Early Finishers: "What to do when you're done" Station

I'm linking up for Monday Made It.... Visit the link to see more awesome DIY goodies!

Ok, I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, but it drives me a little bonkers can be quite bothersome when I'm conferencing with students 1-on-1 or working with a small group, and I have a handful of early finishers causing distractions, or saying, "I'm already finished... what do I do?"


Well, during my time subbing at various locations, I came across a classroom that had a "What to do when you're done" station.


The teacher had flash cards, brain teasers, and other options for students who finish early. I LOVED this idea!


So, I created one for my summer school class.

This is my station for early finishers. I introduced it on the first day, told them about it's purpose and when to use it, and gave the students opportunities to try it out. My rules are to keep it neat and organized, and only use it when you're 100% done with the assignment. You may work with a partner, but only if they are also 100% done.


I used some magazine boxes on clearance from Ikea to store informational magazines. The students also have books available to them, but they're not stored in the same place. I thought about adding brain teasers and math puzzles, but since it's just a month-long summer school class I thought it'd be too much. I'd definitely add those if I had a real classroom though.



I got the two baskets from Target's $1 Spot and Dollar Tree.

In one basket I have math flashcards (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division & telling time).

In the other I have flash cards with sight words for the grade levels I'm working with, and four sets of Fact Cards from Target's $1 Spot.... I have the US Presidents set, The 50 US States set, the Space set and one of the Animals sets.

Target Dollar Spot Fact Flash Cards!

I love that this center keeps the "I'm done already!" students from distracting others, that they're practicing math facts or sight words, learning something new, or just staying engaged in learning in general. Some kids are so hard to get back once they lose focus and this helps them stay on track.

I thought I'd share the new version of the sign I used for my station...



It's simple enough to create your own, but if you want/need something to get started from then this could help. Or if you want to do it exactly how I described above, that's fine, too!


Click HERE for the "What to Do When You're Done" FREEBIE!


 

 

Home-Made Dice & a Freebie: A belated Monday Made It

Ok, so I am a little pretty late on this, but I've been busy...

Here's my Monday Made It (on Wednesday) for this week... Visit the link to see more awesome DIY  goodies!

I turned these foam cubes from the Dollar Tree.....

... into FOUR SETS of my very own SILENT dice!

Yay! My very own homemade foam dice!

Blue dice are the regular #s 1-6.

Green dice are #s 7-12

Orange dice are #s 13-18

Red dice are #s 19-24

I'm sure you're wondering, "How did she do this amazing thing?!?"

Or maybe you're not... It's really super easy, and I'm definitely not the genius who thought of this. I made these a while ago and almost thought it wasn't worth posting about since it's been done, but these little guys have been SOOOOO handy in my summer school class for practicing fact recall I just had to share. Plus, I'm throwing in a FREEBIE so I know you'll be ok with it. 

So, here's what I did...

Step 1: My lovely coworker found these little guys at the Dollar Tree and shared her idea.

Step 2: Steal  Borrow the idea from my coworker to make dice.

Step 3: Take them home to make while watching The Bachelorette.

Step 4: Open the package.

Step 5: Separate the dice by color. (The package comes with 50 cubes, almost the same number of each color.)

Step 6: Write numbers on dice using black permanent marker... Again, in case you missed it, I made the blue dice the regular #s 1-6; green dice are #s 7-12; orange dice are #s 13-18; red dice are #s 19-24. Oh, and underline your 6s and 9s so your students don't confuse the two, or claim they confused the two so they don't have to practice one or the other.

Step 7: Put each set of dice in their own separate baggies and label them.

BOOM. DONE.

So easy, right?! And they only cost $1.00 + sales tax + marker ink + 10-20 mins.

I only messed up a couple, so maybe I have 48 instead of 50 dice, and yes, I got some black marker ink on my hands. But, it was so worth it. They make NO NOISE and are great for math fact practice!



I use these games at my Math Facts station for math workshop almost every day. Unless I'm doing the cube toss games instead. The kids really enjoy both activities a whole lot more than a plain old worksheet.

I usually use the blue and green (1-6 and 7-12) dice to practice multiplication.

So then the orange and red (13-18 and 19-24) are for adding and subtracting... and I also use the blue and green for add/sub sometimes, too. Best part?? Either way you combine the dice sets, they need to regroup at least some of the time. :)

The Multiplication Dice Roll Game in action...

