Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Math the Pinteresting Way
Reading and writing were always my favorite subjects in school. Well, that and history. But through teaching, I've really grown to love math. There are so many fun things you can do with math. I also think the way I was taught math is so different than how we are encouraged to teach math now. I didn't have a good understanding of numbers or why we did math the way we did. Now we are encouraged to teach for understanding and not just memorization. I went to a few trainings when I first started teaching that were Marilyn Burns teaching. It was through this that I began to understand things like pi and circumference. So today I'm linking up with Just Reed for her 10 Pin party all about Math.
By the way, make sure you are following me on facebook. I have a surprise coming up this week. Here's the link to my page, https://www.facebook.com/MsKerriAndHerKrazyKlass
1. This first pin is from Sunny Days in Second's TPT Store. It's beach bump. My kids absolutely love the game bump. It is a great way to practice addition facts. She has all kinds of themes at her TPT store.
2. With the adoption of the common core standards comes the adoption of the mathematical practice standards. I have been trained on them multiple times but I don't have them displayed in my room. I think it would help immensely to have these displayed. My friend Mary from Mrs. Lirette's Learning Detectives has some free posters in her TPT store.
3. This next idea is something I definitely want to make one of my first math work stations this year. It works on number recognition, counting and fine motor. But the picture doesn't like to anything. I think the idea is pretty self explanatory. (If this is your picture, please let me know. I'd love to give credit.)
4. I love Maria from Kinder-Craze. She has great ideas and great products. This number decomposing activity will be a must for me and my kiddos next year. You can check it all out here at her blog Kinder-Craze.
5.This is another idea from the great Maria at Kinder-Craze. It is all about solid shapes. Check out her post here.
6.I love using picture books to teach. This pin leads to Love 2 Learn 2 day and her great list of books that go with different concepts.
7. I have been working on trying to implement math workstations or tubs in my room for the past 2 years. I am still trying to get it worked out. This pin is a great blog post from my friend Mary again. Check out her post here.
8. Here are some more math workstation ideas. This time from Marsha at Differentiated Kindergarten. If you haven't checked her blog out you need to. She is phenomenal. These are some apple work station ideas.
9.I love scoot games and so do my kids. This is one of the scoot games I have free on my blog for adding 3 digit numbers. The kids loved the crazy cat graphics.
10. This last pin is another scoot game I made and use in my classroom. Paw Prints Addition scoot. I use it as a game and as flashcards. There are 3 different versions of the game depending on what strategy you are working on.
There are 10 ideas and pins all about math. I hope you found something you could use. Be sure to head over to Just Reed and check out the rest of the party.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
It's Currently Time!
It's time for my favorite party of the month. Farley's Currently party. It's always so fun to see what everyone is currently up to and I always love to see what the last question will be. It's not even July and I think I'm already late to the party.
The hubby is at boy scout camp this week so I'm able to watch some trashy tv. I usually don't get to watch a lot of trashy tv. Our tv is usually on the history, discovery, or animal planet channels. It is nice to get to watch one of my guilty pleasures.
One of my favorite parts of summer is that I get to spend Mondays with my niece. She's two and half and we have so much fun together. Her imagination is really active and she loves books. We read a lot of Pete the Cat and watch the videos on youtube.
I keep saying I'm going to get back on track with healthy eating but so far I haven't been that successful. I was keeping track of my food on fitnesspal and doing pretty well. I had lost almost 10 pounds. So i'ts time to get back to it.
I have been wanting a printer for a while. I got some birthday money that I'm thinking about spending on one. But I'm not sure which one to get. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.
I had big plans of going through each room in my house and getting it organized and getting rid of things. So far I haven't done any of it. And now it's the beginning of July so I need to get on it.
My advice for blogging or creating is to be yourself. I love reading blogs where I get to know the person and see a peek into their lives whether it is their classroom or home. I try to be myself in my blog and I try to create things I use. Speaking of being yourself in blogging, I'm working on a new blog that focuses on my personal life and faith life. As soon as I get it up and going I'll let you know about it. I'm excited about this new venture!
Be sure to check out the party over at Farley's and link up.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
End of the month Sale and New stuff
I had plans of posting yesterday but it just didn't happen. I spent the day with my niece. I took her to Dollywood which was lots of fun but took all my energy. She had a blast. It was her first time to go and she loved the rides. She was quite the daredevil! Here's a picture of us on the carousel.
So be sure to check the sale out.
