Teaching With Style: K-3

Showing posts with label K-3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label K-3. Show all posts

 I recently had a DonorsChoose.org project funded that I'm really excited about - Legos to teach place value! I got the idea from my friend Jen who blogged about it over on Hawaii's HSTA HYPE blog.  Basically, instead of using base ten blocks for place value, you use Legos.  Here's why Legos are better:
  • Many students have Legos at home and can use them while doing homework
  • Students have background knowledge of Legos and already love using them
  • Legos create a novelty and bring some fun into your math class

 I was intrigued by the idea, so I wrote up a project.  Here is what I requested:
  • Akro-Mils 24 Drawer Hardware and Craft Cabinet
  • 2 sets of Drawer Separators 
  • 2 sets of Multi-colored 10"x10" Base Plates
  • Brick Separators
  • 1000 1x1 Lego-Compatible Bricks

Did you know that The Lego Store is now an approved vendor for DonorsChoose? So excited about that! Unfortunately, I had to write a special request because it was a few months ago.  

 I went into the Pick-a-Brick section of their website and ordered 240 white 2x10 plates (part # 383201) and 200 gray 1x10 bricks (part # 4211521).  Using five 2x10 plates lined up on top and 3 spread out on the bottom to secure together, I was able to create 10x10 pieces to use as the hundreds pieces.  I got this great idea from Jen, too. 



In our math curriculum, we are currently working on standard 1.NBT.C.4: Add within 100, including adding a two-digit number and a one-digit number, and adding a two-digit number and a multiple of 10. Understand that in adding two-digit numbers, one adds tens and tens, ones and ones; and sometimes it is necessary to compose a ten.

 It's a long standard and it's a hard one for kids who are still very literal.  We've been counting the days in school using base ten blocks every day, but they still don't understand that 7 tens and 4 ones is the same as 6 tens and 14 ones.  Using Legos is absolutely helping.  Here are some photos from class as we were adding two 2-digit numbers and regrouping.




You might be wondering about storage and management. I got the drawer organizer so the kids have easy access to the materials and can grab them when they need them.  We have to practice with them whole group so they will know how to use them independently.  I have 16 sets of tens and ones, but 20 students.  So some of the students share.  We call that "making a strong choice to share" and I praise the ones who choose to share so that others can have their own.  We like making strong choices in my room and doing something that's best for everyone even if you don't want to :) 



I put the brick separators in a little container on the top.  I put the base plates 
in that green scrapbook paper container at the bottom of this pic.

I made these labels, laminated them, and stuck them on to the drawers with double sided tape.  You are welcome to grab this as a freebie! 
Let me know if you end up making a Lego cabinet by tagging me in a pic on IG and using the hashtag #learningwithlegos.  I bet your students will love it! 


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I just finished up teaching about magnets and want to share my new unit with you!

First off, I had to organize the old magnet bucket my teaching partner loaned me.  What a mess!  I spent a good 2 hours sorting and organizing all the magnets and materials before I could even start!

    

Then, to get started, I wanted to jazz up the unit with some OCDE Project GLAD® strategies (Guided Language Acquisition Design - a great way to teach ELLs and all students!).  One of my favorite pictures books about magnets is Mickey's Magnet by Franklyn M. Branley.  


The only problem with this book is that it's out of print, so any copies you are going to find are going to be old.  I was lucky enough to find two copies of the book from used book sellers.  Then, I cut them apart.  I know, I know, it sounds crazy!  Why would I do that?  Keep reading :)


I turned the books into a Narrative Input!  This strategy is a fun way to teach concepts using picture books.  Taking two copies of the book, you cut out the words and glue them onto the back of each of the pictures.  I then laminate each page.



Then, as you read the book and show the picture, you tape the picture up on the wall for the students to see.  This way, they have a visual of the entire book. This approach makes it really easy for kids to practice retelling and sequencing the story.

