EnVision Math Journals

We use EnVision Math at my district, and I've been searching for ways to make it a little more interactive and differentiated, so I've been working on these math journals! I started with Topic 4, because that's what we're on right now, but I plan to make all of the topics as well.

*Click the picture to see it on TPT*

*Click the picture to see it on TPT*

I'm going to be using these journals during the last 10-15 minutes of class as a way to summarize the lesson and do individual checks for understanding. I'll collect the journals daily and quickly browse through to see whether or not the student comprehends that skill.

You could also use these during guided math groups as independent time! My math block isn't very long this year, so I'm not running math group rotations, but that'd be my ideal situation for sure!

Low Prep Math Games

Heyo! Hopefully you're not fighting the allergy/cold/death thing that's going around my school! I think everyone is sick right now. I feel like I swallowed a razor blade, and I've used at least a pound of tissues in the last week or so. I think I'm on the up swing, but this rainy weather we've had the last few days isn't helping. Blah.

I digress.

I've been getting into the habit of having my students play a simple math game that focuses on the skill for the day, or one that reviews a skill we previously learned that I don't want them to forget! I use this time to meet with my lower math students to reinforce the skill and it's been working out great! I wanted to share a couple of easy LOW PREP math games that you can use and adapt to meet your needs!

Today we learned about doubles facts, so once we were done with independent work, I put them into groups of 4 with a tub of dominoes. The students put all the dominoes face down, then took turns flipping over 2 at a time. They then used those numbers to make one addition sentence. If their addition sentence was correct, they got 1 point. If they could write a DOUBLE, they got 2 points. The students wrote their problems on whiteboards, and the rest of the group was responsible for checking their work. I wish I could take credit for this activity, but the idea came from one of my teammates. The kids LOVED playing this game, and were so sad when I rang the bell to clean up!!

Another game that we're hooked on and could easily be adapted to meet ANY skill (even in other subjects!) is called "4 in a Row," which is a variation on Connect 4. This day, we were learning to solve addition problems with 0, 1, and 2. I made this worksheet in Microsoft Word in literally 2 minutes. It's that easy. I made a 5x6 table and filled it with addition facts that add 0, 1, and 2. Students play this game with a partner, using counters or some other game piece that you've got lots of in 2 different colors (cubes, bingo markers, bears, etc.) If they can solve the problem, they can cover it. The goal is to get 4 in a row, so their partner is constantly trying to block them at the same time. It was SUCH a fun way to review these math facts while having a little bit of quality competition among friends! Just wait till you see how excited your kiddos get playing this game! 

Both games can easily be adapted to meet multiple skills. I'm in the process of making a "Long A 4 in a Row" since my aide is going to be out tomorrow, and a sight word version since we'll be testing our first marking period words next week. Super fun! Super easy!

Techno Thursday!

Greetings! I've been using my iPad more and more every day in my classroom! I wanted to share a few new fun (and some free!) things we've been enjoying in first grade! Before I start mentioning apps, I must also tell you about THE most amazing thing I've heard of in quite some time. If you already knew this was possible, please ignore my enthusiasm. If you have a digital projector in your room, you can hook an Apple TV into the back to wirelessly stream WHATEVER is on your iPad directly through your projector. Our amazing PTO purchased one for me, and it's been a lifesaver. It's great for introducing new apps, projecting student work, the possibilities are endless... Look into it!

Our MOST favorite app is currently Don't Let the Pigeon Run This App! by Mo Willems... If your students are as obsessed with Mo Willems as mine our... Well, let's face it, I'm obsessed, too... They'll LOVE this app! It allows you to create your own Pigeon stories with endless possibilities, and even lets you record YOUR voice to be read within the story... Has provided endless entertainment during inside recess with all this rain! Highly recommend. There's even a Pigeon drawing tutorial. PLUS, the whole thing is narrated by Mo Willems. My kids were over the moon.

*Click to view in the app store*

*Click to view in the app store*

We just started our fractions unit, and I found this SUPER simple and *FREE* pizza fractions app. My kids love it. 

