300 Follower Giveaway!!

My 300 Follower Giveaway is Here!!  I am so excited to team up with 19 amazing, generous bloggers to host a massive giveaway of educational resources!  Thank you to all my followers for continuing to read this little blog.  I truly appreciate you all!!

For each of the two rafflecopters, the winner will receive $20 of educational resources from an online store of their choice in addition to all the other prizes from various bloggers!  Winner's can choose a TPT or TN gift card or choose up to $20 of items from another online store (I would order your educational resource choices of up to $20 from a site like amazon and ship them to you).  The winner will be able to get that professional resource that has been on their wish list and so much more from amazing bloggers!

Check out the fabulous prizes in the rafflecopters being offered by the following bloggers!  Many TPT or TN store winner choice items are prizes as well as a $10 Starbucks gift card in Rafflecopter #1 and a $10 amazon gift card in Rafflecopter #2.  I divided the giveaway into two rafflecopters, one for 3-5 and one for K-2 resources.  Click on the blogs below to check them out!  There are also links in the Rafflecopters.

Grades 3-5 Resources Rafflecopter a Rafflecopter giveaway

Grades K-2 Resources Rafflecopter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday Made It January and Giveaways:)

I am linking up with my favorite gal, Tara, at 4th Grade Frolics for her Monday Made It!  This is my all-time favorite linky and is really a great motivator:)

I spent quite a few days over my Christmas break working on four fraction centers for my 4th graders.  The Common Core stresses fractions heavily in 4th grade and they can definitely use more practice!  This product of 43 pages total and four centers are available at my TPT store.  I am so proud of this product and hope to find time soon to make more products to meet the new CCSS and supplement where my curriculum is lacking.

This is the "Freaky Equivalent Fractions" center I laminated where students make equivalent fractions by multiplying the numerator and denominator by a number.  I laminated the cards and students show their work with a dry erase marker at a center.

 I made two sets of the center complete with directions and an answer key.

This is the "Monster Half Smack" center where students play a game by identifying fractions as greater than, less than, or equal to 1/2.  When a card is flipped that is equal to 1/2, the first player to smack the card gets to keep it.  The other cards go on the game board.  There is a fraction bar diagram for students to check their answers at the center and directions that I laminated.  I made two sets for this center also, one set with a blue back and one set with a purple back.

To laminate the cards with a back, I first put tape on the back of each card before placing it on a piece of blue or purple paper.  

Next, I cut the cards out and laminated them.

I also made a new handout to keep track of my students' completion of Daily 5 centers (I use Daily 4).  My students fill out a chart like this when choosing their centers.  Get a modified version of this chart here.  I couldn't figure out how to get three on a page in google docs.

They write down the date, task, and rate "how they did" at the center (I use a 3 star rating system).  I have 24 students for ELA and allowing them to choose centers has been working for most but some students are avoiding certain activities.  I am having a difficult time giving up control because I want them to complete certain activities and be held accountable.  So, I gave them this handout (get it here from google docs) and they have to complete these activities within the quarter (some are already completed).  It was inspired from the amazing Tonya at Tonya's Treats for Teachers in her post here.

I hope that this will make them more accountable!  For the couple students that it may not work for, I will have to start choosing their centers for them.  I just don't know what else to do.  

I also found some great center activities that I printed, cut-out, and laminated.  That counts as a Made-It, right?  These "Winter Compound Sentences" and "Winter Wonderings Quotation Practice"(this one is FREE) are by 4th Grade Racers.

I downloaded and laminated this FREE Happy New Year math game board 

from Making Math More Fun.

These Fact or Opinion Task Cards are by Rachel Lynette and they are great for "bigger kids".  The facts and opinions are a little more difficult to determine.  It comes complete with an answer recording sheet, answer key, and 32 task cards.

I typed up these directions because my students started using this center last week and were writing on the task cards with markers.  I have them use this method for some centers but wanted them to use the answer sheet and turn it in for these task cards.  Then, some students finished and they wanted to go to a different center (even though we have talked about this over and over).  I have my students stay at a center and do more with the center until time is up.  I typed these directions to really spell it out for them:)  How am I supposed to do my writing conferences if I have have to constantly monitor center behavior?  Daily 5 is new to me this year and I think it has been an adjustment making it work for me.  I am getting there, slowly, but surely!

While I was at it, I typed up more specific directions for the Compound Sentences and Winter Quotation Practice.

These geometry cards are from Collaboration Cuties.  It is a jam packed Geometry Complete Unit of 75 pages.  This is a must-see for 4th grade teachers!

What have you made recently?  Link up with 4th Grade Frolics and go back and check out other blogger Monday Made Its!

Come back on Wednesday to enter my upcoming 300 Follower Giveaway that goes live Tuesday at midnight!  I am so grateful that many fellow bloggers have donated their products and I am offering two winners $20 to a store of their choice for educational resources.

In the meantime, check out these other giveaways happening right now!

 Diane at Fifth in the Middle is hosting a 100 follower giveaway.  I am giving away 2 items from my TPT store!

Jennifer at Elementary School Garden is hosting a 300 Follower giveaway!

January Currently! Yay!!

I have a little downtime this morning to link up with the amazing Farley at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade for the January Currently!  I love this linky:)

Most of my thoughts today revolve around what has been going on in our house the entire Christmas break...sickness!!  ugh!

It started with...Strep throat for my 5 year old

Ear infection and nasty cold for my 2 year old

Stomach bug (down for 2-3 days) went through 10 people in my family at Christmas

We thought we were in the clear (only felt a little funny for a couple days)...

Then, had another get together and my 5 year old and myself were up all night Monday night with the stomach bug

So, we are still down but improving quickly...

