Nouns!

I love grammar! Last week I focused on adjectives and this week I focused on nouns. To introduce nouns we watched a School House Rock video. Then the students did four noun stations: Noun Land Game (from The Teacher Wife), Super Hero Mad Lib (from The Teacher Wife), Picture Book Noun Hunt (free recording sheet from The Teacher Wife), and Describe Nouns. For Describe Nouns, the students took five or six noun cards and then took turns manipulating adjective cards to describe their nouns. You can get the noun cards for free from A Teeny Tiny Teacher. You could also have the students sort the cards into people, places, and things but I wanted to give the students an opportunity to apply describing words to nouns since we had learned about adjectives the previous week . The students seemed to enjoy the stations and got a kick out of their mad libs. We did the stations for two days since there is only 30 minutes for writing.

On the third day, the students were divided into four groups and each group received a piece of butcher paper with a category (people, places, things, and animals). Each group had four minutes to write as many nouns as they could according to their category. Students rotated the role of writer in their group. After the four minutes was up (I set a timer on the SMART Board), a designated messenger rotated the group's paper. This continued until each group had contributed to each category.

This is one of the four charts. I wrote one example on each paper. The students wrote in pencil but if you click the photo you may be able to read what they wrote more easily.

This cooperative learning activity was preparation for our next day's task...to create a Noun Town!! I have done a similar activity with other classes (Proper Noun Town and Symmetry City) so I was so excited for the students to create a Noun Town since it has been a successful project in the past. The students were so creative! AND I LOVED the sense of community that this activity brought to the classroom. Next week I am going to do a writer's workshop with the students with writing tasks based on our Noun Town. Students will have the option to write a news story (to inform) about Noun Town, a travel story about Noun Town (to persuade), or a story about Noun Town (to entertain). I have so many pictures to share of Noun Town because I LOVE it so much!! The students loved it too...they didn't want to stop but as you'll see below, our town doesn't have any more space for development.

Students working together!

Our finished Noun Town!

An angel- isn't this so cute?!

There is a circus in town!

I made the Pigeon but one of the students created me riding on him!

The start of a rainbow with a pot of gold!

Outer space with a superhero!

I guess I don't want to go to his house!

I'm for sale.This cracks me up. One of the students was telling me at recess that she was going to buy four of me for $1000.

How do you teach grammar?

You Make My Heart Glow!

I LOVE Lindsey's blog, The Teacher Wife! She has great ideas for valentine's gifts. I decided to do the one she did last year...

glow bracelets!!!! And a cute little heart tag to go with it!! Visit her post to get the tags for free! Like she mentions in her post, you can buy the glow bracelets at the Dollar Tree but I found that you can also get them at Hobby Lobby cheaper!! I'm so glad Hobby Lobby came to town because I LOOVVEEE that store.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Pop Rockin' Experience

For writing this week, I implemented part of Babbling Abby's unit on descriptive writing. You probably already know (because Abby rocks!) but her blog is The Inspired Apple. I try to get most of my resources for free because I'm a poor graduate student; however, sometimes a few dollars is definitely worth the time, such as the case for this unit.

I don't want to give too much away because I want you to buy her unit! I will show you the final product though!

Aren't these so cute!? I did put glitter in their mouths for the Pop Rocks but I had taken these pictures prior to that.

The students loved the activities we did this week, and I was so impressed with their work!!

Number Talk

How do you start off your math block?

I begin with Number Talk. According to Sherry Parrish's book, Number Talk is:
1. A five- to fifteen-minute classroom conversation around purposefully crafted computation problems that are solved mentally.
2. The best part of a teacher's day.

If you don't have access to the book, I found a brief overview of Number Talk.

During the last teacher work day, one of the teachers gave a workshop on Number Talk, which convinced me to implement this concept into student learning. I also observed this particular teacher doing Number Talk with her kindergarteners just this past week. I had watched some videos of other class's doing Number Talk but they didn't really speak to me. After watching this teacher at my school though, I had a much better direction on how to guide the Number Talk.

