Welcome Back to First Grade!

September 2012

Hello First Grade Teachers!

Welcome back to start a new school year!  I have been nervous already!  If you are in the Eau Claire school district your classroom will look so much different than years past : (.  I took pictures of my classroom to show you that I am just as depressed as you are with the new fire code restrictions.  Twenty percent coverage of each wall is all we are allowed to cover. . . . I wish I had access to a bunch of smaller bookcases and cubbies, but this is all I have to work with this year.  I am going to be positive though! I am making up for the smaller display area by making and using smaller learning targets and anchor charts. I am also stepping up my table displays. Number lines, color words, and shapes displayed on each table to use as reference. Trying to get used to these new requirements : ).

Here is the front of my room.  On the left I have my birthday signs displaying only August and September.  Two months at a time is all I will be able to post.  The tree will come down after Family Day.  On the Right is my word wall and daily schedule. 

A close up of my carpet area. 

Here are pictures of my carpet area. Don't mind the far right mess.  They are by the door and soon the garbage. 

Here is the coat room.  Can you get any more depressing???

Here is the wall where my cubbies are along with my desk.  I am guessing I will need to move both, but I am going to wait and see.  Between the desk and the cubbies is a large mess of cords that will be exposed if I need to move everything.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Hopefully you all feel much better about your rooms now! 

Here are some math resources I created over the summer that you may find useful in your classroom. 

The first is the number cards, but I also have days of the week and some Daily 5 resources in there too.  You can find it Here.

The next resource is the Math Facts Instruction outline I am planning to use.  I will also be posting all the lesson plans from these lessons.  You may be wondering when I plan on using these lessons?  I am going to get through them as time allows.  I will do the DPPs at the beginning of math, conduct the MTB lesson, and then if there is time I will choose between math facts, CGI, or math centers.  I am also going to get creative and "braid" math concepts into the S.S and Science time block as well.  The outline is Here.

Finally, here is a copy of the first grade CCSS that have the learning targets in the form of I can.... statements.  Here   

Well I am off to find more things to do in my classroom.  I actually have the whole day to myself!  No kids or hubby.  Only teachers can appreciate why I am in my classroom rather than out shopping : ).

Tina

Holiday Week!

Hello Everyone!

I am not proud to admit I am not as far as I would like in math due to being on maternity leave earlier this school year.  That being said the activities I share with you could be used as a review of Unit 15 (3-D Shapes) if you have already completed the unit. 

I completed this mini unit created by Tina Rubie Here.  This activity is super! This teacher does add a triangular prism and a cone in addition to the rectangular prism, sphere, cube, and cylinder.  I just took out those shapes for now, but plan on introducing those shapes at a later time.  Here are a couple of the activities I used that really seemed to get the concept across.

This riddle activity involved the students choosing a shape of their choice and writing three clues on the front that would describe the properties of that shape.

Then on the inside of the booklet they glued a picture of their shape and wrote what shape they chose.  They enjoyed this activity so much that every single one of them wanted to volunteer to share their riddles.  What a great way to reinforce concepts!!

After the first activity I chose a shape for them to have that was different than the once they chose.  Then, they had to identify the shape and write down the properties of that shape.  I used this as an assessment to make sure they understood the concept.  

Another activity I have not tried yet, but plan to do parts of this unit is by Nicole Bunt Here.  I like the guess my shape activity, the alike and different, and the shape cards to play memory or sort by properties.

Please check out my spring activities from Teacher pay Teacher TpT and if you have any concepts you would like to see me create please let me know @ tparkerfirstgrade@gmail.com.  When I create these items I make sure they are all aligned with the new Common Core Standards.  Currently, I am working on a summer school packet in both reading and math for teachers to use if they need activities to cover the necessary first grade concepts.

It would also make me feel better to get more than two followers of my store.  I know I do not have a lot, but if I get to 25 followers I will be putting on a sale and adding two free items to the store.  All you need to do is sign up as a member and click on "follow me" next to the red star located to the right of my yellow tulip profile.

Take care and be back soon!

Tina Parker

Have a great break!!

The Week After Spring Break. . . . . . . . .

Hello and welcome back to school this week! The weather was wonderful over spring break, even for those of us that did not travel to Mexico or Florida!

