100th Day Fun!

The 100th day of school is one of my favorite days!  I love that on the day we regroup to the hundreds place that we complete all kinds of activities that focus on the number 100!  To help put us in a really festive mood I decorated the door- a little two-sided tape and streamers!

I cut some bulletin board paper and asked the students to share some things they think are special about first grade.  As they spoke, I scribed.  

I love #42!  When the cafeteria is serving french toast, we greet each other with a hearty, "Bon Jour!"

I also love #69.  We have been using the word "persevere" when talking about our work.  We persevere even when a task is tricky!

Once we came up with 100 things about first grade, we carried it out to the hall and stapled it over our current bulletin board.  We also came up with 100 ways to 100 and put it on our other bulletin board.  We used addition, subtraction and a bit of multiplication to come up with 103 ways to 100.  That's right, we surpassed our goal!

As you can see, we used a lot of "fix-it tape"!

Those were two things we did to celebrate the 100th day!  I'll write about the community project we worked on in another post.

Have A Heart Valentine Math Station

Happy New Year!  Can you believe the holidays are over?  Well, almost- we always have Valentine's Day!  Here is a little math station to work on addition and subtraction facts.  I was perusing the dollar section of Target -don't tell Dollar Tree about this little indiscretion, I swear it was the first time!  I found some festive little ice trays, adorable hearts and plastic heart containers. 

You can hear it, can't you?  It's practically jumping off the screen saying, "Here I am!  Turn me into a math game!"  That's pretty much what I heard in Target.  First, I added numbers to the ice cube trays (2 for $2.50).

I took some of the small hearts and put them in the larger heart containers. 

The students will toss 2 small hearts into the ice cube trays.  The students will use the numbers to make a fact and then complete the fact family.  Students could also practice 3 addend addition!  Short and sweet- no pun intended! 

 



Money Sudoku

Hello Bloggers!  I'm sure you have all had a pretty hectic few weeks so I have a little Christmas gift for you...Money Sudoku!

I was at the NCTM conference in Atlantic City in October and saw the neatest money activity.  It was a sudoku game played with coins.  Besides the great logic, reasoning, and planning skills that emerge from this kind of puzzle activity, it is a great way to help young children identify coins.  Instead of buying the game, I thought I would make one myself. 

I created and laminated the board below.

Click here to download Money Sudoku board.

Once the board is laminated, I used my hot glue gun to glue on some plastic coins in various places.  Then my board looked like this.

I made 6 different boards with varying degrees of difficulty. 

 I wrote a number at the bottom of the board to correspond with the envelopes (the gold 5 X 7 size) that held the coins necessary for solving the sudoku puzzle.  Mine look like those pictured below, but I made some cute labels for you to put on your envelopes.   See download below.

Click here to download labels!

This is what a finished set looks like.  Your set will be better with the label.  To begin this activity I am enclosing the coins the students will need to complete the sudoku.  As they get better at this kind of brain teaser, you can make it more challenging by supplying more coins than necessary for solving. 

***IMPORTANT TIP- When gluing the coins on the laminated board, make sure you leave heads and tails showing to help students generalize the different sides of the coins!

It was a lot of fun making this game and I hope you enjoy it!  Have a wonderful, restful, well-deserved break!

 

Bats and Facts!

Good grief!  Where does the time go?  Each time I sat down to blog I was sidetracked by something that would not wait!  Last weekend I was all set to settle in and blog away and then the snow began.  For those of you who are not on the north coast, the snow came to the tune of 22 inches here...the day before HALLOWEEN!  Can you believe that trick or treat had to be postponed?  The power outages were pretty wide spread, but all turned out well. 

We have been studying bats.  These fascinating creatures have been the focus of many projects we have completed in first grade.  I will post about our informational text soon, but today I would like to share with you our bat fact families!

We created our bats using construction paper, staples, googly eyes and a whole lot of love!  After we made them, each student was given three numbers to use to create a fact family.



The numbers the student had to work with are written on the bat's body.

