Back to School Black Friday Sale on Teachers Pay Teachers

Join all the fun at the Back to School Black Friday Sale on TPT tomorrow (Friday, July 28th). Search the hashtag #BTSBlackFriday to find great deals at 50% off.

We have put our First Grade Math Journal Bundle (for the whole school year) on sale for only $6.50!
Here is the link to this one:

We also put our Tall Tales unit on sale for $4.75. Here is the link to this one:

Math Spiral Review

In my teaching career, I figured out very quickly that I needed to provide my students with continual spiral review of concepts in order for them to truly learn them. For most of my teaching years, I have taught First Grade (17 out of 20 years).

First Grade is full of discovery for children. Many of them are seeing things for the first time at school. In Math, I always use lots of hands-on activities and manipulatives to go along with learning to write math ideas and answers on paper.

Throughout the years, I discovered that the math series books that we used did not do an adequate job of spiral reviewing the concepts. Often, there would be some spiral review papers here and there, but I always felt like they needed a quick review almost daily.

I developed a daily math journal for my students that would provide a short daily practice of skills we had learned. It starts with easier concepts and gets more challenging as the year goes on and they learn more skills. I was recovering from Lyme Disease treatment one summer and was on the couch most of the month of July, so I had a lot of time to rearrange the problems and develop an order that matched our math series.

I divided the journal into four parts- one for each of our 9 week grading periods. I used these for five years until I moved to Second Grade. I'm now teaching Third Grade. I miss these Journals! I've been working on one for Third Grade. Hopefully, it will get done this year. I want it to be helpful for the students and worth the time it takes them to complete the problems each day, so it is going slow as I figure out how I want it.

Anyway, if you are looking for an easy way to incorporate a spiral review in your First Grade math class, here are the links to my Math Journals.

Monday Made It

I can't believe the summer is going by so quickly! I have been trying to slowly do some crafts for my classroom without going on school overload. I'm trying to relax this summer.

Here are some things I have finished:

These letters are from the word "DREAM" I had up on my class cabinets the past couple of years. I decided to reuse the letters to spell"READ" in my class library.

I painted them in a darker blue. Then, I used Mod Podge to attach sports cut-outs that I had at home. The Gator heads are cut out from a roll of ribbon. This was a quick change (once the paint dried) that I think will add something to my class library.

I ordered this wooden football shape with an "H" from Zulily for my classroom. (It was only $10). It is a very nice thick wood. I just used paint to transform it. Again, some blue paint for the "H".

I am planning to attach it to my classroom wall with Command velcro. I have a walkway area in my new classroom and I think this will be perfect there.

This was a quick and easy craft. This is a wooden ipad/cookbook stand I used in the kitchen. I no longer really use it. So, I decided to use it on my desk at school for my Erin Condren Teacher Planner. It fits perfectly.

I painted it white and used Gator ribbon to decorate it.

That's it for this week. Having my wisdom teeth out last Thursday has slowed me down some. I have a few more projects I want to do before going back to my classroom. (We can't get back in until the week before Teacher Planning week.)

Wednesday Whimsy and a Freebie

We went to Oregon in June to visit my family and introduce my grandson, Benjamin, to that side of the family.

I took this picture in my father's backyard. He was born and raised in Florida and enjoys collecting flamingos to remind him of Florida. He also grows bamboo, like he had at his father's house in Florida. So, Ben enjoyed playing among the bamboo and flamingos and I caught him with this picture.

This picture makes me smile. Ben is so fun and whimsical!

I have been slowly working on things for my new classroom and theme. I am going to do a Sports theme. I made banners for my bulletin boards: Math, Science, and Social Studies. I bought black and white striped banners at Target on clearance ($2 each). I created letters with circles around them to attach to each banner piece. Here is how they look:

I did mine in blue and orange letters (for the Gators). If you like the letters, here is a freebie with the letters and circles around them. The letters are in black here.

Monday Made It

I can't believe July is already here! June was busy around here. Luckily, July should be a little slower and relaxing. I love making crafts and painting. So, I really enjoy these Monday Made It blog posts. I love seeing what other teachers are busy making over the summer.

Here are some things I have been working on:

"MATH" Letters

I didn't take a "before" picture, but these are cardboard letters that are about 5 inches tall. I got them from Hobby Lobby last week. I kept them fairly simple and just painted them in blue and orange for my classroom - Sports theme with orange and blue for the Gators. I plan to put them on top of the shelf where I keep the math manipulatives. 

Flamingo Teacher Toolbox Labels

I have been working on adding Teacher Toolbox Label Card sets to our Teachers Pay Teachers store. This set has Flamingos. There is also a Tropical Fun set and a Pineapple Set. You can find this Flamingo set here. (for only $1)

Tropical Fun Schedule Cards

I have been busy making items to match the Tropical Fun theme in our Tpt store. Here are the Schedule cards. They come in 2 different fonts and there are lots of choices to choose from for your schedule display.

If you are interested,you can find the Schedule cards here.

Those are some projects I have finished this past week, while recovering from our trip to Oregon (on a plane with a 1 year old!). Hope your Summer is going well!

Stephanie