Leaves revisited!

When we went on our leaf hunt earlier in the week I asked the children to make sure they collected "two or more" leaves. After we figured out that this meant at least two leaves and that they could collect as many as they wanted as long as they had two, we went out and collected our leaves! What a great "teachable moment" for math!

 

The second leaf that they collected was for another science activity. We already learned that scientists observe different things. Today we became scientists to learn more about our leaves. We measured them using several different non-standard units.

 

 

At one station the children had to measure their leaf's length using cubes.

 

 

 

At another station they measured whether their leaf would sink or float and then measured how many pennies it would take to sink their leaf.

 

At another station the children measured the area of their leaf using pennies.

 

 

The station that they seemed to enjoy the most was where they measured how far they could count before their leaf hit the floor when dropped. They did it over and over, trying to see if they could count a little faster!

 

 

This was a fun way to integrate science and math to finish up our fall leaves study. The children enjoyed using different units to describe their leaves. Then they had to draw a picture of their leaf like a scientist: using the "real" colors.

 

 

 Check out our little scientists!

 

Positively Delicious Place Value

For the past few months, we have been practicing place value. Each morning when we do our calendar, we look at what day in school it is and then decide how many "tens and ones" the number has. We've been practicing it several different ways. One way is counting straws. Each day a student adds a straw for the day in school and when we get to a "ten" number, we make a bundle. Then we count the bundles. We have also been using place value blocks on our smart board to make the number a different way. Each day we also play mystery number. Everyone closes their eyes while one child comes up front and chooses a number. Then the student chooses someone to tell what the number is and they not only have to figure out the missing number, but also have to tell us how many tens and ones the number has. In an effort to do something fun and different, I incorporated place value into our Munchie Math this week. The children were given honeycomb cereal and cheerios. First, I had them decide which should be the tens and which should be the ones. They all agreed that the honeycombs were bigger so they would obviously be the tens!

We had a few 5th grade helpers in class today and I let them call out numbers to the children. The children first had to write the number and then make it using their cereal. This was a fun and yummy way to practice place value!

 

 

Unbe-leaf-able leaves!

We have been learning all about fall and the changes that take place during this fun season. We have learned that some trees lose their leaves (deciduous) and other's leaves stay green all year (evergreen). We also learned that there are several different kinds of leaves with different shapes and sizes. We learned why some trees lose their leaves and why leaves change color in the fall.

Since we were finishing up our study of leaves, I decided to take the children out on a leaf hunt!

 

We walked around our block and found lots of different leaves that have already started to fall! The children would get so excited every time we'd find a big bunch of fallen leaves...especially when we found some cool colors!

 

After we collected our leaves, we came back to class and learned how scientists would study our leaves. We talked about how scientists love to look really closely at things and use their senses to find out about things. The children described what their leaves felt like, smelled like, looked like, and what sounds they could make with them. Then we learned how you can make really neat pictures by rubbing leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wrapping Up Animal Habitats

For the past month or so we have been learning about animal habitats and adaptations in our science time. We learned about all kinds of different animal homes. We learned that animals have special characteristics that help them live in the places that they live.

 

Three specific places that we learned about were the forest, ocean, and desert. We learned that forest animals make their homes in trees and are dark colors so that they can blend in to their surroundings. We learned that there are all kinds of animals living in the ocean. We learned how fish use their gills to breathe under water in both salt and fresh water. Finally, we learned how animals adapt to living in the desert. We learned that camels have all kinds of special features that enable them to live in the desert, where not many animals live. They have special hooves with two toes that help them walk on sand, really big eyelashes that keep sand out of their eyes, really furry ears to keep the sand out, and a hump that stores fat so that they can live where there is little food or water.

 

As a wrap up and review to all of these, I gave the children an animal habitat project. I split the class into groups based on the different habitats that we had studied. Each group had two books based on their habitat to give them ideas and a blank poster. Their assignment was to fill up their poster with pictures and words that described their habitat.

