Valentine's Day is right around the corner.  Here are some activities that you can use in and elementary or middle school classroom or at home with your family to be a bit festive!  Click on any link or picture to get yours.  There's a BUNDLE at the end that includes EVERYTHING! Valentine's Day Games: Taboo and Scattergories (both based on the real board games) These both work really well in centers or as group activities.     Valentine's Day Letter Writing with Rubric and Writing Paper Valentine's Day Math Activities  (using candy or paper hearts-includ ..read more

Happy New Year! If you're in a district like mine, you get a couple of weeks of school off around the holidays.  It's always much needed, and, well... AWESOME!   What isn't awesome is the lack of energy on that first day back. It's usually really cold, and kids are still in that holiday/sleeping in/not going to school lull.  It makes it very tough to get back into the swing of things.  My remedy is this New Year's Resolution Mad Libs set.   Students generate ideas for different parts of speech or subjects that will become part of a made-up New Year ..read more

Here we are again... The Back-to-School season quickly transforms into Fall and Halloween.  People start thinking about seasonal activities they can do in their classrooms. I am the same way.  I have updated all of my Halloween and Fall items, and I'd love to share them with you. This can be a wacky time of year, especially as it gets closer to the actual day of Halloween.  So, I created some activities that encourage learning (when focusing can be a challenging), and are lots of fun.  The games have been great for my ESL (and non ESL) students.   Follow the link ..read more

I.  LOVE. ST. PATRICK'S DAY!  I'm not Irish, and I don't have any traditions from when I was younger.  However, bringing St. Patrick's Day into the classroom has been such a fun time of year for me.  We have a secret leprechaun who visits and leaves treats and messages for students.  Sometimes, he's a little naughty too, which always makes the kids laugh.  Here are some new and updated St. Patrick's Day resources that I use during the week of St. Patrick's Day to keep the learning alive while having fun. St. Patrick's Day Bundle (includes all resources) If I M ..read more

I've just finished this little gem.  Okay, it's not so little, and it took a long time, but I love it and am excited to share it with you.  It was a hit with my class, and they even begged to play it during indoor recess this week.  BONUS!   It's a set of three board games centered around WHOLE NUMBER PLACE VALUE.   Here are the details: With this set of three different board games students will practice several skills that are related to whole number place value, starting with the ones place all the way to the hundred millions place. Games are scaffolded so ..read more

It has been a LONG time since I've posted, and it is a goal of mine in 2017.  With baby number 2, going back to work full time, and trying to have a personal life (somewhat), it's tricky, but life is good.  What a better day than today, January 1st, to add my newest post.  Here's a newer product of mine that I hope you'll love.  It's a Mad Libs-style writing activity for New Year's Resolutions.  It includes directions, templates, an example, writing paper, and more. Click the link above or directly on the image below.   Happy New Year ..read more

It has been a very, very long time since I've posted anything.  I guess that's normal for a working mom of a toddler with another baby on the way (at least I hope it is).  Anyway, as I wrapped up my own school year with a new set of standards and a new math curriculum, I needed some supplemental resources for adding and subtracting fractions with uncommon denominators.  I, therefore, created some BUMP Games.  Each set has multiple games that require different skills.  There are also student directions, notes for the teacher, answer keys, and place markers included. Fe ..read more

Here are some game sets for Adding and Subtracting Fractions.  These games are best for introducing the concept of adding and subtracting fractions, but each set has 4 differentiated games.  Each game requires a different skill and the latter games build upon the knowledge from the previous games.  So,  you can really decide what stage your students are at individually.  The games are look similar and have the same directions.  This makes it easy to transition from one game to the next because students are used to the format. Adding Fractions BUMP Games Subtract ..read more

Adding Fractions BUMP Games Click here to get your set This is a set of 4 different BUMP games for the addition of basic fractions. Student directions, answer keys, and place markers are included for each game. Each game focuses on adding fractions, and each game requires different skills to add fractions. With these 4 different games, you can differentiate for students who are at different readiness levels. The skills increase in difficulty from Games 1-4. The game details, including specific skills and objectives are below: Game 1- Players add basic fractions without reducing&nb ..read more

One of the things that I LOVE the most about teaching 5th grade social studies is when we get to the lessons for Colonial America (the Original Thirteen Colonies) and The Revolutionary War.  As a student, I loathed social studies because it was soooooo boring.  We'd read out of the book and answer the questions at the end of the chapter on a sheet of paper.  Then, we'd move on.  I never remembered anything.  Of course, I don't blame my teachers.  This is what they were supposed to do. When I started teaching, I realized that I was doing the same thing to my stude ..read more