Five for Friday March 22nd edition!

Quick update before I have to run off to meet some friends... I'm participating in this week's Five for Friday linky with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

1. I'm excited to say that I've created and posted a new decomposing numbers activity pack in my little store on TPT... it's called "How Many Ways?" and has activity sheets for decomposing numbers 3-9. It really helped my kinders understand the concept of building numbers in various ways! If you want to check it out, click on the link in the picture below -- it's on sale till midnight tonight!

2. Conferences! This week was conference week so I was knee-deep in those... we do student led conferences in the spring and it is so fun to see the kids lead their parents on a tour of their learning... they get so excited to be the "teacher"!

3. Since St. Patrick's Day was on a Sunday this year, we've been catching up this week and doing some leprechaun-themed activities. My kids did a cute little leprechaun addition craftivity where they created a number sentence with gold coins and filled out the word problem to match! Sadly I didn't take a picture before I left school today, but rest assured it was adorable. ;)

4. I think I've talked about this my last few Five for Fridays... but I went to another spring training game today with some of my teacher buddies! We had a half day due to conferences and skedaddled out of there to catch a game right down the road! The weather was absolutely PERFECT for it, too... 80 degrees and breezy!

5. As for tonight, I'm off to the Phoenix Suns game with some friends, but we aren't really excited to see the Suns... we are more excited for the concert that is following the game with one of my favorite artists, Phil Wickham!

Till next time, friends! Here's to a restful weekend!

Decomposing Numbers & a new activity pack!

I don't know about y'all, but decomposing numbers has been a difficult concept for my students to grasp this year! They had been doing well with addition concepts, but when it came down for them to break down the numbers and tell me how many ways they could build it, they kept getting stuck. In hopes of helping my students master the concept, I created activity sheets called "How Many Ways?" for numbers under 10 to help them have both a visual, hands-on, and written representation of numbers. The first 2 days we did the activities with counters, it was a slow, slightly painstaking process. However, by the third day the lightbulb turned on, and my kids were able to complete the activities independently! After they had their big assessments, which included showing different ways to make a number, I flipped straight to that section of the test to find that they did AMAZING! Nearly every single one of my students got every one of those questions right. It was such a great feeling to know that an activity I created really helped them grasped the concept 100%! (Cause, as we all know, not everything we try in the classroom works, as much as we'd like that to be the case!)

Here it is in action:

To help my students keep track of the number sentences they had created and ensure that they didn't make the same one twice, I created checklists for each number. As they created each number sentence, they found it on the checklist and crossed it off.

Double-sided red/yellow counters worked wonderfully with this concept. To make it simpler for my kids, I had them start with the counters all on the same color to record the number sentence. To make the next one, they were only allowed to flip over one counter at a time. This also was helpful to keep them on track for decomposing the numbers in different ways.

I shared these activities with my kinder team and they told me that I just HAD to post in on TPT - so I created a new little activity pack with all of the sheets you see here, plus more! I have included printable red/yellow counters for you to create your own if you do not have the plastic ones seen here. I also made the activity sheets on legal sized paper so the kids had plenty of room to show their work. Here is a preview of the "How Many Ways?" pack available in my store:

To check out this product in my store, click on the picture below! It will be on sale (15% off!) until Friday!

Five for Friday {a day late!}

I meant to post my Five for Friday last night... but I fell asleep! How lame is that? So, I'm participating a day late, cause it's just too much fun not to. :)

1. I've been on spring break this week, so I tried to cram in as much fun as I could! I met up with some dear friends earlier in the week to go see my Phoenix Coyotes play some hockey! And we won! Yeah! (Please excuse the fuzzy camera phone shot!)

2. I also saw the movie Oz The Great And Powerful! I thought it was good, but not great! I was expecting more from the acting, I think. Still enjoyable, though!

3. Of course, when you're a teacher with time off, it can't be all fun and games! I worked on putting together my sight word card rings for the new Star Wars themed activity I've been creating. I hope to get it up on TPT soon! The boys in my class are obsessed with Star Wars, so I thought I'd put together something for them to get excited about!

4. Being in Arizona, there is baseball aplenty this time of year! I went to a couple of Spring Training games with my friends this week, and of course the days we chose were the hottest days of the year! Why must it be 90+ degrees already?!

5. Last but not least, my kids have been working so hard on decomposing numbers; and finding different ways to make the number has been a difficult concept for them to master. I put together these little activity sheets in hopes that it would help them, and after 3 long days of practice, it DID! I love when an idea works well to help my kinder babies! This activity pack will be up on TPT tomorrow! Yay!

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend! I, for one, thought my spring break went by entirely too fast!

When You Subtract With a Pirate....

Good afternoon! I wanted to take a moment to blog about my kiddos' current favorite video obsession at the moment - When You Subtract With a Pirate, by Harry Kindergarten! Does anyone else use his AMAZING videos in their classroom? My kids can't get over any of them, but this is the one they are begging me for at the moment:

This song is so fun, even my teaching neighbor and I were singing it practically every day for a week. It's a great little way to teach your students about subtraction! The song is pretty long and includes word problems. After we had learned and sung the song for a few days, I gave my kids some white boards and each time the video came to one of the word problems, I would pause it and the kids would write and solve the number sentence on their own. Then I'd continue playing the video so they could check their work and see if they were right!

I began to notice that it helped my kiddos start to solve their subtraction number sentences more quickly and more were able to solve it mentally without having to draw a picture when we got to our independent practice.

I really love using all of his videos in my kinder class! They are so fun and fantastical!

