Back From Vacation!

I am sooooo happy to be back home after a week away! We had a fabulous vacation... I went on some of the fastest roller coasters I have ever been on, slid down America's first looping water slide, visited two amazing zoos, reread the Fifty Shades trilogy, and had a fun visit with my family! I got to meet my first (and only) boy first cousin... he's about 6 months and super cute! Love those chubby baby cheeks!

Well, over the course of my vacation, I did let me mind wander to school and to blogging *a bit*... Being from Canada, when I get a chance to visit the states, I love shopping at stores we don't have here. So here's a little peek into my shopping stops ;)

I have never been to a Lakeshore store before... Oh. My. Word. There's a teacher store about an hour from me, but not nearly as big as this one! It was heaven! Oh, and 20% off almost everything in the store. If my other half wasn't with me, I would have spent a lot more time and a lot more money there! :)

I bought some cute cupcakes, polka dot letters, a number puzzle, birthday certificates, buttons, and more. Next stop, Dollar Tree!

I found a couple puzzles, some foam cubes to make my own dice, and some crazy straws to make my birthday balloons.

What shopping trip would be complete without the Target Dollar Stop? A few mini pocket charts, some Dr. Seuss flash cards, and cute post-its!

And last... how could I not stop at Kohl's? Everyone else has a Skippyjon Jones doll. I wanted one too. *pout* Haha. I love those books so much!

Well there you have it! I'm looking forward to a relazing week at home... the unpacking, laundry, and cleaning can wait until tomorrow. Tonight is about relaxing. And maybe catching up on Big Brother. (Yes, I watch that garbage. Sue me. lol) Good night!

Introduction to Guided Math

(I know I'm leaving on vacation today, but I started writing this post last night and just had to get it out today! I am so excited about guided math!!)

This year I am venturing into something new. I really want to move away from teaching math as a whole group to teaching it in small groups. I learned from my class last year that there is such a wide variety of skill levels in first grade. At the beginning of the year, you have kids that can’t count to 20 and others that can count over 100. So this is how I hope to reach all those skill levels.

I’m planning my math time to be exactly like my reading time. I am taking some aspects of the Daily 5, but putting my own spin on it. There will be 6 “rotations”:

1. Math By Myself (hands-on centres/activities)

2. Math With Someone (math games/activities for 2 players)

3. Math Work (work sheets, number practice, etc.)

4. Math Writing (problem solving journals, math books, etc.)

5. Math with Technology (math activities with my Mimio--new this year and so excited to try it!)

6. Work with Teacher (small group with the teacher)

I have a 65-minute block for math, so this is how it will look (once we get into the routine of course... I expect September will be all about learning the procedures and routines):

15 minutes: Math Read Aloud and Mini Lesson (Whole Group)

15 minutes: Rotation 1

15 minutes: Rotation 2

15 minutes: Rotation 3

5 minutes: Reflection and Wrap Up (Whole Group)

My school is on a 6-day cycle, instead of a Monday-Friday schedule. So with three rotations a day, students will get to each rotation every two days. Which means I get to see each group every second day. I have 25 students this year (eek... large class!) so I will have 6 groups of about 4 or 5 students.

Here's a peek at my rotation chart. It looks the same for reading centres, so students will become very familiar with it. The 6 groups are numbered for math and letters for reading. There is a blank white spot under each group number where I can write the students' names with a dry erase marker. That way I can change my groups as needed. Hello, flexible grouping! Underneath each group card are the three rotations they will be doing that day. At the end of the day, I just need to rotate the group cards and we're all set to go again.

Now I know the “sisters” are all about choice with the Daily 5, and I fully agree that students need choice in order to take ownership of their learning, but there’s a little part of me that just can’t let go all the way. So although the rotations kind of dictate what each student is doing, there is still choice within each rotation.

It took me a lot of time to get organized, but I went through all of my math centres and activities (that I have created or bought or found online) and made a list of which ones were “By Myself” or “With Someone”. “Math By Myself” usually involves a lot of manipulatives and “Math With Someone” is all partner games/activities.

1. Math By Myself

I will have 10 different tubs available for students. Students will have their choice of which activity they want to complete by themself. I’m not going to require they do all the tubs, but if I noticed someone choosing the same tub each day, I might encourage them to choose other ones. These tubs will all be to reinforce concepts we learn in our small groups, so as long as they are practicing one concept, I’m not worried if they don’t get to all of the tubs. I try to make them all super fun anyways, so they *want* to get to each one. ;) I will slowly introduce these in September as we are getting into our routine. As the year progresses, I will start replacing the tubs one at a time. I will see which tubs are not being used as frequently or which skills they seem to be mastering, then I can add in new skills and new centres.

I am lucky to have some shelving in my new classroom where I can store all of my tubs. If you don't have the space for that, you can use those plastic drawer units. They would work quite nicely for centres as well!

(Can you see the stack of bins in the back? That's only 1/4 of the stuff from my classroom. 

There's some more in the sun room, the spare room, and the basement. I have a problem. I need serious help. lol)

2. Math With Someone

For this rotation, I will have 5 choices of partner activities. We will spend a lot of time in September talking about proper partner “etiquette”--choosing partners, playing fairly, taking turns, following the rules, etc. Same as the above, I will introduce the tubs slowly and as the year goes on, switch them out with new tubs.

3. Math Work

This will be the time for independent math worksheets. The great thing about this is I can differentiate for my groups. If one group needs to work on number formation, I will give them some printing practice. If another group is starting addition, I will give them some addition practice. You could keep all of their work in a duotang or folder, but I think I will just make up booklets as I go along.

