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We Heart 1st 2016

Holiday Traditions: Winter Wonderland

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Hey ya'll! I'm linking of with Ashley from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd and Angie from Lucky Little Learners to share my FAVORITE holiday tradition: our Winter Wonderland bulletin board.


(I blogged about this last year, so this is really a "re-blog." Is that a thing??)

This is such a fun activity, and you're able to tie it in with lots of your standards. We turned this into a math/social studies lesson. For the social studies part, we discussed what you would find in a community: businesses, homes, parks. schools, etc. We discussed different holidays that people celebrate in the winter, and we listed activities that people do in the winter/holiday time (not easy since we live in Texas, but they came up with some good ones.)

 Here they are sledding, skiing, making snow angels, and singing Christmas carols.
Those snow angels kill me. So darn CUTE!
Yes, these are pics of my kiddos. They brought in "winter" outerwear one day because it's not that cold here. They chose the activities they wanted to do, and I had them pose and then printed out small pics.
They turned out so sweet. I just cut out little pieces of construction paper for the sleds and skis.
 Next we have our ice skaters, snowman builders, and our shoppers.
(That's my co-teacher and me having a blast as we leave the candy shop!)
For the ice skaters, I printed out little ice skate clip art.
 And, of course, we had to have a snowball fight!
 Finally we have some kids skiing and choosing Christmas trees. If you live in Texas, you KNOW we had to have our favorite grocery store: HEB! And seriously, how precious is that church?


Okay, so now to HOW. We started by brainstorming the buildings that we would need in our community, and then I gave the kids measurements for each building. This is the math part. It worked out perfectly because we were right in the middle of our measurement unit.

 This is the fire station. You can see the measurements and the ruler because this is serious business! The kids had to sketch their idea before they were able to start with the  construction paper.
I also told them everything needed to be cut out. I mean...it's cuter, right? Plus, once it was all finished they were able to use my SUPER-SPECIAL oil pastels to add details like Christmas lights or Hanukah menorahs in the window. This is quite the privilege (because they are smeary and you must be very mature to use them), so they were super-excited about this part!
 I kept having to say, "Less is more, people. LESS IS MORE."
Sorry I don't have a pic of that part, but you can see the details in the final product pics.


There you have it! So fun! The key is making sure to incorporate the holiday traditions of all of your students. It is truly one of my absolute favorite projects. Thanks for stopping in!
 Let me know if you have any questions about this project.

Head back to Schroeder Shenanigans to check out the rest of the blogs!


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5-a-Day Math

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Hi friends! I am so excited to share with a you a bit about my favorite resource: 5-a-Day Math.
Because our math curriculum (and most math curriculums) doesn't spiral through the skills, I wanted to make something that my students could do daily that would consistently practice those important math skills through the year. I started this when I was teaching 1st grade, and it was a huge success and helped my students tremendously. I've since added kinder, 2nd grade (which I now teach), and 3rd grade to my TPT store.


https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/5-a-Day-Math-KINDER-Weekly-Spiral-Math-Review-2605363?aref=dcwm85b8
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/5-a-Day-Math-2nd-Grade-Daily-Spiral-Math-Review-Full-Year-2006757?aref=q8s3mf87

5-a-Day Math is a daily review of different skills. The same skills are reviewed in 3 week chunks- this helps build skill mastery and independence as students know exactly what is expected of them. They are printed on legal-sized paper for just one sheet per week!  (The 3rd grade version also includes a letter-sized option. I will be updating all grade levels soon!) My students completed these at the beginning of our math block last year. This next year it will be our morning work.


My class and I usually go over them each day. I pull a stick and allow that student to choose the problem that they want to explain. This allows them to feel confident in what they're sharing. They can even choose the date! We always explain what the date means and then try and find a pattern with the numbers.


Customer reviews for 5-a-Day Math:

This product is solid gold in a .pdf format. It would've taken me ages to come up with daily practice problems that align well with our EnVision Math. This has been wonderful morning work and has helped my kiddos develop solid number sense. Thank you!
We do this for morning work and I love it! My kids have gotten so good at it and I am able to see a huge improvement in their daily skills! As well it says copies for morning work since it is all for one week!

This is absolutely amazing. I love how it follows the standard and is quick and easy. The format is simple so the kiddos can follow.

Pin it for later!

Please let me know if you have any questions! You can find all 5-a-Day Math products in my TPT store.



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Penguin Paper Mache Tutorial

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We've been learning all about penguins these past few weeks. This week, we created paper mache penguins that will be displayed in out hallway during Open House. We had to look all over the internet for instructions on how to do this, so I thought I'd take lots of pics and share how we did it!

First, we had to find the right balloons. We got packs of assorted balloons from Party City and pulled out the skinny balloons. My advice would be to buy one pack and open it to see if it has the correct size that you need. I'm not positive that the link above has the correct size since we purchased our balloons in store. You are looking for the long skinny balloons on the right. (Note: Balloon animal balloons will not work! Way too long and thin.)


We then blew up the balloons and added a rubber band for a neck. I used a pump to blow up the balloons.

Next it was time to mache! We had newspaper prepped and cut into strips. We actually had enough left over from last year because you really don't need a much as you think you do!
 Each child got a paper plate with their class # on it.
We used a half glue/half water mixture and paint brushes.


Tips: I had one parent at each table. They helped keep the paper smooth and ensure they added enough layer (they need 3.) Make sure the kids place the strips around the balloon (not up and down.) This will help keep things smooth. They will likely need to tear their strips in half or thirds. They will need very small pieces for the rounded areas (head and bottom.)