 *Click to view in the app store*

*Click to view in the app store*

Another math favorite is SLIDE! There are multiple versions of this game... some free, some paid, but all the same general concept. It's designed for 1-4 players, and students simply "slide" the right answer to the center. I love how one student sits on each side of the iPad. They rock at sharing this game.

*Click to view in the app store*

Any favorite apps that keep your kids busy and engaged?

New products for the big sale!

ARE YOU CRAZY PUMPED FOR THE GIANT TPT SALE!? My cart is a little too full at this point... Oops! My store is set at an extra 20% off on top of the regular sale... Enjoy!

Just in time for the mega sale, I've added 2 new products!

March Morning Work is done! I worked REAAAAALLY hard to have it done for the sale!

AND, since March was the last month that I needed to do, I also posted a MEGA BUNDLE! It's a combination of ALL my morning work pages... 245 in all!

Stay tuned for a new post soon! I've been using mentor sentences in reading groups to teach adjectives this week... My kiddos responded really well, and I was super happy :-)

Five For Friday!

This week has been absurd. We had in-service on Monday. Tuesday was a snow day. Wednesday was a 2-hour delay. Report cards are due next week. There were about 5 assessments that needed finished. I'm officially tired of snow. Like, for real. Without further ado, here's some of what happened in my life today...

1 - I revamped my math bulletin board today... It was due for a change. I always forget to update don't update the board as often as I'd like. To help counteract that, I went through the EnVision curriculum and typed up Essential Questions for the whole first grade curriculum. Yeah, it took awhile, but I'm really hoping that it'll keep me ahead of the game with updating my board! If you use EnVision, the EQ's are FREEEEE in my TPT shop.

2 - CUPID SHUFFLE! So, we were doing a brain break this morning during our sight word test. I'm obsessed with finding Just Dance videos on youtube - they make the perfect brain break! Today, I found Cupid Shuffle and we had a blast... THEN, today's math lesson was finding 1 more, 1 less, 10 more, and 10 less on a hundreds chart... I immediately started singing the Cupid Shuffle to help them understand! For 1 more, go TO THE RIGHT, TO THE RIGHT, TO THE RIGHT! For 1 less, go TO THE LEFT, TO THE LEFT, TO THE LEFT! Priceless. They totally got it. I totally made it up on the spot planned it ahead of time. #win

3 - Favorite quotes of the day...
Student: "Did you know that Justin Bieber got arrested?"
Me: "Yes... Moving on."

Student: "Did you know that the farm show smells like... animals?"
*DUH*

Same Student: "I love Skippyjon Jones. I love when he goes into his closet to imaginate."

4 - The heat was broken in our faculty room today... Womp womp. I had to eat at my desk (with a space heater underneath) just so I could feel my toes. Crazy talk. In other news, my spaghetti squash with homemade lamb meatballs was INCREDIBLE. That yogurt you see? Not so incredible. Hated it.

5 - Bus dismissal. Walkers had already left. Secretary calls. It's so-and-so's last day. He's moving tomorrow.... I had NO clue. Didn't get to say goodbye, and he's one of my favorite kiddos... Very bummed.

Have a good weekend, ya'll... I'm off to happy hour with some friends for some much needed relaxing after a long week!

CAUTION! Hard Hats Required!

So. My district adopted EnVision math last year. I'm fairly satisfied with it, for the most part. There's only one thing I really don't like... Lesson 2-10.

I taught it last year, and it was a train wreck. I felt like I had been run over by a bus. The students looked like I was speaking German. When I saw it come up in my planning, I was determined to fix it.

Essentially, the lesson meets standard 1.OA.7, showing the meaning of the equal sign. The essential understanding for the lesson reads "The difference can be written at the beginning or end of a subtraction sentence, as long as the number or expression on each side of the equal sign are the same amount." Seriously? That's algebra. Here's what the student page looks like...

I understand the concept. I realize it is an important concept. I feel like the lesson is just a little too early for first grade. Here's what I came up with... Remember those little colored white boards I found in the Target Dollar Spot? Since I only have a few of them, I haven't yet realized their full potential. Until today, at least.

I spent about 10 minutes reviewing how to make "NORMAL" addition and subtraction problems with the information from a part-part-whole mat. I explained HEAVILY that on our boards, the yellow board was the whole, and that the green boards were the parts.

