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Friday, December 28, 2012

Calendar on the Promethean Board

I’ve had a few people e-mail and ask me about my calendar flipcharts. They’re nothing too fancy but I thought I’d share with you. Here’s what the calendar will look like when we return for the new year…which is Jan. 2nd thank you very much.
First page. The line leader of the day starts off this page. I’ve created equity sticks (popsicle sticks with my students picture on them). After the line leader fills in the date they pick a stick from the container and that student is next.
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This is the page where we write in the numbered date.
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I’ve added this page recently. At first I let the students write the month and the date, but then I became a little OCD about that. So I changed the page up. The students write in the date and the full year.
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Here’s the weather page. We fill in all the data for the month on the last day.
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Here’s the page where we count the number of days we’ve been in school. After the number is written the student selects file then save. That way all our data is saved for the first four pages of the calendar.
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Then we build the number of days we’ve been in school using tens and ones. After the hundredth day I’ll add the hundreds flat. After we build the number then the student writes the number in expanded form right above the tens and ones boxes.
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I’ve added this page for the second semester. I’m usually building my pages a little at a time and what you see for January isn’t what we started out with in August. On this page we’ll use the random number generator to build a number using tens and ones. It could technically be thought of as the same as the previous page, but that page always goes in sequence and I want them to be able to build any number….does that make sense? I made a month themed ten stick and ones cube in PowerPoint then copied and pasted it into ActiveInspire. Then I made the pictures into drag a copies.
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This next page is also a new one I’ve added for next month. The students will use two random number generators (one for how many tens and one for how many ones). They will build two-two digit numbers then add them together. I think this will be great for their understanding of adding tens and ones which will provide a smooth transition into understanding two digit addition and subtraction.
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This slide is self explanatory. The students drag the correct day of the week.
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This page has evolved over the school year. In January I’m adding finding twenty more and twenty less. During the first of the year I’ll choose the middle number. But after a few months, which ever student is chosen gets to decide the number. About eight students get to complete this page. Again, I don’t start out with all of this. Usually it’s just one more and less. Then I’ll add in two more and less until the entire page is built.
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The students love this page. Each month they can’t wait to see what kind of hat I’ve put on the pig. During the beginning of the year I’ll choose the amount. Sometimes I alternate between letting them find their own combination of coins to use and me giving them a certain amount of coins to use to show the amount. If we decide on twelve cents, I might say “you can show 12 cents using only four coins”. Starting in Jan. the students will use the number generator to choose the amount of money they have to show. We usually show the amount two ways. I know money is not in the Common Core but I just feel like it’s something my students need to know.
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This page is where we explore number of the day. It’s usually whatever number we’re working on for number sense. The left top is where the students drag over tally marks to make the number. Then we show the number using tens and ones. The bottom half is where the create a number sentences for the daily number and show that number using coins. We shift to two addition and subtraction sentences during the second half of the year.
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Told you it was nothing fancy…but there’s lots of interacting and thinking going on. I hope you found an idea to spark your creativity. If you did, leave a comment and let me know.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Wishing You a Merry Christmas

 

 

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I hope your day is filled with lots of love, laughter, joy, and blessings!

                                         Merry Christmas

Saturday, December 15, 2012

There Are No Words

 

Praying  for all the families, community of Newtown, CT and the school family at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Mrs. Claus Ain’t Got Nothing On Me and a Photo Dump


This song by Little Jackie is my absolute favorite Christmas song. Take a listen and see for yourself.

Love Imani Coppola. She’s been around for a while. The Legend of a Cowgirl…one of my favorite songs. Okay enough about my music tastes.
Last week we blasted full steam ahead with Christmas and Gingerbread Men. Here’s a little of what we’ve been up to.
This was a number sense activity at my math station this week. The students were given 10 gingerbread men and they decided on two colors of icing. The tray is made out of foil and I taped two handles on either side.
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The week before that we completed a Ten Scoops number sense activity. I have found that spending time on number sense and knowing all the parts of 5-10 has really helped my students.
Usually when I introduce missing parts I’m tearing my hair out. This year it went smooth like butta because they have internalized those parts of the numbers 5-10.  This year I am committed to allowing my students to really delve into and understand number and it’s truly paying off.
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On Monday we completed our weekly graph. Every year after we return from Thanksgiving I always ask “Is Your Christmas Tree Up Yet?” After we answered the graph and completed our individual graphs the students were given a Christmas tree. They had to find a combination of ten ornaments. We used regular sticky dots. I think they turned out great!
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This week we also worked on The Glyph Girls Christmas stocking. On Friday they completed a quick writing activity to go with their stocking. First they wrote about what they wanted in their Christmas stocking, then they had to write about what they would put into a loved one’s stocking.
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I had to take a picture of the one below. This student glued the nose a little to far down. When they moved the nose up it looked like the mouse had bright red lipstick. Too cute!
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I’ll be back next week with more Christmas happenings! I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed week ahead!