Five for Friday~Fraction Fun

Hi, Friends! How’ve ya been? I’m linking up with Kacey for a late start to Five for Friday {it’s Saturday}!



The kiddos and I spent the day doing a little shopping, so now it’s time to sit still and start prepping the nitty gritty for next week! Does it ever end? {Don’t answer that….!}



Spring break was a blast….and went by way too fast!!! It was so much fun to slow down for a little bit and enjoy being in the company of  two of my favorite people on the planet. Our friend Natalia did an amazing job capturing sweet memories of our little family. Our photo shoot was just long enough to keep their attention, filled with laughs, and lots of fun! Check her out on FB by clicking ----------->here! ;)



This is a little more like what these two really act like, lol! They’re keepers…gotta love ‘em!



We started the week with The Little Old Lady…..What is it about this woman? Don’t they have grocery stores in her neighborhood? She could really star in an episode of My Strange Addiction because of the crazy meals she consumes! Kiddos love her crazy eating habits. We used these little diddies for sequencing the events in the story and then placed them in a literacy station with the book for retelling.



Wednesday was Glue Stick Day! Didn’t know there was such a thing? Welll, there really isn’t. We kinda…mmmm….made the whole thing up! Ha! Ever have trouble with kids losing their glue stick or even worse, losing the top?! In our classroom, we tackle this problem by labeling both the top and glue stick bottle with student numbers. That way…if someone should drop their top on the floor, we can pick it up and return it to its rightful owner.

We also conserve them as much as possible, because we only get 1 per month. Replacing them over and over again can add up to quite a few pennies. After I’ve provided students with a glue stick, it's theirs to manage for the month. If it gets used up before the 19th…they’re out, no glue stick. We have liquid glue available in our borrow box, BUT students do not keep liquid glue in their desks. When the 19th rolls around…everyone is eligible for a new glue stick, as they need it. Do I have to manage this? Nope….you know we all have that one kid that remembers EVERYTHING! Well, he keeps track of when the next Glue Stick Day rolls around too! Might as well put that great memory to practical use! =)

We had lots of fun with fractions this week. We explored parts of a whole, parts of a set and probability using hands on activities and recorded our learning with a little fold and learn fun.



It’s all wrapped up with a bow and loaded to TPT; you can check it out by clicking here. 

I couldn't leave you without a little freebie too. Students worked with partners to solve story problems that made real world connections to the importance of fractions.

Click the pic to grab one! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

 

Five for Friday~Bar-ba-loot Shapes

Hi, Friends! How are ya? This week started out R-O-U-G-H, but we are now officially on spring break so this chica has NO complaints!



Linking up with Kacey, is always a great way for me to reflect over the best of our week. This picture kind of sums up how my kiddos feel about me having to be out unexpectedly….

 
Let’s see….how can I put this nicely? My class…is lovely. They’re the cutest bunch of inquisitive little smart cookies on the planet. We explore. Create. Build. Play. Work hard…..but we rarely do worksheets.  What may look like a worksheet to someone outside of our room is often the end state or last step in a process of hands on exploration. Soooooooo, when I leave them in the hands of a substitute, they kind of sorta, all out loose their minds! They don’t like them, don’t want ‘em and will stretch a sub to within an inch of their sanity!!! It’s taken me awhile to figure out why and then it hit me like a ton of bricks!

I give my kids choices. We vote on a lot of the “how” of what we do each day. They have a voice. I’m not there to tell them what to do all day long; I’m there to guide them. To facilitate the environment in which they learn. We set expectations together; I trust them and I leave them alone to meet them. If they need support, their classmates and I are there to help.

I know kids rather learn in fun, active ways. We rock at it everyday. What comes natural to us in the classroom, does not always come natural to someone who has to cover for me for the day. It’s a really challenging thing for my students to accept, especially considering how much personal responsibility they're given each day sooooooo, when I walked in the door on Thursday they were excited to get back to our “normal”…..{after a little chat about not scaring the substitutes away}. =)



We’ve been building bigger words during word work. First graders LOVE compound words! I always love using this little activity! Students each stand in a spot around the room. 1/2 of each word  card is passed out to two different students. After each student has a card, they then silently walk around the room to find their match. Everyone is capable of completing this successfully because they have the picture to help. We meet back at the carpet to share BIG words and create a word web. When we return from break, this activity will be extended into literacy stations too. You can check it out HERE.



