Math, Math, and More Math

Hey friends!

I know I am blogging A LOT about math this year...but that was my goal for the year. I wanted my math workshop to be more purposeful. So I am really excited about the changes I have made and want to share them with you!

The first thing I changed was my weekly math block schedule. Now everyday we do a quick calendar time on the smartboard, followed by our math lesson & activity, followed by one math station. This is what our math block looks like Monday-Friday.

I have a very active group this year. I find that splitting math up into these 3 main chunks really helps to keep them engaged. We don't spend extended amounts of time sitting at the rug or sitting at their desks. This is super helpful!

I have also changed the dynamic of our math lesson time. Instead of a typical lesson where the teacher stands up front and shows them/tells them about something, I have switched to Math Reads, or Math Through Literacy. The kids are LOVING this. It really keeps them engaged and involved!

Here are our activities from this week...

Our focus for the week was the number 10 and 10 frames (we will focus on them next week too).

We used the book 10 Hooting Owls. I like to read the book in advance during our read aloud time, so usually the day before I want to use it in math. That way, I can just paraphrase during our math lesson, instead of having to read it word for word.

Day 1:

We played number recognition bingo with the numbers 1-20. I still have some friends that have trouble identifying their teen numbers. We played a few times with me showing them the number as I called it and then a few times with me just calling the number, but not actually showing it to them.

Day 2:

Each student had a 10 frame, 10 owls, and a recording sheet. I walked around with the book 10 Hooting Owls and paraphrased 1 page at a time. As I would read a page, the kids would model what had happened in the story on their 10 frame. Then I would ask them to share out how we could represent what had happened with an equation (10 owls were watching a movie, 1 left to drink a smoothie...10-1=9). This book was great for practicing 1 less. At the end it throws them a curve and all of the owls come back, so they have to know to switch to addition for the last equation. My kids are loving using manipulatives to model the story as I read. I think it really helps them to understand what is happening and build their concrete knowledge of addition & subtraction.

Day 3:

I prepped 2 story problems for the second day. I currently have 6 special education students in my class. During our math block, the special ed teacher pushes into my room to assist. I like to give her the option of choosing which prompt will be most appropriate for her students. Here were the prompts:

Option 1 (which I gave to most of my students): The hooting owls knitted 10 socks. Some of them are blue and some of them are green. What are some possibilities?

Option 2: The hooting owls knitted 10 socks. If 4 of them are blue, how many are green?

Day 4:

We played Collect 10. This was the first time we played it, so I showed them how to play it whole group, then split them into groups of 2-3 students. Each group had their own set of cards to play with. I copied the cards onto my wonderful Astrobrights paper and laminated them before we played.

Essentially the game is like Go Fish and the kids have to make pairs with cards that make 10 together. The ten frame cards are from It Makes Sense: Using 10 Frames to Build Number Sense (Math Solutions book).

The kids loved playing the game! Now that they know how to play, I can throw it in a math station for additional practice! Yay!

Day 5:

On Friday we practiced our counting charts. I start the kids off easy (well, easy for some of them) by writing their numbers 1-25. As a student can successfully write to 25 without any backward numbers, I move them on to the next chart, 1-50, 1-75, 1-100, and finally 1-120. We start out doing these every Friday so that they know the expectation and where to turn in their paper. Eventually, this will become Friday morning work so that it doesn't take up instructional math time!

So there is our week of math! This is the 5th book we have used as a Math Read. You can click these links to read about the others that we have used:

A Squash & A Squeeze

Mouse Count

Pete the Cat & His Four Groovy Buttons

Handa's Surprise

As I've mentioned before, I'm creating a file of the things I'm creating to use with these. I'm not sure if I will post them each separately, or if I will post them as a big bundle...or possibly both and the bundle will be discounted?

This week was also our 2nd week of our apple study. The first week we created a KWL and read non-fiction books to learn as much as we could about apples.

This second week we still read some books, but we also got to experience some different kinds of apple products!

On Monday, the students were given a slice of a red apple, a green apple, and a yellow apple. Before tasting them, they had to draw a picture of the apple and describe its characteristics. Then they were able to taste each one and add to their description. Last, they voted on the smartboard for which apple was their favorite! On Tuesday, the students revisited the graph they made, colored one to match at their desk, and then wrote 3 sentences about the graph. On Wednesday they got to taste apple juice and apple cider. Again, they voted on their favorite.

On Friday we created mosaic apple art projects. (The other apple art project above was from the previous Friday art project.) The mosaic project idea came from A Little Lovely.