Morning Work

For our schedule, my students come in at 7:30- we have announcements at 7:55 and we leave for our specials/ pull outs at 8:10, so we have time to do nice morning work. This year, I am going to do something a little different on Friday. In our morning meeting, we will cover a sight word a day. I will put it up on the word wall and we will have different activities for it. At the end of the week, I am going to give them a sheet called “sight words of the week” where students will have to write their sight words of the week with their name and the date. Then it will get sent home that evening so parents can keep up with what sight words we are learning. I hope they will use this time to work with their children on their sight words and spelling but you never know! If you would live a copy of the sheet, visit my TPT store. Its free :)

My first Pinterest DIY

My teacher friend and I decided to do a DIY project today! We LOVED the crates with the seats and thought, why not give it a go? Now, of course, I probably would have never made them without Jenna cause I wouldn’t have know where to start but 2 heads are better than one, right????

First, we took the advice of going to the grocery stores to see if we could get milk cartons for free. That would be a big NOPE. Apparently they only use cardboard or recycle the milk crates so that was a bust. We decided to go to Target to get our crates. We each got 4 which were about 3.48 or so a piece.

Then it was off to Home Depot! We took the advice of some others and took our crates in. The best idea we had all day. We didn’t have a clue where to go or what we needed. A nice older man found and us and whisked us off to the Wooden Wonderland. Then we met the magician in our wonderland. He knew exactly what we needed, did it and kept a smile on his face the entire time! WOW! We left home depot and had our wood part all complete!

Then we went to Hobby Lobby. We looked at several options for the fabric: table clothes, vinyl table clothes, curtains, sheets etc. It was much cheaper to do the regular fabric. Now, Jenna and I may or may not be terrible at measurement and bought lots of extra batting for the cushion. Anyways, we got really cute fabric, lots of batting and ribbons!

All that was from 11:00-3:00 (lunch was included). Then from 3:00-6:00 we made eight fantastic crates. The first one was the hardest because we had NO idea what we were doing but we got them done!

After a long day, with an awesome teacher friend, I’m exhausted but have 4 really really cute crate! YAY!!!

Mine are the red Mickey Mouse ones- Jenna has the state ones :)

Math Vocabulary

In my morning message/ calendar/ smart board lesson, I am going to introduce a math vocabulary word each day. I will have a math word wall in which these will go up on. I will not put any vocabulary cards up that have not been discussed. I took Debbie Diller’s math vocabulary on page 105 of her workstation book and made my own math vocabulary. This way, I can show the student the word and place it on the board when we talk about it. These vocabulary words are addition and subtraction. They are on my TPT!

What’s in a name?

If you know me, you know that I LOVE Kevin Henkes books and love to do an author study! This year, I am going to spread out the books instead of do one large author study to help students keep them apart. They also fit with out curriculum much better this way.

To start the school year, I read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. If you have never read it, it is about a little “girl” mouse that loves her name until she gets to Kindergarten and the other students make fun of her for it. This is always a great way to help students understand that we are all different.

I did an all about me project last year which was great but since its a new year, I decided to  change it.

This project goes with the book. It has students make a web about themselves. I got the idea Babbling Abby and her web.

It’s on my TPT account for free :)

Roll the Dice

One of my beginning math stations is to practice numbers. I created a sheet for the students to work with and turn in. Students will roll the dice. They will write the number, then they will stamp the number (from the REALLY cute stamps I got from Target), then they will illustrate the number however they want. This is a quick and easy workstation but will help students.

For differentiated learning, you can place two dice in their and have students write the 2 digit numbers, stamp and illustrate.

It will be on the TPT account (for free) once they having posting up.

If you want it before then, leave your email and I will send it!

 

First week of math

Like I said, I was very busy on vacation and planned several weeks of math. I created my first week of math plans. I think it is very important for students to learn how to use manipulatives which is the basis of the first week of plans. It also has students really review numbers 0-10 and how to write each number correctly. The first week, I do start with splitting them into small groups, but I do not introduce math workstations. I want them to get used to how math will run and my expectations. Here is my first week of math:

First week of Math

Morning Meeting

I just got back from a wonderful week long vacation at the beach where I had no internet and no computer! On top of that there was NO target. I really had a great time though. I took my Math Workstations book and did a lot of planning and creating! I also decided it was time to redo my morning meeting!

I was lucky enough to get a smartboard last year and started doing my morning meeting on it. HOWEVER, it was NEVER exactly what I wanted. So, I created my own but cutting and pasting the slides on others that I liked.

I will not be posting this, because I did not create it all and can’t even begin to give credit since they all came from Smart Exchange. I will list the new parts I have added:

1. Morning Message to the kids. This will become a grammar activity but for the start its just sweet messages for us to read.