I have assigned each student a partner. One partner is peanut butter and the other partner is jelly (if we have an odd number of students due to an absence, I make one of the students a bun to a pb and j) . To signal the start of our Number Talk, I play It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time. When the students hear the song, they find their partner, find a spot to sit together in front of the SMART Board, and show me that they're ready to learn by sitting on their bottoms with their hands in their lap and their lips zipped. They LOVE the Peanut Butter Jelly Time song!

Next, I post a problem on the SMART Board and read it aloud. They think about the problem and then turn to their partner to share their answer and their thinking. When they're ready, they give me a thumbs up by their heart. I then call on individuals to share their answer with the whole class (sometimes I write the different answers on the SMART Board) and they explain their thinking (sometimes they show it on the SMART Board). Hearing their explanations is very interesting and telling!

Depending on the problem, I may have a demonstration. For instance, here is one of the problems (exemplar styled) we did this past week:

"Juliann has joined the circus as a tight rope walker! It takes Juliann 20 steps to walk across the tight rope. Miss Jaffee wants to learn how to walk across the tight rope too! Will it take Miss Jaffee more or less steps to cross the same distance? Why?"

I always use the students' names in the problems. They get a kick out of seeing their names and reading my silly stories. So for this particular problem, I had a piece of tape on the floor. After the students' shared their answers and thinking, Juliann and I demonstrated walking across the tape (our pretend tight rope) and compared our steps.

The mathematical thinking, problem-solving, and sharing that takes place during Number Talk is so beneficial for student growth. Yay for math!

Math Daily 5

You've probably heard of the Daily 5. You may even use it in your classroom. I've heard only positive things about the implementation of the Daily 5 in classrooms. I wondered if there was such a system available for math. I did some research, and the 2 sisters do have some information available for a Math Daily 5 but there is not a book out about it yet. I even came across some other bloggers who are using a Math Daily 5 or something similar to it, such as Adventures in Teaching, Mrs. Grochoki, and Tales from a K-1 Classroom.

My Cooperating Teacher has given me responsibility for math so I've been experimenting with how I want to organize the math block but I thought I would share what I have planned so far.

Math Block Structure:
I. Number Talk
II. Whole Group Mini-Lesson
III. Math Daily 5

I will go into more detail about Number Talks in another post but I am basing it off of the book Number Talks by Sherry Parrish. This past week I used the mini-lesson time to introduce students to the activities they would be participating in during the Daily 5. In general though, I plan to use that time to give a general introduction to the whole class on a new skill. Then while the students are participating in the Daily 5 choices, I will be pulling small groups to more easily cater to students' needs. However, this past week I circulated the room to help the students adjust to the new activities.

The Math Daily 5 choices I'm using are: Number Games, Fact Games, Strategy Games, Technology, and Read and Write.

All of my games are in gallon baggies and have colored triangles that coordinate with the appropriate choice's bin. You'll notice on the left corner of the baggies I have the number of people allowed to play the game. Since I limit the number of people who can play a game I often included multiple sets of the same game in the bins.

 

Number Games:

I found this game on Spend a Day in Second Grade. Visit her blog for detailed directions for 3 Town (great introduction for regrouping). I bought the poker chips from Target and the chip dish from the Dollar Tree. I created a game mat too.

My other Number Games are Base 10 at the Beach (free), Even and Odd Love (free), and Place Value Star Wars. I also want to include activities for skip counting but I haven't found or created one yet.

Fact Games:

Math Power Towers idea came from Teacher Tipster (his videos crack me up and he is full of great ideas!!), and I got the label from Mrs. Gilchrist's Class (free).

Bears in the Cave (a game for practicing subtraction) came from Kids World Exploration.

For Connect 5, players take turns rolling two 10-sided dice. Player chooses to add or subtract the two numbers rolled and covers the answer with a chip on the board. Players want to try to connect 5 answers in a row. This game actually involves a little strategy too because the student has to think which will benefit them more, adding or subtracting, in order to connect 5 in a row. You can get the game board from Rockin' Teacher Materials (free).

I also have addition and subtraction flash cards at this choice. The students can play this in a game format where they take turns being the host (holding the cards) and the remaining players are the contestants. Whichever contestant knows the answer first, puts their finger on their nose and is then called upon by the host to give the answer. If the contestant gets the answer correct he or she keeps the card.

