I love celebrating the 100th day of school with fun math activities! Even if your students have celebrated in past years, you can find new ways to celebrate! Here are 10 engaging math activities for your 100th day of school celebrations: 10 Math Activities for the 100th Day of School 1. 100th Day Collections: You know that giant collection of mini erasers you have a million of? It’s time to pull them out for 100th day collections! Students can collect 100 items in groups of 10, 25, or 100.  2. Skip Counting Sparkle: This game is easy to play, but it’s also one of my favorite ..read more

Gingerbread classroom activities are so much fun during the month of December! There’s something festive about thematic gingerbread activities, so today I’m providing a list of 5 fun gingerbread activities you can enjoy with your students. 5 Gingerbread Classroom Activities 1. Gingerbread Math Games: These no prep games are so much fun to play! Whether you host a gingerbread day/week or not, students love these partner games. You can easily print these games to add to your December math tubs. 2. Gingerbread Sight Word Games: Make custom gingerbread sight word centers in a snap! T ..read more

Are you overwhelmed and frustrated by lengthy math assessments? It’s time to start using math exit tickets in your classroom! Math exit tickets are not just helpful, they are transformative tools to help you quickly check for understanding in the classroom. With so many demands placed on teachers and students, here are 8 reasons exit tickets are the perfect bite-sized assessments to add to your toolkit. 1. Time Efficiency: Math exit tickets will save you so much time when it comes to assessing. They are ready-to-go, printable, and easy to implement in your classroom. These short and swe ..read more

These free student math goal sheets are one of the simplest ways to help students, parents, and teachers track progress on important math skills. When working with early elementary students, especially those in K-3, it can be overwhelming to track every single math goal and skill. That’s why these math goal sheets are condensed to 9 of the most important math skills for kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade!   students can put a sticker next to what they’re working on and color it whent hey’ve mastered it 8 Ways to Implement Math Goal Sheets 1.) Student Data Tracki ..read more

If there’s one thing I love about the end of October, it’s finding tons of new Halloween classroom activities to try! Today I’ve rounded up 10 spooktacular Halloween classroom activities to add to your math, reading, and writing plans! Halloween Classroom Activities 1. Halloween No Prep Math Games: These games are print & play ready! Practice addition, subtraction, place value, geometry, and more with these Halloween games. Plus, you can choose from two different levels for each game for easy differentiation. 2. Halloween Directed Drawing: Not an art teacher? Me nei ..read more

This year, my oldest child started kindergarten, and she LOVES it! Each week she brings home an index card with 5-8 sight words to learn and practice for homework. The teacher doesn’t mind how we practice her sight words, as long as we’re working on them. Being a teacher mom, I wanted some worksheet-free editable sight word games we could play together. But there was just one problem… I needed to have editable sight word games that focused on the words she was currently working on, and those are rapidly changing!  Well, I took matters into my own hands and made some editable ..read more

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had your whole group mini-lesson turn into a 20-minute lesson? I’ve been there, too! That’s why I love starting guided math with number talks! Number talks are an incredibly powerful way to cultivate a community of mathematicians in your classroom. Because whole group mini-lessons are designed to be short, it’s important to plan your number talks accordingly. This will give all students a chance to actively participate, learn new strategies, and problem-solve in a collaborative setting. Today we’re talking all about how to start your guided math routine or c ..read more

If you’re a K-2 teacher, I’m sure you already know how important it is to build addition fact fluency. By the end of 2nd grade, students should, students should be able to quickly recall addition facts within 20. This means students should be able to recall answers in a matter of 2-3 seconds. You might be thinking that timed addition fact fluency tests are the answer, but that can create anxious, frustrated students. The last thing we want is for students to have a negative attitude toward math. Instead, we teach students strategies that will help them quickly recall basic facts. Then, we gi ..read more

Are you teaching second grade this year? Congratulations! Welcome to my favorite grade! I can assure you that teaching 2nd grade is the best! As a teacher stepping into a 2nd grade classroom, it is crucial to be well-prepared and equipped for this amazing grade level. Here are 6 essential things you need to know before teaching 2nd grade. 1.) Understanding 2nd graders One of the joys of teaching 2nd grade is the sense of wonder, imagination, and playfulness that students bring to the classroom. They are still young and love to have FUN! Second graders are eager to explore, ask questions, a ..read more

Thinking about launching guided math in your classroom? Whether you’re taking time this summer to prepare or you’re in the middle of the school year and hoping to implement it soon, you’ve come to the right post! Today I’m sharing 10 essential guided math tasks and tips that you can tackle before launching guided math in your classroom! I will briefly share my 10 guided math tasks below, but make sure you download the free Getting Started with Guided Math handout. In the handout, I’m giving you access to even more details, resources, and freebies to help you get everything ready to go! Prep ..read more