Differentiated math centers- numbers

I have always tried to differentiate math centers and have students make goals.

In my district we were given the opportunity to observe teachers.  Of course I jumped on that opportunity!  I learned so much and stole many ideas.

One of the ideas comes from one of the most nurturing and sweet people that I have ever met.  If I had a child going into kindergarten-  I would beg for them to have her as their teacher.  

She has purchased dollar store tubs (I purchased Big Lots since they are more sturdy) to organize her centers.  Each tub only holds 1 center.  The child brings the entire tub back to his/ her spot.  This way things stay more tidy and way less little pieces come up missing.  :-)

I've decided to completely revamp my centers/ make new and organize it just like her!

Here is my first installment of centers:

Red= beginning level

Yellow= on level

Green= above level

These tubs are being created for each skill that we teach.  I'm almost finished with place value and measurent as well.  

Each of these is self checking

There are 3 different puzzles in here.

I really wanted a very beginning skill other than numbering a clock.  

A student clock will also be added.  

I also have one place value center finished:

I still have the more "hands on" centers but wanted to make sure that I had self checking examples for math goals as well.

I will be posting these in quarterly bundles on TPT.  

Q1- time, numbers, place value, measurement

Q2- graphing, addition, addition word problems

Q3- subtraction, subtraction word problems, fractions, shapes

Good luck for those of you setting up your rooms!  My hubby volunteered to come in and do the hanging/ putting together of things on Monday!  I'm delighted!  I hope to be finished Monday evening so I can have 6 days off before we start!  

Enjoy your week!  

I have learned the art of bartering!

Imagine walking into a color coordinated room, not a scrap of paper on the floor, nothing shoved inside a desk (that you can see), 25 first graders absolutely silent at 8 am, paper lanterns in the corner, mood lighting feet by a variety of colorful lamps, a reading cave with colorful pillows and flashlights, teacher desk with file folders, no "put this away later" baskets, jack Johnson playing soothing music and a slight air freshner scent traveling through the room.

That is the absolute opposite of my room!

(But not for long!!!)

I've learned over time that teachers often can be sorted into two different categories:

1.  Cutesy/ organizational genius/ room arrangement 

2.  Differentiation/ data/ scheduling/ computers/ technology

3.  Then sometimes there are those teachers that are both!!!!  I want to be them.   (My husband-  even though not a teacher definitely falls into this category.)

I totally fall in the second type of teacher category.  I feel like I'm in a world of my own because my type typically seems to be teachers in older grades.  I however teach delightful first grade students.  

I've worked at two different schools.  The same thing has happened at both-  I look to the left and to the right and see adorable hallway decorations.  As I sneak into their rooms I notice student work hanging, everything is color coordinated and has a place.  

Then I go back to my room.  I have what I. Consider "adorable" data tracking sheets, anchor charts, inspirational quotes.  Some organization but definitely not the "cute" factor like all of my colleagues.  :-(

Believe me-  I have tried for 8 years.  I can imagine it in my head-  but I hardly ever can make it happen.  Most times it takes me days to make something that will take those type 1 teachers an hour.

I always try to remember this when I teach students.  I always share my story too.  I love art-  but it doesn't come easy and I have to work really hard to be able to do it.  Then I tell them about two of my siblings that can free draw about anything!  

Back to my "aha" point of teacher bartering.  

So-  many of my friends are the total opposite of me.  So-  I started teacher bartering this summer.  :-)

Make daily 5 signs, customized word wall labels in exchange for a friend painting me inspirational paintings to hang in my classroom.  

Make differentiated kindergarten centers in exchange for them organizing my room!  

Make word work centers in exchange for an awesome Pinterest chevron cork board.  (Okay-  my teamy is just that nice that she did it out of the goodness of her heart!  How I love her!)

I feel like all of my bartering friends got the "short end of the stick."  I feel like I have won the lottery!  

Here are the unfinished centers for the K friend.  Everything was purchased at the dollar tree.  I had so much fun going up and down the aisles turning on my Dave Burgess brain and thinking- "How can I use this for independent centers?"

24 centers!  (More are from my chunk center and math centers that I have posted yet.). They need recording sheets yet and a few other items.  (Like tape that I happen to have ran out of at home!)

