Friday FREEBIE time

Happy Friday to everyone!  Hope it's a great day for you.  Here is a freebie to help make your day great.  If you have followed me on TpT for a little while, you have noticed that each holiday or season I have created an ABC Order Cut & Paste Printable.  Well guys, winter is no different so here you go, lets kick of the new year with a Winter-themed download...

Click on the picture above to download your freebie today! 

Have a wonderful weekend--it's stormy here in Louisiana-hope you have better weather!

-MO

12 Things I Loved About Christmas 2012 Linky Party!

I'm sure you guys are thinking I'm a little obsessed with posting the last few days but I promise I have not gone insane.  Since school is out this is a perfect time for me to be a full time blogger. :)  Anyway, on with the post...  I am linking up with Mel at From the Pond to share 12 things I loved about Christmas 2012 and you should too.  I enjoy getting a sneak peek at the personal life of the person behind the blog and what better way to do this than to share the things we loved about this past Christmas.  Simply click on the picture below to head over to From the Pond and join the linky.

12 Things I Loved About Christmas 2012:

1.  The birthday of Jesus Christ-Christmas is always a time that I evaluate my relationship with the Lord above and thank him for the many blessings in my life.

2.  Spending time with family members that I don't get to see as often as I would like.  Now that we have children of our own we love to talk about things we did for Christmas as children.

3.Shopping (online) is a guilty pleasure of mine so I love the fact that I can shop for gifts at Christmas time and not feel guilty about it.  This app was my best friend for the entire month of December :)

                                                        

4. I loved indulging in holiday candy (cordial cherries are my favorite) as well as baked goodies.  I am not a baker but I do love to make chocolate covered treats.  My signature is chocolate covered pretzels but I will dip just about anything.  Here is a picture of my chocolate covered items I made Christmas morning-chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate covered cherries (mice), and chocolate covered graham crackers.

5.  I also loved the feeling I had each time I gave someone a gift (especially those who were not expecting it).  I have always been a giving person but the first Christmas that I had my own children I realized the true meaning of giving gifts.  I realized that not receiving any gifts but giving many away is the most humbling experience.  This is a picture of the presents under my Christmas tree-I never have enough room under that poor tree.

6.  The smiles on my boy's faces when they run into the living room on Christmas morning!  Priceless!

7.  Wrapping Presents..most people find this to be a chore but I find it somewhat therapeutic.   Plus I always enjoy activities that allow me to be creative.  I had to take a picture of this one-I was very proud of it.  I made the bow all by myself (I usually use store bought bows).

8. Our classroom Christmas tree-I give students full control of what goes on the tree.  By the time our Holiday break comes the tree is always a true masterpiece of student work. 

                                                           

9.  Holiday inspired (Starbucks) coffee and drinking it from a holiday mug in front of my fireplace. 

10. Sitting in my living room playing board games with all the lights out except for the Christmas tree and garland lights admiring our beautifully decorated home.  I could just stare at my decorations forever.  I feel an enormous sense of peace.  

                                                 

Now for my final 2!  I saved the best for last.......

11. I loved being able to spend the Christmas season sharing resources and ideas in the blogging world.  And for that I am thankful.  I began blogging only 3 months ago so this was my first Christmas sharing with wonderful people.  To each and every one of you that has made me feel welcome, I say "Thank You" from the bottom of my heart. (If you have never heard of my blog, feel free to check out the rest of my blog and follow me if you would like.

12.  My TpT store- It was also my first Christmas as a TpT seller and wow I just love it.  I love being able to share products that I create with everyone.  I enjoy making products with a holiday theme (if you follow me, you already know this is true) and I also enjoy sharing Freebies in my store.  Plus the little bit of extra income is always a plus.  Since my TpT store is the thing I loved the most about Christmas I think it is only fair that I share a freebie with you.  Click on the picture below to download your copy today.

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/More-Than-Math-by-Mo

Thanks for taking the time to read about why I loved Christmas.  I hope you will click the Linky Party button at the beginning of this post and join us by linking up.  I love reading feedback and comments--feel free to tell me what you think.  Many wishes for a blessed, joyous, and prosperous 2013.