The wings open so they look like they are flapping.  Inside one wing are the addition facts and the other wing has the subtraction facts.

The kiddos loved making these and they look adorable "flying" around the room!

Hundreds Pocket Chart Team Builder

Tracking a hurricane and blogging!  Not my idea of an idyllic Saturday afternoon, but it could be worse.

I was cleaning out the closet in my classroom when I discovered a hidden cache of hundreds charts - six to be exact!  I already have one prominently displayed on the wall and I have one for the Smart Board.  It didn't seem right to throw them away.  What would I do with six perfectly good hundreds charts?   Then inspiration hit!  First, I stopped by Target to buy zipper pencil pouches that can go in a three ring binder.  Then, I dug through my cabinets to find my binder rings.  I put the number cards in the pencil pouch and used a binder ring to attach it to the hundreds chart.

I have six of these now; one for each table in my classroom.  The students will work in groups of four as they put the numbers in the pocket chart.  This will build ordering skills.  As our work continues, I may ask them to put only the odd numbers on the chart, or even numbers.  I can also instruct them to show the numbers they will use when counting by 2s, 5s, or 10s.  Not only will they build number sense, but they will also build social skills as they negotiate with each other and problem solve.  One of my goals this year is to provide more opportunities for small group work.  We complete partner tasks each day, but working in a small group really puts your social skills to the test!  This is one way I can help my little ones build relationships and math skills at once!  If you find any old pocket charts, hold on to them!  You might come up with a quick and nifty idea for them!

Enjoy,

Double Dice Deal!

Dollar Tree does it again!  I read some blogs last spring that mentioned double dice; large, translucent dice that have a smaller dice inside them.  I found them in some teaching catalogues and they were about $3.99 a pair.  I never got around to ordering them.  Then, while I was cheating on my vacation by indulging in a work-related shopping expedition, I found the most amazing deal - SIX double dice for $1!  WOW!

As you can see, there are three pairs in each package. Each pair is a different color!

There are many ways to use these dice for math facts and I will keep you posted on how I choose to use them in our math work!  Can you believe the price?  How do they do it?

Enjoy,

The Mother Ship Calls

Now, I realize I have been on a soap box about taking time for ourselves, and I mean it...however...while on vacation I heard a strange buzzing in my ear.  Each night I tossed and turned, but it didn't go away.  One day, while I was wandering aimlessly, I noticed the buzzing was getting louder and louder.  As I turned the corner it came into view.  There, in the full light of noontime, stood the most lovely sight my eyes have ever seen, Dollar Tree!  It's true, while I was supposed to be relaxing and reenergizing, I returned to the mother ship and purchased, purchased, purchased!  Astonishingly, the buzzing stopped as soon as I entered the Dollar Tree.  Really, can you imagine my excitement?  A seaside Dollar Tree!  Well, I found some delightful deals that I thought I would share.  First I found the beads!  A bag of 400 beads for just one dollar!  That's pretty good, but they also had 45 chenille stems (pipe cleaners) for just, yup once again, one dollar!

Then I found this great veggie and dip tray that makes a handy and sharp sorting tray! 

I poured and sorted the beads in the new sorting tray so students can easily find the color they want. 

Put all this together and you have the makings for a great pattern activity!  The students will make pattern bracelets!  Once we have learned about a few different patterns (AB, ABB, AAB, and ABC) the children will grab a pattern from a bag to see what kind they should make.  Then they will gather the materials to make a bracelet representing the pattern.  They can make a second bracelet to represent a pattern of their choosing!

What a fun activity for our first math unit!  The best part is it cost less than $5!  Yeah, I know I've been preaching about taking time out for ourselves, but when you have the greatest job in the world it's hard to let go!  Hope you are having a great break and feeling ready for the new year!

