50th Day of School

Can I just say how absolutely thrilled I am to have survived a week that started with a Halloween Monday.  I know there is no need to explain.  I'm just going to say, hallelujah!

In other happy news...my first graders have made it half way to the 100th day of school.  My team loves to mark this milestone with a 50th Day of School celebration.

Here's a run down of some of the days events...

We started out the day with a 50's themed count and graph activity.  Students counted the items on the picture sheet and graphed them.  Then they used their graphs to make a tally chart and answer some questions.

This activity was a great extension of some of the graphing work we've been doing during calendar math.  If you would like a FREE copy of my 50th Day Count and Graph activity, you can click on the picture below.

We also made our 50's Kids.  For the past few years I've wanted to put together a writing craftivity for the 50th day, but I've always ran out of time.  Finally this year, I spent a weekend creating this little project. 

Students put together their 50's inspired boy or girl.  Then they completed a simple math writing task to go along with their kid.  

I hung our 50's Kids and math writing in the hall to share with the rest of the school.  I love how the display turned out.

For more details about my 50s Kids {A Writing Craftivity for the 50th Day of School}, you can click on the picture below.

After we finished our 50th Day of School craftivity, it was time to get moving.  I set up my 50th Day 50 Second Challenge by placing the station cards and needed materials around the room.
After a quick lesson on how to do the twist, the hand jive, and how to hula hoop, my teeny boppers were ready for the challenge.

Students worked in pairs at all of the stations.  They had 50 seconds to do each station.
Students carried a clipboard with a recording sheet.  They wrote down the results of every challenge at the end of each 50 rotation.
Below you'll see a few pics from some of the stations.  Please excuse the blurriness of some of the pics.  I'm terrible at action shots.

The kids loved doing this challenge.  If you would like to try it out with your own students, you can click on the picture for a copy of my 50th Day 50 Second Challenge {A Free Activity for the 50th Day of School}.

Finally, we ended our 50th Day fun with a sock hop and root beer floats.  We went to our gym and played 50's dance music.  Some of the kids danced with each other, which was super cute.  They also tried out hula hooping again.  It was a really fun way to wrap up our festivities.
I am sure all of our firsties slept very well that night. ;)

Our 50th Day was a non-stop day full of excitement and learning.  It will definitely be on the calendar next year.  

Hello November {Resources & Ideas, Including Three Freebies}

Hello November.  I can't believe you are already here.  It feels like school just started a few weeks ago.
Since the season has come for all things turkey, I wanted to share some favorite resources for November.
First up are the completely updated math centers we'll be using this month, Thanks and Giving {10 Math Centers for November}.

Pictured below is a preview of the skills covered with this set of centers.  We will be working on balanced equations, time to the half hour, basic addition, basic subtraction, missing addends, place value, fact families, and more.
I love using these monthly centers to lay the ground work for upcoming instruction and to review skills we've coved so far this year.
You can click here for more details about these activities.

The (also completely updated) literacy center companion to our November math centers is Thanks and Giving {10 Literacy Centers for November}.

Again, pictured below is a preview of the skills covered with this set of centers.  We will be working on sight words, initial blends, ending blends, antonyms, sentences, parts of speech, and more.
We will be busy, busy, busy.
You can click here to learn more about these centers.

Besides our November literacy and math centers, a couple of other resources I'll use are my free Veterans Day and Thanksgiving math mini books.  I made these books a few years ago, but I like to pull them out each year so that my young learners can get a little extra practice with word problems.
Click on the pictures below if you would like a free copy of one (or both) of these math mini books.

Another freebie that is perfect for November is, my Perky Turkey Subtraction Scoot.   We spend most of October working on subtraction, so this scoot activity is a great review.

My kids last year loved scoot and write the room activities.  We haven't scooted this year, I think this activity will be a wonderful introduction.

Click on the picture below if you would like a FREE copy of Perky Turkey Subtraction Scoot.

In addition to all of this November inspired math and literacy, I also like to make a couple of seasonal craftivities.  One of my favorites is our Thanksgiving Writing Craftivity.  

Students put together their Pilgrims and then write about what they are thankful for.  These little Pilgrims make a really sweet display.

There you have it...some of my go-to resources for November.  I love this time of year and want to make the most of it.  I hope some of these ideas and activities will be a help in your classroom.

Thanks for stopping by.

Free Number Line Activities Your Students Will Love

I have a confession, number lines are not my favorite tools for adding and subtracting with my young learners.  I always teach how to use them, but I don't spend very much time on them.  My main issue is that, students will not always have access to a number line.  I don't want them dependent on a tool that they may or may not be able to get their hands on.

However, after doing a bit of research about some of the additional benefits of number line learning, I started to rethink my feelings about them.  Besides solving basic addition and subtraction equations, familiarity with number lines helps students as they work with all sorts of other math tools.  Graphs, thermometers, clocks, and rulers all include number lines.  

Not only can our work counting forward and backward on a number line help us to add and subtract, it can also lay the group work for upcoming mathematical concepts.

Since I had a change of heart about the importance of number lines, I decided to devote more time to them this year.  Here are a couple of quick activities I used with my students that they really enjoyed.

First up is our Life-Size Number Line.  I used this big number line for a whole group activity, but you can easily adapt it for a small group or center activity.

I created it by printing the numbers 1-20 and laminating them.  I made my line with some masking tape and then placed the numbers on top.  The line wasn't straight and the numbers were't perfectly spaced, but that didn't matter at all.

