Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!

Well how the heck have you all been!!?? For Pete's sake I have not been blogging in FOR-EV-ER!! I don't really have an excuse I am just lazy as ever.

I think offering freebies is always always always a super awesome reason to blog though. I appreciate all of you SO much! I mean like whole tons of bunches! My 3rd grade team and I say multiple times a week how much we love TPT and Pinterest. The ideas we get and share have truly made this our best year of teaching yet and we could not be more thankful.

Because I am so thankful for all you have shared with me I am going to offer up several of the items in my store for FREE until the sale begins on Tuesday! I know, crazy but I just love you guys!

This is YOUR week so enjoy each day! I hope you feel beyond appreciated!

Click each picture and it will take you to my TPT where you can download each for free. The regular prices range between $4-$5!

I HEART you!

I think I came off just a teensy bit grumpy yesterday... I have to say I am loving being pregnant and do feel incredibly blessed (INCREDIBLY) to be gifted with another little miracle in my life. Being the only prego in my little circle of friends I think sometimes I jump at the opportunity to vent aka whine (waaa waaaa waaaa) and I need to remember to share all that I am loving too!

So even though this is not a very "teachery" post so far (hang in there, I promise) I thought I should share all that I am loving about this sweet little (fingers crossed, do I dare say it?) girl. We don't know yet but as you can tell I am hopeful. 

1. I love you... yes you, sweet baby growing inside me. I didn't feel Conner until about 20 weeks. This time around I am feeling you squirm and wiggle all day long. It is THE best feeling!

2. My belly! I was so concerned with growing out of my pre-mom jeans last time that I didn't truly enjoy that baby belly. I find that I cannot keep myself from rubbing it. Maybe this Buddha is bringing me some luck. 

3. Everything baby. I cannot wait to see those sweet little tiny toes, soft little cheeks and to soak in that new baby smell. 

4. Big brother is getting older by the second and is not afraid to show it. I have been reading (not to mention, sobbing over) all of his baby books, pregnancy journaling and memorabilia. It is making me soak up just how little he is no matter how grown up he may believe he is. 

Thank you all for your sweet support and listening to me whine. I am glad I have family, friends plus my blogsters!

And, as promised on to the teachery portion...

Last year I bought these cutesy pie heart shaped containers from the dollar tree. They came 12 in a pack..... doesn't get any better than dirt cheap. I just couldn't let them go to waste so I made this fun little division game!

Each heart has a certain number of beads in it. Kids count the beads and find it on the game sheet. They then use the beads to practice dividing and recording the correct quotient.

The containers stay closed pretty well but I can certainly foresee pieces getting left behind. I have a couple of kiddos who need some counting practice so at the end of each day it will be their job to count the beads in each container and make sure that it matches the number I have written on the bottom of each container. This will help to make sure the center stays (my fave) neat, clean and tidy! You could also give this job to those sweets who are just always asking if you need help with anything. I am sure you have a few!

If you can't find the hearts I am sure you can find something just as cute to use.

Click on the picture for your freebie recording sheet!

If you do try it out let me know what your kids think... I would love the feedback. Happy dividing!

February Currently...

Linking up with Farley here... I just love her. She makes me chuckle at just the right time. 

The Big Game is finallllly over. I think I would like sports a lot more however, my husband is ALL sorts of serious and makes it a tad bit un-fun. When it comes to football and basketball there is hardly a game we watch that does not include some sort of yelling or throwing. On the bright side of that I do love how Conner like to correct his daddy and remind him that saying stupid is not nice... haha that's my boy. 

Onto my currently... visited my parents today! Always fun. Sadly, I had a fierce headache. I shoulda known one was coming on though. I was super emotional yesterday and they say that these pregnant hormone surges can cause headaches. Glad to be home and my prego approved Tylenol has kicked in. 

I am way too tired though so I might just have to skip my must do's for tonight and hit the hay with my little man. Grading can wait right? Right! I think needing sunshine is a given. Last but not least my pet peeve. I mean come on, do you really have anything to say that is going to make me want to admit that I am being overly emotional and sensitive? No! So how about just not arguing with me! Hopin' this baby is a girl because I was not all little miss sensitive with Conner. 

Have a great week all! Now head over and link up. Click here. 

Native Americans of the Northwest

I feel like I am always posting about art projects, but these days it is the only time I am free to snap some pictures! We have been studying Native Americans of the Northwest. To represent the tribes of the Coast we made totem poles and for Inland Valley we made woven mats (my favorite project I have done all year BTW). 

Each of us picked 3 animals to include on our totem. Based on the spiritual beliefs of the indians we chose animals that best represented us. After choosing our 3 animals we colored each with oil pastel. Once colored, the animals were glued to brown construction paper rolled into a tube. 

We displayed these in our school library for everyone to see. We went to the computer lab to create the information cards. Each student described their animal and why they chose each. 

This project was my absolute have! I was daring and did it with my kids before trying it out on my own. I know, and it actually went amazing. Click here for the original project and perfect step by step directions!

The project includes watercolors, painted leaf prints, measuring, cutting and weaving. Each project turned out fabulous and really challenged students artistically. 

Completed product! I bought the straw/grass from Craft Warehouse. I was able to get the leaves right outside my classroom, dry and all. By the time I was ready to find some long grass it was pouring. I opted to spend a few bucks. 

