Heads Up- Flash Freebie!

I just wanted to give all of my blog followers a heads up that I will be having a flash freebie tonight over at Teacher Made Freebies on Facebook. So become a Facebook fan so that you won't miss it (and the other great freebies).

Counting Bear Sorting Mats Freebie

Today I'm sharing my Counting Bear Sorting Mats Freebie from my TPT store. This is a fun packet that is very easy to use in your pre-k or kindergarten classroom. All you have to do is print, laminate and gather your counting bears

printed, laminated and ready to go

counting bears ready to be sorted

sorting blue and yellow bears

2nd group of bears ready to be sorted

sorting blue and green bears

My students love getting to sort the bears, plus seeing how many bears they can fit in the circle :) 

New Freebie for Back to School!

I've been working on lots of different word problems packets. I'm in the process of a fall themed packet and a community helpers themed packet. I just finished a back to school theme packet that has 6 problems and it's available as a freebie in my TPT store!

The word problem cards are the perfect size to cut apart and glue into math journals or on a piece of paper. All of the problems are addition problems. They would be great to use at the beginning of school to get students in the habit of doing a daily word problem. 

Do you have any suggestions for themes for upcoming word problem packets? I'm going to start working on ones for 2nd grade as well. 

Word Problems Galore!

How often do you use word problems with your class? I use word problems every day with my first graders. We usually do one (sometimes 2) during morning work. Then during the week we usually do one or two during math and usually have one to do for homework as well. Also I have two math centers that always focus on word problems. One center has problems to go along with whatever skills we are currently practicing and the other center has "challenge" problems (especially for my upper students). I go through a lot of word problems.

To complete our word problems, students have to have three things on their paper for their answer to be considered complete. They have to have their number sentence/equation, a word sentence answering the question, and some sort of picture (more than one is always great) showing the problem. Pictures can include using counters, ten frames, hundreds boards, number line, etc. One thing we are really focusing on now (especially since we know a variety of strategies) is selecting the best strategy to use. It's not wrong if they select a different strategy to use, but we do talk about which one would be the best, such as using a number line when doing 45 + 10 instead of drawing counters.

I have no idea how many word problems I have created so far this year, but I have now starting putting them together in packets and putting them on TPT. Some of the problems are 2 on a page (each problem is 1/2 a page so that you can cut it in half and use 1 problem or do both problems). The other problems are (usually) 6 to a page and in black and white for easy printing. These problems I use for math journals, I just cut them out and I'm ready to go.

Now for your freebie! I have a packet of 6 pet theme word problems available for free. These problems focus on 3 digit addition. In addition to the paper version of the word problems, you can download them for the ActivBoard for free as well!

As I organize my word problems into packets there will be more available in my store and I will be bundling ones together as well, such as seasons and holidays. I will be offering the ActivBoard versions as well so that you have the problem available on the ActivBoard to work through with your class (or if you are trying to save on paper).

Another packet of word problems that I have available is Word Problems: Spring Theme. It has a total of 30 problems that are aligned to the 1st grade math common core standards. You can win a copy for free! All you need to do is leave a comment (with your email address) and I'll pick a winner on Wednesday night!

March Currently

March is going to be one extremely busy month! It's alright though- we have spring break the first week of April and I can't wait!

It's time to link up again with Oh' Boy 4th Grade for the monthly currently!

I'm taking a break from cleaning while my husband is outside working on our yard (it needs a lot of work- the dogs pretty much destroyed it during the winter). I am so happy that it is not raining and that it's actually kind of nice outside. The past couple of weekends it as rained so it is nice to see the sun! Now if it was only 70 degrees outside I'd be really happy :)

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Manic Monday Freebie

I'm linking up with Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies to share my newest freebie with you! It is a true/false subtraction board game.

This board focuses on subtraction facts up to 10. The goal of the game is to sort the subtraction cards based on if the equation is true or false. There is a sorting mat included with the game so that you are able to monitor the game and can pick up the cards that they have used to do a quick informal assessment to see if the students are correct. 

If the student is correct (the students are suppose to monitor each other) then they can move 1 spot on the game board.

Here are some of the game cards that are included. Depending on how many students are playing, you may want to print out another set of cards so that there are enough to last through the entire game.

 You can download the game here from my TPT store. I hope you find this game useful! After my students loved the addition true/false games so much I decided to make this game as well.

Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies

Today I'm linking up with Maniac Monday over at Classroom Freebies to share my winter/arctic theme freebie with everyone!


Here is a penguin themed odd and even number sorting game that I made to go along with our winter and arctic unit we are doing in January. 

This is the cover of the game. I made mine into a file folder game with this on the front and the odd and even igloos on the inside of the file folder.  Then I use Velcro to help keep the pieces inside of the file folder. 

Here are the numbers that are included! 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy my freebie! 

Fall Theme Freebie and Giveaway

I've been working on preping for our month long (the entire month of October!) unit on fall/apples/pumpkins. I have made a variety of math activities to go along with this unit, including number order cards, number puzzles and counting activities. You can get my fall leaf number puzzles for numbers 1-20 here for free. If you are doing a unit about fall/apples/pumpkins be sure to check out my pinterest board that has a variety of free and paid products along with bulletin board ideas, books and craft activities. 

Don't forget to enter my Fall Theme Giveaway! It ends this Friday! There are all kinds of great prizes to win to go along with a fall unit/theme. 
Diving Into Learning Fall Theme Giveaway!

New Products, A Freebie, And A Quick Giveaway!

Today I've been working on a few new products, a science activity and random craft projects. Here is my new math packet that I finished today. It focuses on numbers 1-120 and goes along with the first grade common core math standards. 

Numbers 1-120 Charts and Fill in the Missing Numbers

Another math product that I finally finished is my Tally Marks: Counting Bear Theme. I love using counting bears (and unifix cubes) in my classroom and I had created a packet using unifix cubes and this counting bears packet has been on my to do list for awhile. 

Now for a freebie! I've linked up with Graphics From The Pond and created this cute Halloween themed game for recognizing numbers 1-20. You can get it for free from my TPT store. Be sure to check out the linky party for more great ghost themed items. 

Now for something fun: If you pin any 1, 2 or all three of the items above (please pin from my TPT store and all of the links are included above) and leave a comment with the link(s) to the pin(s) and your email address, tomorrow night I'm going to use the random number generator thing and pick a winner and you can choose if you want the Numbers 1-120 packet or the Tally Marks: Counting Bear Theme packet. Happy pinning! 

Relaxing weekend :)

My husband and I decided to take a 3 day weekend together and hang out at the lake. It was beautiful. We saw lots of beautiful sunrises, sunsets and pretty views. While he was fishing (I fished for a little while but my attention span for fishing only last so long while my husband can fish all day long) I played on pinterest. Yay for having a smartphone and being able to check pinterest, TPT and blogs while sitting by the lake. Plus I had my kindle with me and it was nice to have a few hours of uninterrupted time to read :)

sunrise this morning

On Thursday I found out about my work and school (I'm in school working on my k-5 license and masters) schedule for this fall. I'll be with my pre-k class 4 days a week and then I will be working with a kindergarten class 1 day a week to fulfill my practicum hours for my program. Yay! So now I have an excuse for spending so much time on TPT and pinterest because I have to find kindergarten items plus things for the new themes that I will be teaching in pre-k this fall that we have never done before.

While checking things out on TPT, I found so many great freebies! Check out a few of the ones that I found (and then printed off when I got home and now I can't wait to use them)
Math Alphabet Posters
Apple Tree Playdough Mats
Fall Word Wall Words
5 Little Pumpkins Pocket Chart

 I decided that on Fridays I am going to spotlight great freebies on my blog. If you have a freebie that you would like for me to check out please fill out the form. It can be anything that can be used in a pre-k or k classroom (activities, games, worksheets, forms, clip art, etc). Plus all freebies that are submitted I will pin on pinterest :)   The blog post will include how I used the freebie, pictures, links, etc.

Giveaway and Pinterest!

I love Pinterest. It is an obsession. Right before I left for Vegas, I started  new Pinterest boards. Originally it was one, but then I decided that I needed to split it up (and I may end up making more for other resources). These new boards focus on freebies that can be found on TPT.

These are the collaborative boards that I have started:

Free K and 1st Grade Math Products (Collaborative)

Pre-K/K/1st Grade Science Lessons and Activities

All of my boards on Pinterest are education related. Well there is one board that has cute and funny stuff, but  many of the pins are education related. For example:

Seriously, I can ALWAYS find something at Target that I want need. 

Also, don't forget to check out my giveaway that is going on right now!