 





 

After each group completed their poster, they had to give a little presentation to the class. Not only were were working on science, we were also practicing 3 of the 4 C's for 21st Century Learning: Communication, Creativity,  and Collaboration. The children had to communicate with one another to decide what to put on their poster, they had to come up with a creative way to show it, and they had to work together to do it. We have never done a true group project before, so I thought this was a chance for the children to practice working together and agreeing in a group. They really surprised me and worked together like great little teams!

Here are their presentations. I thought they were fantastic considering we have never done anything like this before!  It is definitely a start! I hope for us to do more collaborative activities like this in the future.

 

 

 

Subtraction Centers

Last week we took some time to slow down and review some of what we have learned so far this year. We have spent the past month learning about addition and subtraction. At the end of our unit on subtraction, we began looking at fact families as a way to tie them together. 

Since we learned so much information in such a short amount of time, I wanted to give the children a chance to reflect on and practice what we had learned before we moved on. Centers are a fun way for children to practice information and a great way to make sure everyone is engaged in learning!

The first center was a center called "bump". The children took two ten-sided dice and rolled them. Then they made a subtraction sentence out of those numbers. After they figured out what their difference would be, they covered it up on the game board. If their partner got the same number, they could "bump" them off of their number. If the same partner got the same number twice, they could double up on their counters and block off that number so they got to keep it. The player with the most numbers covered at the end of the game wins. This was a great way for the children to practice counting on because 11 and 12 were on the dice and they cannot count these on their fingers. This is a strategy we will spend more time on as we begin looking at numbers up to 20. 

Another center was the "Parts of a Whole" game that went along with our unit in enVision math. The children took turns spinning two spinners and then had to find the difference between the two numbers, very similar to the bump game. Once they found the difference, they covered up the basket that matched their number. Again, the player with the most spots covered at the end wins. One difference in this center was that the children were given counters to use to figure out their subtraction stories. This is a great tool for children to use when they are adding or subtracting because it is concrete and allows kinesthetic learners to physically move the counters as they work through the problem. 

Another center was "Fact Family Triangle". At this center, the children rolled two dice and then had to figure out the sum of the two numbers and use all three numbers to make two addition sentences and two subtraction sentences. We have started moving the numbers around and making sure that we still have the same "equals", sum, or product and this reinforced this concept very well. If the students just put their numbers in a random order, I would have them actually use their fingers or counters to work through the problem so that they could understand why their number sentence was not correct. This helps the children know what to do no matter where the numbers or symbols are in the number sentence. 

The last center that we had for the week was a domino activity. In this center, the children had to take out a random domino, draw it on their paper, and then make two different addition sentences using the numbers and two different subtraction sentences using the numbers. This was great practice for fact families. It also helped students remember how they can move numbers around in a number sentence. They have the commutative property for addition down pretty well...they know that 2+3=5 and that 3+2=5, but the subtraction ones are a little trickier!

We concluded the week by using honey nut cheerios to make fact families during Munchie Math on Friday. This was a great and tasty review of what we had done earlier in the week. 

Graphs Galore

This week we have spent a lot of time working with graphs. This goes along with the Common Core Standards for First Grade math in many ways. Students are expected to be able to " Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, and how many more or less are in one category than in another."

Having spent a little time on graphs in Kindergarten, I feel confident that the students can organize their data and create a graph. What we have been working on this week is learning how to interpret the data that they have collected. We have spent a lot of time looking at graphs and sharing the information that we see.

 One kind of graph we looked at was our "Munchie Math" skittles graph. The students were asked to organize their bag of skittles into a graph and then figure out which color they had the most of and which color they had the least of.

Another graph we have been working on is our weather graph. Each day a student has the job of  "Weather Reporter". During our calendar time each day, this person checks the weather and reports back to our class. We have been keeping up with this data on our September weather graph. Each day the students tell me what they see from the data that they have on their graph. They may tell me which weather we have had the most, the least, or how many more sunny days than rainy days we have had.