My daughter is laying on the couch watching Disney Jr. (poor girl...she hates missing school)

I am loving my coffee this morning because I haven't had anything to eat or drink besides water for two days.

I had to take the day off work and we have the students coming back today....missing them:(

I am thankful for the extra day to actually get those essays graded that I have been putting off and didn't get to because of the sickness.

My One Little Word is TODAY.

I want to focus on loving the journey, not the destination.

This is not a dress rehearsal and TODAY is the only guarantee you get.

If I follow this motto, everything else just falls into place:)

As a reminder, I would like to host a giveaway in about a week.  

I am hoping many of my blogging friends would be interested in helping out with this giveaway too!!  If you are interested in helping out, please leave a comment or send me an email at lillycharlie2915@gmail.com.  Make sure I can reply back to you and it is not "noreplyblogger".  Thanks!  Cheers to a New Year!!

New Year Resolutions and 300 Follower Giveaway Soon!!

Wow!!  I can't believe that I have 300 followers!  My little blog actually has people reading it!!  I have gained so much knowledge, support, and friendship from all the bloggers I follow.  Thank you everyone!  To celebrate, read about a giveaway I am planning at the end of this post:)

Speaking of celebrating, I am linking up with Jen at the Teacher's Cauldron for a couple New Year's Resolutions.  Maybe writing them out will hold me more accountable:)

Blogging Resolution

On the top of my list is to host a linky party but I always am afraid no one will link up!  Also, I need to do more professional reading and would like to share more about books on my blog...maybe even join a blog book talk or something.  I know it sounds like a no-brainer but before I read "Daily 5", "Cafe", "Notebook Know-How: Strategies for the Writer's Notebook", and "The Book Whisperer" this summer (all due to inspiration from the blogging world), I cannot remember the last time I read a professional book on my own accord without someone pushing it on me.  Isn't that awful?  That is why I love blogging.  It has helped me realize that the sky is the limit in how much I can continue to grow professionally.  The next book on my reading list is "Student Centered Mathematics".

Personal Resolution

My personal resolution would be to not take things so personally.  I am a worrier and if something goes wrong, I tend to dwell on it and take it personal.  If I force myself to stop, think, and pray about the situation, it is easier for me to see the big picture.  I am a pleaser by nature and this is often difficult to juggle in everyday life because it is impossible to please everyone.  I need to learn how to say "no" and not sweat the small stuff:)

To celebrate another hundred milestone, I would like to host a giveaway in about a week.  One item I would like to giveaway is a copy of the book, "Student Centered Mathematics" at the winner's choice of grade level.  It is about $37 on amazon, so that would be a great prize:)  

I am hoping many of my blogging friends would be interested in helping out with this giveaway too!!  If you are interested in helping out, please leave a comment or send me an email at lillycharlie2915@gmail.com.  Make sure I can reply back to you and it is not "noreplyblogger".  Thanks!  Cheers to a New Year!!

2012 Best and Brightest Linky:)

What a whirlwind 2012 has been!!  I have been blogging for six months and it seems like it has been years!  Seriously, I don't know how I ever taught 12 years without all of the inspiration and resources I have gained in the last six months from blogging.  I can only imagine what 2013 will bring!  I am linking up with the fabulous Christina at Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge for her 2012's Blog Best and Brightest linky:)  So fun!

The best career choice I made this year was to somehow stumble upon the blogging world last summer and then immediately start a blog (why not?).  It has been the best thing to happen in my career.  The ideas and inspiring thoughts have really transformed my teaching in so many ways.  The bloggers that have become my cyber space friends have uplifted my spirits countless times this year when the stress has been high due to CCSS and APPR changes.

Speaking of fellow bloggers, I have bragged about my blogging friends several times.  These blogs are amazing and are all written by super talented, amazing gals.  They have provided me more inspiration than I can ever thank them for!

The most popular post on my blog was a Monday Made It on Editable Schedule Cards and shared writing journals.  I posted about the editable schedule cards I made and they became a quick seller in my TPT store much to my surprise.  I think the blogging had something to do with it:)

I also posted here about the shared writing journals I mod podged using labels from other fabulous bloggers.  I blogged about my avery label idea for students to keep track of which journals they have used.  See post here.

I love the shared writing journals but one source of nagging in my head is that I never make the time (or have the time) to keep up with reading all the entries.  I just hope that they are allowing the students to write creatively and I tell myself that some writing should not be graded so closely.  During writing conferences, I look at their writing journals but the SWJ are often being used.  Also, I am lucky to get in 8 writing conferences a week out of 23, so I only see each student for their conference about once a month.  There is a little reflection on that...any comments on how you read or fit in your writing conferences?

I think the best freebie I shared this year was the Decorate Your Writing Journal Handout.  The students love this activity and every time I conference with them I immediately see something personal to them on their cover and can ask them about it.

Making some new, more substantial TPT products have been on my to-do list for a long time.  I FINALLY got around to making some Monster Math Fraction Centers and just posted them yesterday.  This is the TPT product I am most proud of and time will tell if it will be a good seller.  The adorable monster graphics are from Scrappin Doodles.  I know I can use them in my classroom.  

I am getting just a little stressed about the NYS test coming in April.  I know they will be tough this year.  We have been using the same math curriculum at my school for 10 years and I have been pulling resources from everywhere.  I feel like I cannot get a good handle on the new core and when I see the sample questions, I almost start hyperventilating! 

The single, best technological trick I learned was the screenshot on my mac (command+shift+4).  I use it ALL the time and do not know how I went so long in the dark ages.  There is so much I still need to learn!

I am so excited for 2013 and know that I will feel more organized and ready when this September comes.  I had so many changes this year (blogging, Daily 5, CCSS, new APPR) and it won't be as difficult next year after going through it once.  Here is to a wonderful 2013!  Cheers!!