Teacher Appreciation Week!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Hopefully everyone’s kiddos + parents are treating them nicely State testing + grading took over most of my life this month. I can’t believe it’s May already!!

Incase you haven’t heard, TpT is having an AMAZING sale tomorrow! Get 28% off at my store with coupon code TAD13 on May 7th and 8th!

Find my store here

I can’t wait to purchase a bunch of super fun items! My cart is stocked with fun clip art and activities. Check out some of my new Bingo Games…my students are currently obsessed with all things Bingo and are totally loving these! We played the week of the state exam in the periods after 2 hours of testing. The fact that all of my classes were engaged in meaningful review AFTER taking parts of the test still amazing me!

Teachers Notebook is also having an awesome sale and giveaway!

What are you planning on getting?!

Meet Jess!!

Remember when this used to be a math and SCIENCE blog?! Well, I am not teaching science this year. I loved sharing awesome science ideas on this blog and I am pretty sure you guys liked seeing them too. Although I haven’t taught much of anything but math lessons lately, I am lucky to have a best friend who is a science teacher!

Meet my BEST FRIEND, Jessica Smith!

She is an amazing science teacher and mama in Indianapolis! Jess and I met in grad school and pretty much have been BFFs ever since! Jess just opened an awesome TpT shop and I figured it would be pretty cool to interview her….with a fun giveaway Enjoy!

What grade and subject do you teach? How long have you been teaching?

I teach 7th grade Science & Reading (my favorite subjects!!) & this is my 4th year teaching!!

 

What is your favorite part about teaching?

My favorite part of teaching is definitely interacting with the kids. Building fun yet mutually respectful relationships with these 7th graders is so fulfilling! I truly believe Middle Schoolers are the GREATEST!!

 

How do you incorporate other subjects into science?

Science is the best because you can easily incorporate reading strategies, math, & history all in one! The kids in our school need as much statistical math as possible, which is easy to tie into data collecting (graphs, finding percentages, mean/median/mode, etc.) Vocabulary is a HUGE part of my curriculum & figuring out meanings of science words using their word parts. Of course, there’s also so much history when talking about scientific discoveries and the scientists that have shaped our knowledge of concepts today. Gregor Mendel is my favorite

 

If you could give one piece of advice to a new teacher, what would it be?

IT GETS BETTER! I PROMISE!!! My 1st year of teaching was the most CHALLENGING/AWFUL year of my life (even more challenging than being a first time momma!). I remember late night lesson plans, feeling hopelessly alone without a professor constantly giving me feedback about my teaching, grading papers until I screamed, and lots of wine & bubble baths. Once you establish some core routine & base lessons, you will FLOURISH as a teacher and it will get better and better every year! USE YOUR RESOURCES and ASK FOR HELP. Take your good/fresh ideas, and RUN with them! Lastly, try your best to focus on the great kids in your class — it is SO easy to give so much of your time & attention to the booger heads. Be the teacher you want YOUR kid to have!

Seriously, HOW AMAZING IS SHE?! Want to find out? Check out Jess’ store and leave me a comment with your favorite product (make sure you include your e-mail address)! You have a chance to win a BFF METRIC COMBO PACK including…

The Bubble Gum Lab

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Metric Mania Lab

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Metric Units of Measure Journal

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Around Here…..

Busy, busy, busy! Prepping for state exams + wedding planning…

my life is a crazy mix of…

this (for the sweets table at my wedding)

and this (seriously, my kiddos LOVED these Algebra Turnover Cards!)
and obsessing over all the beautiful products I will be making with this

Happy Sunday night! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Foldables EVERYWHERE!

This is currently what my folder of foldables looks like…

Seriously, how do you organize your foldables? I can’t tell you how many times I teach a topic and find that I have a foldable for that….two weeks later!

 

Happiest of Spring Holidays!

Happy springtime holidays, blog readers! This week was our shortened spring break (still making up days from Sandy!). We had Tuesday-Friday off Can’t complain! I had my amazing bridal shower this past weekend. It was amazing to see so many of my out of town friends!!

Happy almost Easter, to those of you who celebrate it! Just wanted to link this fun freebie I made the other day….Order of Operations task cards! I know my students ALWAYS need more practice with this!

Check it out here!

Also, I am throwing a little 20% off sale in my TpT shop this weekend. Enjoy!

 

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Enjoy 20% off at my Teachers Pay Teachers store for today only

Pi Day 2013

Any big plans for Pi Day?! I seriously LOVE Pi Day. Unfortunately, my students will be taking a mock state assessment on Pi Day. We are introducing geometry over the next week though, so I will definitely be doing some fun Pi activities.
Check out my Pi Day activities from last year:

I also added a super fun “Working with Circles” activities and interactive notebook pages to my TpT store. Check it out

So what has been going on around you? We are lost in the world of test prep and it is AMAZING to see my students using their Interactive Math Notebooks as references. I MUST post about them soon.