Math Stations: Logistics

You may recall last year when I walked you through my math block in a mini-series. Well, this year I have math set up much differently than before. I use a station rotation system (like Guided Math) to deliver my instruction. Part 1: Logistics.



Math is split into two blocks this year (instead of one big chunk of time), we have added a supplemental program called Excel Math to our daily activities, and I have a TOTALLY different bunch of kids. Different bunch of kids = Different bunch of problems. :/

This year, I have math from 11:05-12:20 and 1:05-2:10. The second part of math includes of a restroom break, Excel Math, and calendar time, and also includes a computer class once a week. So, basically, all of the great instruction/important stuff needs to occur in the first block.

During this time, we do math videos, ten-frame games, or hundreds chart activities usually taken from this book:

I pull some of our ten-frame activities from this unit:

And here are some of our favorite videos to use as a warm-up:

 This is the beginning part of our core lesson, directed to all students. This lesson is meant to get the students ready to focus on the day's skill that will be taught. This can include a story, game, video, hands-on exploration, or simply just a discussion.

After the focus lesson, we begin rotations/math stations. I then continue the core lesson with small groups of students, which is much more effective than delivering the lesson whole group.

Our stations are:

 

Ahem. Excuse the mess of the buckets...... ;)

If you love the labels, grab them below for FREE!

After the focus lesson, we are ready to use this handy-dandy rotation board: 

If you can't tell, this is displayed on my Promethean board using ActivInspire. This is the EASIEST rotation board I have EVER had: 

• The students' names are at the top inside the shapes, which are my five groups (it usually doesn't say "name", hahaha. I did that to protect my students' privacy!). I have divided them into 5 similar-ability groups. I do this so that I am able to target specific needs of my students. I can meet the low ones where they are at and challenge my high ones as appropriate. Don't have a cow--the groups are fluid, so a student may move groups several times throughout the year based on his/her needs. ;)

• The numbers going down the sides represent the round number. Each group (shape) looks below the group's shape to see their rotation order. I tried to make it super easy for students to understand. :)

• The stars in each group represent the person who will be using the iPad during Math with Technology. The rest of that group will use the classroom computers. The only thing I have to change daily is the little star--I move it to the next person so everyone will have a chance to use the iPad during the week.

Rotations are like so:

As you can see, each block is 10 or 15 minutes long. The timing may be shorter/longer depending on how long/short my "Math with Teacher" group is. I typically am able to get through all stations in one day. If time becomes an issue, I combine my last two teacher groups into one and deliver the lesson to both at once (9 students is still better than the whole group!).

Our math block concludes with calendar time, followed by another fun and favorite math video to close us out (usually an up-on-your-feet video).

Stay tuned for the next post, which will explain/show the station activities and, of course, include more freebies! :)

This Week in 1st Grade

So 2 weeks ago was NUTS and this past week was NOT much better!

Monday: Regular school day, though it became icy throughout the day and was slightly dangerous by the time we got out of school and on the roads.
Tuesday: Ice day! NO school!
Wednesday: Regular school day (and recess--FINALLY!)
Thursday: Regular school day, but I had a workshop and was out--sub day!
Friday: LOVELY (but windy) weather for Valentine's Day

So last week, I actually only taught on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That is somewhat awesome.

Well, what does this next week bring?? A lot of the same things from last week since we didn't get everything finished!

MONDAY
Phonics/Spelling: Introduce trigraphs -dge and -tch with a whole group picture sort. We will sort the pictures by sound into two hoops (which I don't have at home, so I will show you on construction paper...).

Then, we will add the words for each picture.

Throughout the week, we will keep a flipbook of words we come across that have -tch and -dge in them. We will spend some time searching through books for them and will also keep a class list of the words. Here is a simple (at home!) example:

Handwriting: We will focus on ABC order, specifically on using the second letter when words have the same initial letter. Our sight words of the week have 2 sets of same letter words so this is a PERFECT time to review that concept. This is the very boring but colorful flipchart we will use. We don't have fun fonts at school (and aren't allowed to download them!) so Century Gothic it is! :P

The students will decide and write the order of the words on their dry erase boards. Then, together we will drag the words over in order to confirm their answers.

Handwriting (all 10 minutes of it) for the rest of the week will consist of lots of skywriting, some pencil and paper practice, and using our tactile handwriting boards.

Check out my post about these boards by clicking here!

