Anxiety and Depression: My First Stake Conference Talk

Recently, I was asked to give a talk at our stake conference. Stake conference is when several groups (we call "wards") get together and we have a big meeting where several people speak. I never thought that I would get asked to speak. I was asked to speak on a topic that I received an impression on. My struggle with anxiety and depression kept coming to mind, so I focused on that. A friend of me also sent a link to a blog post entitled Drowning is Quiet by Sincerely Kate that helped me shape the focus of the talk that I gave. I thought I would share my talk below and talk about the aftermath.

When I was much younger, my mom signed me up for swim lessons just as many parents do for their children. During one such lesson, the substitute teacher had me doing laps in the deeper end of the pool. I was the only kid from my class there that day, so I had plenty of space. I began swimming along. I believed enough time had passed for me to have made it to the wall, so I reached for the wall. To my surprise, my hand fell through the air and I went under. I attempted to tread water like we had been taught, but it was a struggle. I went under the water several times while I tried to get to safety. I struggled for what felt like ages when I finally made it to a spot where I could grab on. The instructor finally noticed something was amiss and came over. I told him what had happened and he became frustrated with me. He asked me why I didn’t save myself. I told him I had tried. I had tried shouting for help, but he hadn’t heard me. Nobody had heard me.

Drowning is quiet. It can happen to anyone. But there is another type of drowning that can affect us or our loved ones. According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness, one in five adults will battle mental illness in a given year. Whether it’s now or in the future, chances are many of us will come face to face with mental illness, through our personal experience or through a close loved one.
This kind of drowning is also quiet. It is hard to spot. For many, it is hard to believe. We may see someone smiling, saying everything is fine, and think nothing of it.

Picture Source

In some aspects, they may be fine; however, they may be fighting to keep their head above water. He or she may be too busy fighting, trying to keep going, to stop and ask for help.
Others may be completely upfront about it.

For many years, I have lived with anxiety and depression. I usually keep it to myself and bottle it away. I’ve heard people say things like “you’re fine”, “I don’t feel that way, so neither should you”, “you just want attention”, or one of the more hurtful, “if you were really doing what you’re supposed to, you wouldn’t feel that way.” So I stopped talking about it. I stopped looking for help. I thought of it as just a “me” problem that had to be dealt with quietly.

I’ve come to learn this is the wrong way to deal with anxiety and depression. I still bottle up my anxiety and depression, but thanks to my husband, a professional counselor, and a couple close friends, I’ve started learning to stop staying quiet. To look for help when it comes. To seek help from others. To seek comfort from our Heavenly Father, especially at the worst of times.
One of the worst lies we tell ourselves, that I am guilty of, is that Heavenly Father doesn’t care about us. However, we know we are children of our Heavenly Father and He loves us, imperfections and all.

In Alma 7: 11-12 we read,
11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

The Savior has experienced pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind. This includes mental illness. This includes physical illness. We all have someone in our corner who has felt what we’ve felt. Who understands how horrible and isolating it can feel. We are never truly alone.

A writer for LDSLivng wrote, “ It's so comforting to learn that many can receive healing from their mental illnesses or disorders through the Lord's tender mercies. But, there are also many who bear these burdens their entire life. It is also important to note that, regardless of your pain and challenges, your Heavenly Father loves you with an infinite love and depression has no bearing on your worthiness. His love and the Savior's Atonement can bring peace and lessen the burdens of your troubles. They can provide a deeper spiritual healing that will bring you the strength needed to endure your trials.”

"...Regardless of your pain and challenges, your Heavenly Father loves you with an infinite love and depression has no bearing on your worthiness. His love and the Savior's Atonement can bring peace and lessen the burdens of your troubles. They can provide a deeper spiritual healing that will bring you the strength needed to endure your trials."

So where do we go from here?

For those of you who suffer from depression, anxiety, or any other feelings of drowning, I ask that you do your best to make a sound. Talk. Say something. Speak up because it isn’t always easy to see. I speak from experience that it is way easier said than done and it’s not the natural first response, but I can also say that there is nothing wrong with letting people who love you, help you and I promise you there are people that love you no matter what you believe.

For everyone, be alert. Keep your ears, eyes, and heart open. Be a friend. Listen to those impressions/thoughts, etc that you may have to reach out. Empathy can go a lot farther than harsh words.

