Guest Blog Post from our friends over at ClassroomFreebiesToo.com! Hope you enjoy.

A cute way to keep your items for staff meetings organized!

Want a FREE Staff Meetings Binder Cover?



Head over to Organized Classroom to grab yours for free!

~ Charity




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Guest Blog Post from our friends over at ClassroomFreebiesToo.com! Hope you enjoy.

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Guest Blog Post from our friends over at ClassroomFreebiesToo.com! Hope you enjoy.



True story:   I was tired of repeating directions and instructions over and over and over again in the classroom.  I was also frustrated with the noise level – and how when I really need to get my students’ attention, I had defaulted to trying to talk over them in order to be heard.  I also knew a few students were good listeners and I wondered how I could get the rest of the class on that route.

I knew there had to be something out there that would help me to teach my students how to be active listeners {before I lost my marbles} – but when I did Internet searches, most came back for ESL listening activities.

Hmmmmmm…my students weren’t ESL students.  In fact, their English was definitely front and center.  Especially during the school-wide assembly, when I wanted to crawl in a hole and hide until it was over.  lol.

Stop by Organized Classroom and sign up for a FREE on-demand workshop, which also includes a printable certificate of attendance to be used for continuing education credits!

See you there!

~Charity




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Guest Blog Post from our friends over at ClassroomFreebiesToo.com! Hope you enjoy.

Download this quick list of 25 strategies you can implement in your teacher workday right now to save you time!

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Guest Blog Post from our friends over at ClassroomFreebiesToo.com! Hope you enjoy.


To complete the weight logic puzzles, students use the sum of the symbols shown on the scale to determine the value of each symbol. For many students, this task seems simple. You guess and check the values until you find a combination that works. But that level of thinking is just the beginning. The real critical thinking comes in when students use strategies, other than guess and check, to determine the value of each fruit. 

For example, on puzzle #5 (to the top right), if students recognize that the watermelon and two strawberries on the left side are included in the two pieces of watermelon and two strawberries on the right side, they can subtract the 10 on the left from the 12 on the right to see that the leftover watermelon slice has a value of 2. Once they know that, they can determine the value of the strawberry. How's that for fostering algebraic thinking in elementary school!

For puzzle #6 (to the bottom right), students recognize that there are three watermelon slices on the right whose total value must be a multiple of three. The only multiple of three that is less than five is 3. If students subtract 3 from 5, then you discover the value of the bunch of grapes is 2 and the value of the lemon slices is 1. Students can then double-check their values using the left side to see if their solution works. 

How awesome would our students be if they could articulate that level of thinking? It will take time for students to arrive at these solutions, but once they've mastered guess and check, encourage them to look for other ways to solve the problem. Be sure to have students share their solution strategies with other classmates as well. 


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Guest Blog Post from our friends over at ClassroomFreebiesToo.com! Hope you enjoy.

Recognizing patterns is a very important life skill that is foundational for things like reading, writing, spelling, math, problem-solving, and so many more. 

Introducing patterns at a young age will help children with these more difficult tasks in the future.  Using simple shapes and colors are the easiest way to introduce patterns.  You can do this in a concrete way by using beads, buttons, fabric or even just pieces of paper. 

An AB patterns is the simplest pattern to create for kids to be able to understand the way patterns are formed. Simply put, an AB pattern is a pattern with 2 different objects (color, shape, etc) that repeats.  For ease of understanding it is best to isolate the difficulty by only changing ONE thing. For example, using a series of circles to create this pattern, the shape would stay the same but the color would change.  

Today's FREEBIE is a way to take that concrete pattern making into the abstract and allowing the child to create their own patterns. 

To download, simply click the image below. 



How do you introduce patterns to your child? Let me know in the comments below. I'd love to add them to our list. 

Until next time, see you over at sherilbrasher.info.




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Guest Blog Post from our friends over at ClassroomFreebiesToo.com! Hope you enjoy.


Managing student engagement and behaviors at the end of the school year can be a challenge for even our most experienced teachers. However, fourteen years of teaching has taught me that engagement is the key! The more engaged students are in tasks that are both developmentally appropriate and challenging, the less off-task behavior they will display. 

One way to increase the level of engagement in your classroom is through problem solving challenges-- specifically, non-routine problems. These are my favorite type of problems to use in the classroom; however, they do require more time to allow the students to understand, analyze, and solve. Non-routine problems are ones that cannot be solved by simply adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing to find the answer. They require students to develop and execute a plan of action and can often have more than one solution.

• How can you decide if an answer is reasonable or not? What would be an example of an answer that is too high? Too low?
• What’s the most effective strategy? Why?
• What’s the most efficient strategy? Why?
• What if a group thought about it this way ________________________ (provide an erroneous solution strategy)? How could you help them get on the right path?

via Classroom Freebies Too http://bit.ly/2pfZGyG

Guest Blog Post from our friends over at ClassroomFreebies.com! Hope you enjoy.

A cute way to keep your items for staff meetings organized!

Want a FREE Staff Meetings Binder Cover?



Head over to Organized Classroom to grab yours for free!

~ Charity




via Classroom Freebies http://bit.ly/2oUfFGm

Guest Blog Post from our friends over at ClassroomFreebiesToo.com! Hope you enjoy.

As you are walking through the hallway at school, do you ever see the group of students that is goofing off, being entirely too loud, and is either stretched out the length of a football field or is so bunched up they are literally pushing one another?   Maybe that group of students belongs to you?

This 20-min presentation will give you ideas for lining up, management suggestions, and 10 activities while walking quietly. It includes a free Cheat Sheet!

If you would like a couple more ideas for hallway transitions, make sure to get registered for our FREE Workshop:  Helpful Hallway Transition Tips!



Head over to Organized Classroom to grab your free cheat sheet and watch the video!

~ Charity




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Guest Blog Post from our friends over at ClassroomFreebies.com! Hope you enjoy.

 My students struggle with distributive property.  I created a set of six entry/exit tickets to assess at the beginning and the end of each lesson.  I can differentiate and use the gradual release model with students as they are able to complete the problems independently.

As with all the math materials I create at Artistry of Education, I have included an answer key.  Please visit this post to download Equivalent Expressions Exit Tickets.





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