Bar Models for Smart Software

One of my favorite tools to teach addition and subtraction  in first grade is a bar model. I started using the part-part-whole diagrams when my district first adopted Envision because I think it really helps my students to visualize what information they have, what they need to find out and therefore, what operation to use. This year, my district's math department is really pushing teachers to use these and I'm excited about that since this is really the best way I've found to teach a sometimes difficult concept.

I've created a very simple Smart activity so that I can introduce using these and model during guided practice. We're starting our first addition and subtraction unit this Monday and I plan on using these often! There are 3 pages in the download - a part-part-whole model and two different comparison models. I included two comparison models because I personally like the one on page 3 better (to me, it makes more sense to have a line as your difference because it shows that you need that amount to get to the bigger part and the oval just looks like a separate part), but the model on page 2 is supposed to be for use in K-2, so I want my students to see it, be familiar with it and know how to use it. I wouldn't want the fact that I used a different model to keep them from showing what they know on a district assessment or confuse them when they got to 2nd grade. Each page has "infinite cloned" counters so that you can model problems as well as a space for a number sentence. Click on the preview below (or here) and download it for free from Teachers Pay Teachers.

Math SMART Shares

As usual, I was way more stressed about Open House than I needed to be! It's 4:30 and I am officially ready, but the kiddos won't be here until 6:30. In my down time here I thought I'd post some SMART math activities. I love these because they were easy to make and they can be a quick warm up or problem solving piece or you could turn them into a longer guided practice, whole class or small group lesson. Who doesn't love things that can be used multiple times in different ways?!

Adding and Subtracting on a Number Line: These are 2 separate files, but they have the same basic format. The random number generator tool is used to determine a starting point, then again to determine a number to add on or take away. The students can draw what's happening on the number line, then record the number sentence in the white space below. It works really well if you use the "magic pen" tool - saves you the erasing and by the time the next student is ready for his/her turn, the previous student's work has disappeared! Click each preview picture to download for free on TpT!

Today's Target: This is similar to a "number of the day" activity. The random number generator (Can you tell I really like that tool?) is used to generate a target number. In math journals or on whiteboards students can record their own ways to compose the number, then you or your students can share and record in the white space around the target using the pen tool. Again, click the preview picture below to download for free from TpT!

I hope some of you can use and enjoy these activities! I have 5 SMART items posted on TpT for free and lots of downloads, but no rating :(. If you do download and use these, I would LOVE some feeback or rating on TpT! 



What We Love Wednesday - Word Work!

Word work is such a HUGE part of my classroom, and if you're a primary teacher, probably yours too. We do word work a hundred different ways, several times throughout our day - we do word work in our fluency stations, centers, and of course the ELAR block. My most favorite word work activity has to be making words. I love it because it's multilevel, hands-on, and meaningful. What's even better? The kiddos love it too! 4 years ago I made a class set of letter cards and believe it or not - they've survived!

My tower of making words supplies 

 Each student has a baggie with his/her number on it. They use the same set all year and at the end of the year, they do an inventory so I can replace any missing letters. All vowels are copied on hot pink cardstock while consonants are on white. Having the vowels easily distinguishable really helps them sort through the letters and find what they need quickly, plus they know that every word they make will have to have a pink letter. Of course, it also reinforces the concept of vowels and consonants.  

These are another key piece to making words in my classroom. My kiddos LOVE using these letter trays. It also helps them keep the letters organized as they work. They place the given letters for the activity in the tray, and then have their desk work space to make words. All you need to make these is a handful of laminated file folders and a stapler!

And of course, I have something to share with you! Click the picture below to download the making words recording sheet I'm using this week. My mystery word this week is flowers, and the students are sorting for long o words. I also created it in in SMART so that after the students have worked on it independently we can meet together and share our words, or I can use it in small groups with some of my strugglers. I use the SMART version in split screen view so that page 1 with the letters is on the left and the students can manipulate the letters and make words, then the recording sheet is on the right. I use it with my laptop and Air Slate, but I'm sure you lucky ladies with SMARTBoards can use it too! I still haven't worked out posting a SMART file, so please click here to download it for free from TpT. If you can offer any help as to how I can post SMART files in the future without going through TpT, please let me know! I'd greatly appreciate it! Right now I work with Google Docs, and I don't think I can share the file that way.

