on Pinterest and it has been wonderful. If you're a praying momma, it's a must have. If you want to be a praying momma, it's a great resource to help you get started.  I've been using it to pray for my own children AND my students.

CLICK HERE to download your own copy for FREE.