Fantastic Fractions & Five Freebies!

I've been working on tons of fraction activities for my classroom, and now the really great ones have been complied and made into a packet for my TPT store!! The pack includes my Fraction Matching Connect Four game (matching picture fractions with number form), my Fraction & Decimal Number Line (practice putting fraction pictures, fractions in number form and decimals onto correct spots on number line), AND my Equivalent Fraction Matching w/ recording sheet (matching equivalent fractions). Phew! Long story short: Lots of fraction goodies!!

Now for the FIVE FREEBIES! The first 5 people to comment and follow my blog get this Fantastic Fraction fabulousness for FREE! If you miss out on the freebies no worries- it's for sale in my TPT store! :)

Laters!!

Teacher Craftiness & A Giant Ruler!!

Today was most excellent. Two of my friends (and fellow teachers) came over to my casa for "Teacher Craft Day."

We made homework lottery tickets, file folders for centers, word work, math stations, homework "Black Book"s, Mr. Potato Head pieces for positive behavior (class compliment = piece on Mr. PH.  Once he's all made up we celebrate!) and A GIANT RULER!!

The ruler idea came from my awesome friend, Rachel A. She was inspired by a church sermon! A teacher's brain never quits. Lol. You can't tell from the pic but each "inch" is actually a foot.  Measurement is hard for kiddos to grasp, so a giant visual for measuring inches, half inches and quarter inches is going to be great!!  GO RACHEL!

Other craft ideas came from Pinterest (where else?!) and Tara at 4thGradeFrolics. CHECK OUT HER BLOG TODAY! She is a teaching/creating genius!!

FRACTIONS!

I'm taking a break from writing and busying myself with math ideas.

Fractions were a weak area for some of my students so I've been racking my brain for fun fraction reinforcement / centers.  This is one of the ideas I came up with:

I'm hoping I'll have some "peer tutors" (kids who get it) again this year so I can partner them with a struggling / almost there student for this game.

Here's the idea: Both students have a game board. They take turns flipping over a number card and finding the match (or equivalent fraction) on the board. First one to make 4 in a row wins! This would also be great for one-on-one tutoring OR with a few kiddos in small group.

Like it? You can buy it! Just visit my TeachersPayTeachers store HERE.

Thanks for reading! :)

Writing Toolbox

After thinking about all the writing information I need to cram into my student's brains next year, I decided it would be helpful for them to create a handy dandy reference notebook...  I narrowed down the most important/ helpful information we used this past year and created a WRITER's TOOLBOX! I wanted it to look like a real toolbox (aren't they red?) and I'm trying to come up with ways to keep it shut-- Any ideas? I think I may add a handle or something...

Check out what's inside!

The top flap is everything you need to know to write a personal narrative and the bottom is the info for writing an Expository. In the middle I have the "Texas Writing Traits" (we use Write Source at our school) and a Revising & Editing checklist. I'm soooo excited about this little guy-- I'll have my students create it during the first week of school after we brainstorm "Why Writer's Write!"

Until next time!! 

EDIT: I decided to make this available on my Teacher Pay Teachers store! Check it out HERE! 

Dollar Stores ROCK + Freebie!

Every teacher I've ever met loves a good dollar store. I am no exception!
At my favorite one dolla' hot spot there's an ENTIRE ISLE full of teaching goodies! Check out all I scored today ---------------->

Flashcards, pencil boxes (check out what I'm using those for below), play checkbooks, bulletin board accents, POLICE BADGES (stay tuned for how I'm going to use these... an idea is brewing!), coupons, and lots and lots of little trophies. I'm incorporating a TON of positive reward systems in my classroom next year and my idea for the trophies is to have the students display them on their desks as they're earned. I bought some that say "Way to Go", a lot that say "Star Student" which I'll use for my Student of the Week (scroll down for a Student of the Week Freebie!), and a couple packs of blank trophies so I can write in a specific praises! So excited!

Back to the pencil boxes-- My last post was about my newfound love for Modge Podge. I used that sweet goo to make .....(drum roll)... MORE LETTER TILES! Except these are LETTER CIRCLES! And they're soooo PRETTY! Don't you agree?

