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!

Murder on the Orient Express Review and Thanksgiving Multiplication and Division Mystery Pics

There has been a lot going on lately, which everyone will probably be hearing about in later posts. Baby A and I got back from visiting my parents in Chicago. While we were there, I went with my mom and sister to see the new version of Murder on the Orient Express (my dad babysat).

About six months ago, my mom introduced C and me to Hercule Poirot and Murder on the Orient Express as done by David Suchet. I found it slow but intriguing. I was hooked on the character and the series. When I heard they were remaking the movie, I was ecstatic. The cast was interesting and I enjoyed the first, so why not this one?

My biggest shock was that Hercule Poirot....

is also....

Gilderoy Lockhart.

I didn't actually know until my mom and sister were talking about it afterward. He's aged pretty well!.

I should warn that I did fall asleep for a few minutes during the movie. In defense of the movie, I have not had a good night's sleep in years and it has been worse due to my anxiety with my new church calling. The theater was also switching between super hot and icy cold. I fell asleep during the warm part.

The soundtrack of the movie was well done. I feel like it fit and blended with each scene nicely. It stuck out just enough to add more to the scene, but it wasn't overbearing.

The overall cast performance was great! I should warn that you shouldn't compare this against past versions of the movie. Each edition should be enjoyed separately and on their own merits. It's like trying to compare an apple, an orange, and a banana. All 3 are great fruits, but they aren't truly the same thing and should be enjoyed for what they have.

I really liked the one David Suchet version. He is a phenomenal Poirot and does fit the image I had in my head as I read the book.

I really enjoyed Kenneth Branagh's performance too. I felt like more of Poirot's sense of humor came through. I also liked seeing Poirot's love of food come through. With Suchet's Poirot, you knew about the interest in food, but you didn't always see it. With Branagh's performance, I felt like some of the smaller things about Poirot came through nicely.

In the end, is the movie worth seeing? I'd say yes and I would definitely add this movie to our ever-growing movie collection.

Is it worth seeing in the movie theater? It's hard for me to say for sure. I do enjoy the movie theater experience, but I also like being able to watch from home. It's nice to be able to pause the movie if we need to, eat dinner while we watch, etc.

Does this movie deserve the scores it has been getting? Not at all! This is a very well done movie and worth the watch. People have become desensitized from all of the destruction and sex-laden films. This is a show great for anyone.

What are your thoughts on Murder on the Orient Express? Share them below.

Teachers Pay Teachers: Thanksgiving Edition

I've been developing more math coloring worksheets for my TPT store. I've been getting a lot of great feedback from teachers and the pages seem to be helping, which is wonderful. It's not worth it to make and post these sheets if they don't add to instruction.

Check it out here!

I am excited about my new design for my higher level math sheets. I think it makes it easier to make them and I think they are easier to solve.

What are some of your favorite things to do in class during Thanksgiving? Share below!

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!

A Journey to the New World: A Columbus Day Themed, Project-Based Learning Activity

Project-based learning activities are always fun ways for students to practice material that they are learning in class. The project-based learning activities have students work to accomplish a goal. In honor of Columbus Day, I created a project to go along with the day.

Students can work on their own or in teams to plan out Columbus's first voyage.

 The activity has students buy ships, hire crewmen, and ordering supplies to last for the entire voyage.

The activity also has students working to keep within the approximate budget that Columbus had to work through as well. The worksheets assist students in keeping track of what is spent in each category and the success of the journey depends on them staying within that voyage.

The activity ends with students reflecting on the activity and account for expenditures for the voyage.

I always like to have options to do more with an activity, so I included a few options at the end. The activities range from additional math practice to persuasive writing and more. 

You can check out the activity here.

Math Center Idea: Adding and Subtracting Within 20 and a Contest

Addition and Subtraction Within 20
My mother-in-law asked me to create materials for her to help her students master adding and subtracting within 20. Most likely the largest Teachers Pay Teachers project that I've undertaken, I'm almost finished and I am really excited to share the results.

It's been a long time since I've done task cards, so I decided to share those first. I've loved using task cards in several ways in the past. 

Math Centers

One way to use the task cards is in centers. Unfortunately, I can't find the blog post where I found the center organization method I used (it was called GIFT, I believe); however, there are several other organization methods out there that look fantastic. The key will be to find what works for you and your students. Math centers have been wonderful because they are something different than we normally do in class, they can be more interactive than regular lessons, and they are a great way to review subjects. I also loved using them when I had to get substitutes. The students knew them well enough that they could almost completely fly solo. 

Here are some links for ideas to organize your math centers. 

Sparkling in Second, The First Grade Parade, Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher, and Tara's Teaching Treasures

. 

