All About a Number Freebie

I was home sick today and spent most of my time reading blogs and working on school stuff! I created a task card for strengthening number sense that utilizes one of our favorite apps.  We've been using PicCollage a lot in language arts so last week I had one of my math groups use it to show different ways to describe a number.  They enjoyed making their number collages so I thought I would make it an independent workstation this week.  I use Donna's (from The Math Coach's Corner) wonderful themed number cards (find them here) and put several cards, a set of base ten blocks and an iPad in the tub.  Simple to set up and easy to differentiate by choosing different cards for each group.

An example of Donna's cards.  This month I am using her penguin set!

Here's the task card if you'd like to try it!

Click here to download

That's it for tonight.  If you're in the path of the blizzard, stay warm and safe! (No chance of a blizzard here in Texas!)

Saturday Morning Confusion

OK, it's not really confusion, but I've been jumping back and forth from one project to another this morning and I'm starting to get a little bit overwhelmed! When I realized it was Saturday- I'm never quite sure what day it is in the summer!- this old song popped into my head. (Not the original artist but I loved these old variety shows and specials!)



My husband spent the first couple weeks of his summer repainting and installing flooring in our son's old bedroom so I can have a new sewing room.  I've started to move my things in and just love it so far!

However I have created quite a mess in my old room as I've moved things out!

I always seem to create more of a mess while cleaning than what I had to start with!

Today I must get everything out of that room so we can clean the carpets and start transforming it into an office/man cave for my hubby.
But instead of just starting in one place and sticking to it, I've been bouncing back and forth between the two rooms AND working on some school things.
Here are some gameboards I made this morning.  I plan on using them in my math stations during the first 2 weeks of school.  They are modeled after some plus one games that Yolanda shared on her blog Oceans of First Grade Fun a couple of years ago.

Click here to download the 4 gameboards.

Back to cleaning up my mess- if all goes well I will actually be sewing tomorrow!

Word Families

Last year my district created a new word study program to take the place of the phonics/spelling curriculum we had used for years.  In first grade this program focuses on word families.  My colleagues and I were thrilled, but there was definitely a learning curve involved.  Now that we know what to expect, things should go a lot smoother and our instruction should be much more effective!
I've been creating some activities to reinforce the word families we will be covering. The first activity is themed to go along with my "Popcorn Words" word wall. Each week we add words that represent the word families we are studying.  These words have a ticket on them to show that they are a ticket to reading and writing new words.

My word wall waiting for words!

An example of my "ticket" words.  The district high frequency words have a popcorn picture in corner.

The activity I created will help me highlight other words from the families and keep all of the word families visible.  This packet consists of the 37 common rimes from Wylie and Durrell as well as some additional families used in my district.  The cards can be used for display and can also be used with the workmat and recording sheet at a literacy/word work station.  Head over to Teachers Pay Teachers to check it out!

TPT

I also created a" Bang"! type Freebie game to practice the short a families.

Freebie!

Teacher Created Resources is going to be giving away an Ipad!  Click here to enter.  If you win by following my link, I win an Ipad mini!  You can enter every day!

Get Your Math On! Building Mathematical Comprehension Chapter 2

                    

Welcome to Chapter 2 of Building Mathematical Comprehension!  In this chapter, Laney explains the importance of vocabulary instruction in math and ways to help students master the vocabulary they need to be successful in math. Most of us know that students can increase their vocabulary through lots of reading.  But this won't work as well in math as most of the words students need to know in math won't appear often enough in their reading, and it is often difficult  to infer the meanings of unfamiliar, content-specific words. So in order for children to be successful in mathematics we must provide direct instruction of mathematical vocabulary.
Many of you are probably already familiar with Marzano's work in vocabulary development.  I've summarized his characteristics of effective instruction and the six steps for teaching new words.

How do you decide what words to teach?  The ideal situation would be for teams of teachers to examine the standards for their grade level and identify the words that students must know to be successful with the concepts.  Some districts/states provide vocabulary lists which makes it easier to make sure you are teaching  words that align with your standards and objectives. My district is moving to a new lesson planning system next year and our curriculum is written in units of study.  Key vocabulary is provided in each unit plan.