Chris is headed to scout camp tomorrow so today's post is going to be quick.
First thing is I posted a new classroom sign unit to TPT this past week, Rainbow Bright. It is bright and colorful and editable. It's my first try at an editable pack. I love it. I can't wait to get it printed out and use it my classroom.
It will be on sale tomorrow for 20% off. I'm joining some of my kinderland friends in throwing an end of the month sale.
So be sure to check the sale out.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Guided Reading Chapter 2
I am excited to be linking up again this week with the ladies at Freeblicious for Chapter 2 of
The Next Step in Guided Reading: Focused Assessments and Targeted Lessons for Helping Every Student Become a Better Reader
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The Next Step in Guided Reading: Focused Assessments and Targeted Lessons for Helping Every Student Become a Better Reader
I am loving this book. I feel like it is the book I have needed to read. I have read through chapter 4 already and I did that on the beach. This chapter is all about assessment and grouping.
This is one of the biggest ideas that hit me in this chapter.
The Next Step in Guided Reading: Focused Assessments and Targeted Lessons for Helping Every Student Become a Better Reader
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What do you do for assessments?
I think we are over assessed in schools these days with assessments that don't actually benefit our instruction. At least a lot of the mandated assessments don't. We do a pre assessment before kids enter kindergarten and I'm not sure how beneficial it is. It is used to determine classes but I honestly don't look at it when I'm working on my own instruction. I'll start out with finding out who already knows their name. That will be one of our first activities we do.
We do a staggered enrollment so the first week we'll only have all the kids about 2 days. So the next week is when I'll start doing an alphavet assessment. I use this paper that one of my fellow teachers had in her files that has shapes, numbers, and letters on it. It looks a lot like this assessment I found on pinterest.
This assessment can be found on My Not So Elementary Life's TPT store. (http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Skills-Inventory-723322
In the past this has really been all the assessing I've done. But after reading this chapter I think I'm going to add a few more components to my assessing. The first thing is a sight word list. I'll be taking the first 10 words that we learn in our reading series. We are adopting Journeys this year so that will be a new list of words. If I have kids that can do all this, then I will move on to dictated sentences and writing assessment. Honestly I probably won't be doing an running records until before Christmas. When I taught in Nashville, we were required to do a lot of reading assessments including running records. As of now, I don't have a good running record resource. So I'll be looking into the new reading series and see what I can use there.
How will you use this information to group your students?
While I plan on assessing the students in the first few weeks of school, I don't plan on starting groups until after the first 6 weeks when we have gotten settled into our workstation and read to self routines. I will have students that don't know a lot of letters start working with my assistant or a volunteer on tracing the alphabet. (This is an idea Richardson talks a lot about in the next chapter.) I will use the information to group my students. I hope to not have too many groups and the groups will be flexible.
Richardson spend a lot of this chapter explaining how to analyze the information you gain from the assessments. I'll be in kindergarten in the fall so I don't see having to do too many running records, but as the year progresses I'll have to reassess. I will definitely be consulting this book while working through this piece.
This was the other point that Richardson made that really stuck with me about students' instructional, frustration and independent reading materials.
Be sure to head over to Mary at Sharing Kindergarten and check out the rest of the posts. I can't wait to post all about chapter 3,. It is my favorite so far.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Classroom Management 10 Pin Party
We got back from the beach on Saturday and I had big plans to join this party on Sunday. But it didn't happen. Chris and I spent the evening out at the lake with his family. It was so nice and relaxing. Then yesterday was my birthday and I spent the whole day with one of my favorite girls, my niece. Mondays are my day with her and it was perfect to spend the day with her. She was so sweet. Randomly through the day she would throw her arms around me and then wish me a happy birthday. It was a great way to spend my day but I was exhausted. She didn't take a nap which meant I didn't get my nap. I have to leave my house by 6:30 to get to my sister's before she goes to work which is earlier than I get up to go to school. But now I'm rested up and ready to get some things done today. I'm joining Just Reed for her Ten Pin Linky this week all about classroom management. (I think this was actually last week's party but I'm a little late)
1. The first pin is about whole brain teaching. While I was on vacation, I read the book Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids. I am hooked on the idea and I can't wait to get things going for next year.
2. Here's another whole brain resource. This pin takes you to a blog that has a ton of examples of WBT in action. It is also an honest look at implementing the strategies.
