Five for Friday

Happy Friday everyone!

 Let's link up!

Okay....#1 has got to be shows, I think.  September has been stressful.  Do I need to list reasons why?  Probably not.  But this week some of my favorite shows have started and I didn't realize (how could I forget) that it is so nice to sit and stare at the tv for awhile.

#2...it was apple week at my Ruby's school (daycare).  And she came home with this:

 #3...We used number bracelets this week to work on addends and sums.  It was exciting to see them using them to come up with combinations!

#4...to work on phonological awareness I use nursery rhymes.  I have found that many of firsties don't know them.  So we learn some of them and change them!  Last week they changed Humpty Dumpty and were so excited when I gave them the typed up version of their ideas.

 #5...I finally got up our "golden author" frame (a garage sale find...of course!)

Here comes October!  Enjoy your last days of September.

Wednesday WOW!

 It is that time again!  Wednesday WOW!  A time to share something good that has happened to you so far this week (because we all need a little bit of positive.)  Hope you can link up with us!

 Natalie and I really wanted to hit the concept of addition this week.  We have done some addition and subtraction this year (obviously with ALL my posts about word problems!) But we wanted to work on really helping them understand visually what two addends were and how the sum was greater than the addends.
It has gone really well so far!  I am having a great time with the activities in my guided math group.  Here is what we did today:

One more success this week: PumpkinChili

We decided to try a Gluten Free, Low Carb Pumpkin Chicken Chili.  It is from "I Breathe...I'm Hungry..."  I love to try new recipes.  We try a lot of new recipes and you never know how they are going to turn out (pizza is always a back up plan).  But this was great!!!

http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2012/11/low-carb-gluten-free-pumpkin-chicken.html

 




 

Five for Friday Story Problems

Happy Friday to one and all out there!

It was a fun week of problem solving in our little Curious Firstie world.  I know, I know....I have blogged about this problem solving book (Posing and Solving Problems with Story Boxes).  We hit the point this week that our kids had to create their own story problems.  What! It is the third week of September....beginning of the year....surely they can't do this.  UM!  YES!  They can :)

So I am linking up this Friday to share some of these experiences this week.  Thanks Doodle Bugs for hosting my favorite linky (well...I like my Wednesday WOW linky).

1. The creation of bus story problems (higher achieving students): They came up with their problems and wrote them.

 

2. More creation of story problems (struggling students): They came up with the problem and I wrote it for them.

3. Sharing of the problems:

 4. We discussed problem solving strategies this week.  We modeled, discussed, and produced some images together to help us remember them. Here is an example.

5. Last up---little bit of phonics for you.  I made a "Making Words" powerpoint for the -ap and -ack families.  Our struggling readers did a great job with it!  They actually followed along with the sheet below.  We practiced making these families and handwriting at the same time (much needed handwriting).  You can click on the image if you want to download a preview of the Powerpoint.

 

 Have a good weekend everyone!  Don't forget to link up on Wednesday with something great that is going on with you :)

Wednesday WOW linky party

Last week was the full on start to our guided reading groups.  Woot Woot!  No more practicing, going over procedures...it is on!  So this is the topic of my Wednesday WOW!  Hope you can link up with something great in your classroom (or personal life).

So my plans were nicely laid out, books were retrieved, and materials on hand.  And it went well!  Actually, they mastered the books that I picked out for them.  So one of my groups got an extra book on Friday.  I did not have a lot of time to search for the perfect book Friday morning, so I did my best and ended up with a book called "Carrots."
 It was a Level B book and basically went like this "I plant the seeds in my garden.  I water the seeds in my garden......I slice the carrots in my kitchen."
My reading strategy focus this week was "Look at the pictures" and "Get your mouth ready for the first sounds." (These are our little strategy cards that we made together.)

 This book ended up being a perfect fit to practice these two strategies!  It was one of those WOW moments because I couldn't believe that a book I picked up quickly worked out so well for what I needed.  I was thrilled and they actually really enjoyed this book about carrots.  Who would have known :)

Let up know what went well for you this week! Link up below.

An Exhausted Five for Friday (Math FREEBIE)

 Oh, thank you for coming Friday!  It has been a long, exhausting week.  Not because of students or family....it just has been a long, busy week.  So now I can sit back...smile that it is over...and reflect a little.

#1...Bus problem solving.  I had posted about a new book that Natalie and I are trying out this year that really challenges our first graders through word problems--orally, written, and by creating their own.  You can read more here.  We continued using the bus theme this week by turning the bus into a tens frame.  We worked on ways to make 10.  We added the number of people on the bus and the number of seats that were still available.

