{Math Sort FREEBIE!}

Saw this idea on Pinterest.  The link led only to the image.  I hate that.  lol.
So, I recreated it...using it today with some of my littles.
It's a great idea, and the link to the original image is on the front page of the download.  :)

Image is linked.  Please play fair.  Thanks!

End of Year Mathematics Review Set 2

Here are 5 more pages of Common Core Aligned End of Year Mathematics Review for first grade.  The image is linked.  Please play fair.  Don't claim ownership of these.  Send your friends here to pick up their own copy.  You know...the Golden Rule.  :)

Have a great week!

End of Year Mathematics Review Sheets, Set 1

Nothing cutesy here, just good solid common core aligned review sheets.  5 days in this pack. 9 multiple choice questions and 1 model drawing question on each sheet.  

Image is linked.

Have a great weekend.

PS:  All of my "free" files that were linked to Dropbox have disappeared.  :(  
This summer I'll work on getting them accessible again.
If there's something you want right away, leave a comment with your e-mail and I'll send it to you...

[Emergency Sub Plans] [CureSearch]

A giant thanks heading out to those of you that have purchased items from my Teacher's Notebook shop over the past week!

Our family sincerely appreciates your support!

 

Today's item took a LOT longer than I had planned for it to take.

However, the finished product is exactly what I'd hoped!

 

There have been a few times in my career that I've seriously been too ill to go to school to make detailed sub plans.

I've sent e-mails to my colleagues asking them to print off my plans and copies and get everything ready for me.

They willingly ablige, but I feel guilty for the entire day (and most of the next week) knowing that I added stress to their morning.

 

And now, with everything that's going on with Kenton, I've felt for a while that I needed to have something that was sub ready just in case.

 

Introducing my first set of EMERGENCY SUB PLANS!  :)

 

This set is focused around the book My Friend is Sad, and Elephant and Piggie book by
Mo Willems.

 

  Emergency Sub Plans feature activities in math, fact discovery and recording, writing (with a rubric!), spelling, reading comprehension, and PE.

22 pages that you just need to print off, make copies for your class, purchase the book, and BAM! Sub Plans for the day ready to go.

$5.00 at Teacher's Notebook.

On sale at a 25% discount through November 15.

 

My heartfelt gratitude goes out to Steve and Debbie at Teacher's Notebook, who in their own time of need dealing with Superstorm Sandy, generously offered to match all purchases made in my shop with a donation to CureSearch in Kenton's name.

 

THANK YOU for sticking with me and my sporadic postings.

I'd promise to do better, but well, that's just a promise I am not able to make.

I'll be here when I can with new and fun stuff.

Have a great Friday and a fantastic weekend!!

[The First TEN days] Daily Review

I LOVED using these Daily Review sheets in my classroom at the end of the year last year.

My hope is that by introducing them at the beginning of the year (aka TODAY!!!), my students will become familiar and comfortable enough with the format to take some risks when the problem solving problems become more challenging as the year goes on. . .

These sets take A LOT of time to create.

Each sheet has to have the same format but different problems/questions.

Love them?
The FULL set of TEN SHEETS is only $3 at Teacher's Notebook.

I'd LOVE to see my "follower" number hit 350. . .bring some new friends by, and IF I hit 350 today, I'll set up a FREE download hour or two for this item only.  :)

[Space Walk Finger Twister] Addition Expansion Pack - facts with sums of 10-20

I love being able to teach my littles a game and then create playing cards for that game that reinforce new skills.  Doing that allows their focus to be on the skills, not learning the rules of another game.

This first expansion pack for Space Walk Finger Twister targets addition facts with sums of 10-20.  Perfect for the next step in addition instruction or to differentiate the level of play - just run this set of cards on a different color of cardstock.

Limited Freebie for TODAY only!

Then it's going into the addition game pack!

I hope you were able to pick up the Game Boards and Rules for Space Walk Finger Twister on Sunday!  Otherwise these won't make a whole lot of sense.

