We have 11 days left before standardized testing begins.  I can't believe it!!!  That means it's time to get in ROCK STAR mode in my classroom!  A big part of student success is proper mindset and having testing strategies in place to help support them throughout.  I want them to be motivated to show ALL they know, and to be able to be proud of all the hard work they have put in throughout the year.  I am all about some rock and roll, so naturally I knew it would be fun to get students pumped for the upcoming standardized test with this rock star theme! We start by making a set list, like any rock star would do to prepare for the big show.  But ours is a set list for SUCCESS.  We talk about what is essential in preparing for and taking a test such as ours and write the set list.  We take the SAT10 here in my district for grades kindergarten through second.  (Yeah, I know. 🙄) I made the set list into these posters.  We have to cover everything in our classrooms, so I use these ...

Just wanted to drop in to show you some super cute multiplication centers.  My student teacher started teaching math this week and her little centers were adorable and so fun!  Some of her stuff was from Amy Lemons' Multiplication Situations Unit , some were freebies on TPT, and others, she just came up with. How cute is this array garden?!  They were to plant a carrot array and record its multiplication fact. They could spray it with an empty spray bottle to help it "grow!"  This one was a huge hit with the littles!  She got the carrots and confetti at Walmart in the Easter section. They made multiplication bracelets and wrote the matching fact and related addition sentence. Here are just some more pics of her centers. I liked how when they weren't working with their jelly beans, she had them store them in an egg.  Very clever!  There was also a center where they stamped arrays with those inexpensive packs of Easte...

We have been up to our ears in graphs this week.  If you happen to be on that unit this week, I have a little Easter graphing freebie for you. I gave each student a handful of jelly beans for them to sort. They each tallied their results on a tally chart, which I forgot to get a picture of! Finally, they graphed their results in the form of a bar graph.  After graphing, they were to ask a partner questions about each others' graphs. You can download the freebie by clicking the pic below. Each day, as we learned about a new graph, it was added to this anchor chart.   This is a super cute book by the fabulous Loreen Leedy.  I had planned on using it at the end of the unit, but just ran out of time.  It will have to be put on the list of to-dos for next year!  I thought I could have the students gather some sort of data and then let each group make the appropriate graph for the information on a poster. I hope you all have a grea...

Sorry for being a blog slacker lately!  I've been up to my ears in common core and textbook adoptions, as I am sure you can relate! I feel like I need to do a little recap of what's been going on in my classroom, and then I will get back to posting classroom ideas.  :) We have learned how to identify the author's purpose.  They never cease to amaze me how well they can use those terms persuade, inform, and entertain.   We do lots of cooperative group work to practice the skill.   They were so sweet reading to each other! These posters and the activities are included in my author's purpose packet . We celebrated Read Across America Day in our pajamas. I have been using Hope King's Cloudy with a Chance unit.  I am in love with that unit!  It has been incredible for integrating science into my reading curriculum. I especially loved the research component.  I heard today that we should be conducting resea...