Where did the weekend go? Working on Incorporating Math Routines

Ok, so how is it Sunday night already?  I always have such an ambitious to-do list and then I just get disappointed when I don't get it all done!  Here's what I did do:

1. Lesson plans... really good ones, I might add!
2. Read up on math routines to slide into the time slots I created each day in my plans to practice math skills outside of the Everyday Math lesson.
3. Came up with a solution to my organizational issues in the classroom with Daily 5 and math materials... trips to Staples, Target, and Lowe's and $300 later.  (Is this why I do not own my own home?  I think so!)  
4. Uploaded books on CD to iTunes to put on our classroom iPods for Listen to Reading.  The kids are PUMPED about this, so I had to get it done!
5. Started a new to-do list!

Number Routines/Mental Math

Alright, I posted on Friday about how I wanted to incorporate mental math into my day and I squeezed some time in after lunch.  I only needed about 10 or 15 minutes, so I figured this is totally do-able.  We'll see how it goes tomorrow, but after going back and reading or rereading some of the books I shared, I know I need to fit this into my day.  We're going to work on number sense, subitizing, and the concepts of 5 and 10.

How are we going to do this in 10-15 minutes a day?  Well, I will keep you posted, but here are some things on my list:

1. Ten Frame Flashes- flash a ten frame on the projector and students have to quickly determine how many counters they see.  They also explain how they saw it.  For example, in the 2nd slide below,  one student may see 7 counters as 3+4, one may see it as 3+3+1, and another may see it as 8-1.  Here are some samples from the slides I use, which are on my TpT page.  Just click the slides to go see more!

For this slide, students may see 8+8, 4+4+4+4, 20-4, etc.

2.  Finger patterns- students hold up fingers according to a number I give.  We discuss the different patterns students made.

3.  Dot plates- dots are arranged on a plate and students must quickly determine how many dots they see, much like 10 frame flashes.

4. Domino flashes- enlarged domino printouts are used just like ten frame and dot plate flashes.

5. Counting around the rug- We choose how we are going to count (forward by 2s, backwards by 1s, etc.) and students take turns counting.  Each student says a number and we zigzag around the rows on the rug.  This is one of the students favorites activities from last year, so we will see once these are all incorporated what this year's kiddos think.

I will try to share pictures of the activities we try and keep you posted as to how it goes.  I already have all these materials made and have shared my ten frame flashes on TpT.  I'd share the rest, but I printed out the dominoes from another site and I actually glued dots onto real plates for the dot plates!  You're on your own for these for now! :)

 

Yay! Report cards are done! Time to set new goals!

Whew... report cards went home on Friday.  It doesn't matter how prepared you think you are, it's always a stressful week.  This year I was lucky enough to get the worst case of strep EVER and was sick for an entire week.  So sick it made me dizzy to read!  You know what that means... no grading papers.  Usually unless I feel like I am on my deathbed, I lay in bed when I'm sick, watch soap operas, blow my nose, and grade papers.  Not this time!!!  Anyway, I am glad to be done with report cards and set new goals for the 2nd grading period. 

This is the first year we've posted learning goals in the classroom and while it's hard for me to remember to do, I like it.  I feel like it keeps me more focused, which is frustrating that I can't go off on my teachable moments that pop up as much as I would like, but if I am more focused, then I know the kids must be more focused, too!  The kids like "voting" with a show of fingers where they are on the learning goal rubric and they love being able to move up on the continuum.  I love watching their eyes light up when they realize they are beginning to understand the learning goal!  In my room, I use the Common Core goals made by the awesome and inspiring Deanna Jump, along with a rubric I created with my first grade team.  We based the color coding off of mClass assessments to be consistent, with the exception of the blue.  We thought this would help kids understand a bit better.  Here's our rubric:

Pick up this FREEBIE at my TpT page!  Graphics by Jessica Stanford and fonts by Fonts 4 Teachers!

Anyway, the poster actually looks nicer because we printed them out and colored the faces ourselves, but to show you, I pasted it into Paint and filled the faces in.  Blue is because you are sad that you don't get it (thanks Sheila!), then we followed the red, yellow, green color coding used by mClass.  Red in mClass means you need lots of support, yellow means little support, and green means the goal has been met.  We thought this went along with our rubric quite nicely.  Originally I had wanted the last smiley to be yellow because yellow is such a happy color to me, but my colleagues were totally right on this one!

So I was going to send home a goal setting sheet with the report cards, but couldn't decide on how I wanted to do it by Friday.  After some thinking, I think we will set our goals together in class, then send them home for parents to sign.  That way we are all on the same page!  We have our standards split up by quarters, so I will go over the standards/goals for the 2nd quarter with the kids and have them choose one as their goal.  I also think we can look over the report cards and see which of the "old" goals each student could improve on.  I know this will take some work with first graders, but they really do get excited about the rubric and I think this will help them to take responsibility and pride in their learning.

