New Endeavor!

Hi Everyone!

I have been working behind the scenes at a new blog called The Tutor House.  I am a tutor and I have always hunted the internet for ideas, but there has never really been a place where I can find ideas for tutoring in one place.  I decided to create that place for myself and other tutors.

I'd like to formally introduce you to:

The Tutor House:  Tips and Mini Lessons for Tutors

Over here at this new blog I plan to share ideas that I have done, adaptations of ideas from some of my favorite bloggers, mini lessons, videos, and so much more! I am working on setting up a shop there and getting some truly special items up just for tutors. I want to help them do their best and get their business growing. So come visit me there and spread the word about my new blog! It's going to be a grand adventure for me. 

What's the future of Kids Cog Works? I will still write here occasionally, but most of my energy and time will be over at The Tutor House. I still have plans to make awesome math resources for the classroom and share them here. Thanks for following me here and I hope to see you in both places!

Featured on Think Wonder Teach

Misty over at Think Wonder Teach has graciously decided to highlight me on her blog. She has a fantastic blog that will delight your mind with fun ideas for the classroom. Today I blogged about something close to my heart...engineering! What?! I know it may seem strange, but I am married to an engineer and that makes me appreciate what they do. I think differently just by being around him. I find myself thinking outside of the box. Go check it out, it's fun and best part, you'll get a freebie too.

Thankful Thursday #5

Today I am thankful for technology! It's amazing how the internet has changed the way educators teach and connect with each other. Each day I come across the most amazing ideas from educators who really care! That's you! Right now, I know that you care about your students because you are researching new ideas to keep you sharp and up to date. You care about your students. Thank you!

Laura Candler is a pioneer among bloggers and teacherpreneurs. She comes up with ways to share and collaborate that I rarely think of. I am grateful she shares her talents with me and fills me in from time to time. This week, Laura's got a link up going about math centers or as she calls them, math stations. There are some fantastic ideas being shared out there and I've added one of mine too. Click below to get in on the action and pick up some great ideas.


What are you thankful for today?

File Folder Games

Remember the good old days when you would have to print a file folder game and color them? Remember all the hours it took? I still have uncolored games sitting in my files. Then the games would get beat up and worn out quickly...so frustrating!

I am thankful that color printers are affordable and have brought file folder games up to speed. Now you can find colorful and fun games to just print out. No more hours of coloring. There are hundreds of file folder games on Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook. So it may seem that my games may just get lost in the shuffle, but I designed these to be flexible for you!

Now you can buy from my shop bright and colorful designs. They can be pulled out at any time and you can put any file folder cards you want with them. I make free file folder cards so that you can have students playing all at the same station with different folder games and then they can switch cards with other players at their table.  If there is ever a free file folder topic you need but don't see in my shop, email me and I will make some.  kidscogworks@hotmail.com

There are so many ways you can do these games. They make great early finisher activities as well. Watch the video below and then head on over to my Teachers Pay Teachers or Teachers Notebook Store to check them out. I will be adding more games over the next month or so.

More Freebies for You!

Charity Preston the curator over at Classroom Freebies is starting up a fantastic link up with freebies.  You'll want to hop on over there and get yourself all those freebies.  This is something that will happen every Monday.  So if you can't make it today, you can try another Monday!  Hope to see you there. 

Volunteer Thank You Gifts #2

As promised, I am sharing more thank you gift ideas with you today!  All of these gifts involve treats like soda and candy.  My friend April from A Modern Teacher made a DIY volunteer gift that is SO darling with Starbucks gift cards and cups.  To get directions though, you'll have to visit Sunny Days in Second Grade because April shared it as a guest post.

All of these are simple to put together!  All you need is some white cardstock and a printer that can print in color.  Check out the pictures and then download all the tags you need.  Please be sure to share this with your friends!  You can use this for more than just volunteers at school.

Mentos
You "Ment-O" So Much to Us!

Reeses Pieces
My class loved you to Pieces!  Thanks for helping.

Whoppers
You were a Whopper of help!

Diet Coke, Classic Coke, and Moutain Dew
Thanks for all your help
Thanks for Poppin' in!
What would I "dew" without you?

Click here to download it right now for FREE!  If you enjoyed these tags for thank you gifts, please share my blog with your friends.  Have a great one everyone.

