BIC Back to School Giveaway!

Does your school teach handwriting?

BIC is on a mission to save handwriting through its Fight For Your Write initiative.  This initiative aims to educate everyone about the importance of writing by hand, and providing parents and educators with information, activities, and supplies that encourage and inspire writing.

By taking the pledge at www.BICFightForYourWrite.com you can help join their crusade as well - for every signature collected, BIC will donate a pen or pencil to students in need across the country through their partnership with AdoptAClassroom.org.

That's right!

BIC products have always been my favorite.  (...and no, they did not pay me to say that.)  I always stock up on BIC supplies over the summer in anticipation of the new school year.

Have you seen their new Back to School Products?  BIC has some amazing things in store for the new school year:

BIC®Xtra-Fun #2 Pencil
This is the only #2 pencil around that has two-toned color barrels.  I love the ultra-solid, break resistant lead that sharpens easily.  The latex-free erasers erase with ease.  It's hard to find pencils that are this durable.

BIC® Xtra-Craze™ Mechanical Pencil
Mechanical pencils are always a huge hit with my fourth graders.  These fun designs come in a four-pack and would make amazing birthday treats.

BIC® Cristal Stylus
This stylus will give you the best of both worlds!  One end features a lightweight stylus that easily glides across your classroom tablets.  The other end is an iconic BIC Cristal pen!  I want to keep this one just for myself, hidden in my teacher bag!  It will help cut back on all the fingerprints on my Smartphone screen.

BIC Atlantis® Ultra Comfort Pen
My husband loves how smoothly these pens write, and now they come in colors that I enjoy:  gray, pink, aqua, and blue barrels with black and blue ink.  I love the soft silicone grip that conforms to your hand.  These are perfect for lesson planning or writing long notes.

....and I've saved the BEST for LAST:

BIC Brite Liner® Erasable Highlighter
These contain a highlighter on one end and an erasing ink tip on the other end for fast and easy edits.  I want a whole class set of these.  How perfect are they?

Do you ever have students highlight like this?

You turn your back for one second and then realize they have highlighted ... every ... single ... word?

No problem!

Now they can erase the extra highlighting that they do not need.

They can erase any mistakes that they make.

Are you interested in trying out BIC's new Back to School Product line for yourself?  Enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to snag all of these new products!

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Good luck!

Ninja Multiplication Fact Fun - Kicking it Math GIVEAWAY!

Do your students struggle to memorize their math facts?  Are you looking for a new way to improve student math fact fluency and to build number sense?  Need to provide a wiggle break halfway through your day?

Try Kicking It - A Program for Mastering Math Facts which my students lovingly call Ninja Math!

Inspire students to memorize their multiplication math facts with a high energy, fast paced, daily review.  This amazing product was created by Kelly Malloy from An Apple for the Teacher.

I have tweaked the program a little to best fit my students.  Here is a peak at how I run our math fact fluency block during our daily math lesson:

We begin in a circle to practice some skip counting.  One student is selected to stand in the middle of the circle to make sure that all of our ninjas are actively engaged.  If they are not, they sit down.

The student in the middle calls out a specific move for students to preform with self-control and discipline:

Hook

Jab

Cross

Uppercut

Kick

Another student stands at the front of the room, by our Smart Board, and calls out facts ...

4 x 1 = 

...and the ninjas yell out 4 while they throw their punch.

4 x 2 =

....8

4 x 3 = 

...12

We practice a few sets of problems.  Each time we need to switch slides our student in the middle calls out a new move for students to perform.

Then students grab a belt and a partner and practice their math facts that are aligned with their specific belt color.

They practice for a minute each, quizzing each other on specific facts based on their progression through the program.

After 2 minutes, I call out, "Belts away, folders out."  Students return their math fact belts to the bin and pull out their Ninja Math folders.

I call out, "Markers up."  Students pull out their markers from the zip-lock bag inside their folder.  When I see their markers up I know they are ready.

