Brand-New Blog Kick Off & Five for Friday!

Happy Friday to you! Linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday and sharing some wonderful news!

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Brand-New Blog Kick Off!

This week we have been working to get our brand-new blog up and running--Adventures in Guided Math.  We hope you will take the time to check it out, become an adventurer (follower), and enter to win one of our fabulous prize packages!

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A Great Read!

Just about finished reading Laney Sammons' new book, Guided Math Conferences  Check it out on the publisher's website!

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Working Hard!

Courtney spent three days this week helping to create second grade common core math lessons for the state of Illinois.  Hopefully she will share with us the fruits of their labor sometime soon!

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New Ten Frame Clipart

Check out my new ten frame clipart!  It will be on a flash sale, TODAY ONLY, for just $1!

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 It's summer! Need we say more?

Thank you to Doodle Bugs for the opportunity to link up!  Fly on over to check out more Five for Fridays!

All the best for a wonderful weekend!

Fabulous Finds Friday & Five for Friday

It's FRIDAY!  

Thanks for flying on over for our Fabulous Finds Friday Linky and Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaches!

Fabulous Find: Math Stretches

A couple of summers ago, I heard about Laney Sammon's book Guided Math. I just knew I had to buy it and read it for myself. Guided math was something I always wanted to do, especially since I had been doing and loving guided reading for 10 years, but I just couldn't quite grasp how to get it up and running in my classroom. Her book was great and I really liked her idea of Math Stretches. They are short, simple math activities the kids do to "stretch" their brain into thinking mathematically.

Well fast forward to about a month ago. I read (probably on a blog, or Pinterest) that Ms. Sammons came out with a book that focused just on Math Stretches and ordered it immediately (don't ya just LOVE Amazon Prime:). The book I ordered is geared to K-2 and it is fabulous!! Ms. Sammons has GREAT math stretches in all areas of math (number knowledge, algebraic operations, measurement, geometry, data). I have it ready to go when my students arrive in the morning, and we discuss the stretch at the beginning of our math block. She has everything laid out in this book and even when I have a sub, the sub can read the explanation and what the students are to do. Something I don't have to write in sub notes!

This is the K-2 book I have. She has them available in 3-5, and 6-8 also. 
 I HIGHLY recommend it! 

Two-Word Winter Poems

If you have never tried writing two-word poems with your kids, they are a great for any age!  What's so nice about two-word poems? The format is EASY, a two-word poem can be written about ANYTHING, and writing them is a great opportunity for students to use strong adjectives and verbs (personification, too--though I do not use that term with my second graders). Courtney and I just got done doing two-word winter poems with our kids.  The first step was for students to brainstorm any words/ideas that came to their minds when they thought of winter. The lists were long. To reinforce the use of adjectives, we worked as a class to generate some strong adjectives that could be used to describe various nouns that students had on their lists.  Students circled all of the nouns on their lists, and this was a reminder that adjectives could be used to describe those winter ideas (if they chose to include them in their poems).  We also talked about using strong verbs and describing those actions.  We have not worked specifically on the term adverbs as of yet, but this was an introduction to this concept.  The next step was for each student to choose a focus for his/her poem.  Some choices were snow (in general), fun in the snow, snowflakes, bundling up, a fireplace, and hot cocoa.  Finally, students were off and working on their poems.  The rules--two-words per line with a minimum of 5 lines. Oh--and their ideas must "fit together" and make good sense.  I did not provide a lot of guidance during the writing stage.  Students' creations were fabulous! They were perfect to accompany our wintery tree artwork.

Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: Mini-Lesson & Class Book

Many of you have probably seen this mentor text for teaching conventions (use of commas) in writing--Eats, Shotts, and Leaves by Lynne Truss.  I saw a need for more work with using commas consistently and correctly to separate words/ideas in a series within the context of student's writing, so I decided to use this text for a mini-lesson.  It's a fun, yet useful, presentation of how important it is to use commas correctly.  While it presents the use of commas in various ways, other than to separate words/ideas in a series, its illustrations help students understand the purpose of punctuation--to tell their readers how to read their writing.

