Five for Friday....And A February Freebie!

I'm linking up with Five For Friday.

Well, I guess technically this is my Five for Saturday. I had every intention of posting last night but I was working hard on a fun freebie...more on that later.

1. This week we continued our study of prefixes. I used this Prefix Unit from Mercedes Hutchens. It was fabulous!

2. I'm happy to admit I'm a bit ahead of the game - I have already made my valentines! I of course found the idea on pinterest.  I still need to attach the label to some of them but I think they are super cute! I have a thing for mustaches and the lips are fun too! 

3. Last night after dinner with one of my dear friends and her boys we did a little shopping. We went to Five Below, a store where everything is $5 and below. I should have NEVER stepped inside. Too many neat things! Here's my loot:

Stretchy Bands - I have been wanting to try the idea from this pin, putting a theraband around a chair for students to push against with their feet, supposedly good for kids with ADHD. Therabands are not cheap so I was excited when I found them at Five Below. Below is my blurry picture of testing it out with one of my dining room chairs. I'm going to take them to school Monday and try them out with a few kiddos, I'll let you know how it goes.

Mad Libs Junior - My kiddos LOVE Mad Libs. We do them for special occasions, like birthdays or "celebrations". 

USB Wall Chargers - Since I have 2 ipod touches and an ipad that I use at school I always feel like I need to charge something. I have PLENTY of the white USB cords but I was transporting the wall plug-ins back and forth from home, these are a great solution to be able to leave chargers both places.

4. FREEBIE - I made some February Task Cards to use at Morning Meeting. The leader will pull the card from behind the calendar number and then answer the question, lead the activity, etc. I did questions that are a review of prefixes, synonyms, geometry, place value, and friendship skills. Go grab yours now!

5. Who's ready for A SALE? Forget the Super Bowl, I'm ready to get some goodies! 

Button by the fabulous Ashley Hughes

I know I only have one paid product in my store but I would be honored if you checked it out - Math Story Problem Book.  It will be 20% off in my store, plus the extra 8% off when you check out, so go grab it!

Here are a few things in my cart:

Leanne Prince's Teacher Planner

Liz Olrich's Group Expectations Pack

Rachelle Smith's Why Do We Celebrate Valentine's Day Mini Unit

Don't forget to enter the code SUPER at checkout! Happy shopping!

Money, Money, Money

Anyone else singing the song when they read that title? Ok, good! :)

The other day at Staple's I found this play money and coins in their dollar section. Add to that I was using the "everything in this bag is 15% off" deal and I was super excited! I bought a few packs of each.

Today I felt inspired to create some money themed games for my kiddos. I don't currently have any money games out in my math games except for a set of flashcards. I decided to use one set of the coins to make a kaboom game. All I did was hot glue some coins to popsicle sticks.

I also wrote "Kaboom" on about 5 sticks.

Then all of the sticks went face down into a pringles can that i cut down to size. The game is super easy to play. (There are lots of Kaboom games out there in bloggy land.) Kids play in groups of 2-4. When it's your turn you pull out a stick. You add the coin values and tell the amount. If your partner or group members agree with you, you get to keep the stick. If you pull a Kaboom stick you have to put all of your sticks back in the cup. :(

I added some scrapbook paper and a fancy little label and voila, math game success!

I also made my very first, I made it math game!!! Yay me! It's called Show Me the Money and involves the kids using plastic coins to show how they would "buy" items. I got the idea from the Debbie Diller Math book. I just wanted a prettier recording sheet than the one in her book :)

To download the show me the money recording sheet, click HERE.

To download the show me the money directions, click HERE.

I'm happy to share these as a freebie with everyone but I do love comments and followers. :) Enjoy!

Moving in Math - SCOOT

Need a little something to spice up your math time? Need to get your kiddos moving? SCOOT is the game for you! Scoot is a game that I learned about via Christina Bainbridge. Basically you can break up any worksheet or activity so that the kids move around the classroom in an order. The kids have their own recording sheet (I use this one from Christina) to write their answers on.

An easy way to play Scoot is to write problems on the kids desks with a dry erase marker. I did this one time with basic addition problems. The kids thought I was crazy but it wipes right off with a clorox wipe (another excuse to clean!).

A while ago I made some cards for when we learned about comparing numbers using greater than and less than. I printed the cards on cardstock and laminated them. When it was time to play Scoot I just put the cards on the desks and we were good to go. The kids wrote both numbers on their paper, along with the greater than, less than, or equals sign. As Christina suggests, it's a good idea to first train your kiddos how to move about the room. I usually have one student model the path to follow during Scoot.

My kiddos love Scoot! It's a great way to review and keep the learning going while getting wiggles out. :)

I hope you find this helpful! Click here to get your copy of my Scoot cards.

Note: Numbers 21-24 have smiley faces because they are "free spaces". The recording sheet has 20 spots and I have more kiddos than that so I spread out the free spaces. The kids get to take a break when they are at a smiley face spot.

The Teachable Moment + A Freebie!

Today I had an opportunity to go with the teachable moment. We are hard at work on our Haunted House for Sale writing project. Today we talked about the topic sentence and how important it is. I told the kids that if their topic sentence wasn't interesting and exciting, a potential buyer probably would not take the time to read the rest of their ad. We brainstormed some great topic sentence ideas such as "Are you in the market for a new spooky haunt?" or "Enter my hideous haunted house if you dare!". Then I set the kids free to write their own topic sentence based on their haunted house. In the middle of their writing I had a fantastic idea!

I grabbed my "witch" and "zombie" fingers that we have been using as pointers in reading groups and put them on all of my fingers. Then I told the kids that once they finished their topic sentence they needed to bring their paper and sit on the carpet. I took the role of "monster/zombie/witch/ghostly ghoul" and each student had to come up one at a time and read their topic sentence to me. I, the scary creature, then would tell the writer if I was interested in their house our not. If I was interested that meant their topic sentence was great and had lots of details. If I wasn't interested they had to go back and rewrite it or add details until I was interested. They LOVED it. We were all giggling. I made sure to use my best scary voice and say things like "Come here my pretty!" or "Silence Urchins!". We had so much fun and their Topic Sentences were awesome! They really are starting to become dashingly delightful descriptive writers!

In more teachery related news, I have a freebie for you. I made a fun Halloween Family Project for the kiddos to take home next week. I figured with all of the candy they are collecting it would be great to incorporate some graphing and math! I added a few Halloween writing pages I found on TPT but you could also just add some fun Halloween stationery with a simple prompt such as "What did you dress up as on Halloween?". Hope you enjoy! Click here to download your copy. I'm making mine completely optional but it could also be great homework for next week!