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Yay! I have just completed a new edition of Let's Make Math Fun!

      

This edition has some Make It Math About Them activities which are ideal for back to school and getting to know you activities!

Tic Tac Toe Math ideas and printables are included. Perfect for math centers.

The Odd One Out puzzles will get them thinking!

There are also a few different ideas for Number of the Day.

And we explore perimeter and area with some hands on challenges!

As usual it is loaded with printables, activities and ideas to make math fun!

So if you want to excite them, challenge them and motivate them in math download your free copy now from http://www.makingmathmorefun.com/magazine/Volume17JA2012.pdf 

Hope you and the kids have lots and lots of fun with these activities!

Please feel free to share this magazine with colleagues or friends who are interested in making math fun for kids!

It's Official - They Love To Bump!

After playing math board games with a group of 7 and 8 year olds, I asked them which their favorite games were. They had played lots of different ones over several sessions but it was clear that they had a few favorites.
Yes they love the Bump games! I think that the part they love most is 'bumping' their opponent off a number.
These are the 2 that they named as favorites -     

      

The Balloon Bump Addition was in a previous edition of my Let's Make Math Fun Magazine. You can download it now for free at http://www.makingmathmorefun.com/magazine/Volume15MA2012.pdf 

The Mad Monkeys Bump is part of my Multiplication Games Collection.

The other favorites were the Tic Tac Toe games, especially the 4x4 games.

These above are available for free at

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Addition-Tic-Tac-Toe-Freebie

and

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Multiplication-Tic-Tac-Toe-Freebie 

I have to admit, as much as they love to play the games, I also love to see them playing! They apply their math skills over and over and do so with joy, enthusiasm and laughter!

So I guess -

Games + Math = Learning + Fun



What a great equation for teaching math!
Hope you have a chance to download and try some of the games above. There are also other FREEBIES and math board game collections at my TPT store and my TN store.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Games-4-Learning 

http://www.teachersnotebook.com/shop/games4learning 

Are you game?????????????

One Class Rule and It Starts With R!

I am linking up with http://corkboardconnections.blogspot.com/2012/07/caringclass.html

on creating a caring classroom.

  

The start of a new school year is full of promises and potential!
Those activities in the first few days of school can set the tone for the rest of the school year.

Creating a caring classroom will be a high priority for many teachers.
One of the early days activities in my classroom like in many others is to establish the class rules. Many years ago I simplified the rules.

I wanted to put a more positive spin on our class rules and simplify them so I settled for one rule which was one word.

One Class Rule and It Starts With R

At the start of each year I tell students that we will only have one rule in our class and it is one word. Sometimes I ask them to guess what it might be and tell them that it starts with R. One year I had them discuss it with their parents overnight and let then let them share their suggestions with the class.

Another year I gave them the letters in a scrambled form and had them unscramble them to make the word. C-E-T-E-P-S-R (This is a fun word puzzle for them!)

   

   

Have you got it yet? You probably have! RESPECT! That's our rule.

Once we have the word respect we discuss the meaning of the word. I then ask, 'What is it that we well need to respect?' Eventually after much discussion we usually come up with two things
Respect Others - We discuss who this means - their peers, teachers, adults, voluteers etc.
Respect Property and Things - We discuss what this means - furniture, gardens, others belongings and their own belongings.

But then I tell them that there is one other that belongs with these. Sometimes they get it and sometimes the need help.
Respect Yourself - We discuss what this means and what you do if you are respecting yourself.

 

So now we have our rule and next we have our fun! The students create and share skits showing what you might do if you are respecting others, respecting property and respecting ourselves. They can also do skits that show how it might look if we aren't doing these things.

One rule that is positive and all encompassing! RESPECT

You'll find that almost every inappropriate behavior can be refered back to the one rule. RESPECT When this is done well, it can be one of the most important lessons that they learn all year.

If you'd like to try this you can download the letters and Respect posters here.
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B22L3xCcFjIycVRjam1tRWZHc2M
Wishing you all the best with the start of your school year!

It's Not My New School Year Resolution!