In Mosiah 18: 8-9 we read:
8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life

We have been asked to bear one another’s burdens. To comfort each other. To mourn with each other. Sometimes even just being there can be an aide. We have been taught to love one another.

To that end, I pose this question: “If we saw someone who is drowning, wouldn’t we do anything we could to help rescue that person? Pulling a victim from the water saves a body; assisting an individual to overcome mental or emotional obstacles helps save a soul.”

After this talk, several people shared similar feelings with me. If you find yourself struggling with anxiety, depression, or any other mental illness, know that you are not alone.

After the end of the conference, one lady shared with me that she received the impression that I should write about what others could do to help those dealing with these kinds of things. I gave it some thought and decided that I would follow through. For the next few weeks, I have a series planned to go into this. I must add that I am not a professional and I continue to struggle with anxiety and depression on a daily basis; however, I will share what helps me. I hope that others will share their experiences here too. The comments are open for sharing! What are your experiences with mental health? What has helped you in the past?

2018 LDS Primary Planning Pages, Christmas Multiplication and Division , and Reading Challenge Update

Primary Presidency Planner
Life has been a bit of a kick in the pants lately. I was called as primary president about 2 months ago and we are still getting things in order. I think once the program is out of the way, I'll be able to rest a bit easier.

I've been on the hunt for a primary planning binder for my presidency and me to use, but I haven't found any that I particularly love. There are some super cute ones on Etsy, but they just don't seem like ones I'd really use. So, I've taken bits and pieces from free planners that I liked and have been working on building my own.

I want to be sure that we keep the scripture for the month in mind, so I made sure to include it a few times throughout the pages.

I found a pretty similar idea here at Little LDS Ideas and modified it a bit so that it is more my style.

I also have a basic notes page with spaces to track presidency goals, important dates, and other things that you may want to keep track of.

This is still a work in progress. I am hoping to have it ready for our kick off in January. I'm pretty excited to use it.

What are some of your favorite ways to stay organized as a presidency? If you are interested in having the binder pages, email me at ashtonsmith026@gmail.com and I'll happily send what I've got!

A TPT Christmas

I've been getting a lot of great feedback from teachers that have purchased my mystery picture activities. Seeing the feedback is pretty encouraging and I'm glad to be providing something that is useful to teachers that students enjoy.

When I've taught in the past, I always had a handful of students that struggled with mastering their multiplication and division facts. The only way I could get them to learn them was to have some sort of practice every day in a variety of ways. For the holidays, I have put together a pack of Christmas sheets for multiplication and division practice, plus two sheets that combine both multiplication and division.

What are other ways you incorporate multiplication and division into your classroom?

2017 Reading Challenge: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
I really wish I liked this book more. I've seen Fangirl recommended on a bunch of Pinterest boards and finally gave in to picking it. Full disclosure, I listened to the audiobook since I haven't been able to hit the library. Also, I'm not going to hide any spoilers so if you continue, you've been warned.

What I liked:
I liked the overall premise of the book. Cath is a fanfiction writer about to start college. She is introverted and deals with anxiety. The story is about her navigating college, family, and friends. I've been reading a lot of dystopian fantasy lately, so this was a nice change.

The characters and their relationships were interesting for the most part. Cath and Wren's complicated relationship kept me hoping that they would patch things up. Reagan's and Levi's interactions with Cath were also fun to read. Both are nice to Cath and help her to open up more. Cath's and Wren's relationship with their father was also a draw for me.

The scenes with the fiction professor were also enjoyable. I like that she didn't just favor Cath, but made her work for her grades. I also appreciated that she gives Cath a second chance with the final project when Cath doesn't turn it in during finals week.

What I hated:
I absolutely hated the descriptions of Levi and Nick. Nick sounded like he needed a good pluck job on his eyebrows. Levi's description made me think of this:

but with a badly receding hairline. Whenever their looks were brought up, I wasn't convinced that Cath liked either of them.

Simon Snow was dumb and did nothing for the plot. The sections of fan fiction that we got were pointless. Also, if it was supposed to be the book version of Harry Potter, why does Harry Potter exist in that universe too? Makes no sense.

This book had absolutely no plot. It was just Cath being thrown into situations and having her react to those situations.

This book doesn't really show what it means to be part of a fandom. It was just Cath and her fans. The book doesn't show the community behind it. I had trouble believing the series was as big as the book made it seem. All we see is Cath.

