Uncategorized Archives - Page 2 of 46

Sharing Sunday: Valentine’s Day For Big Kids

January 31, 2016

Sharing Sunday MLK Resources from Ideas By Jivey

The authors of The Primary Peach are bringing you some exciting resources to use in February, and make your planning life easier! I am sharing some ideas to use with the big kids and integrate some Valentine’s Day fun in the mix. The best part: almost all of them are freebies or ideas from blog posts! Click on any of the images below to download the PDF. Once you are on the PDF, click around on all of the images to visit the resources!

Valentine's Day for Big Kids with Ideas By Jivey

Head over to The Primary Peach for more Sharing Sunday posts!

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Sharing Sunday: Martin Luther King, Jr. Resources

January 3, 2016

The authors of The Primary Peach are back again for January to make your life easier and help you plan! I am sharing some fabulous activities for Martin Luther King, Jr with ideas for ALL grades! The best part: almost all of them are freebies or ideas from blog posts! Click on any of the images below to download the PDF. Once you are on the PDF, click around on all of the images to visit the resources!

Here are some great ideas for K-2:

Here are some great writing ideas for any grade:

And here are some ideas for grades 3 and up, including an exclusive freebie from me:

Head over to The Primary Peach for more Sharing Sunday posts! You can also check out more MLK resources with Carla at Comprehension Connection!

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Merry and Bright: Fill Their “Stockings!”

December 13, 2015

Hey, my tired, worn-out, ready-for-Winter-Break teacher friends!

Several of my bloggy buddies have teamed up to bring you some relief! We know you’re ready for the break, so we are bringing you some merry tips AND some presents to make the last few days bright and help you get to the end! 🙂

My Merry Tip is a fun way to help manage behavior. We all know the natives tend to get restless this time of year… the excitement of the holidays, the breaks in routines with programs, and FINALS (blech!) tend to make some students go, well… crazy!

Merry Tips and Presents With Ideas by Jivey

This is a cheap and easy way to reward students for their good behavior. You could do this the entire month of December, a couple of weeks, or just the last week- it’s up to you! Give each student a paper lunch bag to decorate. This becomes their “stocking.” Set these up on a table or shelf where they can see them (and be reminded of what they want to earn). Then, each day that students show appropriate behavior, add a treat to their stocking!

add a treat for good behavior (Ideas By Jivey)

Where do these treats come from? Depending on how many days you are doing it, you might just run to the dollar tree and stock up on a few things, or you can send home a letter to the parents to ask for donations! Here is a letter that you can use:

free parent letter for behavior stockings (Ideas By Jivey)

*This letter is not editable due to clip art and font copyright. Thank you for understanding.*

Students will be so excited to take home their stocking full of goodies on the last day before break! And let me tell you, these bags saved my sanity the last few weeks before Christmas… if students started getting wild…

…all I had to do was remind the class of their “treat bags” or “stockings” and their behavior would turn right around!

Is it too late for the idea this year? Pin this post for next year:

Fill their stockings for good behavior - great incentive (Ideas By Jivey)

If you enjoyed this idea, please consider joining me on Facebook, Instagram, or my TPT Store for more great ideas.

Go check out some more Merry Tips from these other fabulous bloggers!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Math Workshop Planning Present

December 11, 2015

Math Workshop truly changed the way I reach students for the BETTER. Being able to work with students on their level in a small group helps me not only see their thinking, but it also prevents students from sitting through an entire lesson “lost.”

While you are working with a small group, the rest of the class is working in stations. I despise mindless busy work stations. I don’t want my students doing “hush activities.” I want them to truly be reviewing skills and learning from each other through games and partner activities. (You can find all of my math stations here!) That requires a lot of training in the beginning of the school year (or whenever you decide to start a workshop) because, of course, what do students want to do when they get together? TALK!