On Fridays, we complete our graph of the week. This graph usually goes along with whatever topic we have been studying during the week. This week we have learned about Johnny Appleseed so the students made a graph of their favorite apple product. Each student has a chance to come up and choose which item they like the best and also give an explanation. For example, last week's question was "Which season do you like best? Summer or Fall?". Each student practiced stating an opinion by telling which season they liked the best and giving a reason as to why. This is a simple way to integrate math, social studies, science, and speaking and listening into our day in a quick graph!

We have also been making our own graphs by spinning spinners and surveying the class. Some days the children will spin the spinner 10 times and record and graph their data. Other days, the students will survey the class and record and graph their data. The students collect their data by making tally marks. When they are finished collecting, they color in the graph. On the back, the students write 2 sentences that describe what their findings were. These activities encourage collaboration and communication in addition to practicing several different math concepts!

As we move on in the year, I will let the children ask the questions about graphs to the class instead of me always asking! I will also encourage the students to write 4 interpretations instead of 2.  Over the course of the year, I want them to be able to write more detailed sentences about their graphs and be able to compare the data using all of the words in their word banks.

Daily 5 In Action

This year we have implemented the Daily Five into our literacy block. During the time where I read one on one with students from their leveled readers, the other students are doing different stations that involve different areas of literacy. Each day we have three rotations that are each 20 minutes long. The students will have the opportunity to choose which stations they would like to do each day, but they have certain requirements for the week that they have to meet. 

One station is called Read to Someone. This is a time where students partner up and read stories together. They are allowed to choose a book out of their book boxes, off the bookshelf, or one of our You Read to Me, I'll Read to You books. They take turns reading either a whole story or a page at a time with their partner. After reading, they may ask each other questions about the story or share why they liked or didn't like the story. This is great practice for reading out loud. It is also a great time for students to work together to figure out tough words. 

The student's favorite station is Word Work.  This station focuses on spelling and word building. The children practice spelling their spelling list words and tricky words using a variety of different methods. Children are able to choose from making play dough words, stamping words, using dry erase markers, making words with magnetic letters, and a fun activity called rainbow writing. When they rainbow write, they roll a dice to see which color they should use to write the words. The girls love this one- they enjoy using all different colors of markers, pencils, and pens! There will be different activities added throughout the year such as "secret code" words where students use picture codes to make their words and "eat your words" where students will make their words using cheez it scrabble and alphabits cereal. This station makes spelling fun and exciting!

Another favorite station is Listen to Reading. At this station the students get to choose a story to listen to at our listening center. If it is a special holiday or occasion, I may choose the book to go along with what we are studying in class. They get to listen to a book with a partner for the whole time. Many times they get to choose several fun books to listen to. Sometimes at listening center the children will have a comprehension check. I will either give them a listening center response sheet where they have to describe their favorite part of the story and draw and write about it or a graphic organizer to complete about the story. This shows that the children are really listening and comprehending the story during this time.

The main station that the children have to complete daily is Read to Self. Each child has a book box with books that are on their reading level that they will read each day. The students are allowed to choose two books that are on their reading level and one free, fun reading book. They keep the books for two days. During read to self, the children can read the books one of three ways : read the words, retell the story, or read the pictures. This is a time for the students to interact with text that is appropriate to their reading level . It is a also a time that they are able to read what they choose, rather than what they are told to read. Allowing students choice during this time is huge! They are able to tap into their own interests and opinions. Later on in the year, students will complete graphic organizers about their books on "Thoughtful 

Thursday" to show me that they understood the plot and were able to comprehend the story that they read. After they have completed all of their leveled readers, they will also begin taking AR tests to show their understanding of plot and vocabulary words in the story. 

There is also a station where students get to play games on the computer that incorporate literacy. They can choose to listen to a story on starfall.com or practice their spelling words in a fun game on spellingcity.com. Sometimes students also have to Meet with the Teacher. During this time we may have a reading group story and activity or some other center to complete together.

All of these fun ideas make learning to read and spell fun for the children. Every day they get excited about which stations and activities they will take part in that day. Daily 5 gives the children many chances to practice reading, writing, and spelling in ways that are fun and engaging and that make sense to them. All of the different kinds of exposure to written and spoken text helps them to become fluent readers and writers.