The End is Near!

Hello!

I don’t know about you, but I’m in disbelief that I only have two weeks of summer left! Where did it go?

On the last day of school, I packed up my classroom, filled up my teacher bag with all the things I wanted to work on during the summer and left for summer break! This was the first time in my 22 years of teaching that I left my classroom on the last day of school!

The only school related thing I’ve done was a professional development in Vegas! My school is adopting the Expeditionary Learning Education curriculum

Well, best laid plans...I haven’t worked on anything that was in that teacher bag! LOL!

I decided to embrace summer for the first time in 22 years! I have read numerous books and vacationed with my family...without my computer!

We took lots of fun pictures! Can you guess where we traveled?

Now, with only 2 weeks left, I am feeling a sense of urgency in the pit of my stomach! I have begun the inevitable...making name tags, class decor, class lists, you name it! Here’s what my living room looks like….YIKES!

The piles from Summer shopping are out of control!  

I’m also am changing the color scheme in my room this year. It’s been a little bit of a hodge podge the last few years, so I looked for something pleasing to MY eye! I love the farmhouse / rustic look, but I need a little color. Imagine my excitement when I discovered Hollie Griffith's Farmhouse Flair Collection! OMG! It's perfect!

So now I'm printing, laminating and cutting like crazy!  

I'm also creating math resources for my new group of firsties!  I'll have to post pictures as soon as I've finished.  Right now, I'm focusing on those beginning of the year skills my new students will need to practice (subitizing, number identification, ten frames, beginning addition and subtraction)!  Until it's finished...here's a sneak peek!

  

These will be great for teaching those beginning of the year procedures: using scissors, glue sponges or glue sticks, subitizing, number identification!  I'm working on a back to school theme!  My plan is to have the skills increase while keeping the directions / activity the same.   

Leave a comment if you have other skills you would like to see!  

Fall into M.A.T.H. Stations!

I love this time of year!  The beautiful fall colors, cooler air,  Pumpkin Spice Lattes and knowing the holidays are right around the corner!  I also love seeing the growth my students have made in this short time we've been together!

During the first trimester of school, we have focused on subitizing, showing numbers in different ways, and making 10!  I've been forcing myself and my kids to slow down and really focus!  I want to make sure they have a solid foundation in these 3 areas of math!

This is by far the BEST I have felt about my students' math understanding this early in the year!  Each morning we gather on the carpet for our calendar time!  This is more than the day of the week, etc.  This is the mini lesson before our MATH time.  We make the most of this time by following this daily routine!

I'm so impressed with my students' math minds and plan to continue with this routine!  Here is an outline of what it looks like in my classroom!

For MATH time I use the acronym M.A.T.H. to organize my groups.

• M - Meet with the Teacher

• A - Activity Journal

• T - Technology

• H - Hands on Tubs

Meet with the Teacher is my time to work with small groups.  During this time, I introduce new games, strategies and/or reinforce concepts.  Often the activities we cover in my small groups will appear in Hands on Tubs for independent practice!

Activity Journal provides an opportunity for independent practice and is often pencil paper.  I try to provide more than a worksheet though.  Usually it is more of an interactive page.

Technology:  I am fortunate to have 5 Chromebooks and 6 iPads in my classroom.  My students use the Chromebooks to access our adopted curriculum's on line portion during MATH time.  We also use the iPads to explore apps.  Some of our favorites are:

Hands On Tubs are filled with games that review concepts previously taught.  Students play games with partners or complete activities independently.  Occasionally, one of the tubs may have an independent activity such as puzzles, tangrams, or pattern blocks.


Hands on Math Tubs offer the perfect time to provide engaging fall themed independent and group activities for students!  Here are some of my students' favorites and a FREEBIE for you!

Print and add DICE!  My students love these!

Get your kids up and moving while practicing math strategies!

Click the Picture to Download Your Freebie!

Comparing Numbers!

 I'm busy planning for the week after Spring Break...that's right...I'm on Spring Break!  Woohoo!  I need a break from the classroom to take care of some things around the house and spend some quality time with my sweet girls!

We have been comparing numbers and working on greater than, less than and equal!   After Spring Break, we'll continue comparing numbers and practice balancing equations.  This is the balance I use to let the kids build equations.  They can see the results right in front of them.  It is very concrete and provides a great visual for students.

Then we do some independent practice in our math tubs!

Students use flower manipulatives (Dollar Store!) and number cards to build the balanced equations 5+0=2+3.

This is part of my Bunny Balancing Math Unit. 

Thanks for checking in!