I made several slides for our interactive white board with basic addition and subtraction equations.  (A regular white board will work just as well.) 

Students came to the number line individually.  They read the equation to the class and then they solved it on the number line.  They loved it so much that I used it with them the next day to solve word problems.  (one prep and two activities #forthewin)
Not only did the kids love it, I really liked using the Life-Size Number Line because it was an easy way to make sure students understood how to correctly move the number line.

If you would like to use this activity with your students, click on the picture below for a free copy of the Life-Size Number Line .

Another number line activity I incorporated was a quick and easy number line game.  (I'm always looking for ways to use my Target Dollar Spot erasers and this activity was perfect.)  All you need are some kind of game pieces, a number line, and a spinner (if you don't have a spinner, just use a paper clip and a pencil).  This game works well with two to three players.

To play, students take turns spinning.  If a student lands on plus five, he moves his game piece forward five spaces.  If he spins minus two, he moves his piece back two spaces.  The game continues until the first player reaches the end of the number line.
This activity was wonderful practice for students counting on and counting back.  Since we've covered addition and are nearing the end of our subtraction unit, the Number Line Spinner game gave students a chance to begin mixing their facts.

I plan on adding this game to our Early Finishers menu since the rules are so simple and there are so few pieces.  

If you'd like a FREE copy of this my Number Line Spinner game, click on the picture below.

There you have it, two simple ways to add a little more variety to your number line routine.
Thank you so much for stopping by.
Happy teaching!

Classroom Library Made Simple (Including FREE Library Labels and a Leveling Guide)

The primary classroom library...don't you just love seeing how other teachers organize and display books for their students?  It's so inspiring to see all the colorful totes and organized labels that make up these libraries.
This summer I did a major redo of my library.  It was not because of it's aesthetics or it's lack of organization.  It was because of it's function with my emerging readers.
Over the past few years my library has basically been grouped by topics or by author.  I use The Daily 5 with by students.  In The Daily 5, the authors really emphasize the importance of students picking "Good Fit Books."  Books that students are interested in and (here's the important part) can read.
I have found that the can read part is super tricky for young learners.  I have spent countless lessons and conferences talking about (and modeling) how to pick a Good Fit Book.  Most of my students have no problem picking a book that they are interested in.  However, picking a book that is on their reading level has been almost impossible for most of my students.
I really thought I was failing at teaching kids how to pick Good Fit Books, until I read The Reading Strategies Book:  Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo.  This book breaks reading strategies down by reading level.  (It's fabulous!)
As I went through the text, I came upon the lesson about how to teach students to pick appropriate books.  Serravallo recommends teaching level J (and above) students how to pick appropriate books based on interest and readability.  A bell went off in my head.  No wonder!  No wonder I was not seeing students pick books they could read.  Most of my students are reading on a level B or C when they come to me out of Kindergarten.  Picking Good Fit Books will not be in (most of) their skill sets for a while.
With all of that being said, I knew leaving my library grouped by topic and author was not the set up that would work best for most of my students.  I knew they needed the supported of a leveled library to help them pick books they can actually read.

Having decided to scaffold my library so that my students would pick their Good Fit books from a more limited range, I took every book off the shelf and started sorting.
To sort my books by level, I used a Reading Levels Guide (like the one pictured below) and ARBookFind.com.  ARBookFind.com has thousands of titles that you can search.  It will tell you the grade equivalency for many of your classroom books.
To label my books with a Fountas and Pinnell guided reading levels, I had to cross reference the Reading Levels Guide.

As I went, I grouped the books by grade level.  I wrote the grade levels on a piece of paper to go with each book stack.  I also put a post-it on each book to with it's specific grade level.

After all the books were grouped.  I put leveled stickers on the back.  If there was already a sticker from my previous library system, I just put a new sticker on top on the old.

After I labeled all my class library books with the level stickers.  I began putting together my library totes.  I ordered them from Really Good Stuff for Teachers.  I chose clear totes, just in case I decide to redecorate.  I figure clear will go with anything.

I made library tote labels, laminated them, and them hot glued them to each tote.

Once all the labels were on the totes.  I filled them with the books.

I'm happy with how my new library turned out.  Yes, it was time consuming, but totally worth it.  After some beginning of the year assessments, my students know exactly what totes to pick from and exactly where to return the books when they are finished.

On a related note, the boxes on top of the shelf are individual book boxes for each student.  I ordered them from The Container Store.  I hot glued each student's name on a box.  (I also taped that same name label on the shelf.  This year my little sweeties wouldn't stop rearranging the boxes so that their box was beside their friend's box.  So the name place holder on the shelf solved that silly issue.)

Students shop for books from the class library once a week.  They can also bring a book from home.  Having individual book boxes is a great way to keep students from constantly browsing the class library instead of reading.

If you are interested in using the Reading Levels Guide or the leveled library labels, click on the picture below.  They are both included in my Free Classroom Libray Labels packet.

How you organize your library is totally up to you.  But it is a very important part of your classroom. Students should be able to understand how your library runs and take good care of it.  It should not be a messy pile of books on a shelf or (worse yet) a set of neatly shelved books that students do not get to touch.

The library is the heart of the classroom.  Your students will greatly benefit from a well organized and well stocked classroom library full of books that they can and want to read.

Thanks for stopping by.

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