Why not?  They are in color!  Add sheet protectors and binders or folders.  :-)

Search and find bottles.  Need to add rice.  The words will be sorted into three different bottles.  If they are green, yellow, or red sight words.

These will be leveled.  Just have to add the sheets.  Red level will be choosing stickers and writing the initial or ending sound.  Yellow will write a story with stickers.  Green will write the name of the sticker.

Complete with a picture answer key:

I love this!  Action figures from comics/ movies.  Students have to copy the name down/ draw a picture.

I want to got glue the eyeballs on a Popsicle stick.  

This would be awesome to use with a bingo ball spinner!  Unfortunately I am fresh out of those!  

Just add flashcards!

Self explanatory.

That is it!  (Well out of items completed today!)

So my friends-  lesson learned:

1.  Barter away and take advantage of your friends' skills!  What is easy to you-  may not be for everyone!  Please remember that if you ever meet me and ask me to draw something like a dog.  I've been told my dogs, cats, cows, and horses all look exactly the same!  :-(

Have a great weekend!  :-)

New math implementations- pin it to win it!

It never fails-  once July starts- my teacher brain wheels start turning!

I'm working on things across the board.  Today I thought that I would post about math.  :-)

I teach math using a guided math format.  You can download free charts and read more about it here.

I have been working on differentiated skill based centers and still need a couple of weeks to finish for these.

I also am finishing my numbers and measurement unit to complete the units used for teaching math during the first quarter.

I have finished my take on an interactive notebook.  

My reasoning for making a different notebook when there are already AWESOME notebooks out there is so that students can use their notebooks to practice their skills during independent work or with a volunteer.  Most of the things involve tape so you can use a dry erase marker or pockets to sort cards.  If you click here, you can download the preview to see the sample.  

 Each skill has an "I Can" statement, a Monday sort, and a self reflection rubric.

 I also start out each week with a blind sort.  The students have to work together to figure out how to sort the cards.  The cards will lead to the topic that we will be learning for the week. Students have to reflect daily on how well they followed rules and how much they learned each day.  At the end of math we have a "reflection" time where students share what they are proud of (sometimes I tell them what to bring as a quick spontaneous check) and they also discuss how they did on goals and reflect on their chart.

 Each skill has a vocabulary page.

 Students will draw or write a way for them to remember the vocabulary word and this sheet gets glued right into their notebook.   I always use these vocabulary words as I teach but always had a tough time keeping up with a math word wall- so this is my hopefully simple solution!  

Each skill has an "interactive" component.

For this particular skill, students cut out and glue the number chart into their notebook.  Then they cut out and keep the small pieces in a pocket in the notebook. This way they can complete the puzzle multiple times.  The second sheet is covered with packing tape or a small piece of page protector is taped over it so that students can use a dry erase marker to trace over it.

The next item that I finished is by far my favorite!

The thing that I am the most excited about comes from an inspiration from the AMAZING Dave Burgess- author of Teach like a Pirate.  (If you haven't read his book-  seriously stop what you are doing right now and go read it!!!). You can read about my obsession with this blog post.

Well I have been thinking- "how do I make math more engaging?  What can we do to make math exciting enough that my students want to come to school even if they are sick?"

Then I had an AHA moment as I was doing charity work-  lol-  okay I was being lazy and watching Lifetime.  I thought about creating math challenges using the skills that they are learning.

I have been making every other week mystery math challenges.  

It all starts with a plain box and wrapping it up to make it look cute (I did my best- I'm sure ALL of you can make it look even better!)

Then I filled the box with some left over confetti like bag filler.  The weekly challenge (which is determined by skills that have already been introduced) is "hidden" in the box.

I press "play" on this fantastic song:
EYE OF THE TIGER

Then DRAMATICALLY have the students do stretches/ exercises to "warm-up" and finally pull out the challenge from the box.  (The warm-up cards are in the purple below.)

Then we discuss the challenge, determine if it should be individual, partners or a group challenge and they all have to fill out the "planning sheet."

  Then we discuss the challenge, determine if it should be individual, partners, or groups.  I have included "idea" sheets for each challenge but I want to get the input from the students so that they are directly involved in the planning to make the challenge.

If you want a jumping off point- you can download my quarter 1 challenges here. 