I call out, "Ninjas, are you ready to kick it?"  They respond with a loud, "Yes!"  The timer begins.

I've played around with different times.  The time that works the best for my class is 3 minutes and 33 seconds, possibly selected because 3 is my favorite number.

Students rush to complete as many math facts as possible in the allotted time, before the timer buzzes.  Their math fact sheets are inside page protectors and they use whiteboard markers.

Once the timer buzzes students pass their folders around in their groups for their partners to grade.  Answer keys are in the back of their folders and they use them to check each others work.

Students who pass come to my table to exchange their math fact sheet for a new one.

 Math fact sheets are color coordinated to match the color belt that students have achieved.  As students "kick" each level, and earn belts, they add them to their dog tags.  Math fact sheets match the color of belt that they most recently have received.

Their dog tags serve as a display of their accomplishments throughout the program.

They proudly wear them throughout the day but I request that they stay in class until they become a black belt.

Once students become a black belt they are initiated during our lunch time black belt party.

Students enjoy black belt cupcakes (with black licorice of course.)

They earn Ninja bags and a certificate of completion.

Each bag contains a little ninja stress squeeze figure and some candy.  The ninja figures and bags were from Oriental Trading Company.

Students ate pizza for lunch during our celebration.  We listened to some Ninja tunes, celebrated, and enjoyed our success with multiplication math fact fluency.

Each month we have a new party to initiate the new black belts into our club.

Check out how Kelly uses this program in her classroom here.

Here is a peak at the Table of Contents from Kicking It Math.  Check out what is included in Kelly's pack.

Want to win a copy for yourself?  Kelly has offered a free copy of her Kicking It Math - Multiplication and your choice of any product from her TPT store.  Enter below for a chance to win!

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How do you improve your students' math fact fluency?

MobyMax in the Classroom Review & GIVEAWAY

Have you heard of MobyMax?

MobyMax is an amazing program that students can access to practice Common Core aligned K-8 curriculum that is differentiated based on their acquired skills and needs.

"Moby Curriculum teaches students to be better problem solvers, critical thinkers, and creative geniuses with thousands of cognitive skill manipulatives. Moby has students think and discover rather than just be told." - MobyMax Website 

I love how students can access MobyMax on classroom computers and/or classroom tablets.

It's the first touch curriculum made for a tablet!  You can't find anything else like it!

MobyMax provides the classroom teacher with formative assessment that drives great instruction.  The program allows you to monitor student progress in real time so that you know exactly how each student is performing.  You can analyze data for all Common Core standards by student, class, school, and district.

My students are loving MobyMax.  It is a fun test prep option, great during center rotations, and useful across the curriculum!

Want to give MobyMax a try?  Enter to win a free subscription of MobyMax for your classroom!

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Good luck and check back for a second giveaway over the weekend!

How to Use Mom Made Us Write This in the Summer & GIVEAWAY!

I'm very excited to share with you how we have been using Ali Maier's book, Mom Made Us Write This in the Summer, throughout the last few weeks of school.  As you may remember, I first mentioned this book right before Christmas break.  This book is about twins, Maggie and Max, who are challenged by their mom to write 12 journal entries together during the Summer.  The twins analyze a different event, situation, or activity for each chapter (or journal entry) which makes for a great book to focus on analyzing, comparing, or contrasting perspectives.  You can read my initial review here.

Here are my suggestions for using the book in your classroom:

Ways to Read in the Classroom:
- Provide individual copies for students to read independently.
- Read with a partner (one student reads Maggie's part while the other reads Max's.)
- Read whole class (teacher reads main text and chooses a student to read Maggie's comments and another to read Max's.)
- Project for the class to see so they can follow along with all Maggie and Max's commentary.

Using the Book to Teach Comprehension Strategies:

- Analyze characters and setting.

- Locate humor and descriptive details within the text.

- Create a list of Maggie and Max's character traits.

Initially, I recorded every student suggestion.  Then, students looked back, and debated whether or not each character trait really fit the characters.  If not, we crossed them out, and added a better fitting trait.

