A Few Math Ideas!

My super-sweet teammate sent me a link to a great even and odd intro lesson by Teacher Tipster.  Needless to say, I had to raid my box of trinkets to find a plastic bumble bee!  She also shared the even and odd street bulletin boards she found on The Teacher Wife and Step Into 2nd Grade With Mrs. Lemons.  Look at how cute her odd street looks!!  She had the students use fancy stickers and scrapbook paper to make odd looking haunted houses!!

Click the bulletin board sign below to print it from Google Docs:

I also found the idea for these Even and Odd shoes from Teacher Tipster. 

I got them at Walmart for $5!  They are a men's size 12 so the kids can slip them on over their shoes when they want to use them. 

To start the lesson, I wear the shoes and gave each child a star sticker to put on their right shoe. I call out a number and we all take a step with our starred odd foot and say, "1," then we take a step with our left foot, "2,"... Then, when we get to the number I originally called out, we said "odd" or "even". The kids have fun using the Even and Odd shoes with parent volunteers or with partners to review skills. Thanks, Teacher Tipster!

Line plots, mean, median, mode, and range....NOT exciting topics to teach. This year, I tried to incorporate at least one interactive lesson on creating a line plot and analyzing data.

I began by asking the students to write down the number of pencils that they had in their desk. We gathered on the carpet and left a large space in the middle of us.

One at a time, each student reported the amount of pencils they had. The students picked the starred number that represented their amount of pencils and placed in on the carpet. (I made several copies each digit so there would be enough.) Once all the students put their number on the carpet, we lined them up in order from least to greatest.

As the digits were lined up, the students could easily pick out the MODE, or the number of pencils that occured the MOST. The students could also easily see the range and the median. (Hint: If you are teaching median with this lesson, use an EVEN number for a bigger challenge!)

Do you teach guided math groups? If so, you can also print these digits (listed below) and have the students make up their own questions, role play the responses, organize the data from least to greatest, and find the mode, range, and median. My students did this when they were at their math work station rotation. They LOVE to play teacher! :) This could also be a great alternative assessment. Let them show you what they know!

Then we learned about line plots in an interactive way.

I placed the amount of the pencils, in order from least to greatest, on the butcher paper. The students each had an "X" which represented their "plot." One at a time, they plotted their point for the amount of pencils they had in their desk.

Again, students can easily find the mode and range when the data is represented in this manner. (Check out Christie's awesome blog if you want to print the zebra print alphabet in the picture! Thanks, Christie- your printables are all over my room!!)

I then asked several different questions, such as "How many letters are in your first and last name?" and plotted those responses.

Below are the resources I used for this lesson, including an assessment. Download the pages from Google Documents.

Line Plot Quick Assessment

Hope you are having a great Halloween and won't have too much of a sugar crash tomorrow morning!!

RIP Overused Words

RIP Good, Bad, and Said

We will stop using you over and over again

Instead we will use words like excellent, tremendous, horrible, disgusting, exclaimed, and shouted

Looking for a fun activity to put those overused words to rest? Here's what you do...

First, pick up 3 of these wooden coffins at Michael's:

Next, paint them black, print the words below (I tore the edges and “roughed” them up with a silver stamp pad), and glue them to the top of the coffins.

Click here to download the words.

                

Add some black flowers and you have everything you need for your

Overused Word Funeral!

For the activity...

Each child wrote good, bad, and said on separate pieces of paper. We turned off the lights and played some quiet (and eerie) music.

When it was their table’s turn to put the word to rest, they walked up the center aisle that lead to a small table with the coffins. 

They laid the words inside each coffin and quietly walked back to their seat.

Some kids really took it hard!!

With the lights still off and the music playing, I made a dramatic plea to stop overusing these words. I closed the coffins and told them they would be buried and never seen again!! We wrapped up the lesson by brainstorming other words to use in place of these “dead words” and completed the sheets below. 

Click here to download the bulletin board sign and worksheets.

Lastly, they wrote sentences with great word choice on sentence strips and we put them on display in the hallway with pictures from the ceremony!

Red Ribbon Week Activities

For years we've had dress-up days for Red Ribbon Week. Things such as "Put a cap on drugs" (hat day) or "I won't get mixed up with drugs" (wear mix-matched clothes) seemed to fill up our week, but there was no follow through or education on the dangers of drugs, ways to say no, or drug safety.  It was pretty much left up to the teacher to create ways to get this important message to their students.  Here are a few things I do in my classroom.  I hope you can find them helpful!!

This idea has been done before, but it's always one of my favorites of the year!  Ask each child to bring in a baby picture.  Then, brainstorm some things they might be born to be (a football star, a respectful kid, etc.).  We sit in a circle on the floor and put all of the baby pictures in the middle.  I introduce the term Born to Be Drug Free and ask What do you think that means?  How can we relate that to the baby pictures we're looking at?  After this discussion, I give each child a die cut red ribbon and they write their name on it and draw pictures of things they can do instead of drugs.  It makes a great bulletin board display!