You can read more about Narrative Input in OCDE Project GLAD® creator Marcia Bretchtel's book Bringing It All Together.

Now, on to my new unit that I used to teach magnets!

I started off with some vocab cards:

And vocab books to teach the words via the Marzano way.

Booklets to explore the Scientific Method:

Seven experiments for hands-on learning:

Four nonfiction articles to teach about lodestones, compasses, temporary magnets, and electromagnets. You can use these whole group or in small groups.  I even included a packet cover if you decide to make a small packet of the articles and comprehension questions for your students.

Students choose one of the article topics and write a short research report.

And there are some extras, too!  A world map to go with the nonfiction articles, a word search to go with the vocab words, a KWHL (the H is for "How will I find the information"), and a Can, Have, Are sheet.

Make sure to head over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store to check it out!  A free copy of a generic vocab page is included with the Preview download!

Here are a couple of my students enjoying the experiments!

Make sure to download the Preview in my Teachers Pay Teachers store to get your copy of the vocab sheet!


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My class had all sorts of fun this week as we celebrated the birthday of a famous author who can't be named!

First up, our amazing cafeteria cook organized green eggs and ham for the whole school and community members to come in and read each class the story!  The kids were especially excited, because they got to eat in the classroom!  We had a local fireman and a bank teller read to our class - it was so fun!  Also, my teaching partner and I used this freebie and dressed up like Teacher 1 and Teacher 2!

Notice the pretty dandelion behind my ear that a student gave me?

Then we used some awesome units to help us explore the author's books and learn about the author's life:
This pack can be used for any author, which makes it so versatile!  I love it!

 This pack has awesome literacy centers that can be used for any time of the year.  It's a fun birthday theme, so it would also be cute to use them during the week that you celebrate summer birthdays in your room!
We also did this fun craft to celebrate the author's birthday!  It has fun writing prompts, too.  We hung our cakes and writing outside on our clothes line, and the kids loved coming up and looking at them at recess!

At the end of the week, after learning all about the author and his books, each child chose his or her favorite book and wrote an opinion paper on why they thought it was the best!  We used my new writing pack In My Honest Opinion!


We used one of the graphic organizers to write out the reasons and evidence to support our opinions.  We wrote our essays, using transition words, on the lined paper, then cut it out, and assembled the phone.  Kids loved that they got to pretend talking on their big phone as they re-read for clarity!


Here is a close up of one of the completed projects.

Here they are hanging outside with our standard clearly stated for admin ;)

Here is a freebie for you, to help you get started on opinion writing.  Head on over to my TpT store to purchase the full unit!



Do you like to celebrate authors' birthdays?  
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Are any of you procrastinators like me?  If so, you are in luck!  If you have the supplies to make cute little crayons, I have cards for you!

Click the picture to download in Google Docs

If you don't have time to make cutsey crayons, you could even just rubber band together 3-4 crayons and give those with the cards.  I'm sure the kids will still love it!

I love making crayons and have done so plenty of times before: birthday parties, student gifts for Christmas or end of the year, even in the kid goody bags at my brother in law's wedding!

You can see a tutorial I did over on Classroom DIY.

Well, this time around, I wanted to try a different technique that have been all over Pinterest - using silicone ice trays in the oven.  You see, I usually melt the crayons in an old double boiler and pour them into candy or soap molds. I've even poured the liquid crayon into silicon molds before, and it worked great.

Making Crayons, Oven and Silicon Mold Technique 

1.  Gather supplies:
    • Silicon ice cube molds (I have a heart one from Ikea)
    • Crayons (I used super cheap ones I got for free at an educational conference)
    • Cutting board
    • Cookie sheet


 2.  Peel crayons and sort by color.

 3. Chop crayons into little pieces.  I actually could just break mine, since they were the cheap kind.  If you are using Crayola, you'll have to chop them.

4.   Place crayons inside the mold, mixing colors that you want.


5.  Put the mold on top of the cookie sheet and bake at 350 until you notice they are melted.  Crayons have a pretty low melting temp, so they don't need to be in there long.