-MO

My favorite FREEBIE Linky Party

I am humbled by the joy I can and do bring to other educators when I create and offer a FREEBIE!  Since the day I walked through the door of my very own classroom for the very first time, I realized and continue to realize the importance of collaborating with other educators.  Sometimes the smallest suggestion from a colleague will spark something huge that helps me to push to be the best that I can be for my students.  Collaboration is the reason that I am linking up to My Favorite Freebie Linky Party hosted by Cynthia at Second Grade Pad.  It is my turn to give back in honor of all those who gave to me throughout the years.

In order to link up I need to share with you the best freebie that I feel I have created.  I also have to tell you why it's my favorite.  So here goes...     

My favorite freebie is...

"Word" Family Trees: Word Work FREEBIE-Activity Set & Printables

(Click on the title or picture to get your copy)

  

This Freebie is a sample of my larger set(and bundle) that are in my store. It contains activities that compare and contrast the silent "e" word families -ake & -ine. These activities involve higher order thinking, reach all learning styles, and are aligned with the Common Core State Standards. They can be used during whole group, small group, or independent learning.  

On the first activity page students will read the ten sentences.  As they read, they will come across words that end in -ake and also -ine.  When they find a word from these word families, they will circle it.  After they are done reading all sentences and circling all words they will fill in the T chart at the bottom.  They will write each word they circled under the correct heading so that the words are classified according to their rime.

For the second activity students will cut apart all word card pieces.  At this point students can create some type of hands-on activity (use your imagination).  My students have simply glued them together onto construction paper, played memory match (after student flips 2 cards if they can be put together to create a word they keep the cards), and one more fun activity is to give each student a card and instruct them to work together to find another student that they can combine their card with to make a correct word.

For the final activity students will create a "word" family tree for each separate rime.  (picture to the left only shows printables used to make the -ake tree)  Students will cut out the 9 leaves, color them, then write a word on each leaf that belongs to the word family indicated at the bottom of the page.  (they may use the previous activities to find words if they are struggling to write their own)

After each leaf contains a word, students will color the bare tree and glue all leaves onto it.  Trees can be used to decorate a bulletin board, to display near the writing center to be used as reference, or students can keep in a special place for reference at their desk.

This is my favorite freebie because...

This is my current favorite for many reasons.  I love teaching word families.  I don't know exactly what it is about them but it has always been one of my favorite skills to teach.  It is also my favorite because I feel it offers more content then my other freebies.  This could be enough work for an entire week of activities and it is free!  I also like the design of each activity.  I feel the format is very "kid" friendly.  The final reason I call this my favorite is because the activities were created with ALL learning styles in mind.  The activities vary in order to meet the needs of each and every student that completes them.

I hope you and your littles enjoy this freebie as much as I do.  To find more freebies or link up your own favorite freebie, click on the picture to the left and hop on over to 2nd Grade Pad.

-MO

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Welcome to Winter and a FREEBIE

Now that Christmas is over I would like to kick off this next month of winter and snow with a winter-themed FREEBIE.  If you follow my TpT store (or this blog) I'm sure you can tell that I love creating holiday/seasonal themed products and the month of January will be no different.  I have many products that I am finishing up that are full of winter time and snow graphics and content.  Be sure to check my TpT store during this next week to see my new products that I will be posting as soon as each one is ready.  The quickest way to find out that I post a new product is by "following" my TpT store or becoming a follower of my blog.  I would love to have you as a follower!  With that said, I would like to introduce my first winter FREEBIE----Sight Word Pictures-Winter Printable Activities--Freebie

Click on the picture (or product title) above to donwnload your copy now. This FREEBIE includes 3 winter themed printable activity sheets. Each printable includes 4 separate words from the Dolch Primer Sight Word List. The words include the, was, now, saw, well, ran, who, new, must, soon, ate, & say. I have included teacher instructions, oral directions, and suggestions for differentiating the activity to meet all students needs.  I hope you enjoy this product.  I love to hear feedback in order to help me to make my products better so feel free to leave a comment here or provide feedback on TpT if you download the product.  Have a great day!

-MO

2012 Bloggy Best and Brightest Linky

I'm linking up with Christina, from Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge!  She is currently hosting a linky to share (brag about) your blog's best and brightest moments from the year 2012 as well as brag about other fellow bloggers. 

