Tried It Tuesday- PowerPoint: ABC's of Math

It's time for Tried it Tuesday with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper.

This week, I am sharing a project I tried with my math lab kids. These are kids that have lost an elective and have two math classes. Most have two reading classes too, so they actually lost two electives due to their state test results from the previous school year. You can imagine the challenges these students face.

They worked for one week on a Power Point presentation for the ABCs of Math.

The requirements were to include, the word, definition and picture. Even though, they didn't always follow the requirements, they more than exceeded my expectations.

What I liked about this project:

• 6th graders know how to manipulate Power Point without much help. 
• I can use some of their slides for my word wall next year! 
• THEY LOVED the project and worked really hard on it. 

What I didn't like about this project: 

• My kids choose awesome backgrounds, but they seemed to be the focal point of some of the projects more than the actual word and definition. I can solve this problem though. Next year, we do words and definitions first. (you will see what I mean in the pictures below)
• We couldn't print their projects due to shortage of ink. They seemed fine with not printing them though. So, I got over it as well. 

I will definitely do this project again. As a matter of fact, I think all grade levels are doing this type of project. 

Here's some sample slides they created. I wish I could post them all, they were so good!!! 

 This was exactly what I was looking for. This student made every slide look like this.

 Another really good one. This student made every slide the same format.

 Here's a busy one. I like the background, but I need to learn how to "lighten" the background and make the focus the word and definition. Is this even possible in power point?

 This is from the same student above. This is a good choose for a border.

 This is from one of my beginner ESL students. She made every slide the same and finished first. She was really proud of her work. I was too!

 This student forgot his pictures, but he loved the border.

 Similar to the student above, but this student remembered his pictures.

 Another busy one. He had a different crazy background for each letter. I liked his backgrounds a lot, they just shouldn't have been the focus.

 Loved her borders. I wanted her to focus more on the vocabulary words. 

This was my favorite. She made every background the picture. I put several of hers below. I know there are some spelling mistakes though. I will get her to go back and fix those. 

Another of my favorites. He used the same background for all of them. When he played his slide show it was AWESOME!!!! 

Thanks for making it the end. I know its a long post.

Monday Made It- May

It's that time again. Time to link up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made it!

Teacher Appreciation week was GREAT!!! I am sure I gained a few pounds. It's always about food for us!

But first, what was even better was Mother's Day!
Check out my own kids' made it!!!

 My sweet 3 year olds hand prints. I am thinking his hands are HUGE at this age. 

This was from my first grader. I absolute adore his inventive spelling, "Happe Mudders day!" 

Now, what I made:
I put these together for my department. I know the pictures are awful. I am so sorry. I wanted to let them know I appreciated them. They are small pedicures sets I found at the Target $ bins.

I also made these for my sons preschool teachers. Just something little. Seen it on Pinterest? That place is amazing!

I made a cute gift for my other sons first grade teacher. Michael's has a great gift section too. I have been collecting for some time now. I gave it to my son to take to school and then realized later in the day I forgot to take a picture. I am bummed. Trust me, it was cute. (LOL)

Then, I got started right away making things from the products I purchased over at TpT. I purchased file folder games for middle school kids. I am soooo thrilled to have found this resource. This was the perfect time for me to get them. Our school is completely out of color ink though and since we are so close to the end, it is not being replaced. But, I cannot wait, so I used colored paper. I actually like how they turned out.
I printed the front sheets at my house. Thanks to The 3am Teacher for the cute borders.


I am turning them in to be laminated and then we will be using them. The end of the year is a perfect time for me to try these out with my kiddos!

I still have many more things to make from all my purchases. That will have to wait for next month!

Does Money Motivate You?

How about ONE MILLION DOLLARS?

I am hoping it motivates my 6th graders!

It's Saturday! Time for Sparking Motivation with Joanne over at Head Over Heels for Teaching.

We still have 17 days of school, but we are all running on fumes.

Next week we start a 9 day project I hope will keep my kiddos motivated. We are giving them $1,000,000 to spend! It's not a free for all, but even sixth graders don't truly understand how much one million dollars is.


I did this project last year, but being my first year in middle school, and my first project, it wasn't successful. So, I revamped it and organized it so I big hopes for the end product this time. I won't be surprised if I revamp it again after this week though.

Click to get it for FREE. And stayed tuned, I will be posting when we finish to let you know how it turned out.

Be sure to check out this link party as well. It's over at All Things Upper Elementary.

HAPPY SATURDAY! 

Five for Friday

So happy it is finally Friday and time to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for 5 for Friday. The closer it gets to being out of school, the longer the weeks become.

This week we celebrated US, TEACHERS!!!!!

1.  I received my very first teacher appreciation gift from a middle school student. This is my second year in middle school after 17 years in elementary. I absolutely love the poster!!!

I also received this super sweet letter from one of my students. 

A nice brownie bite from another. 

And a goodie bag from a sweet student and her parents. 

Last year, I received absolutely zilch from my students, so these small gestures have really helped my own personal morale. Middle school kids are tough, at least in my world. 