I also couldn't stand Cath's character development. She is a bit winy at different parts of the book and she was too stuck on fanfiction. Seriously, if your professor gives you a second chance on a project, you take it. Who would be like, no way I am meant to write fanfiction and I do it better than the actual author, anyway? You can't make money off fan fiction. You can't have a real career out of fanfiction.

In the end, this book deserved 2 1/2 stars from me.

2018 Reading Challenge
In the next several weeks, I'll be posting a 2018 Reading Challenge and an overall review of the books I've read this past year. Keep an eye out!

Choices and Consequences, Holiday Adding and Subtracting within 10, and books!

Primary: 5th Sunday Edition
Being the 5th Sunday, and our first 5th Sunday in Primary, my counselor and I decided that we would play a game that my mom has used many a time. I'm not sure where she got it from (knowing my mom, she came up with it), so if you know where please share below!

I forgot to take pictures of the board that I had made, so here is the picture of the one my mom made. For the board I made, I made 5 pockets so that we could store the choice cards.

The choice cards are just CTR shields with the choices on the back. Some choices:
1. You stole money from a friend and bought candy.
2. Your mom asked you to help her and you helped her right away.
3. Your brother was being a pest so you pushed him.
4. Your friends wanted to play on Sunday, but you didn't and told them that you can play with them a different day.

The game rules with an introduction and a conclusion. We also gave out stickers for good choices and then candy at the end in honor of Halloween.

In order to make the game a bit more engaging, we added options for doing the consequences with a friend/sibling or with your whole class. Some consequences were pages from the Friend and LDS coloring book. Others were things like do jumping jacks until the quote is ended or putting together a puzzle of a church figure (like Captain Moroni).

Overall, it seemed to be a success! We had investigator kids and they told the missionaries that they want to come back next week (win).

Here are a few of the pages that I printed out for the challenges.

What are some of your favorite 5th Sunday activities?

TPT
What's one of my posts without a section about Teachers Pay Teachers?

I am heading to Chicago with Baby A this coming weekend, so I wanted to make sure I got a few things up before leaving (in case I decide to slack). All three of them are adding and subtracting within 10. I'll just share one at a time so I can spread the love.

I tried making these Thanksgiving-themed puzzles and it was hard! I use Photoshop Elements to make most of the images that I use. Overall, I think I did a fairly decent job. I am pretty excited about them 😀

Multiplication and division are up next on the docket, get ready. It is crazy to think how fast this year has gone by. Find Adding and Subtraction within 10 here. 

"Caraval" by Stephanie Garber: 2017 Reading Challenge

From Goodreads: Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless, she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

What I Liked:

The idea of Caraval is great! It has sisterly love, romance, magic, and a mysterious game. One sister has to run after the other and win the game before time runs out. The leader of the game could have been a great villain or her father could have been great to string along through more of the story as another villain. I also liked that even though I disliked the author's writing style, characterizations, etc, I still wanted to know how it ended...mainly to know if my predictions were right.

What I Disliked:

The biggest irritation was the author's use of weird descriptions. In the story, the main character sees feelings as colors. For example, she used the term "periwinkle of curiosity." It would have been alright if it was important to the story, but it isn't. It was just odd. 

Another thing that bugged me was that the characters didn't really progress or change outside of a smidgeon at the end. Also, Scarlett claims to be searching for her sister; however, she spends a lot of time worrying about Julian and Dante. She really needed to sort out her priorities. 

In this mysterious and mystifying game, we're also supposed to believe that Scarlett has minimum interactions with the other competitors. She has almost no competition from the beginning! If this was realistic, everyone would be concocting plans and attempt to either take her down or bring her into some sort of alliance. 

The ending was just sort of an exposition dump without any explanation for the magic outside of (basically) I don't know, it just works that way. Are you kidding me?? I mean, I'm all for suspension of belief for a while, but that's too much even for me. 

Will I read the book coming out next year? Probably! I am curious where she will go with the sister's POV and if it'll be better than the first. 

What are your thoughts on the book?

I can go to the temple for my ancestors when I am older and Halloween Math

Primary
The past few weeks have been a jam-packed, busy storm of activity. I've been recalled as primary president, so I've been trying to get things in place and settled. This week's lesson is on attending the temple for our ancestors when we turn 12.

(from Melonheadz)

I printed out this picture and turned it into a puzzle. To start the lesson, the primary children will hunt down the missing pieces and build it on the board.

