September 2012 - Queen of the First Grade Jungle

"Sum" Fall Fun and *Sale*

Hangout Day worked!

Mommy got her product finished- wahoo!

Kids are rested- Hallelujah! 

House is a wreck- oops!

My entire store is 20 & off today to celebrate the beginning of fall and the completion of this unit!
Queen TPT Button
If you want to see what is inside this packet (86 pages worth of addition STUFF :) ), simply scroll down.












Happy Fall Y'all! I am from SC so I am allowed to say it :)

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We call it the *Hangout Day*

....Saturday that is.

When my kids come in to see why mommy isn't running around like a mad woman and it is 7:00 am, they realize it is Hangout Day.

What that means for us?

*Daddy left for a job site a few hours away- boo

*My kids.... lots of snuggling in pj's on the couch!

*Mommy is finishing up this...


Sound like a unit you may need?  If your students are like mine, they could use a WHOLE lot more addition time, but your curriculum needs you to keep going. Hopefully these addition games/activities will be quick additions to your plans or math work stations that will help your students work on their number sense and addition automaticity.

Don't worry about me, I will take lots of snuggle breaks and I may make it out of my pj's, but there will be nothing rigorous (I am sure you all are hearing that word a lot right now) about my activity.

Happy Saturday friends!

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Sill Alive...*Making Ten ideas

I promise I am still here... barely.

I joked last time I posted about trying to keep my ipad posts to once a week...I promise in my language it does not mean...never post again.

Like many of you all, my To- Do lists are a mile long...and keep getting longer. Not to kill you with metaphors, but I feel like I am constantly treading water. I promise you all that I am not a slacker...I work my tail off, but there is always something else that needs attention. 

Sorry- enough whining. I have been dying to post a few ideas about teaching addition with a sum of ten. This is one of my favorite math ideas to teach. One of the fourth grade teachers called them "pb & j" facts...the ones that always go together. I LOVE that idea! (I have got to find some clipart to go with that!).

I told my kids that the more facts that we have automatically, the easier all addition problems will be for us. We have informally been talking about doubles facts, but we will tackle those soon as well.

Here are a couple visuals that I saw on pinterest and really liked. Click on the pictures to go to the sources!

This rainbow one has been in my head for awhile and I love the visual.
 I love that it emphasizes the larger one addend is, the smaller the other one is.

So I made a really fast recording sheet for my kids to use, with a free image I found.

Nothing fancy, but I liked the math talk we had after we completed the activity.

Now for my favorite way to teach making ten.

We use the book Ten for Me. I found this book because it is from the publishing company that my sister works for, Sylvan Dell.
Please DO NOT skip on if you don't have this book, I highly suggest getting the ebook version from their website!
Last year I posted about using the book, but this year we went all out!

First we read the adorable book and took notes about all the addition facts we could create with a sum of ten.

Then we broke into our table groups of four. Two students worked with butterflies and jar that I had printed out, and two students wrote the addition fact and the turn-around fact that went with the visual their partners created.

If you are interested in any of these documents, CLICK HERE.
I used Scrappin' Doodles butterflies and a Fancy Dog Border!

After we spent a lot of time exploring, the next day we came back and created these adorable explorers to go with it!

First we did the math part :)

Then we made our own versions. 


Do I need to try and upload the template for the butterfly hunters??

Here is the final hallway display!

 I promise I will be back soon!!!!




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Ipad love...

I will try and keep my ipad posts to about once a week...

Really, I will.

I know many of you are seriously craving this technology and don't have it available to you.  I also know that many of you have one/a couple/ or several ipads.  BUT the truth is the ipads are a huge part of my classroom this year; therefore, my blog must grow a little bit with me. 

We are officially 17 days into school...did I mean 70...know I guess 17 is right- so I want to share some valuable things I have learned so far:

1. Follow Smart Apps for Kids on facebook:

I can't tell you how amazing this facebook page is. They have the inside on when FABULOUS apps run free for a day or a few hours. I have gotten several Everyday Math games and many great ebooks. They also have a website where they rate apps. This website/facebook pack is an absolute must. 

2. Ipads motivate.

One of my best friends (3rd grade teacher) was admitting   discussing how she bribes her intervention kids to come into her classroom quietly with M&Ms.

I told her I had something way better than candy. I have ipads.
My classroom engagement has gone through the roof.
We use ipads to learn, demonstrate learning, and to extend our learning when we have mastered the current content.

We do not JUST play. 

We LEARN through PLAY.

3.  Rules are a must.

Just like anything else in my classroom, you stay within the simple guidelines and respect your classmates/me/our tools you are golden!

You lie or deceive me by getting into forbidden apps during work time, and just watch how quickly Mrs. King can delete every fun app on your device.

I have only had to do that with one student, but it has left a lasting impression :) 

(Do not feel bad for the student- he has opportunities to earn those apps back!)

4.  Sometimes it is absolutely worth it to purchase an app when free versions just aren't cutting it.

Just like we turn to sites like TPT when we are in need of some quality activities/lesson plans, sometimes the apps that cost money are just that good. I will be back soon with a post packed full of wonderful free apps!

Here are a few the apps that I love:

Click on the pictures to read full summaries and learn about costs.

1. Bugs and Bubbles- Math, Letters, and Games
  
2. Bugs and Buttons- Math, Letters, and Games
3. LetterSchool- Handwriting
4. Whiteboard Pro- To demonstrate Learning

5. Hungry Fish- Math
6. Wings- Math (groundwork for multiplication)
7. Teach Me- 1st Grade- ALL subjects
8. Lakeshore- Beginning sound game
9. ABC- Magnetic Land(better than free versions because of numbers, pictures, and lowercase letters)
10. Story Buddy- digital storytelling


It is officially 30 minutes past my bedtime (sadly 9:00) so I will be crawling up to bed now. Night night friends!

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**Spelling City Giveaway**

I know you have heard about SpellingCity.com.

I remember when I first started using the free version of Spelling City a couple of years ago, I thought I was in heaven! I could import Spelling City lists or create my own and my kids would get right to work during literacy centers or on our trips to the computer lab.

Here is a picture of what my homepage looks like when a student logs in and is getting ready to work on our spelling words!

I just figured out that I can group my lists according to what they are (spelling, sight, or vocabulary words) so that my students can easily look through the list possibilities.  And I know you are going to ask so- yes, this aspect of Spelling City is a component of a premium membership.

Here is a screenshot of one of my kids' favorite games.  Hangmouse is just like hangman- just not quite so gruesome :)

You know how much I like my pictures, so here is some proof of our love!



The following are screenshots of some games (part of the premium membership) that I can't wait to get my higher kids interested in playing.

The next screenshot shows WordFind: a great way to work on making multiple words from one of the spelling words. 

Two things happened with Spelling City made my experience with them even better: 1. I lucked out with a Premium Membership for my WHOLE class and 2. Spelling City came out with an app!

Now I can't help you out with access to the ipads, but I can help you out with the premium membership for your class of 25.

I hope you take the time to enter this FABULOUS giveaway!

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