Freebie for Teaching Decimal Multiplication

One of the most searched for subjects on my blog is for decimal operations. We just finished with decimal multiplication, so I thought I'd share with you how I teach it. This link it to a blog post and a freebie to help you teach the number sense of decimal multiplication. The freebie is a 10 x 10 grid with example to work with your class. I hope you enjoy it and can put it to use. 

 

 

My Favorite Holiday Activity

Click image to download Nutcracker freebie.

Ever have one of those activities that's a win-win?  It's something that works so well, you keep bringing it back year after year.

That's how I feel about this one, Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.  I've done this activity with second graders for about 15 years now.

Every year, the children have loved this activity, and it practices some valuable skills:  visualizing, summarizing, and sequencing.  Plus, it gives them some exposure to classic holiday literature and classical music!

Come on over to Elementary Matters to enjoy this freebie!  It's one of my favorites!

Explanatory Writing - for the Winter!

Howdy!

I just posted my *first* Writer's Workshop unit:

Perfect for 2nd, 3rd or 4th grade!

 I'm really excited about this. My kids love, love, love explanatory writing. There's something about explanatory that "feels" so much easier than regular informative writing sometimes. I've also noticed that my kids have a tendency to write with more "voice" in explanatory writing as well. I always, always, always do an explanatory unit before an informative unit. It really builds their confidence as informational writers!

I try to make sure that when explanatory writing pops up in our curriculum map we do something hands-on that we can write about. I've posted before about using Ginger Snaps unit on How to Make a Coke Float and borrowing ideas from The Teacher Wife to write about How to Blow a Bubble.

When I thought about how to work in explanatory writing during the winter months, writing about how to make hot chocolate just seemed like a great idea!

Here's what you'll get: 

Plus....

 

Click Me!

This craft-ivity is included in this packet, but I'm also offering it for free in my store.

I have to make a confession about this freebie. My sweet friend Mandy is the brains behind it's cuteness. She's promised to "learn me" how to do it, but for now I have to give her all the credit. :)

I hope you've all enjoyed Cyber Monday - and Tuesday! It's been a bright spot of fun in the craziness of coming back to work. I missed my kiddos, but they really missed our routines. :)

Hope this finds you all happy and looking forward to the last part of our week!

TpT Cyber Monday and Tuesday Best Sellers Linky

Come check out the best sellers of the day at the Teachers Pay Teachers Cyber Monday and Tuesday Linky Party-- and add your own best sellers if you are a TpT seller too.

hosted by Sweet Tea Classroom

Is anyone else ready for winter?

I don't know about you, but my Thanksgiving break was gone in the blink of an eye! We trudged out to the Christmas tree farm and spent a fair amount of time decorating the house. I decided it was time for a complete overhaul of decorations so I'm exhausted from all the shopping trips it took. I think I need another four day break to recover. =)

But all of that wintery fun put me in the mood to finish my winter "big kid"  unit. As always, I pulled out a freebie for you. This one is similar to my Halloween and Thanksgiving word work activity, but focused on winter words with themed ways to practice them. You can grab it over on my blog. I also included some of my favorite winter read alouds and would love to hear yours too so be sure to leave a comment when you're there.

Adding and Subtracting without Regrouping Freebie!

We have been hard work practicing adding and subtracting without regrouping.  We are about ready to move into regrouping, but wanted to give students a refresher since we have been off for the Thanksgiving Break (yahoo! ).

Sometimes practicing adding and subtracting can get rote...and boring so I put a little fresh spin on practice with the game below.  The kids LOVE it!

Hop in over to get your free copy of the game!

Exemplar Texts for the Common Core - Informational Texts

In the last couple of months, I've posted Exemplar Read Aloud Texts for the Common Core , and  Exemplar Texts for the Common Core - Stories.

Today I'm getting to my favorite category of Exemplar Texts:  The Informational Texts!

The Exemplar Texts are books that are recommended for this level because of the complexity and quality of the texts.  Children in these grades should be reading many books of this complexity and quality, these are just examples.

Here are links to some of the Informational Texts recommended for grades 2 and 3.


For more information about the Exemplar Texts for the Common Core see my blog at Elementary Matters.

Seasonal Brain Breaks

Brain research tells us that students need to move.  Experience tells us that students need to move.  Teachers have been working in Brain Breaks for years.  Now there is scientific evidence about how important these brain breaks are!

With little ones, I try to squeeze in frequent brain breaks, and I often try to make these breaks somehow connected to what's going on so the learning continues.
 

After each brain break, they are focused and ready to get back to work.  That's just what you'd want from a brain break!  It doesn't hurt if there are a few giggles in there, too!

Come learn more about seasonal brain breaks on my blog at Elementary Matters.

DonorsChoose $25 Giveaway

If you haven't heard yet I think you should check out DonorsChoose's blog! How exciting!! Right?!?! Well in celebration I am having a giveaway for my amazing followers <3 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Getting Started on TpT, Saving Files in Locked PDF's, and Creating Editable Products

I had a few videos on my blog in the past few days that I would love to share with you :)

I've been receiving floods of emails asking me how to create products for TeachersPayTeachers! (and I love it) If you aren't already signed up click here to join the party!  I created a simple video to help you get started. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me!

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Recently I can across a slight issue with my files that I just couldn't figure out. Being a techy girl I thought I was going to rip my hair out trying to fix something that was so easy! Now I don't feel so bad because a few other TpT teachers are having the same issue so I don't feel alone :) 

If you are a TpT creator you know that PDF's become your best friends! But what do you do to get rid of that dreaded white border??? And how do you lock down those cutsie little images?? Look no further!

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After creating videos the past two days about how to get started on teacherspayteachers and how to save PowerPoint files as PDF's a few of you have asked how I create my editable files... so of course I had to answer that in a video too :)  If you aren't already signed up for TeachersPayTeachers click here to join the party! If you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me!

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  Hope this helps!!  Find other useful tips and tricks on my Techy Things tab  :)