IT'S ABOUT TIME, TEACHERS, for SNOWY DAYS!

 Across the heartland, we are expecting heavy snow and frigid temperatures. Snowy days are here, so it's the perfect time to immerse your class in snowy activities.

IT'S ABOUT TIME, TEACHERS, for SUDOKU!

 

Teaching your students to play SUDOKU has so much more value than just fun. Working on these puzzles gives your learners experience with problem solving skills, critical thinking abilities, perseveration practice, and improved focus. If you haven't introduced SUDOKU to your class, let me help you.

Use this animated PowerPoint presentation to break the process down into digestible bits.

Get it here:

Once you've given your students the tools to solve the puzzles, give them puzzles!  These are differentiated:

I use SUDOKU for:

• a critical thinking center
• differentiated instruction for enrichment and gifted students
• challenging fast finishers
• an anchor activity
• indoor recess
• a class reward

You may wish to provide "pre-sudoku" practice with Latin Squares.  They give similar practice on 3x3 through 7x7 grids. Here's an example:

IT'S ABOUT TIME, TEACHERS, for COWBOY CURRICULA!

Saddle up for some fun, cowboy themed curricula. I adore teaching with a theme and cowboys are one of my favorite themes. My Wild West collection has something for every primary classroom.

Start with a FREEBIE:

This COWPOKE GLYPH is a fun craftivity that incorporates data collection and writing. 

Extend the data collection learning with a graphing, math center.  COWBOY SPIN-TALLY-GRAPH provides easy differentiation by including 3 levels of difficulty.

TANGRAMS are always fun and these Wild West themed tangrams deliver another math center that is differentiated and engaging.

Work on counting order with these WILD WEST NUMBER PUZZLES.  The puzzles progress from 5 pieces to 8 pieces and are also available digitally on TPT Easel.

COWBOY NUMBER SENSE PUZZLES exercise subitizing as students construct the 4 pieces of the puzzle representing the same number. This math center is also available digitally on TPT Easel.

Continue working on number sense with these WANTED POSTERS.  This open-ended activity requires students to express numbers in a variety of ways.  I love to use this activity weekly, providing spiraled practice that reflects their current learning in the curriculum.

SUDOKU for primary students?? YES!  BUCKAROO SUDOKU puzzles begin with easy, 4x4 grids that are perfect for early learners.  The puzzles progress to 6x6 puzzles before employing the traditional 9x9 arrays.  Hence, this differentiated, critical thinking activity can span all elementary classrooms.  

While you're working on critical thinking, introduce these COWPOKE SQUARE PUZZLERS. These brain teasers are also differentiated, increasing in difficulty from 2x2 puzzles to 4x4 puzzles.  The challenge is to make the images match on each interior side.  This activity also exercises flexibility and perseverance.  

Students capable of addition and/or subtraction within 100 will love these MATH COMPUTATION WITH COWBOY RIDDLES task cards.  The task even extends to basic multiplication.  My classes enjoy doing riddles around the room.  This resource is also provided digitally on TPT Easel.

Incorporate all things western by including ELA resources.

A great way to introduce cowboys to your young learners is with this emergent reader.  Drawing on my training and experience in Reading RecoveryTM, I created this text to explore things a cowboy needs while building on high frequency words, 1-1 correspondence, picture cues, word work, and inflections.  Suggestions and techniques for teaching these skills are included in the product description.

Understanding syllable counts and the rules for dividing words into syllables are crucial to learning to read and write.  As you introduce these skills, incorporate these western themed anchor charts.

Practice syllable counts with SYLLABES ROUNDUP.  This brand new, literacy center, available in print and digitially on TPT Easel, asks students to sort the picture/word cards by the number of syllables they hear (1-3 syllables).

COWPOKE COMPOUND WORDS is a literacy center that challenges learners to match the 2 halves of the covered wagons to make compound words.  The center is self-checking and available digitally on TPT Easel.  Some of the vocabulary may be challenging to young learners so be selective in the cards you place at the center.

You'll roundup a lot of learning with this ALPHABETICAL ORDER literacy center.  You determine how many word/picture cards to have your learners manipulate.  The words can be sorted by 1st - 6th letter, giving you the opportunity to differentiate with ease.

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DOLLAR DEALS SALE on TPT

 It's about time, teachers, for some FUN IN THE SUN!  While you are relaxing in the sunshine, be sure to visit the #funinthesun hashtag sale on TPT.  

A group of great teacher authors are offering dollar deals on hundreds of fabulous products for your classroom.  The sale is just 2 days, 6/30/23 & 7/1/23 so don't fall asleep under the sun.  TIME is of the essence!!

Here are my dollar deals:

PUMPKIN LOGIC PUZZLES

 

Fresh from the farmers' fields, pumpkins are logical symbols of this time of year. Pumpkin logic puzzles are refreshing challenges for your learners. 

Use these PUMPKIN SQUARES to see your students' problem solving skills in action. Also known as Latin Squares, PUMPKIN SQUARES exercise deductive reasoning. A great challenge for gifted and enrichment students, they are differentiated, and thus, every elementary student can enjoy success.

The task is to place the pumpkins in the squares so that no color is repeated in any row or column. Students can find multiple solutions to each puzzle, which extends the challenge. The 4x4 puzzle has 576 possible solutions! Pumpkin Squares are the logical prelude to Sudoku.

Create a critical thinking center with PUMPKIN SQUARES or use them to challenge fast finishers. They are now available on TPT's Easel platform so you can even apply them to distance learning. However you employ them, your kiddos will love them!

Check out the Latin Squares shop in my TPT store.