I am in official countdown mode!! There are only 16 days of school left and believe me, I CANNOT WAIT to sleep in, file some paper work, clean out my office, travel.....and BLOG!! I first went MIA during the months of January to March because I had to complete my entry for National Board Certification (remember that famous 1 point fiasco....). Then I had some (and I use that word lightly) free time to actually get a few posts up on my blog. Well.....last week my graduate courses began and welp....I'm back to blogging in between teaching, studying, writing papers, conducting research...... Thank goodness for "classroom management"! Why? Because since the start of May my class has been basically running itself. Yes I teach the major subjects in the morning, but the only intense teaching I have to do at this point is my math drill and practice session (this is an intense instructional period where I provide remediation and instruction based on what the students MUST master before leaving fourth grade). I love this period because I kind of said the heck with the text book and I've been teaching all of those things that many of my students needed additional support with. I can honestly say, all of my students are on target!! One way I did this was first drilling important skills and concepts and then providing them with plenty of differentiated games that allowed them to really practice and master important skills. My students struggled the most with multiplication and division. Once I made one game that they could use in class during workshop time to help them with this, I started getting requests!! So what I started doing was....instead of writing long (and boring ) lesson plans, I started creating games based on the skills I felt my students needed the most support with (and wrote short boring lesson plans). Because my students are so involved during our workshop time, my class basically runs itself. I actually float from group to group to monitor their progress, but for the most part my students are in control for about an hour and a half every day. Not only do they run our workshop time, they also manage the behavior chart, post the daily agenda, monitor the pencil cup, take roll, monitor our breakfast period and more....EASY STREET. This is the payoff for being super consistent and extremely OCD through out the school year. Even though waking up is TORTURE, getting through the day is actually pretty easy : )
I posted most of the games that I've been using in my TPT store...Some I haven't gotten around to posting yet (busy busy busy). I will definitely get those up some time soon. In the meantime, feel free to check out the ones I've uploaded so far. Some are free and some are paid items. My favorite game,
Four in a Row Math Edition: Division Level 1 (a game requested by the Connect Four Champion in my class) is on sale for $1.00 now up through June 1st!! This is a steal. My students love this game. And best of all if you follow these simple steps, you can get the entire bundled game set for FREE!!
1. Purchase the promotional item:
Four in a Row Math Edition: Division Level 1
2. Leave me a comment and a rating letting me know what you thought about the game
3. Follow my
TPT Store
4. Inbox me via
The Diary of a Not So Wimpy (facebook page) sharing your email and your TPT username (the username is to confirm that you purchased the item)!
That's it! No hoops. No "lucky winners". Just try out the promotional game and tell me how you like it!!!
Also (and I am almost done). I am in the process of adding some really great content to my blog! Some things to come this summer are:
1. Informative articles on classroom management, parent engagement, behavior management. Check out the two I've already posted
HERE.
2. Some book reviews on titles I've been sent directly from the authors (per my request) so that not only I can share them with you, but they have also set me copies so that I can give one to a LUCKY reader!!!
3. New products to help you get ready for the upcoming school year (differentiated reading/math activities, writing journals, and more!)
4. AND (drum roll please............) THE DEBUT OF MY VERY OWN CHILDREN'S BOOK: SUMMER IN THE CITY!!!! Set to be released this coming July!!!!!
Needless to say, I've been very busy. I cannot wait to share all of this with you. I've been very very busy behind the scenes getting ready : )
Come back soon, I'm sure you will LOVE your visit.
Don't forget to check out these great games, I can guarantee they will help your last few weeks fly by!
Here are a few FREEBIES that I've also used in the last few weeks! Feel free to download them : )
THANKS FOR STOPPING BY : )
This week I have the honor of donating one of my favorite file folder games to a blogging buddy's ROCKIN' GIVEAWAY! Hilary Lewis of Rockin' Teacher Materials is throwing a HUGE giveaway.....just for the heck of it! Tons of teachers have donated items that you can win just by stopping by their blog and showing some love! There are all types of items posted in this giveaway for most subject areas. Visit her blog to enter. While your there hop on over to all of the different teacher blogs that are participating. If you like to blog hop, you will be in blog hop Heaven!
