Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Doubles Baby!

Check out the fun we had with our doubles facts today! 


During this doubles game with Uno cards, students had to double the number on the card, then color the answer on their Bingo card. The first student to get 5 in a line straight down had to shout, "DOUBLES BABY!" They loved it!






Thursday, September 13, 2012

Spelling City And Interactive Learning

Hopefully, you all are familiar with spellingcity.com by now. It is a great website that I use quite often in class. One of the questions I get from parents and other educators as I use the site is, "What are the other students doing to stay engaged while the lucky student is working at the Promethean Board?" Here is just one of my strategies to make sure that learning is constant for every student. 

Using the "Unscramble" game, a student at the board has to take all the mixed up letters given and make them into a spelling word. Students at their seats have dry erase boards so they can play along. I challenge the students who are seated to race the person at the board. Yesterday, it was down right electrifying as students who were seated raced to spell the word correctly before the student at the board. After they figure out the word, everyone writes a sentence using that word. It is one thing to spell a word, but another to actually use it in context. Below are just a few pics of the sentences I captured while we were learning!!!





I encourage you to log on at home to practice. All spelling words are used in class throughout the year. To find our list, go to the site, select "Find A List," type my name in the search, select my name when it comes up, and then you will see all of our lists. Happy Learning!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Anonymous Donor

So about 2 months ago I randomly signed up for this thing I saw online called the Redditgifts.com teacher gift exchange. I made a wish list of things that I use in my class, posted it to the site, and waited. I received an email about a month ago that said my class had a sponsor. Well, today that sponsor's gift showed up at my door. I am blown away that some anonymous person gave to our class. Check out this video I made of me opening the box to post back on the website for my donor to see.




Monday, September 10, 2012

AR Begins

This morning our Accelerated Reader software was officially up and running. Now we are ready to get down to business!!! Make sure that your student is ready for at least 2 tests in the morning. I recommend reading the books at least twice prior to a test. As you can see the test is taken on the computer. The students absolutely love it. All students were given their official levels today. If you would like to know your child's level email me. I am going over all of that in our conferences this week and next week. If you prefer to wait until then, that is fine. We will have our next Arthur's Reading Club on October 5th. Students will be working to earn their official membership, (signed by Marc Brown, the author of the Arthur Series) pencil, bookmark, and a free book. They have just 4 weeks to earn as many AR points as possible, so READ, READ, READ!!! 





Thursday, September 6, 2012

Antennae Math


Yesterday I wore these antennae to kick start our daily math journaling time. I asked students to simply write about what they saw. I was expecting lots of..."My teacher is acting crazy." or "My teacher is being a bug." But, what I got was lots of mathematical thinking. I may just have to try this again. The kids LOVED it. Parents, go buy some for yourself and wear them to give out the chore list. They might just do them more often in hopes of seeing you look like a bug. 

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Uno Math

Using a simple deck of Uno cards, students reviewed their knowledge of tens and ones as well as 
greater than/less than. Students made 2 digit numbers with their cards, then compared with their partner to see who had the greatest number. They made each number using the orange base ten blocks. The student with the highest number kept the cards. They counted the cards won after each round to determine the winner. The student with the most cards won. Try this at home to review!  









Monday, September 3, 2012

Outdoor Classroom

This was our afternoon classroom Friday as we studied puns. Sometimes you just need to get outside!