Thankful Thursdays #5

I am thankful for volunteers this week.  This week is National Volunteer Week.  Currently, I am blessed to stay home with my three boys.  This allows me the time to go volunteer in their classrooms.  I love going each time and interacting with the kids.  My favorite part is when kids from year to year still remember me and come give me a hug in the hallway.

My oldest son and I at school two years ago.

Volunteering in the school is such a rewarding experience.  You get to know the staff and students on a level you wouldn't if you weren't in the schools.  When my children are talking about school, I have a reference point because I have been in the schools and know the children they are talking about and playing with. 

Another organization that I have had more interaction with is Parent Teacher Organization.  You may have PTA in your school.  I am thankful for people that volunteer their time to help raise funds for their school.  PTO and PTA's raise funds to pay for those items that districts can not pay for.

I've watched the people involved with PTO put in hours and hours of their time for the benefit of the school.  For some of the volunteers it's like working a full time job.  Make sure to stop your PTO or PTA members and tell them thank you.  It can be hard when you are on a staff to really know and understand what they do each and every day for your school.

What are you thankful for today?

Volunteer Thank You Gifts #1

Hey all!  I've been working up a storm making Thank You Gifts to share with your volunteers!  This will be a two day post because it could become so mega long....

The first gift is a gift card pouch.  I love these little pouches because you can put a card in them, movie tickets, gift cards, and such.  They are easy to make and oh so cute!

Classic Thank You Pouch

Materials:

• 2 cordinating scrapbook papers
• 1/2 yard ribbon
• velcro
• glue
• ruler
• paper cuter
• mini sheet protectors





The Supplies

 You can get mini sheet protectors at any office supply store.  They hold half size sheets of paper.  Scrapbook stores and craft stores also sell something similar, but they measure a different size.  The usually come in square with measurements of 6 x 6 or 8 x 8.  If you go the craft store route, be sure to modify your measurements of paper.

Step One:
Trim the edge off of the sheet protector.  You want to cut off the holes, but do not cut through the seam that keeps the sheet protector sealed together.  (See picture)  Then cut the length of the sheet protector to be 5 3/4 inches long.  This squares the protector.





Trim holes and then trim length

Step Two:
Cut both pieces of scrapbook paper to these dimensions.  5 3/4 inches wide by 9 inches long.  Glue both pieces of scrapbook paper together, pretty sides out.  This allows the pattern to show through on the front and back. 

Step Three:
Slide the paper down into protector.  It will hang out of the pouch, with this excess you are going to fold down onto the sheet protector to create a flap.  You can choose how long or short you would like the flap.  My flap is about 2 1/2 inches wide. 

Step Four:
Attach Velcro.  Place one piece of velcro on the sheet protector and the other on the under side of the flap you've just made.  This keeps it closed.

Step Five:
Embelish as you please.  This is where ribbon and tags come in handy.  If you would like to make a Classic looking Thank You Pouch, you'll want to download my tags by clicking on the icon below.  I also included a congratualtions tag because these are great for weddings and retirement parties too.

Watch  for my second installment of Thank You gifts.  These ones are just plain ol'fun!  Here is a sneak peak...

Featured on Share a Blog Sunday

Michelle Lundy of Making it as a Middle School Teacher has this fun feature that she does every week where she shares a little bit about a blog-she chose me for this Sunday!  Isn't that great?!  I love Michelle's blog. She has some of the best freebies out there and she just started making products for the classroom as well.  Make sure to hop over there and say hello.  Click on the link below to take you there.

Thankful Thursdays #4

I have a quote that I keep hung up in my office.  It inspires me each time I read it.

"Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure no this thing or that, but simply growth.  We are happy when we are growing."  William Butler Yeats

That's so true for me!  When I am learning new things and I am pushed a little out of my comfort zone, it makes me so happy to know I've tried!  I did my best and for the most part, I succeed.  Today, I am thankful that being a teacher usually means that you are surrounded by others that are lifelong learners just like you.  Most teachers are excited to try new things and have a complete flop because they learn something along the way.

I made this quote into a picture that you can download and share if you like.  Just click on it and download from google docs.

What are you thankful for today?  What new skill have you learned this school year.

Featured on Teaching in Room 6

Today I was given the special opportunity to do a guest post on Teaching in Room 6 for Stephanie.  She has a fantastic blog that makes me ponder and think outside the box.  I love stopping by and seeing what Stephanie is up to.  Be sure to hop on over and see what's going on at Teaching in Room 6.

