Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Shape Zoo U.S.A

I'm posting this as part of the Monday Math Blog Hop from love2learn2day. I know it's Tuesday however, yesterday, I taught my lesson for my formal observation.  As an added bonus, my Assistant Principal asked If I minded if she also video tape the lesson!  ahhhh--was what I was thinking, but of course I said yes.  Considering yesterday was a full moon, my class did amazing.  I couldn't take pictures while they were working, but I have some after shots of their work!  They asked great questions, gave great answers and were really thinking critically. Which was awesome. If you want to try this lesson, I have it up for free on TpT here: Geometry Introduction Lesson
Here we meet Miss Poly Gon! (I actually made 2, so the one I used with my class you can see below)


Here is Shape Zoo USA.  Each table group received a bag of shapes to sort as a team. They came up to the board and justified their reasoning: stating # of sides and #of vertices.

Ok I know It's upside down!! but, if you look carefully, you can see that they labeled each shape, wrote the # of sides and vertices, traced the shape and identified the vertices with dots. That was actually a student generated idea. I did not explicitly teach them to do this. One of my little smarties was drawing the dots. I thought it was such a great idea, so I showed the class on the document camera.  They all started doing it in their Shape Field Journals as well.


Today we labeled Miss Poly as a class and finished up our shape Walk.  The class really had fun, and best of all so did I. I forgot I was being observed and video taped and really got into the lesson.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Lesson Freebie!

I uploaded my lesson to TpT here if you would like to download.

Here is Miss Poly Gon all ready to meet my class on Monday.
Can you name all the shapes on her?
Freebie Fridays

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Presidents Day Fun and Geometry Freebie

So All this week we are covering Presidents Day --George Washington and Abe Lincoln.
Here are a few pics of our Cute Abe Lincoln Craftivity and some Presidential Problems in math.
We Salute you!!!!

Here's my silly Friend Cyndy trying to look Presidential! She's a hoot!

On Tuesday my son won our school Citizen ship award for Personal Courage. I'm a proud mama.  (You might not be able to tell, but my cheek is a little swollen here--I had gum surgery Monday--so I'm half a chipmunk)
We are continuing our Time Keeps on Tickin' Unit.
Here is one example of an integrated activity I made for my class to do with Hickory, dickory Dock.
Hickory, dickory, dock. The Mouse ran up the clock.

The Clock Struck 1, the mouse ran down, Hickory, dickory, dock. The kids loved this connection to the nursery rhyme and making this simple pulley to move the mouse up and down. They were so excited to show me how theirs worked and move the mouse up and down.

Today we also did some Presidential Problems. Originally I had the for a center, but since we are also doing time, it didn't fit in. I did this with the Kagan Structure "Numbered Heads Together". I displayed the problem on the screen and had each student solve it. I then called out "Numbered Heads together". They worked together as a team to see if they got it correct. I then called 1 number and those students from each team explained how they got their answer.

The first 4 problems deal with Money that has George and Abe on it. The Next set of problems deals with addition and subtraction with 2-digit numbers..
Tomorrow I sit down with my AP to go over my Formal Evaluation Lesson. I created and introductory lesson for First Grade Common Core Standard MACC.1.G.1.1
I found lots of great lessons and freebies on many different websites, but none that I felt were an "introductory lesson". So I pulled an idea I found on. www.readtennessee.org 
from their Math section. I am uploading my lesson plan and activities for you. If you do try it out, I would love to hear what you think. I will be doing this lesson on Monday.  Wish me luck!!

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Presidents Day Unit and Craftivities!

I have Monday off for Presidents Day as many of you.  I made up this little Unit to do next week and it has quickly become my "BESTSELLER!!!" Part of this mini-unit is my Abe Lincoln Hat and Beard Craftivity. (I really wanted to get my son to model it, but he was camera shy) But use your imagination, and try to picture a cute little face peeking out from the beard! I also made a template for a Washington Wig. I traced out all the beards on Friday like this---so I could fit 2 beards on 1 piece of paper.


We will also be making a mini-book about George and Abe, Word of the Day, Sentence Scramble and Math Word Problems.  Take a look at Presidents Day Fundamentals!
 Enjoy your 3-Day weekend--I will be spending the rest of it, planning my formal lesson for my evaluation.  Can you say Common Core Geometry? Wish me luck!

Monday, February 11, 2013

Time and Traffic Lights

Common Core says First Grade needs to learn to tell time to the hour and half hour. Well guess what, the math series we use does not have time!  So I spent the whole weekend creating a unit for my firsties. Now I have some pretty smart kiddos, so I also made activities for telling time to the 1/4 hour as well, just in case I need to challenge some of them.
This is what we did today from my new unit Time Keeps on Tickin'.
My daughter helped me out this weekend and made my example clock for me.

I got these adorable numbers from Ashley Hughes-Colorful Chevron Numbers


Time scenarios to read aloud and kids to practice moving the hands on the clock--and writing on dry-erase boards.