Be watching for expansion facts that feature subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.

Have a great week!

[Space Walk Finger Twister] Addition Facts to 10

We get to keep Kenton home for one more full week before he goes back for treatment!  :)

His marrow and spinal fluid are both completely clear of leukemia cells!!

Cause for celebration for sure!

The road is still really long with many twists and turns and unknown potholes.

Thanks for your continued prayers on our behalf.

This little addition game has been simmering in my brain for a while.

I finally took a few minutes to get it out of there and into playable format.

I think it's going to be a class favorite!

After all, who doesn't love Twister?!

Image is linked to the PDF game which is free for Sunday-Monday only.

On Monday it will go away and join the Rocketing to Addition Game Pack which will soon be for sale on Teacher's Notebook.

It's so good to be home for a while and just be together as a family.

We've watched a lot of movies.

Played a lot of games.

Just really enjoyed being together.

Take a few minutes and let your family know how much you love them.

Then save this game to your files or print it out and get it ready for the new school year.

Have a great Sunday!

[Congrats, Steph!] and 3-2-1- blast off with math facts limited freebie

Random.Goose picked comment FIVE as the winner of the Lucy Ladybug Pack.

Congrats, Steph of ABC and 123!

I'll be e-mailing your pack this afternoon.  :)

Thanks, everyone, for playing along!

Great tips for starting the year!

Looking forward into Chapter 1 (addition concepts), I created this fun little workmat that is free FOR TODAY ONLY!

I was thinking of putting this in a sheet protector and using smarties, skittles, cereal, or m&m's to mark off the sums so the workmat itself could be used over and over.  I have in my mind a recording sheet that I just need to get made that the kids could use to record their addition equations.  However, it's still in my mind.  Hopefully I can get it out of my mind and into cyberspace soon.  Maybe this afternoon. . .

Anyway!  Remember - this 3-2-1-Blast Off page will soon be found in the "Rocketing to Addition" game pack!

3 more days of math class.

I can do this.

[Lucy Ladybug Learns About Numbers]

I know.  It's summer break.

And I'm working on materials for the first 2 weeks of school.

What's wrong with me?!  lol.

We have adopted Go Math in first grade for the upcoming school year.

Go Math is incredible!  Totally common core based.  Awesome!

But. . .chapter 1 is addition concepts.

Yikes!  We've built into our pacing guide 10 days for numeracy right at the start of the year.  I'm really excited about this Lucy Ladybug pack!

It's going to be a fun exploration of numbers 1-10 for the first 10 days of school.

Lucy Ladybug deals with one "number" each day (days 1-10).

Writing the number, reading the number word, determining even or odd, representing on a ten frame, simple model drawing (adding 1), and then the ways to create an addition equation with 2 addends and a sum of the "number of the day."

If you're a first grade teacher, this pack is a perfect start to your math year.  :)

Because it is a 21 page pack (2 pages for each "number"), the price is set at $5.

However. . .there is that 50% off sale that runs through Saturday the 16th.

$2.50 for 21 pages of number sense and mathematical reasoning.

Awesome.

But. . .you can win this pack!

All you have to do is leave a comment with your best BACK TO SCHOOL hint/tip/tradition.

You have until midnight tonight (June 12) to enter.

I'll choose 1 winner from all comments.

Good luck!

[Mathematics Brain Busters] v7

Howdy!  Happy Wednesday!

Here's set 7 of the Mathematics Brain Busters.

5 pages of math review for your littles.
Edited so that page 1 no longer has two 2s.  ;)

See you tomorrow for another fun Teacher Appreciation Week Freebie!

If you appreciate these freebies, please leave a little appreciation.

Thanks!

Have a great day!

[MIM strategy, Facebook, Upcoming Sale]

We're working a lot on addition and subtraction strategies.

Still. Forever.  LOL.

