teaching math

It's been a while since I've posted... a long while! oops!! Been a little busy.... teaching....moving....teaching...moving again..... working on my doctorate! It's time to start back blogging though!

So, this year more big changes are about to happen as I take on my biggest challenge as an educator.... leaving second grade and taking a job teaching 6th grade math! I am excited to start something new and challenging, but I am also full of anxiety--- I literally have no idea what to expect! So many differences between elementary and middle!

One awesome difference has been how much less money I've spent this summer on my classroom. Turns out a lot of middle school teachers don't actually decorate. I've done a little decorating though:

 

Ok... so not the best pics... it's a start though!

So, now that I'll be in math I have grand plans to have my students embrace the growth mindset this year. One of the other math teachers across the hall found this bulletin board:

 

Since I am out of bulletin board space... I turned this great idea into a poster! Now, it can be hung anywhere ;)

Click the picture to download.

My school has a poster printer! Whoop whoop.... so I'm gonna print this and hang it after we have our initial growth mindset lessons. I'm also going to shrink it and print it small enough to glue it into interactive notebooks too...There will be no forgetting it!

I've uploaded this freebie to my TPT shop! I hope I will be adding much much more for math teachers this school year!

math centers = loud

Yes, it is loud! I don't mind it so much, because I know MOST of the kids are learning something important, but DANG it is loud! Sometimes it's hard for me to teach a small group it is so loud.

So.... I took a break from math groups (and blogging... if you didn't notice!). I don't know if it's the last month of school or just the pure loudness of math center time, but I needed a break from the everyday routine of it all. So we have scaled back... and I mean waaaayyy back to once a week. I feel bad because I know whole group doesn't always work out for all my kids, but I have a few stinkers this year that will not stop talking LOUDLY! 

Anyway, I really do enjoy math rotations when they are being performed correctly and when I can meet with small groups and really get that "bang for my buck". As I mentioned before, I am beginning to feel the summer itch in these last few weeks of school, and to be honest the games in math rotations have been "rotated" one too many times! So, when I was recently asked by Casey at the Second Grade Math Maniac to check out her "Take Home Math Kits", I was hoping they would be a good fit in my math centers. Her packet includes a TON of games at all different levels, so I picked out a few that would support a skill that my kids need major practice... MATH FACT FLUENCY! 

Most of my kids are decent with their facts, but as 3rd grade approaches I am scared for them. It is no joke.. and if you are a third grade teacher you know what I am talking about. Casey has some great games in her kit. 

This kit is actually designed for kids to take home games to practice, but my kids aren't real fond of "homework", so they worked out perfectly in my centers. There are games with a similar format that deal with a range of skills from telling time to shapes to subtraction facts. 

My kids especially enjoyed playing paper plate subtraction. 

**Picture coming soon!!**

(Of course, I left the camera I took the pics on at school!)

Anyway, I would totally recommend this product and she has it on sale right now! Click here to check it out. 

If you have any ideas on how to keep my math groups quiet, so I can stop feeling guilty and get back into the groove of math rotations... please leave me a comment! 

back in the action and my math block

Yes, we are back! Back in school... we started on Thursday, for a half day- then had Friday off. So, tomorrow will be my first full day with my kiddos... I am expecting severe exhaustion!

Of course, I am really excited though! I have moved up to 2nd grade and I have a few of my kids from last year. I am trying out some newer strategies in my math block this year and I am very excited about it!

I borrowed a good friend's book this summer, Guided Math by Laney Sammons and started researching all over the Internet the best way to teach math.

My first step has been changing my math block from 60 to 90 minutes! It is going to shorten my science/social studies time but I think it is really necessary to meet with my students- especially my EL kids (and I can make up that science/ss time in reading).

So, after reading and researching I have landed on one schedule that seems like it will really work for me. The Clutterfree Classroom has an amazing math workshop board that allows for flexibility within your math workshop and I am totally do it!!! If you go to her site she explains it all with great detail and you can purchase parts you may need from her TPT store. I made my own, but I would suggest purchasing hers {since this was HER idea}. Here is what my board looks like:

So, here is an overview:

4 groups

4 rotations (Math Facts, At your seat, Teacher's Choice, Hands On) M.A.T.H.

Time:

5-10 minutes- Problem of Day or Review of what we are learning

15-20 minutes rotations 

Math Facts: Play math fact games

At your seat: Seatwork that may be reviewing what we are learning or working in math journals

Teacher's Choice: This will almost always be guided math portion. Each group will get a small group lesson, which will be the bulk of their individualized instruction.

