Five for Friday~Just 8 more…..

….days! I can hardly believe it! I CAN believe it….but CAN’T all at the same time! Where has the year gone? This past week was just a little wonky because I spent the majority of it in training. After having spent the last 2 1/2 days sitting still {the hardest part} in a chair, it felt great to get back to my classroom with my kiddos! I met them on the playground today and almost got knocked to the ground with hugs! My kids are the best!

Now back to the 8 days part! Ready for rest and relaxation…yes.I.am! Freaking out just a little bit about paperwork, packing, meetings, paperwork, and documentation that needs to be completed…..yes.I.am! Thank heaven for a long weekend to get a head start on wrapping things up, so I can concentrate on making great memories over these last few days because one thing is for sure….they will go by at the speed of light!


Since I spent most of the week out of the classroom, here’s a quick “catch up” over a little of what we’ve been up to recently….



We just wrapped up our measurement unit. I love mixing a little literature into our math block as often as possible. With measurement, we read several different versions of Jack and the Beanstalk as an introduction to each lesson. On this day, we used the giant’s boot coming down the beanstalk to explore area. After reading the story, each kiddo illustrated a beanstalk down the middle of their page to divide it in half. We discussed using the boot as their measurement tool for making comparisons….to decide if items covered less area or more area. Students walked around the room and placed items on top of the boot to make comparisons. If the they could still see the boot, it covered less. If the boot disappeared, it covered more. Sweet, simple……and FE, FI, FO, FUN!



Everything grows a little bigger in Texas, even beanstalks….or in the case of Waynetta and the Cornstalk by Helen Ketterman, cornstalks.  Students used area tiles to build their own cornstalk design, then colored to transfer the design to grid paper, and counted the number of squares used to determine the amount of area covered. You can get another glimpse of this little activity by taking a quick look at my Instagram page. Don’t forget to follow!



Math station skills review has been SUPER! Students are reviewing lots of skills to get ready for second grade! You can check out this little activity to generate and determine the value of numbers by clicking HERE.



I couldn’t come back after being gone most of the week without a little fun up my sleeve! Today was letter ‘R’ on our ABC countdown. In honor of all things R, we visited Rainbow Town to meet our friend, Roy G. Biv. I great, big ole {puffy heart} LOVE directed drawings!!! After listening and following directions to draw Mr. Biv, students used crayons and watercolor paints to give him a splash of color….afterall, there’s no wasted space in Rainbow Town. Bright, beautiful color is a MUST! =)



Here’s a closer look. What do you think? 

Enjoy these last few days……and if you’re already out…..(don’t mention it). Ha! =)

Five for Friday~A Whole Lotta Random

Hi, Friends! How are ya? I’m dropping in to share a whole lotta randomness from this past week. I’ve got to blog quickly because my daughter is giving me the side eye for missing part of yet another Avengers movie! We’re watching Captain America and I think…..I think, now I can finally put all the pieces to all of the avengers back stories together….I think. I KNOW she can! Can you say obsessed?

One of the most exciting things about this week was releasing our butterflies! 5 of our 6 little friends made it safely from caterpillar to butterfly in our care. Unfortunately, we had to have a conversation about life and death because one of them did not make it. The kids handled it really well and celebrated by releasing the little ones that survived. As each one left the net, they squealed with excitement!

After releasing our new little painted ladies, it was time to begin a new round of station activities! {I’ll be back to share a little more about those later!} 

Do you use poetry journals in your classroom? One way, we use poetry throughout the year is by keeping a poetry journal at word work. We use lots of different poetry resources for sight words, phonics, and seasonal themes. Poems change about every 2 weeks-ish. How do I keep track of who has added a poem to their journal and who hasn’t? See the little number in the top corner? Those are students’ classroom numbers. Every time a new poem is put into stations, I number them. Students are only allowed to get the one with their number on it. Soooooooo, the numbers that are left…..{naughty, naughty} tell me exactly who has not added a new poem to their journal!

Most of my students enjoy working with their poetry journal because when they do, they also get to share it from the author’s chair as part of our transition for the next mini-lesson! Only 2 students are allowed at any 1 activity in stations so it doesn't take long at all.