Some of my littles are struggling to figure out exactly how to solve an equation that looks like this:  9 = ____ -6.

Many of them simply write 3 as the answer without really thinking about it.

Yesterday we spent a good 15 minutes talking about why this is NOT reasonable.

I handed one of my littles 3 Skittles and said, "Okay, give me 6 of them back, and with your 3 and my 6, we should have 9 altogether."

Much laughter.  "Mrs. Reynolds!  I CAN'T give you 6. . .I only have 3!!"

"WHAT?!" But that's what you wrote as your answer - that 3 take away 6 = 9!!"

Ohhhhh!!  Lightbulb! (for my Despicable Me fans, please say that in the appropriate voice)

At least for some.  Others still had that totally blank look.

We talked about WHAT the answer SHOULD be and how they solved that equation.

And we tried again.

4 = ____ -5.

This time I heard a fairly even mix of "1" and "9".

Broke out the Skittles. Again. Candy makes everything easier, right?!  ;)

Handed one of my littles that swore up and down that "1" was the correct answer 1 Skittle and said, "Okay, you have 1.  The equation says 'take away 5,' so give me 5, and with your 1 and my 5, we should have 4."

I think we did this about 5 times.

There were more lightbulbs than blank stares at the end.

I hope the lightbulbs stay lit!!

One of my littles came up with the following strategy:
"Let's call it the MIM strategy - when "M" is in the middle, we add the outside numbers and get the correct answer!"

(We say the sound "m" for any blank in our equations)

Hmmmm. . .higher order thinking going on right there!  YAY!!!

So. . .we wrote the strategy and tested it.

And tested it.

And tested it.

And guess what?!  It worked EVERY.SINGLE.TIME!

There might have been much cheering.

Definitely a happy moment.

Continuing randomness - I now have a Facebook Page for My Little Classity Class.

Please stop by and "LIKE" me.  ;)

I'll figure out one of these days how to put a facebook badge/button/thingie on the sidebar.  Maybe.

And last random note for the day - I'm having a 25% off everything sale at Teacher's Notebook for Teacher Appreciation Week, so if you've had your eye on something in my shop, wait till Saturday.

Teacher's Notebook is having a HUGE teacher appreciation bash with awesome prizes and sales.  I'll post more info tomorrow.

Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this really long and random post.

Happy THURSDAY!!!

[Higher Order Thinking] questions to ask when teaching

This year one of my goals has been to really get my littles to dig into the instruction I give and take out of it every.single.thing they can.

One way to do this is by asking them very specific questions that lead them into a higher level of thinking and reasoning.

I have to admit that I was stuck on asking the same, "WHY?" and "WHAT ELSE?" questions until one of my math endorsement teachers gave us a list of H.O.T. questions he had compiled from a state sponsored workshop.

I formatted the questions to fit address labels, printed them, and have them handy with my instructional materials so when I hear myself slip back to the same.old.questioning.techniques, I pull these out and use one or two off the list.

Some are best used over the course of instruction.

Others are best used when students are "stuck" - either with understanding or computation.

Ideally, I'd have them on cardstock, laminated, hole punched, and on a ring, but that hasn't happened yet.

Remember my friends laziness and procrastination?

Yep, been hanging out with them again.  :)

Anyway.  The image is linked to the pdf file - set to print on address labels.

2 sheets.  80 questions or so.

Give it a try if you're looking for a way to increase student learning/reasoning/discussion.

Let me know how it works for you.

And now, I really must get ready for school.

I'd rather crawl back into bed. . .

[broken bonds] now on Teacher's Notebook

2 days till Spring Break.

2 days.

2.

It's been kind of a rough week.

My littles are ex.haust.ed.

Truthfully, so am I.

We're still working on subtraction facts.

I know.

Our subtraction games are losing some of their appeal since we've been playing them for 2 months now.

We need something new.

{drumroll please. . .}

BROKEN BONDS using the stinkin' cute clip art from AI Factory!