I only began blogging this past October, but I would still like to share my best and brightest moments from the past 3 months with you.  I will share a couple of my most popular posts.  I will also brag about one fellow blogger that has really helped to welcome me into the blogging world.

--More Than Math by Mo's Popular Posts--

Freebie from More Than Math by Mo

This was my very first linky party that I participated in and by far my most popular post so far.  I linked up with Freebielicious to share one of my forever freebies.  Compound Word Cone Creations is the free product that I shared.  It is a 13 page activity set with printables.  I am very proud of how this product turned out and completely shocked at the number of times it was downloaded!!  Click on the picture below to get your free copy from my TpT store.

You can also do a direct download from my blog - More Than Math by Mo

Leibster Blog Award

My second most popular post was about the Leibster Blog Award.  The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  It is to show new bloggers that they are appreciated and also to help spread the word about new blogs.  I was honored (and thankful) to be nominated by Kristin Wynegar for this award.  I like this post because you learn a little bit about the person behind the blog from the information shared on the post.  I had to list 11 random things about myself, as well as answer 11 questions that Kristin created for me.  At the time of the post I had only 2 followers and now I am up to 23 followers.  Although it is slower than I had expected, it is very encouraging to know that people are actually interested in the information I share and products I create.  With that said, please feel free to hop on over to visit my blog anytime.  If you like what you see, I would love to have you as a follower.  My blog will keep you updated on new products I create, sales that I run at TpT, tips from my classroom, and every Friday I share a new FREEBIE with my followers.  Click on the picture below to visit my blog.  :)

Black Friday FREEBIE!!

This post was my third most popular this past year.  This particular Friday was special not only because it was my weekly FREEBIE Friday, but also because I released my Christmas ABC Order FREEBIE.  Ever since I opened my TpT store this past September and begain selling my products, I have created a holiday/seasonal ABC Order Cut and Paste Activity (these seem to be very popular)for each holiday.  This post let my followers know that the Christmas one had just been uploaded to my TpT store. Click on the picture below if you would like to download this activity.

I appreciate and enjoy any feedback that my customers/followers give me and these holiday/seasonal ABC Order Cut and Paste Activities have gotten tons of positive feedback.  Needless to say I am very proud of these activities I created and because of the positive feedback I have made a commitment to offer a different one for every holiday/season (at the least I will offer a new one once a month) from here on out!  **ALERT, ALERT--check my blog this Friday if you like these activities-hint, hint-Christmas is over and Winter & Snow is next on the list! ;)

Thanks for allowing me to brag about myself but before I end this post I would like to brag about a fellow blogger who has been tremendously helpful and welcoming the past few months as I began my blogging adventure!

The School Supply Addict (Ashley Hughes Graphics)

The one and only School Supply Addict, Ms. Ashley Hughes has been a tremendous help these past few months and I cannot thank her enough!  Not only does she create wonderful clipart that makes my life easier when creating products, but she is also very helpful in giving me great feedback about my TpT store and blog.  Her blog is a must see for anybody in the world of education.  Click on her button below to check it out for yourself.

What a fun way ro reminisce on 2012 (well 3 months of it anyway)! If you would like to link up and share your best moments from 2012, simply click on the picture at the beginning of this post.

-MO





Merry Christmas

Check back tomorrow as I switch gears from Christmas to winter and snow.  I will be giving away my first winter FREEBIE.

-MO

Christmas Sale-20% off

As a Thank You gift to all my wonderful followers, my entire TpT store is now on sale!  From now through Monday (12/24/12) all products in my TpT store are 20% off.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family.

Click on the picture above to visit my TpT store.

-MONIQUE

A Week of Freebies!!

I apologize for being so late with this post.  I have been feeling under the weather otherwise I would have posted sooner.  Before you read this post, please stop for a moment of silence in honor of the sweet babies as well as fellow educators that are now celebrating Christmas in the arms of our Lord.  Although this tragedy is still fresh on our minds, I believe that those angels above would not want us to stop our lives but yet would want us to continue to spread joy and cheer during this holiday season.

