Hands on Place Value Fun

Hi, there! We’re 10 days in and beginning to dive into our curriculum. We’ve been practicing and practicing and…..practicing routines some more as we get to know one another. In the midst of all of the “getting to know you”, we’ve also begun setting the foundation for lots of working with numbers!

In case you haven’t stopped by in a while (because I haven’t blogged in a while)…last year, I made the jump from 1st to 2nd! Haven taken some time to  become acquainted with all things 2nd…I’m READY to share again! Yay!!! Thanks for following the fun on Instagram and Facebook! It’s going to be our #bestyearyet on the blog too!

The number of assessments we have to give this year has been reduced, PTL!!! Because of this, our procedures for unpacking our standards have moved away from being focused on a single assessment, to being focused on the learning needed to understand the standards. Our unpacking (backwards design) posters will now contain illustrations of the models and representations that we’ll use throughout each unit. This page is hung low on the board because it will be Page 1 of a wall sized flipbook. The next one we make, will be hung right over it….they’ll be left on the wall for the duration of the year for students to lift and look at as a reference tool. The needed vocabulary cards will also move to our classroom word wall, once our unit focus changes.

As we began to show numbers in different forms, students were consistently expanding numbers using only the single digit rather than the number needed to represent its value…..so, enter our handy dandy place value demo cards!

Sometimes, you have to walk a mile in a number’s shoes to truly understand it’s value! Young students need kinesthetic, whole body learning as much as possible. This lesson was just the right fit! Students actually took turns sitting on a giant place value chart (our carpet) to represent numbers in expanded form, then stood to dance along with music before aligning the cards to represent the number in standard form.

I’m usually about all things literacy, but admittedly have been inspired to have a LOT more fun with math this year. Dare I say, I AM enjoying teaching math?! I said it! And meant it…math is fun! Now that I think about it…most of the training I attended this summer was over MATH!

After getting a better grasp on number forms, we also began to play with representing numbers in more than one way using our base-10 blocks. Realizing that you can model a number more than one way and it STILL be the same number was a huge eye opener and students enjoyed manipulating the blocks over and over again to represent BIG numbers!

Concrete models….&

Pictorial models…of BIG numbers! Hands on…music…movement…drawing…equals a firm foundation for comparing and ordering to come! Want to get moving too? Click HERE to grab a set of demo cards for your classroom!

See ya soon!

Sweet Fold & Learn Fun

Hey, Friends! How are ya? I’m stopping in to share a little peek at our weeks that led up to Christmas. While we ended up having a great time spreading Christmas cheer, it didn’t come without a struggle. One friend shared a cough and achoooo and our whole class was through! Even me! It’s no fun being sick at Christmas time!

When we’re all well, we like using fold and learn activities to make the rigor of math a little more fun! With Christmas just around the corner, we baked up a little gingerbread fun to explore number foundations. Can I share a secret with you? We’re friends, right? Wellllll, I tried my hand at interactive notebooking at the beginning of the year and guess what?! I didn’t like it! {Gasp!} I know……shhhhhhhhh….don’t tell anybody! Those notebooks have collected nothing but dust since Septemberish…

I love all of the awesome products I’ve seen for interactive notebooking…..and I tried! We tried! We REALLY tried! BUT….glueing, cutting and pasting with firsties…in a notebook...nearly drove me bananas! It just didn’t work for me. Now….what did work for my little class of mathematicians is foldables…crafts, 3D graphic organizers….so, we’re getting our interactive learning on this way!

Check out our latest interactive adventure!

I always prep the basics, the bones. Doing this, allows for us to focus on the content of what we’re learning and on following directions to prep the inserts. Here, students reflected on counting forward and backwards by increments of 1. I thought this would be a snap because the numbers are the same, but as students completed this little task…you could almost see steam coming from their ears as they really followed directions to start from the right and move backwards. Counting backwards isn’t as easy as you think…especially, when you’re 6! They absolutely LOVED the novelty of the accordian fold. Did it make ‘em a little wonky? Just a few….my crew of Dwyer Jr’s (the little teachers to-be) stepped right up to help friends that needed a little assistance.

