Using Doubles

Here are two activities to help students with the concept of using doubles to solve other math problems.  One is an activity that you can differentiate for your students depending on the dice you have the use.  For my struggling math students, I use six-sided dice.  For other students I use ten and twelve-sided dice.

I have also attached a game.  I use a ten sided die for this one and it has the numbers 0-9.

Guided Math-The Journey

It has been about two years since I first became interested in guided math.  It has been a journey!  I have still not mastered it, but I feel like I have finally made strides in the right direction. 

I like that I am able to differentiate the lessons for my students by utilizing three different groups to teach a math concept.  My goal is to do guided math three times a week.  Sometimes that just does not happen.

My biggest struggle has been with what to do with everyone else so that I am not ripping my hair!  I have found that breaking my class into three groups works best.  One group is with me, one group is at their desks, and one group is at workstations. 

For those students who are at workstations; they have a checklist.  They can choose which workstation they would like to go to.  The kids leave the math workstation buckets out so when we switch, the next group does not to set them back out again.  The last group at the workstation buckets cleans them up when we are done with guided math.

I have attached my checklist for workstations if you would like to take a peek.

Quietest Classroom Pencil Sharpener Review

I have always said that whoever invented a quiet, reliable pencil sharpener would make a million dollars…

I have been lucky to get a chance to try out the  Quietest Classroom Pencil Sharpener in my classroom.

This pencil sharpener produced the sharpest pencils I have ever seen---every time.  It was very quiet.  My firsties loved trying it out so much,  I did have to put an eventual limit on the amount of times they could visit.  Our school nurse was so impressed by the sharpener she went and bought three!  One was for home and the other two were for teacher gifts.

I would have to say this is by far the best manual pencil sharpener.  There are only two notes I want to make.  This sharpener does a phenomenal job on colored pencils, but since the lead is so soft on these pencils, it can sometimes get stuck in the sharper and needs to get dislodged.  This never happened with regular pencils.  The other note is about the clamp.  My firsties don’t have the arm strength to hold the sharpener so I needed to use the clamp that came with the sharpener.  I have not found the right surface to clamp the pencil sharpener to in which it doesn’t wiggle without holding it.

Overall, this pencil sharpener is a keeper.  It even sharpens those icky pencils that just get chewed up in other sharpeners!

Check out Classroom Friendly Supplies for more information.

Box Cars and One-Eyed Jacks Workshop

Tomorrow our district is hosting the folks from Box Cars and One-Eyed Jacks.  I am so excited!  They will be providing two workshops on math games for K-2 students and 3-5 students.  They also have all their games aligned to the Common Core.  After I was lucky enough to attend a few of their workshops, I started creating videos to help my students with math games at home.  Box Cars and One-Eyed Jacks even started posting them on their website.  If you ever get a chance to see them or have them come to your district, you will be very lucky!

p.s.  They will be at NCTM in Chicago later this week.

Ways To Show a Number

Math Coach's Corner has a great activity for students this holiday season.  It is a poster to help them show different ways to represent a number.  I really like this because she has included ten frames into the project.

Guided Math Games Organization

Here is a great blog about how to organize your guided math games.  Take a gander at Tales From a K  Classroom.

Math Workstations

Hop over to Peterson's Pad for some amazing math workstation ideas.  I especially like the activity Dice Numbers because you can use different sided dice to differentiate the activity for your students.

Math Stretch Numbers 1-121

I was very fortunate to attend Laney Sammon's Guided Math session for our district's institute day.  One of the big ideas we discussed were "math stretches."  A math stretch is a way to get the children thinking about math when they walk into the classroom in the morning.  A group of first grade teachers and I developed a math stretch based on  the first grade Common Core objective of being able to start at any number and count on.  Attached is a grid we created.  The idea is to make it larger so that each student can write a missing number on the chart.  Then when we get together,  I can ask the children: What patterns did you noticed?  What information helped you choose the number you wrote in the box?

Apps to Build Number Sense

Did you know that Augustana College has a number sense project?  They sent their university students into the schools to work with kindergartners.  This morphed into a series of educational apps to build number sense.  The apps are not super fancy, but they do focus on building number sense with ten frames, subitizing, and number lines.

Here is the list I am hoping to purchase for our iPads at school.

Line 'em Up  Free
10 Frame Fill  Free
What's Hiding? $0.99
Word Problems  Free
Thinking of a Number  $0.99
Pattern Sets   $0.99

Great Teacher Resource

Have you checked out the Teaching Channel yet?  There are a lot of great videos there to give you ideas for strengthen your students' number sense.

I really like the one called Mingle to use as a brain break when children need to get up and move.

Time

Here is a great site for hour and half hour worksheets.

Guided Math Book Study Chapter 8

Thanks for stopping in!  I read this book last summer when I was trying to figure out how to get guided math up and running in my first grade classroom.  It was interesting to reread it again this summer. 

This chapter focuses on assessments. It talks about using assessments to drive your instruction.  This past year I spent much more time getting to know my students mathematically by having conversations with them.  I still used paper and pencil tests, but my interviews gave me a different glimpse at my students' mathematical understandings.

One area that I really focused on was helping my students learn their number combinations.  They each worked on a different number based on a hands-on assessment.   I had some students who were still struggling to learn the combinations to 5 and others who were already working with combinations of 15.   By using counters and talking with the students, I learned a lot more about their misconceptions and working strategies.  Children who I thought were doing well based on their written work, turned out to just be really fast counters!   I have attached the assessment our team used to this post, as well as the sheet I sent home to the parents letting them know what number their child was working on.

How do you think you will use assessments in your math class next year?  I would love to hear your ideas.

Making Tens

I like this worksheet from the blog Math Coaches Corner. It incorporates ten frames and writing the number sentences to make ten.

Dominoes-Sum Snakes

I think dominoes are a "must have" in every primary classroom. I love this game from the Origo site.

Outside Math

This is the craziest time of the year! We are all trying to cram three months worth of work into one. Queen of the Jungle has come up with a great activity to get your children to burn off some energy while doing math!

Place Value Class Book

This idea is from the blog Crayon Bits. She does a great job showing how she makes a class book after each math unit using the vocabulary. I will definitely have to do this for our place value unit!

Common Core Resources

Dr. Nicki has found another great resource.  This link is from Georgia.  There are a lot of resources on this site including webinars and activities.  Check it out!

The Greedy Triangle

I love the book, The Greedy Triangle, by Marilyn Burns to help young children with geometry.  Here is a great activity from the blog Fun in First Grade that pairs writing and math.

Using Beads and Pipe Cleaners for Place Value

Here is an interesting way to reinforce tens and ones using beads. I will admit, I love my Unifix cubes, but I am always looking for a variety of math tools to teach concepts. Hop over to Mrs. T's First Grade Class and take a peek.

Place Value Mystery Cards

This activity is from the blog First Grade Parade.. Students have to figure out how many tens and ones are on each card. They then color the number on a hundreds chart to revel the mystery picture. What child can resist a mystery picture?!