Desktop Learning Adventures

We teachers accumulate a lot of necessary stuff throughout our teaching years.  Some of it's used frequently, while other stuff collects dust until we move or retire.  Today, I'm sharing some of my Math Closet Must-haves that I really couldn't do without, along with some of the ways I use them. 1. Tape measures.  I started out with just a couple standard length tape measures I had at home and thought they'd be useful for measurement of many things.  Then, when browsing through Joann Fabrics one day, I saw the quilting 3 meter tape measures and knew they had to be part of my Math Closet.  Roll them and store them in a pencil zipper bag. How I use them:  ~Measure kids height and wingspan (arms outstretched, fingertip to fingertip) at the beginning, the middle and end of the year. I prefer to use centimeters, for conversion discussions later.  Also, many already know how tall they are in inches and feet.  For the rest of the world, measure ...

 Everyone knows the beginning of a new school year is labor intensive and involves a lot of talking and organizing and talking and handing out papers and talking. You're exhausted and starting to feel burnt out (is that possible at the beginning of the year?), your students' eyes are glazing over from information overload, and you need to change things up a bit for everyone's sake. OR- You called for a substitute at the last minute for that meeting your principal begged you to attend and you need to grab something quickly for the kids to do.   OR- Maybe you're just tired of doing the same thing the same way. Whatever the situation, it's always good to have that quick, go-to activity on hand that is guaranteed to fill that last-minute need. My secret for keeping my sanity is to change things up.  I do this with  Crack the Code puzzles! These activities are a fun way for students to practice different math skills and they're each self-correcting. (The last th...

Blast Off to the Super Secondary Yearbook Past!  TpT Back to School Site Wide Sale Up to 28% off the entire site August 4 th and 5 th , 2014 Promo Code at Check out- BTS14 A special thanks to Danielle Knight for this blast from the past! Participating Stores: Pamela Kranz (K-8)  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Pamela-Kranz Danielle Knight http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Danielle-Knight Darlene Anne  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Darlene-Anne Michele Luck’s Social Studies   http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Michele-Lucks-Social-Studies Juggling ELA http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Juggling-Ela The SuperHERO Teacher http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Superhero-Teacher The Creative Classroom http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Creative-Classroom Teaching High School Math  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Teaching-High-School-Math 4mulaFun...