Oceans of First Grade Fun: animals in winter

Monday, January 24, 2011

Polar Bears, Brace Maps and Even Some Math

Math

Some of my students have been struggling with numbers that come between, so this weekend I whipped up these math stations. I split the sets up so the file wouldn’t be so large, and also you could just take the sets for the numbers you wanted to work with if you didn’t want to download all of them.

To prepare all you have to do is print out, cut and laminate, then place Velcro dots on the backs of the individual cards and the Velcro mate to the middle spaces on all the strips. I’ve seen games like these in Lakeshore..but it was just as easy to make.

The students take a sack and lay all the cards out, then they place the numbers that come between. I think one of the files has a recording sheet…if I left it out just e-mail me and I’ll send it to anyone that wants it.

Click on the picture for set 10-20

Click the links for the rest of the sets.

Set 20-30 Set 30-40 Set 40-50

Set 50-60 Set 60-70 Set 70-80

Set 80-90 Set 90-100

Last Friday after we finished our daily story problem and graph journal I looked around and all of my students were content with free choice math games. You know those days when everyone chooses the right partner and everyone’s engaged and happy. There’s a quiet hum in the room…we wish for those days everyday, but on this day it just seemed extra perfect.

These students are quizzing each other with flash cards.

These students are playing an old favorite.

My students love playing More or War. When I first started teaching it was called “War”. Now there are so many names for it, it’s hard to keep up. But sometimes I’ll make cute playing cards and they like those, but most of them love playing with just a plain deck of cards and a felt mat. They never get tired of this game.

This student is playing Add Ten. This has become a new favorite.

Arctic Animals

We are continuing our Arctic Animal Unit. Each February our school has a big Science Fair, all the grades (K-8th) participate. In grades k-2 individual classes complete class projects. This year I decided to fold our study of Arctic Animals into our class science project. We are looking at the ways Arctic animals adapt to survive in their habitat, and we are looking at the polar bear in particular. The students are really into it, and we’ve learned a lot.

Here is a Brace Map we completed as a class. The students then completed their own in our Arctic Animals Science Journals.

Friday we did the blubber glove, and the students had a blast! It helped them understand what the layer of blubber beneath a polar bear’s skin really does to help it survive in the Arctic. After each student had a turn with the glove, we completed a quick Science Response sheet. I did it the old fashioned way…wrote it out then made copies.