Five for Friday March 24

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you for hosting, Kacey!

We worked on  these number bonds with gold on St. Patrick's Day!  This worksheet is from The Printable Princess. It was in a packet a while ago- but I think the packet has changed and I can't find it there now.   

Anyway- we worked on number bonds using our 'real' gold.  I spray paint lots of rocks with gold spray paint, and have counters forever.  The leprechauns also left everyone a piece of the 'real' gold, too.  

The leprechauns wrote on our table with dry erase markers, and that gave me a great  idea- so... I made number bonds for the children right on the table!  They loved it.  It came right off with cleaner after we were done.  

Making the number bonds right on the table was a great way for the children to use manipulatives and really visualize the number bonds.  I'm thinking jelly beans are next... Maybe I'll make a bunny face for the big part of the number bond, and then each ear will be the other parts.  

We needed some sunshine.  Upstate NY is pretty dreary all winter long...  These were so easy to make. I did it with the kids one at a time.  I drew the arch on the bottom.  Each child painted that first, then I painted each child's hand so she could stamp it on for the sun rays.

I wrote "You are my SUNSHINE!" on a paper for them to copy.  They did a really great job.

I hung these over the children's lockers, and we made a poster to go over the top.  I always love this saying.  Snow White is so wise... 

I wrote a few weeks ago about my Chit-Chat topics. What I've been loving lately is my new line up activity.  Usually I have the children chit chat for the few minutes after writing, after they wash up, before lunch.  With a couple minutes left, I'll get everyone's attention and have them ask their partner a 'Line Up Question.'  Each child must tell me what his/her partner's answer was before lining up.   These are simple questions like, "What's your partner's favorite color? favorite animal?  favorite ice cream flavor?  favorite toy..."

The first time I did this, I got a few, "I forgot," or "I don't know."  Well- that doesn't get you a spot in line!   I said, "Well, you better ask again and remember so you can line up!" Then I moved on to the next person.  Next time- every single one of them remembered!

It's important to be a good listener,  to really listen to friends and pay attention.  I want them to know that now. It matters.  I feel like with the world moving faster and faster, it's more important than ever to teach children to truly listen to each other. 



If you would like a copy of my topics that I use, just click the picture below.  I print out a copy and leave it on my desk.  Then, I check off the one that we use.  I also use this as a writing prompt sometimes for morning work. 

It's my FAVORITE time of year... I got to teach my kids The Water Cycle song.   Dr. Jean and I made a packet all about The Water Cycle, Water, and Clouds!  I posted about it HERE.

We've added all of our FAVORITE activities in the packet.

In my post, I share some of the fun things I love to do when I teach the water cycle that fit into math and ELA. 

Here is the Prezi that is included with the packet. This Prezi includes The Water Cycle song by Steve Songs.  We also love singing  Dr. Jean's The Water Cycle song, (the download is included in the packet)- and WOW- do my kids know all about the water cycle!

Here is my class singing the song after only one week! I think it is impossible to NOT be happy after we do this song.  

             

I shared this post before, but I just reread it and loved it all over again.  I thought I'd  share it with you again in case  you didn't see it. I love Marc and Angel. They just write practical things that makes sense- and make you go, "YEAH, that's so right."

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself by Marc and Angel

The post has a great write up about each thing, but here were some of my favorites, with different pictures I put with each one.

There were SO many that I really, really loved.  Which ones are your favorites?

Thank you for stopping by.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Bond, Number Bond

Last year we had a half-day conference day to talk about math vocabulary Pre-K to 2nd grade, to be sure we were all using the same language.  I got stuck on some of the vocabulary - especially number bonds and hidden partners.

My nephew always LOVED James Bond, and I still get happy when I hear the music from the James Bond games my own kids used to play with my husband probably on Game Cube, at the time.  We were never big video game players, but we did have those, and it was so much fun to hear everyone laughing when they played it together. (I was never very good at it... )

Anyway, as the meeting went on, I kept doodling- thinking what if the numbers "007" were twisted just a little to make a Number Bond, Secret Agent?! The kids could solve the mystery!

Yes. Those are the kind of notes I take at meetings.  

I sent my friend Dan (Rocking Dan, Teaching Man) the picture and said it would make a great song. And... he MADE IT!   What a great guy!  Our friend Susanna from Whimsy Workshop gave the little secret agent his wonderful looks, and Dan made him come to life and gave him a mission- to solve some number bonds.  I can't wait to show my class.  What a fun way to reinforce and understand what number bonds are!
               

Dan has so many great teaching songs on his Youtube channel.  His Friends of 10 Song is great to use for math facts, too! You can go check them out and subscribe here!

I also came up with a Hidden Partners game that my kids LOVED last year. It's so easy and a really fun way to reinforce those math facts.

All you need is 3x5 cards and a marker.  It doesn't get much easier than that! 

Basically, Hidden Partners means there are different ways to make a number. 

We make charts about Ways to Make... numbers 2-5.  

I made 3x5 cards with numbers on them that added up to our target number.  I have 17 students, so I made 9 sets of cards- for example, for "5"  I made 0,5; 1,4; 2,3; 3,2; 4,1; 5,0, 3,2; 4,1; 5,0.  So I would also play the game since there are 18 cards.

I had the children spread out, and gave each child a card with a number.  They could not show their number to anyone until I said, "Go!"

Once I said, "Go!" the each child had to walk around and find a "Hidden Partner" to go with his/her number to make 5. 

 Can you tell we played this on St. Patrick's Day?

Once they found their Hidden Partner, that team of two had to sit down on the floor so everyone knew they were paired up and done. 

The kids loved this game!  We had so much fun.   We also played it with the number four.