The letter circles fit so nicely into my slide-in&out-and-snap-close pencil box. Added bouns: they match perfectly! Yet another added bonus: total cost was $2.50! Woohoo!

Now I have to find pink stones for my pink pencil box.....

I promised a Freebie so here it is -

Just click the pic and it will take you to my Teachers Pay Teachers store! 

Modge Podge... Swoon!

Modge Podge. Ohmigosh HOW have I not ever used this amazing goo for crafts?! 

Wait--- Story first, Modge Podge craft second. 

STORY: Last school year I was self-contained... I taught every subject as well as prepared my 4th graders for THREE state tests: Reading, Writing and Math. Come August I'll be teaming (YAY) so I'll be teaching Math (woohoo!), Science and Writing (EEK!). Why the EEK? Well, this year I really enjoyed teaching math and creating awesome lessons & centers... I did not do that / feel that for writing.  However, I WILL remedy that for the upcoming year so this summer I'm brainstorming, reading and creating TONS of word work. And word work needs letters!

CRAFT: Check out these little letter tile beauts I made over the weekend...

Found at Michaels Store

- Alphabet Stickers (6 sheets!) $2.99

- Glass Tiles (on sale) $2.49

Found at Target (Dollar Bin) 

- "Cash Box"$1.00

I had enough stickers to put letters on each side of the glass tile. Woot! Then I Modge Podge'd those babies on (I am SOSOSO impressed that it dries clear and now my little angles won't be able to pick off those enticing stickers!), put them in my "cash box" (looks more like a pencil box?) and voila! Pretty letters for word work! 

The activity possibilities for these letter tiles are endless.... high frequency words, vocabulary words, weekly spelling words, ___(add your word activity here)____....

Word Work Inspiration?? This Lady! 

Punctuation Peeps

What is it about kids and punctuation?? I constantly have to remind my two boys to capitalize AND punctuate. And my class? Not even going there.

So as I was feeding my TPT habit (side note: If you haven't ever visited Teachers Pay Teachers you MUST. I have found the most awesome lessons on there and since most everything is made by teachers, IT'S ALL SO CUTE!) I stumbled across THIS "Punctuation Perfection" freebie and THIS "Punctuation Mark Voices" freebie. I loved both ideas so I combined them and created my Punctuation Peeps!

The Punctuation Peeps are taking a stroll down 13th Ave..... 

More TPT Punctuation Freebies:
Punctuation Posters for the Classroom
Punctuation Uses
Punctuation Fans (totally going to make these!)

Lastly, THE most awesome punctuation poster on the planet (but it's not free):
Punctuation Saves Lives

First Post! And a Freebie!

I'm so stoked to start a blog - My goal is to post awesome ideas I'm using in my classroom, activities/ posters/ centers I've created, and links to people and teachers that have inspired me. I'm a Pinterest-pinning FOOL so a lot of what I create/ share I've found on that genius of a website.

Come August, I'll begin my second year as a 4th grade teacher. My first year was busy but rockin' -- our state switched to the STAAR test (that was fun to prepare for...), I won New Teacher of the Year for my district (huge surprise and honor), I realized I LOVE teaching math (the subject previously caused me to gag and run screaming), and I fell in love with 24 sweet souls who forever changed my life.

More about me:  I'm the mom of two amazing boys (one will be entering 7th grade and the other 4th), the wife of a wonderful man, the daughter of the best parents in the universe, the big sister of a movin' & shakin' insurance-agent, the daughter-in-law of a rockstar retired teacher & engineer, and friends to some of the coolest peeps around.  My support systems is huge, amazing, awesome, fantastic, mind-blowing... (continue to fill in positive adjectives here)!

I have a TeachersPayTeachers site where I'll post all the items I create, just search for "Katie Texas" or click the link to the right.  I already have some great items (including freebies) posted. And if you have no idea what TeachersPayTeachers is...  GO. THERE. NOW!! It's amazing. (link)----> TeachersPayTeachers

To start this blog off with a bang, Here's my FIRST FREEBIE (this one is NOT in my TPT store)! Just click the link to download these adorable digit cards. WOOT!


   Digit Cards