Oh... one more thing.  My favorite part about the goals and rubric... acting it out!  I wanted kids to be able to share when the lightbulb went on for them, so we came up with a quiet way for them to show their excitement.  The fourth smiley kinda has excited eyes and those lines coming off the head, so when my kids are "getting it," they make those lines with their fingers above their heads and wiggle them.  Then I don't have all of the excited gasping, but still can share in the celebration with my kiddos! 

Words From Earth/Words From Mars: Real vs. Nonsense Words

4 posts in 4 days... can you tell I am on fall break?  Well, I guess I am not taking much of a break, but I love when time off lends itself to some creative time in between paper grading!

So... nonsense words.  I used to have a HUGE problem with this.  I mean, we're always telling kids, "Does that make sense?  Does that sound right?" and then here I am, giving them nonsense words?!  I figured out something, though.  Well, I think I did anyway.  When kids are learning to read, don't a lot of their words sound like nonsense words to them as they are trying to decode?  Does it really hurt to show them how to decode any word, real or not, and then decide if it is real?  I have decided that it's not so bad, especially when I get to do a fun activity like this with the class!

Words from Earth/Words from Mars takes common word families like -an, -ad, -am, and -at and gives kids a list of real and nonsense words from these families.  They have to decode the word using the phonics rules (in this case using the short a sound), and then decide if the word is real (from Earth) or nonsense (from Mars).

Click here to grab this from my TpT page!

This came from one of my many many word works activity books I have stashed in the closet.

 
 I LOVE this book!  Sometimes I just don't feel like doing a worksheet, though, and if I don't, I can guarantee my kids don't!  As I said in the last post, I was looking for some brain breaks to work on reading skills and decided to turn this activity into something I could use on the projector.  A word flashes on the screen and the kids have to decode the word.  Then they make an Earthling face or a Martian face (see how quiet this one is... yeah!) to vote whether it is a real word or a nonsense word.  I made it self-checking by making the following slide have the same word with either a picture of a boy or girl astronaut or an alien.  This way it could be printed out and put in a binder for work in small groups or centers.  I was also thinking about printing smaller cards and laminating them to make flashcards and a Memory game! 

So far we have just done this either with the worksheet or I have handwritten the words on sentence strips and done them as a whole class pocket chart activity, so I am super excited to try this as a brain break when I get back to school on Tuesday!  The real test will be whether or not the kids find these as fun as Mr. Harry's songs.  I can only hope to be a close 2nd!










http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Practicing-Real-vs-Nonsense-Words-Short-a-Words-From-EarthWords-From-Marshttp://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Practicing-Real-vs-Nonsense-Words-Short-a-Words-From-EarthWords-From-Marshttp://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Practicing-Real-vs-Nonsense-Words-Short-a-Words-From-EarthWords-From-Mars

Pirates and Parrots

It's the end of the first grading period and sight word assessments are in.  While I'm happy with the progress of the class, there is always room for improvement!  This class LOVES brain breaks in between activities, and it really cuts down on transition time.  Students are excited to get cleaned up and get to the brain break, and the brain break not only gets the wiggles out, but also provides extra practice on skills.

So far this year, our brain breaks have been mostly math songs from Harry Kindergarten- if you haven't checked out his work on You Tube, you really should.  But, I digress!  Back to Pirates and Parrots.  I needed some brain breaks that focus on reading skills.  This is something I learned from the I Teach First Conference with speaker Laureen Reynolds.  She told us about a game called Cowboys and Chickens, where students read sight words until they come to a cowboy or chicken on the screen.  When they see a cowboy, students yell, "Yeehaw!" and when they see a chicken, they yell, "Bawk-bawk!"

This is an adaptation of that game.  Basically, you can pick anything your students are interested in, or can match it up to whatever you are studying, like owls, bats, etc.  I chose pirates because, well,  I love pirates and who doesn't love making the good old, "Arrrr!" noise.  It's also a great tie in later to the /ar/ sound.  Personally, I'd prefer to use Johnny Depp as Captain Jack, but this is probably more school appropriate.  It's called Pirates and Parrots because I used to have a parrot in there, however, that noise was just too annoying!

So the rules are like this:  see a sight word, read it, see a pirate, yell, "Arrr!"  Easy, right?  The point is to get the kids to read the sight words as quickly and accurately as possible.  The pirates are just a fun way to keep the kids engaged.  I've been making these for my class and have posted one on TpT to share.  I really love this game and recommend it for whole class activities, small group interventions, or print out small slides and give them to individual students to practice on their own.  So fun!