Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Hamburgers and Hotdogs SLAP!
I know that some of you are already out of school for the Summer but we still have 2 more weeks to go! I'm actually kind of glad (I know I'm nuts! but I really like my class and we have a lot of fun together). I made this game to help the kids continue to strengthen their automaticity of their math facts in addition and subtraction. I know they will get a bit loud when they play this but it's the price we have to pay! They get so excited when they play these kind of games. I made them hamburgers and hotdogs in honor of Memorial Day! Get ready for a fun time in your room!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Q R Codes and Shapes and fractions!
I discovered QR codes from reading Swamp Frog First Graders Blog and they are the neatest things. If you are not sure what they are then here's the scoop. You know how you go to the grocery store and they scan the bar codes on the products so you know how much they cost? Well a QR Code , which by the way stands for" Quick Response", is a square box that has all kinds of geometric shapes in it that when scanned by a QR reader has all kinds of information imbedded in it. I first saw one in a magazine that had an advertisement for a movie. There is a free download at http://www.qurify.com that allows you to make the codes. Then you can use an ipod that has a camera and also has an app on it (you can find it free to download, ask your IT person because I don't know what it is....but I do know that Apple has one for free) and then click away. You can also use a Smart Phone that has the app downloaded on it. These really are soooooooo cool. I've made my kids names and then they went around the room looking for theirs. So, I've made this sheet that kills 2 birds with one stone. The kids click on the QR and it tells them to draw a shape and then to make it into a fraction. I hope someone out there will be able to use this. My mind is spinning with ideas of things to make and use in the classroom.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Equal or Not equal or in other words: Baby Algebra
For some reason my post got deleted!!! So, I went and fixed it up a bit and here you go, the new and improved Equal or Not Equal Game. My kids played it and offered suggestions and they were very good ones! Here's the game and there is a recording sheet that is in a separate download. I hope your kids have fun playing this and let me know what you and they think. I love feedback........ I seem to thrive on it.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Critter Color Tens and Ones
I guess I'm on a color in kick! The kids work in pairs or groups of 3. They choose a card that has a base ten block picture on it. They figure out the number and then look for the number on the critter sheet. They color in the number. If they choose a card and there isn't a space to color in then they loose their turn. When the whole sheet has been colored in they count to see how many each player colored to find the winner.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Children's Engineering: Long Ago and Today
We just had our school wide Engineering Fair and it was a HUGE success! My school is located in Albemarle County, Virginia which is home to the University of Virginia. Several classrooms in my building were working with The University's Curry School of Education and the UVA School of Engineering since the start of school last fall. We were given printers and fabricators to use with software (Fablab and Community Construction) that was designed by people in the Engineering department at UVA. I was one of the fortunate teachers that got to work with these talented people. We worked on several different projects but our favorite is the comparison communities we made showing Long Ago and Today. One of our state's Standards of Learning (SOL's) is comparing life from today with that of long ago.
Before I even began to teach this concept I showed the kids pictures and read books about buildings. We talked about the shapes that we saw in them. Then we did a wonderful art project I found on
http://www.deepspacesparkle.com
that had to do with shapes and buildings. Here are some samples of the finished product.
When I began to teach the SOL, I started out by reading the book "A Street Through Time" and having the kids tell me as we went through each era what they saw that stayed the same and what was different.
We brainstormed all businesses and buildings that we see here in Charlottesville and then made a list. We sorted them into different sections such as businesses that help us, ones that keep us safe, ones that are fun, etc. This tied into our Economics Unit of Needs and Wants and Buyers and Sellers.
We then designed our community and decided what "Earth" features we wanted in it. We knew that all living things need water, so the kids said we would need to have either a lake or a river. They ended up deciding that they wanted both. They continued to design the community putting in a railroad, roads and bridges.
Then we were ready to plan our community: where we wanted the buildings to go. We used squares of paper and the conversation the kids had doing this was awesome. They really thought out where things should go and thought about the problems that may come from a placement. It was really amazing to hear them at this young age problem solve together.
Now it was time to work with our friends from UVA. They came in along with our Gifted Resource teacher and the kids worked on the computers making their buildings. They used the Community Construction software and each child made 4 buildings. 2 businesses from today, 1 home from today and 1 home from long ago. The kids got to pick the size of their buildings along with the siding that would go on it. Again, they did a fantastic job thinking about what the building should look like. I went online and found different kinds of roofs and sidings for them to choose from.
From there we printed and fabricated the buildings. The kids loved watching them come out of the machine (it's called a Silhouette) and seeing the buildings go from a 2D shape into a 3D shape.
When all of the buildings were finished, we then went back to our community we mapped out and started to put the buildings down. The comparison between the Community of Today with that of Long Ago came alive before their eyes.
It was a very fun way to learn about the differences.
Our Community of Today
Our Long Ago Community
Here are what some of the buildings looked like close up.
Look at the details in the sidings and the roofs, pretty cool!
Then we wrote about all we did to make these communities, the struggles and the triumphs we experienced. We also wrote about the comparisons between the two communities, what would be the same and different from living Today and Long Ago.
Our final step will be to go on a field trip to a Living History Museum called the Frontier Culture Museum located in Staunton, Virginia that has houses from Long Ago. The cool part is my kids will be looking not only on how they looked, lived and dressed but also at the architecture of the buildings.
I've attached the design brief that I wrote for this project.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
This Was a Request!!
Awhile back I had a request to make one of my hidden sight word finds using the alphabet. I made this one with the upper and lowercase letters hidden. I know this is way too easy right now for first graders but in the fall when we go back it should be o.k. I'm sitting here while we are having a terrible storm outside, thunder and lightening with large hail! It's actually kind of cool. It's been so hot here in Central Virginia so hopefully this will cool things off and make it more seasonal outside. Anyway, hope there are some out there that will enjoy this alphabet find.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Dino Color By Numbers
Here's another one but the numbers have been changed a bit. I was thinking of the boys in the class when I made this one!
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