I spent my break fixing my husband's packing mistakes as well as working on activities for Teachers Pay Teachers. If you have never heard of this resource you need to check it out. Most of the activities are absolutely worth every penny I have spent. The best part is that all the money you spend goes to the teachers who created the activity! I now have a store and if you would like to check out my products you can follow the link Here.

You will need to create an account to download any products, but it is free. I do have a free item am working on posting a couple more free items this weekend. Right now I only have math activities posted, but I still need to make my language arts activities more attractive first.

The following are examples of my work on Tpt.  You can follow the link above to see example pages as well as my other products.


Here is my free item.  This activity works on adding three addends by looking for groups of ten.




This activity has enough math story problems to last you until the end of the school year. Time, money, change unknown, measurement, and more all covered.



This activity is always good for first graders!

I am still going to be posting activities here that hopefully will help in the classroom so no worries! The first activity I am going to give you will support Unit 15 of MTB. 3D Shapes. Follow this link to print off the activity. 3D Shapes Unit.  This activity was created by goodmorningmrsrubie.blogspot.com


The second activity I am posting is one I plan to use next week in my math centers. Who does not love jelly beans and this activity by Jennifer Kadar will have your students sorting, graphing, tallying, and patterning with jelly beans.  Jelly Bean Math

Have a great rest of the week!

Tina

March Madness!

Hello Everyone!

We finally are moved into our new house after a week of being homeless!  I have not had the Internet for the last week either so I apologize once again for being behind on my postings. 

I do have wonderful news to share though!  I figured out how to link all my activities I do in my classroom!  After the many, many months of stressing out and giving up I FINALLY got it!!  Thank you to Blogs by Heather on my google search that helped me understand what to do!!  So watch out- now you will be getting activity after activity from me!

This week I focused mainly on measurement for my math centers.  I feel like we have not had quite what my class this year needs so I found some great activities.  One of the activities has to do with looking at a design of pattern blocks and they will need to build the design themselves.  I found these activities from Mrs. Wills website Here .  The other measurement activities I had in my math centers this week were activities I bought from other teachers so I will not be able to post them.  Sorry.

In order to open up these links I am giving, you will need to have a gmail account.  It is free!  I use my account as a junk email that I give when I don't want to be bothered by a company.  When you bring it up in Google Documents you may not see the whole document.  Click on file, download, then save the document.  That should give you the full document.  If not you may be able to print it out and it will look just fine.  Another thing is that you do not need the colored ink.  Many activities I will just print off in black and white and send home with my students.
Pattern Block Designs

Here are more pattern block designs:
More Pattern Block Designs

Finally a recording sheet if you like:
Pattern Block recording sheet


I am also working a lot on time in my classroom in whole group whenever I get a minute.  I am also giving time activities and centers right away in the morning until I get all the folders signed and attendance taken.  Here is an example of a telling time activity I have done with my class:  Both Activities are from The Bubbly Blond website Here
Time Center

Here is a center I created that I can't wait to share!  Please give me feedback both on this activity and any other centers you would like to see me create.  All the graphics were createdby Scrappin Doodles. Here
Time Center by Tina Parker

And finally I am going to get more into money next week.  Here is a preview of one of the money centers I will have for next week.
Money Center

Other activities I am planning on using in my centers next week are place value, problem solving-march theme, breaking up numbers into number sentences, probability, fraction concepts, and shamrock fact families.  Again, I purchased all of these activities, but I am in the process of making many of my own. 
Feedback is much appreciated so keep it comming!

Have a great weekend!

Tina Parker

Teacher Conferences This Week!

Hello Everyone!  I hope your conferences went well this past week and you can relax this weekend!  I wish I could relax, but we have three birthday parties this weekend and we also need to move to our new house. 

I have been stressing out a lot trying to post some wonderful resources I have created for you, but once again technology is my enemy.  Instead I decided to take some pictures of the centers I have done this past week.  I know it is Valentine themed, but I had so many center ideas that we are actually even going into next week as well : )  All of these center ideas were from Abby Mills.

Here is a graphing center that will have the students graph the data and then answer questions for further understanding.  I have an activity similiar of my own that is about graphing fruit. 

This activity has six addition and six subtraction problems.  Students will cut out each problem, glue it in the booklet, and then draw a picture, and record a number sentence.  I really like the set-up and hope to create a set of my own for March.  If you would like a copy of the March problems send an email the second week in March.