2. Calendar- Usual stuff- today is, tomorrow will be, yesterday was. It also included the season.

3. Weather Graph- it includes a bar graph for the variety of weather and a temp. gauge!

4. Math Number of the day- which will be the school day number. I have it represented in numerical form, tallies, place value and money! The place value is very interactive and so is the piggy bank!

5. Math Mind- This is where I will introduce a new math word wall a day and place it on the math word wall. For the first few days they will be the number words. So day one will be the number “one”.

6. Sight word of the day- We do 5 sight words a week, which is one a day. We will place it on the board and they will have white boards to practice writing our words. :) I also included line paper on a slide to show how students would write the word!

If you have anymore neat ideas to add, please share! If you want to see my Smartboard lesson, please leave a comment with your e-mail. I will be happy to share but I DO NOT take credit for creating all the slides.

Flipping over Dominoes!

First, I LOVE Debbie Diller and her books! I’m no where close to being done with Chapter 4 and already have so many brilliant ideas! I can’t even make it through a paragraph without getting an idea for a fun game!

So here is the next game, “Flipping Over Dominoes”- it really is what it says- the partners flip over the dominoes. Best used if you have a set of dominoes up to 6, not the 9. Students flip over all the dominoes so they are unable to see the dots. They each get a domino mat to place in front of them. Each partner flips over a domino. The person with the greatest number on their domino gets both dominoes and gets to place them on their domino mat! When all dominoes are flipped over, the game is over! Great for number recognition and the first steps of adding!

How do you use dominos?

Up until now, I have used dominos mainly as a indoor recess center. Students love to play with them, stack them and make them fall. Why didn’t I use them in math? Well, because I had not seen all these awesome blogs! So, here is how I will be using Dominos as a math workstation.

I created “Domino Dock Up” which is a math mat where students can count- or add the domino dots up! What number they will get is where they will “dock” their dominos! Students can turn all the dominos over- and flip one over. Add it up and place it into their space. Later in the year, students can write the actual equation for an assessment-accountability piece. I plan on using this center for number recognition 1-12, which is in the first two weeks of school.

Where can you find it- TPT store- but PLEASE rate if you take it! Thanks!

We don’t use fancy glasses for shapes

My students thought we would get “those fancy glasses” when we were discussing 3D shapes. I laughed but in fact, it was a great use of their schema! We teach both 2D and 3D shapes but pretty far apart in the school year. I made these in word, they are just the shapes with names. In my classroom, I have a long radiator with lots of empty space. I am going to take these, print them and laminate them. Then I am going to stick magnets to the pack of these so we have an interactive shape wall. I also plan on having math workstations for geometry that will be near the radiator. You gotta use the space you have!

Number Recognition vocabulary

Technorati Tags: math

I know that I always use my word wall and play lots of games with it. This year, I have decided that I will really use my math word wall and let students see it and know the words. I have made them in the past but they were never really used. My curriculum, the first part we will teach is number recognition and being able to understand basic vocabulary. I have made these vocabulary cards for the math word wall. They are all the same size so they can be printed on card stock and cut out for the wall! Check them out at the TPT store! The numbers are Hawaiian numbers and I think they are super cute! :)

Mrs. Tabb says “Your a shoe in”

If you have not visited Mrs. Tabb at Just another day in first grade, you should! I love all of her ideas and she is currently doing a really cool give away! She made the comment first graders are obsessed with shoes and they are! They always want to show you their really cool shoes or ask if you have noticed them! She made a really neat unit on shoes! Go visit and look at for you yourself!!!

Roll and Build continued

Why not continue the last post and use it with graphing like Debbie Miller suggest? Exactly, I couldn’t come up with a reason either! I made a  graph for students to graph the colors they roll. You can put it in the same workstation later in the year and give them colored pencils/markers or crayons to color it. I know that first grade we aren’t responsible for bar graphs but it will never hurt them! It’s a simple sheet- I made it in black and white for easy copies! Check it out on my TPT and download it with the other game- but don’t forget to rate!

Roll and Build

This is for a math center for number recognition. It’s a quick activity that partners can play. The materials are two different cubes, one number and one with colors, unifix cubes and a mat to roll the cubes on. I was thinking about making paper cubes instead of actual hard cubes, then I can change it and it won’t make a loud noise.

The directions are pretty simple: Students roll both cubes and build the corresponding unifix cubes. If the students already have that number built, they lose a turn. The first person to build all 6 numbers off the dice wins!

Think this will be a great beginning of the year math workstation!

First Grade Writing

This is just a quick sheet for “First, next, then, last”. I think this is a great planning sheet. The students can draw their pictures for their stages and then write about it. Then students can use this to help develop a better picture and story for the final draft. You know where you can find it! If you have something similar or some more idea, please comment and let me know!

 

Target strikes again….

