Earth Day and Frozen Fact Families

This is a crazy busy week. I am trying to do this week's work, plus get sub plans ready for Thursday, Friday and Monday, AND work ahead so that when I get back to school on Tuesday I'm not already behind. Oh and you know, PACK for a 4 day trip to Mexico for my best friend's wedding. I am so excited about the trip and I will be even more excited tomorrow at this time when I'm finished will all of the above mentioned things. So, in light of all that, I don't have a tech tip for you, just two quick catch up shares.

Last week we finally wrapped up addition and subtraction round 2. Thank goodness. I REALLY need a break from those part part whole mats! So now we're on to fractions, which I think (and I think the kids agree) is a really fun unit. That sounds so nerdy, but it's true - graphing, fractions and geometry are probably my favorite math units. As I was trying to keep the excitement and freshness alive during that last week of fact strategies, I threw in this little frozen fact family activity. We were working with heating, cooling, freezing, and melting in science and Wednesday was ice cream in a bag day... so I tied our math in to the ice cream excitement and created these. I differentiated them by having some students work with larger numbers and allowing them to choose their numbers.

We celebrated Earth Day yesterday with a story and discussion about what we can do to reduce, reuse, recycle and take care of our Earth.. After all, it's the only one we've got! This is the book we read:

I really wanted our activity to put these things into action so I found this pinned on Pinterest and that's what we did! I sent an email to parents and had egg cartons in no time, soil was donated by another parent, I had pipe cleaners laying around already, so all I had to do was buy a packet of wheatgrass seeds. E-A-S-Y! The kids thought it was really fun and they got to take home something that really represented Earth Day - they reused styrofoam egg cartons to make something new AND put something new into the world by planting something. I know it's a little late now, but definitely check this book out and file it away for next year, it was a good one and really explained things in a way my firsties could understand.

Now I'm off to finish my to do list and get ready for my EXTREMELY early flight on Thursday morning. See y'all next week!

Tech Tip Tuesday/Wednesday and More {FREE} Games

This whole Tuesday thing doesn't seem to be happening for me. Maybe I should change it to Web Wednesday. Or maybe I will get my act together and start posting on Tuesdays... we'll see! In my defense, there were 12 tornadoes here yesterday! We had to go into severe weather procedures and get against the wall with our heads down twice! I didn't even have all of my kiddos picked up until more than an hour after school got out! I came home and watched the news... and fell asleep. So... no blog post. Since I'm a day late I came prepared with LOTS of technology resources for you today - YAY!

I'm going to start with a share - two quick addition games that I made today. I know I mentioned this already but our pacing guide has us revisiting addition and subtraction for 6 weeks right now. I feel like we've been doing it all year! I'm trying to keep my munchkins engaged and interested by creating new games even though they are practicing the same old skills. Click on the pictures to download from GoogleDocs. All clip art from Scrappin Doodles and Just So Scrappy. Fonts from Kevin and Amanda.

Students roll a 0-9 die, double the number and cover it up. First player to cover the board wins! (I know the picture has two 8s, but I assure that the printable version has an 8 and an 18!)

Each pair of students needs counters of two different colors, one 0-9 die and one game board. Students roll the die twice (or roll two dice), add the numbers together and cover the sum. If they reach a sum that has been covered by the other player, they can "sink it" by taking it off and replacing it with their own. The game is over when the board has been completely covered and the player with more counters on the board is the winner. 

Now - Tech Time!

First up... this little ditty which we've all got stuck in our heads. There is a 1-5 version and a 6-10 version. When we do it together, everyone gets a parter to hold up the numbers together (showing doubles) and we made up a whole dance that goes with it. It's quite the workout but oh... it is so cute and so fun!







I challenge you to watch those and not sing them for the next hour afterwards! Moving on...

Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? I LOVE poetry! Even more, I love poetry in the classroom! Here are some resources I found to share with y'all tonight so that your students can love poetry too!

