Stop, Swap and Roll: A Product Swap

I am so excited to be joining Melissa from Jungle Learners for her Stop, Swap and Roll product swap.

I had the pleasure of teaming up with Kathleen at A+ Kids Bloggin. Kathleen is a retired Special Education teacher who loves to use materials beyond paper and pencil. Kathleen believes that when kids are handed manipulatives their enthusiasm, engagement and attention increase. Kids become active participants and that is always what teachers want to happen in their classrooms. 

 I was thrilled to choose one of Kathleen's many wonderful products. It was not any easy decision. I finally decided on her Homophones and Trivia product. 

This product has many components. After teaching the three sets of homophones included in this product I used the trivia cards as an informal assessment.  I projected the trivia cards using my document camera and had the students write down their answer choice on a piece of paper. This was a great way to gauge how well the students understood the homophones.

My students loved the trivia cards. Several mentioned how they were doing "double learning", first with reviewing homophones and second with the trivia facts.

Next we played the Homophone and Trivia Game together as a whole class. I wanted to model the game so the students would know what to do when they later used the game in small groups.

When the students play this in small groups they use the cards to cover their spots. With the entire class I had the students use bingo chips.  The students loved being able to choose the words for their game board.

The students also enjoyed playing Sort the Homophones. This was a great center activity.

We finished our homophone unit by using the included printables for homework.

I loved how many different activities where included in this product. Kathleen includes anchor charts for the three sets of homophones. These were great to hang in my classroom for a quick reference for students. There are also answer keys included so students can correct their own work when playing Sort the Homophones and Homophones and Trivia.  Kathleen definitely knows how to get students excited about learning. Her Homophones and Trivia packet is a fun way to teach homophones.

Kathleen is sharing a copy of her homophones and trivia activity with one lucky winner. Be sure to enter below for your chance to win. 
In honor of the product swap Kathleen has placed her entire store on sale and is offering this featured resource, Homophones and Trivia at the very special price of only $2.  So if you just have to have it now, head on over to her store and pick it up.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to head over to Molly and Amy's blog Two Nutty Teachers to see my Fraction Game Bundle in action. Then enter for a chance to win your own copy of my Fraction Bundle.  My TpT store will also be on sale during the swap. Everything is on sale for 20% off, even my bundles.

Don't forget to check out all the other blogs participating in the Stop, Swap and Roll. There are lots of great products to be won.

Keeping It Fun!

My students have just completed their first round of testing. We have lots more to cover before the math testing begins next month. I need to continue to move through the curriculum but at the same time these guys need a break.

We are just about finished with our fraction unit. We have added, subtracted, and multiplied fractions. All that is left is division. As a way to help the students understand that a fraction is also a division problem I used Fun Flaps from Scholastic. This particular book covers fraction and decimal concepts.

These Fun Flaps were created to reinforce changing improper fractions to mixed/whole numbers. I used them to help the students connect that a fraction is a division problem.

After all the testing, the students appreciated a more laid back math class. I enjoyed being able to continue with the curriculum while the students had fun learning.