Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The Great Math-Tastic Egg Hunt (freebie)

It's super late (for me), but I wanted to post a little freebie that I just finished.  I made a little math egg hunt for my Littles to participate in tomorrow.  They are going to love it.  I can't wait to hear the giggles of sheer delight when I tell them about it.  Little do they know that they will be practicing for their upcoming assessment while having fun.  I love it when that can happen! 

Anywho, here it is.  I hope that someone out their in Blogland can use it!

Night Night :)









Monday, March 25, 2013

Noun Linky Party

I am linking up with Mrs. Reed from Flying Into First Grade this week for her weekly linky party.

This week the theme is "nouns." 

My favorite person is my sweet hubby.  I lub him a bunch.  We have been together for 18 years.  We were college sweethearts.  I often say that he is my favorite human...because he really is.  He puts up with me and I know that sometimes, that's a hard job.  He works hard at a job that he isn't passionate about to connect with others in hopes of telling them about his real passion, Jesus.  Such is the life of a church planter!


My favorite place is Charleston, SC.  It makes my southern heart happy to be there surrounded by the grand antebellum homes and history.  A close 2nd is Astoria, OR (the setting for my favorite movie, THE GOONIES!)
My favorite thing is my iPad.  I love it.  If it broke, I would immediately go out and buy another one.  It is so convenient. And cool. And entertaining.
My favorite animal is a rhinoceros.  Strange, I know!  I love that they can run at a speed of 30 mph but can't see more than 6 feet in front of them.  A group of rhinos is called a "crash"  for obvious reasons :)






Saturday, March 23, 2013

Where Are My Peeps (a freebie)

I love the weekend! Sleeping in without an alarm.  My comfy chair.  Bacon for breakfast....yep, the weekend pretty much rocks! 

I am a little jealous of all the posts that I keep reading that mention spring break.  I still have 2 LONG full weeks before I get my break.  I love my Littles (all 27 of them), but I can't wait for a little bit more "free" time. 

Speaking of spring break, I know some of you can't use the freebie I am posting because it will be too late, but maybe a few of you could.  Anywho, here's a little something that I made today to help my Littles.  Click the pages to download and use if you like :)








Saturday, March 16, 2013

Does Your Story Problem Smile?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  (Well, 1 day early :)  If you need a few St. Paddy themed math sheets, don't forget about the freebies that I posted a while back.

Click picture for freebie :) 
 
And, then there was this game that I posted too:
 

Click picture for freebie :)
 

I also thought I would share a new resource that I have been using in my classroom with ya'll.  This came out of necessity.  On our district tests, our Littles have to answer story problems by providing 4 things:  the equation, their proof (numbers, words or pictures), the answer and the correct label or unit.  I have lots of Littles forget to include one or more of those things pretty consistently.  So, one day in the middle of teaching, I told them they needed to make each story problem smile.  They can draw a circle if they included the equation, a mouth if they showed their thinking/proof, an eye for the answer and the other eye for the label or unit. 

We have been using this self-assessing rubric of sorts for about a week and a half and I must say that I can tell a difference.  My students want to have a complete smiley face for each problem. And, all I have to do is ask, "Did you make your story problem smile?"  They know exactly what I want them to check on their papers.  Because it is a practice that I want to continue in my class, I made a small poster for reference and bookmarks that they individually keep in their math journals.  If you want these resources to, I have added them as a freebie for you too.  Here are a few pics of my Littles using the smiley strategy and a link for the freebie :) 






Click for your copy :)
 
 
Have a great end to your weekend!  Monday will come too soon I am sure.  I am anxiously waiting for  the week of April 8th.  That's my spring break! 





Thursday, March 7, 2013

St. Paddy Freebie :)

Wow, this has been a long week!  I am so thankful that Friday is tomorrow!  I plan to sleep in on Saturday....bliss :)

The sickies have been floating around my school.  I hope I continue to stay germ free.  We had to avoid 2 spots of throw-up this morning leaving an assembly.  One of my first grade teammates was thrown up on today.  It was just a little...BUT STILL....EWWWW!!!

We have been super busy in my classroom this week.  This week and next week I am doing a unit on "That Rhyming Dr.".  I have too many things that I want to do to cram them into just one week. We have been visualizing with many of the Dr.'s books.  I love that their imaginations can be so inspired by his unorthodox language choices.  The Littles love that he writes books that celebrate silly and fun.  So many giggles this week and I.LOVE.IT!

On Tuesday, my first grade team met with our district math coordinator to review our recent standardized math test scores.  Yes, my Littles have to take one of those tests that require them to sit for way too long and choose between answers that are typed too close together and with little font.  Luckily, they aren't required in first to fill in the seperate bubble sheet that the other grade levels fill out.  Some of our para-educators help us do that.  At this meeting it was really clear that my littles (really all our first graders) need to work on comparing numbers.  So, I made a little game to use during our math intervention time.  My Littles have loved it.  When I asked how they liked the new game, it received an overwhelming 2 thumbs up!  I am hoping that this will give them opportunities to read the comparisons and really get a grasp of <, >, and =.  Here's the link to download your free copy :)  I hope that it helps your Littles too!