That's when I blew their minds. I put on my trusty hard hat, since we were "destroying" math problems today. I picked up the difference and the equal sign and moved them to the front of the problem. Then I put them back. Then I put them on the front again. Then I put them back again. Then I put them on the front again. I needed wanted my little firsties to totally understand WHY the problems still worked with the answer at the front.

Here's one of my little guys (all dressed up for picture day) filling in the blanks BY HIMSELF. Last year, when I taught this lesson, there was no independent practice. NONE. Today, I feel like I still blew my kids' minds, but at least they figured out what I was talking about.

I think it REALLY helped for them to see the whole as a different color. Tomorrow, there will be MUCH reviewing, and I think I'll swap the yellow board out for another green one to see if they can still plop those numbers into the right place!!

Does your math series teach this standard in a similar way? How do you teach it without completely losing your first graders??

May Morning Work!

Whew! I've been VERY productive on my day off! Dropped the dog off at the groomer at 9, got my hair cut, went to school to run all my copies for next week, hit up the dollar tree, picked up the dog, and I've been working on my May Morning Work all afternoon! It is FINALLY finished and up for grabs on TpT.

I'd love to give away some free copies! Leave your email address on my facebook page (click the button on the side of my blog to get there.)  I'll pick TWO winners Sunday night.

Graphing fun!

Happy Wednesday, everybody! I hope you're all having a super-dooper week! We just started talking about data and graphing in math, and my little firsts really enjoyed making this graph as a group! Sorry for the terrible pictures, all I had was my on-the-fritz iPhone. Seriously, I'm due for an upgrade next week and it just started acting up...

Anywho, terrible pictures aside, we graphed our favorite book characters as a warm-up to today's lesson. I let them all choose a character to color, then we talked about the best way to organize our information. I was SO proud of them for pulling out that background knowledge and screaming "WE CAN MAKE A GRAPH!" Yes. Yes, you can!

*If you're a Mo Willems fan like I am, you'll see why I squealed with joy upon finding this little gem... Mind you, I gave them just a standard pigeon, not holding anything in his hands.*

She gave him a flipping hot-dog!  made my day. After making our class graph, we moved onto today's lesson. We use EnVision math, and today's lesson started with a bar graph that I asked them questions about. Every question I asked was along the lines of "looking at the graph, how many..." or "on the graph, what can we..." You get the point. I jammed the word graph down their throats.

5 minutes into the lesson. Hand goes up.

Me: "Yeah, what's up?"
Captain Obvious: "IT'S A GRAPH!"

Yes. Yes, it is.

We also just planted our brassica seeds (we use FOSS kits.) We're really hoping they sprout soon, because looking at soil is getting a little boring. Do you use FOSS kits or something similar? I'm struggling with keeping it exciting, and am looking for input!

Have a good night!

April Morning Work

Are you tired of having morning work that only covers one skill at a time? I decided that my firsts needed a little bit more. I designed April Morning Work to keep their brains charged and running.

This packet has 25 pages... more than enough to keep your students busy during April! It touches on the following topics, aligned to the Common Core...

Even and Odd Numbers, Telling time to the hour and the half hour, Skip Counting by 2, 5, & 10, Number Order, Fact Families, Writing and solving story problems, Adding and subtracting by tens, Patterns, Greater than, less than & equal to, Finding missing addends/numbers, Days of the week, Expanded form, Tally marks, Graphing, Doubles , Making 10, 10 more & 10 less, 1 more & 1 less, Identifying shapes, Mental math, Adding 3 numbers, Hundreds charts.

Want a free copy???

All you have to do is head on over to my Facebook Page, hit LIKE, then leave a comment here to tell me!  If you already LIKE my page, just leave a comment here.  I'll randomly pick a winner Easter morning!  Good luck!

Telling Time Freebie!

Hello all! Even though I had very little downtime today (indoor recess, AND the computer aide was out today,) I was super productive! I made this little freebie to help my firsts with telling time to the hour and the half hour. I had lots of fun making this one with my new clock clipart from Little Red's Schoolhouse. Click the pictures to head on over to TpT and snatch it up!

Enjoy!