Happy 2016!  I love how I've seen the suggestion to pick one word for the New Year.  I picked the word FOCUS.  I want to FOCUS on relationships with family and friends, FOCUS on my teaching, FOCUS on my TpT journey, and FOCUS on myself.

  When returning back to school after Winter Break, I always like to read the book Squirrel's New Year's Resolution to my students.  It's such a cute book and really lends itself to sharing about resolutions and trying to be your best in the New Year.

When we go back to school I am going to have my students share how they are going to be super students in the New Year.  I think it is important to review rules and expectations after coming back from an extended break and I think this will be the perfect way to do just that in a positive way with my students.      I am going to chart their ideas for how to be super students using a web and I am going to put this image in the center of the chart:

  I also created 3 different writing paper choices for how to be a super student.  I am going to use them with my students to have them draw and write how they will be a super student after we chart their ideas.     The writing pages could even be put out at a writing center after doing the activity with your students.  Just click the image to grab your writing freebie.  I have also included the anchor chart image for you to create a chart with your students before they independently write.

  Don't forget to check out my Winter Break Writing post to grab another writing freebie to use with your students.

  Be sure to stop by my Teachers Pay Teachers Store to grab your free Happy New Year Poem.

  Happy New Year Friends!   

Read more »

Recipe for Teaching

I hope that you are all enjoying your Winter Break!  I know my break has been filled with lots of family time, friend time, and relaxing time!  

 When returning back to school, I always like to give my students time to share what they did over their Winter Break.  They are always so excited to share what they did, what presents they got, or any other exciting news.  We typically share about our Winter Break during our calendar routines and also write about our break.    I created a few different options you could use with your students to have them draw and write about their Winter Break.  I'm excited to use these with my students and hear all about what they did over the break.  
Just click the image below to download the different Winter Break Writing Pages. 

You can grab that adorable snowman image from Dots of Fun on TpT by clicking the image below.

And don't forget to stop by my Teachers Pay Teachers Store and grab your FREE Happy New Year Poem!

 

Enjoy the rest of your break and have a Happy New Year!  

Read more »

Recipe for Teaching

We had tons of HOLIDAY FUN LEARNING in our classroom before the Winter Break and I wanted to share some of it with you!

Jingle Bell Math ChatI have blogged about Math Chats before and I just love doing them with my students.  I posted the picture with the jingle bells and then we talked about what my students saw on the picture.  You can see all of the ideas they came up with.  Tons of learning in this simple activity. 

Jingle Bell Problem Solving To go along with the Jingle Bell Math Chat, I brought in a box with 15 bells.  Some of the bells were red and some of the bells were green.  I had my students work to determine how many they thought were red and how many they though were green.  They were able to use red and green cubes if they wanted to help them solve the problem.  I also differentiated this activity by giving some students the recording sheet with 15 bells on it and some students a paper with a blank space to draw the bells independently. 

Gingerbread Cookie Math We decorated gingerbread cookies with icing, chocolate chips, marshmallows, jelly beans, and m&m's.  I had my students record how many of each candy they used.  They ate their gingerbread cookie after decorating and recording the number of candies.  Yum! 

   Student Holiday Gift TagsI gave my students a container of white Play-Doh (thank you Walmart for having Play-Doh for 50 cents a container) as a holiday gift with a tag that said, "Do you want to build a snowman?  Happy Holidays!"  I told them it was "Snowman building Play-Doh."  They were super excited about it! If you want to use these resources with your students, just click the image below to grab them for FREE!

Read more »

Recipe for Teaching

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  I love all things Christmas and I know my students are excited about Christmas! 

 

I recently had my students share what they wanted for Christmas and give reasons for why they should get that gift.  One of my students said that he wanted a vacuum cleaner!!!  I emailed his mom and she said that he wants a real vacuum cleaner!  I just think that is the cutest!   I decided to put a "My List for Santa" paper out at a reading center because I just knew my kids would go crazy for it.  I love activities where they are doing work, but don't realize they are doing work.  This is one of those activities because they think they are just writing a list to Santa, but little do they know, they have to sound out words, write their list, and draw a little picture next to their word.  Lots of work in one little activity and they LOVE it!   The great part about this writing paper is you can use it with your students AND you could also use it with your own kids!  Just click the image to download.  Happy Holidays! 

Read more »

Recipe for Teaching

Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties seem to be pretty popular these days!  My husband and I just hosted an "Ugly Sweater" themed Christmas party and I created the invite, as well as printable image to put out as a decoration, using the adorable Melonheadz clipart.  The image below is the set that I used!  I LOVE to bake (which is why I went with the blog name Recipe for Teaching).  I've been baking a lot for Christmas and here are some of the yummy treats we had at the party:

 And here is the printable image that I made to set out as a decoration:

 If you are hosting an "Ugly Sweater" party here is the image I used.  Feel free to use this for personal use for your holiday party FUN!

  I also wanted to include something you might be able to use with your students.  We are having an "Ugly Sweater Day" at school this week and I thought this would be a fun activity for my students to do on that day.  Just click the image below to grab the free download!

 

Read more »

Recipe for Teaching

My students love when we use food for math.  I always find that my students are so engaged and excited about it.  This is probably because they know they get a little treat when they finish!   I recently posted an image on Instagram of an idea that I thought of for tens and ones using m&m candies.

  I had the idea to use the snack size bags of m&m's for the lesson.  I may have sampled a bag just to make sure there would be the right amount of m&m's.  I planned to have my students find how many m&m's they have in their bag, how many groups of ten, and how many extra ones.  I knew it would fit perfectly with the Common Core standards we have been focusing on:

K.NBT.1a Compose numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones and some further ones, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each composition by a drawing or equation (e.g., 18 = 10 + 8)
K.NBT.1b Decompose numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones and some further ones, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each decomposition by a drawing or equation (e.g., 18 = 10 + 8)

 I first modeled this activity for my students.  Modeling is definitely important with our young learners so they know exactly what is expected of them.  Then I sent them off to their seats to work.  They loved it and did such a nice job with the lesson!

If you want to use this with your students, click the image below to grab the FREE download!

If you are looking for more teen number resources, check out these resources in my Teachers Pay Teacher store!

Read more »

Recipe for Teaching