Establishing the routine is so important, and I can’t stress this word enough: MODEL MODEL MODEL! You have to really show students what it is you expect from them. That means when you first start Math Workshop, you can’t start groups right away. It might even be three weeks before you pull a group. You have to be a part of the stations, and of course, walk around and make sure students are on task. But you also want to set a routine for when you aren’t able to monitor every minute… you want to teach students to be accountable for their learning. Which leads me to today’s planning present!

Today’s Planning Present is a student accountability report:

Math Workshop Student Accountability Report With Ideas by Jivey

This page is from the complete Launching Math Workshop Guide.

I first got this idea a few years ago from a fellow 4th grade teammate, and it changed the way my stations ran- truly! Copy this sheet front and back to have room for all your stations and even a small group slot if you’d like. Provide 5-10 minutes at the end of each workshop to allow them to write, and then also share out. Students must describe their learning using math language. I think it is important for students to reflect on what they learned each day. Not only does it help me see what they did or did not understand, but they also know I expect them to tell me about what they have done and learned, so they can’t just mess around the entire station time. Often times, this is when their group will tattle on another member too- ha!!

Students must be trained with this part of workshop, too. When you are part of the stations as you set up Math Workshop, point out some things they might want to reflect on at the end. And then of course, have your own reflection page on a poster or on the SMART Board and show the students what you expect to be written each day (complete sentences, math language, etc.). This simple task will allow your students to become such great math thinkers, and it will help hold students accountable for their learning!

I hope this planning present will help you implement Math Workshop effectively in your classroom. Don’t forget to head over to Jennifer’s blog, Teaching to Inspire, for another planning present!

For more Math Resources and ideas, follow my Pinterest board!

Follow Ideas By Jivey’s board Math Workshop Ideas on Pinterest.

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Math Station Planning Present

December 9, 2015

Math Stations should not be intimidating or a burden, and sadly, I know many teachers feel that way. The purpose of stations (or centers, if that’s what you call them) is for students to review and practice what you have already taught them. You should not feel like you have to put out brand new centers every week (which is usually where the burden sets in). Use open stations (not worksheets) that you can recycle throughout the year!

Open Activities in Math Stations With Ideas by Jivey

Big skills, such as multiplication and division to name just two, shouldn’t be done “only when you’re teaching it.” Students need to practice these skills all year. Provide the same laminated open activity with dice at various times of the year and students won’t get tired of it- because each roll of the dice provides a different problem! Differentiate with different sized dice, and you’ll be able to use the same open activity with different learners all year long! You can find all of my math stations here!

Today’s Planning Present is a set of differentiated multiplication stations. These open activities use dice so students can do it over and over (and over) and always get different problems.

This station is from the complete Multiplication Differentiated Stations!

There are two versions of the activity. Depending on your learners, you may want students drawing groups to solve their multiplication problem, or you may want students drawing arrays with larger numbers. Both of these are included.

The great thing about open activities is you can vary the difficulty just by providing different dice! They are also NEVER ENDING activities, so whether students have 10 minutes or 20, they just erase and start over (laminate the activities and provide dry erase or vis-a-vis markers).

I hope this planning present will help you use math stations effectively in your classroom. Don’t forget to head over to Jennifer’s blog, Teaching to Inspire, for another planning present!

For more Math Resources and ideas, follow my Pinterest board!

Follow Ideas By Jivey’s board Math Workshop Ideas on Pinterest.

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December Pick 3 on Pinterest: Classroom Management

December 3, 2015

This time of year gets tricky… kids are so excited, teachers are so tired (and excited, too!), and for most, it’s the end of the quarter… that means report cards and end of course tests. BLAH. ‘Tis the season?!?

I’m here to share some fun ideas and tips that you can implement this time of year to save your sanity! These tips are all part of:

Click on any of the images below to visit the pin. From there, you can click through to the source or repin for later.

Although this teacher used the idea in January, this would be a great, wintery, non-denominational way to get students excited and remind them to behave!

This is a great way to motivate students to stay on task- and adorable too! 🙂