Tried It Tuesday {PicMonkey}

Happy Tuesday! I think I can...I think I can! We are in the home stretch before Christmas break and I always wonder at this time of the year how I will get everything done before Christmas. It didn't help matters that the stomach bug has gone through our house since Thursday. My daughter was home Friday and I was home today. Yuck! Hopefully, we will all be healthy now for the holidays. :)
Tried It Tuesday will be new once a month, opening on the second Tuesday of each month (like TWOSDAY).
Feel free to link up as many times as you would like during the month!

Now It's Time for Tried It Tuesday! 

What have you tried at school or home?
If you've never linked up with Tried It Tuesday, just link up any idea school or home related and what worked or didn't work. Simple! 

My Tried It:

Pic Monkey
My adorable younger sister (blogger at Confessions of a MatchiN'ista) was showing me a picture collage she created and when I asked how she made that, she introduced me to PicMonkey!

 I am probably one of the last people to learn about this little gem of a website, but I was so used to using PowerPoint for my picture collages. This is SO much better!
Warning: PicMonkey is highly addictive and there are so many features that you can get sucked in for hours without even realizing it!
Here is the main page of basic edits for a photo.

Insert photos from choice of many different sources.

Click on Collage at the start page to make a collage of photos.

There are so many choices of types of collages!

Edit the images in the collage by double clicking on the image. The size of the box can also be adjusted by moving the dotted lines around the picture.

I inserted a wallpaper image on the bottom (found in their data bank but you can upload your own too). When you are finished creating the collage of pictures, this screen will appear to take you to editor where there are many more options to play with!

Insert text and I was so impressed that you can use their text or "yours"!!
These are fonts from my computer!

Some fonts or edit features are only available as a "Royale feature".

I added text at the bottom (KG Strawberry limade font).

The effects are endless...

Some effects are for "Royale members"

Frame options...

Themes to add on...see the santa hat on my son?

Another theme add on "Merry Christmas"

Completed picture saved on my computer:

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Tis the Season for a Sale!

Hello, friends! I hope you had a wonderful, restful holiday with family and friends. I spent the day at my aunt's house, we got more snow, and then my sisters and I did our annual Black Friday shopping. We don't really go out with specific agendas in mind and didn't even have to wait in any lines! It's just nice to be able to shop with them since they both live about 90 miles away.

Maybe by now you've heard of the upcoming TPT sitewide sale...

...but have you entered to win one of the five $25 TPT gift cards yet? Today is the last day to enter. If you win, that extra cash will come to your inbox just in time for the sale! Click the image below to enter if you haven't already... winners will be announced tomorrow!

What is on your wishlist? I love seeing what other people are buying for their classroom. I always find products that I didn't know were even out there!

Feel free to grab the banners and link up, too! Share two items that everyone has on their wish list from your store and one item that you have on your own wish list that you'll buy during the sale.

My entire store will be discounted an additional 20% off December 1st to the 2nd on top of the TPT Cyber sale. The number one thing people have wish listed from my store is my Monster Fractions: Four Fraction Centers for Bigger Kids. There are almost 400 people that have this wishlisted! Are you one of them? The centers address a variety of common core standards in a fun, engaging way. The monster graphics have a winter theme, so it is a perfect center this time of the year! Watch this product review by Rachel Parlett from the Classroom Game Nook.
The standards addressed are: 

CCSS.Math.Content.4.NF.A.1, Equivalent Fractions

CCSS.Math.Content.4.NF.A.2, Comparing Fractions

CCSS.Math.Content.4.NF.B.4d, Word Problems with addition and subtraction of fractions with like denominators

CCSS.Math.Content.4.NF.B.4c, Word Problems with multiplication of a fraction and whole number

CCSS.Math.Content.5.NF.A.1, Add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators

CCSS.Math.Content.5.NF.A.2, Word Problems with addition and subtraction of fractions with unlike denominators

The second most wish listed item is my Line Plots with Fractions Math Center. I created this specifically to address CCSS Math Content.4.MD.B.4 (Make a line plot to display a data set of measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, 1/4 1/8). Solve problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions by using information presented in line plots). This is such a tough skill and this game is amazing for practicing it in a fun, engaging way! Just check out the feedback on this product!

My own students are in the heart of multiplication by multi-digits and our next chapter is long division. So, I have my eye on these winter themed task cards by I Love My Classroom. Here are the Multiplication Task Cards:

Here are the Long Division task cards:

Or...save even more during the Cyber sale and buy the bundle!

Are you ready to shop? Don't forget to use the code TPTCYBER! (I forgot to use the code once to save even more. It's easy to do because most of the stores list their items on sale too!).

Have a wonderful weekend! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Need Some TPT Cash?!?

We are so excited for the holiday season that we couldn't help but spread some love! Lots of your favorite TPT Teacher-Authors and I have teamed up to give YOU some TPT spending money. We love you and appreciate you (and we wish we could give all of our fabulous followers some money)!

Thank you to Jivey at Ideas by Jivey for organizing this giveaway and making the adorable image above!

Enter the Rafflecopter below by simply following our TPT stores, and you will have a chance to win one of five $25 TPT gift cards! 

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can read or link up to Tried It Tuesday this week or next week here!