Telling Time Anchor Charts

Glue to the plate and add hands with a brad (brass fastener). I did have to put the whole in the plate for my kids, I guess the plates were thicker than I thought. I also punched holes at the end of the arrows, so they would spin easier.
We are also researching different Famous Black American Inventors. Today We learned about Garret Morgan the Inventor of the Traffic Light. We made a Traffic light out of construction paper, after reading about him in our Time For Kids Scholastic Books.
 I bought a great unit from Teach 123 for Black History Month Activities, which compliments my writing Unit. Her unit, is full of fun ways to experience the different inventors inventions. So today we also made a Traffic Light Cookie out of graham crackers, Frosting and skittles. After this yummy snack they also wrote a "How-To Make a traffic Light Cookie"! 



We will be doing more with Time, Valentines, President's Day and Black History Month, so stop back in for more fun all February!

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Amazing Lemonade!

In Between my reading, spelling and Lunch, we were setting up our lemonade stand an mixing up some Lemonade!  (note for the future--you really need to stir that powder up! oops)
Julian was so excited he stayed and helped out serving the lemonade to over 1,000 students!  We had such an outpouring of donations that we more than met our goal!!!
Julian has inspired our 8th grade National Junior Honor Society to have more events in the future. I can't tell you how amazing it is to have 8th grade girls come to you with a list of ideas to help raise money for a cause as wonderful as Alex's Lemonade Stand. Their passion to help a fellow student and other children makes my heart soar! There is hope for our future if children today can look to helping others rather than just focusing on themselves. If you haven't heard it already, here is the story of Alex and her Amazing Lemonade Stand!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Tomorrow is the 100th day!!

Just a quick 100 word post--6.
Tomorrow is my 100th day of school.--13 
We will be doing a Word of the Day for "hundred",--24

filling in a hundred Chart, making 100 with 10 different groups,--35 
building 100 with base ten blocks and writing what we will be like when we are 100 years old.--54

We are also going to see how many times we can jump up and down in 100 seconds,--72
write our names 100 times and do 100 jumping jacks, whew!--83
I will also be giving out these cute book marks.--93

What fun activities do you have planned? 100

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Alex and the Amazing Lemonade Stand

click the image above to go directly to our fundraising page
If you looked up the definition of brave in the dictionary you would find: 
"brav·er·y  (brv-r, brvr)
n. pl. brav·er·ies
1. The condition or quality of being brave; courage.
2. Splendor or magnificence; show.

One of my First Graders said it was "Standing up to something you're afraid of".
I think you would see a picture of any child that is battling Childhood Cancer.

With the help of some teachers and my principal we came up with a way to help my student. We are hosting a Lemonade stand at our School, in honor of my Student Julian, who is battling Leukemia for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.
If you are in the position to help, we would love any post, pin, Facebook share, and/or Donation you could afford in support for finding a cure for Childhood Cancers. Please pin or share my graphic above on your blog or FB page.
Or you can go directly to our Fundraising Page Julian's Lemonade Stand. and share it from there.  If you are able to do any of the above please leave me a comment below--thank you blogging Buddies!

Now go ahead and grab a tissue as you listen to the story of Alex and her Amazing Lemonade Stand!

Friday, February 1, 2013

Drink for a Cure, Groundhogs and a Super Sale


My Day was Hectic and a whirlwind of activity, but it was worth every minute!
Myself and a couple other teachers got together and decided to do a Fundraiser for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.  One of my Students is battling Leukemia, but according to Julian he is "kicking Cancer's Butt!"  Today we kicked off our school wide fundraiser in his honor. Next week we will be selling tickets to buy lemonade and on Friday kids will be able to turn in their tickets and help fight Childhood cancer in the process. ALSF sent me a picture book about their foundation when I wrote them and told them about my students. I read it this morning on the announcements with Julian by my side.  The last line of the book is "When life gives you lemons, ...you make lemonade!"  Julian read that line for the school.
ALSF Amazing Lemonade Stand Book
Click the Book to go to Alex's Lemonade Stand Gift Shop

 I was so nervous reading, trying to not mess up and not go too fast.  Afterwards, all of my colleagues told me they were crying from the book. So many of the kids were asking if they could pay more than the $1.00 for lemonade and wanted to know about my student. I was overwhelmed, I couldn't of asked for a better start to my day! Later in the day, our 5th Grade Reading Buddies helped us make posters for the Fundraiser. One of the boys came up with this slogan 
"Drink for a cure"  
and I think it's perfect!
If you would like to donate to our Fundraiser you can go directly to our Fundraiser page here: Julian's Lemonade Stand

As soon as we got back from announcements, Groundhog Day, or should I say the day before Groundhog day began! I wanted my class to learn that shadows move and change, because the sun moves across the sky. We went outside at 10:15, 12:15 AND 2:30 to trace and measure our shadows.
I borrowed the clipboards from my neighbor Renee (thanks Renee) and we got to work.

We traced!

We Measured! (Thanks Cyndy for the meter sticks)

We add two-digit numbers and used our tens and ones! Because their shadows were longer than the meter stick, they had to add their 2-digit numbers to figure out the length of their shadow. We have been working on this concept for a while. It was so great to give them a real purpose in their adding. And, of course it was fun too!

 

Of course, it wouldn't be Groundhog day without some predictions! Here is the before.
Here is the After!  My Florida kiddos do not like the cold, they want spring to come!  I would prefer a little bit more of this cool weather we are having, so I added my vote to 6 More Weeks of Winter!


I am starting my Sale tonight--But if you wait until Sunday you will get 28% off at my TPT Store.
button by Ashley Hughes
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