Hip! Hip! ARRAY!

I love arrays.  They are so neat and orderly, symmetric and geometric.  Every thing in it's place.....no odd man out.  Marching bands, boxes of chocolates, crates of oranges, cartons of eggs, calendars.....the all make order of chaos.  

Teaching the learner about arrays takes them beyond the concrete examples of groups to the pictorial (visual) representation of multiplication.  The strategy of arrays beautifully demonstrates the efficiency of multiplication.  Here are some ways we work with arrays in my classroom.

Searching for Authentic Examples

We went on an "in school" field trip to look for examples of arrays lurking within the walls of our school.  Each student had to find one example and take a picture of it with an iPad.  We then took all the pictures and put them in a booklet.  Each student was given a booklet and had to write a multiplication sentence for each picture.  Here are some of the pictures we found:

For more authentic examples, follow my Pinterest board called Arrays - Real World Examples.  

Tech Project

With the help of our amazingly, wonderful Tech teacher, the students created a grid full of arrays.  Using Excel, the students chose their own variety of multiplication facts, arranged them on the page, colored and labeled them.  

"I Spy Arrays" Game

I discovered this fun game at Step into Second Grade.  It comes with 18 different arrays that you can hide around your classroom.  The students have to find all of them and record "___ rows of ___" and the multiplication sentence on their "I Spy Arrays" worksheet (see below).

The kiddos love to move around and I always hide one or two of the rays really well.  Click on the picture above to find this freebie in Amy's TPT Store. 

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S.  Visit Looking From Third to Fourth to an array lesson inspired by this post!  Very cool!

Need a Kitchen Aid Mixer?

Have you heard about this awesome giveaway for teachers?  

It's from Texas Sweet who is sponsoring an educational program targeting elementary school children to promote Texas grapefruit and its nutritional benefits.   Twenty classrooms will win a Kitchen Aid Mixer, hand juicers for each child in their class, a box of Rio Star Grapefruit, fun cups, straws, and napkins to have a juicing party in class, pencils and bookmarks. Click on the picture below for more details.  

The deadline to enter is February 22, 2013.  If you win, send me a grapefruit!

(This blog is not receiving any type of compensation for this post.  I am sharing in case you want to win a mixer, like I do!)

The Earth is Changing!

If you teach a unit about the Earth and how its surface changes, you are going to love these ideas.  I can't take credit for most of them as they were blogs, Pinterest and TPT.  But there is no denying that they were super successful!

First, we made a model of Earth with clay.  I saw this idea at Meet the Dubiens who completed their model with Playdoh.  

Our third graders made their models with VanAken Plastalina modeling clay.  As long as you keep it in a baggie, it will never dry out.  My son still has his Earth Model from 5 years ago! 

To begin, you start in the center, then keep building the layers of the Earth with the different colors.  The last full layer is blue for the oceans.  Then the students get  bit of green to place the continents in the proper areas.  Don't forget a tiny piece of white for Antarctica!  To cut the model open, use a piece of very strong thread.  A knife may "smoosh" the model too much.  You will love the Ooooo's and Awww's when their model is dissected.  

Next we studied landforms and a Landforms Salt Map Project was assigned to be completed at home.  I will have pictures of them later this week!

For our Science Notebooks, we completed a Landforms Flip book created by Ginger Snaps Treats for Teachers (click on this link to get a free copy).  

I adapted it for the landforms that we were required to teach.  The kids loved making it and it gave them the perspective of elevation. Once finished, we glued it into our Science Notebook.  

Next we discussed weathering and made a foldable to go in our Science Notebooks.  The little pictures are from a Mailbox Magazine worksheet that was shrunk down to fit the foldable. 

Next, we set up hands-on Weathering Stations for each of the ways Earth is weathered.

Station 1 -  The students hammered a rock (inside a zip lock bag) while wearing goggles to demonstrate weathering by living things.  I recommend using sandstone as it breaks easily.

Station 2 -  The students weathered their rock piece by rubbing it   
with a 2" x 2" piece of sandpaper.  This simulated the wind driving sand against a rock of a long period of time.

Station 3 - Each student took turns shaking two rocks together in a container to show weathering by moving water.  

When the shaking was done, the rocks were smoother and rounded.  We also observed sediment on the bottom of the jar to show the bits of rock that had weathered away.  

Station 4 - The day before this lesson, you need to completely fill a glass bottle with water, place it in a plastic bag, and freeze it.   When we took ours out of the freezer, the lid was forced off and the water had frozen in a column coming through where the cap was.  The expanding ice broke out the bottle of the bottle, too.  There were also noticeable cracks in the bottle from the expansion of ice.  Because broken glass was involved, I walked around with the bag to allow each table group to view it.  

