Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Valentines Math

I found a cute 100th day activity looking for 100 Hershey's Kisses. I wanted to eat 100 Hershey's Kisses, but in the midst of my chocolate coma filled with regret, I decided to repurpose them into a math center. I also have these cute envelopes from With Envy Graphics (www.etsy.com) to add another component to the center.
Here is our station box with envelopes and kisses. I placed this next to our 100s chart in the classroom. The envelopes are numbered and match up with the kisses. They are also easy to slide into the hundreds chart. 



I decided to do 1-50 after an incident on the 100th day of school, when one of my students tried to leapfrog over the whole chart and didn't quite clear 70-100 (also the reason it is hanging and not flat on the floor). If your chart is flexible, you can probably fit both the envelope and kiss in the matching pocket. Or you can lay it flat on the ground if you are feeling brave.

Quick and Easy Math Station

So who can resist a sale a Michaels or really just the teacher discount?? I picked up these cute hole punchers and we are using them in our math centers this week. They are intended for scrapbooking, but lets be honest...I have never, not ever finished a scrapbook even when I start out with the best intentions.
For my students working on addition, I used notecards and wrote down sums up to 10...paper strips work well too. I also have students who are still learning their numbers. This example doubles as identifying the written words as well.

You could use a hole punch as well...We are just working up the fine motor skills to use the hole punch.

Monday, November 3, 2014

A Week of Reading Centers

Day One
This super easy center is an alphabet puzzle in a bowl of recycled crinkle paper:

Students search for letters and practice writing on a white board. Great sensory activity that supports letter identification and letter formation!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Rainbow Fish

Rainbow Fish is a classroom favorite and perfect for teaching students the importance of sharing. If you don't have this book in your classroom, you should! We read this book on the first day of school and paired it with these fun activities.

Name Scales: 
As I read the story, I clipped scales onto each student (clothespins, cardstock, tape and aluminum foil). I pinned the shiny scales (aluminum foil) on to only one student. When we were finished reading the story, students had to find the scales with the letters to make up their names. For students that do not know the spelling, I provided notecards with the correct spelling. This activity encouraged students to learn the names of classmates, identify/match letters and recognize names. We also practiced speaking clearly and politely. 
I made this giant fish to clip all of our scales on. This represented our goals to share with one another and be kind to our classmates. I would love to be a natural at cutting out amazing creatures, but I cannot take credit. I used my projector and taped a piece of poster board on the wall. Trace it and cut it out. I know its old school, but this can save a lot of time and money!

Poem: 
I paired the name activity with this poem. (If it's yours, please leave me a message so I can give you the credit :)
Rainbow Fish, Rainbow Fish
swimming in the sea,
won't you please share a scale with me? 

We read this several times to ask our student with the shiny scales to share with her friends. I also made all of the shiny scales the first letter of all my students name so everyone got a shiny scale and a chance to read the poem. 

Make a Rainbow Fish:
I printed out a fish template and set out a variety of supplies (watercolors, crayons, markers, feathers, glue, glitter, etc). I gave my students a good chunk of time to decorate and make their version of the rainbow fish. I love doing art on the first day- it seems to calm everyone down (including me) and helps gets some of those jitters out (Sorry First Day Jitters- but I refuse to read you on the first day of school!)

Saturday, July 19, 2014

The dreaded spelling list

How many times have you sent home papers that you know have never been touched after you put them in a take home folder or backpack? Here is my quick fix for that spelling list that got lost, thrown away, mysteriously disappear, never got one, so dusty by Friday I couldn't see the words spelling list. This is 15 minutes quick. Every Monday or Tuesday we make a visual. I provided the words. The kids take ownership and make it their own. 


We made these cute watermelon wedges after reading the book Watermelon Day. Each seed has a sight word or a spelling word written in white crayon or colored pencil. I send these projects home with the spelling list or sight word list to study for the week. The students enjoy learning from their own creations rather than my boring spelling list! Great motivation to show off what they are learning. Parents can see the spelling words even if my printed list doesn't make it out of the folder. 