Test Review

When it comes to test review, it can be hard to keep it interesting for students. This is where task cards come in handy. One of my students' favorite games has been musical task cards. For this game, you scatter the task cards around the room and have students ready with pencils and response sheets. Then have them wander the room as music plays. Once you stop the music, everyone must go to a task card and work on solving it. When the music starts again, they need to go back to moving around and wait until the music stops again. After the given amount of time has passed, have everyone sit down and go over the answers as a class.

Some of the other favorite task card games of my students are: "trashketball," Bazinga, and Scoot. I'll go into those games in a future post. 

Fast Finishers

When students finish work fast, these task cards are great for giving them some extra practice with the topics that you are studying in class. These can also be great for students that need either an extra challenge or just need extra practice. Having the answer keys with each set of cards also helps with management, since students can check their work as they go. 

The different decks can be found here:

Addition Within 20 Task Cards

Subtraction Within 20 Task Cards

Addition and Subtraction Within 20 Task Cards

Each set of task cards also has a printer friendly version! These are great if you want to save on ink.

When using these with your students, I would recommend laminating the cards before you use them (especially if you do musical task cards). Laminating them will help them last and survive the damage that will probably happen during reviews and centers. 

These cards are also CC aligned. They fit with 1.OA.1, 1.OA.6, 2.OA.2, and 2.NBT.5!

What are some of your favorite ways to use task cards in the classroom?

 Blog Contest
In honor of bringing this project to a close (soon I hope), I am holding a contest. The first reader to complete any of the following will win a free packet of worksheets that will be featured in my upcoming bundle for Addition and Subtraction within 20.

1. Answer the question I left at the end of the blog in the comments.

• What are some of your favorite ways to use task cards in the classroom?

2. Complete this survey here.

3. Or both one and two

However, if you are an upper-grade teacher, I will send you a grade-specific freebie instead. 

After I get 5 people to do any of the above tasks, I will post a special freebie to the blog.

Practicing Multiplication and Division Facts: Dominoes Center

Recently, I finished redoing my multiplication and division dominoes bundle on Teachers Pay Teachers. When I was teaching, I was always on the lookout for different ways to help my students master their multiplication and division facts and different ways to engage them during centers. These games meet both of those desires.

There are 3 game sets in each packet. The sets cover facts 1-4, 5-8, and 9-12. This way, students can be practicing the facts that they need to practice.

I ended up printing out all of the dominoes for another mom at my church who home-schools her 4 boys. She was pretty excited to have another tool to help her boys practice their facts.

To help identify which cards belong to which set, I printed them out on different colors of card stock. This is also helpful for fast clean up! I would definitely recommend laminating these guys before using them with your class so that they last longer.

The domino games can be found in my Teachers Pay Teachers store separately and in bundle form.

Multiplication and Division Dominoes Bundle

Multiplication Dominoes Game

Division Dominoes Game

What are some other centers that you enjoy using in your classroom? Share in the comments below!

Have some time? I'd love it if you could complete a survey for me on future topics you would like me to post about here.

More Mystery Pictures: Two by Two Digit Multiplication

I've failed to update this blog over the last several days. C has been in Spokane with work and I've gotten excited about other projects that I've forgotten to work on this and update things. Here are the most recent products that I've made:

 (here)

(here)

I've made products close to this before, and it gets easier the more I make these products. I am selling them on their own and as part of the multi-digit multiplication growing bundle. It was tricky to keep coming up with images to use for the puzzles, but with some internet research, a tutorial, and some experimenting, I can make a larger range of images to use. Maybe I will post a tutorial in the future...

More Reviews and More Mystery Pictures

Adding Two Digit by One Digit Whole Numbers Puzzle 

I liked doing the adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators so much that I decided to create a similar set for adding two digit by one digit whole numbers. Pretty similar, however, I decided to have a few different levels for some of the worksheets. This way, students at different levels can still enjoy completing the picture. 

Fairest: The Lunar Chronicles

So I stayed up late the other night to finish this book in the series. Fairest is just a novella and so far you don't need to read it to understand Winter, but it is definitely an interesting read. Disturbing, but it was interesting to read Levana's background. I did think that I would get some understanding of the character and maybe sympathy, but nope. She is just as vile as they make her seem in the main series. This book isn't too dirty, but the dirtiest of the books so far with a lot of detailed "slut shaming." Overall, interesting for people who like learning about villains' backstories, but otherwise a book worth skipping.  