In math, we wrapped up our unit on shapes and figures. After having so much fun with the Lorax last week, this was a perfect activity for my little Bar-ba-loots! We used marshmallows to represent vertices and toothpicks to represent edges. Each student created 3 figures.



After building their figures, each student got 3 sticky notes. One for each figure, to label the name of the figure and record its attributes.



Our room smelled yummy and constructing each shape really helped students to “see” and “feel” the attributes. Walmart has this selection of sticky notes. They’re in the holiday section for Easter, but also resembled two stories we worked with this week….Little Rabbit’s Tale and Chicken Little.

We’ll be using pieces of this little packet during math stations when we get back too.

    
 Here’s to a fun and restful spring break! See ya later!

 

Wordless Wednesday~Fraction Fun

   

 

Happy Bloggy Birthday Giveaway

Have you ever been so busy that you forgot your OWN birthday? Has it really been a year already?!!! I looked at the calendar and realized, my little slice of bloggy pie indeed, has turned 1 year old! How could I have missed that?!

This past year, I’ve been incredibly blessed to have gotten to know and befriended a number of talented teachers that have truly helped me to “step up my game” as a teacher. Within a year’s time, I went from asking “What is a blog?”, to following some really GREAT ones, to starting one of my own! It took 4 blog designs to finally get to the ONE that captures the essence of my classroom. I started out with 2 fantastic followers, Amanda and Krysti, and am simply amazed that there are REAL people out there willing to join in the fun of teaching firsties with me……to just shy of 500 now!  You ALL totally rock!

You can read one of my very first blog posts here. It’s from the day Krysti and I met Jack Hartmann! Looking back helped me to see how far my posts have come! Ha! By far, my post popular post has been about………click here to read it!

My most popular TPT product has been one that I was completely hesitant to make! It helped me to realize to follow my gut and only include items in my store that I would actually use in my classroom. It takes me FOR.EVVVVVER it seems to complete a product, BUT knowing they’re all items that are kid-tested and approved makes it all worth the while! My personal favorite so far is my little fraction unit. We’ll be pulling that one out next week and I can’t wait! We had a total ball with it last year!

             



Soooo, in the spirit of all things bloggy goodness…let’s celebrate with a little giveaway fun, shall we?! Now, BOTH the blog and the FB page are just shy of 500 friends, so let’s see if we can tip those numbers right on over the 500 mark! I’ve come to learn that bloggers like nice round numbers {and surpassing them too}, heheee!
I’ll choose 3 winners sometime Sunday afternoon. My fingers and toes are crossed that the 500 mark will be crossed by then!

Winner #1 will receive a $25.00 gift certificate to TeacherspayTeachers.

 

Winner #2 will receive their choice of any 3 items from my TPT store.

 

Winner # 3 will receive any 1 item of their choice from my TPT store and a custom decorated clipboard created by one of my very first blog followers, Amanda!

 

 

Enter to win below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

So that EVERYONE feels the birthday love, here’s a little goodie for ya that my students *LOVED*! Do you have dice in dice? If not, go get some! They’re fun and reduce the need for two dice to play math games. It’s always good to mix up the manipulatives a bit!    

  

   

Give each student one di to shake and roll. They look down into the di and use the two “tops” to write an addition sentence, then a related subtraction sentence next to it, using the recording sheet below. Shake, rattle and rolllll!



Thanks for following along, friends! It’s been a fantastic year!

Happy Easter & a Thank you give~away!!!

Having began the day in the midst of the most awesome Resurrection Day service I’ve ever attended, I feel GREAT! I am renewed and grateful for the opportunity to have connected with all of you! One of the most profound things that I learned today is that people often mistake a blessing for being something tangible that can be seen or held.  Blessings in the purest sense of the word =  “opportunities”.  When I started this blog just a few short weeks ago, I wondered if there would even be anyone that would want to hear anything I had to say….NOW, I’m excited to be counted in the midst of some of the most talented teachers on the planet! This blog has been a blessing and as it continues to mature and grow……I hope it will be a blessing to you too! So, let’s have some fun with all the new opportunities to come!  This is a picture of me on the way to church this morning! These are probably the biggest pair of sunglasses I could possibly find and they give me a little giggle when I wear them, BUT I love them! Do they remind you of anything???? Hahahaaaa!!!

                                                                                                                                                          

It’s so ironic that I posted previously about my love for literacy and my last two new products have been all about math! Can I just say that I LOVE teaching, lol! Teaching firsties is like having a room full of little caterpillars that you get to see change and grow into beautiful butterflies! It’s simply amazing how much they grow in just one year.  While upper grades have the intense stress of preparing for the days of standardized testing, we “foundation builders” get to have fun with our kiddos in engaging ways to set the foundation for all things learning…it’s a real challenge, but is so worth it. To that end, I have a newbie that I’ve just added to my TPT and Teacher’s Notebook catalogs. 

