Monday, July 22, 2013

New Student Bags and Meet and Greet Items ***also Pin It to Win It

I always have to remind myself to make extra copies and buy extra of everything for all of those new students that move in.  I always make "new student" bags so I don't run around in the morning that I find out that I have a new student.

Here is a post that I wrote a LONG time ago about my new student bags.

Here are some of the items that I am including in my 2 gallon sized bags this year:
-All About My Child
-RAZ Kids Family letters
-Dismissal Form
-Rules and Procedures Document
-School Calendar
-Take home folder with a year worth of behavior charts (this way I can throw away the calendars that are past and have them set for the current month.)
-Homework folder
-Magnetic Business Card with my email/ phone number. school webpage etc. (Office Max has them in a cheap bundle right now!)
-Blank name tag
-Blank cubby tag
-3 blank clothespins
-Math home links book EDM
-Math journal book EDM
-3 journals (The cheap 15 cent kind- one for word work, one for "journaling" and the last for math.)



Come August 1st when I am able to go into school- I will be making whole trees worth of copies.  I always copy these things for the entire school year even before school starts:

-Reading logs
-lunch count forms copied with my name filled in
-celebrity of the week fan mail
-Behavior Charts

Here are things that I copy for the first few weeks:

-Word work sheets
-Number Sense and Place Value Stuff
-Morning Work for August (SIMPLE stuff)
-Beginning of the year writing (letters, grammar stuff etc.)


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I also updated lesson plans and put them together in this document.  You can click on the image to go to the TPT store. 
Alright- pin it (or blog it) to win it!  You have until Thursday to pin it or blog it to get it emailed to you for free!  :)  Just comment with your email below after you pin or blog about it.  :)



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Thursday, July 18, 2013

Math Notebooks- Numbers and Place Value

I have always been a file folder lover.  This past year has completely turned me into a notebook lover.  My wonderful teammates are all notebook organizers.  At first I loved file folders because I could quickly toss a worksheet in it and it didn't need to be very organized.  It may have taken me a minute to leaf through the file to find the paper that I needed- but I always knew that it was in the folder SOMEWHERE.

Now I was quite skeptical making notebooks but I first started by organizing all the materials that I needed for our reading series into unit binders.  This made it SUPER easy to get ready for a week.  Yes I had to spend 5 minutes instead of 1 to put away items but I DID NOT end up with 8 extra copies of anything.  I just kept 1!  I hope that I am not the only person out there that kept the extra worksheet each year.  You know when you have 22 students but make 24 because most likely little Suzie will tear it or lose it within 30 seconds... well I ALWAYS kept those 2 measly extra papers and just stuffed them back into my file.  Well- NO MORE OF THAT FOR ME!  :)

This is my Numbers and Place Value Binder.  I haven't made a cute cover for it yet so no peak at the cover.  :)

We still use EDM in my district.  There are definitely some great lessons in it- but it is NOT my favorite curriculum.  So this summer I have been really looking up the lessons that they claim are common core friendly and making that judgment myself!  :) 



 
These two pages are my first two weeks of school lesson plans.  I promise that I will type them out.  :)  I have the EDM lessons that were okay, the homelinks that I liked and math journal pages that I liked.  I also have scribbled supplements that I am using.  (Well most of them- my brainpopjr videos are already on the page reserved on my computer for these lesson plans.)
 
 

Behind the lesson plans I have my read aloud books and any other whole group materials/ independent work materials that I need.  Each separate activity is in a separate sleeve.  It is just like a more tidy file folder.  :)
 
 
 
Then I have materials tabbed by a red (below), yellow (on) or green (advanced level).  There is one sleeve per week plan.  In each one I have materials that would be suited to that particular weekly skill on the level needed.  These sheets could be used in small group or even as homework practice.  I use to have a tough time juggling what I used in class and what I sent home.  This way it is already separated for me.  :)
 
Here are some pictures of place value stuff.  You can tell it is printed in black and white but everything is all typed up!  :)
 
 
 
 
 
If you are interested here are some of the resources that went into these 2 units:
Numbers
*EDM lessons: 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 2.1, 2.2, 3.2, 3.3, 3.5
 
*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Unit-1-First-Grade-Math-CC-Building-Number-Sense-296330
 
*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/81-Numbers-Unit1-120-400329
 
*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Numbers-Unit-Learning-and-Practicing-Numbers-1-120-266498
 
*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Numbers-for-Transitional-Kindergarten-293064   <---THESE ARE AWESOME!
 
