Teaching Little Miracles: What do you mean--Hotshot?? #MakeYourMasterpiece

Monday, July 6, 2015

What do you mean--Hotshot?? #MakeYourMasterpiece

This week's #TPTSellerChallenge was all about making a new product. It was the perfect motivation I needed to *finish* a product I've been working on since March!

We call it HOTSHOTS.

I want to explain how these daily math and language "hot topics" review pages came about. I also want to explain how I've used them and how I plan to use them this year in my classroom.

You're also going to want to stick around and check them out for yourself because they are 40% off today!

Two years ago (when I switched schools and switched to 2nd grade), I had 15 minutes at the end of the day in my schedule when we returned from specials. We called it "Snack and Pack" but it didn't take anywhere near 15 minutes and my bunch would get talkative and rowdy waiting to be dismissed. It was a complete waste of time!

I also had a group that struggled with math and wanted to give them all the practice I could on the skills that seemed to cause them the most problems. I created some PowerPoints with math review questions on them and projected them on the board. Students worked in folders to complete them before being dismissed.

I did the same this past year until March.

I had noticed some things I wanted to tweak and tried out my new HOTSHOTS for the remainder of the year.

SUCCESS!

The first problem...projecting on the board. Some students struggled to follow along or copy problems from the board. Also, if they needed to go back later and finish, I had to pull up the slide for them.

The second problem...sentences! My second graders (which I would call a "high" class) were still struggling to use correct conventions and misspelling "easy" words. As I thought back to when I taught first grade, I remembered Kristi and I used a "Fix the Sentence" book. We thought it was a bit hard, but it definitely made them be detectives and spot those common errors in sentences.

So HOTSHOTS was created!

#MakeYourMasterpiece

In my classroom we don't do them every day (to make a complete product, I made 180--four sets of 45). We usually do 3 each week, but my students remind me if we haven't done them. They loved them. Of course, it helps if you really "play up" the name and tell them they have to be Hotshots, show me their stuff, etc. :-)

I'm also excited to have plenty to choose from. Sometimes I have kiddos with wandering eyes (if you know what I mean). It would be easy enough to give half the class HOTSHOT #1 and the other half #2 (for example).

If you purchase HOTSHOTS, you're going to get two versions. One with a margin and one without. As I mentioned, my students kept theirs in folders with the brads so the margin is needed.

No folder at home, but you get the idea...

You'll also get the version without a margin--perfect for a printable worksheet or putting them in a plastic sleeve to be completed with a dry erase marker.

This is the direction I'm leaning for next year. I'm considering putting them in my math rotations. I love it when I can save paper, and my kiddos love using dry erase markers!