Hands On: Games using manipulatives and/or pieces that give practice with skills we are working on. 

15 minutes: Closure. 

Closure is super important and should include and overview of the day, review of learning, and math talks! 

What are math talks? Our kids should be able to talk about how they solve problems and not just when we call on them. The goal is to get students to talk to each other while we are like moderators. I've seen teachers post "accountable talk" on a poster or pocket chart. I plan on this too! But while kids are working with each other I want them to have something close by to help foster good math talks. 

I made these Math Talk Bookmarks for this reason!

I am going to print front and back on cardstock and laminate. Kids can keep these in math journals or folders and pull out during this math talk time! Click any of the pics to download for FREE on tpt. 

Please leave me some feedback if you like :)

Have a great week! I can't wait to play with my second graders!

Ten Math Pins

Linking up again with Ashley from Just Reed for ten of my favorite math pins!

Check out the linky party to see a ton more helpful pins! I'm on my way there right now :)

graphing lovers

Graphing + Fruit= yum!

We ate some fruit and did some interactive graphing!

First we did the pictograph. Poor ol' star fruit wasn't the hit I had hoped for. Might have been because I didn't really know how to serve it properly... We still got a good taste though. So we each chose our favorite from our tasting and made a pictograph. 

The next day we took our pictograph data and turned it into a bar graph. I just used some index cards and each student colored a card to match their fruit from the day before. This really helped the kids see how each picture and each part of the graph represented the data the same way. 

Then the kids paired up and made some observations about our data. 

We spent a couple days making these but it really helped out our graphing unit! The last day we made a tally chart and compared the three. We were able to see that no matter how the data was represented, it didn't change. 

After we went through the Envisions topic (well most of it), we had a culminating group project. 

Each group was given some data in a different format. Some groups got tally charts, while others got bar graphs and others got pictographs. Then, each group had to change the info they had into what they didn't had. For example, if your group got a pictograph, then you had to make a bar graph and a tally chart to match your data. 

 
 

If you want to try this with your kiddos, you can download this freebie here. 

Oh and guess what.... tomorrow is Friday!!! woot woot!

Currently... only a few hours to a super sale!

I love currently. I missed it last month... I've been really really busy! 

Anyhoo, my kids are addicted to electronics! One is sitting across the room on the ipad (he is addicted to Wild Kratts- an app he bought with his tooth fairy money! lol). The other one is on the nook (at least she's reading... and btw she is reading Pete the Cat!)

As I am writing this the hubs just woke up from his so-called "cat nap".

Everything else is pretty self-explanatory... on to pet peeves:

My number one pet peeve is SNORING (check out what I was listening to during my Currently). My husband's snoring is getting worse. Some nights its not too bad but most of the time it drives me bonkers. Especially when we are in the living room and he could go get in bed, but he won't. Even our three year old says, "Daddy, stop snoring! It's annoying!!" lol

Boys do make annoying noises. My son is starting the noises too. His noises are mainly made to annoy his little sister... they seem to happen right about the time we're in the car! 

My school pet peeve is crowding. I'm sure you've experienced this at the beginning of the year... multiple children walking up to you to ask a question, soon your surrounded... the walls are closing in... ahhhh! I hate that... we have to break that behavior, and QUICK!

So, you might of heard of this big sale going on... tomorrow! 

I am also having 30% in my Teacher's Notebook store. I am sure there are some fab finds out there... I already have a few things in my wish list, bout to go add some more. 

While your shopping tomorrow, download this fun freebie:

Click the pic to go to my TPT store. 

My kids understood this concept (comparing numbers to 120) very quickly, but when I ask them to verbalize the equation, they are stumbling over their words. This little game can be played whole group or small group. Hopefully your kiddos will find it helpful too. 

Have a Super Sunday tomorrow! I can't wait to see your purchases. I'll share mine when I make my final selections!

the dreaded.... evaluation... gulp

This week I had my first evaluation of the year... I would like to be nervous or have some care about it, but I just can't!

The whole week I have been... kind of... side tracked... so- whoop-de-doo to the evaluation.

I mean I felt that way until Wednesday night... when I was getting the plan together (some may say scrambling). I mean I never had time until the night before to get things together.... sorta been a slacker this week!

Anyway, I am sure the lesson was just fine... I did it on determining the operation by using keywords in addition/subtraction story problems. I couldn't find just the right book to open my lesson, so I just made a little something (you know, on Wednesday night!)...

It turned out to be cute and helpful! Here it is:

Click the picture for the Free download on TPT.