March Currently and Yikes! MIA!

I was totally MIA for the entire month of February, practically, because it was honestly the busiest month ever and last week totally topped it all off with benchmark testing, two late night school events in a row, and other general teacher craziness! So here we are, I closed my eyes and February ended (thankfully), I made it out unscathed (barely) and now it's time for the March Currently link-up with Farley!

{Listening}: House of Heroes may be relatively unknown to most of you, but they are one of my favorite bands EVER. And this song is from one of the best albums I have ever heard, period - The End is Not the End. So good.

{Loving}: One of the best things about living in Arizona is we get Spring Training! The weather is absolutely perfect this time of year and sometimes there's nothing better than to spread your blanket out on the lawn and watch baseball for super cheap!

{Thinking}: I pretty much summed it up in my first paragraph. February was not kind to me - there were so many school events, every weekend was filled with things to attend in my personal life, and it got stressful! Glad the calendar turned!

{Wanting}: Some things just need to change for next year, some things are on the precipice and I really hope they all work out! Praying!

{Needing}: Spring Break! It's almost here! One week left to go. My kids need it more than I do, I think! They are all at each others throats lately! Tattling galore from my sweet little class... it will be nice to have some free time to relax and rejuvenate for the rest of the year!

{Like, Love, Hate}: My name is Caitlin, so I've got the letter C for this one. I like Coke a little too much and need to drink less of it! Easier said than done! Ha! I love the Coyotes.. I've been going to a ton of hockey games lately and I love cheering for my team! I'm going to another game tomorrow! I hate conflict, especially when it is totally unnecessary and could have been avoided.

I've been working with my kiddos a ton of decomposing numbers and creating number sentences for each one... I made up a little activity for my kids to do that was difficult at first, but after a little practice my kinder babies are getting the hang of it! I plan on posting about that more in my next post, which i PROMISE won't wait until next month! Ha! Till next time! Join up with Farley to add your own Currently post!

Show Us What You Bought! Blog Hoppin' linky

I'm excited to participate in the "Show Us What You Bought" linky party from the big TPT sale this past weekend.. I know I've been looking forward to it for awhile since my wishlist was bursting at the seams! Somehow I managed to only purchase 5 products... till next time, rest of my wishlist, till next time....

Here's a more detailed look at what I bought...

{Find that Cat! Interactive Learning Games by Growing Kinders}: I actually had this product in my shopping cart during the last big sale, and didn't get it. I wasn't going to leave it hanging a second time! My kids love Pete the Cat and they will love the little games and activities in this pack.

{Time for Sight Words: The Bundle by The Moffatt Girls}: This was the product I was most looking forward to buying... I knew my kids would love these! We made our first one the day after I bought this and they couldn't even get over it. Periodically throughout the day I'd say, "What time is it?" and they'd all excitedly look at their watches and yell out the sight word. So awesome! Love these!!

{38 Frame Designs Bundle by Teaching in a Small Town}: I've been needing some more cute frames for the resources I've been creating and this bundle (full of adorable frames) was a great value!

{Add to Decompose Numbers Packs 1 & 2 and Tens and Ones Base 10 Worksheets by Kinder Craze}: I can't wait to use these activity sheets with my kiddos... and they were so cheap! How can anyone pass these up? Great stuff from Kinder Craze...

Join in the linky over at Blog Hoppin' to show everyone what you bought!

Currently... and a Super Bowl SALE!

It's that time again! This is a great linky to participate in because I always find some new great blogs to follow! 

{Listening}: I'm listening to Imagine Dragons this month... AGAIN... because I am seeing them live this Friday with a couple of my best buddies! Can't wait!

{Loving}: The NHL lockout is over.. at last! I am a huge Phoenix Coyotes fan (and hockey fan in general) so I am so happy hockey has returned! Go Yotes!

{Thinking}: My class this year is a dream come true, really. This is the best class I have ever had. They request group hugs on a weekly basis, are so helpful and kind to one another, and are constantly asking if they can do more work  "just because"! What?! This is the twilight zone! They did another adorable thing for me yesterday.. I had to step out of my classroom to help deal with a student in another class, and one of our aides was keeping an eye on them through the window. When I came back, I peeked in the window and noticed that the kids had turned the lights off and were hiding under their tables. I literally couldn't wait to see what amusing thing they had in store. When I opened the door, they all jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE!!" and told me that they threw me a surprise party to make me happy. LOL! Who is this class? I adore them.

{Wanting}: This year is the busiest year I have ever had. Due to different circumstances that have occurred this year, I have a ton more responsibilities on my plate than ever before. I feel like I'm constantly running back and forth around school like a chicken with my head cut off! Unfortunately I don't think I'll get what I "want" until this school year is over! Ha!

{Needing}: To get organized. Uh, I think this is a direct reflection of how busy I've been this year, because things remain in piles and stacked on tables because there just is no time to go through it all! But I always know exactly where everything is, so I guess it kind of is my own form of organization? Yeah, let's go with that. ;)

{Pet Peeves}: When people don't use common sense... enough said. I'm sure we all encounter people like that in our lives, sadly!

Go link up with Farley over at Oh Boy Fourth Grade and join in the fun! She is awesome!

I will also be participating in the Super Bowl SALE on TPT tomorrow! You can get up to 28% off in my store by using the code SUPER at checkout.. I know I've already got a bunch of things on my wishlist that will finally be purchased during this awesome sale! Thanks to Ashley Hughes (who makes fabulous clipart) for making the graphic! Click on it below to go straight to my TPT store!