Enjoy,

Computation Stations

Hi All!  We have 7 more days of school and I have to say, I'm feeling a little crispy around the edges.  For those of you who do not know me, that means I'm burnt out.  I wanted to share something we do in our first grade.  Each Friday we have Computation Stations.  Computation Stations is a 1 hour rotation of math games and activities.  Some of the games/activities we do during this time have been posted on this blog.  I try to make sure the games/activities are hands-on, fun, and quick to do.  The children have 15 minutes to complete each station before moving on to the next.  One station is on the computers and SmartBoard.  The other stations are on the floor or at tables.  I set my timer and off they go!  I give them a five minute warning and then a one minute tidy time to ready the station for the next team.  Most of the stations focus on computation, but I also rotate in stations that focus on the current concept (time, money, geometric shapes, etc.).  The children love it and complete a ton of math in a short time.  They have so much fun and don't seem to realize how hard they are working.  Well, these sweet little friends asked if we could do "every single Computation Station we ever did!"  I have to say, it was a proud moment for me!  As a "special treat" they wanted to do HOURS of math!  I just love those learners!  Well, there are too many stations to set up in our classroom so we will need to move to the gymnasium for the day.  I can't wait for Computation Station Marathon!  It should be great fun and a fantastic way to close our math learning for first grade!  I hope the end of your year inspires you, too!

Mining For Jewels- Version 2.0

I created a poster to use for a second version of Mining For Jewels.  Instead of opening the jewels and using the numbers inside to create math facts, the students use the key on the poster to practice adding money.  Students use the butterfly nets to scoop up two or more (depending on skill level) jewels.  They use the key to determine what coins (or bill) they will be adding together.

Click here for the printable version!

Fondly,

Mining For Jewels

Happy Sunday!  We had a little fun in math this week with a new game I call Mining For Jewels.  I made the game with some deals from...wait for it...Dollar Tree and...wait for it...Walmart!  Around Easter, I found some beautiful metallic plastic eggs at Walmart.  Really, they are so pretty!  Not only are they metallic, but they are the prettiest jewel tones.  Frankly, they reminded me of jewels.  I bought several packages of the jewels (formerly known as eggs) and wrote one number on the inside of each half.  Next, I found butterfly nets at the Dollar Tree for, of course, one crisp dollar each!  I have all the jewels in a laundry basket.  My first graders use the butterfly nets to scoop one jewel, open it, and write a math fact with the two numbers that are inside the jewel.  Then they write the whole fact family! 

A lot of fun for a little money and building math skills, too!  What could be better?

Fondly,

Checker Facts

My students really enjoy playing sight word checkers, so I thought I would create a checkerboard with math facts.  Once again, I went to Dollar Tree to get more checkerboards.  I wrote addition facts in the red squares.  The idea is similar to sight word checkers; to move to a square you must solve the fact.  If you are planning to jump, you must solve the square you are jumping to and the square you jumped over. 

Here is a recording sheet I created for Checker Facts.

Click here to download the recording sheet!

Then I thought it would be great to practice place value using a checkerboard.  I used one board for tens and ones.  This is how it looks!  The rules are the same as above, but now the students write the number that the tens and ones make.  Great practice for a tricky skill!

Fondly,

Fishin' 4 Addition

While at Dollar Tree (where else would I be), I found magnetic fishing games.  Each game comes with a fishing pole that has a magnet on the end of the line and three little sea creatures that also have magnets. 

I bought six so I could use them during computation stations.  When I got home I dug out my magnet stuff and found the bingo chips I bought years ago.  They are plastic with a metal ring around the exterior - I bought these at Wal-Mart many, many years ago.  I wrote numbers on small, white round stickers, the kind people use for pricing things at yard sales, and stuck one on each bingo chip.  I also wrote a number on each of the sea creatures that came with the game.  On one creature I wrote the word WILD, so students could choose their own number for that one. 

The idea is to go fishing for two numbers and write an addition fact using those numbers, then write a related subtraction fact.  There you have it- Fishin' 4 Addition! 

I created a recording sheet.  Click here for the printable version!

You could tweak this game and use the numbers they catch for greater than/less than, odd/even, or making two digit numbers and place value activities.