Sunday, March 9, 2014

Classroom Economy

Each year in January I start using a Classroom Economy Unit to manage behavior.  The students learn all about debits and credits while also learning that responsibility counts.  Every two weeks the students cash paychecks and go shopping in the classroom store.  The parents have been great to donate items for our store.  Since my own children are teenagers, I try to confiscate any unwanted treasures from their rooms when they aren't looking as well.  The photos below are from our first store of the year so the tables are loaded.












I purchased Hope King's Economy Unit from tpt and this year the students have ID's to take to the bank when cashing their checks.




Fraction Fun

Fractions are new to the 3rd grade curriculum in Kansas with the implementation of the common core standards.  I just love teaching fractions and I'm so glad the topic came back into our curriculum.  One member of the team of teachers I work with, stumbled across Engage NY Math lessons. The lessons are hands-on, engaging, and do a fantastic job of conceptual understanding with fractions.  We are all so excited to see what the next lesson has for us and the students to do!

Last week the students completed a task in groups to show their understanding of certain fractions.  Each station contained a piece of yarn, three different sizes of paper, cups of water, and play dough.  Students were required to work in groups to partition each object into a given fraction.  Well, needless to say, they loved it!

I am creating an interactive white board file as we go through the lessons, and plan to post the freebie as soon as it's finished.  Pictured below are students as they interact with the items at each station.








Ladybug Paper Freebie



A couple of my teachers friends just LOVE ladybugs so I decided to create a ladybug themed classroom set.  These papers and bunting are the beginning of my inspiration.  I knew I wanted to use, red, pink, green, gray, and black so I created papers to match the graphics I chose.  This is my first attempt at bunting and it turned out pretty well.  Enjoy your freebie!