Reading/Writing: Penguins research project--we have been researching penguins for the past four weeks. We didn't do much last week at all (only 1 day of penguin study), so this week will pretty much be the same activities I planned for last week. We will learn about main idea and informational text features. We will use the text features to answer specific questions. My GT students will be starting a mini-research project on penguins as the class continues research together. I whipped this up for them (and will share with you very soon):

We will also begin our own informational text book about penguins--fun stuff!

Math: We will finish up numeration on Monday and move on to learning about time on Tuesday! Our time unit always begins by reading The Grouchy Ladybug by one of my favorite authors, Eric Carle. Here is a great YouTube video of it:

We will then discuss a brief history of the clock (riveting, really) and the difference between analog and digital clocks. We'll discuss a sundial first and I'll show this quick video to demonstrate how it works:

After the sundial, we view/discuss how people used to use hourglasses to keep time and the difficulties that may have come with using one. We will then have a discussion about using a standardized format for keeping time and a tool that is not solely reliant on good weather days or people. Then it is time to explore the clock tools!

I give them about 10 minutes to just play with our little clock buddies. Exploring tools before using them as tools under your instruction will allow the kids' curiosity about the tool to be satisfied and get the play out of their system. They will then be ready to use them as properly!

We will use these videos to reinforce what we are learning about time:

We have already watched these videos a jazillion times this school year already, so the kids are very familiar with them! I give them a clock to use during the video since the videos are very interactive.

We will also build our own paper clocks in order to learn more about them, as well as build a clock number line to learn how a clock is actually a number line!

Since it is still February (and we only did stations once last week!), stations will still be from my Cross My Heart pack:

And here is a SUPER time game that I will add to the Math with Technology station:

Science: This week we will finish up learning about what makes seasons since we didn't get to finish last week. Here is a GREAT video we will watch that shows one year in 120 seconds, specifically how the trees look during each season.

And instead of making these season trees like I planned for last week...

...we are making a circle book about seasons instead. I will share it with you after we make them!

Social Studies: This week is all about presidents! Monday is Presidents' Day, so we will learn about the great contributions of some of our great presidents, specifically Washington and Lincoln. We are doing a little craftivity to house the information we have learned about these great men. My GT kids will be doing their own research on a great president and will make an informational book about it to share with the class. Fun fun!

Well, I hope you have a GREAT (and snow day-less) week!! :)

This Week in 1st Grade

Last week was NUTS:

Superbowl Sunday: Cold weather and precipitation
Monday: 2-hour school delay due to icky weather
Tuesday: Regular school day
Wednesday: Regular school day
Thursday: Snow day!
Friday: Snow day!
Saturday: BEAUTIFUL, warm weather.
This week's forecast: Cold and snowy! Aah!

Texas has not had all of the extremely crazy weather that some of you have experienced this year so far, BUT we still have had some! So, as you may have already guessed, this week will be for catch-up for 1st grade!!

MONDAY
Phonics/Spelling: Review combination or and introduce combinations er, ir, and ur. On Wednesday and Thursday in small group, we will add "Park the Car" with the new combinations to our list of activities. Friday will be r-controlled vowels BINGO! :D

Reading/Writing: Penguins research project--we have been researching penguins for the past three weeks. This week we will learn about main idea and informational text features. We will use the text features to answer specific questions. My GT students will be starting a mini-research project on penguins as the class continues research together. I whipped this up for them (and will share with you very soon):

We will also begin our own informational text book about penguins--fun stuff!
Math: Numeration 51-99 unit--this week is all about reviewing how to represent numbers, and comparing and ordering two-digit numbers. Station activities will come from this unit:

We will also view some of our favorite money videos to review coins and their values:

I also found this one today that I will introduce to them (they will LOVE it):

Science: We have been busy studying weather and clouds. Last week, we sorted cloud pictures to learn the terms clear sky, partly cloudy and overcast. After looking at clouds in the sky and reading Little Cloud by Eric Carle, we will make a cloud foldable similar to the one pictured below (from Pinterest). Instead of cloud types, we will make a visual representation of clear sky, partly cloudy and overcast.

We will also begin learning about what makes seasons! Here is a GREAT video we will watch that shows one year in 120 seconds, specifically how the trees look during each season.

Then, we will make our own season trees like the one below (from Pinterest), except we will be doing all 4 seasons on one page.

Social Studies: We will continue learning about landforms! We have already discussed types of landforms and where to find them. This week, we will use Google Earth to explore different landforms in the world (and on Mars!).

Finally, we will write about our favorite type of landform. Here is our writing paper (click on it to download it):

Well......time to finish preparing for the week. Thanks for coming by! I hope you have a good (and normal) week! :)