It includes activities that are a fun take on fractions that my kiddos and I have really enjoyed.  There is a full color example of a book we made to illustrate equal amounts and a quick to assemble mini-book to inspire writing in math! And speaking of making math fun….I received another wonderful surprise today from Scipi over at Go Figure with Scipi!  It’s the Calculating Heart Award! Thanks so much!

To receive this award, each recipient agrees to:

1. Thank the person who bestowed this award in a short blog article that includes a link back to the blog of the person who gave the award.
2. Become a follower of the presenter’s blog.
3. Choose three new blogs that meet the above criteria to receive this award.
4. Post their blog sites and write a short explanation of why each blog was chosen.
5. Leave a comment about this award on their blog site, and then become a new follower.
6. Visit Go Figure With Scipi and grab the award under Blog Accolades, and place it on your blog.

My three recipients are listed below as numbers 4, 5, and 6:

1. Zombie Math Teacher Don't you love the title of this blog? Anyway, Mandy teaches 7th grade math, and I love her posting on state mandated testing. She claims it is for good and not evil; so, to know why she believes this, head on over to blog for an interesting reading.
2. Love 2 Teach 2 is a brand new blog by Kim who teaches second grade in the great state of Kansas - where I live! She has a wonderful article (Feb. 25th) on how she taught perimeter and area to her students using the tiled hall floor. Now there is a hands-on (feet-on in this case) approach!
3. For the Love of Teaching Math is a unique blog in that Andrea uses unusual and very funny clipart to get your attention. So far, my favorite posting on her blog is the one on Pi Day which is March 14th. For those of you who aren't mathematicians, it has nothing to do with cooking!
4. Math Coach’s Corner is wonderful blog that presents math in a clear way that makes it enjoyable.
5. Mrs. T’s First Grade Class for her inspiring illustration of tens and ones using the hundred chart.
6. 2 Crazy Texas Teachers for creating fun materials to keep kiddos engaged in math!

As these three people pass on the Calculating Heart Award :

1) The next three chosen will copy and paste the above list of the three honorees before adding three new ones to the bottom, making a total of six.

2) When the next person receives this award, they will delete the top three blogs on the list, and add three additional ones to the bottom of the list.

3) There should always be six exceptional blogs listed.

4) Be sure to visit all six blogs on the list and become a new follower of each one.

I had set a goal for my blog to reach 100 members before the close of the school year…..well, guess what! …….with 38 days left {{who’s counting:-)}}…I’m almost there! …..only 4 more to go! Soooooooooooooooooooo, in the spirit of celebrating math….if you’ve liked what you’ve seen so far…tell a friend to come and join in the fun too!

Leave a comment with your email and the name and email of the friend you told about A+Firsties. If you refer lucky follower number 100 that joins my blog…I will gladly email YOU & your bloggy buddy my latest little creation for your classroom!  I hope all of you had just as happy of an Easter as I had.  Blessings to you and have a great week!

Let it grow, let it grow…

….you can’t reap what you don’t sow! Oh, excuse me….did you hear me break out in song? We have plants, actual plants! They’re growing and we couldn’t be more excited about it!  Look at those roots! I am seriously lacking a green thumb and am so excited that our lima bean plants have sprouted so well and so quickly!  We just planted them last Thursday….talk about super soil!  We say…..let it grow {oh, I’m sorry, started singing again}….and send them home quickly before Mrs. Dwyer kills them, ha!

                                  

We’ve just begun fractions and the kids are having fun with the concept of “equal parts”. We used an adorable project as an introduction to halves today. The class was divided into pairs with one precut carrot to share. One friend was instructed to draw a line down the middle to divide it in half. They then had to give the carrot to their partner to actually cut and each friend labeled their carrot with the fraction and completed a simple sentence starter.  It began as what we call a “listen and do” activity with fractions that flowed into an accompanying art project to help bring in spring! They were loads of fun!

                           

We were completely inspired by Cara Caroll’s PROBLEM SOLVING WABBITS, so if you haven’t seen them, head over and check them out! She’s the best!  Happy teaching all and if you and your firsties are keeping quiet for testing…..GOOD LUCK! Having spent the day quietly cooped up in our classroom has this girlie ready to hit the sack early tonight!