Place Value Bingo

I am super excited about this new product. I know my kiddos (and yours, too) will love it! I wanted to make an activity that's super versatile. This is something you can do with small groups up to 6 or set up a center and, with a quick demonstration, the kiddos will know how to play it - because most kids have played bingo at some point in their life.

It's Place Value Bingo!

Ok, so this product is really 4 centers in 1. The cards can be used to play bingo when you choose to use the bingo cards. Yes - you CAN use bingo as a center. When playing bingo in centers I have my kids take turns flipping the calling card. That way everyone gets to play and you don't need a "caller".

You can also ditch the bingo cards to use the numbered ones simply as task cards in a center or as a whole-group activity. Cool, right? There are also two levels of play. You can use set 1 to practice up to 4 digits and set 2 to practice up to 6 digits.

This is where I have a little confession to make. Being a TPT seller in MN isn't the easiest because we have not adopted the CCSS for math (we have for reading, but not math). Our math standards tend to be a bit more rigorous than the CCSS, which is why the state chose not to adopt them.

Now, everything I make is to be used in my classroom, so obviously I'm going to design my products to meet our MN standards, but I also take a look at the CCSS equivalents and make sure I'm making products that meet both. There is a lot of overlap, but in some instances it gets murky. Place value is one of those instances. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I didn't see much for 3rd grade place value standards. In Minnesota, place value is taught up to the hundred thousands in 3rd grade (I even throw some millions in there while teaching because the kids love it). Do you teach place value in 3rd grade (or higher)? Comment below if you do, I really want to know!

I already knew I needed to do something for my intervention-level kiddos to help them with place value, but the standards issue solidified for me that I needed to create a product at two levels. And so, the two sets were born. Set 1 meets CCSS 2.NBT.A.1 and 2.NBT.A.3 and MN standards 2.1.1.1-2.1.1.5. Set 2 meets MN standards 3.1.1.1-3.1.1.5. This isn't to say that you only need set 1 if you live outside of Minnesota. I am sure there are some bright kids in your class that could use the enrichment!

Here's a breakdown of the skills covered:

So, there you go - two for the price of one! Get them here!

Thanks for stopping by,

-Interventionista

A Word Problem A Day

Ahh word problems...

You know your kiddos need to be able to tackle them. They'll pop up in daily work and state tests and... daily life...

Doesn't it seem like the kids who get them just get them and the kids who don't are doomed to struggle with them for the rest of their lives? Well, it doesn't have to be that way. Here's a way to make word problems a part of your daily math routine and not so scary.

Each set includes 20 individual word problems that can be used as a warm up, math center, early finisher activity, or a short daily homework. You can keep them as individual sheets (3 come on a page to conserve paper). Or you could copy them into little booklets and let students work through them page by page. They're pretty versatile.

So far I've made two sets,

• Basic Addition and Subtraction - which uses 2-3 numbers with digits up to 30
• Place Value up to 6 digits

Even as a 3rd grade teacher I use the Basic Addition and Subtraction set to introduce word problems using C.U.B.E.S. as a process. It's always nice to teach a new procedure using simpler math, so that when the math gets trickier the kids already know the process.

I'm hoping to work on larger addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, and all kinds of other math topics in the near future, so stay tuned! -Interventionista

Tile Activities

I've been working on quite a few Tile Activities for math operations.

These are seriously fun! You can find them all at my store HERE.

I just made these this summer, and I can't wait to use them this school year!

Each set comes with 7 different mini-centers to use as an independent guided math activity. Students do the computations in their notebooks, then place the number tiles in the corresponding boxes.

Ready for the cool part?

If all of the problems are done correctly, the activity is self-checking! There are exactly enough tiles for all blank spaces to be filled in. If at some point a number is needed that isn't available, students will know they need to check their work.

At this time I have made Tile Activities for:

Multi-Digit Addition
Multi-Digit Subtraction
Multiplication Facts
Multi-Digit Multiplication
Division Facts

Oh, and I've even put together some BUNDLES to save you money. I have bundled my Addition and Subtraction Tiles and my Multiplication and Division Tiles. Check them out!

