Hello Friends and how are you? I got my exciting new math book - 
But haven't really had much time to read it. Maybe this weekend.
In the meantime, as we approach double digit addition with regrouping, out came the manipulatives. Ah, yes, thank heavens for Amy Lemons packet, Let's Get Started, so that I can ask the kids before we start, "Are these tools or toys today?" Of course, they are tools!
Yeah, so we/they worked all kinds of regrouping problems with the linking cubes and the base 10 blocks. We did that for a couple days. We also did Leanne Price's trading game. Yes, yes, they've got it.
(She explains the game here.)
Now, let's just check - here's a worksheet. They stare at it blankly. I say, "Ack!" and pull out some hair! I encourage them to try some of the strategies we've been working on the past few days. They move blocks around on their workmats.
Now, I know part of the problem is that in my math rotations, my low kids come to me first. I know I'd get a little better feel for how things are going to go if a middle group came first. But those low kids almost have to come first because they go to math interventions before we've made all our center rotations. And if they were last, I might not see them!
So anyway! Some of my little friends only finished 1 problem in 15 minutes! Yikes and double yikes. That night, my hubby checks all the papers. Next day, I have kids do corrections and fnish. My little "need some extra friends" - well, I give a little extra.
Today was day 3. I had bought this neat regrouping DVD/CD from Lakeshore. Just another way to show them. It has the base 10 blocks on one side and the numbers on the other side of the screen. Of course, just my luck, for some reason, I can't get it to work with my first group, my low kids, the ones that really need it! Grrr!
So, this is about the time that I need to stop, take a deep breath, and remind myself that in the 4 previous years that I've taught this, everybody has figured out addition (Now subtraction, that's a different story!) I haven't graded what they got done today, but I know everybody got more than 1 problem done - so that's progress! And some of my kids were moving on and not needing to use the base 10 blocks - even one of my low kids! Yeah! and Yeah!
Our math time is cut short tomorrow because we have Art in the afternoon. So I'm thinking of having some "get it" kids paired up with some "don't get it yet" kids. Maybe hearing it from somebody else would help :)
Have a terrific Wednesday! Sara
I love sharing something good - and Rowdy in First Grade has a linky party for that!
Something good at school: Tuesday, I got the base 10 blocks out and we started some basic addition regrouping. No worksheets, just them making numbers with their base 10 blocks and then adding some one blocks and then doing some trading, I mean, regrouping. Yeah, most of my kiddos were right there with me. And I'm realizing I haven't done enough of the no worksheets part, so I'm going to try harder at that!
Something good at home: This afternoon, my husband and I went to a wedding. I don't really know the bride, I'm friends with her mom. But it was so nice and full of their love for each other. It just gives me a warm fuzzy.
Oh, please, can I add one more - Something good at home and school: I enjoy reading Math Coach's Corner. She's recommended some books and when I emailed her, she was nice enough to narrow that down to one that I went ahead and ordered. It will be here Thursday, I say with my fingers crossed.
She recommended Teaching Student-Center Mathematics. I can't wait for it to get here, so I can read it at home and implement it at school :)
And the best part is - I forgot I had a $10 gift card to Amazon, so I can still order more books, ahahaha!
What's going good in your corner of the world? Linky up with Rowdy in First and share!
And finally, do I have to take my JOY button off? I'd like to have joy all year long. Wouldn't you?
Lesson Planning Weekend - hope to get lots done. Hope you are having a nice weekend yourself.
Sara
My Christmas break started early. We had a snow day on the Thursday before our break started. I was excited about the snow day - who wouldn't be - but on Wednesday when it was snowing, snowing, snowing, I told some friends it would be horrible to have a snow day on Thursday and then have to go back on Friday and finish the semester. Well, that's what happened - except for me. Thursday, I started feeling a bit puny. Friday morning, when I woke up, I realized there wasn't any way I was going to make it through the day.
(big aside here - Does anyone else's district use an automated sub finder? I almost hate it, because I check to see who they got - and this time, they hadn't gotten any one! The next thing I saw, the sub lady had split my day in 2 - yuck. But I guess everything worked out - because I got a sub for the morning and somebody else for the afternoon and when I ran up to the school on Saturday to make sure everything was turned off, it seemed like everything was still in one piece :)
So much fun to make sub plans for the day before vacation - NOT!
I spent the next 5 days not feeling good. I did go to Les Mis with my daughter the day after Christmas - enjoyed that! Now I'm down to a persistent and dry cough - yucko! I've gone to sleep every night between 8 and 9 (except New Year's Eve - made it to midnight!)
So why am I recounting all this to you? Well, I want to post a couple New Year's Resolutions. The Teacher's Cauldron is hosting this linky party:
First, my personal one - I Have Got To Find Someway To Turn Work Off! I think part of the reason that I've stayed sick for almost 2 weeks is that my body is run down. Almost the first thing I think of when I wake up is school, and I'm always worried about things that I haven't gotten done. So my goal is to have a shut-off valve and use it!
Second, my blogging goal - I want to be consistent in blogging a couple times a week and to make sure that at least one of those shares an idea or tip that I hope someone else can use. To do that, I think I need to do a better job of being mindful of what I'm doing that is working. Yes, write it down, pay myself on the back, say hooray to myself!
What are some of your goals, resolutions, improvements you are thinking about? You can share them at The Teacher's Cauldron.
Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge is having a 2012's Blog Best and Brightest linky party.
Yikes, I've almost waited too long to jump in - but here I go. Mine are all blog posts that I'm particularly happy with.
1 - Math Centers - Laura Candler had a linky party about Math Centers and when I joined in, I got the most page views of any other blog post of mine. The things I'm most pleased about on this post was the freebie (I think my one and only) I offered. My Bump Plus games. The Bump Plus games use a 10 sided die and target specific addition facts, like 6 + __. Other Bump games use 3 dice and add them together, but my kids need to be more proficient at basic math facts. Anyway, you can still download it. And please leave a comment if you do :)
2. Monday Made It - I only did a couple Monday Made Its, but I was really pleased with the inspirational photographs I took. I took pictures of some zoo animals, then added a motivational word to them using Photoshop. I had them printed at Walgreens - 8x10 size, and they are hanging in my classroom. I really like them! See more about them in my post.
3. Tell Me Something Good -This year seems like a tough one for me. I've got several interesting characters in my class. But I've really wanted to focus on the good. I was really glad to see this Linky Party that encouraged me to remember the good that's happening.
Well, as I was typing the last of these good things, I realized that these are all linky parties. So I want to say thank you to bloggers who start linky parties. I appreciate the chance to do some thinking and reflecting, even if it is about something silly. I also appreciate the chance to read about what other people are doing in their classrooms.
Right now, my little corner of the world is getting some much needed moisture in the way of beautiful snow. I suspect we've already gotten 3 inches of it this morning. Thank you for reading and thanks for sharing. Have a wonderful New Year's Eve!
Yesterday was a normal day in my class, thank heavens. None of my kids mentioned the tragedy and our principal told us not to bring it up. We had a good day and I was glad.
I also want to say Thank You to all the kind teachers out there who posted poems and ideas for this terrible situation. Thanks for helping me.
Sometimes when these terrible things happen far away, I feel like I don't know what to do. I send up prayers but I want to do more. Mrs. Bartel is going to do a RACK - Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. So I'm thinking, what can I do to uplift a fellow teacher? I've got 4 days at my school - I bet I can think of something. What about you?
{I wanted to say thank you to Ruby Slippers Blog Designs for the cute Christmas blinkie. It was a freebie on her page. I found her blog from Mrs. Bartel who just got an update on her blog - you ought to check it out.}
So, as seems to be my way, I bought Lory Evans' Christmas Around the World
which is FULL of wonderful ideas! But instead, I end up doing my own thing. (I think I just need the ideas to get started!)
She has cute little suitcases that her class makes - I decided for my first year of doing this, not to do that. So we're just learning about a couple different countries and how the celebrate in December.
Yesterday, I read Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto.
This is a fun book about a girl that is helping her mother make tamales, but then she tries on her mother's wedding ring and it gets lost! You can imagine what happens next. My kids really enjoyed the story. And we have a large Hispanic population, including our school secretary. So I asked her to come in today and talk about how she and her family make tamales.
Then we made mini pinatas. I was so sure my kids would think these were dorky beyond belief - but they didn't. I told my husband I thought it was the 4 Starbursts I gave them to put in their pinata. To make these, I gave them a brown lunch bag and had them decorated it. I did tell them that pinatas at Christmas time are traditionally made in a star shape, so some of them drew stars on theirs. Then they made a Starburst sandwich inside the bag - crumbled up newspaper, Starburst, crumbled up newspaper. We folded over the top, punched two holes in it and put some yarn through so it would hang.
I also showed a quick powerpoint I made. I included tamales and a few steps on how to make them, poinsettias, and Las Posadas.
Tomorrow we are going to learn about Israel. I'm planning on reading the book Lory suggests - Light the Lights. Then I found a recipe for edible dreidels using marshmallows, a pretzel stick and a chocolate kiss. That should be fun!
Hope your December is going festivally! Sara
** Update - Link to mini pinata how-to HERE, although mine didn't go this fancy.
And edible Dreidel HERE. We're going to use Kisses so they will fit the marshmallow a little better.
We did something fun in my class on Thursday that I'd like to share with you. We decorated Gingerbread People. It's a pretty simple craft and one the kids seem to really enjoy. I cut out a bunch of 12 inch tall body outlines - I used brown paper. I gave each kiddo a body, then told them I had scrapbook paper, construction paper, pieces of fabric, yarn, and some sequins for them to use. I also have 4 pairs of "fun" scissors - they cut zig zag or scalloped edges. To keep from getting run over by an excited mob of 2nd graders, I called up table groups to pick one thing to get started. Once everyone had gotten one thing, I told them if there were less than 5 people at the table, they could come up and get more.
I have to tell you, I was extremely tired that day, having woken up at a very, VERY unreasonable hour. And when we started, I was just thinking, help me get through this. But after the first rush, it was fun to just sit in my chair and watch them work and visit and be creative. And the kids would come up and get a little more, a little more.
I'll try to take a picture of everybody's - they are all on my bulletin board - but here are a couple work in progress ones -
I had a sub today, but she told me that when they came in this morning, they all had to ooh and aah over the Gingerbread People. Ah, that's nice to hear!
So easy-peasy craft idea and I'm sure you could connect it to some reading, like Jan Brett's Gingerbread books, if you wanted.
Anyway, Happy Friday, Happy Weekend to you! Sara