I definitely  have a love/hate relationship with Target. I love the dollar section, the clearance, the school supplies and clothes. I hate how much I “need” to go to Target and how much my wallet hurts after I go!

Yesterday, I visited my local Target early to get a netbook on sale. it just so happened the netbook came with a $50 dollar gift card. So I went to visit the lovely dollar section and here are some things I got:

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Picture one: Four hard plastic baskets that I’m going to use as their new guided reading baskets. They are super cute and I am working on making tags. It has an example of a tag but I haven’t made the others. Baskets were 2.50 a piece, the stars came in a packet for 1.00 and the ribbon for the tags game in 6 for 1.00

Picture two: I love cute paper! This is 8 sheets of scrap book paper which are beach themed which is perfect for my fish themed room! YAY! Packet of paper 1.00

Picture 3: The green boxes are the flashcards I got which I wrote about in another post. Each box was 1.00 and they will be used for my game boards! In the back in “Great work” stickers for 1.00. I love giving stickers!

Picture 4 &5: THE BEST FIND! These are Addition Learning mats for 1.00 a piece. They are dry erase and easy to check. Each spinner goes up to 12. They spin the first spinner and write the number down in the first box. Same with the second and then they have to figure out the equations! The 5th picture is the back where they will have some practice. These will be a great little center for students to use. I got 3 for the class. I plan on putting it with counters for those students who might not be able to count on using their hand.

OTHER FUN FINDS: I got 2 star pointers for the reading center, 2 packs of 300 beads to use as manipulatives, a pack of construction paper for .99 and some glue!

Out of the Mouths Of Babes Linky Party

Go visit Mrs. Dillard to see her post and the others who have linked up with her!

In my first year, we were walking around a memorial for a previous principal. The conversation went like this:

Makenzie: “Mrs. Todd, what is that?”

Mrs. Todd: “It is a memorial for a principal we had a long time ago.”

Makenzie: “But Mr. Thomas is our principal.”

Mrs. Todd: “Yes, he sure is.”

Makenzie: “That must that man (pointing at the memorial) Mr. Thomas’ great great principal.

Mrs. Todd: “It sure does.”

And these two come from last year:

When learning about 3D shapes: “Will we got those glasses to look at the shapes?”

“Are there a billion people in the world” students asked. “Around that, there are lots of people” Mrs. Todd answered. “I think there are more than a billion” student answered. “What is more than a billion?” Mrs. Todd asked. “A thousand” answered student.

What do animals and spaceships have in common?

They both became a subject of my new game boards!

I went to Target today in search of a sale. I got addition and subtraction flashcards for 1.00! YAY! So, the next logical step was for me to create a game board to use with those awesome flashcards.

I created “Animal Addition” which is a basic game board with lovely giraffe clipart. If they land on a giraffe, their partner will hold up an addition flash card. They can also land on “move ahead” or “go back”. Check out the game below: (TPT for free!)

Then, I created “Spaceship Subtraction” which is exactly like the addition game but with cute spaceship clipart. The same rules apply for this game. You can use a spinner or dice. I got 10 dice for 1.00 at the Dollar Store and I got 4 spinners for 1.00 at the Dollar Store!

 

 

Classroom management Linking Party!

YAY for my first linking party! LINK UP and share ideas about your classroom management!

Going into my third year, a lot has changed in terms of my classroom management. The first year, I did a simple three step system. You got silent lunch, laps in recess or a parent phone call. I had some who ended on parent phone call almost everyday to the point where I had to change my punishments. Not the best system.

Last year, I did the card system, I had five colors- Green, yellow, blue, orange, red. If you ended on red, I had a phone call home. It worked much better and I believe only 1-3 students went home on red in the whole school year. I thought that is what I would be using this up coming year, but then I found a LOVELY system.

Thanks to Mrs. Bainbridge, I have adapted this lovely system. (THIS IS HER PICTURE FROM HER CLASSROOM, I have not made mine so please don’t think it’s mine! It is all her and she is genius!)

I’m pretty excited about using this for the next year. I have even typed the entire behavior letter that will go home in the open house packet. My favorite part is the outstanding. I have had a sticker chart in my classroom both years and my students have been obsessed with doing great behaviors to get a sticker! This year, if you end up on outstanding at the end of the day, you get a bonus sticker!

Link up and share your classroom management techniques that work amazing or the not so good techniques. We can always learn from each other!

Monster Mansion Measurement

I love the idea of using monsters with measurement! I have created a cute monster measurement game that is on TPT.

For first grade we teach non-standard measurement. I created Monster Mansion which is a partner game that requires students to predict and measure how many teddy bears, unifix cubes or paper clips it will take for the monster to get home. 

Above is a picture of the game. I have also made a prediction sheet for the game. I would suggest playing this in partners because of the math talk associated. It is available at the TPT store for free.