Monday Mathness!

We have been studying measurement the last couple of weeks, everything from measurement on a clock to rulers to thermometers. It seems like on of the hardest things for them to grasp has been fractions of an inch.  

Read alouds are a must in my class when introducing a new concept and these books have been great for discussing an inch and its fractions. 

First up-Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni. It's an easy read but leads to a great discussion about how big an inch is. I also taught them the "finger trick" (the middle part of your finger is "about" an inch.)

Second-Inchworm and a half by Elinor J. Pinczes. It takes it to the next level.  Basically it's about the inch worm encountering a problem when she cannot measure things because she is too long. Inchworm and a half to the rescue!! We followed this read aloud by measuring things around the room to the half inch. The book also goes into 1/3 and 1/4 of an inch. 

Happy Presidents Day!!! 

Hope everyone that was off enjoyed their day 

and for those that weren't so lucky (me!) I hope you had a productive day.

I need YOUR help, please!

This is a totally unrelated to education post, but I would really appreciate your help. I have entered baby girl in the Parents magazine photo contest (yes, I am THAT parent). 

Please follow the link below and vote for her, I promise it will only take a minute. Thank you in advance :)

http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/1461017

I am taking pictures of my classroom today to post later this week, I am sorry I have fallen behind. 

Goodbye!! And hello!

Wellll there no stopping it now. Summer is gone and a new school year arrives.

Summer 2012 was definitely an unforgettable, life changing one for us. I've included 4 pictures to summarize it-
Our beautiful healthy almost 2 month old baby girl Arianna, such a blessing!
Alexander holding his baby sister like the proud and lovable big brother that he is.
Alexander and Me at his 1st grade meet the teacher, gosh can't believe how big he is!
Last but not least my wonderful husband and me closing the summer off with style at the Enrique and JLo concert.

Hope everyone had a great one filled with amazon memories as well.

Now for the hello. Hello 2012-2013 school year! I can't even put in words how excited I am about this year. Its my 3rd year in 3rd grade. I'm working with an AMAZING team! We have so many plans and ideas already that it's sure to be a year to remember. Love these gals!

Heres a look at my board outside my room. Our school theme is reading so we all have different book covers represented. We are also embracing technology this year so I combined them :)

Wish everyone a great first day back and a GREAT school year!

Math "Toolbox" Update-Mailing list

I have done my best at responding to all comments today regarding the teacher binder and the math toolbox, if I missed you please forgive me and feel free to contact me. A very popular question/request was "Where do you find your printables? Can you share them?" 

My main source for these printables is our curriculum, CSCOPE. If you have access to this go ahead and dive in! There is a ton of paper-pencil activities that are easily turned into hands on activities for your toolboxes. I unfortunately CANNOT share these due to copyright laws. Ask your principal maybe your campus has access to it. 

My second huge source is PINTEREST! Everyone has access to this so if you do not already have an account, go make one NOW! It's super addictive but oh the resources you'll find. I found the "Gallon Land" printable there (lessonplandiva)

Many of you amazing followers asked if I could email anything I had to share, I would LOVE to! Since I have let my comments accumulate for a couple of weeks I would hate to miss someones email address. 

Therefore this is what I think we should do- if you would like me to email you any printables I come across for this following year please leave me your name and email address in a comment below. This way I will have a mailing list all in one place :)

Hope this helps all of us out! Thank you for the interest and hope to be back soon with new ideas.

She's here!

Arianna Caelin Rivera

7.1lbs 18in. Born June 30 at 3:29am

So this ladies and gentlemen is my precious bundle of joy! As you can imagine we are over the moon happy and in love with her. 

 

With all this happiness also comes sleepless nights and busy on and off napping/feeding days ;) In other words, I've been too busy to log on. Its been a forced but much needed "break". I apologize for not responding to questions and comments. I have seen them and promise to respond soon. I will also begin posting new ideas I've come across during my 3am sleepless nights. 

 

Thank you so much for continuing to check out my blog and the wonderful feedback. Hope everyone's enjoying the summer!

 

Now back to my baby girl...

Monday Mathness!

IMPORTANT UPDATE: the amazing gallon land sheet shown in this post, that many of you have asked about, is not originally mine. I apologize if I made it seem like it was. This printable was found on pinterest, original creator-lessonplandiva. Check her out for more amazing ideas. Like I mentioned in my other post, I find my printables online and from our curriculum CSCOPE, which unfortunately I cannot share. 

Our Math "toolbox"

The composition book, who knew such a common school supply item could be so useful? Our class has what we call our "Math Toolbox", it holds our notes, key words, diagrams, definitions and any math related "tool" that could help us learn our 3rd grade material.

Rounding with color coding :) 

This gives us a place for all those math reminders that come with our curriculum but most importantly student created definitions, diagrams and hands on activities that will allow them a connection with the material. Below are a couple of pages from our toolbox. Check it out!

Visual of Base Ten Blocks- Vocabulary to go along with Place Value (Simplified definitions created by students)

 

More rounding reminders-Making "friendly numbers"

Patterns (Each student drew their own at the bottom)-2D Figures Definitions

3D Key words and visuals of each

Our Favorite Colors in a variety of forms (Data collection)

Our "Land of Gallon" story for capacity Unit 

Visual reminder for capacity

Updates I plan on doing for next school year:

• Table of Contents with page numbers for easy reference
• HELP ME COME UP WITH MORE UPDATES PLEASE! :) 
• What do you think? Suggestions? Comments?