Poets.org - Great poetry resources, especially related to activities for Poetry Month

Scholastic Poetry Idea Engine - Interactive poetry idea engine - use it to create haikus, free verse, limericks or cinquains.

ReadWriteThink Poetry - Resources, activities and lessons related to poetry and Poetry Month

Kathi Mitchell Poem Types - This lists different types of poetry in alphabetical order, explaining what each is with an example. For many of the poem types, a website is given for an interactive poetry activity.

Basically, I started looking for sites and was so overwhelmed by the results that I thought it was better for me to list some of the sites that listed other sites... ha! Does that make sense?

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of blog world!

Graphing Activities

Bonjour! We FINALLY wrapped up our place value unit last week and have moved on to one of my most favorite units - graphing! I know that sounds totally nerdy, but I really love graphing. I think I like it because the kids get really into it and there are so many ways to make them a part of the lesson. What started out as just a couple of activities for my math stations turned into two rather large packets of activities. I thought I'd share with you gals in case anyone is has graphing coming up!

I'm pretty bummed tonight because I worked on two different (differentiated) packets of graphing activities today where the students have to match the graph to the data... and I just opened it up to proofread it and all of a sudden all of my slides went blank! I have NO idea what happened! I am usually pretty computer savvy, but I can't figure this one out. Seriously, one minute my graphs were there, and then all of a sudden they all went white! Totally bummed. The last 3 weeks have been even busier than usual and I don't have a single spare minute. Sigh. I did print a hard copy before I left school today so I'm hoping I can look at those in the morning and remake my packets pretty quickly. Fingers crossed. I absolutely love technology, but I hate it when it has a mind of it's own! On a different note, I can't wait to do groundhog stuff tomorrow! I got a new book and I have some fun things planned (Oreos are involved... yum!). After groundhog predictions and activities tomorrow, it's the 100th day on Thursday, and then FRIDAY! What a fun week! I will be back to share soon!

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.

Simple Spinner

I hope everyone had a great 3 day weekend with lots of fun, family, friends and football! I'm stopping by really quickly to share a very simple spinner. I'm going to use this to add some challenge to some of my math games. For those of you who use Envision, I like to take those topic games and turn them into file folder games for math stations. I will use these spinners with some of my math games from last week to add a little challenge and continue building our number sense. The idea is that my students will still spin the game spinner or roll a die, and then spin this and have to add or subtract 1 or 2 from that number. It would also be a great addition to a game like Chutes and Ladders. Of course there are a million uses for a spinner and in the near future I plan on making different spinners to help me differentiate activities - they might say things like 10 more, 10 less, etc. Anyway, click on the images below to download my blank spinner or my programmed more/less spinner. It took me less than 5 minutes to make this, but hey if I can save you 5 minutes by sharing it with you, I love that!Have a FANTASTIC week!



Area Activity - You're the Designer!

Next week our measurement unit will be moving on to area, temperature and capacity. We're going to be cooped up in our room a lot (no specials because of state testing, lunch in our rooms to give the paraprofessionals a week off of lunch duty) so I've planned LOTS of get-up-and-move, hands-on activities. This is an independent practice page I made for my kiddos to show off their inner architect and designer after our active learning. Click on the preview below to download from google docs.

PS - I'm at 77 followers! I'm getting closer and closer to 100 and I CANNOT WAIT to announce my celebratory giveaway!

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!

I really do LOVE my job. I work with some really great people and I am especially lucky to work with such a great group of 1st grade teachers. One of those wonderful teammates is Mrs. Claborn over at Burst of First. Last week we came up with the idea to link up every Wednesday for "What We Love Wednesday", starting this week with websites! Now, I realize that yesterday was Wednesday, but I had one thing after another to do after school yesterday and by the time I got home at 11 last night all I could do was fall in to bed. So it's Thursday morning and here I am!

