The Learning Chambers: tricks and treats blog hop

Hi friends! I'm so sorry that I'm so late to the blog hop party. My computer decided to stop working on Thursday night, right in the middle of me working on my blog post. My husband had to completely reimage my computer and it's taken me awhile to get everything together and back in working order. The good news is that my files were backed up and I only lost a few things. Anyways, thanks for being patient and understanding about the tardiness of my post. I hope my post is worth the wait!

October is one of my favorite months! My favorite shows are just starting, pumpkin everything is back, and the weather is just starting to cool off here in Texas....well at least the mornings are cooler!

This month, I'm also sharing some tricks and treats with you guys for The Elementary Entourage's Tricks and Treats blog hop.

I also love the month of October because the students have learned the routines and I can focus more on small group instruction. This year, I'm really working on Math Workshop in my classroom. I want to make sure that I have math stations that help my students practice concepts that I've already taught.

I love printable stations but there is just something about simple easy to prep stations. I love using sentence strip stations because they are easily differentiated. My students can choose to also use 2-digit and 3-digit numbers by building them with the Uno Cards. They play with a partner and one partner draws the first card and then the second partner draws the second card. They record their work in their math workstation journal and I do random quick checks through the week, to make sure they are completing their work.

Now, for a little treat from me! I absolutely hate spiders but the boys in my class are crazy about them. We have been working on locating facts in nonfiction texts and these were perfect for them.

Here is the tarantula informational text as a little treat for you guys! I hope to have all of the spiders available very soon!

Click HERE to grab your treat.

Do you have some tricks and treats to share? Make sure you link up with us...

An InLinkzLink-up

http://mrsplemonskindergarten.blogspot.com/

I'm super excited to be joining Jessica from Mrs. Plemon's Kindergarten for her Tricks and Treats Blog Hop. Isn't her blog hop button just adorable! It makes me super excited for this season and I know my boys are so ready for Halloween! Actually, they would both wear their costume every day if I let them.

Let's start off with a short classroom management TRICK...

I don't have a bathroom in my classroom and it's always been a bit tricky on how to handle who is in the bathroom and who has already gone. My awesome teammate from last year shared this bathroom clipboard trick with me and I've used it ever since. Thanks K!! I just added the clothes pin passes and BOOM a new bathroom management procedure.

I have the bathroom clipboard hanging right by the classroom door and I use this simple sign out sheet. There is a column for the morning and a column for the afternoon. The students sign out before they leave the room and they pin the clothes pin onto their shirt. If the clip isn't on the clipboard, it means someone is already in the bathroom and they will need to wait.

The kids don't have to sign out if we are at lunch or recess, so the morning and afternoon sign out only applies to when we are in the classroom. It is so easy to monitor who is out of the class and the clothes pins are the perfect pass for our class. I just labeled them with a sharpie marker. The front says "boys" or "girls" and the back has my last name and grade level.

I hope this little classroom management TRICK will make your bathroom procedure less frightful!

Now for a little TREAT...

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Place-Value-Pumpkin-Patch-Craftivity-1478239

My kids and I are just finishing our Place Value Unit and we needed more practice with standard form, word form, and expanded form. I came up with this simple craftivity to give my kids some extra practice.

The kids counted the base ten blocks to find their number and then they wrote the word form on the line below. Then they wrote the standard form and expanded form on each of the pumpkins. They LOVED it!

Make sure you click on the product cover at the top to grab this freebie. I hope your kiddos have lots of fun practicing place value. I can't wait till my students see the bulletin board tomorrow!

I have one more TREAT planned for you guys. I have all of my fall products discounted at 50% off through October 5th. I hope it helps you get in the fall spirit.