4. Math Writing

I haven't quite decided how this one will work, but I do have a large collection of math picture books, so I think that I will use the picture books in my whole class mini lesson, then have a follow up reflection/activity for students to do, using the picture book we read. I might switch it up sometimes and do some problem solving journals, number of the day, or weekly graphs. Stay tuned for how this one works out :)

5. Math with Technology

I am lucky to be getting a Mimio this year (turns your whiteboard into an interactive board) so the group will have a few different games/interactive activities to do together on the whiteboard. I'll have to spend some time finding some good activities to use with this.

6. Work with Teacher

This is where I will teach lessons to my small groups.

So there you have it! A peek into the world of guided math... how I see it in my classroom anyways! :) Let me know if you have any questions. Once I get into my classroom and start getting it set up, I will show you some more pictures of how it all works and what centres I am going to be putting into the tubs first!

If you are interested in my rotation cards, you can get my math cards and literacy cards from TpT. Just click the pictures below.

Leapin' Frogs {Final Weekly Math Freebie}

Here's my last freebie of the week! I'm off on a little road trip tomorrow, so I won't be around for a week. I'm looking forward to getting off my computer and enjoying my summer break! We've got big plans, including water slides, roller coasters, zoos, and family! So excited!

So my last freebie this week is a counting by 10's activity. It's called "Leapin' Frogs"! Students put the cards in counting by 10s order. The cards go up to 200, but you can print out just to 100 if you wish.

There are two different recording sheet options (and each one goes to 100 or 200). On the first one, students just write the numbers on the lillypads. On the second one, students fill in the missing numbers.

Click on the picture to get your own copy of "Leapin' Frogs"! I hope you have enjoyed my "Math Fun in the Sun" week and that something here has been useful to you! I'll be back in a week or so with some more fun ideas and some new TpT units.

Measure the Room {Math Freebie #4}

Hello, hello! Are you getting tired of me yet? I hope not!! Because here comes freebie number four!

This is a math version of "Read the Room". It's called "Measure the Room"! There are ten different cards, featuring cute school supply clipart from the amazing KPM Doodles. The cards can be posted around the room (or you can keep them in a basket as a stationary centre) and students use any non-standard measurement tool to measure the length of the objects on the cards. You can use unifix cubes, paper clips, plastic links, etc. to measure with. Students record the length on the recording sheet.

Click the picture below for your freebie!

Grab and Graph {Math Freebie #3}

I'm back with another freebie! Oh my, how I am loving this summer weather! Just had a pedicure yesterday with my besty, so now my toes can proudly show themselves off. {And yes, I had to buy some new sandals too! That's just a given!}

So on to my freebie... this is a quick and easy, independent math centre that I used last year. The great thing about it is you can use it all year long, just by changing the manipulatives you use! This centre is called "Grab and Graph". Basically you have a collection of counters/manipulatives/toys/erasers/candy/etc. in a small paper bag or gift bag. Students "grab" a handful of counters, sort them, and fill in the graph. Easy and fun! Sheree over at Peterson's Pad posted some similar "grab" activities for free the other day. Make sure you check hers out as well!

I am always on the look out for fun and cheap manipulatives. The Scholastic Book Orders always have little sets of cards and counters for like $9.99, so I always scoop those up when I can.

Included in this freebie are four blank graphs that you can fill in yourself (3, 4, 5, or 6 different objects), two generic colour graphs (4 colours or 6 colours), three different bear graphs, an apple graph, a transportation graph, a woodland critters graph, and a dinosaur graph.

I hope you find some of these graphs useful. Click on the picture below to download for free!

Peek-A-Boo Pennies {Math Freebie #2}

Day 2 of my weekly math freebies! This one is called "Peek-A-Boo Pennies" and deals with part-part-whole concepts and addition. Students can play in partners or this can be used as a small group guided math lesson.

HOW TO PLAY:

The first student chooses a piggy number card (from 3-20) and places that many pennies in the piggy bank.

The second player closes their eyes while the first player covers up some of the pennies with a plastic cup. The second player opens their eyes and counts how many pennies are showing. They write that number on the recording sheet. Then they have to figure out how many pennies are under the cup and write that number in the circle on the recording sheet. Finally they complete the addition sentence and the players switch roles.

For an easier varitation, you can take away the number cards and just have the students focus on a certain number (ie. 5 or 10) and work on all the different ways to make that number. So if they are working on the number 10, there will always be 10 pennies in the piggy bank, but the number they cover up with the cup always changes.

Click the picture above to get you very own copy of "Peek-A-Boo Pennies" for free!

Dice in Dice Place Value BINGO {Math Freebie}

Everyday this week I will be popping by with a little math centre freebie. If you saw my Summer Shopping! Linky Party post, I wrote about my new purchase:

I had to think of some new activities to do with these dice-in-dice. I came up with a little place value BINGO. Students can play in groups of 2-4. They take turns rolling the dice-in-dice and creating a 2-digit number from the numbers they roll. (ie. If they rolled a 3 and a 5, they could create 35 or 53.) Then they cover up the number on their BINGO card with a bingo chip or unifix cube. The first player to get 6 in a row (across, up/down, or diagonal) is the winner!

There is an optional recording sheet to use with the game. Students record the number of tens and the number of ones to make the 2-digit number. They can also use a talk bubble to use math language during the game. (ie. 3 tens and 5 ones make 35.)

So there you go! A quick and easy math centre. All you need is some dice-in-dice and bingo chips! Click the picture to download it for FREE from TpT!