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tried It Tuesday {Number of the Day}

Happy Tuesday! Sorry I am posting this much later than usual. I am so off schedule because of the holiday and our annual teacher shopping trip yesterday. I know many of you can relate when you have busy teaching schedules, kids' schedules, and making time to blog sometimes takes the back burner. I have been the worst blogger lately and have decided to do Tried It Tuesday once a month, opening on the second Tuesday of each month (like TWOSDAY). I want to blog more often and link up with other teachers, and making my own linky only once a month will hopefully do that. Feel free to link up as many times as you would like during the month!

Now It's Time for Tried It Tuesday! 

What have you tried at school or home?
If you've never linked up with Tried It Tuesday, just link up any idea school or home related and what worked or didn't work. Simple! 

My Tried It:

Number of the Day
I blogged about using a math meeting at the beginning of all three of my math blocks here. One part of the math meeting everyday is the "Number of the Day". I started with number one and it has increased by one each day. I didn't realize how much the students would get excited about the Number of the Day and really outdo themselves. It has been a wonderful addition to the meeting!
Every day students eagerly raise their hand to share the number sentence that they created that equals the number of the day. "Pick me...Pick me...is what their strained little faces show!"

Here are some examples of student work for number of the day. I love how many of them use division even though we haven't covered division yet. I taught them a little trick that if they multiply the number of the day by any number, they can then make that a division problem. They LOVE it!

 This one actually equals 41 and it is supposed to be 40 but I was so impressed by how she used the order of operations that we had just worked on the day prior!

When students go back to their seats after math meeting each day, I hear a buzz of conversation and the students sharing their number sentences with each other, trying to impress their peers!

Don't forget that my BBB, Nick, from Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason. Nick and his wife have begun one of the best, most exciting journeys of their lives...a journey to adopt a child. It is their dream to be parents and they have put so much heart into making this dream a reality. Unfortunately, the cost associated with adoption is so high that a teacher's salary alone is not enough. That's where teacher bloggy friends come in! Many bloggers have put together a fall bundle of products geared for grades 3-5 where the profits will help Nick and his wife make their dream of becoming parents a reality! Check out this fall bundle here!
This will only be available until this Friday, November 14th!

Many of these items were created new for this bundle and are not yet available in teacher's stores! Check them out...

So, that comes to about $1.30 per product in this bundle! What a steal!! AND you will be supporting a fellow teacher and his dream of becoming a dad! Win, Win!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tried It Tuesday {Math Workshop Board} and Teachers Help Teachers!!

Happy Tuesday! Before I get to Tried It Tuesday, I would like to tell you about my BBB, Nick, from Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason. Nick and his wife have begun one of the best, most exciting journeys of their lives...a journey to adopt a child. It is their dream to be parents and they have put so much heart into making this dream a reality. Unfortunately, the cost associated with adoption is so high that a teacher's salary alone is not enough. That's where teacher bloggy friends come in! Many bloggers have put together a fall bundle of products geared for grades 3-5 where the profits will help Nick and his wife make their dream of becoming parents a reality! Check out this fall bundle here!

Many of these items were created new for this bundle and are not yet available in teacher's stores! Check them out...

So, that comes to about $1.30 per product in this bundle! What a steal!! AND you will be supporting a fellow teacher and his dream of becoming a dad! Win, Win!!

Now It's Time for Tried It Tuesday! 

What have you tried at school or home?
If you've never linked up with Tried It Tuesday, just link up any idea school or home related and what worked or didn't work. Simple! 

My Tried It:

Math Workshop Board
Knowing that I was making the switch to teaching 4th grade math departmentalized this year (three 80 minute blocks), I spent a good amount of time this summer reading about math workshop. I loved using Daily 5 for ELA in my classroom and knew that I wanted to use something similar for math.

I found some wonderful, inspiring posts by my amazing bloggy friends Tara at 4th Grade Frolics and Elizabeth at Fun in Room 4B. Elizabeth actually has a whole series of posts about math workshop in her room. It was overwhelming at first because their workshops seem to run so smoothly and I wasn't sure how it would work for me. I started about a month ago and could not be more thrilled!! I am loving it and so are the students! Two students just told me yesterday that math is their favorite subject and it used to be their least favorite!

One thing I thought might be overwhelming was changing the math workshop rotation board everyday with three different blocks of 80 minute math classes.
Here is my workshop rotation board:

Aren't they cute? This set is from 4th Grade Frolics TpT store and she has different colored sets available too. The groups are written for three different sections. I laminated all the pieces and write on them with dry erase markers so I can change groups if needed. I put the rotation cards on the board with push pins so that I could move them easily. However, I have found that I can just leave them as is and tell the students that today we are doing centers 1 & 2 (or whatever) and the next day do centers 3 & 4!  

I only have time for two centers a day. We start class with math meeting and then do a mini lesson usually or review something whole class. I will write more about that later. The students are great at the routine now and get to their centers quickly. Below the "Hands On", "Math Facts", and "At Your Seat", I just laminated white pieces of paper and write in dry erase marker what they will be working on. I blogged last time about how I am using Adapted Mind this year sometimes for "At Your Seat". I just added a calendar to the open space at the top. As much as I would like to keep all three math classes on the same centers each day, it's just not happening with assemblies or things in one class taking more time. So, I am writing on the calendar each day what centers each block completed (so I don't have to ask the class each day...I can never remember day to day!).

Time for you to link up! Have a great Halloween this week! Aren't you happy it is on a Friday? We carved these pumpkins last night (using the pre made designs) but I was pretty proud. :)

An InLinkz Link-up