Happy New Year!!

Happy 2015!  I am expecting big things this year.  I am cancer free after thyroid and uterine cancer diagnoses, and am feeling better than I have in years.  I had to quit my fulltime classroom job a year and a half ago because I was so weak.  Now I am hopeful I might get a classroom back next school year!  In the meantime I am working one-on-one with hearing impaired students throughout the state.  They are ages 3 - 17, so I have a huge variety of ages to work with.

Today I wanted to share a Math Center I made for my younger students.  I personally think it is a win - win because it takes a little time and the students are always begging for more.  I was inspired after a trip to Lowe's.

I despise Lowe's because my husband could spend all day there.  So, as a teacher I will look at an item and think "OK, what can I do with this?"





I think you might be getting an idea of where I am going with this!



Genius!  I bought the largest screws I could find and numbered them 6 - 10.  Then I bought several matching nuts for each screw.  I put different math combinations using price tags on each screw, and voila!  A fun math center that the kids love to visit!

And there you have it!  My mind began racing with all of the variations you could make.  Think about putting a letter of the alphabet on each screw and words with initial sounds on the nuts.  (like pair the screw "P" with nuts that have "pig", "pet", and "pan" on the screws.  Once I start thinking like this, my mind is spinning for days!

Hope this inspires you.  Please check my blog every Monday.  That's when I make Freebies to share.