My Beginning of the Year Handouts

I have been going through my files from last year. I have been thinking about what I want to keep and what new ideas to add for this year.

I am sharing my ideas and decided to post pictures and links to my files. Feel free to download and use in your classroom.  If you would like to modify any of the files, email me and I will send you the Word files. :o)

I have previously blogged about my Letter to My Students.  It was really important that I use this again this year.  I will have the students put this into their Interactive Math Note Folders as the first page.  Copied on the back of the Letter to My Students is a Graphic Organizer of my Team Roles for the students to reference.  These Team Roles are used every day and are a big part of my Classroom Structure.

Here is the Letter to My Students and the Team Roles Graphic Organizer.

Download Links:
Team Roles Graphic Organizer

I have also decided to use my Problem Solving in Math and Writing in Math IMN Resources again. These were super effective.  These are meant to be copied back to back.

Download Links:
Problem Solving in Math 
Writing about Math

On the first day I have the students complete an All About Me Graphic Organizer and write a Beginning of the Year Letter to Myself. These are meant to be copied back to back.

Download Links:
All About Me Graphic Organizer
Beginning of the Year Letter to Myself

For homework I plan on sending home a goal setting assignment. These will help me understand my students feeling about Math and what their goals for the year are.  These are meant to be copied back to back.

Download Links:
Hands Up to a Successful Year
Year Long Math Goals


*** Update - I am adding a link with a zip file of the fonts I used for those who want to edit the files.
Download Link:  My Font Files


Thanks for stopping by and visiting my blog.  I hope you find my ideas useful. :o)

My Mathematicians "Say" Academic Vocabulary Book

I have blogged previously about my Classroom Structure . Part of that structure is what the students do when they come into the room. When the students come into the classroom I have up the Word of the Day and the Materials Needed for the day.  The Resource Monitor gets the supplies and the rest of the Team Members turn in their homework and write down the Word of the Day while they waited for the bell to ring.

Here is an example:

Last year I had the students write the Word of the Day in a graphic organizer.  They would keep the graphic organizer in the pocket of their IMN Folder.  When they filled it up they would put the graphic organizer into the prongs of their folder.

Here are some of my students Word of the Day Graphic Organizers.

This year I am definitely keeping that part of my classroom structure. I am going to keep doing the Word of the Day and the Graphic Organizer but I made some tweaks to my idea.

I decided to make the graphic organizers into a booklet that the students will keep in the pocket of their IMN Folder.  I am going to have the students use their Academic Vocabulary books in team discussions and in some writing activities and performance tasks.  I think that making their Word of the Day Graphic Organizer into a booklet will make it more accessible for them.

I created a cover for the academic vocabulary book and the graphic organizer pages. I am going to send it to the district printer and have it printed and stapled.

Here is the cover of my new academic vocabulary book idea. Updated: (Version 2)

Here are the pages of my new academic vocabulary book idea.

Feel free to use my new idea in your classroom. :o)

Click the link below to download a copy of my student academic vocabulary book.

8th Grade Math Academic Vocabulary Book  ~  PDF Link
7th Grade Math Academic Vocabulary Book  ~  PDF Link
6th Grade Math Academic Vocabulary Book  ~  PDF Link

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog. :o)

My iPad Number Lock Screens Project #mondaymadeit

I was finally able to finish my project and so I am linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for her Monday Made It Link Up... :o)

I was so busy last year that I never had time to "Pimp-out" my classroom set of iPads.  So one of my goals this summer was to make a set of "Lock Screen" images with each iPad number.


Here is what my iPad Numbers look like on the Student iPads....
Sorry about the lighting in the pictures.

I am so excited because they turned out really good and of course they match my classroom color scheme.   I included a link below to share my iPad Numbers Lock Screens. Feel free to use them. :o)

Here is what my (updated) set of 30 iPad Numbers Lock Screens look like.  :o)

Here is a link to the PDF file with all of the slides.  If you want a smaller file to download, you can download the PDF and then save the PDF as images.
iPad Numbers PDF File

Here is a zip file with all of the images.
iPad Numbers Zip File

If you are feeling creative, email me and I will send you the PowerPoint I used to create these and you can modify and create your own set ... 

*** UPDATE ***

I made wallpapers for the iPad Home Screens on the student iPads to go with the set of Lock Screens.... :o)

Here is what my set of  iPad Home Screens  look like.  :o)

Here is a link to the PDF file with all of the slides.  If you want a smaller file to download, you can download the PDF and then save the PDF as images.

iPad Home Screens PDF File

Here is a zip file with all of the images.

iPad Home Screens Zip File

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog.... :o)