6.   Cool, pop out of the mold and enjoy!!

All in all, I think I will actually stick with my original technique of meting in the double boiler.  For the second batch, I left them in the oven a bit too long, and the mold started to warp.  Also, my mold will not come clean, even after scrubbing several times.  I think a combo of being cooked together in the oven caused more stains.  It worked, but I won't be making crayons this way again.

Once all my crayons were made, I used cute patterned Washi tape to attach my crayons to the back of the cards.  Then I plopped them all in my students' Valentine's bags today.  Easy, peasy!  

What fun things do you give away for Valentine's Day?  I usually give away playdough, but I didn't get on the ball quick enough this year to get it ahead of time.  I'm liking these crayons though, I might need to start a new tradition!

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I'm back with another linky party for Art with Aloha!

This week I'm showing you a project my class did at the beginning of the year.  I did this project last year in 3rd grade, too, and it went just as well!  


The project is from Mrs Brown's Art Class.  I LOVE her website - she has awesome projects!

Directions for this project:
  • Ask students to write their name in bubble letters in the middle of the page in pencil.  
  • Divide the paper into 6ths, with the lines all intersecting in the middle of the page.  I give the kids rulers to make a straight line.  
  • Outline the pencil lines with Sharpies.  Don't use Crayola markers, they will bleed.  I learned that the hard way!
  • Using oil pastels, color the name bubble letters within the fraction.  If you look at the second photo I posted above (second painting down on the right), the H in Haley's name is all red.  But only the part of the A that is in the same fraction piece as the H is red, the rest of the A is orange.  Color each section in rainbow order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
  • Using watercolors, watercolor the same colors over the entire section.  In Haley's example, the section with the red H and part red A, she painted red watercolor over the entire section.  
  • If you want, you can ask your kids to only use red, yellow, and blue watercolor and have them mix colors to make green, orange,and purple.
This lesson can be tied to color mixing, fractions (equal parts of a whole), symmetry, or even a personal history project of how students got their names or what their names mean.
Now it's your turn!  Show off your latest art project, craftivity, or just something colorful.  Let us see what you are working on!  Grab the button below and link up!
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My school is lucky enough to have a K-2 computer lab.  However, our K-2 lab needed some work.  When I got here, it was a windowless cave with bulletin boards covered by sad, faded black paper and random staples.  After a couple of sessions with my kids in there and my trusty staple remover, I've made some progress!

This all started with a vision of posting keyboard shortcuts for students to reference.  I use shortcuts all the time and I wanted to have my students be able to use them, as well.  By posting them in a visual way like this, they can just look on the board to see them, instead of constantly asking me, "How do you print, again?"

But first, I had to make the computer lab presentable enough to hang my shortcuts.  I removed the old, black paper and left the blank bulletin boards.  I figured this was better than faded paper with tons of staples in it.  I added happy, polka dotted border to make it fun.

I taped the border to an old, green chalkboard, and since there was no chalk to be seen, I used my chalk markers and wrote the web address for the 2nd grade test we have to give each month, as well as my classroom website.  I want the kids to learn how to go to these sites on their own, so they can do it at home, too.  I'll add to this list throughout the year and also post websites that other teachers use.

I wanted to have pencils available in the lab, since my students have to take a monthly math test and I want them to work out the problems on paper to verify the correct answer.  We also use these math testing booklets full of allowable resources.
My classroom has 4 Mac desktops (refurnished and granted from Free Geek in Portland, OR).  I hung the page sized reference sheet for Mac shortcuts so students can refer to it to remember how to quit, print, even copy and paste!

If you are interested in hanging shortcut posters in your computer lab or classroom, you can check them out here!



Are you working on sprucing up any rooms in your school?  Maybe you are like me and have a computer lab in need of some love!  

I'm linking up with Katie from Queen of the First Grade Jungle!


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