Place Value {Quick Tip}

Hey, long lost blog friends! Hope everyone has had a fabulous spring break and a blessed Easter! 

We are in the home stretch now!!!! 

Here is a quick change that I implemented this year and it has made a WORLD of difference with my firsties understanding of place value! I saw this tip on Pinterest many moons ago, but when I went back to try to find the source, I didn't have it pinned and a quick search left me empty handed. If you know who to credit, let me know!

Instead of using straws to count the number of days in school, use place value tens towers and ones cubes! Is that not GENIUS?!

Even though we don't formally explore place value until late winter/early spring in first grade, the kiddos see ten ones cubes being traded for a ten tower on the 10th day of school! By the time we started studying place value, they had seen this trade about 10 times! I swear, y'all, it has made the BIGGEST difference in my firsties understanding of place value! 

Easy change, big impact! LOVE!

My favorite Place Value resource is from Cara Carroll - check it out!

Have a great week, y'all!!

Schedule Spotlight Series #3 - Math

Happy Monday, friends! I am coming in a little late tonight - had to watch the Bach with a sweet neighbor! I was blown away on the 2 on 1 date -- who saw that coming??? {I won't give it away if you haven't watched yet!} And what is up with all the tight hoodies this season?? I can't deal!

This is the third post in the 10 week Schedule Spotlight series!

For those of you just joining in the fun, we are going through our day, minute by minute and hour by hour! Almost as a good as observing…but saving money on gas and sub pay! :)

7:45 - 8:15 ~ Morning Work {Post #1 - June 10}
8:15 - 8:30 ~ Calendar {Post #2 - June 17}
8:30 - 9:00 ~ Math {Post #3 - June 24}

My first grade friends are already on the carpet from our calendar time and we head straight into our math mini lesson! 

My mini lesson lasts about 10-12 minutes. I really, truly believe that the longer we teach, the more kiddos start to lose interest! I teach very explicitly and it is fast paced. One key to mini lessons is to have all of your materials ready to go. If you are only teaching for 10 minutes, you don't have time to stop to pull out the unifix cubes! 

We adopted the enVision math series in the 2012 - 2013 school year. I use their online lessons a few times each week. I like that there is a visual and auditory lesson on the Promethean board!  I also bring in Brain Pop, Jr. video and quizzes in the mini lessons, as well as literature, songs, poems, flipcharts, and Safari Montage video clips. 

I am thinking about incorporating Math tool kits {pencil boxes} for each kiddo so they can have all the manipulatives they need for our lessons. I will change them out every month or so with the materials we will need. They will pick up their tool kit when they come to the carpet for calendar. I thought this might eliminate time wasted passing out and collecting manipulatives. Thoughts???

At about 8:42 {I know all of you primary teachers are time specific} we go in to Math Work Stations. I implemented Work Stations for the first time in the 2012- 2013 and I love them! I feel about them the same way I feel about Daily Five - best changes to my teaching!! 

I have 9 tubs. 7 are hands on activities and 2 are technology {1 computer tub and 1 iPad tub}. 

**Click {here} to read my post all about Math Work stations. I was going to retype it - but really this post says it all! :) There are also some Math Work station freebies!

At about 8:56, we clean up from work stations. I play a song {sometimes a clean up song, other times a seasonal or thematic song we are singing to that week} and by the time the song ends, all kiddos should be back on the carpet. I step back during the song and let them clean up independently. I find that they will work it out without me - you know, all the junior teacher assistants out there?!? They will call somebody out politely tell a friend they left a piece on the floor or need to log out of the computer! 

We finish up with Math at 9:00 and then its time to head to our Special! {Yay! Time to reheat my latte in the microwave!}

Link up below to tell us all about your math block!

Join us next Monday, July 1 to learn more about what Phonics looks like in my classroom!

Have a super summer week!!! :) 

3 Addend Addition Freebie! and more enVision...

Happy, happy May! I CAN NOT believe it is time to wrap this year up! :) Thanks to all my blog buds for making this my most fun year of teaching yet!

We are working on 3 addend addition right now! Here is a little Top It! game with a cool ice cream theme...perfect for the 90 degree days we have this week in Bama!

Click {HERE} to download the freebie! This correlates with enVision Lesson 5-8 {Adding 3 Numbers}.

Thank you so much for all of your feedback about enVision! I should have mentioned that we are getting the brand new edition that is aligned with the Common Core. I am loving the digital component so far...a nice change from a flip chart! We will continue to supplement with all of the Number Work, Data Detective activities, and games that we have made or purchased from TpT or other sites over the past few years. My district will be digging in a little deeper this summer at Professional Development...I will be sure to keep you posted as we incorporate enVision into our Math Menu block!

Have a marvelous first week of May! :)

enVision Math

Happy Sunday! Hmmm....new Blogger look! I am all about it if it makes uploading pics faster! :) Ha!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! We have a four day week ahead of us {Friday is an Inclement Weather Day that we have not used - PTL!!!}

This week we will learn all about:

Phonics: Inflections {got any fun stuff for THAT one???}

Writing: How To Writing {love this unit!!!!} - How to Plant a Flower

Comprehension: Summarizing {Tomie dePaola Author Study}

Math: 3 Addend Addition
Love this freebie from Froggie Went a Teachin! She has a ton of these games to go with different themes...even a Cinco de Mayo one! I love how it is Earth Day themed...go along perfectly with our Petals and Plants and our Earth Day activities for the next few weeks! 

Science: Petals and Plants {Love all the great literature to go with this unit: The Tiny Seed, Planting a Rainbow}

Ok...let's get back to the title of the post! HA! We adopted a new math series, enVision! I have played around with the digital component and LOVE it  so far! We have put A LOT of work into our Math Menu for the past two years, so we don't really need more games or Number Work activities, but explicit mini lessons! 

Anyone use enVision??? I am curious to see how many schools out there use this program.  Tips, tricks are welcome! :) I will share more as we dig into it!

Ahhh...the house smells of lasagna! YUM! Time to eat!

Have a great week, y'all! :) Only a few more to go!!! WE CAN DO IT!