Do you have dice in dice? If not, go get some! They’re a lot of fun and students don’t need two dice to play games…just one. To make numbers, students rolled their dice and used the number of pips on the outside for the digit in the tens place and the number of pips on top of the inside dice for the ones place. Students worked in pairs to roll a number, record it, then used comparative language to describe it as greater than, less than or equal to.

Color coding ALWAYS comes in handy when you’re working with firsties! The first thing we did as we prepared to do a little mental math, was to color code the place for each digit. The tens place was outlined in red and the ones place was outlined in yellow. By doing this, when students were given a specific number, we could check to see if it was put in the correct place according to its value. After recording our numbers, we then practiced naming numbers that were 1 less and 1 more. Easy peasy, right?

We cut the graphic organizer down the middle and placed glue under the ten less strip to glue it down. Then, we placed glue under the ten more strip and glued it down. With one quick snip, we cut each of the horizontal “tens” or red lines….followed by one quick snip to cut the horizontal “ones” or yellow lines. Under the tens digit, students recorded the number that was ten less. Under the ones digit students recorded the number that was ten more than the number named on the outside.

We did the first two numbers together and then they were off and running to practice independently to complete the rest.

We try to focus on solving story problems every Thursday. Here, each student had a single story problem to read and draw a picture to solve. If you look verrrry closely, you’ll notice that because we used a mailing envelope, under the area for the story problem is also a storage pocket. This comes in handy for friends that work at a slower pace that may need to store extra pieces or materials if we have to stop working or have to move on to something else before they’re completely ready.

On the back, we prepared for working with greater numbers. We’ll be working on these same skills when we return in the new year….to 120. Here, students cut and glued to compare numbers to 100 using the math symbols for < and >. This is a picture of the cover…front and back!

Last summer, 2 of my creative co-workers led a training on using mailing envelopes to create graphic organizers. I left so inspired and excited to try them, but knew I’d have to wait until my firsties were ready to handle them. Well, folks…..they handled creating this little gem like champs! Second semester is gonna be so much MORE fun as we bring lots of concepts to life using these interactive, fold and learn activities!

Sadly, the flu bug took a huge chunk out of my sanity during the hustle and bustle leading up to the break. Bad for me….GOOD for you! I’ve listed this little activity in my TPT store for F-R-E-E, BUT just until Friday! Sooooooo, grab it while you can to add to your files for next year. On Friday, it will be priced for sale. Check it out….there will definitely be more to come!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a sweet Christmas!

Five for Friday {Let’s Catch up!}

Hey, ya’ll! I’m FINALLY  coming out of football mom, tired teacher starting the year mode and finding a thing closer to balance! It’s been far too long and I’m dropping in to shoo away all those crickets that have been chirping around the blog! How’ve you been?!

My sonshine played football for the first time this year and let me tell you….IF you’ve never experienced the joy of having a son in a Texas youth football league….it’s taken pretty darn seriously! It was like having a part time job! So, with that being said…I had to take a little break to be present for my favorite player. Noooow, that the season is done, let’s get back to a little blogging fun!

Here’s a little flashback over the last couple of weeks…..

This has easily become my favorite quick foldable! We’ve adopted it from the Frayer model. The Frayer model is used for vocabulary development. The middle section houses a word, with the four surrounding sections dedicated to defining the word, listing facts/characteristics, providing examples and listing non-examples. Wellllll, as you can see, we did not use it for vocabulary, but rather used it as a way of visually organizing information on our papers. Could we use it at a different time for vocabulary? Absolutely! I think this quick organizer will be awesome to use for any number of things!

My students and I work and learn best when we’re creating, when we’re involved in the process of learning without the priority being the end product….so we complete a LOT of graphic organizers and foldables. This one provides us with the space to share the focus concept in the center, while dividing our paper into sections to show our learning. We also usually use them front and back. The example above shows how we illustrated 10’s and 1’s, then used the 120 chart to generate numbers.

