Whooooo's Ready for Some sPoOkY Math?! FREEBIE!

This is always a favorite activity for my kiddos during the Halloween season. It's great for teaching or reinforcing fact families.

You can either have kiddos draw out a domino & create a fact family from those numbers...or pre-program the numbers for them. After writing all three digits on the roof of the house, we 'build' the house. The facts for the fact family are written on ghosts which are tucked behind the shutters. Spooooooky!

I love that this project can be easily tweaked for kiddos who do not celebrate Halloween. All you have to do is provide some 'non-Halloween' color choices for some of the pieces. Instead of using ghosts, you can use people. Easy peasy! Kiddos can make their own choice whether to make a haunted house or a regular house.

To grab a template to use in your classroom, just click the graphic below & download straight from my dropbox! Happy Math Haunting!!

Math Groups on the Computer

Hey everyone!

Some exciting stuff has happened since I posted last month. I was offered a position until January at my favorite school! I am teaching 1st grade, 2/3, and 4/5 ESOL (English classes) and in a week or so, math intervention groups!

As of today, I'll be starting extended day math club and working with kids on the computer.  What programs will be using?


I'll mostly be using XtraMath and Khan Academy as my resources online. I was also told that we're most likely going to be following Marilyn Burns' style of teaching too, with her program Math Solutions.

I wrote a blog post about Common Core Math Resources over on my blog if you would like a list of more ideas.

Guided Math Poster Freebie

I know that many of you are already back at school and working hard with your students.

I hope things are going well and you have a smooth start.

Here in Ontario we don't go back until September 2nd so I am still busy planning and enjoying the end of summer 

(although brrrrr it was cold here today).

I just have a quick post for you all.

This summer I have been doing a lot of work on my Math Workshop and how I want things to run.

If you head on over to my blog you will find a post with a set of posters (freebie!!) and well as a Workshop At A Glance template you can use for planning.

Hope to see you all.

First Week Math Freebie!

I hope you all had a great first week of school if you've gone back. If you haven't, I hope you're ready for one.

Our first week flew by....and so did the first weekend!

Here's a little freebie for you to help you get through the beginning of math classes. Get your kiddos up and moving and review place value at the same time.

Just click on the pic above to get the fun started.

A Confession: I Love Class Projects

I'm just going to throw this out there, "I love projects".  It doesn't matter if it's reading, math, science, whatever--I just love projects.  Giving students a large scale (or long-scale) project, seeing them attack problems, deciding where to start, and/or working within a group is one of the best things we can do as teachers (I don't have any data to back that last statement up).  Yes, it takes a lot of work to make sure students are progressing and making appropriate--but it's what we do.

Let me clarify this a little more:  I love projects that take place in the classroom.
I don't always trust projects that go home then come back a little too perfect.  Yes, your parents can get an "A" too.

We also need to bring back science fairs!

/I'm going to step off my soapbox.

Before you get mad and tell me projects are a hassle let me tell you the positives that happen when they're done correctly:

• Collaboration and Cooperation (two completely different ideas, both equally important)
• Stirs creativity and imagination
• Creates problem solvers
• Allows for immediate feedback from peers and their own self-reflection/assessment
• It integrates technology more efficiently
• Connections to the real-world

I've begun creating project based learning activities for my students because I've seen the positive impact in their engagement levels and also allows for multiple modalities of their own learning to be used.  Some of these projects are shorter single day events while other may take a month.  It doesn't matter which kind I use, just that my students stretch their learning potential.

If you're looking to incorporate more project based learning opportunities in your class, might I suggest trying out Geometrocity: A City Made of Math.  This can be completed individually, within a group, or even as a class project.  Your students will literally be designing, planning, and building a city using geometry.

Check out a Preview on TPT or on Google Drive, here.

A great luxury of having a daughter in elementary school is that she always wants to try out what I create. She is my quality control.  So her and a friend spent an afternoon creating building,s using nets, to create 3D model of their city.

                          

        And is it really a surprise that the first building she made was Target?  Nope.  We love Target.

                            

To see more pictures and pages jump over to my blog and check it out.

Math Journals

Today I am getting all my journals ready for my kiddos that are coming to me in two weeks!?!?!  I found this pretty impressive product for 4th grade math prompts last year and never ended up using it.  Well this year I'm going to give it a shot!

 

 

They have tons of great resources!  Including journal prompts for each grade (K-5) that are typed out onto a document that prints perfectly onto Avery label sheets.  Now all I have to do is print off the journal prompt I want on an address label sheet and my kids can peel and stick and be on there way!

 

Here is the website where I found the prompts:

 

 

Thanks to my hubby who cut these composition notebooks in half with his table saw, I was able to get these perfect sized notebooks to use!

 

 



Click on my button to head on over to my blog to get a more in depth look at the parts of the journal, what the math journal product entails and more!  Hope you have a great weekend!

 

 

 



 

Guided Math Set-Up tips and a Freebie!

