Another Week Down!

I can't believe another week has passed. This was a fast one, too!

MONDAY

Monday was the kickoff for blends month. We will be focusing on s blends, l blends, and r blends in phonics/spelling for 3 weeks. I actually went ALL out and planned an activity that involved a blender! What better way to introduce your students to blends than to make a smoothie in a blender??!

I bought this teeny tiny blender from Wal-Mart. We put a can of apple juice and half a bag of frozen chopped fruit in it. We talked about the properties of the fruit/juice before blending it and predicted what would happen once we pressed the button. After it was all blended, we discussed how the properties changed (gotta throw in some science!) and how the same ingredients were still there even though you can barely tell what it is made of. THEN, we related it to blends in words and tried our apple strawberry peach banana smoothie! They were THRILLED, to say the least! It was a great way to get us started and to help them remember why a blend is a blend.

Despite the two cups you see with smoothie still in them, the kids LOVED it!

Also on Monday, we finally talked about the math word for those "corners" on shapes. We made shapes on pieces of construction paper and used Do-a-Dots to count the vertices. What you see below is one of the construction paper pages underneath my document camersa, projected onto the Promethean Board. We used index cards and tape to label the shape. 

Then we continued to work in our shape book foldable that you can find here.

TUESDAY

We started patterns in math by using pattern blocks and macaroni to make patterns!

You can pick up this macaroni pattern freebie here!

WEDNESDAY

We FINALLY started Read to Someone after 6 weeks of Read to Self--took us that long to get it down, BUT the important part is that they got it down. They did fantastic with Read to Someone!

On Wednesday nights at church I assist in the gardening hobby bible class for 1-4th grade (I am NO gardener, by the way!!). We planted some seeds last week and, thanks to a bunch of rain last weekend, we were happy to see that they had sprouted!

We did sidewalk chalk after spending time in the garden; one little boy wrote this little reminder for us all. :)

I also shared this #midweekconfession via Instagram.

THURSDAY

Thursday brought additive patterns. Yikes. My class didn't have a clue. At all. Lots of ::face palms:: from yours truly. 

We got through it. But it was not easy. :) We will for sure continue to spiral review additive patterns.

Thursday night I almost completed level 79 of Candy Crush--I have been working on it here and there for A MONTH! A MONTH!!!! And I am STILL working on it because 2 moves to get those last two blocks of jelly was just not enough!     :O      >:(       :(

FRIDAY

Skip counting! We started out by reading this book:

This book was a GREAT introduction for skip counting!! GREAT! The animals in the book are competing for title of "King of the Jungle" and must find the fastest way to count to 10. Pick it up on Amazon here. I highly recommend it. 

This activity was the perfect lead-in for some exploration time with skip counting. We actually only had time for just the first page, but this is the investigation page we completed:

Click on the above images or here to download this freebie.

I gave each student a hundreds chart, counters, and the recording sheet (from above) and let them have at it. I loved seeing all of their little brains working. They had some GREAT ideas and thinking. Wonderful insight for me.

Counting by 1s to 48.

Skip counting by 2s to 48:

Check out her towers--she was skip counting by 2s!

On the recording sheet, they were allowed to use it however they chose. Some used it as a work mat while others used it to record the numbers they counted. That also gave me some insight as to what they knew about skip counting.

Phew. It was quite the week. And aren't you proud that I shared more than just math?! We do a billion things each day, but math just makes the most interesting pictures. ;)

What exciting things did you do this week??

My Math Block Mini-Series {Part 4}

So this mini-series is not so mini anymore! (I think I need to change the name!!) The more I type, the more I realize that there is much more to say and explain than originally intended. Thanks for sticking with me! If you missed any of the posts, click below to go back:

My Math Block Mini-Series {Part 1}

My Math Block Mini-Series {Part 2}
My Math Block Mini-Series {Part 3}

I will now continue where we left off! :)

4. Count by days and/or weeks to special days and birthdays (continued)

One additional thing we do at the beginning of the month (when we add special days and birthdays to the calendar) is add birthdays to the birthday cupcake! The birthday kids write their name and the date of their birthday on the cupcake. So if Sally was born on March 4th she would write "Sally 4". I blocked my kids' names, but you get the idea.

The calendar helper then tells us "yesterday was, today is, tomorrow will be" by pointing to the days on the actual calendar, and then changes it here:

While the helper is changing it, the rest of the class turns to a neighbor and says "yesterday was, today is, tomorrow will be". If they finish before the helper does, we turn to a different neighbor to say it. Now, the special thing about the way we say it is we use popsicle sticks with the following words on them to tell us how to say it:

You can imagine how much more engaging it makes this part of calendar! Click on the document above to download your copy.