*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Numbers-1-to-10-matching-picture-numeral-and-word-527930
 
Place Value
*EDM lessons:5.1, 5.2, 5.3  (Can you see now why I made a unit?)
*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Place-Value-Mystery-Pictures-111850
 
*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Place-Value-Unit-773965   <--- She is AWESOME.  lol.
 
ASSESSMENT
Since we have SLOS to write this year.  I also give the first one of the assessments during the first two weeks:
 
*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/CC-First-Grade-Cumulative-Math-Assessments-637735
 
Here are pre-assessments and post -assessments:
*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Quarterly-First-Grade-Common-Core-Math-Pre-assessments-235953
 
*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/QuarterlyTrimester-Common-Core-Math-Assessments-and-MORE-219637
 
 
Last but not least- a HUGE thank you to all of you that posted my new place value unit on pinterest or your blogs.  You ROCK!  Thank you!  :)  You should get your free item tonight!  :)
 
 


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Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Common Core Place Value Unit SIMPLE GIVEAWAY!



It is FINALLY finished!  I have slowly been working on this unit for about 5 months now.  I spent about 14 hours yesterday and 3 hours today working on just about 5 pages!  Now I don't have to look at it for a week or so.  :)

PLACE VALUE IS THE NEW MONEY.  :)
 
I have taught first grade now for 7 years.  In all 7 years I have found money to be the most difficult for firsties to master.  That was until the common core and place value replaced it.  :)
 
 

I have always been terrible at using those yellow place value pockets with the straws to determine days in schools.  Sometimes we just run out of time and our meeting is always the first thing that I eliminate.  I thought about changing out the straws for individual wrapped Twizlers so that on the 100th day we could eat them and bring all kinds of math into it like divison and equal shares etc.  I still may do this someday.  We all know how much kiddos (okay and me) are motivated by food.  I obviously couldn't fit it in the chart so I'd have to use jars or coffee cans.  :)  If I decide to make it- I'll post pictures.  :)
 

I am going to teach this unit after the number ID and writing numbers unit.  So Probably about week 3 this 2 week unit will start.  Place value is definitely something EDM doesn't cover well and I couldn't find actual lessons or teaching materials.  But there are plenty of fun things that I use!

Here is a peak:

 There is a resource page with recommended materials and then 2 weeks of simple whole group lesson plans.  Finally there is a digits teaching poster with 5 digits sorting sheets.

 This has a teaching poster about the "imaginary" chart and that only 1 digit can go in each slot.  Then showing what numbers look like.  Finally a whole class activity where they make their own tens rods and then put all of their items together to see how many cubes they have. 

 This has practice pages to match the symbol with the number and then directions for a Place Value Food activity where you use Cheese-Its, pretzel sticks, and Cheerios.  Then there is an I have, Who has? game.

 Here are some cards that can be used for Concentration/ Memory or partner sorting cards.  There are also teaching posters showing what numbers represent.

 Here are practice What is it Worth pages.  Finally there are comparison teaching posters with practice pages.

 The first item is a visual chart.  It is a number chart 1-50 but you can see what the numbers look like in place value blocks.  Then there are table name cards.

 Finally this is a behavior reward system.  I have always used money but this is a system where the students use a baseball card sleeve in their take home folder and add stickers that they earned for their behavior.  This was completely inspired by Jessica Meachum.  She is AMAZING.  If you have never checked out her website before- do it!  :)

GIVEAWAY TIME! 

This time will be a little different... :)

If you blog about my new product or pin it on pinterest- I'll email it to you for free!  Just leave a comment with your email address and tell me which one (or both if you are in a SUPER giving mood) that you did. 

This giveaway ends this THURSDAY!  :)

I am hoping this gives some of you late night blog readers like myself a chance to get it for free as well.  :)
 

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