I prefold the paper for students by folding the paper into 4 squares, then taking the central corner of the paper and folding it down diagonally to create a triangle. When it’s  unfolded, it reveals a rhombus in the middle with the 4 surrounding sections. Students are then instructed to trace the lines of the rhombus….followed by the 4 lines that are north, south, east, and west of it to create the writing spaces.

You’ll definitely see more of this foldable!

Place value is a tough concept for little learners, so we use lots of hands on fun and games to practice this skill. On this day, we rolled dice to build and compare numbers. Another simple foldable was used to record our learning. One fold straight down the vertical center of the page….the partners rolled, built, wrote numbers and recorded the comparison symbol on the fold line.

Tired of foldables yet? Here’s just one more……I pre-folded the paper. Students traced the fold lines, then we practiced modeling numbers in different forms. Looks simple, right? Not! Remember, these are 1st graders. Awesome 1st graders….that need to wiggle move and take their time to organize their work. We went over each section of the first number together and then students worked to display the different number forms for the last 2 numbers while I rotated around the room helping.

Creating foldables also provides the opportunity for students to listen for my voice and become accustomed to following directions. While our end products are organized well, it’s still the process of creating that gets us the most bang for our learning buck! And you should see the pride shining on their little faces when they see what they’re truly capable of doing! It’s amazing!

Every once in a while, they let me hold the pen too…! Macrons (line placed over long vowels) and breves (indicates short vowel sound)…yep, we talk about those too!

Writer’s workshop is moving right along! We’re enjoying Lucy Calkins lessons and are ALMOST done with our anchor chart. We’ve begun to publish, BUT have got to find the time to add the final step to our chart! That darn clock just keeps on ticking!

Wellllll, that’s what we’ve been up! What have you and your firsties been learning about? See ya again….real soon! =)

Ready to rock? Ready to ROLL…{dice roll}!

Hi, Friends! How are ya? The sun was out today and warmed things up a bit. I’m in a sharing mood, so I thought I’d stop by to show ya a little of what we’ve been up to in math.



Lots of our lessons start with doodled directions. Like many of you, we spent our Presidents’ Day at school. Well, most of us did. A number of my kiddos were out, so the rest of us spent the day reviewing skills in rowdy, fun ways! During math, we pulled out the dice and got ready to roll. We have a set that is blue and red; they're numbered 1-6 on one and 7-10 on the other.



Students worked together in pairs to roll, build, and compare numbers. Each student created a quick place value mat showing the position for a hundred, tens, and ones. We could have used a premade one, but I like to have my kids create and organize things like this to solidify learning. After we made our mats, students took to the floor {one of our favorite places to work} to roll dice, say the number, build it using base-10 blocks and use comparative language to describe what they’d built. Simple~Roll. Build. Compare. REPEAT. No writing involved; just lots of math talk and building a better sense of what those flats, longs, and units really mean.

Before all of the rockin’ and rollin’…we completed this little cutie to record our learning. It took us several lessons over the course of a week.

Do you fold and learn in your classroom? Here’s a peek inside….

Students used dice to roll and record numbers, represent them using drawings of base-10 blocks and make the jump to 10 more on an open number line. Dice were also used to record numbers and compare them using the symbols <,>, and =.

….and they really felt like big kids writing expanded notation for numbers to 120. Our state standards are changing. We used to only work with numbers to 99 in 1st grade, now we’re going to 120 and the kids are loving it. It’s been fun for us as teachers too because they're getting to see the pattern of numbers continuing beyond 100.

You can find this little set in my TPT shop…..JUST uploaded it! We had so much fun with this, I’m sure it will inspire a few more. Check it out! Get those dice out and get ready to roll!

 

The day I became a bag lady…

Ha! Yesterday, I had the rare opportunity to attend a workshop led by The Bag Ladies! Have you heard of them? Well, if by chance, you haven’t….you should check them out! They’re two creative teachers that share ways to use paper crafts in your classroom to increase engagement in ALL subject areas!



