Thanksgiving Thoughts

Hi, Teaching Friends!

I love the way Thanksgiving brings us back to thinking about what's really important, the things without which our lives would not be the same. That very act of thinking about those things is a warm and settling feeling, don't you think? I've heard it called an attitude of gratitude.

I shared this image from Lifehack on my Facebook page recently. I think it's so true.

The list of who and what I'm thankful for is incredibly long ... I am truly blessed!!

My top three?

1. The assurance of the presence of the Lord in my life, to guard and to guide me.

2. My wonderful husband ... we just celebrated our 40th anniversary this month!! Now that's a blessing!

3. My family ... two wonderful daughters, three amazing and oh-so-fun grandchildren ... and number four is on the way this spring! Yay!!


I hope you'll get to take some time in the coming days to slow down and really think about what makes your life the way it is, the things you'd never change even if you could.


Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thumbs Up for Another Math Giveaway!

Hi, Teaching Friends!

Why does the cold weather surprise me every year?

After all, it's November, most of the trees are bare, I've even prepped by buying new boots and a new winter coat. I should be expecting it to be cold.

Yet here I sit at the computer, sipping mug after mug of tea and coffee {I may come to regret that temporary fix later tonight...}, wearing a sweater, sweatshirt jacket, and wrapped in an afghan. It's 45 degrees, for Pete's sake ... truly kid stuff compared to what's coming.  Yet I shiver...


Well, between sips, let me tell you about a giveaway that I have going on over at Teacher's Notebook.

I love this set, and I think you will, too! The cover give you a little sample of the ten games that are included. This second image is a little fuzzy, but you can get the gist of it. For each of the ten objectives/standards, your students will evaluate expressions to see if they're thumbs up true or thumbs down false.

Tomorrow is the last day to enter, so click here to win one of the three sets I'm giving away.

If you're not a first grade teacher, I'd love it if you'd check out the versions for kindergarten, second, and third grade.



Happy Teaching!

Math Vocabulary Riddles - A Freebie!

Here's a way to combine teaching inference with your math instruction - math vocabulary riddles! 

You probably know how much I enjoy creating riddle sets, so here's the latest one. It's a brand new resource that I just posted at my TpT store, Math Vocabulary Riddles.

The set includes twenty riddle task cards for terms like calendar, addition, ruler, square, ten frame, and penny. It also includes a four-in-a-row game using the same terms, great for math centers, early finishers, and math tubs.

If you've been looking for ways to build connections across the curriculum, try writing math vocabulary riddles with your students. The template in this resource will make it easy for you to teach your class how to write their own!

What can you do with the riddles your students write?

* Bind them together into a class book

* Use your riddles to create a quick and fun bulletin board display.

* Practice speaking and listening skills by planning a performance. Throw in a microphone for fun and to encourage fluency. have your troupe of performers put on a show for your class... or go on tour to other classrooms!

Would you like to try a free sample?  Here's a set of eight riddles that you can download from Google Drive. Just click here!

Happy Teaching!

20% Off Sale, and a freebie... and...and ...

Hi, Teaching Friends!

As you might have guessed from the title of this post, it's got the potential to be one big ol' run-on sentence! Get ready for a rambling post ... I've got quite a bit to share with you today! Here's a hint of what's to come!

Details later in the post {if you care about the details! :)}.



Have you heard about Teacher Approved?

It's a cool subscription service and a way to discover new teacher-authors at a really reasonable price.
Plus, what you'll receive is a surprise each month, and who doesn't like surprises, right? The resources are from PreK through sixth grade, but your subscription will assure that you get exactly what you need for your own grade level band, PreK-1, 2-3, or 4-6. Subscriptions are just $5 per month and since each resource is normally $4-$6 and you'll be getting several, it's a deal! Would you like to know more about Teacher Approved and see some of the resources you'll receive as a subscriber? Head over to their blog!


So, why am I particularly excited about Teacher Approved? Well, because I'm thrilled to have been chosen as one of their contributors this month! As a subscriber, one of the PreK-1 goodies you'll be receiving this month is my Winter Riddles set! It's one of my best sellers at Teachers Pay Teachers.

You can get it as a Teacher Approved subscriber, or at TpT or TN.

Stop Number Two on this rambling post is a freebie! Are some of your little learners having trouble seeing short vowel patterns in words? Try this activity! I like it as partner work, so those who are having a hard time can get the support of a {hopefully} patient friend!  Short A Roll-and-Write is a free download at Google Drive.

 

If you need a lot more ways to practice short vowels, here a a few you might like.  These one-page partner games are available at my TpT store. See the short a games here, or click here to see games for all of the vowels.

