Happy November!  If you're anything like me, you already have Christmas music (instrumentals only) playing on Pandora in your classroom.  I can't wait for the holiday season!  As Thanksgiving break approaches, I thought it might be a nice time to share some math resources I use to teach and assess 2D and 3D shapes.

Whenever I teach, I like to start with the standard or expectation in mind.  So I will start by sharing the assessment we use. 

Students are asked to identify each of the 2D and 3D shapes.  Then students must draw a triangle, square, rectangle, and circle.  Then they answer some true/false questions pertaining to the shape attributes.  If you'd like to download a PDF of this assessment, click HERE. 


In every lesson I teach, I attempt to teach the content using a variety of approaches.  There are often songs, videos, worksheets, and games involved.  Teaching geometry is no exception.  The rest of this post will consist of some resources I use to help students learn and remember the 2D and 3D shapes on our list!

Video: 

The 3D Shapes Song 

Powerpoints: 

1. 2D and 3D shapes introductory powerpoint
This powerpoint is a tool that can be used to introduce the following 2D and 3D shapes:
square, circle, rectangle, triangle, rhombus, hexagon, sphere, cube, cylinder, and cone.  

You can use it any way you see fit.  When I created it, this is how I intended to use it. 
1. Students get math notebook (or any blank paper).
2. Pull up the slide with the grey part on the bottom covering the words. 
3. Ask if any students know the shape.  If so, encourage them to tell you the shape.  If not, show them the name of it and discuss its attributes.
4. Then have students draw the shape in their notebook and label it. 

Download the 2D and 3D shapes powerpoint here. 

2. Two Dimensional Shapes Attributes True/False 
The powerpoint shows a 2D shape and lists attributes below. Students can come up to the Smartboard and circle T or F if the attribute is true or false. If you just have a projector, they can simply tell you whether the attribute listed is true or false.

Download the 2D Shapes Attribute True/False Powerpoint here.

Posters/Songs: 

This resource was not created by me but I LOVE it and highly recommend it.  There is a song for each shape.  

2D Shapes: 
triangle 
circle 
square 
rectangle 
oval 
star
heart
octagon 
hexagon 
pentagon 
trapezoid
rhombus (diamond)

3D Shapes:
Sphere
Cone
Cube
Cylinder
Rectangular Prism

These songs are sung to the tune of "The Farmer and the Dell."  This resource costs $3.00 on TPT.  In my opinion, it is worth every penny because the kids love singing these songs!  You can find this resource here. 

Worksheets:

Below is a list of links to some of my favorite worksheets for learning/remembering shapes. The best part, they are all free! :) 

1.  My Shape Book {All About 2D Shapes}

2.  Shape Monsters!

3.  3D Shapes Book with Real World Objects

4.  3D Shapes Cut and Paste 

Lastly, my favorite game/activity to do with the students to practice shapes is my 3D Shapes BINGO game.   You can find this resource in my TPT store here. 

I sincerely hope that you found this post helpful or enjoyable to read.  Any of these resources could be helpful for any teacher or parent hoping to teach their children or students 2D and 3D shapes. 

THANK YOU for reading and I hope you have a joyful holiday season. 

It's here! The beginning of a new year.  Recently my team and I got together to plan the first few days of school.  Each year we all come with fun ideas and activities that we'd like to do.  The first day needs to be fun but there is also a LOT of learning to do!

The first thing is getting to know the students.  We like to let them know how special they are and how much fun we are going to have right away!  We usually start with some sort of gift or fun treat.  This year, each student will get a bouncy ball!

Some other fun ideas we've seen are: 

1. A bag of gold fish with a label saying "You're oFISHally a first grader."

2. A bag of Starburst with a label saying "I'm BURSTING with excitement that you're in my class this year!" 

3. A bag of M&M's that say "We're going to have a Marvelous and Magnificent year!"

There are LOTS of cute ideas on Pinterest! Just search "first day of school gifts."  The best part is, most people provide free downloads of the products they have made. :)  You can click here to download the "Have a Ball" label that I made for this year!

I like to kick off the morning each day with a "morning meeting."  All of the students sit in a circle on the carpet and read the question of the day.  You can make the question anything you'd like.  My favorite is, "How are you feeling today?".  For the first day of school, I like to ask each student tell share their name and something about themselves.  Since this can be difficult for students to do in front of all their classmates, they first share with a partner.  I ask the question, they turn to the person next to them, and have a conversation.  After they students have had enough time to share their responses with a partner, we all face the circle to share with the group.  I have a toy microphone that we pass from student to student.  The only person allowed to speak is the person holding the microphone.  I LOVE morning meetings for several reasons, and here they are:

1. It gives students a moment to share as much as they'd like about themselves.

2. It creates a welcoming environment where students feel safe and respected.

3. It builds on the students' comfortability to talk in front of a group.

4.  It teaches students to listen to and respect their peers. 

5. It gives me the opportunity to learn more about my students. 

This time each day is a really great opportunity to build on the social and emotional needs of our students. 