Or... Check out this FREEBIE which comes with one mini-center.

Get to Know You Scoot

Here's a fun one!

I think it's so important to let kids know that my classroom is unlike any other. I want my kids to WANT to be in my room, and that starts right away. That's why Get To Know You Scoot is always in my first week plans. Click HERE to get it!

I made this activity for the beginning of the year. It's a perfect activity for letting your kids get to know each other while getting up and MOOOVING around the room.

There are cards to place around the room. Students will not go to the cards in order. Instead they find a NEW partner each time. With 16 cards you can have up to 32 students participating at a time. Each card asks them to find something they have in common...

• foods they both like
• a subject in school they both enjoy
• something they are both nervous about this school year

It comes with a recording sheet so you can learn about what they have in common too!

It's also a great activity for practicing quieting down right away in response to whatever signal you'll be using throughout the year. For activities like this I use my bell. If I'm not getting their attention to give new directions I use my handy dandy bell because it lets students know to go on to a new card quickly without stopping the buzz in the room. I introduce the expectations of the bell and "movement" activities (including noise level) and have students practice with Get To Know You Scoot. If I need to, I'll bring them back to the carpet to revisit expectations before continuing.

Thanks for stopping by!
-Interventionista

Main Idea Brown Bags

Hello!

Do your kids struggle with main idea? Argh!!! I've found that it's always a challenge to come up with new ideas to help kids REALLY get it. This is one of the activities I use early on after my initial introduction of main idea. It's called...

Main Idea Brown Bags

Click HERE to get it!

There are 5 separate centers for this activity. Each one comes on a sheet of paper that you cut out and put into a brown bag. Print on cards stock and laminate if you want to be able to use it over and over. I always tend toward putting in the time up front because I KNOW it will save me time later on when I can just pull out my activities and go... only prep once!

Each center has one topic and 3 sentences. Students use what they know about the topic and the sentences to come up with the main idea. The centers get progressively more difficult from one to five. Here's bag one:

So students would assemble the puzzle and notice the topic is school. The sentences all tell about having fun in some way, shape or form. So they could conclude that the main idea of this paragraph would be... School is fun!

There is even a recording sheet of you wish to have students hand this in as an assessment.

Honestly, I have my kiddos write MOST of their work in their notebooks unless I'm looking to assess or use this to check their understanding. However, I do this activity in groups and walk around to monitor, so I find I get a pretty good feel for who has it and who doesn't without having them turn the work in.

What do you think? Do you have any tried and true main idea activities? Comment below!

-Interventionista

Here We Go!

Hello! This is my first EVER blog post on my new blog. I wanted to use this opportunity to ease into the blogging world by explaining a little bit about what I hope to accomplish by doing this.

Three years ago I threw some things on Teachers Pay Teachers and I made a few bucks (okay, more than a few, but you get the idea). They were products I made a while back that I used in my classroom - mostly as an intervention teacher. That's where the name Interventionista came from. When I landed my dream job of teaching 3rd grade, I really didn't post very many new products. (You can read about my journey to becoming a 3rd grade classroom teacher in my about me section if you want to.) I was learning how to be a classroom teacher and, frankly, I didn't have time. However, the thought and desire to get my products out into the world has always been there.

It's been two years now and I feel I have a pretty good handle on what I'm doing - most days. There are really two reasons why I want to become a legitimate seller on TPT.

One, I am not happy with my school-given curriculum. I find myself buying resources on TPT or creating my own all the time. I want to be standards-based, and with that comes the need to match resources to standards, not just following a curriculum guide. I figure that if I'm having this frustration with my curriculum, others probably are as well and I'd like to help you out in any way I can.

Two, my husband and I have a goal to live debt-free. By the grace of God we were able to pay off my husband's student loans, but a house and a baby later, we're still working on mine and they are driving me CRAZY! I want those suckers gone!

So, there you are! I guess it's my frustration and my craziness that are driving me to this point. I'm not exactly sure what to expect, but I'd appreciate some company along the way! Follow me to see where this road takes us. Here we go!