Teaching students how to solve word problems

I wanted to share with you a strategy that I have found works very well with students who find word problems difficult to digest :)  I've noticed that so often students read the word problem, but don't really comprehend the situation given or what is being asked.  They tend to think every number given is important, and they tend to want to go straight to adding to solve everything.  Sometimes, as is often the case at the school I teach at, the students' reading levels are so low that they focus more on deciphering the words than comprehending them.  This strategy that I will share is by no means the solution to all your students' word problem solving issues, but I have found after using it for several weeks in my math intervention groups, that students are less intimidated by the problems and have a better idea of steps they need to take to solve them.

Flash Freebie

I am participating in my first ever - "Blog Hop".  Thanks so much to Kristin from Happy Little Kindergarten for hosting this.   These two products below are "flash freebies" until this Friday morning. They normally sell for $3 each, but download them before Friday morning and you can have them for free!  My students have really enjoyed these place value games, and what's even better - they have learned from them. 

Each set comes with a "basic" set of calling cards and a "challenge" set for your higher learners.  I use them with my small math intervention groups, but they would be great in a learning station or as a whole group activity - (there are 24 different cards in each of the two sets).  I believe that the key to learning is engagement, and what better way to engage our little learners than a game of BINGO!

Here is how it works: when you click on one of these products, you will be redirected to my TPT store where you can read the description and download. If you teach 3rd or 4th grade math, check out my other products and freebies too :)  All of my products are TEKS aligned (cause I teach in Texas y'all) and most are Common Core aligned as well.

When you are done downloading, be sure and hop on back to Happy Little Kindergarten to check out some more awesome bloggers and their flash freebies.

Thanks so much for stoppin' by!!

Up Up and Away!

Well, here it goes - my first post on my first blog!  I am very excited to begin this blogging journey - mainly so that I get to connect with and learn from other teachers like you :) Until this year, my new career of teaching left me with barely any time to eat, sleep, or even take a potty break! (I know -TMI - sorry ) Being a new teacher, I could not seem to find the balance that experienced teachers seem to have so effortlessly.  With three school aged boys at home and a husband running himself ragged trying to step in and pick up the slack (cause believe me - I was no help at home at all) - together, we decided that now was not be the best time for me to return to work full-time.  So, after 2 years in the classroom, I entered my principal's office at the end of last school year to turn in my notice. I had such mixed emotions.  My heart was so heavy, because in some aspects I felt that I had failed, but at the same time, my soul felt free again.

When this current school year started, I decided to sub for my teacher friends.  Subbing has its own set of challenges, but thankfully, planning all weekend long and staying up until 2 in the morning grading papers are not among them.  After subbing for my friend Melynda, our reading specialist - and going on and on about how much I LOVED IT (and wanted her job), a friend and colleague of mine (Rhonda - our math coach) went to bat for me asking our principal if I could be hired back to do something similar, but for math.  I think I accepted the job before my principal could even finish verbalizing the offer. (In truth - it was all I could do not to jump up and down for joy.)  Somehow I managed to keep my cool, and within three weeks of that conversation, I was  back on contract as a part-time math interventionist.

I will be forever grateful to my friends Melynda, Rhonda, and our principal, because I can now honestly say that I LOVE my job!!  I truly have the best of both worlds.  I get to work with the most wonderful group of teachers one could ever imagine, at a school that I love, with children that make me feel like a rock star every day.  (If you are a teacher - you know what I'm talkin' about.) At the same time, I can be home in the evenings and on weekends without papers to grade or hours of planning on the agenda.  I have time to cook meals (though we still eat out way too much), help with homework, attend school events and parties, build my TPT (and now blog design) businesses, and just be present for my family, physically and mentally, in a way that I have not been since I started back to school to get my teaching degree in 2010.  So - life definitely has its ups and downs!  This time last year, I felt as though I was drowning in a sea of responsibility, and today I am excitedly diving into new endeavors  :)

Let the journey begin!