Place Value Practice and A Lesson in "Squirrelese"

Happy Wednesday!!!
Know what Wednesday means in "Squirrel"?
Well, loosely translated- it means TWO MORE DAYS TIL THE WEEKEND!!!!

But that is just a loose translation, of course.

When the end of this week gets here, it will just shrivel up and fade away in to some weird black-hole-time-warp-space-continuum-thingy. It will be as if it never happened.
Why do i think this week will just disappear?
Because next week I have to teach it all over again.
Why?
Monday- 4 absent
Tuesday- 5 absent, 2 sent home ill
Wednesday- 4 absent.

And oddly enough, it wasn't the same children each time!! So I get to reteach it all!!!

Luckily for me, we are ten school days away from the 120th Day of School!! So they will ALL be reviewing and practicing. Reviewing and practicing. Reviewing and practicing.

And thanks to new CCSS and our standard for fluency through the 120 chart- we are making it a special day.
In my room.
I am not the only one who didn't make a big deal (didn't even mention it) when the 100th day came 10 days ago. but I am pretty confident I will be the only one who is celebrating the 120th day in my building.

I have a great resource I have been using since the beginning of the year. It is Doodle Bugs Number Practice 1-120. Check out that link at the bottom of this post!

To move through the chart( by adding one, taking away one, adding ten, taking away ten) has been a fun experience for us.
We are working on place value and watching them make that connection when they realize that they are adding 1 or taking away 1 when i have them go left to right, and that they are adding ten or taking away ten when I have them go up or down is just great!

To test their skills, this morning I had them color a 120 chart (from the Doodle Bug Pack) like Tetris pieces. The rule was there had to be at least four connected squares. They were going to cut them out, so I wanted to the pieces to not be too small.

I knew a few friends would struggle getting the coloring part done, so I outlined a few shapes for some of them.

When they were done with the coloring they cut out the odd shapes that they made.

I had them switch desks with a neighbor for a bit and had them try to put the chart back together---- they liked that they were making the puzzles for each other.

Then I had them switch back and they glued their cool shapes onto large construction paper.
And as you can see below- they had to "outline" the shape they glued down with the number that would go above, below, left or right, of the squares that were there-
It was definitely a brain tickler for some- and others breezed right through. It gave me a great opportunity to observe their thinking
(and they thought they were just making puzzles)
We're so tricky!!!

At the beginning of the year our AC gave us all a 100 chart cut into ten strips and then laminated.
Today I had pairs work together to add reward coins on top as they counted.

After they were all on, I took one off and exposed a number.

Then I did some pointing, Asking what was under the coin that may have been above it or below it- if the student got it right- he got to keep the coin. If he was wrong, he had to give it to me.
I set the timer for 5 minutes-
I only got to do this with 5 students today, but while several are working on their "puzzles" tomorrow, I can do it again!!!
This was great for working one on one and getting to hear them, rather than just reading what they did.

Only two more weeks and you get to see all the great stuff we will be doing!!!
For now though- a link to Doodle Bugs great packet!

Well "Cheers" muchachas-
I am headed off to bed with dreams of full ,healthy class tomorrow so that we can celebrate and have out Valentine Exchange!
Have a great day!

What's Up, Buttercup? and a *Freebie*

Hello-o-o-o-o Lovely Ladies!
I have just been in a "mood" lately....surprisingly enough a really good mood!
It might have to do with all of the sweet bloggy love I got when i posted my pics last night- thank you {and my chin is totally tilted- BLARG!}

First: I want you to see what some of my boys did last week when we talked about shadows. Pretty Freakin Ah-mazing! They really loved it! I saw it a couple of weeks ago on a blog- and HAD to try it.

Next:
I got to go to Michaels thurs when we were at Vanderbilt- {we don't have one, so I was super excited}. I found the little heart boxes that I have seen online and I made something similar to the post from Mrs. Wheeler.

We count money EVERYDAY at the calendar- I use touch money.(a modified version) Last year was my first year, and they were ALL OVER IT when the $ unit started. We were able to take it so much farther because they were past recognition and adding the coins-

This is very early in the year- but we do it every morning- they are doing great with counting change- "touch money" was sent from Heaven!

 

 

 

And because of this, I thought it would be a good match to add a version of Mrs Wheelers change counting activity to our center rotation. Here's how it will go:

It is center 5 in the math center. Every thing they need is in there.

When they pull out the drawers (the top thin ones) they take the whole drawer with them.

Find a spot. If you have a center partner for the day, make sure there is enough room for both of you.

There are a total of 18 hearts. This will keep the center going for a couple of weeks. The markers are in there for recording.

Each person can only take out ONE heart at a time.

Open, empty it out in front of you. Turn it over to find the #.

On the recording sheet (there are places for 3 boxes on each side, they are in sheet protectors) First write in the box number. Then record the # of each coin. Then count - we use the touch system- and record the amount in the heart.

When the 2 minute warning for the end of the rotation goes off- check your answers on the answer key.

Yeah! I'm so smart! Wipe your recording sheets- put away your center and get ready for the next rotation!

Click the pics to get them if you like- leave a little "nutty chatter" if you likey- likey:)

French Fry Fact Families

We worked on Fact Families last week and I used an idea from Christie at First Grade Fever! She has an awesome center available _ we used the center and also changed it a little for each student to make two or three orders of facts!
I wrote the numbers they were able to use for each order, only giving one order at a time and they were to write the facts on their dry erase boards, and once they had the go ahead from me or our helper, they were able to add to the order! It is a fun activity and a great display!