Hey everyone!

So over the summer I have been reviewing the key elements of my program to make sure they are all running smoothly and the way I want for next year!
One of the areas I have really worked on over the last couple years is my small group time and especially guided math.  I find that meeting with small groups and differentiating for students helps everyone move along and be successful!

So, I wanted to share with you the first key steps to being successful with guided math- how to set up a structure, plan your grouping systems and organize your teacher notes so you will be ready when school begins!

And, I am starting with a FREEBIE!  Included are three sheets to help you assess and plan your guided math groups!

To see my step by step guide, check out my blog post "Guided Math Set-up and Organization" for lots of pictures, ideas and more!


-Tina of Tina's Teaching Treasures!

Number Grid Puzzles

Hi everyone!  It's Megan from Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade.  Today I have a simple activity to share with you to help further develop your students' number sense.  All you need is a blank number grid, some colored copy paper, and some baggies!  Run the number grids on colored paper {make a few sets of each color}. Laminate them and cut them up into all different shapes.  *Be sure to cut the different colors of puzzles a bit differently.  Put the sets into individual baggies.  Have partners work to re-assemble the puzzles!  They can rotate around and solve different puzzles.  It's a lot of fun!  Hope you are have a great week!!

xo
Megan 

Communication in the Math Classroom!

Hi everyone!
It's Tina from Tina's Teaching Treasures!

This year I have really been focussing on my numeracy program. I felt my kiddos just weren't grasping 'number sense' the way they needed to in order to become successful mathematicians in the upper grades.  Enter: Number Talks!
I was lucky enough to have an AMAZING math guru in my school building and she introduced us to the idea of "number talks".  Kristin, our grade 8 math teacher is seriously amazing (and also super nice and adorable, some people have it all!) and she lead a staff learning journey on Number Talks in the classroom.  It was amazing to see how quickly you can get these up and running, norms set and kids engaged with this strategy.

The book by Sherry Parrish is an amazing place to start.  It is easy to read, had LOTS and LOTS of clear examples and photos and is very teacher friendly. I highly recommend it.

Look at one my student's responses to number talks by the end of the year, that sort of math thinking and awareness makes my teacher heart skip a beat! I love that this easy, '10 minute a day' strategy can help my students in such an important way.

For more math communication ideas, check out my blog post on "Communication in Math"

How do you increase communication and make student thinking visible in the math classroom? Tell me in the comments below!

Summer Lovin' and a Freebie

With summer among us, I'm sure many of us have done many (well, maybe some) things on your Summer Bucket List, and.....

I am sure many of you are preparing (maybe even planning) for your return to home away from home (school). Yes, I am guilty too. However, I mainly have been loving my summer break-Sunshine (until 8:30/8:45 p.m.), relaxed schedule, lots of family time, pool, beach, farmers' market, berry and veggie picking, fun with friends, visiting family, vacation, kids sleeping in (well at least 2--but for the past week all 3 and, I've been getting up later too.), meeting hubby for lunch dates, catching up on house projects, tutoring, at home learning with my kids, library, movies, and the list goes on......

Then, reality sets in or my teammate says, "Let's talk business." (Meaning-Let's talk about Meet the Teacher, binders, supplies, procedures, behavior management, and the list goes on.....). So I get to thinking, reflecting, and dreaming. Then, I sit down to create new games, activities, and practice or edit things that I created.  I teach Math, Science, and Social Studies. Last year, I used the UPS check problem solving method. This is a previous post.
Here is my newest set of posters. This will be a limited time freebie. Then, I will place it in my store. I ask you leave a comment and become a follower to my blog. (I am in process of figuring out how to add the Facebook button again. I had it, but all was lost when my total blog was wiped. See previous AHHH! post

What is on your Summer Bucket List? What have you completed?
What are you preparing and planning for school? Be sure to grab your freebie and leave a comment

The Three-Part Lesson- Freebie!

I have been blogging, and thinking, and reading quite a bit about the three-part lesson plan for math these days. It seems to be popping up everywhere I look!

The three-part lesson plan is a great strategy and teaching tool to help you plan for interactive problem solving with your students. I have used it often in my math class and have never been disappointed with the rich discussion and thinking that happens while my students are working on solving a math problem.

I have put together a lesson-plan template so that you can try a three-part lesson in your class as well. There are lots of different templates out there but I like my lessons plans to be simple and clutter-free which is why I created this template for my own use...and hopefully yours too!

If you are interested in learning more about the three-part lesson I have a couple of posts up over at my blog, Thinking of Teaching.

What is the Three-Part Lesson?

Example Three-Part Lesson. 

Click on any of the images below to grab your freebie and try it out. 

I've also posted a great new product in my TPT store. It's a Number Sense and Numeration pack that can be used for exit slips, task cards, math journal prompts or math stretches. I'd love for you to check it out.

Hope you are having a great day!!

~Beth