The game format is nearly identical to Bunny Hop.

The exception is that the character cards cause you to move backwards. 

This will make it an independent practice game for my littles that understand and really just need the practice so I can reteach those that really still are struggling.

Yay for that.

The bonds are parts of ten, doubles, near doubles, and the "teens" facts (but with addends of 10 or less because that is the core).

This game is now available on Teacher's Notebook and is on sale through tomorrow for only $1.60!  If you didn't get a chance to download it free, it's still an incredibly affordable resource that your littles will LOVE!

Image is linked.

Happy Thursday!

[Brain Busters] round 2 - link fixed - I hope!!!

I apologize for the limited post.

I've had a little sickie stuck to my side for the past 2 days.

She's still not feeling great.  :(

Hoping the meds kick in so she can go to school tomorrow.

Here's round 2 of the Brain Busters.

I hope you can use these in your classroom.
I *think* these are accessible for everyone from dropbox now.
Sorry for the trouble.  This is a new operating system for me and running on limited sleep I totally have no idea what I'm doing.
If this link doesn't work for you, PLEASE leave a comment with your e-mail and I'll send the file to you.  :)

Have a great week!

[Mathematics BRAIN BUSTERS] EOL review

Here in Utah we don't administer a state assessment at the end of kindergarten, first, or second grades.  That could change with the adoption of the Common Core, but for now, that's where we are.  Don't hate me.  :)

However, our district has chosen to implement an End Of Level Assessment for grades 1 and 2.  (Not sure on K, they weren't at our meeting last night).  Looking over the rough draft of the assessment, I found some areas in which my littles need some definite practice!!  Hmmmm. . .we love "contests" in our class - chances to "show off" and be rewarded for our awesomeness. . .so - BRAIN BUSTERS it is!

Each day for the next few weeks, my littles will have a chance to complete a BRAIN BUSTER challenge sheet.  Each correct answer will earn them one point towards their goal of 50 points.  Once they reach 50 points, they'll get a special certificate and reward.  With 6-7 questions on each BRAIN BUSTER sheet, it won't take too long to start accumulating points.  This will give me a really good idea which littles need MUCH more review/practice/reteaching and which littles are going to knock my socks off on the EOL assessment.  I *think* I already have that information, but. . .with firsties, do we ever really know?! 

Anyway. . .here are the first three MATHEMATICS BRAIN BUSTER challenge sheets.
These are uploaded at Teacher's Notebook (because I'm out of bandwidth at box.net) but are FREE.  I've combined them into ONE file.

If you're in my district, this might be helpful review - just sayin'!  ;)

(You'll get your first peek at the EOL Assessment at our April meeting)

Perhaps this is useful to other teachers?

If so, take it, love it, use it, pin it, you know the drill.

 Graphics are from Mr. Bubblegum.  LOVE the Mr. Smarty Pants set!!

Have a HAPPY FRIDAY and a WONDERFUL WEEKEND!

My puppy and I are both getting haircuts this weekend.

Not from the same person, of course.  Ha, ha.

But. . .I am very excited for a trim and highlight refresher.

[Chickity Chick Brainiac Pack] 20 page kit and a freebie

Looking for some early bird work? Or maybe some fast finisher work? Or maybe some whole class review pages that cover a bunch of first grade common core topics all at the same time?

This Chickity Chick Brainiac Pack does just that! 20 pages of concept review covers core areas in math and language arts. Each week the math concept changes. Your kiddos will be reviewing sentence editing, comprehension, spelling, number bonds, counting by 2, counting on and back by 10, comparing 2 two digit numbers, and adding 3 digits.

I can't wait to practice with Chickity Chick for the next 4 weeks.  :)

You can purchase the entire pack (20 pages!) on Teacher's Notebook for only $5!

Seriously a heck of a good deal!

Combine the preview below with all of the previews on TN and you'll see each week's work.

Here's the LINK for the Teacher's Notebook whole Chickity Chick Brainiac Pack.