Get Outside!

I love spring time!  I want to be outside more than the kids do.  I have a student that wants to be outside even if it's cold.  He craves being outdoors.  This week it was so beautiful that I decided we should do our tutoring session outside.

All you need to play this game outside is a list of words you want your students to work on, bean bags, Flip the Chip, and chalk. Below is an image of my Flip It game board.  Pair your students up to work.

Instead of using a game board, we drew it on the concrete with chalk and wrote "long a" words inside the circles.  Pairs of students could help draw the game board.  The game board shown here is circles drawn overlapping each other slightly.  I drew about 20.

Draw a starting line. Students are not allowed to step over that line, but can move side to side behind the line. Bean bags go on top of the students feet and then they flip them onto the game board. If the bean bag lands on a a circle, they read it and tell what letters in that word make it say the "long a" sound. If the bean bag lands on an intersection, they have to do all the words it's touching.

When all the words have been done, students can draw another game board and do it again with different words. This can be adapted for math or vocabulary review.

Another outside activity we did: Finding words within words. I wrote Easter Time on the concrete and my student had to find all the words he could think of and make a list. He wrote them on the concrete too. He loved being outside and moving around while he was learning.

What do you do outside with your students in the Spring?

Thankful Thursdays #3

Today, I am thankful for those who fight for children's right to an education no matter where they live.  My good friend Sherrie Hulet told me one day about the work she does in Guatemala.  I was blown away at her courage to go there and work with the people to build schools.  She goes with a huge suitcase full of books and school supplies.  Sherrie cares so much for children she doesn't even interact with every day.  That is courageous and something to be thankful for.

Sherrie recently started a blog to shed light on the conditions Guatemalan children live in and allow a place for people to come see the mission of her non-profit endeavor.  I went and looked at EmbraceEffort.org and was shocked to see where the fifth grade students were meeting.  Look at this picture!  It's basically a little shack.  We are so blessed to have brick schools (some of us in trailers) with the necessitates to teach.

I asked Sherrie to tell us a little more about Guatemala.  I thought it would be great if you wanted to share something different for social studies, you could educate your students about this little country.  Take it away Sherrie!
________________________________________________________________________________ Guatemala is an amazing and beautiful country with some of the friendliest people in the world. In some ways and in some parts, it’s quite modern with high speed Internet cafes and cell phones. But in terms of poverty, nutrition, and educational opportunities it's still very much a developing country. Some aspects of the culture are very traditional from their clothing, textiles, outdoor markets and transport of materials.

Outdoor markets are great places to buy just about anything but especially fresh fruit and tortillas. The fresh fruit that is locally grown is quite amazing to the taste. The food and textiles sold at these local markets are brought in on foot, or by "Chicken Bus." The typical transportation from town to town is taking the "Chicken buses." These are otherwise known as old school buses from the U.S. that have been re-painted. The drivers of these buses drive extremely fast and they rarely stop for any unscheduled purposes.

Schools in Guatemala are grossly underfunded. Guatemala Embrace Effort is currently working with the school, Los Aposentos to help improve the lives of children. They often run out of supplies and money to feed the children well before the end of the school year. Parents can do little to help, which is why malnutrition is such a problem. They don't have a reliable source of water, a fence, or enough space for all their classes. For lunch, the children are often given half a boiled plantain...that's it!

Even with such dire situations, Guatemalan school children are some of the happiest kids around. Boys (mostly) enjoy playing soccer any spare moment of the day and are quite good, while the girls enjoy gossiping and running around with friends. However, the girls that actually do play soccer, are usually very good. Barriers to education funding in Guatemala are similar to those in the United States, but in most cases the stakes are much higher in Guatemala. In the current state, many children won't receive the nourishment they need or be safe while they are at school. Without opportunities for quality education, millions of children will likely live their lives in the same state of poverty they were born into.   It is Guatemala Embrace Effort's mission and hope to promote quality education, better nutrition and improved health and safety for Guatemalan children.

If you are interested in helping Guatemala Embrace Effort, make sure to visit their blog and see what you can do to help!

What are you thankful for in education today?