Here are some key ideas from the chapter:

• Importance of discussion -Students need to be able to use their new words to explain and describe their thinking and observations during math.  After reading Deb Diller's Math Workstations book several summers ago I followed her suggestion and started adding math talk cards to some of our work stations.  These cards serve as a reminder to students to use their new math vocabulary.  For example, early in the year we review the terms more and less, so in a comparison station, there may be a card that reads:

I have _____ cubes.

My partner has ____ cubes.

I have ____ more/less than my partner.

• Writing in math- Journal writing, first modeled by the teacher, allows children to describe their knowledge and explain their strategies and thinking.  They can also reflect on their learning.  We have been using the Exemplars problem solving program in our district, and one of the things that I love is that is stresses the importance of explaining your thinking and using math vocabulary.  One of the tips we learned was to have students highlight all of the math words they used when finished.  You can easily tell who really understands the term and used it correctly to solve the problem and who is just writing words they think the teacher wants to hear!  Journals can also be used to record new vocabulary.  Students can record the word, write a definition in their own words, draw a picture and then give an example.  I want to try this next year!  I envision modeling it as a whole group activity at first and then gradually having students create their own journal activities.  I loved the idea of creating PowerPoint presentations for the words also.  We are getting an Ipad for our classrooms next year, so I want to explore apps that might be appropriate for vocabulary presentations. I was inspired by this photo on Pinterest to create these cards to use while modeling how to record new vocabulary.
  

  

  Pinterest

  Click here to download cards for anchor chart.
  
  
  
  
  

• Math word walls-Although I had a lot of math anchor charts in my room that displayed key vocabulary, I did not have a word wall dedicated to math.  An effective word wall would display not only the word but a graphic representation.  I plan on using the card below for my wall next year.     I never thought about playing the same kind of word wall games with the math wall as I do with my high frequency word wall, but games like Be a Mind Reader and Wordo would be just as much fun with math words!  There are tons of resources for word wall activities out there; here's just one link I found.

Vocabulary Cards

• Using graphic organizers- All of the graphic organizers we are accustomed to using in language arts and other subjects can be used in math.  I particularly like the idea of creating a concept map for a number and asking the students to show ideas about the number.Check out Donna's Wanted poster!                                        

  

  Math Coach's Corner

• Games- Students love games!  Some examples that Laney provided are:
• Vocabulary charades
• Make My Day
• Math Hunt
• Talk a Mile a Minute
• I Have, Who Has?   My kids loved "I Have, Who Has?" games.  Here is one I created for practicing adding and subtracting 1 or 2 and using the terms more than and less than.

Click here to download

• Literature- Don't forget about all the wonderful literature out there that can be used for math!  I loved Laney's idea of having the students create charts or multimedia presentations of the math terms used in the book. My favorite books specifically designed for math instruction are Stuart Murphy's wonderful Mathstart series.

Wow, this is the longest post I've ever written (probably too long!) but this is such an important chapter filled with great information.  I'm anxious to hear your thoughts on math vocabulary instruction.  Please link up or share with a comment.  Please visit Beth and Sonya to read their posts on this chapter as well.

Click here for the book study schedule!

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Sunday Mornings

I love Sunday mornings!  I have always been an early riser, so I still get up quite early even on weekends.  The house is quiet, and for several hours, it's usually just me and my coffee and computer.
I don't have a lot to share about my week.  I was out of my classroom for 2 days helping with STAAR testing, and then spent most of Thursday just catching up.  We also had our Eureka science lab on Thursday.  Eureka is a parent/volunteer led science program my school has been using for a couple of years.  Every couple of weeks, parent volunteers organize a science lab for a grade level.  Our lesson this time was "Capillary Action" to go along with our plant study.  The kids love it!

We did use the MentorMob playlist I created in the computer lab on Friday. (Read about MentorMob here and here.)  The kids really seemed to enjoy it and cheered when I asked them if they wanted me to make another!  There is a way to include a quiz, so I may try that with the next one.