Here's an overview of the mini-lesson:

Read aloud text.  Students will laugh! Stop to discuss why the text is so funny.  Students will realize how one small thing, a comma, can change how a simple sentence is read. Reassure students that they do not need to know all of the different ways commas are used in the text. Yet, let them know they will need to use commas correctly to separate words/ideas in a series.  Ask students if they remember a page in the text where the author used this skill.  Revisit these pages. Tell students they will get a chance to use commas in this way in the creation of a class book. Project pages from the text that are specific to the skill being taught.  Then give each student a prompt such as, My __________ loves to...  Model using the prompt to write a sentence with the use of commas.  Example: My grandson loves to drink chocolate milk, play Batman, and listen to me read.  After students have finished writing their sentences, tell them to close their eyes and picture what is happening or being described.  Then allow students to illustrate. Compile student work into a class book for future enjoyment and easy reference.

Here are some pages from our class book...

Math Bags

One night, when reading the many wonderful blogs I visit, I came across First Grade Buddies. I read how they incorporate Math Bags during their math block. Now I spend A LOT of my nights and weekends printing, laminating, and cutting activities for my math workstations, and was looking for something that was simple, but still reinforced the math skills my students need. Their Math Bags were just what I was looking for. They have created math skill activities that my students can do independently. I love how the directions for students are easy to follow, I love that I don't have to use colored ink, I love that they reinforce skills we have worked on in the classroom, and I love that they meet Common Core standards.  They are a win, win with me!
  

I purchased the 2nd grade set, but I  know they have them available for Kindergarten and 1st also.  I purchased the seasonal Valentine's Day version too!

New Clipart

Another snow day this week meant some extra time to create some new clipart!  

Check them out in my Graphics by Sarah Beth TpT Store!

Feel free to link up your fabulous finds! Have a wonderful weekend!

Booktalk Thursday, GIVEAWAY reminder, Throwback Thursday, and a FREEBIE!!

Love linking up on Thursday for Booktalk Thursday and Throwback Thursday!  Here goes...

Booktalk Thursday: Now I Get It

This week I chose to share a book that I have had since it came out in 2005--Now I Get It: Strategies for Building Confident and Competent Mathematicians, K-6 by Susan O'Connell.  I am fortunate to have gone to three of Susan O'Connel's workshops related to problem solving and writing about math, and I have found her to be a wonderful resource and great insight into teaching math.  I recently stopped into my classroom to pick up all of my math professional resources to browse--I find that I forget I have some really good stuff... This is one that I found myself reading again.

Why do I like it?

It is comprehensive, shares foundational ideas, and is filled with classroom ideas and student/classroom examples.  Its an all-around good read for teachers, new through seasoned.

You can visit the publisher's website (Heinemann) to overview the contents and read a sample of Chapter 2: Helping Students Understand Basic Facts and Computations. 

Getting this book out made me take a look at the authors website, Quality Teacher Development by Sue O'Connell, to see if she has any new publications of interest.  Just ordered Putting the Practices Into Action yesterday...

 Looking forward to this new read!

Stop over to Reading Toward the Stars for more great booktalks...

GIVEAWAY REMINDER!: Place Value Cubes and Activities

Read my Monday Made It post to learn more about place value cubes...

Enter the giveaway below to win 50 foam place value cubes (for you to customize) AND my Place Value Cube Activities Grades 2-3!  TWO lucky winners will be drawn!! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Throwback Thursday: Classroom Responsibilities Chart

For Throwback Thursday this week, I decided to share the classroom job chart idea that I shared last August.  It worked famously and will be adapted a bit for this coming school year...

*****Originally posted August 13, 2012*****

Inspiration: Classroom Jobs Chart

I was inspired by the classroom jobs chart idea posted on Building a House of Love!  My classroom theme is centered around the beloved Muppets, "Moving Right Along Together in Second Grade".  SO, when I saw this idea I had to create a classroom job chart incorporating our classroom theme...

I formatted each piece in Microsoft Publisher, printed, and laminated before putting together (using the directions given at Building a House of Love).  Then I hung the chart using two Command hooks (fabulous!), after simply punching a whole in each corner at the top. Students' names were secured to clothespins using a hot glue gun.

What I like most about this chart is that it's long, narrow, and fits perfectly by the doorway.  Well, and the fact that the Muppets are represented!!  Moi's proud of how nicely it turned out!!

BTW--The stylists are in charge of making sure the classroom looks good (nice and tidy)...

Head on over to Katie at Building a House of Love for simple, step-by-step directions!

Head over to The First Grade Parade for more Throwback Thursdays!

A FREEBIE!

Last, fly on over to my Graphics by Sarah Beth TpT store to pick up my latest FREEBIE--Dots & Squares Circle Chalkboard Backgrounds!

We will see you tomorrow for Favorite Pins Friday!