TpT Milestone Free / Freebie

Hi again everyone!  I hope you are having a good week.  School is out for me.  Every year I say I am going to take the first couple of days to just relax.  It never happens. :)  I have already started on my summer "to do" list...cleaning out closets, finishing my work room/office area, and of course, working on a new TpT unit.  Working on TpT units is my very favorite thing to do.  I don't consider it work at all!   

I'm very excited that I have reached another TpT milestone.  I have obviously met some other TpT milestones in the past but, I never saw the notifications...my own personal fault I am sure.  Since this is the first milestone that I have noticed making, I want to celebrate by offering a freebie.  I decided to take a few pages from the various Social Studies interactive notebooks that I sell and put them together into a free item.  This item is temporary though, so don't forget to download it soon if you want it!  

I have included the link on each picture below.  It will take you right to the free milestone product in my store.  I hope you enjoy!

Memories: Room Remodeling Ready or Not!

Finally, after 21 years of teaching, I was loving my classroom!  I finally had it the way I wanted it.  I had my groups and centers down to a fine art for my kids, with coordinating bulletin boards and accessories for the standards we worked on throughout the year.  

I also had my manipulatives sorted

 by standards for easy access.  

This one mural alone took me almost an entire day to put up...I move slow.  I was so proud of it.  I even blogged about it a few years ago when I first put it up. It had stayed up with no evidence of peeling!

I was rocking the Word Wall bulletin board, (to coordinate with my other standards based bulletin boards).

Then...it was a dark and stormy night...not really. However, it might as well have been, that awful day in January when we had to pack everything up and move to temporary rooms while contractors tore out our ceilings and our ancient heat/air units to make way for new, improved, gi-normous heat/air units.  They hurried us out of our classrooms, relocated us, and covered the 4th grade hallway with heavy plastic to torture us, because we weren't allowed to sneak a peak. The construction took about 2 weeks to complete. Right before they let us move back into our rooms, we got to go view the "remodel."

  I was speechless.  To prepare for the new, ugly unit, my bulletin boards on the outer and corner wall, as well as my beloved mural, were taken down.  (I never knew that much muck could be behind cutesy bulletin boards).  I still find bits and pieces of my mural, that was ripped from the wall, underneath furniture from time to time.  I was really sad about that and I am still not over it, as you can tell, since I had been reassured several times that every effort would be made to save it.  I felt it was the centerpiece of the room. :(

DUST, DUST, and more DUST!  I had to go on a z-pac before it was all over with.  I have since moved everything back in my room. I have put everything back in its place and made a new place for my bulletin boards.  

Just as I, (an OCD type personality) was finally feeling a sense of normality again, (you just don't fool around with a teacher's bulletin boards and space), I found myself this week, (inservice week), having to move again.  Oh well, I have all summer to get my room in order.  I think I will pass on the mural  this time but, I am rather excited about the fact that there is no monster heat/air unit in my new room...yet!  Yikes!  This may become a "stayed tuned" post. :)  

Teacher Pay Teachers Sale

Is anyone else ready for the TPT sale to start tomorrow? I spent Sunday night adding items, mainly clip art, to my cart.  I love clip art!  It's almost like Christmas going through stores and clicking "Wish List!" :)  I also went to My Purchases on the TPT website and posted comments to the items I have already bought so I can get points for my purchases tomorrow.  

Be sure to check out my store on May 5-6 since every item in my store will be 28% off. My large Math Station Math Booklets for every 4th grade common core standard is already discounted $11.00 but, will also be an additional 28% off Tuesday and Wednesday.  Click on the following link to view: 

Math Station Booklets


Click on the image below to view all the products I have on sale for the next 2 days! 

Don't forget to use the code for all purchases 
made during the sale: THANKYOU.

I hope everyone has a great week!  Not many more days left now until school is out.  I have one more Monday left!  Not that I'm counting. :)

Angles and Pattern Blocks

Whew!  Am I glad end-of-year testing is over!  Can I get an Amen?  It just gets worse every year!  I feel so sorry for my kids...and their teacher.  My nerves are frazzled.  We received sympathy treats and notes from other teachers not having their name attached to any test during the week that did make me feel a bit better, but not much. :/

(Sympathy Treat/Notes) 

Then the morning of the math end-of-year Georgia Milestone Test, I walked in stressed to see this screensaver on my old desktop computer.  I almost cried.  I wanted to be there...where the test didn't matter.  

Enough of my whining about the test.  I want to share an angle activity I did before testing began.  Not that I had much time to spend on angles since Geometry is the last 4th grade math standard and there are way too many standards to teach, yet alone master.  (Oops!  Whining again!)  We did spend some time anyway on practicing angles using pattern blocks.  First, we learned the 4 types of angles...acute, right, obtuse, and straight.  It was more of a review since angles are also a 3rd grade standard.  
We reviewed our artifacts chart and our hand movements.  (We make all the angles with our hands, beginning with the benchmark, 90 degrees/right angle.)

One thing I made sure students remembered was that the length of the lines does not matter.  (We had already had a lesson where we broke toothpicks to various sizes and created angles.)  

I began the lesson by using a chart to show

 what a large angle made of two pattern 

blocks might look like.

Next, I modeled pattern blocks on the white board with jumbo pattern block magnets.  Students were allowed to find and point out the large angles made where the 2 pattern blocks joined.

Finally, the students received their own packet of pattern blocks and created their own large angles.  They only had to find one angle.  