How do you demonstrate these topics in your classroom?  I would love to hear your ideas!

Check out more successfully implemented Pinterest projects at 

Learning in Wonderland and join the Linky Party to share your Pinterest success!

Envelope please......

Teaching With Moxie's 200 Follower Giveaway has ended and the winners have been chosen.   May I have the envelope please.........

The winners are............

Congratulations!  Ladies, check your email as your prizes have already been sent to you.

Thank you to all that entered!  I love all my followers and visitors!

Have a great week!

Must Haves

I am hooking up with Jennifer at Darling Little Learners to list my "Must Haves of 2012".  

#1    Downton Abbey

This show has been the best diversion a teacher could ask for!  Two years ago, I was scrolling through Netflix and found this British series on Masterpiece Theatre.  I was instantly hooked.  It is now it's third season, but if you haven't seen it, be sure to watch it from the beginning.  You can watch it for free at Hulu.  You can thank me later!

#2   First in Math

My principal brought this Math Program to our school and it has been a HUGE success.  Our staff and students have really embraced it. I encompasses all math concepts by grade level.  Students earn stickers as they progress through the skills.  Each class has a "Player of the Day" who is rewarded by wearing a "Player of the Day" lanyard.  The students progress through levels that go from "Rookie" to "Mathematician".  I require my students to earn 100 stickers per week as homework.  Our school is currently #3 in Texas (1,530 stickers per student) and #87 in the entire country.  

#3   All My Apples....

I can not lived without all my Apple products.  This is my latest addition and it is soooooo fast.  Call me a tech geek, but Apple has made my life so much easier.  I create, communicate, record, photograph, research, calculate, blog, listen, learn, etc....... all with ease thanks to Apple.  If my house was on fire, I would grab my family, my pets, and my Mac.....in that order!

#4    Ink Joy Pens by Papermate

I love these pens!  I am very particular about my writing tools, especially with all the grading I do.  These pens are as smooth as they advertise and never leak out extra ink.  They come in so many vibrant colors!  I prefer not to grade with red.  And my students know that the white pens belong to me! 


#5  Ancestry.com

1st Row, Second Adult from Left, my Grandmother
2nd Row, Second from Left, my Grandfather
2nd Row, 3d from Right, my Grandmother's brother (killed in WWII)
2nd Row, Second from Right, my Grandfather's brother

I highly recommend exploring your family history.   I use Ancestry, but there are tons of free resources out there.  I'm close with my family, but there have been many things that have discovered that I would have never known with out the research resources provided by ancestry.  Once of the coolest things I discovered is that I am related to Lou Hoover, former First Lady.  Also, that my ancestors were among the first pioneer families that settled Ohio. They received a land grant as a reward for fighting in the Revolutionary War.  What will you find?

Just a quick reminder.....

My 200 Follower Giveaway ends today!  Don't miss your chance to enter!

Support Sandy Hook!

I got a wonderful surprise in the mail today.  A friend from Newtown, Connecticut sent me this bracelet.  

She explained that the bracelets were being given out in Newtown and, knowing that I'm a teacher, she wanted me to have one.  I was very touched. I noticed that the bag it came in said "Wristband Connections", so I decided to look them up online.  Here's what I discovered....

"ANGELS OF SANDY HOOK" MEMORIAL WRISTBAND

This Angels of Sandy Hook wristband was designed by one of our customers who gave out thousands all over Newtown. Since then he has been overwhelmed with order requests. We have been asked to sell & distribute all of the orders through our site so that everyone who wants one anywhere in the country can have one. Since this is our specialty, we are happy to do so.

All of the proceeds beyond the cost of the bands, shipping envelope and our time will be donated to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund. A system of checks and balances will be used to confirm all the donations are being sent from these sales and we will keep you up to date on our Facebook page as to where you can see that each week. We appreciate all your requests and support in having us take on this task.

If you'd like to learn how to get one or to donate directly to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund, click on the link below the picture.  I am so proud to wear it to remember the little angels and in memory of the teachers who were heroes that day.

Angels of Sandy Hook Memorial Bracelet

A Celebration Freebie!

I love celebrations!   So let's continue my 200 Followers Celebration with a Freebie!

When we return to school next week, my third graders will need some math review to help clean the cobwebs out of their heads. One of the skills that we need to review is 3-digit subtraction with regrouping and across zeros.  Therefore, I put together an independent activity that will be used as seat work during our Math Stations next week. 

This activity also gives the students practice in rewriting a horizontal equation to a vertical equation, a new skill for third graders.  This is important practice for lining up the numbers in the correct place values and copying the numbers accurately.

You can find your free copy HERE.

To print a copy, click HERE.

There's still time to enter my 200 Follower Giveaway!  

Click HERE to enter the Giveaway!

Thanks for stopping by!