2. I participated in the big sale over at TpT. I loved buying new things. I am sure I spent too much, but it is so easy to do! Here's a few of my purchases.

3. We received some fun stuff from our administrators each day. I think they are trying to fatten us all up though! One day was drinks and chips, the next was a movie night bag. We had breakfast one day and lunch from our HR department today. I am definitely going to  have to get back the fitness train next week.

We  received backpacks from our principals. We were given lunch bags at Christmas time that match these. 

4. We  got a gift from our district administration. I appreciate the gesture. 

5. Outside of school, our life revolves around baseball. This week we played the best team in our league and WON!!! The boys were beyond excited. The coach, (my husband) told the boys weeks ago if they made a double play he would take them all to McDonalds. We are talking eleven, 7 and 8 year olds. Well, they did it on Tuesday. It happened in the 2nd inning of our game, and when it did, the kids started yelling 

Mc Donalds!!! The other team was clueless. My husband was like, "Uh... now what?" Well, Mc Donald's is what happens now. So, tomorrow after our game, that is where we are headed. The boys played so well and it showed.

Tried it Tuesday- My deals!!!

It's Tuesday and time for Tried it Tuesday with Holly over at Fourth Grade Flipper.

There is so much going on. It's Teacher Appreciation week which has been crazy. I am trying to appreciate my children's teachers, my department and stay up with appreciating my readers and my TpT store. Just a busy time.

But, I also want to take advantage of the great sales of things I want for myself!!!! I realized my wish list is really lengthy and I needed to go through it anyway.

I also am experiencing some changes in what I am going to teach soon. Here in Texas we didn't adopt the common core, but our Math standards are changing. We are preparing for those changes NOW!!! Ironically, I matched my new standards with the common core and they are super closely related.

That is nice though because when I see things I want from the bloggers I stalk, I know I can really use them.

So, today, I "tried" some great deals! I am so anxious to print them, laminate and start using them!!!!

Here's a few things I purchased. I was like a kid in a candy store!!!

I think Miss Math Dork has amazing resources!

For the Love of Teaching has incredible, fun engaging math games. I've been eyeing a lot of her stuff. Now that our standards are changing, I can use many of her games, I bought several!

I have been wanting the file folder games for a long, long time.

4mula Fun has awesome 6th grade resources, and I finally bought the homework bundle. So excited to get these ready for next year!

I have also joined in on the sale at my own TpT store. Check out the deals if you like. Plus, there are lots of freebies there as well.

As I look these over, I am getting so excited, I may just have to go back and get more! (This is dangerous! Anyone else having the same issue?)

Teacher Appreciation Sale and FREEBIES

I am joining in on the sale over at TpT for May 7th and 8th.

I have a really small store. I have as many free items as I do paid. I also price my items fairly cheap. I am not trying to get rich, I just want to share. Some things take me a little more time so I did decide to start the store for a reason, I will be honest. I guess I have some work to do this summer.

 This blog has helped me stay motivated after a really tough first year in middle school and I am so thankful for the blogging community.

So, my products are 20% off plus, use the promo code TAD13 for another 8% off.

If you want, just look around and grab the free stuff I have posted.

I also want to make sure you get a great freebie I have that I am not posting in my TpT store. It's something our math consultant made, that she can not sell. It's longer than what TpT likes us to post as freebies, so I loaded it onto Scribd. I posted about it here. We used it for a Saturday camp we had before our state test. It's a really fun cruise ship theme rotation. You may not be able to use it exactly as we did, but it can be adapted for your needs. It was super successful. I see myself trying this type of rotation again for other skills.Click on the picture to get it FREE!

I hope you have a terrific teacher appreciation week and check out all the great bloggers having sales this week!

Five for Friday

This has felt like the longest week ever, but what week doesn't right?

It's Friday though and that means  time for 5 for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching.

ONE
I started my week out at our Region Service Center for training. I am a geek, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE professional development! Here in Texas we don't do the Common Core, but our Math standards are changing soon. I attended a training about those changes and how we are going to make sure we don't cause gaps in learning when the changes occur. Funny thing, our standards are pretty closely matched with the common core, why we didn't adopt them is beyond me.

TWO
We finished testing last week and trying to keep kiddos engaged is such a challenge. I must admit though, it isn't completely awful. They are doing okay.
I started a respect challenge with my kids. It started out rough. I couldn't give any classes a sticker, but I am proud to say, we are finally adding stickers to our buckets!

THREE
I saw this on Pinterest last summer from iwanttobeasuperteacher and knew I wanted to try it. After testing is perfect for it. My kiddos loved it. I am sure I will post more about this later.

FOUR
After the test last week, I wanted something fun, but engaging for my students. Thanks to math-aids.com, we had some fun. I am able to use this as extra credit as well. Plus, since I had to take stuff off my walls for testing, I can post these and the walls aren't so bare.

FIVE
Today is Friday and our kids have to take another test on the computer. It's a district thing for us. It is perfect for Friday. It is super quiet and relaxing for me.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!