Math Monday 2: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

       Math Monday 2: Short and sweet.  Last week we finished up our first math unit, which was focused on counting accurately, solving story problems, and fluency with plus or minus one from any number up to 10.  Some of my students are still working on fluency and I am creating a couple of games to help them practice.  But, I wanted to share with you a few tidbits from our story problem work.

        The kids really came a long way in a short time.  Recording their work was really challenging in the beginning but many of them made huge gains in being able to accurately solve an addition story problem and show their work.

        One activity that we did that they absolutely loved was based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  We read the book and made a list of all of the fruit that he ate as we read.

      Then, students were given the task of figuring out how many pieces of fruit he ate altogether.  We briefly discussed some ideas for tools they might use and strategies they could try.  Each student worked independently to figure it out and at the end of class we shared strategies.  A few students even wrote which strategy they used to show their work.

She started at 5 and counted on to 15!

She showed all of the pieces of fruit and counted each one.  She wrote, "I count all."

This one is from a student who could not accurately count a set of 20 objects at the beginning of the year.  When I asked him to draw 20 circles, he drew 36 and counted them for me and said there was 20.  He didn't have any one to one correspondence.  A few short weeks later, he accurately solved this problem and showed his work. :)

       When all of them finished, I put all of their work up on our bulletin board so that they could see all of the different strategies and ways to show their work.  This is part of that board.  Sorry about the blurry photo.  I took it quickly with the ipad.

            Alright, that's it for now.  We are now in our second unit which is on geometry.  So, I'll be back next Monday to share some of our work from that.

Have a great week!

Jenny

Math Mondays: A Beginning Look into First Grade

       I have been thinking about doing a series for a while and so I'm excited to start one today called Math Mondays (super creative, I know). :)  I plan to post about anything that has to do with primary math and is Common Core related, so please check back each Monday to see what's new.

       Let's do a quick recap of the first 22 days of school.  Yup, I am so jealous of happy for all of my friends who didn't start until after Labor Day and have only been in school for about 10 days. ;)  Okay, so we started out the year just getting to know our different math tools and thinking about what math is.  We launched the year by thinking about what we already know about math.  Here's what my first graders came up with...some great ideas and misconceptions.

           The Post-its are hard to read but here are a few of their thoughts: math is fun, cool, learning about shapes, about numbers, 100, etc.  A misconception- math is letters.  It will be interesting to come back to this later in the year and see how their thinking has changed.

            They had time to explore the math tools and figure out how
we can use them to help us with math.

          The first few weeks we spent a lot of time practicing counting accurately and comparing numbers.  They played lots of games to practice these skills.  So, they are working toward Common Core State Standard 1.NBT.1- Count to 120, starting at any number and 1.NBT. and 1.NBT.3- Compare two two-digit numbers based on place value.  Obviously, the beginning of first grade activities are just laying a foundation for proficiency in these two standards.
 
         One of their favorite activities was re-creating the number line on a string.  I gave each student a number, and we put the number 0 and the number 30 on the ends of our number line as benchmarks.  Students had to tell where their numbers went on the number line and how they knew.  They worked hard on using the language greater than and less than when explaining their thinking.

        In the bottom picture, you can see that she was having difficulty figuring out if she should put 15 before or after the 12 that was already on the number line.  We took some time to think about the following as a class:  Is 15 larger or smaller than 12?  Does it come before or after 12 when we count? The life size number line is an activity that we will do over and over again because it is great practice in counting, ordering, and comparing numbers.  It could easily be adapted and used in many ways.  A couple of ideas for adapting the life size number line activity include:

• counting by 2s, 5s, 10s
• using a different range of numbers (i.e. 1-5 or 1-10 for kindergarten, larger numbers for higher grades or later in the school year)
• providing different benchmark numbers each time 
• solving a story problem whole group on the number line

       Finally, I introduced solving story problems in the last week and a half.  This meets standard 1.OA.1.  We started by orally doing a few problems whole group over a few days and then students solved problems independently.  At the end of each class where they solve story problems, we have a discussion about strategies.  Here is a chart we created together during one of the discussions.  I intentionally began by asking a student who counted all to share because it is the most basic strategy.  Then, I led them through the discussion by choosing students who used higher level strategies like counting on and making a ten.  As students share their strategy, I record their thinking on our class chart.

           Alright, I have more to share but I'll save it for next time.  I would love to hear about activities you do with your classes to help them practice counting and comparing numbers.  

      

Back in First Grade and Loving It

   So, in the last two months, I finished the last school year as a second grade teacher in my old district, took a one credit week-long graduate class, packed up all of our belongings, moved 9 hours from home to Kansas, closed on our first home, unpacked all some of our stuff, and started a new school year teaching first grade.  No stress at all...:). But, I am feeling so blessed to where we are and after the first 11 days of school, I am soooo loving being back in first grade! They are so fun.

   I thought I would share some before and after pics of my new classroom.  It is a lot smaller than my room last year but I don't really mind.  It's cozy.

Before

After

Close-up of the CAFE menu.

     If you would like the headings for the CAFE menu, you can find them in my TPT store here.  They come in a pack with all of the strategy cards to print that are part of The Cafe Menu from the Two Sisters.  I usually just make the first couple of cards in front of the kids.