#2 More story problems.  Last week we had started the story problems by acting them out.  We literally made a classroom bus with chairs.  But this week students had to solve the problems independently with a bus and some lima bean people, while I read the problem orally.  Here are some examples of what they had to solve (remember...these are my struggling students in Sept of first grade)...

"Eleven children were peering out the windows of the bus, eager to get home to play.  Seven got off at the first stop.  How many were still on the bus?"

"It was a good day at school but the children were tired and eager to get home to their families.  Before the last stop, the driver had eight children on the bus.  Now there were only three.  How many had gotten off?"

"A mom was waiting for the bus to return from the night program.  It was so dark when the bus pulled up that all she could see were eight tired eyes gazing down at her.  How many children were on the bus?"

(comes from "Posing and Solving Problems with Story Boxes" by Donna Burk and Allyn Snider, 1994)

We put them up to this challenge and they could do it!! I can't wait to see what happens next :)

#3 This week I got to wear my Math shirt!

#4 and 5 is a FREEBIE.  It goes along with all the math "stuff" above. It is a tens frame with equations.  And a second one with a missing number.

You can find these here too:

Happy weekend everyone!  I will be doing some relaxing (I hope.)

LInky Party---Wednesday WOW!

 Link up to share something that went unexpectedly well for you this week (personal or professional).  After you write up your post, be sure to link up below.  You can use the image above in your post and please link back to this post on your blog.

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Each year I introduce the reading strategies that I would like my students to use when they get stuck on a word.  Typically, I do this in guided reading groups.  I have always used images to help me:

But this summer I read Smarter Charts.

This led to an idea of coming up with the reading strategies as a class.  Karen and I decided that she would read a book aloud and would use reading strategies when she got stuck on a word.  Then I asked our firsties to verbalize what she did to figure out the word.  I wrote their words down on a note card and we brainstormed an image that would help their brain remember that strategy.

Oh My!! I was not sure how this would go because it was going to occur whole group.  What if they can't verbalize what she is doing?  What if they don't describe an image that will really help them to remember the strategy?

It went so well!  I was thrilled that the idea worked.  We discussed why these strategies important (because I am not going to live with them as adults...so they need to learn to read without my help!)

I also have a smaller version with magnets on the back.  We use them to point out specifically what we hear each other doing when we read in our groups.

I can't wait to hear about all of your great happenings this week! 

A Very Mathy Five for Friday

Ever have one of those weeks where you feel like you are two steps behind?  All..Week..Long!  That was my week.  And I know that it is just a matter of getting back into the "swing of things."  But...as my Ben reminded me tonight...it is Friday. Let it go.  Perfect way to do that...Five for Friday (of course!)

1. 
You may (or may not) know that we are a departmentalized first grade.  After many assessments we finally got our firsties placed in their classes and started switching classes this week. We introduced our math groups for the first time today!  And I decided to try out my math bracelets from a blog post I read at the Math Coach's Corner. (She has changed my life forever) I was amazed.  I just asked them to show me what problems they could come up with....AND...3 digit addends became part of this conversation!! What!!?!  I was beyond excited by this.

2.
Another AMAZING part of my week...word problems.  This has always always always been something that I dreaded (mostly because I have felt weak in math...but we are turning that around)!  I was reading a blog from the Math Coach's Corner (again!) and I found a link to the Math Learning Center.  I started to poke around and I came across a free book (3 hundred and some page book!) called "Problem Solving with Story Boxes."  I handed it to Natalie one day this summer (remember...3 hundred some page book) and told her to check it out!  What!?  She probably thought I was crazy!  But by the introduction we were both hooked with a capital H.  We became convinced that this was how we wanted to work on story problems this year.  And so we started it this week...and LOVED it.

3.
Once we introduced our story problem theme from the book: bus arrivals and departures (we took some "classroom trips" to the beach, pool, and McDonald's), we took the lesson theme a step further with this book:

Then each firsties made a bus with dots or stripes, yellow or red.  We used these buses to form "how many" questions.  Then we practiced how to count, point, touch, and check our work when counting.

4.
Many weeks ago I posted a  "Number of the Day" sheet that I created for Natalie's math meeting everyday.  Our goal is number sense this year!  We finally got to see it in action this week.  It really worked out well.  The firsties all seem to really like it and it is keeping them very engaged.

5.
We started using Evernote this week to upload pictures of student writing and some notes.  I think I might just be in love :)  I really like this idea.


One final thing:  You might be wondering...why all the math?  Math has always been a weakness in my mind and last year I started team teaching math with Natalie to our struggling firsties.  I had to step up my game and find ways to make it make sense to them.  This summer I did a lot of research, reading, making and it is so exciting to see it all working in real life!

Happy weekend all!  I know I need some relaxation, for sure!