5. Days in school tally marks, straws, and stickers/odd and even

After we finish up at the actual calendar, we focus our attention to the right side of the board:

We start off by counting how many days we have been in school using straws.

The helper takes out the straws and we count it as the helper places the straws back into the pockets. I give the stack of extra number cards to another student to find the numeral(s) we will need while we are counting. At the end of counting what is already there, we say "and today makes _____" as the helper puts in a new straw. The child with the number cards then places the appropriate numeral(s) in the pocket(s). Then we all say, "One hundred twenty-four is made of 1 hundred, 2 tens, and 4 ones," with it matching whatever number we are discussing. 

Next up is counting the days using tally marks:

(You can probably tell where I made tally marks and the point where the kids started making the tally marks! Ha!)

We bundle every 10 tally marks to reinforce making tens and "counting smart". We also have bundled the 100 tally marks. When we count, we count by 100s, 10s, and then 1s. Sometimes we will count by 10s and 5s or 100s and 5s, etc. At the end of counting, we say "and today makes _____" as the helper puts another tally mark.

Next, we count the days in school using stickers.

We add a new sticker (which are seasonal, of course) at the bottom of the adding tape each day. This not only helps us count the days in school (and practice counting by 2s and 10s) but it also helps us determine odd and even by showing us if each sticker has a partner or not.  We also drew lines to group 10s.

Once we know if the number is odd or even, we chart it like so (back in September):

(and now): 

We coded the chart with red for odd and blue for even. This helped us see odd and even patterns that occur in numbers. It also helped reinforce what makes a pattern. (If you look at 1 and 2, you will see that we even circled the pattern core.) I DID NOT explain to them about odd and even and the last digit in a number. I let them discover that on their own. A few of them noticed very early on, but we did not really discuss it until the majority of students discovered it (and if you have been following me awhile, you know that I am really big on discovery learning). Once they discovered it, we wrote it down and added it to our calendar board for easy reference:

6. Money

I call a different helper up to for this part (just to switch it up and to pick a good listener).

We count what we have and then add another for the day we are on by saying, "and today makes ______" at the end of counting. You may have read about my classroom management system where my student groups are named after coins. Well, my kids came up with the idea that when we are counting, the group that matches whatever coin we point to needs to stand up. So when we point to a dime, the dime table stands up. They also wanted every one to stand when we point to the dollar. I applauded their thinking and agreed to it! :) I am all for moving around and them taking ownership of and giving input for their own learning!

I will conclude the calendar portion with build the hundreds chart and weather tomorrow and will then move on to math lesson/stations time. Thanks for stopping by!

And if you prefer to download the voice sticks from TPT or TN, then click below! See you tomorrow!

My Math Block Mini-Series {Part 3}

Welcome to part 3 of this series! I hope you had a chance to read part 1 and 2. If not, then click below to hop over:

My Math Block Mini-Series {Part 1}

My Math Block Mini-Series {Part 2}

And once again--calendar is easily one of my favorite times of day. Yesterday, I showed you what is on my board. Today, I will explain each part in more detail.

Flashback to September 14:

And this is it from two weeks ago, on the 119th day of school:

Quite the difference!!

Calendar Routine

1. Months of the Year and Days of the Week songs

We start by singing Dr. Jean's "Macarena Months" song (a capella, no time for a CD! ;) ). The calendar  helper points to each month as we sing.

Here is the song and lyrics on a YouTube video:

After we sit at the end of the months song, we begin to sing "Days of the Week", also the Dr. Jean version (to The Addams Family tune). The calendar helper also points to the days of the week as we sing.

Here is a video of a random class singing it:

2. Count to the date, recite the date (MDY)
We start on the 1st of the month and count until we reach the current day, at which point we recite the date ("Today is March 19, 2013). Sometimes we whisper or shout it, but most times we say it normally. You may notice that we do not have a place to write the date out (though we did in September). It is written at another spot in the room, so I am not too worried that we no longer write it during calendar.


3. Read the pattern, decide what is next
Before this month, I would make a pattern (AB, AABB, ABBA, ABC, ABCA, ABCCA, etc.) and the students would figure it out as the month went on. We would read the pattern and then make a prediction about the day and the few days following. This month, I switched it up! I wanted the students to take more responsibility in making the pattern. I bought 2 sets of calendar numbers (the reversible ones) for March:

(click on the above pics to head over to Carson-Dellosa)

and made some pattern cards.

