Five for Friday...on a Saturday!

Hello, again!
I didn't go into hiding. Aliens didn't take me away.  I've just been in school for 18 days already!
Yep...you read that correctly 10 + 8, eighteen, 20 - 2, and any other name for 18.
Soooo, I guess second graders took me away. :)

Last night, I told myself I was gonna sleep in tomorrow...yay!
My body didn't agree so I said to myself, "Let's blog!"
Here I am with coffee in hand linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching after a long absence. :)

Sarah and I just know how to take great pictures. HA!
We received these blog shirts from A+ Images for FREE.  All we had to do was send in an image of our blog button.
Thank you, Shine On for not making me wait for jeans day to wear our groovy shirts!!
PS. Now, I see why the kids always think we are sisters...cause we do look alike. :)

 This idea is really from Everyday Math but I tweaked it. I was supposed to do explorations (yuck)...  Instead, I decided to do it whole class and build math station stamina.  

All you need are base 10 blocks and a dry erase board. I have my base 10 blocks in those handy dandy dollar store containers. 

The kiddos were allowed to build anything as long as they did the math to go with it.  You can see the math on the bottom left photo.

It was a success!! 

We had our first math test on Friday and my early finishers were able to "math build."  (If I didn't see the math being done, they had to move on to something else.)

I see endless extensions for this activity...more blocks for higher numbers, expanded form, and much more!

I have already changed my classroom several times! You never know what will truly work until you get to know your new kiddos.  These are the areas that have remained the same - so far.  

Those blue donuts are gym donut chairs.  My kids love them but they take a lot of frontloading - a lot.  The donuts tend to spend the first 9 weeks in and out of time out. :)

The cardboard boxes are MORE wobble stools from my Donors Choose success. (more about those later)

The fabric boxes hold math stations by skill. I snagged them from my own home when we redid our kids' rooms. I just need to label which is on a to do list somewhere!  The books are the ones I use for lessons. Yeah, I need to label those, too.  The green and grey boxes hold literacy station materials for each unit.

This is the coolest app ever!! We are using it for reading stations and rewards. It is free for educators.  It's amazing. It has 1000s of free books and tracks the kids reading.  The kids love it because they earn rewards! This week we introduced it by using my iPad mirrored on the projector.  LOVE...LOVE it.  Check it out by clicking the image.  

I use it at home with my own kiddos and they can't get enough either.

I think my son loves his fourth grade teacher. He has fixed her stapler and this was her little Bissell vacuum.  I just hope he isn't sabotaging them so he can save the day for her. LOL  :)