I spent a lot of time yesterday on the computer researching new tech tools and creating some activities.  I can't wait to try out some of them and share what I've learned.  Here's a little math activity I put together to go along with our fact fluency program.  Hope you can use it!

Google Docs

Once Upon a Time

I love teaching fairy tales!  Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for a happy ending, or that I want to believe in magic, but it is one of my favorite units of the year.
My teammates and I are starting this unit on Monday, but I am so sad that I will miss 2 days of the fun.  Our state tests, STAAR, begin this week, and I have been asked to administer the test to a small group on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I'm happy to help out, but I HATE writing sub plans and I really don't like missing 2 days with my class.  Plus, at my school, the art, music and PE teachers are also helping with the test so I have to plan for the time my kids would normally be in their specials classes. Yuck!

Here are some math games I created with a fairy tale theme.  I will introduce these to the class on Monday so that they will be able to play them while the sub is here.

Click here to download

I've also found something new to try!  I just recently learned about MentorMob through one of my Twitter feeds.  (I am loving Twitter for professional development!)  Yesterday I experimented and put together a fairy tale playlist.  Check it out!  (Edited to add:  It looks like the last link in the playlist won't work unless you have a Tumblebooks account.  Our district has one, and it is a fabulous resource!  Since I posted I recreated the playlist.  This is the final version.)

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

Happy Easter, everyone!
Carol

Plural Noun Practice

We are reviewing nouns this week.  I have noticed that a lot of my friends are adding an apostrophe and the letter s  to words to make them plural, so I decided it was time for a review on how to make a plural noun.  Since I was going to have to do some reteaching anyway, I decided to go ahead and do a thorough study of plural nouns, discussing adding -es, changing y to i and irregular plurals.  Then we will move on to possessive nouns.  Most of these skills are not specifically addressed in our district objectives, but the kids' writing is showing they were ready.
On Monday, I used my morning message to re-introduce plural nouns.  Almost everybody could tell me that the underlined words meant more than one, and most even remembered the term plural.  But I could tell by their comments that they didn't realize that -es had been added to sandwich to make the plural.

Tuesday I had a list of nouns on the easel, and I ask the kids to tell me the plural.  I included words  like sandwich,  kiss, brush, bus and witch. As we said the plural, we clapped the syllables so that they could hear that the plural had an additional syllable.  I then explained that since every syllable has a vowel, we had to add -es to some words.  Then I introduced the rule for adding -es.
We will continue to review throughout the week by forming plurals on the pocket chart, writing sentences using plurals and completing word work activities during Daily 5.  Next week we will talk about possessives and move on changing y to i and irregular plurals after spring break (less than 2 weeks away- Hallelujah!)
I've created some workstation activities to help my friends practice plurals and have decided to test the waters of Teachers Pay Teachers.  I still want to share the things I create, but I thought that maybe by selling a bit I can justify my new clipart obsession!  (I made 3 different purchases just on Sunday afternoon!)  Here's a link to my first product- it's a freebie!

Click to download

I hope to have some more plural activities completed in the next few days.  I don't know if it was the full moon or the front that moved in, but my kids have been CRAZY the past 2 days, and I'm exhausted!  10 day 'til Spring Break and the great outdoors!

Happy to Be Back!

I am so happy to get back to blogging! I took some time off during the holidays to spend more time with my family, but fully intended to start back once school started in January. But then my student teacher came.  Without getting into all the details, let's just say it was a long 5 weeks for both of us, and ended with the decision that maybe teaching wasn't her calling after all.
Now that my class is settled back into our normal routines, I can spend more time planning, creating and blogging!
My district started a new fact fluency program this year.  Each grading period we have focused on  2 strategies to develop fluency with addition and subtraction facts.  We have been using this book as our primary resource:
                                  


One of my teammates mentioned that her students needed more practice so I made an activity this weekend that will help our students practice doubles and making ten, the two strategies we are focusing on this grading period.  Click the label below the picture if you would like a copy.

Gnome Facts for Doubles and Making 10

Now I need to spend the rest of the weekend preparing to lead some staff development for my team on Monday.  I'm presenting some tips and techniques for using our Smartboards and other technology tools.  Technology in the classroom is something I am passionate about, and I love sharing with others, so it should be fun!