My students seemed to enjoy the activity.  The only problem we had was at the beginning of the project.  Some students were not making angles where the 2 pattern blocks joined.  They were simply looking at any angle on one pattern block.  We got it taken care of though. :)

I hope everyone has a good week.  It won't be long now.  My county has 15 school days left! :)

Rotational Turns of Angles

I would like to share a mathematics lesson that my students worked on last week.  We had already discussed the type of angles we needed to know:  right, acute, obtuse, and straight.  Before using a protractor, my students needed to know how to measure an angle by rotating it around a circle.  I had them focus on the fraction standards we had already completed.  I put a magnetic circle fraction cut into 4ths on the board.  Each 1/4 was one of our benchmarks to use with rotation.  We then reviewed our angles and the measurements of each.  

After a quick review of angles, I modeled the 4 circles I wanted my students to draw in their interactive notebooks.

We modeled a 90 degree angle.  Our new name was "1/4 turn."  I compared the angle to a 1/4 piece of our fraction circle.  We stood up and demonstrated the turn.

We continued each circle, one at a time, using the 90 degree angle as a benchmark.  Each time we made another turn, the students would say it was one more  1/4 turn, which was another 90 degrees.

I also emphasized the inner curves.  For example, a 270 degree angle is close to 360 degree, which is one complete turn.  Depending on how the inner curve looks, this decides if an angle is a 90 degree turn or a 270 degree turn since an angle can be turned clockwise or counter-clockwise.

I also used examples that many kids are familiar with.  For example, we discussed skateboarding.  Many knew what a 180 and a 360 meant when skateboarding.

Next, each student received an Angle

 Rotation Mat and a trapezoid. 

 We practiced making rotational turns.  

Students recorded the turns in their interactive notebooks, while...

I modeled the turns on the whiteboard.

I feel my students understood the association 

with 90 degree turns.  We called rotations by the turn and also by the amount of degrees each turn was worth.  I want my kids ready for protractors and knowing these benchmark degrees of angles and what they look like will be most beneficial.

The Rotational Angle Mat is included in my angle rotation unit.  If you would like more information about the Rotational Angle Mat, please visit my TPT store by clicking on any picture or this link:  Angle Rotation Unit.  You will be taken directly to the unit! 

Have a great week!

New Blog Design

I'm back!  I have a new blog design and I am so excited to get everything set up!  I have been on Spring Break so the blog design being finished when I got back from vacation was awesome!  I don't know about anyone else but, I needed a week to relax!  I am not just reviewing for the upcoming end-of-year standardized test, I am still trying to finish my 4th grade math standards.  There are just so many of them!  It is almost next to impossible to teach them all, let alone have students "master" them.  It becomes more stressful each year!  I won't even mention that I just received 2 more new students right before I went on Spring Break.  Oh well, it will all be over soon.

Spring Break was great.  It was my 30th wedding anniversary and we went to Disney World.  (That's where we spent our Honeymoon.)  The first time we went in 1985, we found a really cheap hotel with dark paneled walls and a swimming pool that I was afraid to step into.  I saw the Grand Floridian on that trip and I told my husband that I was going to stay there some day.  We have spent several family vacations at Disney through the years, staying on Disney properties, but, never at the Floridian.  On this anniversary, we decided to do it!  I booked a room and was so excited to arrive.  It was beautiful.  However, to make my childhood dreams come true, when we went to check in, Disney had upgraded our room to the club level in the main building.  The club level is private and only has 9 rooms.  It comes with so many awesome perks that my husband had to drag me out of the hotel room, kicking and screaming each morning to go to the Disney parks. :)  One of my favorite perks was the room over-looked the Seven Seas Lagoon, and Cinderella's castle was right there in the background.  I could see the castle and the fireworks each night from my room. I will never be the same!  It was the most wonderful Disney visit EVER!  Thank you Disney World!

Tomorrow is going to be rough after being treated like a Princess for a week.  I just hope I can concentrate since I know I am also having a long observation this week...probably tomorrow. 

I hope everyone has a great week! 

My view during Spring Break while pinning! :) 

 Best Disney experience EVER!

Social Studies Interactive Notebook Bundle 1

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Day.  All 3 of my children were home from college so, I had much to be thankful for.  I didn't even let putting up a 9 ft. pre-lit Christmas tree that has lost approximately 3/4 of it's pre-lit ability put a damper on my holiday.  (I was attacked by the tree numerous times and almost ran out of stands of lights and extension cords to fix the problem.  My blessing was that I kept going up to the attic and finding more stands of lights.)  I do believe it is time for a new tree.

I am also excited about the TpT CyberMonday sale, which begins December 1 and runs through December 2.  TpT will be having its own sale and I will be having my own 20% sale at the same time on ALL the products in my store.  That adds up to a large savings!  Simply click on the Super Cyber poster below to visit my store!  Remember to use the code: TPTCYBER at checkout!

I am also excited that I have completed my Social Studies Interactive Notebook Bundle 1!  It combines all my Social Studies interactive notebooks into one large bundle.

The topics are Native Americans, Explorers, Colonies, The Revolutionary War, Government, and Westward Expansion.  Click on the image below to find out more about the bundle.

I have already began making the interactive notebooks for Bundle 2!  I absolutely love interactive notebooks!

Well...I'm off to trim the tree.  I hope this goes better than putting it up!  Have a great week-end!