I made sets of numbers for 3, 4, and 5.  I just used different color markers for each set  in case they get mixed up.  You could go all the way up to ten!  

No matter what some of the Common Core may do to teachers-

 Remember this...

 

 Have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

Five For Friday March 21

I am linking up with Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday on this fine SPRING day!

 

Here is a look at my week!

 

Monday included lots of leprechaun shenanigans.  Of course we had our gold letters and gold sight words out for centers and free choice.

Here are some other fun little leprechaun goings-on that took place.  The kids loved the mini leprechaun cookies. I loved eating the pre-made sugar cookie dough using the pre-made sugar cookie dough to make them.

We made a We Are Lucky class book, thanks to sweet, wonderful Sarah from A Sunny Day in First Grade.  I LOVE her products. Every one is so well made and so perfect to use in the classroom. Plus, she shares so many wonderful freebies- like this one! This book is free at her TPT store!

We had Open House last night, so I quickly put it together without laminating it- but I am going to do that now, so it lasts.  The parents loved it. They love reading our class books with their children. 

 I am lucky because I am hape.  (happy)



We also finished our Lucky Journals!  We worked on a couple pages each day, and the children really took their time. It is a simple way to have children write a little, and great even for morning work. If you would like a copy just click on the picture below.  If you don't include the "Leprechauns hide..." page, you could use this anytime in the spring.  Maybe you could go on a lucky clover hunt outside on a nice, spring day!

There is another page in the little journal that says, "My last name is..."    On this page, I let the kids write their last name with all different colors and fancy ways- because most of them need practice spelling and writing their last name.

  

I also made a different cover in case you prefer rainbows...

This was one of my favorite pictures for some reason, because it looks like the little snowman and the boy are dancing across the snow holding hands.

walk in the snow





Having any sort of "celebration" on a Monday adds at least 8 or 9 days to the week, I think.

We had a half-day conference day last week to discuss our math vocabulary with grades Pre-K- 2nd, so that we were sure we were all using the same math language.  As we went over the language, I realized that I had never actually said the words, "hidden partners," to my class at all.  (Actually, I had never used those words to anyone at all- which I think is a good thing... cause it sounds sort of soap opera-ish to me...) 

Anyway, as we talked math talk for the next couple hours, and everyone else moved on to other math vocabulary, I was sort of stuck on Hidden Partners.  I came up with a fun game to play during that class called... wait for it... Hidden Partners!  All you need is 3x5 cards and a marker.  It doesn't get much easier than that! 

Basically, Hidden Partners means there are different ways to make a number. 

We have been making charts about Ways to Make... numbers 2-5.  

I made 3x5 cards with numbers on them that added up to our target number.  I have 17 students, so I made 9 sets of cards- for example, for "5"  I made 0,5; 1,4; 2,3; 3,2; 4,1; 5,0, 3,2; 4,1; 5,0.  So I would also play the game since there are 18 cards.

I had the children spread out, and gave each child a card with a number.  They could not show their number to anyone until I said, "Go!"

Once I said, "Go!" the each child had to walk around and find a "Hidden Partner" to go with his/her number to make 5. 

 Can you tell we played this on St. Patrick's Day?

Once they found their Hidden Partner, that team of two had to sit down on the floor so everyone knew they were paired up and done. 

The kids loved this game!  We had so much fun.   We also played it with the number four.

I made sets of numbers for 3, 4, and 5.  I just used different color markers for each set  in case they get mixed up.  You could go all the way up to ten!  We are really working on learning and knowing addition and subtraction facts to five right now.

I also thought of a new twist on this guy...

Really- I was trying to pay attention to math vocabulary. I just got one phrase in my head and kept thinking  of fun ways to teach it- and then I may have doodled a little.

See?  What if the numbers "007" were twisted just a bit to make a Number Bond, Secret Agent?  The kids would have to solve the mystery.

Yes. Those are the kind of notes I take at meetings. 

 

BLENDS!  We worked on these guys a LOT this week.   I have several good videos and games to help reinforce blends on my Beginning Reading Prezi.  It's free at my TPT store if you would like it!

Here is a picture of  the specific sections that have blend activities. I used to be able to embed my Prezis, but I can't now.  I have no idea why...  Anyway, if you go get the Prezi, you can play around with it and see the links.

 Here are some of our favorites!

Transformer "h" by Ne-Yo!

I love this Consonant Digraph Sorting Activity from Julie Van Alst. It is free at her TPT store.  Thank you, Julie!

 

I made one set with magnets on the back to use as a center sorting activity.

I took this picture as they were working on it.  Don't worry- I went over, and we checked it together... I see they have "fish" and "shake" under "th."   They are tho thilly.

I made another set that we cut apart and glued onto an anchor chart for our classroom to help us remember the blends.

Plant update! 
Here are our beanstalks... 

This is one week of growth for the grass. 

And these are just about ready to bloom! Happy Spring!

I found The Kid Whisperer this week, and I think I read every single question/answer and scenario on the Educators' Blog.  I learned so many tips, and I wanted to pass it on in case you haven't seen it.  After you read through it, you will be so excited for one of you kids to even TRY to test the limits... :)  

One of my favorites was "How to Help Your Students Deal with Bullies."  I sort of think the word "bully" is a little overused, and some kids/adults confuse any conflict between students as bullying- BUT that's neither here nor there, what I loved about his answer were his suggestions about how to handle someone being mean.  One suggestion he had is to look at the person being mean, and say, "I'M HAPPY!"   OK- as an adult, that just made me smile, because I just picture myself saying this to some adults who just sort of enjoy being mean.  That would sort of shut them down- or surprise them, anyway. 

Get a cup of coffee and enjoy reading his questions and answers! 



This picture seemed like a perfect prescription for the weekend. 





Have a HAPPY one!