2017 Reading Challenge, The Lunar Chronicles Review, and Adding Multi-digit Whole Numbers Oh My!

2017 Reading Challenge
I have made some headway into my 2017 Reading Challenge! Previously, I said I would start out on the walking level and then progress throughout the three levels (hopefully) by the end of the year. However, I have yet to stay faithful to a reading challenge because I get way too excited about other books that may or may not fit the guides of the challenge. I've checked off a bestseller and a recommendation through The Lunar Chronicles.

The Lunar Chronicles...so far
I finished Scarlet and Cress in the past week and a half. I am happy to say that I am still hooked and excited to continue reading the series.

The series takes place after a 4th world war. Cinder takes place mainly in Asia, Scarlet is mostly in Europe, and Cress was in Africa, space, and Asia. I found the main story lines engaging, but I did get frustrated when the author switched to other characters because I wanted the main story to keep going without interruption. 

The switches in focus makes sense and each switch is easy to follow, which is pretty hard to do in my opinion. Marissa Meyer does an excellent job with her characterizations and both female and male characters are equally interesting. 

I really appreciate that these books are pretty clean. I don't recall any swearing so far and the dirtiest it has gotten was when they described a ship that has the silhouette of a naked lady on it (no description beyond that). I would recommend these books to higher level middle school students and high school students as well. Definitely worth multiple reads as well. 

Adding Multi-Digit Whole Numbers

(find it here)

I took a break from fractions and completed another set of task cards. Once I built a template, it became easier to edit the product. It's a lot of fun to create these products and I have a lot more in store. I've even started making a few sales! I'm excited to see where this will take me. 

Has anyone else made any headway on their reading challenges?

Three Things Thursday-New Products!

This year, we went to Illinois to visit my parents for Christmas. Since we were on vacation, I took a break from actively keeping up with Teachers Pay Teachers products and blogging. Now that we're back, I have some more products to introduce. 

(store)

 There were times where prepping for guided reading was a real pain. During my first year of teaching, I would be up until 2:00 am several nights in a row trying to get the lessons done for each of my groups. I created this product to save myself and other teachers the headache of working on guided reading plans for The Sign of the Beaver. Just print the packet and you can be on your way. Each chapter has comprehension questions for students to answer, chapter summaries for teacher use, end of book activities, plus more! This product can be used for individual student study, small group instruction, or even whole class instruction.

 (store)

This next product is a continuation of my math task card series. The task cards here are specifically for 4th grade, but can be used as a review for upper grades. There are 28 task cards that have problems that help students practice reading, writing, rounding, and comparing multi-digit numbers. Perfect for fast finishers, centers, or games!

(store)

Finally, I created another Spanish product. This product is based off of the popular card game, Spoons. During play, students are looking for an AR verb, its correct definition, the correct conjugation, as well as a picture that matches the definition of the verb. Great for beginning students or those that just need a review!

Array of the Day Morning Math

I finished putting this product together yesterday and you can find it here. When I was teaching 5th grade, I needed a way to help my students practice their multiplication facts. Another teacher had used this in the past and it worked great. It has students practice with arrays, factors, and prime and composite numbers. 

The Littlest Reader

This happened yesterday. It was story time before bed and she was grabbing for the book. I handed it to her on the page we were on and she held it perfectly. We started her pretty early and now she gets excited at the mention of stories and going to the library. 

Adding Decimals Task Cards and A Sale

I have a new product up in time for the cyber sale on Teachers Pay Teachers. Help your 5th graders practice and review adding decimals with these task cards.

There is a sale going on at Teachers Pay Teachers, so be sure to hit it up!

Thanksgiving
We went up to Idaho for Thanksgiving and my grandpa's birthday. We had a great time! I'd post pictures, but my family may one day see this blog and it will be a nightmare if I post a picture that one of my siblings doesn't like.
At Thanksgiving, we mainly just ate a bunch and then hung out at grandpa's. One of the cousins brought the best yams I've ever had. It tasted like I was eating candy.
My mom set up an activity where the great-grand-kids learned more about grandpa and the time when he was growing up. She even had a snippet from an old radio show called The Shadow. When she has a project, she really throws herself into it and comes up with some pretty cool things.

What's your favorite way to celebrate Thanksgiving?

Adding Within 100-First Grade Task Cards

New Product!
I've developed two more sets of task cards, this time focusing on 1.NBT4&5.  One set focuses on adding within 100 and mental math, while the other is just adding within 100.

                                

You can find them here and here.

Coming Soon!
Teachers Pay Teachers is going to have a site wide sale from the 28th-29th, but I'm starting mine 2 days earlier for the holidays. It will be 20% off of all products in my store!

Thanksgiving
We are heading to Idaho for Thanksgiving this year. What is your favorite part of the holiday?