April Pick 3 Pinterest Linky Party

Welcome to this month's Pick 3 Party! If you are looking for teaching inspiration this is a great linky to inspire. I occasionally browse Pinterest and find some pretty neat ideas. Okay, truthfully I am on Pinterest a lot. So many great ideas! Here are three pins I plan on using for the month of April.

With spring here its time to get outside. This game works for my little learners for letter recognition and beginning words for outdoor play.  They kick the box decorated with paper and read the word it lands on.

Pin found here

The weather is changing, we will celebrating the spring season by creating ourselves as meteorologists. It creates a fun drawing and writing lesson. For a bonus they can watch the news and give their own weather report. 

Pin found here

After the weather unit, give the kiddos a pet cloud.  They are easy to make. You can also adapt this by coloring the cotton balls and adding colored eyes. 

Pin found here

If you are studying weather in April you may enjoy this weather freebie.

Visit The Education Highway's profile on Pinterest.

Here's how to join in on the fun!!!

1.  Save the Pick 3 images to your desktop.

2.  Create a blog post using these images to share you 3 Pinterest Picks for the month.

3.  Share a link to your full Pinterest page if you would like.

4.  Link up by clicking the add your link button below.

5.  Be sure to check out the other Pinterest finds that have been shared and leave a comments on the ones you love!

6. Don't forget to stop by our host Pawsitively Teaching to grab the graphics to write your own blog post.

An InLinkz Link-up

Bright Idea for Creating Arrays

Welcome to the March Bright Idea Blog Hop hosted by Curls and a Smile.

Creating arrays using everyday objects is a fun way to build on concepts of multiplication strategies. You can use any object to create a fun counting game. This lesson started with the blue grid below, it came from a memory matching game where you had to remove the pieces from. It turned into an entire lesson. You just have to love when you get a bright idea!

One way of teaching arrays is with graphing paper. Write the amount of rows and columns. Then show the repeated addition, and draw the groups of. To further visual what the boxes represent we use our handy new grid with counters. The colored pens bring out each array. These can be cut and stored in a math notebook to be referred to later.

We have tons of legos, believe me when I tell you my six year does not share them. They hang out in boxes similar to the one shown above.  This one was his idea, he found the pieces and helped to create all of the arrays. I love how using legos can be color coordinated to form a bigger multiplication equation. Or can be used to form groups of 2, 4, 6, 8 etc. Its hands on learning that maybe will think about while they play with them later on.

Each time we created a new array we added it to a chart for repeated addition, commutative property, groups of, and showing the array. Later I will make blank ones where they have to fill them in, and glue in the array pieces. For practice they are not glued and they have to add the counters into the chart each time. Searching for other objects we found toy cars,  and soy sauce packets from when we ordered Chinese food last week (we used all the duck sauce). Then we created an array using box tops.

Other Objects for Creating Arrays

K'NEX

Beads

Blocks

Fruit

Cookies

Cereal

Pens

Mini dolls

Action Figures

Scrapbook flowers

Wiggle eyes

and more

That wraps ups our Bright Idea for March, I hope you enjoyed it. For more Bright Ideas, visit the links in this Blog Hop hosted by Curls and a Smile. Choose the grade level/topic that interests you. This Blog Hop is unique as you will only find teaching ideas, no products or printables, just creative ways to make learning fun.

If you enjoyed this Bright Idea please consider joining me on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter

An InLinkz Link-up

Birthday Shopping Spree at Sassy, Sassy, Simple Teaching

Fill up your carts, its a fabulous shopping spree at Sassy, Savvy, Simple Teaching. What a perfect way to celebrate a birthday. You will find huge saving at discount prices. It's almost like shopping at your nearest outlet stores, only you don't have to leave to home.

There are 3 categories: $1.00, $5.00 & $10.00!!! 
This is a 2 DAY SALE on Thursday, March 19th - Friday, March 20th!!! 

Post by The Education Highway.

Sunday Scoop 3/1/15

Sharing a little bit about my week by linking up to The Teaching Trio for The Sunday Scoop. For this linky we are listing three things you HAVE to do, two things you HOPE to do, and one thing you're HAPPY to do.

Here is my Sunday Scoop..

3 Things I have to do

We are keeping it simple for National Reading week by reading our favorite Dr Seuss books. I will be pulling our Dr. Seuss collection off the shelf for this week. To go along with the book, I just scooped up some adorable reading kids clip art  by Ta-Da Doodles Illustrations. I have been busy creating a unit for us to use that go along with the books we are reading. Lots of cutting and laminating going on today and probably tomorrow. Yes, I still have two March units I am so close to finishing. My youngest was sick for three days and stuck me like GLUE. He is back to usually self fighting over the Wii remotes with his siblings. And Viola, things are back to normal.

2 Things I hope to do

I received the book Tumbleweeds by Leila Meacham for Christmas. I have yet to start reading it. I am hoping to start to read it this week. My little ones have managed to download 56 new apps since the last time I checked. Time to un-install and block their access to that feature. It fills up the memory quick.

1 Thing I'm happy to do

Relax and catch up with Netflix after my little ones are tucked into bed. I am into season 4 of Drop Dead Diva. I think there are 6 seasons currently on Netflix. I am hooked. While I am cozy on the couch with my blanket and cup of tea I usually am working on TPT stuff on my laptop, it makes me happy to be able to work when the house is quiet.

Bonus News 

This milestone giveaway is still going on at An Apple for the Teacher, three days lefts to enter to win three fabulous prizes pack, each with $25 in Teachers Pay Teachers gift cards. It is an event to not be missed. 

Post by The Education Highway.

My Teacher Hero

Favorite teachers, we all have them. Those teachers that go above and beyond for you. They know just what to do to make you want you learn. I still smile when I think of my favorite teacher. She was inspiring. Her classroom was a place where you felt comfortable and you knew everyday you were going to have this grand adventure. 

There was laughter and excitement with every group project in her third grade classroom. Her mom would bring in special treats, the best cookie ever. Book came alive when we would read them. I remember begging my mother to take trips to the book store for books I just had to have. Her name was Ms. Piasecki. 

Over the years we exchanged letters and I was happy to receive each one. On my 16th birthday she suggested that maybe I would like being a teacher. And you know what, I loved the idea. It is such a joy being able to inspire children. To watch them light up when they learn something new. It was many, many years ago since I was that age, yet the passion to teach has remained the same.

Teachers are heroes. Everyday they make a difference, they can influence young minds. We tell students they can be whoever they desire to be, they can change the world. I believe that. Even on the worst days, there is that moment when a child reaches out to you, and you just know you are where you are meant to be.

Tomorrow, Teachers Pay Teacher is having a site-wide sale. The theme of the sale is Teachers are Heroes. We don't need capes, or magic powers just a bit a of love. Ms. Piasecki says it best, "we need good teachers who love kids and want to impart their knowledge on the youth of today" Great thing about TPT is that you have so many in one place. You will find my store and many others on sale, with a savings up to 28%. 

To read more stories about teachers who are heroes scroll through the links below.

An InLinkz Link-up