I love incorporating games into math as much as possible. Who doesn't love playing games, right?! But the problem with games is that they often require quite a bit of prep work for us teachers. I've been trying to come up with some that require little to no preparation to use. I'm so excited to
I have decided that I should have been an owl. The later it gets the better I focus and the more work I get done. I hit my stride at 7:30 pm. Here's the only problem with that - I get up at 5:30 am and my mind doesn't slow down until midnight. Sad, I know. Anyway, this will be a quick post. I am going to do my best to be a better blogger this week. We will see how that goes. I definitely seem to be getting more accomplished now that the craft room is functional and I've started listening to old Friday Night Lights episodes. By the way, LOVING my bajillion mason jars full of markers. They came in quite handy tonight. Plus, I love the fact I can work at the laptop, send something to the printer, grab the paper, scissors, and markers, and go to town. Speaking of paper, scissors, and markers, I have a new writing packet to share. It's called my Picture This Writing packet. It was created to give kids the chance to share their favorite places to visit. I've discovered that my kids do SOOO much better with their writing when they have a little craft included with it. Below are pictures. I also made three different types of writing paper so it's easier to differentiate. If you have any questions, shoot me an email and if you like the packet, click on it. It will take you straight to my TPT store. Have a great day tomorrow! Hopefully, I'll be back with a quick Mother's Day freebie tomorrow.
Create a solid math foundation with these tips for teaching place value in 1st grade. Use these ideas to avoid place value mistakes!
Place Value Bootcamp is a high-energy and challenging way to ‘hook’ your young mathematicians. This is my third year doing Bootcamp and every years it looks different! While doing calendar, I told my friends that I had a school meeting and they would have a Guest Teacher for the afternoon. As students wrapped-up calendar, I...
Are you looking for engaging grammar centers? These parts of speech activities are perfect. Here are 7 noun centers for teaching grammar.
Looking for a printable coloring map of the seven continents? Then you are in the right place. We have custom designed just such a map ... Read more
There is only one day left to enter our Super Science Packet give away! If you haven't checked it out yet, head on over the give away by ...
KINDERGARTEN MATH - TEEN NUMBERS AND PLACE VALUE We have come so far in kindergarten math this year! My sweet kinders now have 1:1 correspondence down, they can write and recognize numerals 1-10, we covered geometry, measurement and data…. so now we are tackling those tricky teens and place valu
Whether you're teaching place value to kindergarteners, 1st or 2nd graders, there are some important and critical points you should know. Do I use pre-grouped or ungrouped manipulatives? What place value activities should be done? What's the progression in learning about place value? Read more about place value on my blog post. SIgn up for the newsletter and get a FREE place value game activity! Read it now! #twoboysandadad #commoncoremath #math #placevalue #firstgrade #secondgrade #kindergarten
The best way to make learning place value fun for students? Turn it into a game, of course! From first through third grade, it’s the time to get down
This first ancient Egyptian observatory discovered in modern times showcases advanced knowledge of astronomy and its profound link to the Egyptians' spiritual and ritualistic practices.
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!
Looking for visuals to help your kids make sense of math? Grab this free set of printable math manipulatives for all the hands on resources your kids need.
A place value Cheerio tower? Genius!
Last summer I added Mo Willems' The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! to my classroom library. Of course, this addition was a no-brainer. Willems' books are always super popular, especially Pigeon books. Just as predicted, my students loved this book. It is the perfect length for the beginning of the year, when attention spans are extra short and students need a little break from all the procedural training they are receiving. Since I knew this book would be a hit, I decided to make it the centerpiece of back to school. I created some basic "Pigeon themed" math and literacy activities, as well as a simple craft. I used these activities intermittently during the first week and was able to glean some great info about my new students' basic math and literacy skills, as well as their fine motor skills and listening skills. One of the Pigeon themed activities was a number/number word/counting mini book. Students traced and wrote the numbers 1-10, as well as the number words 1-10. Then students illustrated a picture to go with each number. We broke this activity up over a couple of days. Students took part in a listening activity. Students had to complete a picture according to a series of questions/statements that I read aloud. (If you've every made a glyph with your students, this activity feels really similar.) Students also put together their first puzzler for the year. This puzzler focused on number representations. Students cut and glued the puzzler pieces to tell what number is represented in the box. By the end, students have a completed picture that they can color. I use various puzzlers throughout the year. This the Pigeon puzzler is a great introduction to how to complete a puzzler. Students loved making their simple, one-page craft Pigeons. All that was required was the Pigeon pattern (I used white card stock), scissors, and glue. The class Pigeons made a really quick and cute back to school bulletin board. In addition to these activities, students worked on counting/cardinality, geometry, place value, number bonds, handwriting, the alphabet, rhyming words, sight words, and more. The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! is a perfect springboard for a variety of skills. For a math freebie (from the printables featured above), click on the picture below. This freebie provides practice with ten frames, counting, and number identification. If you have not added, The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! to your classroom library, I highly recommend it. There are so many directions you can go with this book. More importantly, your students will love it and be totally engaged. What a great way to start the year, by reading a book that students truly enjoy. :) For more details about the all of the Pigeon inspired activities I used with my students, be sure to click on the picture below. Of course (like most), I'm not certain what this year's back to school days will look like. Whatever the setup, I know I'll be using The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! to help me kick off the year. Thanks for stopping by. School Is a Happy Place is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associated Program, an affiliate program that allows this site to earn advertising fees. Please know that all of the recommendations on this site are authentic and come from personal experience.
Here's a simple way to teacher less than, greater than: with toys! Free printable included.
Grab these free Bug Subtraction Cards and add some hands-on, insect-themed fun to your Kindergarten math centers and small groups!
Teaching states of matter in kindergarten can be a tricky! Here are some resources to help students gain a solid understanding of the topic!
We have been working on creating growing patterns... We made growing staircases patterns with tiles, growing ice cream cone patterns and growing caterpillar patterns after reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
The 1st arrondissement of Paris is the center of the city, with some of the best attractions in Paris! Check out this guide to Paris's 1st arrondissement.
Building a strong number sense is the foundation of most math applications. It's important for our students to know what numbers repres...
These free printable Watermelon Seed Addition Cards for Kindergarten are a fun way to practice counting and beginning addition skills!
With this page, your child can count his way to a completed picture.
Learn about the artist Wasilly Kandinsky and make your own version of his famous Kandinsky circles picture, exploring colour theory
Have a chatty class? Do your talkative students get louder and louder during small groups until it feels like chaos? Do they talk when you'r...
This past school year was my first one teaching first grade, and with that came a whole new set of standards that I had never taught before...
Artist Inspiration: Paul Cezanne (above) and Henri Matisse (below) Blog Inspiration: http://kids-finelines.blogspot.com/2012/03/apple...
These shapes activities help kids learn about 2D and 3D shapes. They make a great addition to Kindergarten, First Grade and Second Grade math centers.