Not sure how this will work for you?

Here's a freebie sample. . .clip art is Alice Smith for DigiWebStudio.

Have a great weekend!

[oh.my.what.a.day] AND Bunny Hop Subtraction FREE download!

I knew this time change thingy was going to cause a few issues.

I was C.O.M.P.L.E.T.E.L.Y unaware of just how rough this day was going to be.

My littles were tired. Not just ordinary tired.  So tired we can't remember how to write our names tired.  So tired we have forgotten the class rules tired.  So tired we can't focus because we're half asleep tired.

Long story short?  It was a tough day.

Tomorrow will be better.  Right?  Please tell me it will.

We're starting our subtraction topic.

(So tired we've forgotten what subtraction is tired!).

Ummmm. . .we needed some help.

Thanks to one of my awesome QC friends (waving hi to Amelia!!), I already had this game prepped and ready to go for today because she said we were going to need more subtraction practice.  Wowie-wow-wow was she ever right!

We played Bunny Hop Subtraction today.

3 times.

It was that kind of day.

Don't worry.  We did phonics.  And spelling.  And math.

We had reading groups.

All is well.

Back to Bunny Hop Subtraction!

This is a game I've seen many different places.

Certainly NOT my original idea (I *think* the original idea came from the School Bell site).

It's always a favorite.

Always.

And when you add cute bunnies (courtesy of Nikki at MelonHeadz) and the facts you need the most help with, well, you know you have a winner.

Image is linked.

Take it. Love it. Use it. Pin it.

COMMENT on it.  ;)

The non-colored version (for those of us who aren't lucky enough/are too cheap to have/use a colored printer) is HERE!

One suggestion (which is what I'm going to do because the sheer volume of the cards was a *leetle-bit-overwhelming*) is to pull out only one "set" of cards (ie: only the cards that are subtracting 2).  Let the littles get really REALLY good at subtracting twos.  Then add in the subtracting threes.  Once they're professionals at subtracting twos and threes, add in the fours.  Or, you can be mean like me, and because we need the most work on subtracting nines, we'll start with those.  (Insert evil laugh here).

And now I'm going home to sit in my chair and stare at the wall in complete silence.

With a really big Diet Coke and a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints.

Necessary?

Absolutely.

[true -OR- false] Bunches of Bunnies

Congrats to Rhonda and LuckeyFrog Jen!
You both had 7 correct answers!
I've e-mailed your Bunches of Bunnies file.
Thanks, everyone for playing!!

I am love love loving these cute Alice Smith bunnies from DigiWebStudio!  :)

Today we had PD in the morning with Anita Archer.

It was delightful!  Lots of great ideas for writing/handwriting!

Our afternoon was a school directed PLC which happened to be reading a book and writing a response.  It's due on Friday.

So. . .I spent the afternoon dejunking my back counter area.  I even wiped down the counter!  AND!!! Behind my desk is now cleared.  I can open my cupboards!  LOL.

AND!!  I even prepped my handwriting/reading fluency practice for the week, refilled my math timing tubs, and ran my Larry Leprechaun Brainiac sheets for each day.

Whew!  I was tired!

Even crazier?  I did it all while wearing a skirt.  And jewelry.  If you know me at all, you'll understand why this is such a big deal.

After "school" I taught 3 piano lessons.  Luke took the kids to the dentist.  No cavities, but Bubs needs to go see an orthodontist.  Guess that means no eye surgery for me this year. . .unless we put away more than we remembered into our flex spend accounts?!

ANYWAY. . .Bunches of Bunnies.

true -OR- false

1.OA.6 – Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10.

1.OA.7 – Understand the meaning of the equal sign, and determine if equations involving addition and subtraction are true or false.

Due to copyright, this item cannot be offered as a free download.
However. . .it's only $2.50 at Teacher's Notebook!