Next, we're going to go over some vocabulary. I pulled these terms from the Friend and turned them into posters. I feel it's a good idea to go over these words with the kids on a frequent basis (when it ties in) in order to help them learn. I'm planning on asking if they have heard the terms before, where they have heard them, and to explain them to me before revealing the posters. 

After, I'll have the kids look under their chairs for the different ordinances that can be done in the temple. We'll put them up on the board by the ordinances poster. 

I'll bring up how we can go to the temple and get these ordinances when we are older and baptism when we turn 8.

Then, I'll tell a story about a relative passing away before receiving the ordinances and ask what can be done for them. Hopefully, we'll get to the point where they know that their ancestors can still receive the ordinances, but we have to do them for them. 

We'll continue on and go over how we can prepare now to go to the temple for our ancestors. 

I am giving out laughy taffy at the end with a card that says "I can 'chews' to prepare to go to the temple for my ancestors." I haven't decided if we will do the suggested coloring activity yet or not. 

While doing research for this lesson, I really liked the suggestions from Life's Journey to Perfection. There are also some good ideas on Sugar Doodle as well. 

Organization

I haven't been able to find binder covers and organizers that I like online so I may develop ones that work for me. Here's the cover that I have been working on:

I slightly modified one design that I saw online to make this one, but I'm not sure if this will be the final design. 

Teachers Pay Teachers

I am surprised how much TPT took off this month so far. I am glad others are finding the things I develop are helpful in the classroom. 

The adding and subtracting decimals worksheet will probably be the final Halloween-themed item that I put together this year.  I am preparing to move on to Thanksgiving in the next few days! You can find the product here.

I can't believe that it has been about a year since I began Teachers Pay Teachers. I have done much better than I thought, gotten better at developing products, and learned a ton. It will be exciting to see what the next year brings.

Tips for TPT:

1. Make sure you have something for holidays. 

I missed out on a lot of sales the first 6+ months because I didn't have holiday items. If you are starting a TPT account, definitely start making things for the next holiday coming up first. 

2. Pinterest helps A LOT

I never thought much about how Pinterest could help with advertising products, but it helps drive a lot of traffic to the store. 

I debated a lot about getting one of those services that pin for you, because the higher your activity on Pinterest, the more your pins pop up for people. It took a web seminary from Create and Go to make the final decision. They said that they do not use a service because they studied it and you get more exposure when you pin things yourself. 

3. If it's not fun, take a break or change

It's important to keep this fun in the long run. If you aren't having any fun making products, you probably won't keep with it very long. Take a break or try something new if you are feeling overwhelmed or anxious by it. Stop looking at other people's products and success, because that will get you down too. Success will come for you. I'm starting to have success, so it is DEFINITELY possible!

Reading

With everything going on, it is hard to find time to sit down and read for long spaces of time. I am now switching between The Way of Kings and Caravel. I'm not sure when I'll finish, but when I do I'll report. I am excited to give my reviews of the books!

Halloween Multi-Digit Multiplication and Division and More on Terrific Tuesday

Teachers Pay Teachers
I've been trying to crank out more mystery pictures for Halloween. It is really encouraging to see the feedback from other teachers that say how the pictures were helpful and that their students liked them.

I just finished a set of multi-digit multiplication and division worksheets for the upcoming holiday. These are great for centers, individual practice, and more. Each worksheet also has an answer key to help when it comes time to correct the worksheets.

The larger the math problem, the trickier it gets to make the worksheets. I need to figure out an easier way to have the worksheets cover more difficult concepts. 

They are pretty fun to make! After I put the worksheet together, I duplicate the slide so that I can color the image in Photoshop.

You can find the Halloween Multi-Digit Multiplication and Division Mystery Pictures packet on Teachers Pay Teachers.

I am split on what to create next. I've been thinking about translating the worksheets into Spanish for dual-immersion classrooms or Spanish classrooms to use. I've also considered doing Halloween sight words and decimals too. If you have an opinion, comment below!

Currently Reading
It's been a while since I have shared what I am reading and here's why:

This book weighs in at just over 1,000 pages. I haven't read a book this long before and it is smaller print than I am used to. From Goodreads:

"Speak again the ancient oaths,
Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.
And return to men the Shards they once bore.
The Knights Radiant must stand again.

