100th Day Activities

We may have just returned to school from winter break, but another holiday is quickly approaching. Believe it or not the 100th day of school will be here before we know it! Over the years I've definitely began a collection of 100th day favorites.

Here's a quick look at some of my must haves for the 100th day of school that are free or low cost. You can take a closer look at some of my favorite read alouds by clicking on my Amazon affiliate links.

      

One of the easiest activities is to have students make a picture out of the number 100. All you need is construction paper or card stock and die cuts!

Check out this awesome monster truck!

Just an ordinary girl, boy, and their pet dinosaur ha!

Add some STEM challenges to the 100th day of school by having students build a structure with plastic cups or unifix cubes.

In addition to STEM, how about adding some technology to your 100th day of school activities? My 100th Day QR Code Challenge is perfect to get your students up and moving!

Students work in pairs with an iPad to complete 12 challenges in increments of 100 seconds.

For some laughs, have your students draw a picture of themselves when they are 100 years old! 

Want even more laughs? Use the free AgingBooth app to instantly transform you and your students into 100 year olds.

I may be wrinkled and gray, but at least I'll still have hair when I'm 100!

No 100th day celebration is complete without some pictures. It's quick and easy to create a picture frame with a few low cost materials.

I bought a cheap, large picture frame from Wal-Mart and spray painted it. Add a black chalkboard piece and some bulletin board letters for a cute frame you can use all year.

What are some of your favorite ways to celebrate the 100th day of school? 

Counting Coins

Happy Fall all! I don't know about you, but this is one of my favorite times of year. Students start to settle into class routines and the weather cools off. It's also time for one of my favorite units in math, teaching money!

Are you looking for some new resources to add to your teacher toolbox for money? Here are some amazing activities that are guaranteed to keep your kids engaged while learning about money. Lots of pictures and links are coming your way!
You can easily integrate some ELA with counting coins with picture books. One of my favorites is The Coin Counting Book. This picture book uses pictures instead of illustrations and easy rhymes to help students count the value of coins.

Click on the book cover or here to get your own copy. 

Another great picture book to use is A Dollar, a Penny, How Much and How Many? 

This book teaches readers how to count combinations of coins and bills. My students love the illustrations and silly rhymes! Click the book cover or here to buy your own copy. 

When I first introduce coins, I like to use an anchor chart with an easy to remember poem. 

I used large cut outs to show what the front and back of each coin looks like. Notice the curlicues on top of each coin? My team uses "hairy coins" to teach students how to count coin values. Each curlicue or "hair" stands for five. The kids always giggle when they discover the penny is bald because it's only worth one cent. 

I have a FREE set of posters including this poem in my TpT store! 

If you can't find a set of coin cut outs at your local teacher store, you can pick some up on Amazon.

While teaching students how to count money, I think it's important for us teachers to show them a variety of ways money can be seen and read. Students don't need to know just the value of coins, they need to be able to compare them as well as practice with them in word problem settings. During math stations this week we began using my Coins Task Cards.

I break up the three sets of task cards based on the ability and needs of my students. One group works with me in small group to continue mastery of basic coin counting.

Another group works on comparing the value of sets of coins.

A third group of students works on coin word problems. 

You can take a closer look at this resource in my TpT store.

Looking to integrate technology for your money unit? Counting Money is a free iPad app my kids can't get enough of! 

You set the app to practice or quiz mode and select the level of difficulty. 

This app is perfect for practice of coin combinations to equal the same value. 

Another great free app is Count Money!

This app is similar with the added feature to let students check their answer. 

For students who need more hands on practice, I use Counting Coins Two Ways. 

Do you students love challenges? Mine do, especially when I show my excitement about them. 

 QR Code Coin Challenge combines brain power and technology! 

To complete the challenges, students can only use a certain number of coins to show amount of money. 

Students can use manipulatives or draw on the cards to show their work. Students get instant feedback by scanning the QR code. 

What are some of your favorite resources for teaching money? Leave a comment below! 

3 Free Apps to Use Now

Are you looking for some easy to use free apps to add to your tech toolbox? Here's a quick rundown of 3 apps you can begin using right away in your classroom!

Class Monster Lite uses an adorable monster to help your classroom monitor their own noise level. Simply set your noise sensitivity preferences and let the app do the rest.

A low noise level results in a happy monster.

