P.S.A. & Froggies with a Freebie!

One of the first bloggers I began to follow was Hope King, at www.shenanigansinsecond.blogspot.com.  Come to find out, she's practically my neighbor!  If you haven't seen her fabulous P.S.A math problem solving strategy folders, hop over to her site and check them out.  They are perfect for teaching strategic thinking, place value, word problem analysis, and numeracy.  Hope and I have teamed up to bring you two new fun units to use with her P.S.A. folders.

We hope you'll be hoppin' with success as you and your students have fun with problem solving!  Stay tuned for more P.S.A. units from me, and be sure to keep up with Hope - although she's pretty amazing, and tough to keep up with, it's worth a try.

Brooke

Labor Day Labor and Fun Friday with a little of Currently

Wow!  Everyone at my house is working today.  Labor Day means:

1.  Clean your room.

2.  Grade papers.

3.  Make lesson plans.

4.  Get creative for #4!

5.  Hubby's home - in the garage doing some project or another.

6.  Wash the PILES of laundry!

7.  Go to the grocery store - and this time, I mean it!

8.  Catch up on blogging - I can't believe I've left you in the dark for a week.

9.  Honor the holiday by staying in pajamas until the grocery store.

10.  Vacuum...ugh!

Seriously, when I was pregnant, my due date was Labor Day, and I thought it was hilarious that I might be in labor on Labor Day.  I had a c-section, instead, on August 26 last year, make that ten years ago - how did my baby get so old?

Two weeks in, and I'm so happy for a four day week, I think we should all take a vote and make them all four days.  Don't know about you, but my kids are DONE on Fridays anyway.  That's why I'm linking up with Kelly at www.teachingfourth.blogspot.com for Fun Fridays!

We've had Fun Fridays for as long as I can remember, even during my student teaching.  This week, we have been talking about friendship and classroom family, as a prelude to a unit on families in reading and social studies.  We've read:

   this week, and made sunflowers with Molly Lou, rainbows with our friends, and for "Fun Friday", we started making friendship bracelets.  Good Grief, Charlie Brown!  I was in the 7th grade the last time I made one of those!  Wait?  Did I just say that out loud?  That makes me OLD!!!

Since it's Labor Day, and all, I thought I'd finally join Farley from www.ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com for Currently, too; however, I have NO idea how to type in the cute box she has set up, as a fellow blogger pointed out for me (thank you!).  So:

Listening to:  It's Fun Baby (by me, to Call Me Maybe)

Loving:  Crazy Milktop Girl Font, by Kevin and Amanda

Thinking:  We should have four day weeks every week

Wanting:  to be at the lake

Needing:  groceries...ugh!

Favorite Things:  Hubby being home, my sweet girls, my new second graders, and my new iPad

Happy Labor Day!

Brooke

Whooo Just Bought Something i??? and a FREEBIE for you!

WOW...was i ever surprised last night when my husband bought me an iPad!  i guess he feels kind of sorry for me, that i constantly search the Internet looking for an android version of Book Retriever, and come up with some app about dogs!  i'm all in a frenzy trying out all kinds of apps for my kiddos at school, and trying to find the very best uses for it before Tuesday.  i have a freebie for you, in celebration of my new toy...

Also, i've been working pretty hard this week on so many things my head's just about spun off:
1.  Learning a new reading series and the common core ELA alignment.
2.  Trying to teach place value, addition, subtraction, and strategies for all three at the same time to 7-year-olds, who have been in school for exactly 4 days.
3.  Recovering from a broken foot, which showed as sprained on the x-ray, June 30th, but broken with several torn ligaments and tendons in an MRI last Tuesday (the first day of school)!
4.  Trying to keep my head above water at home and school, when i'm an official member of the "single married mothers club", which i invented, and only means my husband works out of town most of the time.
5.  Still trying to perfect my schedule, classroom, and routines with my new babies (whom i absolutely adore, already).

i just completed a unit of games and a craftivity that i used to teach the commutative rule, as one of the strategies we can use to help memorize basic facts (a biggie in second grade).  It's called Flip Floppin' Math, and you can find it here on my TPT store.  My kids loved all the games and making their own flip flops.  i'll have to take some photos to post for you - they are all so cute!

And, by the way, GO TIGERS - yes, the Clemson ones, not the Auburn ones!
Brooke