Chants!

I don't know about you, but when I discovered Elizabeth Hall's subtraction and sentence chant, I was hooked on them! Love the idea and the kids did too!

I use both of those in my class but while I was going over addition with my class I realized there was no chant for them to remember what to do. So I thought and I thought and then one night (after several months) it just came to me! Thank goodness for Notes on iPhone. I whipped that out and here's what I came up with. 

You can click on the picture to grab your own copy of this chant. 

I wanted to put in words that went with the Common Core and also the vocabulary "sum" so students can start using it and remembering what it means. Of course to go with the chant, there's gotta be some fun moves. We put hand movements to also help us remembering combining and getting bigger. 

Please feel free to come up with over movements that work for you and your class. 

I am also working on punctuation chants. I've noticed in our work with punctuation and sentences, my students know they need to use it but they are always confusing them. So I'm trying to come up with ones to help them remember which to use and when. 

Math and Art

It has been a BUSY past couple weeks in my classroom, I don't know about yours. We have 20 more days left till the last day of school.
A few weeks ago, I did a project with my kiddos putting GoNoodle and math together! It was so much fun. I took a craft of Freckles Sinclair that I found from Teaching in the Tongass. She has 3 that I found and my kids REALLY liked making Freckles. Then I also found a ten frame set that is labeled Do You GoNoodle? from Little Kinder Warriors. We used it as a whole group for a long time and then I couldn't decide what to do for math (let's be honest, it was getting to be the end of the year and it was a Friday, so I did art), so I had the Freckles project done since the start of the year and just never got to it. So since it was done, I thought I would just print off the Do You GoNoodle quickly and BOOM! Art and math all together!

  

So we had been talking about adding to 10 and using the CCSS of "I can add to any number to make 10" so going along with this, I let them choose however many they wanted to put in the ten frame and then fill in the sentences and write the number sentence. Many of them just copied what we had for that day, but others went off on their own, which was fun to see.

The next project I came up with was with Base 10. I got the idea of using pool noodles from Mr. Greg from The Kindergarten Smorgasboard and Mr. Greg came up with the idea of using pool noodles for place value! I did make the big ones like he has but then I had some pool noodles left over so I thought I would make an art project out of em! Why not do the same thing with place value and art! So I cut the pool numbers smaller and in half, so they could glue better, and be 3-D on the paper.

 

To do this, I gave each kiddo 3 dice for them to roll to get their number. I told them it was going to be between 11 and 19, mainly because I only had enough of the "10" one for each kiddo to have 1, and we are always working on teen numbers. You will need to use white glue for this project. I use glue sponges (thank you Mr. Greg) and they were a little dry, I have to remember to spray them at the end of each week.

So those were the latest projects with math and art that I did. The place value one was great because it only cost me $1 maybe $2 and not many copies for the "I have ____ tens and ____ ones. _____ + _____ = _____"
The Freckles one was a few more copies but I think it was worth it. I'm looking forward to making more if I have enough copies. :) I hope you enjoy!

Exit Tickets - A New-Old Phrase

So I know for the past two days (which is a record for me on blogging here) I've mentioned exit tickets. I'm not sure why I didn't think of this newer version before now, but this is a phrase I use ALL the time with my kiddos; "Show me what you know".
So I made a new exit ticket, same graphic, with the "I can" statement. Click HERE to download your copy.

 



I used the I Made my Mark ones today after we watched a Cat in the Hat Knows All About That video on elephants. I gave them their ticket and I asked them to tell me one thing elephants can do with their trunk (great comprehension). I have to say, it went great! For some it was hard to fit everything on the card but I think this will be good practice to write a little smaller. Some kids just wrote a word or two and then drew a picture! I think having pens with a sharper tip so they don't write so bold might help, but I think for right now, they're working great.

I hope you find as much use for them as I have.

Saving Paper and a Freebie!

As many of you may have read in past posts, I have really been trying to work on saving paper in my classroom this year. I may not have believed this from the amount of copies I made (mainly colored) this year, but that really is my goal.
Some of the ways I have been working to save copies is LAMINATING! Oh my goodness I have spent so much of my paychecks on lamination. But it's been totally worth it and my kids have loved it. They get to play all these different games over and over. Here are some pictures from today of my kids during their reading stations. I have many of the same types of things in their math stations and then I will also put the games into their morning work tubs that they do for morning work (saving copies!)

 
These girls are doing Deedee Wills' monthly Predictable Sentences. From using laminated papers so much this year, my students discovered they could also just write on the clear part of the pocket chart. So smart! I also have them write their sentences on their white boards. I do have Deedee's monthly writing station that I do use paper in because sometimes you just need paper.

For Write the Room, which I have many different things for, I laminated the pages and the kids just love going around the room over and over again just re-writing the words. This helps them with spelling the words and also with their handwriting since they are getting a lot of practice. The only thing I don't really like, I'll admit, is that using the expo pen, they don't get that drag they can need for fine motor in handwriting. But like I said before, sometimes you just need paper.

Here are Deedee's April and May Math and Literacy Stations.
These are great and the kids love them too. We took the "I Can" cards (which are the BEST creation because I don't have to keep explaining how to do something) and I taped them to the front of the bags. This way the kids and I know which games should be in which bag. They have been able to put things away much better than in the previous 140 days (it only took me that long to think of it). This picture is how I put all of the "I Can" cards on the outside of the big bags so the kids can see what to do. There of course are smaller bags for the cards. I should have bought stock in Hefty and Glad. :)

 


I also use her Just Roll With It which we use with the big pocket dice (you can find them on Amazon for about $15) and these are great because they can be used over and over again and the Just Roll With It are editable! I should also mention that my students also figured out that you can write on the outside of the dice as well since they have the same clear pockets just like on the pocket chart. This group is so good at finding those little connections.

Yes I did and do spend a fair amount on expo pens and erasers. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are the very best for the expo and laminated pages. What I ended up doing is getting a few packs of erasers and I just cut them into thirds and give the kids baggies with their name on them to keep their pen and eraser in.

 So now onto the freebie! One thing I know many people are using are exit tickets. I have to say that I really love this idea and have used them a bit this year but they just use a fair amount of paper and I look at them, check off what I need, and then they go in the recycle. So I was looking over Maria's site Kinder Craze where she wrote about using Astrobright paper in her room and she had posted one that said "I've got a BRIGHT idea" write and wipe card and this gave me an idea! Why not use this same idea for an exit ticket? I copied them on my astrobright blue paper and we are going to be using them. I'm going to post a question, number sentence, or whatever I need to on my SMARTboard and then have the kids write on their "I've made my mark" card to turn in for their exit ticket. I'll mark off what I need and then we'll use them again! You can grab your own I've Made My Mark card! I hope you find it useful.

I've also come up with another version that says "I Can Show What I Know!" to correspond with Common Core and all the "I Can" statements that we use. You can read about those here and snag the free copy!




















                                                        Graphics are from Whimsy Clips