Our first attempt at planting was an epic FAIL! We grew butterflies, like bosses….BUT bean plants….not so much! As we continued with non-standard measurement, we incorporated a little writing in math with our own versions of Jack and the Beanstalk. Students wrote to retell the story and make comparisons to different things that the beanstalk could grow to be bigger than. We squeezed in one more attempt at growing our own little beanstalks while students wrote their stories. Can you please bow your head now and say a quick word of prayer for our plants? We NEED all the help we can get! 

Whew! Thanks! =)

We also explored choosing appropriate units of measurement with a little measurement stations activity. This is what we doodled to use as our recording sheet. Yep! We doodle a lot! {LOVE!}  After listening and following directions to create our recording sheets, student groups were given 10 minutes at each station to choose a classroom item to measure and record the number of units used, the name of the unit and illustrate. 4 tables, 4 units of measurement, 4 windows on our foldable. Students ONLY opened the window for the specific station they were visiting in order to record their work. For example, while at Table 4, they measured using pencils as their unit and only flap 4 was open to write and draw inside of. 

Telling students how much time they have is a great motivator to keep it movin’ without a lot of lag time. Displaying the timer helps them to see the time winding down and monitor their own progress without hounding them too much. Self management…yep, I can get with that!

What’s that they're measuring, you say? Oh, just one of the best transition tools on the planet! That’s our rain stick. Not being one to actually measure much in real life, I ordered it thinking it would be much smaller. Boy was I surprised!! Care to guess how many unifix cubes it took to measure its length? Yeah, they could’ve used a bigger unit of measurement, but where would the fun in that be? Stay tuned….

….more measurement mania to come!

Five for Friday~Measurement Fun

 

Hi, Friends! Did we make it? Is it REALLY Friday? I think this may have been one of the longest weeks in history!  While enduring the changes that come along with securing the campus for testing, we managed to make a little noise and shake things up with some hands-on fun in math. Wanna see what we did?


I couldn’t be one bit prouder of the way my kids rock morning work. Using this time as a quick review and for problem solving has been really helpful in making sure they have a good understanding of skills we’ve learned this year. As promised, with each passing month a gradual release of support has been had in order to foster independence and thinking. We’re beginning to turn into quite the little story tellers {even, in math}!



Early this week, we reviewed what it really means to be an equal sign. We rocked it with hands on learning. No paper on the first day, just our Mimio and unifix cubes and LOTS of chit chatting. Students were split into pairs to work to solve one problem at a time after we had a quick discussion at the carpet. The left and right hands were drawn to help guide students. After presenting a set of numbers on each side of the equals sign, students had to solve in order to prove if the statement was true or false.

The student sitting closest to the green left handprint on the desk tags was responsible for building the number on the left side of the equals sign. The student sitting closest to the red right handprint was responsible for building the number on the right side of the equals sign. After each partner built their tower, they placed them standing next to each other in order to answer ‘true’ or ‘false’. The tower served as their proof! It was a little confusing at first, but after a couple of tries it all clicked and we were off and running. 5 + 5 = 10 was obvious, but they got progressively harder to include problems with 3 addends on one side of the equals sign.



After we got the hang of it, we moved to recording our work by taking a 12 x 18 sheet of construction paper and folding it into fourths. We stapled it twice along the left side and trimmed the top folded edge to form a blank book. Students then worked in pairs to prove statements as either true or false that were listed on the board as I walked around to check for understanding. Build. Illustrate. True or False? That was the gist.

Our standards are changing in math. This is one of the newer concepts that we’re going to be responsible for. It’s been fun doing something new, going a little deeper. Now that we’re working with numbers more, building them, taking them apart, talking about them, justifying our positions and having to provide proof, students are gaining a greater understanding of math symbols and what they truly represent. LOVE!



By Wednesday, we were ready to introduce our skill for the last six weeks of school:  measurement. I try to work in listening and following directions as much as possible. I’m kind of sneaky because it usually takes on the look of directed drawings. To get our little booklets ready for our introduction to measurement, students were each given a booklet that I cut quickly from a folded 12X18 size sheet of construction paper with 4 sheets of printer paper in between. 3 booklets were cut from each stapled set of pages.  Students listened and followed directions to decorate their booklet to look like a pencil and then….



….pulled one {real} pencil from their desk to use both as a measurement tool and writing instrument. They were to walk around the room to find two items that were shorter than their pencil and two items that were longer than their pencil.  We practiced double-checking to make sure our items were lined up correctly, illustrated them and wrote a sentence to describe the length of the item in comparison to the pencil.  Walk around the room, you say? Find items to measure, you say? Yep! They had fun with that!