CAFE menu after the first couple of lessons

Before view from the door

After view from the side of the classroom.  That is the main meeting area in front of the board with the calendar board on the left and CAFE menu on the right.  The bins on top of the shelf will house all of their writing folders by table.

Close-up of calendar board.  This is the very basic board we start with and add to as the year goes on.

Schedule next to calendar

This shelf divides the meeting area from the table area.  It holds our pencil cups, folder bins, and
writing paper bins for each table.

      Oh, and you know that moment when it hits you that you are just overwhelmed because you just can't seem to have everything you need all in one spot at the same time?   I just realized I don't have any pics of the library area or back of the room with the word wall.  I'll have to take some and post them later.  

    And finally, for those of you who have not gone back yet or just haven't finished setting up your new room, here are a couple of resources from my TpT store that might help.  Or, if you are just looking for some new management decor, check them out. :)

CAFE Menu Pack

VOICES Writing Menu Board

Chevron Classroom Jobs Clip Chart

This packet includes a classroom jobs heading and 16 different classroom job cards with descriptions.  It comes in 9 different chevron colors and looks super cute on a ribbon with clothespins.

Ok, TGIF (tomorrow)!

People Magazine (Mom of the Year)

         I just couldn't resist sharing my students' adorable Mother's Day Projects with you...but first I have to brag on my mom and grandma for just a minute.  I am so blessed to have been able to share Mother's Day with my mom at my little brother's college graduation.  I am so very grateful for her love, support, and encouragement always.  She is a nurse practitioner who serves very sick inmates every day.

       I also was thinking about my gram, who I miss and love so very much.  One of my fondest memories is how she would always genuinely light up when I walked in the house to visit her and be so excited to hear what was going on with me.  She taught me so much about how to take care of family, cook, and just enjoy life.

Wasn't she so stylish? :)

    Alright, I could go on for awhile but let's move on to my students.  Last year I found this great idea on (none other than) Pinterest.  It is from The Polka Dotted Teacher.  Even though the project was done with fourth graders, it fit in perfectly with my second grade unit on persuasive writing so I decided to give it a try.  Last year they turned out so cute that I did the same project this year.  I love projects that fit into academics and don't just feel like something "extra" you have to fit in. 

    To begin, I showed my students a copy of a People magazine (a school and age appropriate one of course) and we talked about how people that do important things get to be on the cover of People.  Then I told them they were going to write a magazine article for their mom about why she deserves to be on the cover, decorate a cover with her on it, and they were hooked.

    We went through the entire writing process and since it was at the end of our persuasive unit, most of my students already felt very comfortable writing a persuasive piece with a few paragraphs.  I created a checklist for them to use to help with revising.  It's nothing fancy but definitely helped them.  Click on the picture below to download it from google docs.  

       Finally, students edited and were ready to publish their final copies.  Check out how a few of them turned out.  They are so sweet!

"That is all I asked for was a great mom." :)

Carson was really trying to use character traits to describe his mom like

I modeled.

I love his closing.

       It amazes me how much many of their drawings really do look just like their moms.  Happy belated Mother's Day to all of you who are moms.

Favorite Teacher Appreciation Gift Yet

      So I just had to share this great gift I got today from one of my kiddos.  He has given me something different each morning.  Yesterday he gave me a bag of York Peppermint Pieces with an acrostic poem about mint.  And....here's today.

   I know it's hard to read...so here's the poem:

I know you like mac and 

I know you like cheese.

Next time you make some

can I have 

some please?

From: Carson

    So funny!  He looked on my favorites sheet from the beginning of the year where I said mac and cheese was my favorite food.  He's so thoughtful!

    TGIF (tomorrow)!

Spring Bunnies and Big Changes

   Hey, everyone!  Wow...so I've been MIA for a while but I have a good excuse. ;)  My life has been crazy hectic with flights and 18 hour round trips over the weekends because my husband and I are going to be relocating at the end of this school year.  This is a big move for us and a huge change, but I am completely in awe of how faithful God has been and continues to be.  He's provided both of us with jobs and a home.  So, as of July, I will officially be able to say...

   I have had tons of pics ready to share for a while but have just been overwhelmed with everything on my plate.  So, I'll get started sharing with some spring bunnies and poems.  We did the following art project from Deep Space Sparkle (awesome art blog) as a class celebration for filling buckets.  Do you know this book?  It's an awesome way to teach kids about kindness and making good choices.  Click on the picture to check it out.

     In the beginning of the year,  I read the book to the kids and we made a chart about how to be a bucket filler.  They each have their own "bucket" and we have a class bucket with my name on it as well.  

When the entire class is doing their job without reminders, I tell them that they filled my bucket and we add a cotton ball (pom pom actually).  When the class bucket is full, we come up with a few choices for how to celebrate and then take a vote.  Past celebrations have been: extra recess, movie and popcorn party, etc.  So, for the last celebration they voted to do an art project.  This is a special treat in our class because it really doesn't happen much.  

    I followed much of the tutorial from Deep Space Sparkle but tweaked it a little bit because of available supplies.  Here are a few of the bunnies and poems they wrote to go with them.

     I love that last one with the floppy ear!  Happy hump day everybody!