Sorry this post is SO late!  I wrote it and forget to publish it!  Pregnancy brain seems to be a permanent thing these days. ;)  Thanks for reading. :) Feel free to comment with your thoughts or ideas. 

Summer Lovin'

Welcome back to my blog!  It has been far too long and we have been very busy. As the title implies, we are LOVING summer.  But that doesn't mean we aren't already thinking about and preparing for the upcoming school year! Before I dive into my most recent prep work, I'll give you a little update on life over the past few months. 

In May we were blessed with a beautiful baby girl, Lucy.

photo: http://www.brittanytodd.com/

Charlotte is LOVING being a big sister.  These girls keep me (and my husband) very busy and very happy!  Most of our days this summer consist of food, adventures, relaxation, and coffee (lots and lots of coffee!)  Here is my view on most days:

Summer is going by very fast and it feels like just yesterday we were packing up our classrooms and wishing each other a good summer.  The upcoming school year will bring many changes, including a completely renovated classroom.  I am SO excited to see how the room looks when they are done.  Don't worry, I took LOTS of pictures and plan to share some before and after pictures once the renovation is complete.  Although this is very exciting, it has been hard for me to not have a classroom to go work on/organize throughout the summer.  Luckily, the girls keep me busy enough and I am blessed to have the resources I need to work from home during nap time and after the girls' bedtime.  

Admittedly, I did go several weeks without even thinking about school and just enjoying time with my family.  This week the fair is in our town, and this is always a nice reminder that summer break is halfway over!

Here is a picture of Charlotte loving on the animals at the fair. :) 

Around this time each year, I get into "school mode" and here are some of the things that I enjoy doing as the upcoming school year approaches:

1. Spending WAY TOO MUCH TIME on Pinterest, educational blogs, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites reading about all of the exciting things people are doing in the education world. Izzy (my dog) likes to look with me. ;) 

2. Stocking up on teacher supplies.  Another good indication that August is approaching was when I went to the store and saw that school supplies are OUT! This is like Christmas morning for most of the teachers I know.  Things I usually stock up on around this time include: 

• pens
• pencils
• rewards (stickers, achievement certificates, etc.)
• printer ink ($YIKES$)
• notebooks
• cardstock

And...so much more!  But I better stop there (since my husband reads my blog posts) ;) 

This year with the renovations, I decided to switch the theme of my classroom.  The past few years I have used an owl theme.  This year, I did some shopping on Amazon and came across fun classroom decor that is black with bright colors.  Here are some of the things I ordered: 

I do a lot of my shopping on Amazon these days and it is so exciting when I see "Preparing for Shipment!"  Using a new theme in the classroom means a new calendar, welcome banner, signs, and decorations.  This also means a lot of laminating!  Since I won't be spending much time at school during summer break, I decided to buy my own personal laminator to use at home.  This is one of the best (small) investments I've made in my teaching career! It is so nice to be able to do my laminating leisurely at home. 

Another project I have been able to work on in preparation for the upcoming school year is updating/creating all of those wonderful beginning of the year documents.  

I hope to do another post all about "meet the teacher night" but here is a list of some of the documents I like to prepare prior to the beginning of the year:

1. Meet Your Teacher (a letter from me introducing myself to my new students and their families)
2. Student Information Sheet
3. Student Interest Survey (I have parents fill one out at Meet the Teacher Night but I also have a separate one that students fill out in the first few days of school.) 
4. First Grade Expectations 
5. Rubrics for the Standards Based Report Cards (we started this last year and I am happy to share a post later regarding this topic!) 
6. A checklist for Meet the Teacher Night

I often hear the comment "it must be so nice to have your summers off." Yes, it is SO nice to spend more time with my family. But every educator I know works throughout the summer.  Whether it be preparing/organizing their classroom, researching educational topics, preparing resources, or just pinning ideas for the upcoming school year.  We do it because we enjoy it.  We do it because we care about the success of our students. I saw this post on Facebook recently:

It is a great quote!  We all deserve to do what we love. I really do feel this way MOST weeks.  But, let's be honest, I'm human and sometimes it's just hard to get out of bed despite what day it is! 

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I look forward to starting up again and sharing my thoughts and insights regarding education with you.  Please comment and let me know if there are any topics you'd like to read or learn more about!