If I Built a Car

This is such a fun book with details that make you laugh out loud. It has such great imagination which kids should use much more often! My idea with this book is simple, read the book outloud to your class. Then invite them to draw a fantasy car. In the process, they need to list the features that their car would have. As the students are drawing, they would make sure to include all of the features. After everyone finishes their drawing, students could share their fantasy cars with the class. My second grader son and even my kindergartener were drooling over the idea to make their own fantasy car. Check out the handy work below:

I am liking how he spelled Machine:  Meshen

That is one thing to take into consideration, the boys in class will definitely be drawn to drawing hidden machine guns, lazers, guns, and such.  If your school has a policy about doing such things, don't forget to tell your class that's inappropriate.  But as a mother of boys, I know their intentions. 

Book Review: Math Doesn't Suck

Doesn't the title say it all? Maybe the shear mention of math makes you shudder.  But the title of this book tells a huge truth.  Math Doesn't Suck!  It's super useful and kids need to know that.  Danica McKellar (yes it's Winnie from Wonder Years) used to be afraid of math and then found out after working at it a little that math could be fun and useful.  She majored in math as well!

Danica aims to the younger female audience.  She uses real world situations that girls can relate to.  In her chapter about Prime Numbers and Prime Factorization, she uses beading a bracelet to explain how that concept is useful.  Another example she used was putting together a gift bag with different combinations of chapstick, lotion, make-up samples and such.

Each chapter includes math problems to try out her techniques for solving a wide variety of math concepts.  She also does spotlights of real world women that use math in their careers.  I love the real world application and I often refer to her book to help me remember little tricks to solving math problems.

I highly recommend reading Math Doesn't Suck.  I realize it may sound boring to read about math, but trust me~Danica makes math fun!  Be sure to visit her website Math Doesn't Suck and have a look around.  Danica also authored other math books:
Kiss My Math: Show Pre-Algebra Who's Boss
Hot-X: Algebra Exposed!  (I am reading this right now)
She currently is working on a Geometry book too!

Does math scare you or is it fun?  I would love your thoughts on this one.

Blogger Helps: Labels that look like Pages

I have been working on a new blog adventure and in the process, I have learned some new tricks.  I found tutorials for this, but they weren't visual enough for me. It took some trial and error to make it work.  I decided to make a tutorial with pictures. 

What I needed on my new blog was pages that would sort through my posts and only give readers a post about a certain topic.  I didn't want to have to make a page dedicated to a topic and have to update it with links.  So here is the solution to that!

WARNING:  If you have a custom designed template, do not apply this technique!  Get your blog designer to help you with this.  I was not able to add this feature to Kids Cog Works...I need my blog designer to change some settings.  This is for my NEW blog.

Turning Your Label Gadget into a

Pretend "Page Gadget"

Step One:
Go to Blogger and log in.  Select Layout.

Step Two:
Add a Gadget. 

Step Three:
Select LABELS

Step Four:
Decide which Labels you want to show up.  Keep in mind if you choose ALL and you have 20 different labels, you will have 20 pages.  YIKES!  Choose to do labels like: Reading, Math, Freebie, Science, etc.
Keep your labels general.

Step Five:
Drag the new LABELS gadget underneath your blog header.  If you have Pages underneath your Header, drag it to under your pages.

Step Six:
Save your work.  Then hit the preview button to see if it looks okay.  Go back to Step 4 if you have too many pages and widdle down your list of labels.

Step Seven:
Look at the preview!  There are two levels of Page tabs because I have a Gadget with PAGES and a Gadget with LABELS.  The nice thing about Labels is that it sorts your posts according to the label you put on it.  PAGES are good if you want a contact page, a promotion page, etc.  Pages are meant for information that doesn't change much.

The Cornerstone: April's Best Teacher Resources

I am so excited, today I was featured in Angela's post:  April's Best Teacher Resources.  Each month, Angela finds great resources and shares them with her readers.  Make sure to head over there and see all the great ideas that made it their way on the post this month.  If you have a great idea, you can link it up and share it too!  Just click on the button to take you there.

Twizzlers Unit

Twizzlers is one of the yummiest candies out there!  It's a great tool for teaching geometry as well!  In this unit, students will work with Twizzlers to compute perimeter and area.  There's also sheets with ratios and designing yards with candy.  I made a Pinterest board with more great ideas to use Twizzlers if you decide you want to make an entire thematic day with this delicious candy. 
Right now you can buy my Twizzlers Unit at my Teachers Pay Teachers shop or at Teachers Notebook.