Read and Write:
I currently have pictures books on various math topics here. My favorite author for math picture books is Stuart J. Murphy so I have several of his books at this choice. Students also have the choice to write math stories. 

Technology:

I can't even express how much the students love the SMART Board!! I really wanted to find a way to use the SMART Board for it's intended purpose, as an interactive white board. We had conversations about how to take turns and work as a team but they still needed some redirection this week on how to get along at the SMART Board. I need to implement some kind of management system at the SMART Board so the students can be more independent and successful. Again, I'll keep you posted!

Anyway, these are the games that I have made available to the students so far:
Greater Than, Less Than, Equal To Basketball (definitely worth the $2!!)
Bunny Hop (free)
Rolling for 50 (free)
Penny Dice Game (free)
Penny Nickel Exchange (free)

I haven't introduced the fifth choice, Strategy Games, yet. 

I also created a Math Daily 5 check-in chart. Each student has their own magnet with their name on it. To make their choice, they choose one of the colored triangles that coordinates with the appropriate choice. Their goal is to get one of every color triangle before repeating their choices. For instance, if I chose Number Games I would put a green triangle by my name. Next time I made a choice, I might choose Read and Write and would then put a pink triangle next to my first choice. This would continue until I have done all five choices. 

 I made this chart from sheet metal (Lowes $10). I used tape to outline the chart. I made the name magnets from balsa wood and painted the wood with chalkboard paint (this way I can reuse them). Little box lids are holding the foam triangles. The students loved having their own magnet and space to make their choices! This also helps them keep track of where they've been. I was inspired by The Teacher Wife when creating this chart. I LOVE her blog by the way!

I know everything I wrote may be a lot to take in (that's why I love including pictures!) so if you have any questions, let me know!!

How do you teach math? What are your favorite activities for centers?

Have a happy weekend!!

Guess My Number!!

Hi, Friends!
Just wanted to share a game I played with the students today. They loved it!

I was inspired by Mrs. Lemons and made a SMART Board version of Guess My Number.
I uploaded the one I made to Google Docs so here ya go! Basically, I think of a number and the students try to guess my number by asking the suggested questions below the hundreds chart. They are not allowed to ask me if it is a specific number but must use the questions to eliminate numbers in order to reveal my number. I love the hundreds chart on the SMART Board because when you touch a number it turns red. I have also used this hundreds chart when we are skip counting. Since the tiles change color when you touch them, this is a great visual for the students to see patterns in the hundreds chart.

Enjoy!

George Washington

Happy Wednesday!

Need some ideas for teaching students about George Washington? Here is what I did!

First, I made a somewhat life-size George (I was inspired by this one for Abe). His head is a little large but his height is accurate. I had him laminated too. If you do this, you will have to cut George at the neck and ankles to fit him through the laminator. For morning work, I had an interactive display where the students had to identify what coin GW is on, find him in two historical photos (one of GW leading the Continental Congress and the other crossing the Delaware River), and write two questions about what they wanted to know about him.

  

The next morning, I moved George to the hallway and measured the students' heights next to GW. I would ask the students questions like, "Who is tallest?", "Who is the shortest?", "Who is taller than you?", "Who is shorter than you?", "Who is the same height as you?", etc. This was a great introduction to measurement, which the students will be learning more about in a few weeks. 

 Then, we had our second virtual field trip to Mount Vernon. The children met with a storyteller, who was dressed in colonial attire, and listened to her tell the story of George chopping down the cherry tree. After the story, the students had an opportunity to ask the storyteller questions (they used the questions they had written from morning work) about GW. Here are a few of the questions the students had:

Where were you born? 

What did you do for fun?

Did you go to school?

Did you wear a puffy wig?

You can schedule a virtual field trip to Mount Vernon through the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration. There was a miscommunication from the staff at Mount Vernon about the program we had been expecting to participate in but the program we did see was done well. The storyteller was enthusiastic and involved the children through the story. 

How do you teach students about famous Americans?