- Analyze perspectives.

- Compare and contrast Maggie and Max's experiences, perspectives, likes, and dislikes

Below, students compared and contrasted Maggie and Max's experiences at a hotel.

Journal Writing
- Analyze the genre of journal writing.
- Use this book as an anchor text to model positive characteristics of good journal writing.
- Use this book to launch an in-class journal writing center where students write back and forth to one another in the same fashion as Maggie and Max.
- Launch an at-home journal writing activity over an extended break (Christmas, February, April, Summer, etc...)

Want to snag a copy of this book for your classroom?  Enter using Rafflecopter below.

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Lastly, be sure to check out Ali Maier's website for more resources and information!

Cheers to my 1st TPT Major Milestone - Pin it to Win it Contest

Yippee!!!!  After 2 1/2 years of hard work, perseverance, and persistence, my lil' ole TPT store has reached it's first major milestone!

***Clipart in the above graphic is from the amazing Krista Wallden!***

Want a chance to win one of the products from my TPT store?

Help me celebrate!!!

Pin your favorite product (that you wish to receive).

Then visit me at my Facebook Page and tell me what you pinned.

Comment with your Pin link and your email.

You will have 1 week to enter.  I will announce the winners next Sunday, November 2nd.

I will choose 1 winner for every 5 entries.

1 entry per person.  No bundles please - they are too big to email!

Thank you for all your help and support!

Cheers!!!

Implementing Writing with NO Writing Block

I posted a few days ago about writing, and my lack of time this school year for it.  Yes, writing is integrated throughout our other subject areas, but this school year we will not have an official time set aside just for writing.

One thing is for sure, I am not going to let time stand in the way of free and fun writing in my classroom.

So, in my desperate attempt to infuse some extra time for students to hone their writing craft and free write about topics of their choice and genres of their choice I found Joey Udovich's amazing Interactive Writing Center.

Upon reading about the center on Joey's blog, and previewing it on TPT I fell in love and purchased it immediately.

I printed and laminated it for free at my local teacher center.  (Check to see if you have one in your county, you might be pleasantly surprised.)  To say this file is H-U-G-E is an understatement.  Joey has literately thought of it all.  It comes with teacher directions, photographs, word wall cards, examples of each writing topic, tips and cheat sheets for students, and printables, just to name a few.

Not wanting to overwhelm my students, I picked my 3 favorite writing genres:  a summary, a story, and a song.  I plan to introduce each writing genre during the first week (3 days) of school.  After the introduction, students will be free to choose which ever of the three writing genres they wish to work on.  I will add additional genres throughout the year.

When do I plan to use this writing center?  Hmmmm, morning work, emergency sub plans, as a finished early activity, or once in a while during AIS.  I also hope to be able to use it as one of our centers during guided reading, but that is still to be determined.

I posted this lovely sign on the center bulletin board in hopes that students will check their writing before deeming it complete.  You can download a FREE copy of this poster here.  Print on 11" x 17" paper for best results.

I purchased quite a few black egg crates from Walmart last year and had an extra one not in use so I threw it over in the writing center to assist with organization.

How will students organize their folders?

So what about student reflection, grading, and data?  I plan on setting aside time each week for students to select their best writing piece of the week.  They will spruce it up a little bit before submitting it. Here is how I plan to organize their writing pieces within their folder:

I plan on grading their chosen writing piece each weekend using a 4-point rubric similar to ones used to score their writing for their NYS ELA test.  I will use my noticings to form writing needs groups to meet with during AIS or when we work on writing about reading.

Will you still have a writing block this year?  If not, how do you plan on squeezing in writing?

Want to win some super sweet back-to-school writing utensils for your classroom?  Enter my BiC Back-to-School Giveaway before it is too late.  Only one day left!

Oh, and last but not least, some of the cute graphics that appear in this post are from the amazing Krista Wallden.  

She is hosting a week full of freebies, dollar deals, discounts, and giveaway!  Be sure to check it out.