We had lots of hands-on, cut, paste, rip, tear…turn it this way, fold it that way….FUN! I’d heard lots of wonderful things about this dynamic duo for years and was totally excited about having the chance to learn form them. What made the training immediately usable is that they’re classroom teachers too.....So they “get it”. They know what will work and what will grab and hold a kiddo’s attention…and they’re f-u-n-n-y, funny! Really, funny! Our wheels were turning mid-way through their presentation about how we'll use the techniques they shared with us!



Here’s a picture of a couple of my favorite peeps on the planet exploring and buying some of their awesome resources. They were even sweet enough to sign them for us! *LOVE!*



Live in Florida? Well, you may recognize these creative, lovely ladies, BUT you don’t have to live in Florida for them to come and present at your school. They hop on a plane most weekends and present all over the country. This weekend, we were lucky enough to get them on our campus……smack dab in the middle of Texas! If your campus is interested in having them present, they’ve got wonderful ideas to share and will travel to bring them TO YOU! Until then, catch up with them on Facebook. You definitely won’t be sorry…..and don’t forget to tell ‘em Tanya sent you!

I was so inspired by these two, I even managed to get my lesson plans done a whole day early! Say what?!!! Stop the presses! Somebody, shout hallelujah, lol!

  



These are the real deal, 4 pages of all that glitters and giggles that I turn into my campus principal each week. I don’t want her to be too shocked about me finishing them early, so I’ll wait a little bit to email them to her, lol!

I’ve had several really sweet friends ask for an editable version. Because my small group pages include a format that I’ve adopted from a published author, I can’t exactly do that. I can share with you, however, how I am using them in my classroom. If you’d like to view them or get a closer look, you can download them by clicking HERE. If there comes a time, when I change the format of my small group pages (which is highly possible), then I will also post a blank, editable format.

Still being a newbie bag lady, we’ll try our hand at a simple project this week and let ya know how it goes. If you’d like to grab an activity we did in class last week, click the pic below. There are actually days when I teach math, ha!!!! This day was a fun  one!



…..and it was one of those projects that takes a while to do {wink, wink}.  I copied the turkey head and body onto brown construction paper. The feathers were copied onto different random, fall colored paper. I did a “rough cut” so that I had four stacks of feathers, one stack for each way we'd show a number. As a class, we discussed each of the forms, one at a time. I wrote/assigned each student a different number ranging between 30 and 50 (on their desks). They, then wrote the number on their turkey’s tummy and created a 3-number sequence by writing the number that came before and after it on each wing.

Once I saw their number written and created correctly (using base-10 blocks), they drew the base-10 blocks. We went over what each of the number forms would look like, one feather at a time and set it aside. After we completed the 4th number form, students cut and glued to put their little place value turkey together. Nothing like a little rigor for Thanksgiving dinner!

Laters, gators! Have a great week!

 

Wordless Wednesday-Mimio Mania

Morning Work and so much more!

Last week was a whirlwind, blast! We squeezed A LOT into 4 little days! In the spirit of 'The Lorax' we're working to conserve paper and use our writing journals more. We came up with some very interesting stories as the result of this morning work assignment.

Later in the day, we viewed a little clip on dental health and read The Tooth Book by Edward Miller. After discussing what we learned, we cut and used lots of glue to show the parts of a tooth.  If any of those teeth had cavities, there was enough glue flowing to fill them ALL!  We got a little carried away with the label lines, but all walked away with a clear understanding of tooth care do's and don'ts, lol! :-)  This idea was a total steal from Pinterest! How did I ever survive PrePinterest?  Click the pic to grab the labels we used. 

This week promises to bring just as much excitement with it too.  In celebration of leap year, there is a HUGE sale planned for Wednesday, February 29th over at Teachers Pay Teachers. Make your wishlist and shop the day away for up to 28% off of select products.  As soon as I sign off here, I'll be uploading my newest creation.  It's a first in a collection  of place value activities.  Wednesday would be a great day to snag one of everything in my little shop!  Be sure to grab yours!  Have a great week and blessings to you!