We have a Curriculum/Kidless day on Monday... I am so ready to have some time to plan. So many exciting things coming up... Prez day, Valentine's, our 100th day and I am sure I am forgetting something... oh ya Super Bowl!

Sunday FUNday... Math Technology

Happy Sunday and Martin Luther King Day!

Over the weekend my principal ask me to lead a portion of our upcoming Curriculum and Instruction day. These are those teach inservice days we have been given in place of our prep-time this year.

I was asked to talk with our staff about IXL and how I use it in my classroom. If you have not heard of IXL you are missing out!

For the past two years our district has purchased a license for the site and every teacher and student in the district has access at home and at school. Each student has a username and password. When entering IXL they can practice skills at any level from pre-k through eighth grade. As the teacher you have access to reports that show individual student performance, time practiced, skills mastered, skills student need more practice on and more. Before our district purchased a license I created a 30 day free trial using my email. I loved it so much that I just could not give it up. My students practiced at home and loved when I would get them a specific challenge to complete. When my 30 days were up I have to confess (shhhhh) I created another 30 day trial on another email address. I considered asking families to send $5 for an IXL membership the next year. Lucky me, the district was on the same page and I didn't have to!!

While exploring IXL, I have discovered that :

-You can change your students passwords to something generic and easy

-You can hide the grade level labels so that students don't feel self-conscious about practicing a 1st grade skill when they are in 3rd grade (very handy for me)

- You can print a letter to send home to families with each student's username in password

I am going to share these tricks and several more with my team teachers next week. You should check out the site and create yourself a few 30 day trials too. I am sure you'll love it. Oh yes, I forgot to say that all of the skills and practice are based on CCSS! 

Let me know if you have any questions about getting started. My kids and their families love it!

I just couldn't help but laugh...

I was giving three of my kids a spelling pre-test today. I try to keep things moving quickly so that we can get it done and move on. Now and then I get into the mode and forget to give them a sentence to go with or rattle off the word too fast. Like so: "Your word is purpose. She worked with a purpose. Your word is certain. He was certain that it was correct. Next. Complete. Sincere. Their. Food." And then it happened...

"boob?"

Me continuing to move on to the next kid with the next word.

"Mrs. Newport did you just say boob? (a little louder).

"No I did not say boob, I said food. (while shussing <um, is that a word>)

"Giggles", Thank goodness just from the small table group. I was embarrassed enough!

Then my sweet student teacher says, "It sounded like BOOB to me too".

I am so immature, but I just couldn't help but crack up. It's funny how these vulnerable, yet embarrassing moments seem to bond us and make me that much more human to these sweet kids.

The moral of all this is not that you should say something inappropriate to your kids- like boob. I still swear I said food. More so, I am trying to make a point that moments like these completely unrelated to learning, where you and a group of littles just giggle together are  important moments. So often I get caught up in the fast pace of the day. I need an unexpected moment. Something to catch me off guard. Get me smiling. Moments like these remind me that each child in my class needs to have a good giggle with their teacher now and then!

I hope you take these moments each day! Tomorrow I am starting our morning with a joke... just because I can and I love to see em' smile!

Where did the spaghetti go to dance?
The meatball!!

Have a wonderful week and enjoy all those special moments!

It's the most wonderful time of the (school) year!

I think I will start this with a random thought.. I am feeling just a tad bit random as per usual. You know that "Mama" commercial for the movie with the spooky girls? I am sure you do because I feel like it is on every 5 seconds. This is why I cover my ears and close my eyes whenever I watch T.V. or for that matter when my hubs watches T.V. It doesn't matter how distracted I may be with whatever I am doing. I hear that commercial and I freak. I just don't like it one tiny bit!!! I don't know how I ever watched these scary movies. I feel like back in high school that was all we went to see. Even then I buried by face in Josh's arm. That was before I knew he would be dealing with my fraidy cat ways for life! I can't wait until that dang movie finally comes out so they can stop showing the preview, ugh.

On a less random note I am starting to feel like my self again. I started creating again last week and I haven't needed an afternoon nap in a lil over a week now. That is sayin' a lot people, lemme tell ya! After the break it actually feels really nice to back to work and into the routine. Just because I am not crazy sleepy doesn't mean I am not crazy emotional though. I cry over ev-er-y-thing! Sometime I am not even sure why I'm crying. It's all a stage though I am thankful for each and every bit of it.

My two favorite times of the school year are September and right after Christmas break. I love all of the newness, and feeling of school, fall and meeting my sweet kids in September. After Christmas break there is just this sense of routine though that I feel more than any other time of the year. The kids are refreshed and ready to learn. I am refreshed and ready to teach my booty off! 

Now that my thirds have been introduced to the basics of multiplication we are moving on and adding the more complex pieces. This week we worked on what I like to call the CheeriO trick. Hopefully this will explain...

They think this trick is pretty darn cool. For extra practice and to free me up for small groups they practice with Cheerio Memory. 

This week we are going to learn more about the commutative property. I have included Triple Times War as a freebie just for you here... you know I can't blog without a freebie! I just love em! Click the picture to get yours. BTW I was going to use dice but when multiplying 3 numbers if the product gets to high on the first roll it creates quite the problem. The spinner keeps the product low enough on the first and second spin so that they can find the final product on the third spin. 

You can also get these and other ready to go centers in my Multiplication Centers and Activity Pack from TPT!