Here's a bundle of six vowel resources, at 20% less than the price of purchasing them separately.



Did somebody just say 20% off ? Well,  yes!! In celebration of my participation in Teacher Approved AND to coincide with the Florida SDE Conference for First Grade Teachers, where my resources are being exhibited by the TpT Teacher-Authors Group, led by the sweet, fun, and super-energetic Michele Luck {I promised you a run-on sentence, didn't I? Well, I just delivered on that promise!}...

All resources at my TpT store will be 20% off on

November 13th and 14th! ... and on bundles, that means super-sized savings!

If you happen to be one of the lucky teachers who's going to the conference, be sure to stop by the TpT Teacher-Authors table to pick up your coupon book and bag of really cute and useful goodies!



Whew! That's all, folks! Thanks for hanging in with me on this long and winding road. :)

Happy Teaching!



Place Value Work in First Grade

Hi, Teaching Friends!

This is Part 2 of a post about a very versatile resource from The Elementary Math Maniac, 0-120 Place Value Decks.

 

 

 

If you missed Part 1 (kindergarten), you can see it here.

 

 

If I had to choose just one word to describe The Math Maniac's resources, I think I'd have to go with thorough. Tara is most definitely a deep thinker about the mathematical possibilities of her resources and the ways that using them will look with various levels of students. Drawing on her experience as a math specialist, the background information and suggestions for implementation that she provides are logical, practical, and comprehensive.

 

 

After using the card set you see above with my five year old PreK grandson (discussed in the previous post), I also spent some time with my seven year old granddaughter, who's a first grader.

 

 

M and I started out with some basic review of Base Ten models, doing some hands-on work with Legos, since there are about a million of them in her house! Then M pulled all of the number cards between one and 30 from the card deck  and then put them in order. She then did some matching of the Base Ten model cards to the numeral cards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we moved on to addition. Again using the Legos to model, we spent a few moments modeling addition of a one-digit number to a two-digit number. Then we pulled the Base Ten representation cards and tried a few more of the same.

 

 

M seemed very comfortable doing all of this, so we moved right on to addition of 2 two-digit numbers. I love how the range and variety of the cards in this set allow you to make decisions like these on-the-go, responding to the needs of your students, a huge plus for your small group instruction in math.

 

 

I pulled number cards for M to add. She built models for 15 and 22, said "15 ..." and quickly discovered that grouping the ten sticks together and counting them all before counting the ones makes the process a whole lot easier. We practiced a few more addition examples that way, and then played a game.

 

 

 



Here's the record of what we did. To get the numbers to add, we rolled a 30-sided cube (head back to the previous post to see more fun with a a triacontahedron!) and a randomly-selected numeral card, and then took turns writing and solving the addition number models you see here. M came up with the idea of circling the sums to make it easier to compare the numbers in each row. Then she compared the numbers, marked the greater one with a check, and awarded a tally mark to the person whose sum was the greatest, marking it on the chart at the bottom of the page.

{The error in column one was discussed and fixed up after this photo was taken.}

 

 

In summary, M identified two digit numbers, sequenced them, built representational models of them, and developed a plan for adding them. Not bad for 15-20 minutes! And easily accomplished with just the card decks and one crazy die, which was a fun novelty but actually not even necessary to the success of the lesson.

Tara calls this card set the "hardest working thing (she's) ever made". I think you'll find yourself using these cards day after day, for whole class demos on your doc camera, small group teaching and exploration, and math center games. Every time the cards are used, your students ease in moving back and forth between the three representations will become more automatic.


The Math Maniac has included two things that will make this set very easy for you to use. First, there are links to some amazing blogposts loaded with ways to include these cards in your math instruction. Second, there is a very thorough list of all the relevant Common Core standards ... not just the number, but the whole standard, ready to copy and paste into your plans, for those of you that need to do that. Now, that's  added value!


I hope you'll take a closer look at these three card decks here at The Math Maniac's TpT store. If you are already using them, please share your favorite use in the comments below.


Happy Teaching!

0-120 Place Value Decks from The Math Maniac

Hi, Teaching Friends!


I'm so excited today to have the opportunity to share with you a wonderful resource and some activities from Tara, The Math Maniac!

In so many ways, the cards in this resource remind me of a big box of Legos.

 

* They're all the same, yet all different
* You pull out something different every time you reach in.
* You can use them in a different way every time you use them.
* The deeper you dig, the more ways you discover to use them.


The Math Maniac has worked for nine years as an elementary math specialist. Tara's approach is constructivist, with an emphasis on helping her students make connections between things they have learned. This resource is a wonderful tool to do just that!

