Changing Curriculum & Coin Stamping

 Every year my classroom has a little shift in the students I spend my day with. Last year I had a lower academic group of kids join us, even to the point that I had to go out and purchase a few Melissa and Doug items for them since we weren't much above counting and colors. The information we get from the high schools that the kids are coming from is not always accurate so where they get placed is sometimes a little off. Occasionally we can make small shifts at the beginning of the school year but other times I just like to think there is a reason I was chosen to spend the year with them. This year brings me a couple new kids who are a bit higher then those I have had in the past. So, I am needing to change up my curriculum to adjust to them. 

 I am changing out some of my activity boxes to add ones that are a bit more challenging for these guys. Here is one I added this week. Since I will put a huge emphasis on money I thought these coin stamps, (which by the way have gone down in price since I bought them a week ago!) would be a great addition. I made up a couple worksheets for them to use the stamps with and so far the kids have really enjoyed working with them. If you can see in the picture, it says the coins and the amount needed (ex. 2 dimes, 2 nickels, 3 pennies) and the kids stamp the correct coins then add the total to the page. 

I am on the lookout for more, so if you know of any other good money activities please share.

Have a great weekend!

Playdough Measuring

I got this idea from Jamie over at Life Skills in High School! I added it as a new activity box and the kids absolutely loved it!  I usually don't allow more than 2 kids per activity, but as you can see, there were so many who wanted to try it, I got conned into adding a third!  It makes all this time I spend searching for fun and education activities for my kids worth while.

If you would like to see it on Jamie's blog, head over to  http://lifeskillsinhighschool.blogspot.com/.

Thanks,

Kitchen Measuring

Here is a small packet on kitchen measuring.  I have included measuring with liquid measuring cups, dry measuring cups and measuring spoons.  Great to use in your classroom before you start actual cooking classes.  

 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kitchen-Measuring

Menu Math Packet

I have put together 3 menu maths in the past few months and have been selling them seperately.  I have now bound all of them together to make 11 pages of menu math!  They include McDonalds, ChickFilA and Burger King.  The menu prices are accurate with the prices where I live, so I hope they are the same for you.   

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Menu-Math-Binder

Menu Math Burger King

Last school year I did a menu math packet for McDonald's.  But, for some reason last year, my students preferred Burger King.  So, this year I want to start out the first week working with this menu.  There is nothing worse than standing in line with 7 or so students who have no idea what they want to order, and when they decide, they can't afford it!

 This way we can go over the menu back at school.  They students can decide what they want to order, and what they can afford BEFORE we leave the building.  Also, most of my students have a hard time with the concept of tax.  They think if they have three dollar, they can buy three things off the dollar menu.  At least once or twice every Friday I have to pitch in for tax, but since I know before we go, I can make them work for it!  I also added a worksheet for practice.  Enjoy!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Burger-King-Menu-Math

Classroom Height

I like to add some sort of worksheet about measuring into the students monthly morning folders.  Here is one that I think they will really enjoy.  We will measure each student at the beginning of class and write the results on the board for my kids to copy.  This is free over at TpT if you want a copy. 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classroom-Height-Chart

Thanksgiving Warm-Up

  Going to take a break from warm ups now!  Here is the last one I will post for a little while.  I think this will give me enough to get to the end of the first semester.  Now on to other things.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Thanksgiving-worm-up-Worksheet

Halloween Warm-Up

Here is another warm up worksheet.  Since we do a LOT of work with money, hopefully by Halloween we will have at least partially mastered counting my 5's and 10's.  I decided to throw some ABC order into the warm ups this year as well.  Enjoy!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Halloween-Warm-Up

December Warm Up

Here is another warm up sheet for December.  Though I don't teach math, spelling or letter recognition, I also don't want the students to lose the knowledge they already have.  Now, most of my students will require help in at least one or more areas of this worksheet, but they do enjoy doing them.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/December-Warm-Up

Morning Warm-Ups (School & Fall)

 I like to use practice worksheets in my students monthly morning folders at least every other week.  Here are a couple I have ready for next year. 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Warm-Uphttp://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fall-Warm-Up

Fiesta Warm-Up

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fiesta-Morning-Warm-up

This year we have broken our summer school into four themed weeks.  Our third week will be Mexican fiesta week!  We are making pinatas and on the Friday will serve nachos, which will be a huge hit!  We only have 4 hours a day and soooo much to do since we are only actually at our school site three of those days! Here is my weekly warm up worksheet we will use with our theme.

Using a Digital Scale

 In the last month I have been working on putting together some containers with a variety of fun activities for my students to work on in their free time, or when they are done with their classwork.  I have found some great ideas on Pinterest to get me started, and so far have activities that  use Dominoes, dice, Dice in Dice and money.  I had an idea this morning to do one about weighing items.  Seems I can buy the digital scale at Walmart for around twenty dollars, and I think my kids will have a blast weighing things around the classroom.  I plan to laminate the sheet on the left and make copies of the answer sheets to have available inside the container.  I left three blank spots on the answer sheet so the kids can pick some items themselves to weigh.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8NVsf6Y1KIvSU9uR3hOaUJlYUU/edit
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8NVsf6Y1KIvdEJOOUs2cFc3UGs/edit

Measuring Devices

There definitely needs to be dialog that goes with this worksheet.  Some of the ingredients, depending on amount needed, would use both the spoons and the cups. 

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8NVsf6Y1KIvbUlYNklnYVh6OTA

Measuring with liquid measuring cups

My kids love measuring!  We practice with liquid measuring cups, dry measuring cups and measuring spoons.  Here is a quick worksheet on liquid measures.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Measuring-Cups

Eating Out

Every Friday I have a handful of students who bring money to school to go out to lunch.  I have students who bring 2 dollars and some who bring 10, so it's great to be able to go over a menu with them about what they will and won't be able to afford BEFORE we head out.

 I plan on making one for each of the establishments we frequent.  I also want to make worksheets for fun lessons on money and budgeting to go along with the menus.   Not sure if prices vary from town to town, but these were the prices at my local McD's.

Don't forget to add the tax!


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mc-Ds-Menu

Morning Warm-ups

Here is an example page of our Wednesday morning warm-ups.  I like to change it up and do a mix of different things we are working on that week.  We are also extremely fortunate that each of my students receive a copy of our local paper delivered to their desks each morning.  I will post a lot more worksheets that teach newspaper skills when I go back to work next week!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8NVsf6Y1KIvd0VycG11T19SMHlyM1k1SW5tRFpnQQ/edit