(Click to download your own set!)

I cut up the cards and put them in a baggie. On March 1st, my calendar helper drew a card. He drew "ABCDA pattern", so as a class we talked about what that meant and what it would look like. He then chose a card to represent "A" and placed it on the calendar. The next day's helper was responsible for choosing "B", followed by "C", and then "D".  From then on, the helper was just responsible for continuing the pattern with the correct picture and number.

We always read the entire pattern as a whole class before and after placing the day's card on the calendar. The students always enjoy making predictions about what they think is next! (Algebraic thinking, woot woot!)

4. Count by days and/or weeks to special days and birthdays
At the beginning of the month when we place the special days and birthdays on the calendar, we always get a little practice in counting on. We have three birthdays this month, St. Patrick's Day, and spring break. When placing the cards for those on a blank calendar, we always "count smart". That means we use nearby dates that we already know to find other dates. For example, we placed a birthday on the 4th and then wanted to place St. Patrick's Day next. Instead of counting from the 1st, we decided to use the 4th as our starting place and counted on to 17. We then were able to use the 17th to help us find a birthday on the 24th. This is something that I always let the students suggest we do. If the helper doesn't suggest it then there is always a friend that will!

The calendar helper helps us count up to special days. If we have birthdays, the birthday student comes up and helps us count up to it. We started the year off just counting by days, working our way up to being able to count by weeks. It took a few months to get there because I wanted it to be something that the kids came up with (and they eventually did!). They knew 7 days makes one week and began to notice that each time we had two events with one under the other, they were 7 days apart. With a little nudge, they realized that those 7 days made 1 week, so the events were 1 week apart! Yes, I could have explained this to them, but how much more meaningful is it when they think it on their own??? We are now able to count by weeks and days--some of them are even really good at counting by weeks and then counting back days (like if there was an event 2 weeks and 6 days away, they are able to count 3 weeks and then subtract 1 day to get 2 weeks and 6 days)--WOW!

Well, I'm wrapping up for the day--I fear that I will bore/overload you if I continue now, so I will finish the calendar portion tomorrow! :) Here is what is coming in the next post:

5. Days in school tally marks, straws, and stickers/odd and even
6. Money
7. Build the hundreds chart
8. Weather

If you prefer to download the pattern cards from TPT or TN, then click below! See you tomorrow!

Patterns Fun!!

Alright, here goes--first real post in a LOOOONG time!! :) Yay!! :)

So we have done a BUNCH of awesome little activities in first grade so far! I wish I had time to share all of them with you!!! I have been snapping pictures like crazy so I will have to share at least some of them!

First up--we began our patterns unit last week. The kids always get REALLY excited when we talk about anything that has to do patterns (or pat-er-rens, as they tend to say!). On Friday afternoon, we practiced extending a pattern and identifying a pattern's core. I gave the kids a strip of paper with a pattern on it and they replicated and extended it using macaroni noodles and a sentence strip to put the macaroni on. We also practiced identifying the pattern's core and separated it using a popsicle stick. Of course, I have no pictures of this portion of our activity...or any part of it all, actually! I snapped the following ones at home! :/ After we practiced that for a while, I decided to let them have a little Friday afternoon fun and come up with their own patterns! Here are some of the good ones:

The kids labeled the patterns with letters (A, B, etc.) and circled the core of their pattern (kind of hard to see). Aren't they good?? ;)

They also got a fine motor skills workout--this proved to be quite the task for some of them.

I plan on using this activity as one of our math stations during our daily math rotations, so I whipped up a little recording sheet to use. I thought I would share it with you patient/awesome readers out there! 

Enjoy the freebie!

Click one of the links to download this freebie!

And this brings me to my newest products--I spent most of Saturday evening creating this first one and I am very happy with it! I'm printing my copy tomorrow so I can use it in my own classroom. :) This pack includes anchor charts, word wall words, several games, and even a little minibook for the students to make. It is meant to complement your awesome patterns unit! 

Click one of the links to purchase this pack!

The next one is this little shape book that my students actually completed last week. I love how they came out and the kids were ecstatic over them!

Click one of the links to purchase this activity!

Alright, since you have stuck with me this long, feel free to comment below to win a copy of my new products! Tomorrow, I will randomly choose 3 people to win a copy of both new products!

Don't forget to leave your email address!! :)