What We Love Wednesday - Website Edition!

1. KidBlog.org

If you are not using this yet, you need to go check it out now! We started using it last week and the kids can't get enough of it! Its very user friendly, it's quick and easy to set up, and the kids can access it from home. You can post questions for the kids to answer by leaving a comment, or you can have your students create their own posts. It's also a great way to let other people get involved in your classroom. Our principal, technology teacher, math specialist and reading specialist all left comments and questions for us this week and the kids were SO excited to have "visitors"! I don't worry about what kinds of comments my students will leave for me, or each other, but I know that unfortunately sometimes we do have to think about that, so here's another great thing about KidBlog - all student comments have to be approved by you before they post . I wish I could take credit for discovering this awesome tool, but I saw it a few weeks ago over at Bishop's Blackboard.  

2. XtraMath.org

Again, I can't take credit for this discovery. I found it on this post by Heidi over at Swamp Frog First Graders. I am always looking for new ways to drill and practice fast facts. SO many of my kiddos are still counting on their fingers! I love this site for 3 reasons: its free, its accessible from home, and best of all it runs itself! Really. There are several videos that you can watch on their site if you want more information, including a video about how it can work in your classroom. We've been using it every morning for 2 weeks and it's working out really well. I use it when my kids finish morning work and calendar binders, but you could use it any time. The first six kids that finish hop on a computer and get to work on XtraMath. They take a quick quiz, and when they finish it pops up with another student's name. The finished student then taps the next student, and that continues until our morning work/calendar time is up. If someone is absent or busy, there are buttons to click and another student will be selected. The students can also click on their own names to bypass the random selection. Head over there now and set up your class!

Leave me a comment and share your favorite website(s)! Be sure to head over and leave one with Mrs. Claborn at Burst of First too!



Alligator Addition

We're revisiting addition and subtraction. Again. This time with facts to 18. Last week we were reviewing doubles, doubles plus one and 10 plus facts, so I created this "Alligator Addition" activity for our math center. I'm excited about it since it could be used for ANY addition or subtraction facts or skills. All you have to do to create it is write the addends on the egg halves and the sum on the alligators. It's a much cuter and kid-friendly version of the part-part-whole model we use for addition and subtraction. I traced my alligators and eggs using patterns from a book called Making Big Books for Children Vol. 2, however the next set I make will be using the blacklines I created on the computer. My kiddos thought the alligators were so cool and really liked putting the pieces together and making them "hatch". Once the group pieced it all together, they all chose 8 facts to record and then wrote a related fact for each one. Next week we are reviewing related facts and fact families so I wanted to warm them up a little last week by including that. Plus, I always want them to have to think a little, rather than just record.

Here's a picture of mine, before I gave myself a hand cramp cutting them out.



And the card stock mess in my living room afterwards... but they turned out SO cute!

Click the preview to download the file. Just FYI, for some reason there is a blank page attached to the end that I cannot delete.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a fantastic week blog friends! Only 4 more days until my spring break - when is yours?

Is your suitcase unlocked?

One of my favorite things about teaching first graders is how much they make me laugh. This morning was a great example. As all teachers know, the things we teach, especially in math, build on each other. I would get so frustrated when we would start a new unit and the students would seem to forget everything we'd done before it. One day while trying to explain that we need to hold on to everything, I came up with an analogy that seemed to make sense to them. I told them that their brains are like suitcases and we pack all of the things we learn and do into our suitcases and bring them with us everywhere we go. Sometimes we take things out and use them, and then we put them back. They really seemed to get that and I hear them saying funny things to each other like, "Get it from your suitcase!" and sometimes I see them touching their heads and "packing things" when we're doing something new. Well, this morning one of my sweet girls looked up at me very seriously and said, "Miss Griffin, I have that in my suitcase, but my suitcase is locked today and I can't get anything out!". I HAD TO LAUGH. I mean, we all know what that feels like, right?

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!