This is ONE layer...and no beak. Adults formed the beaks when everything was finished because this is the hardest part. (The beak is formed around the tip of the balloon.) They REALLY need 3 layers. I have a few cracked heads because some kids did not put enough layers.


Once everyone was finished, we put them in the hallway to dry!


We used a hair dryer to try and speed up the drying process. It helped! Last year we really over-saturated the balloons and some took 3 days to dry!  This year was much better and all were dry by the next morning. I had to use the hair dryer on just a few damp spots on day 2.


On Day 2 morning, I had parents come and pop the balloons and hot-glue bases (white poster board squares) so they could stand up during painting. They also painted the bellies white so the kids would just have to paint around the dry white paint that afternoon. You could easily have kids paint the bellies in the AM and the rest in the PM, or do it all at the same time! I had the help so I used it.



Day 2 afternoon I had parents come in again to help with the painting. We had one adult with each penguin group. This time they were in their penguin groups since we studied 5 different species and they don't all look the same. (Hello, Little Blue!)


Day 3 morning, I had some amazing parents come up and finish things up! They replaced the bases (the others were covered in paint), labeled them, hot-glued the wings, tails and feet, and did some touch up painting where little painted fingers got on white bellies.


 I had the wings, tails and feet pre-cut by fabulous parent volunteers. You could easily have the kids cut these themselves if you don't have many volunteers. I just drew wings and tails and copied them on black cardstock. The feet were just copied on orange construction paper.

This is as far we've gotten at this point. They still need googly eyes and feathers for the Rockhopper and Macaroni penguins. I'll add that on Monday. Here are some pics of the final products from last year. We set the penguins up in colonies in our hallway for our annual open house.





 I think that's everything! If you're interested in studying about the different penguin species, check out my All About Penguins unit in my TPT store. Not only have we paper-mache'd penguins, we've also researched them and created keynote and pic collage presentations!


 Have a great weekend!

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Guided Math Update

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Happy Tuesday, everyone! Today was our first day back with kiddos, and it was a great day! I felt well-rested and well-planned...a perfect combo! I've had lots of questions about our guided math routine lately, so I snapped a bunch of pics today to share with you.
(I have no idea why these first 2 pics are wonky, but I can't fix  them!)
I first want to say that I TOTALLY slacked off on math groups during December. Things were just too crazy, I was exhausted from my first trimester, and we mostly did whole group lessons. I know... I know. Today when I told the kids we were getting back into our routine- they were so happy! I felt bad!

Anywho, I'm just going to go from beginning to end.
We do math right after lunch. As soon as we come in, the kids get their weekly 5-a-Day Math from their busy bee folders and get to work. This takes about 5 minutes.


This is our "warm-up." The 5-a-days spiral and review skills previously taught. It also repeats the same skills for 3 weeks at a time, so they are very independent before moving on to something new. I cannot tell you how much this has helped my firsties solidify their math skills. I am always so impressed when we do math tests!

After the 5-a-day, the kids come to the rug. Someone usually starts the Quiet Game while we're waiting for our friends to all finish. This is my teacher table at the front where I have all of materials prepped for the math lesson.

Once all friends are accounted for, I show an interactive video from our math curriculum. We use Pearson Envision. While I'm still not quite used to the curriculum, I do like these videos! They are short and really cover the topic of the day. I've also shown my focus board with our current "I Can" statements. This week were are working on adding 3 numbers.

After the video, we go back to our seats to complete the workbook page from our curriculum. I originally thought that this would be our independent practice, but we quickly discovered that the pages were overwhelming and confusing for the kids. (Let's just say...I'm not a fan.) We do most of this whole group, and I walk around and check while they are working independently. It's about 10 minutes tops. While we are not required to use the workbook, they will very likely use them in upper grades, and we want the kids to be familiar with the format and expectations.

Now that the mini-lesson is complete, it's time for some fun! I use the smartboard to rotate the groups. I always start with my lowest group at the teacher table and my highest group at "paper practice." This is because the more advanced group can usually function independently, and my lower math students can get the extra practice before working independently. This has worked perfectly thus far.
 
Today, in my group, we used a math game to practice our skill of the day. This game comes from my January Math Centers. Tomorrow I'll add it to our math tubs! The teacher table group always looks different depending on the skill. I do love when I can play a game with them, though!

We took turns finding the parts to build our snowmen. Once he was built, they took turns solving the equation. I had plans for my advanced group to do something different, but by the time I got to them, they were too excited for the snowman game!

After teacher table, students move to math journals. I try to always make this an extension of what we've done that day in groups. I literally create these a day or so ahead of time or pull them from my math centers. The activity on the right is part of the snowman game in  my math center bundle.

If students finish their paper practice activity, they are able to move to technology. We have ipads, so they are able to do an ipad math app or a QR scavenger hunt if available.
(This is a pic from last year.)


After math journals, we move to Math Tubs. This is a fave, but they must finish their paper practice or they have to finish during math tubs.
  

These are also from my January Math Tubs. We ordered the little foam snowflakes from Oriental Trade, and the adorable penguins were my son's. I almost threw them away!!

A few notes: between each round, students come back to the rug and we rotate the circles. I release them group by group. This seems to work much better than just rotating between rounds-less chaotic!

Alright, ya'll. Sorry if this is jumbled. I'm tired!! I hope you find this helpful. What do you think of guided math? Let us know! Thanks for stopping by!


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