WANT THESE FOR FREE????

If you like either of these things- pin the TPT links- put the link below in the comments with your email- and I will send you a free copy.  You can also tweet about it too.  :)  (I am SLOWLY learning how to treat and I LOVE IT!)

This is good until the end of July.  :)

Have a great week!  :)

New money unit! Pin it/ tweet it to win it!

I feel fairly comfortable with my students' math skills.  A few are still working on skills but the majority have mastered all first grade math.

We have been spending a lot of our time on PBL projects but now we need to start working on second grade skills!

I taught money for 7 years in first grade and know how difficult that it was for the kiddos to grasp.  So I thought-  well that will be the skill that we will work on for the last few weeks of school.

I already had some money items but decided to make actual lesson plans.

Since I'm posting from my phone I can't add pictures-  so for a sneak peak click on this website and check out the preview.  :-)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Money-Unit-Identifying-and-Counting-Coins-up-to-a-Dollar-1223489

If you like it- or are interested-  pin it/ tweet about it- to win it!

If you do-  just leave your information in the comments below!  

Side note-  I am kinda obsessed with Twitter!  I finally found something that I can keep up with!  @lasotadanielle   :-)  if you haven't-  jump on the bandwagon late like I did!  I seriously cannot stop!  :-)

Have a great week!  

Persuasive Commercials

What better way to motivate your kiddos to learn about opinion writing than writing their own persuasive commercials!  :)

I was completely hands off for this project and what my first grade students developed is amazing! 

We started out by reading the book, Have I Got a Book for You.

This book is about the character trying to sell the reader the book.  He tries almost every sales technique possible to sell the book.  My students love this book!  It is a little over their heads at points but they still enjoy listening to it.

 

Then we watched some persuasive commercials.  THANKS to the Blendspace user that created these!  I simply copied their "plans." 

http://blnds.co/1dQoO5f 

 

SIDE NOTE: If you haven't jumped on the Blendspace wagon yet-  do it!  :)  It is super easy to use and organize online materials for lessons.  :)

 

 

After that, the students formed groups based on similar interests.  Some wanted to make a "Save the Animals" commercial, while others wanted to persuade others to play Minecraft, buy a certain video game etc.

 

Then I gave the students blank script writing paper (coming soon in a TPT product.)  and set them loose! 

After about 2 days the students came to the carpet for a lesson on fluency expression.  Students were set loose again to work on their expression. 

 

Then, students worked on props to hold.  They also came up to me and we searched Google images to find a "setting" for their movie.  We took a screen shot and made a jpeg image with their setting.  Some students at this point decided on asking an "actor" to help them out by being a satisfied customer etc.  They were super creative!  :)

 

Finally, we discussed movements and how people can read body language to infer.  Students practiced their expression and also their movements.

 

Finally taping day arrive about 6 days after they received their blank script paperwork.  I bought wrinkle resistant green fabric.  Enlisted the help of some "prop" helpers to hold the fabric.  (Later I will attach Velcro!)  Then we taped in front of the green screen to create our commercials.  I learned the hard way to keep some "prop" clothing on hand too.  If the students had on a green shirt they became a floating head of arms!  It became a great learning experience because students said, "Maybe that is how they make the ghosts on real movies!"

Using iMovie you are able to insert the setting image and the video to make a real looking commercial. 

I shared all of the videos with parents using one of my new favorite tools, Dropbox.  Parents could view the videos by the link that I provided.  The link is not searchable therefore I didn't need to worry about privacy issues.  :)

I LOVE my techy friend that inspires me to do more each day!  Hopefully this activity inspired my kids to write more.  :)

Please please please take a minute to help my wonderful friends!!!

One of my dearest friends Stefanie and her husband Ryan are trying to adopt.  I cannot wait for the day when they finally get their own little buddle of joy.  That child will be one of the luckiest kids.  

I work with Stefanie and within a month of meeting her-  we instantly became great friends.  That is just who Stefanie and Ryan are-  very social and easy to love people.  Not only do they instantly become friends with everyone that they meet-  but they also have such a loving relationship as a couple.  They are the couple that you just want to "hate" with envy but you can't because they are just genuinely loving and hilarious people.  