With Christmas drawing near I have a week of goodies in store for you.  Each day from now until Christmas I will be adding a freebie to my TpT store.  Here is a look at those that I have already posted:

Monday was Polar Express Day at our school.  Students wore pajamas and enjoyed hot cocoa while watching the movie.

For this day,  I created a simple color sheet.  The younger students simply showed off their coloring talents, while the older ones completed a writing activity then added it to the color sheet to decorate our classroom.

Click on the picture to get your free download.

Today's freebie is a math printable for students to work on skip counting skills as well as determining even and odd numbers.  Click on the picture to get your free download.

-MO

A Day of Silence

Boast not of tomorrow, for you know not what any day may bring forth
-Proverbs Ch:277 Vs:1

Praying

I am deeply saddened by the horrible tragedy that has taken place in our country today.  My prayers go out to all those involved and to those who were taken from this Earth today, especially those sweet babies who now rest in the arms of our Lord in heaven above.

Prayer for Those Who Mourn

Bless those who mourn, eternal God,
with the comfort of your love
that they may face each new day with hope
and the certainty that nothing can destroy
the good that has been given. May their memories become joyful,
their days enriched with friendship,
and their lives encircled by your love.
Amen.

If you are reading this post, please stop everything and tell the people you love how much they mean to you. Hug your babies just a little tighter, no matter their age, and remember that tomorrow is a gift, not a promise.

Boast not of tomorrow, for you know not what any day
may bring forth. ~ Proverbs Ch:277 Vs:1

-mo

A Super Friday Christmas FREEBIE

Have you finished your shopping yet?  Are you ready for the busy days at school leading up to the holiday break? I'm sorry I can't help you shop, but I can help you plan for the final few days of school with this super cute Friday Freebie.  It's super cute (in my opinion) and super easy to implement the activity.  I have enjoyed creating Christmas activities but I am "almost positive" that this will be my last Christmas freebie.  I hope you enjoy.

Students will work on various reading skills including comprehension. Students will match bright and colorful Christmas picture cards to sentence cards that belong with the picture.  The download also includes printables that can be used to reinforce the skill or used as an assessment. See preview pages below.   Click on the picture above to download.

-MO

Surprise Monday Giveaway

Happy Monday evening to you all. I for one am happy to see this day end. I woke up to a stormy Louisiana morning and struggled to make it through this dreary day but......there's nothing like a giveaway to end the day on a positive note :) Keep reading to find out the details of the giveaway.  I worked hard to complete and post 4 new products to my store this weekend. Here is a peek at my new items:

CVC Word Families: Printable Activities
These 18 printables are packed with activities for the following word families:

at, an, et, en, it, ig, ot, op, ip, un, ug,and ut.
I have included many pictures throughout the set for students who may still need visual cues.

more Christmas Patterns
I have received such positive feedback from my past holiday patterns unit (and I have tons of amazing Christmas clip art-by Ashley Hughes) so I figured I would make another Christmas set.  This set is smaller but still has everything that you need to teach or reinforce patterns.

Find Five for Each Family: Word Family Activity Set & Printables
I know-I know-long title, but I just had to use the three F words-find, five, family and this is the shortest title  that I could come up with haha.  Let me just say I love stars and I found a way to incorporate them into word families with a word for each point. This 40 page set provides you with many options in sorting words according to their word family.  The following picture shows a snipet of the                                                                                    center activity  in use.

And my final product uploaded this weekend is

Simple Addition: Sums to 10

This set is perfect for students who are transitioning from numbers sense to simple addition.  It includes puzzles, word wall matching game and printables.  

The activities are sure to please your little ones!

Now for the important part-------the Giveaway!!

1. My favorite holiday by far is Christmas!  What is your favorite holiday?  Leave a comment on THIS post telling me what your favorite holiday is for a chance to win a free product from my store!  Winner(s) will get to choose ANY product that is currently available for purchase at my TpT store! 

2. But wait, it gets better.  The more comments I receive, the more winners I will choose.  The number of winners will increase by 1 for every 15 comments I receive.  For example 1-14 comments=1 winner, 15-29 comments=2 winners, 30-44 comments=3 winners, etc...  so spread the word about the giveaway to increase your chances!!  

