Back At It!

Yesterday after a week of being home sick, I was finally back in my classroom!  It was great to be back with my kids, though there was some sadness...they learned some new concepts without me...waaaaa! :(  Yea, I'm not so good with that.  I'm the teacher, who if I'm reading a fun chapter book with my class, and I know I'm going to be absent, doesn't bother to tell the sub to read that book!  Man, is anyone else this obsessive, or is it just me?  Sometimes I'll even leave a decoy book out for them to read instead...yea, it's that bad, hee hee.  So, imagine my disappointment when I realized that they already started fractions.  I have Pedro the Pizza man, and my big green apple, and other ideas for teaching fractions.  So.....I couldn't just go on to the next lesson, oh no, I had to re...teach, do, view...yes, review fractions.  Sadly, Pedro was "unavailable" a.k.a. missing in action. :(  But I had my big green apple to help me!  I tell the students that green apples are my favorite, pretty much the only apples I will eat.  If one of them is sitting really nicely, I will share part of my apple with them.  Then I "magically" cut it in half and give one half to that student.  I love to see their faces when I do this!

That's where Pedro usually helps me too.  He brings in his delicious homemade four piece pizza to share with the class.  As he hangs on the board, he "whispers" to me the students that he thinks are doing a great job of listening who he would like to share his pizza with.  We then figure out the fraction(s) of pizza that have been given away.  Since I didn't have Pedro to help, and they had already worked on that math page, I was so excited to use the awesome Fraction Review Task Cards I got from Meghan Feby's Teachers Pay Teacher's Store.  I am so glad I got them, and the best part was hearing one of my students say, "This is fun!"  So, thank you so much, Meghan, my kids loved working on the cards!

There was also some excitement when my tough customer little boy actually asked if they could play the Slap-It! game.  This is a game that I came up with to help my students with their facts.  I love reviewing Multiplication facts with my kids, but some of the review ideas that I talk about here are hard to do with only two students.  But I still want to keep them engaged and really learning their facts, and when this game came to mind, I thought it would be a great, different, and fun way to help them review.  They really love to play it, and ask for it everyday.  I love that!  It is my first non-free item at my TN and TpT stores.  As I've said I am not a master creator like many of you are, but I'm trying! :)  I'm very excited about it! If by chance you do get the game, I would love some feedback, I really need as much help as possible to see if I'm even doing things right. :)
These were some of the things that made my first day back wonderful!

But wait.....!!!  What's that random 9 doing on the wall, you ask??  Well....you, along with my third graders will have to wait to find out the answer to that!  Check back and I'll fill you in, and be ready to be blown away! :)  Have a great night!