Other Ideas:
I frequently print out templates I can find in less than a two minute Google search. Here are a few ideas to get you started. Yes, we have tried all of these. Kid approved!
-ig pig (make spots on a pig template with -ig words)
-eet treat (decorate a candy template with eet/eat words
- brown cow (color cow spots with -ow words)
-ake cake (cake template with -ake words)



Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Learning with Fruit- Just Too Cute

Fruit may be my favorite food group after bread and ice cream (yes, both are food groups for this teacher). There is nothing like biting into a cool, crisp watermelon on a hot summer day or the smell of baking apples and cinnamon in the fall. As a teacher, I think it is important to introduce my students to things they may not have access to or may just avoid. So I brought fruit into the classroom. I mean a whole unit on fruit. Oh, and every activity was tied into a learning standard. Take a look:



The Math Market was one of our favorite activities. I laminated pictures of fruit and used plastic fruit as well. We practiced our money skills with some fun dramatic play. Each fruit has a price and the students used coins to pay for their tasty treats!
These are little rubber fruits that we used to make numbers on the table. Dry erase marker on the table comes off easily with an eraser and a clorox wipe when you are all done. We did all sorts of problems using these fruits for manipulatives. 
In week one, we did a mini lesson on adjectives.  Day 1, I introduced adjectives. Day 2, we started applying that knowledge to some fruit. Here are a few fruits we tasted. The student's reactions were priceless. I know fruit is expensive but I just bought a couple of each fruit and cut small pieces for my students to try. Blueberries and kiwis were some of our favorites!

Above: This was a two step project. First we made baskets from brown construction paper. 2 pieces per student. Fold one piece in half like a book and cut strips from the open end almost to the fold. Cut the other paper into strips. Weave under, over to make the basket. We stapled the sides, but you could use glue as well. Then, we made fruit for our baskets. My students wrote the name of each fruit and then one sight word they were working on. Most of my students get 5-7 words at a time. This was their basket to practice with all week. You could put anything you want on the fruit from letters, numbers, spelling words, vocabulary, really anything. 
Below: This was an easy center in reading rotations. My students cut out oranges to make a big O. The students still working on the alphabet wrote "o is for orange" with a model. My more advanced students wrote words that started with "o". 



This was one of the big projects we worked on as a class throughout the unit. We read Eating the Alphabet and decided to make our own class book. We found pictures in magazines and newspapers to create our own alphabet book. This was a great opportunity for students to learn about new foods and share some of their favorites with the class. This book was an ongoing project throughout the unit. We worked one day as a class and then I made it small group activity or had students who finished early work on it. I love making our own class books and letting my students take ownership. They love it too!

We made these cute watermelon wedges after reading the book Watermelon Day. Each seed has a sight word or a spelling word written in white crayon or colored pencil. I send these project home with the spelling list or sight word list to study for the week. The students enjoy learning from their own creations rather than my boring spelling list! 


Sunday, June 22, 2014

Play in the Classroom

I recently attended a professional learning opportunity- a gifted and talented update. As a special education teacher, I usually zone out these lectures as most of my students are on the opposite end of the spectrum. However, this lady had some great things to say....enough to make me close my computer and put down my phone. What was so important?!? PLAY. Yes, that's right. PLAY. PLAY in the CLASSROOM. Now my district will not go so far as to call it play, but they do want us to know the importance of construction and discovery. Imagine that. I love it! Call it play, discovery, social- emotional instruction, whatever you want. The important thing is our students need play!
So, how do we get play in our classrooms with what feels like a million standards to teach? Integrate play into instruction! I think its a challenge worth taking on. So thats my challenge for this summer. I am starting with math- one of my favorite subjects but my greatest challenge to teach. Take a look at my math centers to build number sense. Leave a comment, suggestion, complaint, let me know what you think.

Math Centers- Number Sense