As noise levels increase, the monster becomes upset.

Too much noise makes the monster cry. 

There is a pro version with extra features, but I find the lite version to work fine in my classroom.

One of my favorite apps of all time is so simple yet effective. Tap Roulette will instantly settle any disagreement! Have students place one finger on the iPad screen and watch the magic happen. When you press pick finger the screen will light up before randomly picking someone. The lucky winner will have a red circle appear where their finger is.

Shake 'Em Dice is a new to me app a friend told me about this summer. The basic red dice are free. Other dice pairs are $0.99 each. 

You can add as many or as few dice pairs that you need. This app might also work well as a cool down activity for students. 

Do you have any favorite apps that are easy to use? Share them in the comments below!

Parent-Teacher Communication

Happy Labor Day friends! I hope you're enjoying at least a few hours of rest today. Some of us have already been back to school for weeks, while others will be starting this week. Here's a quick rundown of how you can increase or switch up your parent-teacher communication this year.

This year for my school's annual parent-teacher meeting, I decided to make a "snapshot" sheet for parents.This sheet will serve as a quick reference guide for parents during the school year.

 This year I created two Google forms for parents in my class. One is for parents to share contact information with other parents in the classroom to help make organizing parties or play dates easier. In the past I've had parents ask me to give the phone number or email of another parent, which I am never comfortable doing because of privacy. The other Google form is for us to share and upload class pictures during the year.

Next up is VolunteerSpot. This website helps you organize volunteers, snack time, and anything in 

between. It's free to sign up and begin scheduling with the option of paying for some extra features.

I like using this website to schedule parent volunteers on Friday afternoon. Your dashboard will tell you how many of your spots have been filled, and you can even use settings to email parents a reminder before their selected date/time.

If you're still using paper forms to schedule your conferences save yourself a headache with Doodle. This is another free (don't teachers just love that word) website to make scheduling easy peasy. You choose dates and times for parents to select from. 

Doodle allows you to add as many times to one date as you'd like and you select how many options parents can choose from. 

I have a full blog post on how I use schedule parent-teacher conferences here.

This year I'm excited to add Remind to my communication toolbox. Ever been home when you remember an important email or announcement you forgot to send to parents? Me too! 

Remind is a free app and website that allows you to send text messages to your parents. 

It's really that easy! In addition to plain text, you can send attachments or record your voice. Even if you or your parents don't have access to email, chances are you've got a cell phone and can receive texts. 

I hope you've found a new tip or two for your parent-teacher communication. What are some of your favorite apps or websites to share information? Enjoy the rest of your week!

End of Year Technology Ideas

Happy Sunday!! I hope you're able to get in a few hours of rest and relaxation today. If you're like me, you love your class of precious minis but OH MY WORD  ready for summer too! We have 14 days of school left.
We teachers know classroom management is crucial in these last few days, and we'll try just about anything to keep our kids engaged. Today I'm going to give you a quick rundown of some tech ideas we're doing in our classroom.

First up, we're using the app Pic Collage to create some thoughtful end of year memories for each other. I've paired up students to take pictures of each other and think of three adjectives to describe their partner. When each student has their own collage, I'm going to have it added to our end of year slideshow.

After playing around with the app, one student suggested combining pictures to make a thinking map. Brilliant!

This group decided they wanted to create a double bubble map of themselves. The app itself is free, with some optional paid add-ons. There are so many fonts, backgrounds, and shapes included that will give you students choices. 

Next up, we're sharing our favorite second grade memories using ThingLink. This app allows students to create interactive images. 

Each target or point on the "Thing" is something different added by a student. The bullseye design is plain text, while the play button is a recording from a student or a YouTube link. 

I love that one student added giving a present during Teacher Appreciation Week as one of her favorite second grade memories. Complete heart melting moment!

We LOVE a good QR Code scavenger hunt in our classroom. QR Stuff makes it easy to create QR codes for all types of classroom activities. 

One activity my students worked on this past week is my End of Year Scavenger Hunt. Click on the picture below to learn more. 

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Students worked in groups to complete the 16 tasks on QR codes and record their answers. The tasks range from reviewing adjectives, to estimation, and recording their favorite memory for a specific subject.

Some of the QR codes were in the classroom, while others were in various places in the hallway. 

What are some of your favorite ways to keep students engaged during the end of year craziness? Hang in there!