3. Timers on a bracelet. I love this idea. I am terrible about keeping up with time. I have been using my iphone for timing things but I don't always keep it right by me. So I love this idea. I need to implement this next year. (I'm loving these parties because it reminds me of what I want to do next year.)
4. No name board. This is on my summer to do list. I hate all the papers I get with no name on it. I would love to have a place to hang them. I had planned on going to hobby lobby to get the supplies yesterday but my niece wouldn't have it.
5. Homework Bingo - The class that I just had was great about turning in their homework. I didn't have to bribe them or anything. But the group I had before was not like this at all. So I love to have a few ideas in my pocket for how to motivate kids to get their homework turned in.
6.Part of Whole Brain Teaching is the Class/Yes responses. I like that but I think it would be fun to change it up sometimes. So here's a pin with different call and responses.
7. I love this idea for keeping track of who might need help on a concept later. I don't know if this is exactly how I would do it in my classroom, but I like the idea.
8. Ron Clark is one of my favorite teachers. I love his ideas on classroom management. I love this idea of buttons that was inspired by him. They are a great reward for students who do well.Plus they can be reused.
9. I got these coupons from Melissa Dillard last year but I haven't printed them out. That is definitely a must for next year. I love these ideas and they aren't a treasure box.
10. My last pin is another Whole Brain teaching resource. It comes from a friend of mine, Melissa from Transitional Kindergarten.
She has tons of ideas and resources for WBT. This is a powerpoint that is perfect for introducing the WBT concepts and the best part is it's fre.
So those are my 10 pins all about classroom management. I hope to share more about WBT as I get into it. I would love to hear about your experiences using it. Be sure to head over to the party at Just Reed and see what others have pinned.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Book Talk Thursday at the Beach
Chris and I have been on vacation this week. We are in North Carolina. I had never been to the beach in North Carolina but this is where Chris grew up going. It's beautiful and not that crowded which is really nice. This has been a view all week.
To me being at the beach means spending some quality time with my kindle. If you read this blog regularly, you know that I'm a voracious reader. I have read 6 books in the 5 days we've been here. Pre kindle, I would have to have a bag just for the books I bring with me on a trip. Now I have a kindle full of books ready to read and access to more. So I thought I would link up with Reading Toward the Stars for her Book Talk Thursday party. (I know I'm blogging on vacation, but I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep. So that's a good way to spend a few minutes.)
I'm going to share 2 different books I've read. The first is a young adult dystopian novel. Divergent.
I had bought this a while ago on my kindle when it was a daily deal but I just got around to reading it. My friend, Cassie was at the beach last week and she highly recommended it. The book starts out with the main character Beatrice going to take her tests to see what faction she should belong in. Her world is divided into 5 factions that value different virtues. The faction she currently belongs to is the one that values selflessness. Beatrice struggles with selflessness and when she takes her test her results are inconclusive. The story follows her decision of which faction to join and the effects that it has. I loved this book.Beatrice is a very likable and relatable character. I have found myself thinking about the characters and the factions since I finished the book earlier in the week. I think today I'm going to start the sequel, Insurgent. If you liked Hunger Games and Matched, you will like this book too.
The second book I wanted to share with you is the perfect summer read, The Heist by Janet Evanovich.
I am a huge Janet Evanovich fan. I love her Stephanie Plum books and most of the other ones she writes. They are a good easy read that is entertaining. This book just came out Tuesday and I had pre-ordered it. Another feature I love about my kindle. I can have books the day they came out and not have to leave my house. This book starts out with Kate O'Hare, an FBI agent, on the trail of a con man Nick Fox. She captures him eventually but he gets away. This book is funny, fun, and a great beach read.
So those are my recommendations this week, I would love to hear about what you are reading or your thoughts on these. Be sure to head over to Reading Towards the Stars and join the party.
The second book I wanted to share with you is the perfect summer read, The Heist by Janet Evanovich.
I am a huge Janet Evanovich fan. I love her Stephanie Plum books and most of the other ones she writes. They are a good easy read that is entertaining. This book just came out Tuesday and I had pre-ordered it. Another feature I love about my kindle. I can have books the day they came out and not have to leave my house. This book starts out with Kate O'Hare, an FBI agent, on the trail of a con man Nick Fox. She captures him eventually but he gets away. This book is funny, fun, and a great beach read.
So those are my recommendations this week, I would love to hear about what you are reading or your thoughts on these. Be sure to head over to Reading Towards the Stars and join the party.
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