Those little detective kids are cute right? Those were some adorable FREE clipart! I found this spectacular FREE clipart site... that has quite possibly been under my nose this whole time...

(sometimes I get so caught up in buying some adorable clipart that I forget to search for free stuff!)

Anyway, the creator, Laura Strickland, is amazing because it is all free and there is so much of it! You have to click right now to see the cute graphics that are at your disposal (did I mention they are free?!?)

Don't stay up too late looking at this cute stuff! Oh, and don't forget to enter my Christmas Card giveaway from Tiny Prints. Click here to get in... ends 10/28 :)

MIA... and a Freebie!

I have been MIA this week... been working hard! My firsties (who are really smart!) are bored... yes, they are bored! They are looking at me like I am crazy during phonics lessons- ya know that look? Apparently, they already know these sounds.. hmmm... well, most of them do!

So, we are bumping it up this week and I am loving it! (I still have to fit in a couple boring phonics lessons) but I am making up for it with a novel study on none other than... Junie B. Jones! First graders love reading her books and we have multiple class sets at my school so, on a whim, I picked one out and decided we would do a 2-week study! We are halfway through the book and it is amazing to see how some of them are so ready for 2nd grade [tear] . I mean I want them to be ready but then I won't have them anymore... and this is quite possibly the best first grade class ever! 

Wordle in the Room

Teaching My Calling is hosting a Digital Learning Day Linky Party. I love using any kind of technology (like most of you!) One staple in my room is Wordle. This is a fab site where you can make word clouds. There is another one that is similar called Tagxedo. Tagxedo lets you pick a shape to put your word cloud in. It is pretty cool (especially if your making a cloud about a specific subject).
I use wordle a lot! I use it for a spelling center! I enter my spelling words on wordle, then it creates a cloud like this:

My kids do ABC order by cutting the words out and pasting them on a different page. You can change the colors, style, and font.

In other news I had an epiphany today during math. I couldn't find our place value mats--- lost somewhere in the clutter! So, instead of freaking out I just thought why don't we just write on our desk! Hello!! Where has this idea been?? I write their names on their desks with sharpie and it seems to come off after a couple of months (no...I didn't give them a sharpie!!)
They used their dry erase markers to make their own place value mats... genius (if I do say so myself!)

(oh and by the way... we did clean our desks afterwards! But we will do this again tomorrow!)

Place Value and a Freebie

I have been completely stressing this weekend about my next evaluation and I don't know why. If you talk to me any day of the week I would tell you (as cool as a cucumber) how much I don't care about these evaluations and how this is not a big deal. I keep saying it in the back of my head but I can't get the next one out of my head!! With this said, I spent all day Saturday thinking about what I was going to do during this math eval. We are studying place value right now so it wouldn't make much sense for me to do anything different but I want to make sure I hit all those "instructional" components. So, after spending all day yesterday racking my brain and writing a lesson plan which was pretty lame, I woke up this morning and knew exactly what to do.

I am not going to go through my whole lesson plan that is jam-packed but I do want to share a couple things I will be doing and, of course, give you part of it :) To start my lesson (you know that ol' anticipatory set) we are going to play "I have, Who has? Place Value". I created some cards today. After I get them laminated I am going to make sure my kiddos are well-versed in the rules of this game. I am thinking they are going to love it! Click here to get your copy of the game!

I made some really cool "Place Value Pinch Cards" to use for a formative assessments (just one out of the five assessments they require--I mean if you want to be that star #5 teacher!). I am only assessing through the tens place but we will probably learn the hundreds place later on.

I made these from some paint chips from Home Depot- I am sure they thought I was crazy taking 24 random colors of Disney paint. If you are closer to Lowes I am sure they have a better selection of paint chips if you want to go above the tens place. Home Depot did not have a large selection. Then I printed out these strips and will laminate. I was super excited about how cute these were.

After we work on expanded form whole group, we will do some partner/small group practice with this partner activity. Students can use the picture, but will also have access to rods and units if they prefer. My last critique in an evaluation was that I needed to improve on grouping (I pulled names out of a bag to make groups last time); so, this time I want to make sure my evaluater sees that I am taking their critiques and trying to improve (I mean there isn't that much room for improvement!! lol--just joking). If you would like to use this partner activity click here.

If you have any other tips for me please share!

My evaluation isn't until Thursday so we will be busy this week getting the room ready with tons of student work and I will be posting all the fun things we are doing this week. We are studying MLK all week and the hundreth day of school is Wednesday. Hope ya'll have a great week and enjoy the one more day off this weekend! I am going to try!