She calls this set "the hardest working thing I have ever made", and I would agree that this is definitely an extremely versatile set. Like many of her resources, at first glance it's just a very simple

no-frills set.  After you print and cut the decks, there is little to no teacher prep required for the activities. 

Here's the Hidden Value to this resource: Tara has added in photos and some of the most thorough suggestions for implementation I've ever seen!

"Place Value Decks: Numbers to 120" consists of three card sets, all from one through 120: place value representations with corresponding numeral, place value representations without numerals, and numerals.


The product description and suggestions list it as suitable for K-3, and I put that to the test working with two of my grandchildren, ages 5 and 7.


Mr.E, age five, hasn't started kindergarten yet, but has a good grasp of early math concepts. He counts to 100, matches one-to-one in counting, counts by tens, and does simple addition and subtraction word problems in his head. Here's how we used the cards together.


We started with some sequencing of the numeral cards, emphasizing the teen numbers, and then doing a bit of review with pulling through the decades. After he arranged the cards in order, we practiced some counting up and counting back, with E pointing to the cards as he counted.


Then out came the Legos! We started building models for some of the numbers and then compared pairs of the Lego sticks, using math comparative words like longer/shorter, more/less, and greater number/lesser number.


We made models for 12 and 21, because the names of teen pairs (12/21, 13/31, etc.) are still not secure skills for him. Using the model and then bringing in the numeral cards to reinforce was helpful.


With the teen numbers, we talked about how easy it is to miscount when you use very long sticks of Legos, which made a simple segue into making sticks of ten blocks and then counting on by ones. We practiced this with several numbers in the teens and twenties. Since he's already able to count by tens, transitioning to counting on by ones was simple for him. Hopefully that will also be the case when we apply this to counting dimes and pennies some day soon! :)

Then we brought out the place value representation cards. Although E and I didn't go beyond 30, it was great to have all of the cards through 120 available, to make it easy to follow his lead and respond with both support and challenges as needed.

When E was very comfortable with going back and forth between the numerals, Lego models for numbers, and Base Ten cards, it was time for a game!


I put out a selection of some of the Base Ten cards between one and thirty. E named the number for each card and then lined them up in rows from least to greatest.  Then I brought out this extremely cool thirty-faced die! {What's the correct mathematical term for that, Elementary Math Maniac? ;) Whatever it is, every classroom needs a selection of great dice like this one!}  Edit: Tara tells me that it's a triacontahedron. It's more commonly known as a 30-hedron, but personally I think the long name is much cooler. Wouldn't some of your little ones enjoy tossing around a word like that? It's almost as good as Tyrannosaurus Rex!


We took turns rolling the die and checking the cards to see if the number we rolled was there. If it was, the player took the card. If not, the other player rolled. The first to get five cards won. So simple, but such good practice, and fun!

I love these cards - they make these spontaneous truly no-prep games a breeze!


This resource would be a wonderful choice for homeschoolers and math specialists because of the range of numbers, the many ways to use them, and the ease of differentiation for levels.

There are two more things that I consider to be major pluses for this card set:

1. There's a complete listing of the standards addressed - the whole standard, not just the number.
2. There are links to related blog posts for you to see the cards in use.

Click here to see 0-120 Place Value Decks at Tara's store. For second and third grade, try the Numbers to 1000 set!


Check out The Math Maniac's blog and Facebook page. Tara just completed a great book study, Chris Biffle's Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids, and is always offering up some new and interesting insights on teaching math K-5.


Thanks so much for sharing this set with me, Tara!
Look for Part 2 of this post next week to see how I used the same set with E's big sister, age 7.



Happy Teaching!

Thanksgiving Books - Share Your Favorites!

Hi, Teaching Friends!

Every teacher builds a nice, fat collection of favorite books for every holiday, all school year long. and every year, the collection grows by a few more, because - well, you all know how it goes. A good book is irresistible!

Here are two of my Thanksgiving favorites ... just a picture and a short sweet tag.

 

 

 

A quick read, fair-sized dose of facts, adorably illustrated - and you can even sing it! Perfect!

Story told well, interesting notes at the end of the book, but the thing I love  most is these little side dialogues, like in the picture above. Packed with info, sometimes humorously presented, ... your kiddos will love sitting afterwards and reading these with a buddy.


The last on my favorites list is Friendship's First Thanksgiving. To read more about it, and to collect the free activity pack you see here, I hope you'll check out my post at Teaching Blog Roundup.

Please share the name of your favorite Thanksgiving book in a comment below!

Happy Teaching!