Roshar is a world of stone swept by tempests that shape ecology and civilization. Animals and plants retract; cities are built in shelter. In centuries since ten orders of Knights fell, their Shardblade swords and Shardplate armor still transform men into near-invincible warriors. Wars are fought for them, and won by them."

This isn't my first Brandon Sanderson, which is good because I think I would have abandoned this story or not even tried. My current thoughts:
-The characters are interesting so far. Kaladin and Shallan are interesting.
-The style is pretty similar to the first few Mistborn books
-I don't know if I can finish 1,000 pages

Before you read this book, read some others by Brandon Sanderson so you can keep the faith that this book will be good. Book 3 is coming out next month so it would be nice to be done with the first 2 books by then; however, life is crazy and I am easily distracted. haha. We will have to see.

LDS General Conference
We had General Conference September 30th and October 1st. The church leaders speak to all of us on various topics that they want us to hear. You can find them here.

In order to re-listen and try to learn from them (because I am horrible at remembering to set aside time for Gospel study), I have been downloading different audio files of the talks onto my cell phone and then playing them when we go for morning walks. 

This is one of my favorite talks from Conference. You can also find it here.

Being a Mom Update
Naptimes have been rough. Baby A is 1 1/2 years old. She sleeps great at night, but right now naptime is a pain. We are trying to figure out a new naptime because she would only sleep in the morning and then be super crabby by dinner or she would just be on a sleep strike. Any tips out there? Please share below!

Catch up Sunday: Read-alouds and October General Conference 2017

A few favorite read-alouds
There are so many great books out there that it is always nice to hear about ones that were really popular with students.

"For centuries, the evil Shadow Lord has been plotting to invade Deltora and enslave its people. All that stands in his way is the magic Belt of Deltora with its seven gems of great and mysterious power. Now, Leif, Barda, and Jasmine must unite to find the seven gems and save Deltora from an eternity of darkness." -Goodreads

This series is one of the few that my anti-reader little brother actually enjoyed reading and that my mom didn't have to pay him to read. I had originally found this series at a Scholastic Book Fair when I was in elementary school. It was my mom's idea to read these to my 4th-grade class. 

It took maybe 3 chapters (definitely by the end of the prologue) for my class to be hooked. They really enjoyed solving the puzzles in the books too. The books are engaging and adventurous, with some mystery thrown into the mix. 

The downfall of this series is that there is a cartoon of it out online. 

We were reading the 4th book when several kids came in and said they didn't want to read the books anymore because they watched the entire series online and knew what was going to happen. The district I was in was super strict about what was shown in the classroom, so there wasn't the option of comparing and contrasting the two.

"Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.

Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.
Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it’s up to Ivan to make it a change for the better." -Goodreads

One of my 4th graders wanted me to read this book really badly before she moved. I was surprised how much I liked it. Usually, I like to read the book before I read it out loud; however, I figured since it was a Newberry Award winner I would be okay. I would be wary of reading this book only because there were a few moments that were intense, but impactful. I would avoid this one if the group is K-2. We did have some interesting discussions about what we read.  This book is definitely a good addition to any upper-grade classroom. 

Andrew Clements is a pretty popular author with elementary teachers. I've already talked a bit about Frindle here. The Last Holiday Concert was another that my students really enjoyed. 

"For Hart Evans, being the most popular kid in sixth grade has its advantages. Kids look up to him, and all the teachers let him get away with anything -- all the teachers except the chorus director, Mr. Meinert. When Hart's errant rubber band hits Mr. Meinert on the neck during chorus practice, it's the last straw for the chorus director, who's just learned he's about to lose his job due to budget cuts. So he tells the class they can produce the big holiday concert on their own. Or not. It's all up to them. And who gets elected to run the show? The popular Mr. Hart Evans. 
Hart soon discovers there's a big difference between popularity and leadership, and to his surprise, discovers something else as well -- it's really important to him that this be the best holiday concert ever, and even more important, that it not be the last." -Goodreads

 What I like most about Andrew Clements' work is that the kids involved in the story and the adults all learn lessons from each other. This particular concert was also great to get the students in the holiday spirit in December.

  "Phillip is excited when the Germans invade the small island of Curaçao. War has always been a game to him, and he’s eager to glimpse it firsthand–until the freighter he and his mother are traveling to the United States on is torpedoed.