Weekend Work and a Plus 10 Freebie

My last couple of posts have been about finding balance between work and home.  This weekend so far has been pretty successful day in that respect!  Friday evening my daughter and I went to a trunk show for a friend's online boutique.  Although I'm a little too old (and large!) for most of her things, I got a big chunk of my Christmas shopping done for my girls.  Saturday morning I was at Walmart before 9 o'clock.  (What a great time to go- it was so peaceful!) After a quick trip to Target with my daughter, I pulled out some of my Christmas boxes so I could get started decorating.
Then I worked on some school stuff.  I laminated (I LOVE my Scotch laminator!!!!) and cut out these fabulous gingerbread activities from Made for 1st Grade.

TPT

In math this month we are working on composing and decomposing numbers to 100 and doing a lot of work with hundreds charts. This is a great book  for hundreds chart activities:
                                  :
  Our fact fluency emphasis is adding/subtracting 10 so I made these little game boards to practice the +10 facts.  I modeled them after some Plus One games I found on Oceans of First Grade Fun.

Download games from Google Docs

Now it's time for holiday decorating!  First up, arrange the Santas on the mantel.  Next to the Christmas tree, these are my favorite holiday decorations!

Life Outside of School...And a 50th day Freebie!

Although this has been a wonderful school year so far- great kids, supportive parents and an awesome team-  it has also been exhausting!  Trying to get used to my district's word study program, new grading requirements and helping my team beef up our math instruction has worn me out.  So I am taking a personal day on Monday in honor of my birthday today!  I decided I would do as little school work as possible this weekend and do some crafting.  But first I had to organize my sewing/craft/office room!  Here is the box of school stuff I collected just to get it out of the way for a few days!

Then I went to Hobby Lobby and bought more stuff.

Going to Hobby Lobby reminded me of unfinished/unstarted projects at home so I dug a few of those out:

Then I had to pack up the Watermelon picnic quilt that never got finished this summer:

Now I might be ready to actually MAKE something!  My problem is craft and hobby ADD.  I get all excited about a new craft or project, buy all the stuff, get started and then get caught up in real life and don't finish.  Then I see something new that I have to try or make, buy that stuff... you get the picture!  Hobbies/crafts I have supplies and equipment for:  sewing, quilting and machine embroidery (3 sewing/embroidery machines and a serger currently live in my craft room!), smocking, cross-stitch, crochet and loom knitting (and way too much yarn!), needle felting, needle punch embroidery, bow making, dolls and making doll clothes, scrapbooking and  paper crafting (led to purchase of a Cricut and a Cuttlebug for embossing), and a lot of general crafting type supplies.
I'm like this with teaching, too!  Right now my current obsession is teaching math.  In the last few months I've bought at least 5 math professional books, a hundreds pocket chart, tons of stuff on TPT and  lots of "junk" to use as manipulatives.  Not to mention the hours I've spent on blogs reading about math and downloading great activities!  But I have to say it has really paid off- my little first graders are becoming incredible mathematicians!

These are Exemplar examples- both students are ESOL !

I'm off now to get a new project started.  Here's a little freebie I made for our 50th day of school on Tuesday.  Enjoy!

Click here to download

October Fun

I love October!  Even though we really don't have a "real" fall here in southeast Texas, I still get excited when the calendar turns to October.  I grew up in Pennsylvania so at least I have my memories of autumn leaves and crisp, cool days and nights!  But Halloween is still Halloween, and it is one of my favorite times of year!  For the next few weeks we'll use pumpkins, bats, spiders and all kinds of spooky things to help motivate our little ones to learn and have fun at the same time.
Last year I made these math games to add to my stations.

Click here to download the games.

My class last year loved learning about bats. Cara Carroll at The First Grade Parade has some of the best bat ideas.  I can't wait to do this Venn Diagram and bat fact activity.


Gail Gibbons has some great non-fiction books for this time of year.



Happy fall, y'all!  There's a bag of candy corn around here with my name on it so I am off to indulge!
Carol