Want a FREE copy of this game?
Simply leave a comment between NOW and 8:00 pm Tuesday night (standard mountain time) answering the following questions with either TRUE or FALSE.  The commenter with the most correct answers WINS!  :)

1. My dog's middle name is the same as my little girl's. TRUE - that's what happens when you let the kids name the dog, lol.
2. I am not a good cook. FALSE - I cook all the time and have been told many times that I make pretty darn good food.  :)
3. I teach piano lessons. TRUE - 12 students.  But I do NOT teach my own kids!  For their safety and my sanity, I pay someone else to teach them piano.
4. I cried when I was told I was being moved to 1st grade. TRUE - I was devastated!!  Now I wonder what all the fuss was about!
5. I love tomatoes. FALSE - EWWWWW!!!  I do not like them Sam I am!
6. I think pizza is disgusting. FALSE - I have been known to eat pizza 3 times in one week.  I LOVE pizza!!  Thankfully so does my family!
7. We go on a family date every Friday. TRUE - it's one of the best traditions we have!
8. I can eat a can of olives all by myself. FALSE - double ewwwww!  Part of this stems from a traumatic childhood experience that involved my farmer cousins and a dead bloated holstein cow. . .you really don't want to know!!
9. Chips and Salsa are a favorite lunch. TRUE - which is totally insane because I do so dislike tomatoes!  But. . .I adore fresh salsa for lunch!!
10. My least favorite household chore is cleaning the toilet. FALSE - it's actually doing the dishes!  Crazy, right?!

[Hippity-Hop Comparisons]

Congratulations, Brittany!  Random.Luke (aka my sweet husband, lol) chose comment #8.  I've emailed the file.  Come back tomorrow for another chance to win a fun true/false math game.  :)

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend!

We enjoyed lots of sunshine and outside playtime.

I enjoyed being spoiled rotten by my husband who so lovingly spent his ENTIRE bonus on a brand new camera/lens/bag for me.  :)

I've been playing with it this weekend and am L.O.V.I.N.G my new toy!

As he would say, I'm not spoiled, I'm well loved. LOL.

Tomorrow it's (kind of) back to the grind.

We have a district training with Anita Archer in the morning and the afternoon is a school directed PLC.

I have a grundle of activities to prep for my littles for the coming weeks.

I'm really excited about this one!

First off - how can you not love these a.dor.a.ble bunnies from Alice Smith for DigiWebStudio?!

Secondly - comparisons cutesified?!  Heck yeah!

Meets CCSS: 1.NBT.3 – Compare two two-digit numbers based on meanings of the tens and ones digits, recording the results of the comparisons with the symbols >, =, and <.
Because of copyright, I can't offer this as a free-for-all freebie, but it is only $1 (for a limited time) on Teacher's Notebook!

I'd LOVE to give ONE awesome commenter a FREE copy of this new game!

Want a chance to win?  Just leave a comment before 8 pm mountain standard time Monday night (3/12/2012), and I'll choose a winner from all comments received.

Happy Monday!

[More Snuggles] and a comparison freebie

What's a mom to do when her OWN little is sobbing hysterically,

"I just want my Mommy to stay home and take care of me!!"

Call in reinforcements, of course!

Gratefully, I have matching littles in my class this year, and their awesome mom happens to be registered as a sub with our district.  :)

So. . .after a frantic text at 9:00 pm on Wednesday night, she agreed happily to take my class for the rest of the week.  She volunteers for learning rotations each Tuesday, so the kids know (and LOVE) her already!

I can stay home and be the snuggly mom so my little Miss M can get better (this stuff is kicking her trash!) and my school littles will be well taken care of!

Math this week is all about measurement.  Comparison is the toughest part of measurement, at least in my own happy little corner of first grade!

This activity will be a Friday brain builder.

I *think* they'll figure it out.

Image is linked.

Clip art is from www.MelonHeadzIllustrating.blogspot.com .

I'd love it if you left a little bloggy love here if you take this.

Thanks!