   When Phillip comes to, he is on a small raft in the middle of the sea. Besides Stew Cat, his only companion is an old West Indian, Timothy. Phillip remembers his mother’s warning about black people: 'They are different, and they live differently.'"  -Goodreads

This book was a lot of fun with my 5th graders; however, our 5th grade had a copy of the audiobook, so I used that for this book. Either way, this book is engaging and had my students begging for more. It was fun to do an audiobook since it was something different. The great thing about this book, besides the lessons it teaches, is that there are many resources available for classroom use to extend the story beyond the pages. 

LDS General Conference 2017

As a presidency, we decided to build a packet of activities for the primary aged kids to use during conference this October. There are numerous options for activity packets, so I just took a few things from the activities I liked the best. 

Who doesn't enjoy coloring? You can find these coloring pages free here!

Life's Journey To Perfection has several conference activities, two great ones are here and here. 

I really liked this last one that has A-Z activities for kids to do. This would be great for senior primary aged kids or to do together with junior primary kids. Find it here. 

How will keeping a personal journal bless me and my family? Come Follow Me August Lesson

For tomorrow, I've been asked to sub in the youth Sunday School class. I figured since this is mainly a teaching blog and since I couldn't find the bookmark that I wanted, I would post it here for others to use as well!

I don't really have much experience with Dropbox, but here is the link to the file in Dropbox. If that doesn't work, save the images and print from there.

The main lesson materials can be found here. 

Christmas Vocabulary-Spanish Edition

Meeting Update
The church meeting I went to was pretty good! It was mainly a Broadcast where they talked and answered questions about teaching. It reminded me of this talk by Elder Bednar that was given back in 2007 that one of my college professors had us read.

New Product

I really liked all of the Spanish classes that I took in high school and college. My last year of teaching, I ran the Spanish club for the 4 h program. This inspired my latest bundle for vocabulary practice and this freebie. 

Perfect for upper elementary or secondary education, it contains a word search with an answer key, a crossword with an answer key, Taboo cards, a Flyswatter PowerPoint, and a vocabulary matching game. 

Exercise and Racing

My family is going to Idaho for Thanksgiving and my grandpa's 88th birthday. Instead of the usual football game, we're going to participate in a 5k charity race. I have never been one for running, so this will be a challenge. I didn't do too bad for my first day. Hopefully I can keep it up!

Multiplication and Division Dominoes

Finally finished!
I've been working on a dominoes game that incorporates all of the multiplication and division fact families and I finally posted it last night. To balance out my product availability, I removed a freebie and I'm going to share it here! That way, I don't have too much of the same thing on Teachers Pay Teachers and I can keep a freebie I like available for people to use.

If I goofed up, please leave a comment so that I can fix it. The link is to the dominoes bundle, however, there are separate files for facts 1-4, 5-8, and 9-12. I also have a game up that has a mix of multiplication and division problems. 

More to come....

I wanted to a complete set of multiplication and division dominoes out before I set out on my next project. I'm hoping to get out my Christmas Spanish Vocabulary set out in the next few days. I've done a bit of research and this edition will have more than my Halloween things. 

Meetings

(source)

(source)

I have to go to a meeting. on. a. Saturday. Too many meetings could have just been an email. It's not a school/work meeting either.

What's going on: Addition and Subtraction Task Cards

Teachers Pay Teachers
Within the next few days, I plan on starting a Teachers Pay Teachers store. My first items:

                                    

I've used math task cards for test reviews, with substitutes, for fast finishers, and more. One of my students' favorite ways of using the task cards was to play Musical Task Cards.
Directions:
1) Set out the task cards all over the room. Each student needs a piece of paper and a pencil.
2) Everyone starts out standing by a task card. Once the music starts, students must move around the room until the music stops.
3)  When the music stops, students must find a task card and solve the problem on it before the music starts again.
4)  As soon as you are ready or the majority of students are done, start the music again and have the students start moving even if they haven't finished solving the problem.
5)  Repeat until everyone gets a chance to solve every problem. Review the solutions as a class.

Halloween 
                             

(source)

At church, I work with the girls age 12-18. For our Tuesday night activity (mutual), we started making Halloween themed wreaths to give to girls who haven't been able to come very often. 

                                                               

          (source)                                                                                                                                                 (source)

I'm excited to see how they turn out. Several of the young women (what girls ages 12-18 are called) made extras so they could take one too. Happy to say it was a successful part one!