Click the file below to print the bulletin board sign from Google Docs:

Then, I love doing this Candy or Medicine activity!  I raid my candy cabinet and look for pieces that could be mistaken for medicine (Skittles, Tic Tacs, Good 'N Plenty, Sweet Tarts, Altoids, etc.).  Then I look for medicine that resembles candy (cough drops, Tums, Sudafed, etc.).  I put each item in a mini baggie and number them 1-15:

Be sure to always keep these in a secure cabinet!!

Then, I pass out the worksheet.  I hold up each bag and walk it around to each table for everyone to see (I do not let them hold the bag).  I make a big deal, "Is it CANDY or MEDICINE?" and they write C for candy or M for medicine on the chart.  After we've gone through all of the bags, I hold up each one again and ask students what they thought it was and why.  They are often VERY surprised by how many of the items they thought were candy are actually medicine.  We discuss why kids might confuse medicine for candy (they look so much alike!!).

This activity opens up a GREAT discussion about medicine safety...what if they left medicine on the counter and a younger sibling put it in their mouth because they thought it was candy?  I also show them some of the medications that are for adults and we talk about how they should never take medicine from people other than their parents/grandparents.  I point to a bag with an adult medicine in it and tell them that this is for someone of my height and weight.  What if a child took it?  What if they are at a friend's house and they have a headache...should they take medicine from their friend?  What if that friend gave them medicine they've seen their parent take when he/she had a headache?  Is it ok for you to take it?

The in-depth discussions about medicine safety are endless!!

Click here to buy the 5-page file from Teacher Pay Teachers for $0.99

Ghost Hunt: A Writing Activity with Prepositions!

"There's something wierd, in the neighborhood....who you gonna call?? GHOST BUSTERS!!!"
Begin the lesson by playing the Ghost Buster song! Then, tell the students that they will be Ghost Busters and go on a ghost hunt for this writing lesson!

Here are the materials you need:

Tootsie pops, Kleenex, String, and the Ghost Buster song (optional) :)

Have the students make four ghosts by wrapping Kleenex around the Tootsie pops. Tie string around the Kleenex to keep it in place.

When all the ghosts are ready, tell your little ghost busters to put their heads down and hang out at their desks. Turn off the lights and play the music! Have each child one at a time go hide their 4 ghosts somewhere in the classroom. When they are done, have them tap the next student on the shoulder. (It took our class five minutes to do this- or, listening to the Ghost Buster song three times!)

After all ghosts are hidden, it is time to go for a ghost hunt!

Have the ghost busters go find 4 ghosts each.

To start with WRITING part of this lesson, have the students write sentences, using prepositions, describing where the found or hid their ghosts.

The ghosts were hiding INSIDE of the green tree BY my teacher's desk.

The spooky ghost was hiding UPON a large vase of apples OR I found my ghost BENEATH a stack of red and green apples.  

This is also a great lesson on word choice and adding DETAILS to your writing.

Finally, extend the lesson for homework! Your students can be Ghost Busters at home, too! The parents hide the ghosts somewhere in the house and the children go and find the ghosts. Students then write about where the ghosts were hiding....UNDER my bed, ABOVE the TV...you get the idea!

Click on the image to get the homework from Google Docs:

Click on the image to get the lesson from Google Docs:

Happy Hunting!! :)

Fire Safety Printables

With October underway, we made sure to schedule a visit from our local fire department.  They brought a fire truck and ambulance, showed us all of their equipment, and reviewed fire safety and prevention.  It was a great in-school field trip and a nice way to connect with the community!!  

The kids were able to see how their gear was always ready to go even when the firefighters weren't in the truck:

They couldn't believe the pump system:

 And they really loved seeing the carabiner:

(actually, I should re-phrase that...

they really loved saying carabiner over and over and over again!!)

If you happen to have a firefighter come for an in-school visit,

here's a follow-up reflection sheet:

{have the students write the name of your fire department or firefighter

under the3...2...1...We Had Some Fun With title}

Family Safety Plan homework activity: 

Click on the activity pages to download them from Google Docs.

Lesson Tracker Printables

On the first day of school, our principal asked us to write down a goal we have for the upcoming year.  My goal was to spend more time reflecting on my lessons with the students.  I always had good intentions...if we had a few minutes at the end of the lesson we would orally reflect on what was learned but I felt like something was missing or it was inconsistent.  I was looking for a way to make this a part of our daily lessons and be able to connect previous learning with current lessons. 

Put these ideas together and you get "Lesson Trackers". 

First, we meet on the carpet and for a mini-lesson.  After the skill is taught and modeled, I write down the topic of the lesson (Melissa teaches older students and she has the kids write the topic/reflection on the posters).  After the students do the independent part of the lesson, we meet again on the carpet and discuss how they applied the skill and I write their thoughts in the reflection column.
These posters have been a great addition to our daily routine!  We hope you can find them useful, too!  

Click on the link above each poster to download it from Google Docs.

{Please note:  I did take the posters to a local print shop and had them enlarged}

Writer's Workshop Lesson Tracker

Reading Workshop Lesson Tracker Option 1

Reading Workshop Lesson Tracker Option 2

Guided Math Lesson Tracker

Math Lesson Tracker