 


Don't miss this giveaway!

Primary Inspired is hosting a great giveaway!   She is giving away a  Hear-All Assessment Recorder.  I have been eyeing these for a while now.  They look so cool and I know my Littles would love to use it.  Talk about engaged learning and accountability!!!  Visit Primary Inspired to enter to win :)

Primary Inspired


Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Noun Town and Adventure Verbs

I can't believe it's only Tuesday...Seriously?  I already feel like I need the weekend for a break.

Part of the problem is that it was my day for some of my Littles to take the WELPA.  It's a language test for the ELL Littles.  Don't ask what it stands for cause I really don't know.  I am sure that I have been told in numerous meetings, but it didn't stick :)  This afternoon, 13 of my Littles were pulled to take this test.  The 13 Littles that weren't ELL stayed with me.  It's one of those situations where you don't want to do too much because the ones who are being tested need the information.  So, I pulled out some partner games and things that we don't always have a chance to do. You would have thought that the Littles left in my care would have been a piece of cake to manage.  I mean it's ONLY 13 of them!

OH. NO... 

It was such a different dynamic and some that are normally the role models for all, thought that we were on "first grade vacation."  I hope tomorrow is back to normal!

So a few years back I saw the idea for creating "Noun Town" when teaching about nouns and naming parts of sentences.  I wish I knew where I saw the original idea, but I don't.  I found the idea before pinterest was around to organize my blog stalking :)   I thought I would share this idea with you all...in case you didn't know about it already.  First, we brainstorm a list of nouns that could be in our town.  I write them on sticky notes.  I love that they suggested a Microsoft building , diamond store and a dinosaur. Then I have each student choose 1 sticky note to create for noun town.  If they finish early, they can make something that would be good for a town to have multiples of like trees or cars.  I take all their town nouns and glue them on a poster to make Noun Town.  Usually the next day we label the town. 










To reinforce verbs and telling parts of sentences, we create "adventure verbs" of things that you can do in Noun Town.  Again,  I write their ideas on sticky notes and they get to choose one to illustrate. It was an activity loved by all FO SHO!  And, it has lasting effects on their writing :)









 Here's my favorite Adventure Verb at Noun Town :) 









And, here's how I display them together: 

Happy Teaching, Friends!  I sure hope Wednesday is nicer to me than today!





Saturday, March 2, 2013

March Currently :)

I am linking up with Farley again for the March Currently.  Be sure to check out her blog and find out how to link up with her too!
Oh' boy fourth grade

Listening:  Yep, it's raining...again.  I think the *seemingly* constant rain makes it hard sometimes.  I live near Seattle and it is quite rainy. I grew up in the south and we had lots of sunshine.  I love living here, but I miss the sun!

Loving:  Oh.my.word!  I just started watching this and I love it.  My hubby has been watching since it began and is being a sweetheart by rewatching all the episodes with me.  See, I **HATE** scary movies and I was thinking that this was just another show filled with cheap scares.  I was wrong.  I like the story and I am invested in the survival of the characters! 

Thinking:  March?  Already?  This fact is seriously hard to accept!  I have so much to do with my Littles!!!

Wanting:  I was super excited that the groundhog predicted an early spring, but I am beginning to wonder if it will happen.  Maybe P.Phil had a bad day?

Needing:  Am I the only one that has something atleast 3 afternoons out the 5 each week?  Seriously, we meet to discuss data and how to reach more kids.  I would be a much better teacher if I had time to plan for it instead of meet about it!  I get so tired of meetings.

Like, Love, Hate:  Since my first name is Christy, I had to use the letter C.  Chocolate and coffee were easy to choose.  Most people would agree with me.  I broke the rules slightly for my "hate." I used two words.  I gave myself permission because they both started with "C".   I detest Duke University.  I am a North Carolina Tarheel fan with out a doubt.  A Cameron Crazy is a super fan of Duke.  When you live in NC, you must declare where your loyalty lies.  My hubby and I love to see the Tarheels win, but we equally enjoy to watch Duke lose! 


Friday, March 1, 2013

Awesome Pinterest Find

Just a quick pop in to share an awesome find.  In my classroom, I love using music and video to transition or for brain breaks.  As I was visiting pinterest this morning, I came across this:

Pinned Image
http://teachtrainlove.com/20-brain-break-clips-fight-the-fidgeting/

Pinned Image
http://teachtrainlove.com/20-more-brain-break-clips-fight-the-fidgeting/

I can't wait to search the blog that these are from more this weekend...It looks amazing :)