Stories by Storie

Everyone has a story to tell. What is yours?

Using Tickets in Math Class

Raffle tickets are a great way to practice math skills in the classroom, but did you know they can be a great management tool, too? Today I want to share with you how I have used math tickets in my 2nd and 3rd grade classroom. Using Math Tickets to Help with Classroom Management Spring was always an interesting time of the school year for me. The students were growing by leaps and bounds, but they also became a little too comfortable in the classroom which meant stopping to review procedures and practice routines more often. This ... read more

Ready, Freddy Chapter Book Series

Are you looking for a new chapter book series your first and second graders will enjoy? Take a look at the Ready, Freddy series by Abby Klein. Today I want to share a few ways I use these chapter books with my students. READY, FREDDY! CHAPTER BOOK SERIES I find that my students love reading about Freddy Thresher and his classmates because Abby Klein has used her own classroom teaching experience to develop characters that bring real-life humor and problems to each of her stories that my students can relate to. Freddy begins the series as a ... read more

Comparing Numbers Using >, <, or =

Are your students comparing two numbers to determine which is greater? Are they struggling to remember which way the symbol should face? Here's a little trick that worked like a charm with my 2nd and 3rd graders!   My students could verbalize which number was greater when making comparisons. However, when it came time to using the symbols for greater than and less than, they would confuse the two. They had been taught about the greater gators in K and 1st grade, but couldn't always remember which way the gator was supposed to ... read more

Spring Writing Ideas (with Freebies)

March is a great month for writing because students get to celebrate Read Across America, St. Patrick’s Day, and the first day of spring! Today I want to share some of my favorite writing ideas for spring. Note – this post does contain affiliate links. SPRING WRITING IDEAS To start the month, we celebrate with Read Across America. Students are allowed to choose books from any section of our classroom library during reading. Since we work on responding to reading all year long, I like to let my students choose any book they ... read more

Presidents’ Day

Presidents' Day is just around the corner and I thought I'd share some of my favorite resources to use in the classroom. we are a participant in the amazon services llc associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliated sites. Presidents' Day Video I like to start with a short video. This one gives a brief overview (less than two minutes) of Presidents' Day. Once we have the basics of when and why we celebrate Presidents' Day, we're ready to ... read more

Valentine’s Day – Free Bubble Gift Tags

  Valentine's Day in the classroom can be a great time for friends to show appreciation for one another. My daughter loves candy, but this year she wanted to give bubbles to her classmates. So we worked together to come up with these valentines for her classmates. I'm sharing a free valentine bubble gift tag you can use, too. VALENTINE BUBBLE GIFT TAG For this project we only needed a few materials:- printable Valentine cards- paper cutter- glue dots- pencil- bubble wands (found at Target) After printing the valentine cards and cutting them ... read more

The Pros and Cons of a Looping Classroom

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to loop with your students to the next grade? It can be a difficult decision to make. Before making that decision, you should weigh the pros and cons. Looping means a teacher remains with the same group of students for more than one school year. I have taught multiple grades over the years and have looped four different times. Each time I discovered new things I liked (and disliked) about looping. Today I want to share those experiences with you. THE PROS AND CONS OF A LOOPING ... read more

Punxsutawney Phyllis (Activities and Resources)

I don’t know about you, but Groundhog Day always seems to sneak up on me each year. It has something to do with arriving so early in February and competing with so many other holidays early in the year. I tend to read several stories aloud to build schema about groundhogs and the holiday, but then we focus in on one story, Punxsutawney Phyllis (also called Wake Up, Groundhog). Here are some activities and resources you can pair with Punxsutawney Phyllis. All About the Book Phyllis can't convince Uncle Phil to get out of bed to make ... read more

Sneezy the Snowman Resources

Are you reading Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright to your class this month? I want to share a few activities you can pair with this story that your students will enjoy! About the Book B-R-R-R-R! AH-CHOO! Sneezy the Snowman is cold, cold, cold. To warm up, he drinks cocoa, sits in a hot tub, stands near a warm fire–and melts! But the children know just what to do to build him up again–and make him feel "just right". If you don't have a copy of this book in your school or classroom library, you can find it on ... read more

Snowman Supplies (a Free Station for Addition with 4 Addends)

A few years ago I was bored to tears trying to find engaging ways to practice addition in my classroom, particularly when needing to add up to four 2-digit numbers. I decided to bring a little real-world math into the classroom and let my students go shopping. Today I want to let your students go shopping with this little addition practice with 4 addends freebie: ADDITION PRACTICE WITH 4 ADDENDS Just like the other stores in my shopping pack, Snowman Supplies has a colorful poster, two recording sheet options, and 8 task cards where ... read more

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