So I ask this of you-  please take the 1 minute to like or better yet share their adoption Facebook page with others.  Not only will it fullfill your "good deed of the day". But you will help in connecting these amazing people with their future son or daughter.  

Thank you so much!!!!!

Hugs for your help,

Danielle

https://www.facebook.com/ryanandstefaniewanttoadopt

Independent Comprehension

This is probably one of my student's favorite times.  When that transition "Move it, Move it" song comes on and on the projector it says, "Come to the carpet.", My kids seriously start cheering.  They know that it is time for our whole group comprehension.

At the beginning of the year we learned many of the fantastic comprehension songs from Reading Power.  So often one of my students during our transition will start singing one of the songs:
*"When I read a story and my brain says, "woah" this part reminds me of my friend Joe.  It's called connect- da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da,da..."

It is just way too cute- I can't stop it and typically start singing along.   :)  I just love how they become pumped for comprehension time.  I will "hook" them anyway that I can!

Even though whole group is just 20 minutes I feel that so much goes into it.  I am going to start by highlighting what my kiddos do independently during "comprehension rotation" as I am teaching a guided reading group.

We use the Journey's reading series.  Each week there is a new mentor text.  I actually like these stories.  Each week there is also a comprehension assessment based off of the text.  The assessment is multiple choice and covers comprehension skills that we have already learned.  I made a little answer key to break down each question type for each test.

This took awhile but it is worth it.  No longer is this JUST a test for the sake of giving it but it is a tool to drive my instruction.  As students miss a question, I mark off the number so that I and my students can clearly see what skill they need to work on.  I involve my students in making a goal each Friday to work on during independent comprehension (formally my read to self rotation.)

Students place a sticky note on the goal sign that they want to have for next week. 

I plan to:
 1.  clean my board (gross!)
and 2.  update these to make them more cutesy this summer. 
*If students don't miss a question, they get to choose any skill to review.


During independent comprehension time- students use materials in their specific goal tub:

 

I have a drawer for each of the comprehension skills that we cover.  The drawer has matching pictures to the poster.  On the outside is also a QR code to a blendspace lesson.  If you haven't checked out blendspace- please do!  I am OBSESSED with it. 

 

 

*****WARNING******  SLIGHT BLENDSPACE TANGENT 

I have always tried to incorporate videos/ photos in my lessons.  However it would take a long time because I would have 17 tabs opened on my computer.  I would go back and forth between, google images, youtube, google docs etc.  Blendspace has one search bar, you type in what you want to search for and down the right hand side are simple clicks to search all of those different places for that same information.  You drag what you want to almost a Pinterest looking "board" and everything that you want to teach a lesson is right there.  You can even make and embed assessments.  As long as your students sign in- it will send the results of the test and analyze them.  I ADORE this FREE program.  It is super fast and easy to use.

 

Here is a picture of what is inside the drawers:

 

 

There are Lakeshore games (These are taught in advance), some awesome task cards that I bought on TPT and also a paper graphic organizer.  Students can use the graphic organizer with any book.  If they choose this option- I have them bring the book to our "proud" meeting before lunch for me to look at it quickly.  On 2 computers we also have the choice of playing the electronic Lakeshore Comprehension games (there are only 4).

 

 

 

I am trying out a BYOT program the last half of the year.  So if my students have a technology device they can also choose to scan the QR code to go to a blendspace lesson.

 

 

 

Students are expected to finish their guided reading group "classwork" first before working on their goal.  If they finish all goal work.  I also have other materials like inferencing pictures available.

 

 

I'm not going to lie- this took a LOT of planning and preparation.  However this is one of the things that once you do it- it is finished and you shouldn't have to do it again. 

 

 

However I teach first grade and in reality I MIGHT have to replace some of the materials every few years.  Until now- just wiping clean with Clorax wipes should work well enough!  :)

 

 

 

I think that I need a "break" week once a month.  I have had so many things that I have wanted to share but it takes me about 2 hours or so to write a blog post and I am usually grading items or creating items until bedtime each night.  That is why I am super excited for Twitter.  Now I plan to take about 30 seconds every couple of days to take a picture of something and write a sentence.  During "break" weeks I plan on typing out these HUGE blog posts.  :)

 

@LaSotadanielle <-------- Twitter :) 

 

I finally feel hip.  :)