Here’s a little freebie, if you’d like to do a little pencil measuring of your own! Next week….we’ll be using Jack and the Beanstalk to really get crackin’ at non-standard measurement! Stop by next week to see what we’ll be up to!

Five for Friday~Measurement

Hi~ya, Friends! How are ya? TGIF……14 1/2 more days ‘til sweet freedom! I know some of you may have less, but please don’t tell me, lol! We’re in full review mode and wrapping up the end to a great school year. We’ve learned a lot and are all looking forward to some rest, relaxation and fun under the sun!



So, let’s get to it…here’s a little peek at what we’ve been up to over the last week-ish. =)



For teacher appreciation week, I wanted to get my team a little something to say “thank you” for all they do…soooo, what better than something to help with a little organization? I absolutely adore all things personalized and tried to select a little gift that resembled each of their classrooms’ decor. Looking at each of the clipboards, you can tell we’re quite the eclectic bunch! There’s nothing better than being your own kind of beYOUtiful! My faithful supermom put these together and I couldn’t thank her enough. I think they each came out super cute!



In math, we’re focusing on measurement during the last six weeks of school. Length…check. Area….check. Now, capacity and weight! To use the little activity above, we set up 6 stations in our classroom to explore capacity. Why 6, when the chart has 5 rows? Well, because we have 6 table groups, 1 container for each table…it just helps to spread the group out a little more into smaller groups.



Each table group had a container set in the middle of a tray of manipulatives. As students rotated to each station, they had to write the container number, estimate how many of the manipulatives it would take to fill the container, then measure to check their “guesstimate”. Simple…fun….and LOUD! Oh my! Daily 5 is so quiet and peaceful, but math on the other hand is so NOT! In the midst of the roars of guessing, checking, and recording, students had fun with measurement and were very engaged as they explored capacity.



Part of our standard for measurement is using comparative language to describe it, so to conclude the rotation (and calm down before transitioning) students had to divide the back of their paper into 3 sections. By doing so they created spaces to make observations about the containers they had just explored. *The number on top of each container is the table/container number where it was used to measure capacity, not how many objects used to fill it.



If you’ve stuck around my little blog for any length of time, you know we like to doodle a LOT in our class. As an introduction to weight/mass, we created this little illustration and used it to explore weight/mass with real life objects found in the classroom. After having a hefty conversation to introduce vocabulary, we went on a “heft hunt”. Students looked for 2 items that were “wimpy, wimpy, wimpy” to illustrate on the heavy side and 2 items that were “hefty, hefty, hefty” to illustrate on the heavier side.

We’ve been working on comparative adjectives too, so I tried to sneak a little language arts into the lesson. Did they notice? Well, of course they did, lol! By this time of year, my little mega minds don’t miss a thing!

We doodled, but if you’d like to go on a heft hunt too….click the pic below to grab it! Have a great weekend! Summer is in sight! Whoooo hooo!



ANNNND…don’t forget to hop over to Doodlebugs Teaching to hop through the links and check out more of the fun Five for Friday posts! I’ll “see ya” there!

 

Five for FRIDAY!!!

Hi-ya, peeps!  It’s that time again! I’m linking up with Kacey from Doodlebugs Teaching for another fab Five for Friday! It’s been one long, busy….{cray, cray} kind of week!



We had lots of hands on fun with area this week in math.
 

We used a variety of die cuts to make simple comparisons of things that covered more or less area. After a great discussion of what area meant, we wrote a simple definition, then glued a choice of die cuts to the middle of the paper. Students then got to roam the room to find examples of items that covered either less area or more area than their die cut. If they could put the item on top of it and it disappeared….well, it covered more! If they could put the item on top of it and still see the blue color of the die cut, then it covered less. Simple…straight to the point, but fun!

And yes, I was just a tad disturbed to know that hair was used to make a comparison, lol! For the next day’s lesson, we kept all of our strands firmly attached to our heads!



This one was a less hair raising experience. Art-ish + Math = FUN! Students used tiles to create a design that they then had to reproduce on paper. SO….not as easy as it sounds, but they enjoyed it. After creating their design on paper, they counted the number of squares they used and roamed the room to find one friend who covered less area than they did and one friend that covered more.

