Thank You and welcome

OH DEAR!!!  RAFFLECOPTER DOWN!

When you click on the link you will not be able to enter now but please come back later.  I have sent an email to Rafflecopter support and it seems it is a problem on many blogs, so please be patient.  

First of all I would love to thank all those wonderful people who have entered my 101 follower Giveaway and welcome to my new followers I hope you enjoy my little blog and you can pick up at least one new idea!

If you haven't entered yet, there is still time just click on the pic and it will take you to the post where you have the chance to win prizes from some fabulous bloggers like 

Alison @ Teaching Maths with Meaning

Brooke @ Teachable Moments

Rhonda @ Classroom Fun

Tracey @ Third Grade All Stars

Stefani @ Miss Galvin Learns

I also wanted to share some pics from our Maths tubs this week.  My kiddos love doing maths tubs and it is a great way to revise and reinforce every Strand in the curriculum on a daily basis.

These kiddos are playing Place Value Snap (click to check it out at TpT) and decided to change it to Place Value Go Fish.

Matching pairs of numeral and expanded form.  There is also a set with MAB pictures

These kiddos are using centimetres to draw pictures.

I am currently using this concept (excuse my really poor pictures, I am so not an artist) to make task cards with measuring in centimetres, metres and millimetres.

Well on that note must toddle off and finish my packet. (I promise it will look better than those really terrible pictures.)

Enjoy the rest of the week!

End of Holidays and new products

Well as the holidays draw to a close for all of us Aussie teachers I know we are all looking forward to the downward slide to the end of the year.  Don't you know it, my body clock just started changing and this morning I slept in till 8 am.  I know this may not be a sleep in to some of you but those with children at home I can hear you saying, "Whoa 8 am, that is a huge sleep in!"  I have been waking up between 6 and 7 am every morning of the holidays.
To lift my spirits about going back to school I am having a 20% off Sale at my TpT store starting tomorrow and running through to the 10th of October.

You will find a couple of new products on there that I have created instead of planning for Term 4 (which I am definitely going to start tomorrow!)
First up there is my Fun Flower Facts to 10 activity pack (which I am contributing as a freebie for Brookes Aussie Blogger Link up...stay tuned!)

Next up is my Place Value Snap

Both of these items are already 20% off for the next week so when the sale starts you will get an extra 20% off!  What a Bargain!
Enjoy the last couple of days of your hols Aussie Teachers and here's hoping Term 4 will be fun and productive for both students and teachers!

Don't forget you can now follow me on Facebook, just click on the FB button on the sidebar.

Journals and Storyboards

Just wanted to show my Whole Class Journals I made and a big Thank You to Emily at I Love My Classroom for sharing this idea, I found it on Pinterest and I love it.  I have done whole class journals before but in a more structured way. I love the idea of giving students more choice and freedom in their writing and I think it is a great way to develop creativity especially when we are using Daily 5 in our class.  So here are my journals ready for school next week.

The other resource I wanted to share with you is Math Storyboards, I use these ALOT in my classroom and have for many years.  I think it is a great way to get kids thinking about the many different ways numbers and operations can be represented.  This storyboard is available in my Multiplication Mega Pack
at my TpT store.

Do you use these storyboards?  I use it in different ways for different ability levels.  I will sometimes put a number in the center and ask Kinder or Yr 1 students to represent that number, or put an operation in the center such as 5 x 2 and students will represent that.  I find that using this when you are introducing a new symbol is a great way to capture students with different learning styles.




So let me know what you do with storyboards.....
By the way I feel there will be another post today, cold, rainy and windy outside and another project to finish.  Great day to blog in pyjamas (;

Multiplication Mega Pack!!!

I have just put my Multiplication Mega Pack up on TpT!  

This is one of those areas that I find students need constant revision and consolidation to develop automatism.  This pack offers a variety of ways for students to practice this skill and is great for Maths centers, I use these activities in my Maths Tubs.

Check it out and I have made it 20% off for the next week.

New on TpT and Give away!

In honour of receiving my One Lovely Blog Award I have put my x2 multiplication loop cards on TpT for only $1 for the next 7 days.



These will be free to the first 3 people to leave a comment!  I will also be putting a multiplication mega pack up in the next few days which will include ALL the times tables as loop cards.

Place Value game and Maths Tubs

Just wanted to share a pic of my kids playing my place value game Higher or Lower (available at my TpT store.)  They really enjoy playing this game when we do maths tubs and they can be quite competitive.  It is great to be a "fly on the wall" and listen to the strategies they use to work out if they can make a higher or lower number.  The students in this pic are in grade 3 so they are using 4 dice, but I also have students that are in grade 2 and only use 2 or 3 dice.

I have just started using maths tubs in my room this year as an explicit teaching component,  I used to do it as rotational activities. 

This year because of programs that I have to fit into my classroom as a school expectation I have changed my math routine a bit. 

So my maths sessions look a bit like this:

• Maths Mentals, in a 2/3 class it can be a bit tricky to challenge the more advanced students while allowing the less able children the chance to achieve.  I have also been bored out of my brain with Maths Mentals.  Most of the other classes use Maths Mentals text books but I like to be able to have a focus on what is going on in the classroom, so this is what I have done to "fun" it up.

Using the IWB I have made a slide for each day of the week

Multiplication Monday

Tricky Tuesday

Wacky Word Problem Wednesday

Thinking Thursday 

Fun Facts Friday

On the slide I put the questions on a flip button with a timer, so all I have to do is set it up for the week and put the timer on.  The students love to flip the question to get the answer.

For each day I will put a variety of quick problems across the strands so even though it may be Wacky Word Problem Wednesday I will have measurement, geometry or number problems.

• Next is a 10 minute game- usually related to number (this is following the TEN-Teaching Early Numeracy program)
• Whole class lesson on a concept
• Whole class independent practice (sometimes this is from their text book), with a small group withdrawn for support or extra instruction.
• Maths Tubs for the last 20 minutes of the lesson- I have 6 tubs that are related to the Strands from our curriculum.  Number, Operations, Measurement, Patterns and Algebra, Space and Geometry and Chance and Data.  These are independent activities and I take this time to observe the groups and make notes.  

It is great to see that the students actually cheer when I say time for Maths Tubs and I know that I am able to cover all strands in every group each week.  The kids like the structure and I like that their is variety in my groupings and the students have a chance to learn in many different ways.

I would love to hear from others on how they run their maths sessions.