I'm still working on how to do division practice with dice.... Any ideas??? It's looking like it'll take a lot of planning and certain dice for each dividend. Like, have a dice with only multiples of  3, and another dice with numbers to divide it by? But, it could get too "easy" if the answer was always 3...

Seriously, any ideas or suggestions would be helpful! :)

Anyway, below you'll find a link to my set of my recording sheets for the dice roll games.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREEBIE!

Enjoy!

What are you reading?? And a freebie!

I'm a sucker for a good book... drama, chick-lit, witty memoirs, fantasy, adolescent/young adult that I'm slightly embarrassed to read in public...

Apparently, I'm a sucker for a good linky party, too... And, since this one doubles as a contest where I win BOOKS, the moment I saw it I had to do it. :)

Head on over to The Clutter-Free Classroom and link up! Or don't... because then I have a better chance at winning the $15 gift certificate for Amazon.com and a copy of The End of Molasses Classes by Ron Clark. jk! :)

I like to buy my books, because I'm sort of a book abuser... I read outside quite often over the summer, and I like to snack when I read, too. Since I reread most of my books, I often find food stains and bugs from leaving a book outside at the campground. Sometimes it makes me feel a little gross, but it usually just makes me reminisce about the last time I turned the pages. :) 

Anyway... here's what I'm planning on reading this summer:

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling (it's one of my all time favorite books and I can't go a year without rereading it)

2. Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes (another one of my favorite summer reads of the comedy/chick-lit genre... it's a little on the raunchy side at times, but I love it anyway)

3. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

4. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

5. The Debutante by Kathleen Tessaro (I just started reading this, but haven't really had time to get into it so now it's a summer book.)

6. The CAFE Book

7. Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot

8. The Leader in Me by Stephen Covey

9. Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire

10. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

Some books I recommend:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster

Queen of Babble in the Big City by Meg Cabot

Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella

Can you Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella

... and basically anything Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I love reading. Doing it, teaching it, talking about it... I love everything from the feel of the pages, to the smell of the binding. I love the way the characters can feel like life-long friends. I love the way they toy with my emotions... whether I'm laughing aloud or sobbing. I love that I zone-in so deeply that Justin has to call my name multiple times in order for me to reply with, "Huh?"

If the one thing I can do for my students is to instill a love of reading, then I think I've succeeded. Something I like to do in the classroom to give kids an opportunity to read books of their choice, and encourage their friends to read something they thought was totally awesome, is a book talk. Click on the link below to check out a better explanation of the way I use them, as well as download the how-to & example book talk posters to hang in the classroom. Enjoy! :)

Click here ---> Book Talks Freebie!!

My First Freebie!!

I don't know about you, but I just LOVE a good ol' think-pair-share. However, I prefer to call it "Turn & Talk." It's the phrase my mentor teacher used & I just think it's easier to say. The phrase isn't my original idea, so please don't think I'm taking credit for it. If you know where it comes from, please tell me so I can give them due credit!

I love that this strategy allows the students to share and collaborate, and I love the way it enhances their speaking and listening skills. The new Common Core seems to be so reflection/analysis/explanation driven, and I think that students need more opportunities than ever to verbalize and explain their thinking to peers, as well as adults.

Anyway... many of my little ones have trouble following directions, or just remembering procedures in general, so I decided to create these to use as a sort of anchor chart during the summer school math workshop I'll be running. The first page details the procedure of a "Turn & Talk" and the second page has sentence starter prompts to help facilitate discussions between partners and when they share with the group.

In case you aren't familiar with the think-pair-share/turn & talk... the procedure basically goes like this:
1. Students think about the question/task silently. (This time could also be used to write down their thoughts, jot down ideas for a story, etc.)

2. Here's where the sentence prompts come in... when you give them the cue, the students turn to their partners (which I like to give every 2-4 weeks) and quietly discuss their ideas. Face-to-face interaction is best, and specifying 6-inch voices helps keep the noise-level bearable & to make sure they're focused on each other.

3. When you give the cue, you'll come back together as a group and you ask a few students to share what they talked about with their partner. You may want ask a specific question, ask students to tell what their partner shared, choose volunteers, or draw sticks/cards to select students. It's up to you.

Since the documents are small, I plan on having a mini lesson on the procedure of a high quality "Turn & Talk," it's purpose, etc., prior to hanging them up near our group time area where I plan to have most of our discussions

I printed the documents on white cardstock (you could probably also use a lighter color), matted it onto some colored construction paper, and laminated it.

Click HERE to download this freebie!