It is not my new school year as that is January for us in Australia but after reading some of the New School Year Resolutions in Amanda's Linky, I was inspired. So these are what I would be including.

 I just have 2 very simple resolutions that I would include.

#1 Have Fun!

Back to school time is always so busy that actually stopping to enjoy it seems to get forgotten! A teaching partner I had many years ago always tried to be very organized in the mornings so that she could greet the kiddos in the morning and spend time chatting with them. What a great start to the day!

#2 More Games!

I'd also vow to play more games with the kiddos. They enjoy them and I always enjoy them too! There are so many great getting to know you games.  And I always try to use games in math lessons. My favorite games are those just for fun ones that we play in the last 5 minutes of the day. I definitely need to finish the day with these more often.

# More Organized

I know I said 2 but after reading the 2 above I realized that the key to more games and more fun is being more organized. I guess it really needs to be #1 as then the others will hopefully follow.

Hope you like my resolutions! Make sure you check out the others at Teaching Maddeness.

What's Your Favorite Back to School Activity?

I am linking up with Jodi at FunInFirst.blogspot.com   This question made me think, but with math being a favorite area for me, I knew that that answer would be some fun math activities that would challenge the kids, make them think and let them enjoy math and playing around with numbers.

What's My Number? Game

Students love playing the game 'What's My Number?'

First I have them fill in a sheet where they list numbers that are relevent to them - Address number, birth date, number of brothers, sister, age, last 2 digits of their phone number and even shoe size.

Once everyone has filled it in, one student says, 'My number is XX? What's my number?'

The rest of the class has to guess which number they have shared.

Is it there birth date, their shoe size or the number of pets that they have?

This is a great getting to know you game but it also serves as a challenge that make students look at how likely different numbers might suit certain criteria.

How Many Do I Have?

This is also a great challenge. I love it's simplicity but it is amazing how challenging it can be?

Can you complete each one with a sensible answer. Most children find the larger numbers the most challenging.

I have put several of my favorite back to school math activities including those above in my Back to School Math About Me collection.

 It is available now at

TeachersPayTeachers Back to School Math About Me

and

TeachersNotebook Back to School Math About Me

Hope you find these ideas useful for your Back to School Math Time!

The What's My Number Game is always a favorite with the kiddos and can be played over a week or so.

Here are 4 of my numbers - 13, 74, 6 and 7. Can you tell what my numbers are about? Here's a clue. I've included birthday, birth month, last phone digits and address number.

Manic Monday Freebies

I had seen this before but today when I went to CoffeeKidsandCompulsiveLists I thought it would be great to join in.

 

So I decided ( quite late in the day I know) to add my Olympic Games Brain Teasers. About a week ago I created these brain teasers based around the Olympic Rings as something fun and challenging in math that relates to the Olympic Games.

They are 7 brain teasers in card format and worksheet format!

These brain teasers are great for all ages as I have included a simple version and a challenging version of 3 of them!

Download them now at

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B22L3xCcFjIydlpZc2RVQWc2UVk

And make sure you check out the other fantastic Freebies at

http://www.classroomfreebies.com/2012/07/welcome-to-manic-monday-at-classroom_30.html 

I Love Playing Around With Words!

From my first year of teaching - which was some years ago - I always loved teaching phonics and playing around with words.

Children get so much from rhyming, letter swapping, reading words lists and building word lists.

These simple posters are filled with big opportunities!

    

We use them for reading words with these patterns but we also have lots of fun with them.

Miming Clues

Students can mime a clue for a word and the others try to guess what the word is. Someone might mime eating off a plate for the word plate.

What's My Word?

I like to give students a clue for a word and the students have to guess what my word is. I might say, 'We do this at night.' for the word sleep.

Letter Swap

We also play letter swap where I select a word and ask students to change a letter to make a new word. I might say, 'Change the i in hit to make a new word,' and students could say hot, hut or hat.

There are lots of fun things that you can do with a list of words!

The posters above are from my Short Vowel and Long Vowel Word Work Units but you can easily make your own lists. In fact brainstorming a list of words with a particular letter pattern is another great way to play around with words.