Did I sneak in a little writing with this activity?  Why yes, I did! Sneaky teacher strikes again…..they had to write their findings in complete sentences. Score…..for the sneaky teacher practicing use of punctuation too! =)



Our class seemed really quiet this week without the chirps from our sweet, little peeps! After waiting impatiently for 21 days to meet them and the excitement of watching them hatch, we really missed them this week! We did get an update on them though, and they’re all doing fine with their new family. They actually got to be reunited with their mom and dad!

Now, don’t flinch too much when I tell you how we used what learned about them in science as we discussed the interdependence of animals and plants….you might be able to guess where we went with it by looking at the pic below!

{GASP…….I KNOW…..sorry!!!}



My students will never look at a chicken nugget or a chicken wing in quite the same way!



These beautiful painted ladies didn’t chirp, but they did cause quite a stir as they emerged from each chrysalis, one by one throughout the day. It was so awesome that it happened while we were in school, BUT did we actually get to witness it…..NOPE….not a one?! Those little suckers were quick! Every time we blinked another had …..POPPED….right out!

Soooo, that was our highlight reel for the week! Head over to Doodlebug’s to see what else everyone has been up to and don’t forget to link up!

Just a few short weeks left, but whose counting?! {wink, wink} Have a great weekend! =)

Wordless Wednesday~Measurement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

{Jack and the Beanstalk measurement unit by Brooke Hilderbrande)

 

 

 

CRAZY WITH A CAPITAL K…

settled into my room sometime earlier this week!  Oh my goodness…I wasn’t sure that I would survive, but somehow….I’m still here.  A nap usually does the trick for me and as soon as the clock struck…you can leave….I was out and headed for my comfy couch! Stick with me, I’m going to try and remain coherent….{it might be tough considering the level of Krazy I’ve been dealing with these past few days}.

We’re kicking into review mode for these few fast and furious remaining weeks.  We have somehow managed to be productive, but whew…it’s been quite the task!  I shared our last A-Z countdown status with you on D for D.E.A.R Day.  Well, E for Experiment Day was a real hit  blast with the kids!

            

We’re really working to make these last few weeks memorable, so our experiment was a blast {literally} of soda!  We talked about the reactions that would take place and made predictions based on the type of soda we’d be dropping Mentos candies into.  If you’ve never done this experiment, give it a try…BUT be prepared for your kids to ask for more and wear your running shoes!  This experiment is over very soon after it begins! We have 4 sections of first grade, so we used two bottles and in the midst of screams chanting “DO IT AGAIN, DO IT AGAIN…”  repeated the experiment with two more bottles.  Think about the reaction that might be happening in your tummy the next time you crack open a sleeve of Mentos with that diet soda, lol!

OK…I must admit, I found this idea while blog hopping earlier this week, but cannot for the life of me remember what fab blog I found it on.  If my amnesia clears, I’ll come back and add the link for the cute reflection sheet we used for this activity.  One of my awesome little teacher helpers assisted me with laying 10 different lengths of painter’s tape onto our classroom floor.  We then reviewed how to line up our unit with what we’re measuring and rotated around the room measuring and making comparisons with partners.

                                                    

The kids had a great time and really have gotten the hang of nonstandard measurement.  Check out what we did to experiment with area below!   We talked about area being the space inside of a shape, traced four objects and charted them according to which covered less or more space.  Once traced, each example was colored in and labeled.  These pieces of paper are fourths cut from a chart sized tablet. 

Though you can definitely sense that the end of the year is near, we’re still very busy with lots  more to do!  Today, brought with it a subdued level of crazy and we settled in nicely to review story structure with our friends Frog and Toad.   Here’s a peek at the activities we used. You can grab them by visiting my little TPT shop this weekend during the big Teacher’s Appreciation Sale!  You won’t want to miss it!

Well, it’s about time to lay me down to sleep! Before I forget….F was for fruit! We ate healthy snacks and our fab team of volunteers made sure there were plenty!  We dressed up like what we’d like to be when we Grow up for letter G and tomorrow?  Tomorrow is Hat Day….love it!  That means I have one less step to take in the morning prep routine! No flat irons, combs or brushes for me….just one of my husband’s baseball caps plopped onto my head! It’s great to be in 1st grade!  Have a fantastic Friday, bloggy buddies!  :-)