Old school maths groups

You may have seen my clean out the storeroom shame post (slick the link if you want to feel better about how clean your storeroom really is). The other day I was looking for something in there and I found this old box.

This is my maths groups activities from 2009, when I first began to dabble in grouping kids and differentiating activities in maths.

It all was because of my teaching partner. We both had Grade 5/6 and did a lot of team teaching with the doors open. Our maths groups consisted of 4 groups (approx 60 kids in these 4 groups) and the activities were - IWB/computer based activities (we both had 2 class computers and a IWB, so 6 technology stations), 2 different teacher guided activities where we would both be teaching a different concept aimed at the particular groups level and then one hands on game activity. Oh my, how my maths groups have changed!!

Here is one of my old school games. It actually hurts my eyes! Where are the cute fonts? Where is the clip art? My fancy storage folders? Did my school not buy any other coloured paper than yellow!!!! 

Oh my gosh - another yellow game. I wonder what all that yellow did to those poor children?

Since stumbling on these games, I have brought a few of them home to redo and make more interesting and appealing and a lot less yellow!

Do you have anything like this hiding in your storeroom?

Steals and Deals - Cyber Monday Shopping!

Where to begin???

Oh wow! I am so excited to have bought some items from my ever growing wishlist!

Pink Cat Studio

Primary Graffiti

Ashley hughes

From the Pond

Zip-A-Dee-Doodah

And this isn't even half of what I bought! I am currently looking to make another purchase too (This is why I keep some money in my Paypal account - then I don't have to explain!!!!!)

What did you buy? 

I am linking up with Tales from Room 112

Go and share your bargains too!

Happy Thanksgiving Friends

Although we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia, I am thankful for my family, friends, class and the wonderful community I have found.
Enjoy the day with your family.

Cyber Monday and Tuesday Sale

Well you would have to live under a rock to not know about this little beauty of a sale. After you have eaten too much food (Thanksgiving), run out to the shops and spent too much money (Black Friday) why not relax on your computer and buy some great teaching resources in the TPT Cyber Monday and bonus Tuesday sale?

I'll be taking 20% off everything in my store and if you enter CMT12 at the check out, TPT will give you an extra 10% - equalling about 28% off.

So what could you get? Here is some of my newest creations you might like :)

I wonder if your wishlist is as full as mine? Enjoy your time with your family :)

Our week in pics

Sorry bloggy friends. This week is one that needed to end. I am getting a bit tired and haven't felt very well but rather than the end of the year being a time where I feel I could take a day off to rest and recover, it feels more jam packed than ever! I am also having a little attack of the guilts for my own class - since being informed that I am teaching Kinder next year, I have been involved in the transition sessions. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, the Kinders of the next year come to the school for a morning a few weeks in a row to check out the school, meet their new friends, have their parents become introduced to the community and staff etc. My daughter (who is also starting Kinder next year at our local school) had 3 sessions from 9-10.45am (once a week). My teaching school has 6 sessions from 9-10.30am (once a week). But this means my poor little 2B class is getting a bit neglected. Along with this, I am going to be attending some professional development to go along with becoming a K teacher and this is 2 Tuesdays in a row, followed by one more Thursday! My god, my class is going to be feral!

But our week this week was packed with some good stuff and some new activities that the kiddies really enjoy. I get a kick out of seeing them using my packs and  enjoying them. So without further ado...what did 2B do this week?

 We played Roll a Sentence in our Reading Groups time - the kids had not played before and by the end, were asking me can we play this every week.! We played 2 versions Every day and Winter. Click the links to go see them in my TPT shop. I also have a Christmas one too.

 Here is some of their Roll a Sentence results. They thought they were super funny :)

 This boy couldn't stop laughing about "The bear ate the scarf".

 In Maths, we were revising some concepts. We practiced our rounding to ten..

 Played Roll and Round...

 Rounding to nearest hundred.... All these from my Rounding Games

 Revising of patterns and skip counting... They actually tell me this is one of their favourite math activities! Find it here - Skip Counting Pack

 Used the MAB to create numbers...

 This one a work in progress - from Place Value Race.

 And enjoying some of our new school Ipads. Even though they had to share, they were so quiet and engaged - go technology!

And one more sentence - something about a hot shark made him giggle.

I hope you have had a great week in the classroom.

I have been super busy creating stuff too - here is a peek.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Addition-and-Subtraction-Games-Oh-Christmas-Tree

 Oh Christmas Tree - Addition and Subtraction games

Santa Stuck in the Chimney Craft and Writing.

Leave me a comment and tell me which Christmas item above you would like and why and I will pick someone to win. Don't forget your email!

Teachers for Teresa

 TEACHERS FOR TERESA - A SPECIAL POST

 
The fantastic, generous and awesome Cynthia from 2nd Grade Pad has had a huge weekend! From telling the TPT community about her friend Teresa to this HUGE fundraising effort she definitely has been awesome. Below is her blog post about how you can help Teresa and her family, and get some great goodies for your generous donation.

I’m sure it is rare if there is anyone out there reading this post who has not heard of Teachers Pay Teachers, better known as TPT.  Not only is it a great site for teachers to share their wonderful teaching ideas, it is also a place of true heartfelt kinship with other teachers and many of the teachers form virtual bonds with each other in friendship.  This is one of those times.

One of my best friends, 2nd grade teaching buddy, fellow blogger and TPTer is in CCU in Atlanta with critical medical issues. 

I asked for all of my wonderful friends on TPT to help pray for her.  Prayers have been sent up for Teresa from all over the world.  I truly believe that prayer can bring about miracles and Teresa is certainly in need of prayers.

These very wonderful and special teachers then began asking, "What can we do to help?"

Out of their love and concern came

Teresa has pulmonary hypertension and is experiencing complications. She loves teaching and has a wonderful sense of humor that keeps us all smiling. The most important thing we can all do for her, is to offer prayers on her behalf. Financially, you can help by purchasing one of the below packages. All of these items have been donated by her fellow TPT colleagues who wish to help across the world.

If you visit Teresa's blog you will see she LOVES all things piggy...hence all the pigs! :-)

You can also view her great products on her TPT store.

We know how medical bills can quickly become astronomical, especially when in the Critical Care Unit. Therefore, we are offering you some wonderful deals in exchange for donations.

We have a HUGE pack of goodies in return for your donation of $25.

This is a value of $115.

You will receive all of these items via e-mail when you purchase.

After you purchase, please complete this google document so that I can e-mail your TPT units to you.

Click on each picture to see more information about the products.

In addition, several teachers have joined in another collaborative effort to form a piggy unit (Teresa's favorite kind).  This unit is available on my store for $10.  All proceeds will also be given to Teresa to help with financial needs.

Thank you so much for your donations.  I really appreciate it, but most of all, keep those prayers going!

Thank you