Our Open House is tomorrow night and you know there are still TONS of things I want to do before then, so I'm off to bed! Goodnight Blog World!

SMART Coin Spinner and Graphing Activity

Well, we've had a GREAT two days back at school (after being home Tuesday - Friday for snow and ice last week), but here we are at home again today. More snow and ice. This is an especially disappointing snow day because today was supposed to FINALLY be our 100th day! I had these cute stickers and pencils for my firsties, plus lots of fun activities planned. I'll have to save all of that for a post after we finally get to celebrate! Now... heads up, this is a loooong post. I am a talker, and I write like I talk. And I give a lot of details. Don't say I didn't warn you...



I've seen tons of posts recently about smartboards, and while I am trés jealous because my school doesn't have interactive whiteboards, we do have some pretty cool tools that use the same software. We have something called air slates, and I L-O-V-E them. Air slates are basically wireless tablets, which at the very least are great for controlling your computer from any here in the room. The super thing about them is that they use the SMART software, so I can do all the same things that you SMARTBoard teachers can do! I just have to use my computer and my projector. Of course the kiddos love it because it's technology and I love it because the possibilities really are endless. You really can use it for ANYTHING. I could easily go on and on about them... but that's not what my post is about! We are working with coins this week and had a fanstastic time with our air slates yesterday. (I actually took some pics of my firsties during the activity, but I'm saving those for my parent blog on blackboard). It was only our second day working with coins, but most of the kids are pretty familiar with them already and I knew they were ready for a challenge. I found a spinner that I created last year in SMART and I think I've managed to work it into my lesson plans at least 3 times this week. What is it about spinners (and dice) that make everything more fun? So, yesterday we used the spinner to reinforce identifying coin names and values, and graphed our results as we played. For this lesson I used a coin graph master from Box It or Bag It. Now, it's pretty plain jane and it doesn't have fancy font, but it had everything I wanted on it - coin name, picture and value - so why not use it? I told my class that we would take turns spinning the spinner until either a coin column was full or everyone had a turn. It worked out perfectly and everyone got to spin - whew! I had fun watching them get so excited - they cheered when the quarter caught up to the dime, and again when we finally spun a penny. Our game was simple - the students would spin, identify the coin that the spinner landed on and share the value. Obviously I wanted everyone to be successful, so I told them they could choose conference with their neighbors before answering. I was really proud of them when they ALL knew their coins and the values. It really helped that the graph recording sheet we used had pictures and values on it. That was a great way to support the kids who didn't have as much background knowledge and I definitely saw a few of them quickly referring back to it before responding. As another way to reinforce that value piece of the lesson, I had them record the value in each box of the graph instead of coloring it in. The kids really stayed engaged even after their own turns because a) I let them use markers and b) they really wanted to see which coin would "win". We finished up the activity by interpreting our data and writing about it in our math journals. Just another one of my sneaky ways to work in writing!

This is what our graphs looked like:

And a little math journaling

I'm going to put my laptop and an air slate up as math station later this week and the students are going to play again, except with an extra challenge. I've created a new graph with only coin names, no picture or value, to use as a recording sheet. The students will be able to refer to our class anchor chart and each other for support when needed, but I'm hoping that without the picture and value on the graph they'll be forced to stretch their brains a little more. If any of that sounded interesting to you or if you have a SMART Board and want to use my coin spinner, I'm attaching/linking what you need to do this in your own classroom. I'm not quite blog savvy enough to figure out attaching a SMART file, so I posted it on Teachers Pay Teachers for free here. I have to warn you - you can't lock the spinner (or at least I couldn't) so you have to be careful not to drag when you click to spin. My kiddos didn't have any trouble with that though, so I don't think it's a problem. You can find the graph I used for the whole class lesson in Box It or Bag It. If you'd like a copy of the recording sheet I created for our follow up math station, click on the picture below.

 

As we continue working with coins for the next two weeks, I can't wait to incorporate some fabulous games from The Great Coin Collection, one of The First Grade Parade's Cara Carroll's TpT creations. If you're working with coins, you definitely need to head over there and grab a copy for yourself !


Now, crossing my fingers that I'm back at school tomorrow for the 100th day!