TPT Sale!!

In case you didn't know there is a sale going on at my TPT store and lots of other sellers are having a sale as well check it out!!!

 Here is the link to my store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Erica-Gower

Lots of good deals!!

~Erica

Honesty and a new write the room unit on TPT

It has been a long time since I last posted. I have found myself very busy and to be honest haven't had much that seemed worthy of blogging about. I am at the end of my February vacation and I must admit that I needed it very badly. This year there have been some changes (bigger class sizes due to budget cuts and not filling a retired teachers position) and the new math curriculum (I have posted about this in the past). These two changes have stressed me out significantly this year and to be honest not put me in the kind of mood that would generate positive blog posts. After a week off I am feeling motivated and ready to get moving on the second half of the school year. So hopefully I will be blogging more in the future.
 One of the things that I wanted to finish during vacation was my second write the room unit. Today I did just that. So check out my new write the room unit on TPT. 

Click the pictures above to this link to go to my TPT product. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Write-the-room-2-1127234 

I look forward to any feedback that you have. You can leave comments here or email me at egower77@gmail.com. Thanks for reading my blog!

~Erica

I love engaged students!

I LOVE to see students engaged in learning that is fun!! For two days this week during math I had to give the Envisions topic test in small groups so while I was doing that I had to give my students other independent work to do. One day we did Common Core practice work and the second day we did math games. Both days they were engaged, but they really liked the math games day. They played Kindergarten Yahtzee and Unlucky Seven. Both games practice addition and Unlucky seven also can serve as an introduction to probability.  Both games are from Shari Sloane and can be found by clicking here. These two games are ones I have played in years past, but with the new boxed math program we have there isn’t as much time for games like this. Let me just say that I loved seeing them so engaged that I stopped testing for a few minutes to take these pictures.

This has actually inspired me to carve out 10 mins (which isn’t easy this year) each day to play Math games. They love it and it’s great practice so I think it is worth it. I will let you know how it goes.

I am currently working on a math unit that I hope will have practice activities for all the Common Core standards for Kindergarten. I have a long way to go and with report cards due and parent teacher conferences this week I am not sure I will get it done this week, but I am setting a goal to have it done by the end of our February vacation (23rd). I will let you know when it is done.

My good teacher friend Mrs. Salley found this quote the other day and I think it's a keeper. 

"It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings."- Ann Landers. 

~Erica