This sheet looks very scary and confusing, but really my students just LOVED it.  Each card has three numbers on it.  Two of the numbers make ten and then they add the third number to get the answer.  I can see creating adding pots of gold in a similar activity.

This activity is a true/false center that students will need to look at groups of ten sticks and bits (ones) and decide if the group is greater than or less than a number.  The will then need to record which cards are true and which are false.

I am so sorry I could not get actual activities posted this week.  If you have any concepts your students are struggling in please comment and let me know.  I have about 20 different activities started, but not finished yet.  I do have two activities finished that I would be willing to email to you.  One is Number ID up to 1000 and the other is telling time (analog, digital).  Let me know you are interested and I can get it to you:  tparker@ecasd.k12.wi.us .

Thanks again for the support of this blog and have a wonderful weekend!

Tina

Happy 100th Week!

Hello Everyone!

I hope your 100th day went well this week.  I wonder with the new common core standards if we will have to celebrate the 120th day next year? :)

I know I am a bit late with this reminder, but remember to record the sky for the weather lab this month.  One way I remember to fill in the calendar is to have my students do it right away in the morning after they sign in.  Otherwise we are rushing so much during the day that it can easily be overlooked. 

I found some really cool clip art sites that I will share with you.  This could help you in the future cover information that is needed in the new common core standards.

US Money 
This link is US common currency

2D and 3D Shapes
Here is one on 2D and 3D shapes

Time/Clocks
This one I really like on Clocks and time.  I am currently finishing up a center that teaches the digital, analog, and the written versions of time.  I will post it as soon as I get it finished!

Place Value
This one is on place value- bits, skinny, and flats.  We don't use them much in first grade, but with the new common core standards we will!


Have a great rest of the week!

Tina

Common Core Standards

Hi Everyone! 

I am late covering the concept of equality with my students this year because of my maternity leave so today was the day.  I asked them to answer the question: True or False 3=3.  When they came into the room they had to write either true or false by their name.  I took a picture so you could see the results first hand, but once again I can't get it posted.  Basically 19 students wrote false and only one wrote true.  Until I started doing this activity a few years ago I assumed that all my students understood equality and the equal sign.  The truth is that they do not!!  So I went through the lesson whole group about balance and "same as" and there still are some students that struggle with the concept, especially when I started challenging them with problems 4+1=3+2 or 3+3=7-1.  The majority caught on pretty quick, but I know I need to keep reviewing. 

Math Center Lesson Plan for

Week of Jan. 30 - Feb.3

#1 Center	Spin to Win- Race to 120 (1.NBT.1)
#2 Teach Me	JCU AND SCU CGI problems- (1.OA.1)
#3 Time Myself	1.NBT.1- Counting as fast as they can in 30 sec. forwards and backwards by 1’s, 5’s, and 10’s
#4 Center	Placing random numbers on an empty number line. (1.NBT.1)
#5 Discover	TILES  (measuring area of shapes)– (1.G.1)
#6 Math fact	Students are timing each other going through a list of 10 -0 and 10 -1 facts and recording their times.

Notes:  I am taking this week to assess all students one on one to determine how they are solving their addition problems.  (do they count on, use fingers, know doubles, doubles plus one, and so on).  From these results I will then create pull-out groups to work on their skills.


As I go through the third week of my math centers I am noticing that this is easier to prep than I thought.  Instead of changing the counting as fast as they can I am leaving it in for one more week because they are loving it and it is always good to practice both forwards and backwards counting. 


With the 100th day coming up here are some resources I plan on doing that week:

- Race to 100 game- print off a 100 chart (or a blank one and have them fill in the numbers if you want to assess them!), give each pair a die, and take turns rolling and adding on from 0 based on the number rolled.


Number order 99-120   - This sheet is challenging for some due to the font from "Babbling Abby's" Website where I found this resource.  I am planning to re-create a document similar with better font.


One hundred days ago I could not.pdf   This activity is not math, but I thought I would share.  I plan to create a class book. 


Equal or Not Equal  






I created this equality sheet to check for understanding after the initial lesson I did with my kids. 



Once again I will try to post more activities as I find them. 


Enjoy!