3.Also... Tell your friends to visit my blog and leave a comment stating that you sent them and your name will be put in the giveaway again!( Your name MUST be included in their comment for it to count)  For example: Send 10 friends my way and they say that you sent them, your name is now in the giveaway 11 times!! 

**Comments will be counted from now through Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 10:00 PM Central US time.  A winner will be announced here and in a new post on Thursday morning.  Good Luck!

ALL of you guys that commented have one a FREE product of your choice-ANY product regardless of cost!  Check your email! Thank you and Merry Christmas

-MO

UPDATE on today's FREEBIE

If you downloaded today's FREEBIE prior to 7:00pm Central-US, please click the link below to download it again.  The file that you downloaded earlier will not let you open it unless you have a specific software.  I did not realize this was going to happen and I apologize.  I have uploaded an updated file (this one is a ZIP) and have added more pages in order to say I am sorry for your troubles.  You will now receive the memory match game for numbers 1-30 as well as the blackline set of the game.  Thanks again for visiting my blog and TpT store.

FREEBIE Friday....and It's Beginning to Look like Christmas in My Classroom

Well guys I can't believe another week has gone by (and I still only have 4 Christmas gifts purchased).  It sure is beginning to look alot like Christmas in my classroom.  Here are a few pictures I have to share:

I like to call this "The Ever-Changing Tree!"  My littles (and bigs) love changing the "ornaments" on our tree.  I think it's great that they take so much pride in their work that they can't decide which ones to display on our tree.  It really is neat to see it transform day to day.  There are only 2 rules-they may not remove another person's work and they must ask permission before switching out something on the tree.

      

Here is just another little sign hanging in our room!  Christmas time truly puts me in the giving spirit.  And speaking of giving.........it's freebie time!

Click on the picture below to download my newest FREEBIE-Christmas Count, Tally, Graph plus Christmas Memory Match-Up.

**This download also includes my Christmas Memory Match-Up Game for Numbers 1-30 and the ten frames that represent that number.

Thanks for stopping by and check back often as I have some wonderful things in store for you closer we get to Christmas.

-MO

Keep Your Classroom Material Colorful Without a Color Printer + FREEBIE

What happens when your funds for color printing are gone? What happens if the only color printer you have access to breaks? Students would get tired of seeing centers filled with white paper pieces, black and white game boards, black and white posters on the wall. In this post I will share with you one way to bring the color back to your classroom.

Print your blackline material onto colored paper or cardstock and VOILA!! The color is back! Things for me are somewhat different now because I run my own school, but in the past I would run out of ways to have color copies done.  Color has always been the first thing to grab my attention and help keep me engaged and many children are the same way.  I would cringe when I would look around and see that all of my printed material for centers as well as signs and posters were boring black and white.  The day I walked into my friend's classroom and found her printing blackline material onto colored cardstock I  was AMAZED (why didn't I think of that).  From that day on it is very seldom that you walk into my room to find black and white printed material except for the basics like tests, handouts, recording sheets, etc... (although I do throw in a test here and there on colored paper and my students get excited for some reason,  I guess it seems special).  I have learned to not only use this when's funds are low but I also use it throughout the year when I come across a nice center or activity set that includes blackline copies.  (This helps to stretch my funds a little longer)  Here is one example of a poster I have hanging in my classroom currently:

If you have ever downloaded one of my products from my TpT store, you will notice that every time it is possible, I include blacklines of my material.  I do this to help everyone stretch a dollar.  Below is another way that I saved some money.  I found that when students were in our writing center, they were having trouble seeing our alphabet.  To solve this problem, I simply created an Alphabet Triangle Banner as a blackline printable and printed it on neon green paper then posted it (the squares below the banner are also included.  These have the uppercase letters.  I don't post the uppercase until we have covered that letter/sound in class) Okay enough about me and speaking of stretching a dollar... 

There's nothing like a FREEBIE to stretch a dollar. If you would like to test out the tip I shared in this post, click on the picture below and head over to my TpT store and download your free copy of my Alphabet Triangle Banner Set.  If you have anything to share on this topic or questions to ask, please feel free to comment below.

Click on the picture for your FREEBIE

-MO