You Might Be a Teacher If… {Giveaway Time}

I hope you enjoy these few teacher antics.  Make sure to enter the giveaway!  You have until April 13th to enter to win.
GIVEAWAY DETAILS
 
Prize: $75 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card

Giveaway organized by: Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher), 
 
 
Rules: Use the Rafflecopter form to enter.  Giveaway ends 4/13/17 and is open worldwide.
 
Are you a blogger who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your blog?  Click here to find out how you can join a totally awesome group of bloggers! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Use This Free Resource if You are Teaching Fractions

Have you seen this great new website tool for teaching and assessing mathematics for elementary students?  On iknowit There are multiple lessons included about various math topics all from the makers of Super Teacher Worksheets!  One of my favorite lessons is the one about 3rd grade fractions.  What I like about the fraction lesson/assessment is that it focuses on equal parts.  This gives children the chance to really think about what equal parts look like.  Sometimes the idea that fractions are equal parts can become a misconception to students.

 

There are also different types of general fraction questions such as what fraction is shaded or what fraction was taken etc.

There are questions using the written words halves and quarters instead of only the numbers.  These are words that students struggle with seeing and using.

I also like that the program gives students automatic feedback to let them know if they were correct or incorrect.  If students are incorrect, the program gives students an explanation to tell them why they were incorrect. The little robot is animated and jumps around each time students get a question correct.  He has a different animation for each question.

You can even take a quick grade with this program because the program shows students their total score when they complete an assessment.  Teachers can easily use the score for their grade book.

The best part is that it is free!  FREE! Yes, absolutely FREE!  (At the time of the writing, the website is free, but eventually this website will charge for membership.)

Try it out and enjoy!

Dress Up Your Number Line

Folks, are you feeling the need to dress up your number line, well, look no further!  Originally, I made these word cards and expanded form cards in black with white lettering to match the classroom wall number line with base ten blocks.  But by popular request, you can now get them with a white background and black lettering.  What does this mean to you?  The beauty of using these cards is that you can #1 SAVE INK and #2 USE WHATEVER BACKGROUND COLOR YOU WANT.  You are only limited by your colored paper!  I hope you can find a use for these on your classroom wall number line.  Here are the new versions on these products pictured below.

 

 

 

Multiplication Stairs for the Kinesthetic Learner

I found these stairs in a school in which I had a professional development meeting.  You have probably seen a similar idea on Pinterest of a staircase with brightly colored multiplication cards that exactly fit the stairs.  I have checked into the prices to have custom cards made like those on Pinterest and the prices were well over $500.  Ouch!  The great thing about these stairs (pictured below) is that they look like they were made on a much cheaper budget.

You would need someone who has access to a Silhouette die cutter and a selection of the sticky vinyl to print the numbers on.   In addition, you would need a ruler to mark off the placement of each number and lots of time!  When I saw this, I thought the idea was fabulous, but I didn’t think that the colors were dark enough to stand out on the  concrete.

If your school has used the spaces on their stairs for math facts, leave a link and/or share your experience.

Need a Critical Thinking Time Filler on the Fly? {Giveaway Time}

(Keep scrolling for the giveaway.) I recently went to a conference, and I learned a new game from the author of byrdseed.com.  This game doesn’t take much planning and really deepens kids’ thinking.  I can’t wait to use this!  The game is Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe!
Make a board like a regular tic-tac-toe board with little tic-tac-toe boards inside each square.  The first player makes a mark in any spot.
Then the place that was marked sends you to the square you need to mark in.  Like above, the middle square in the small grid was marked so that will send you to the middle square in the larger board.  You may mark anywhere in the center of the large grid like below.
Now this sends the x player to the middle right square of the large grid to mark anywhere in the smaller grid.
The x player just sent the o player to the middle.  This wasn’t the best move for the x player because they just helped the o player gain ground.
The o player now sends the x player to the bottom right square which is a safe move since no squares are marked there.
Another safe move was made by x who sent the o player to another empty grid in the middle left of the board.
Now, o sent x back to the middle of the board which was a risky move.  This helps x set up the board to win or block.  Two moves are shown below.
The middle x sends the o player to the top right large square.  This sends x to the top right corner.
The x player sends o to the bottom right square in a safe move.
To the luck of the x player, o made a play in the middle of the small grid on the bottom right.  Now guess where x gets to go?!
Now x wins the middle square and no one else can play in the middle square.
The goal of the game is to gain three large squares next to each other in any direction just like regular tic-tac-toe.
If the player does get sent to any large square that has already been won, he  can choose wherever he wants to go.  Have fun playing!
GIVEAWAY DETAILS
 
Prize: $75 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card

Giveaway organized by: Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher), 
 
 
Rules: Use the Rafflecopter form to enter.  Giveaway ends 3/13/17 and is open worldwide.
  
Are you a blogger who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your blog?  Click here to find out how you can join a totally awesome group of bloggers!