Welcome Back!!!

by C. Elkins, OK Math and Reading Lady

Welcome Back! Here are a few links to some of my previous posts regarding teamwork, student engagement, literacy and math. You might be interested in these to help start your journey this year.  And in case you didn’t see it, I have an easy link to most of my own free resources. Click here to get it now, but it is also available in the black bar above. Have a great start to your year and Enjoy!!!  Please invite some of your new teachers to check out my blog! Also check the categories list on the website (side bar if using a monitor, bottom of the webpage if using a phone). The search bar might also help you with what you are looking for. Have a great start to your year!!

  1. Getting to know you literature connection and math activity
  2. Building a classroom community (includes link to great team building practices)
  3. Writing part 1
  4. Guided Reading Part 1: Getting Started
  5. Guided Reading Part 2: Routines and Procedures
  6. Meaningful Student Engagement: Whole Class Reading
  7. Daily Math Meeting Part 1: Building Number Sense
  8. Daily Math Meeting Part 2: Subitizing
  9. Addition and Subtraction Part 1: Numerical Fluency
  10. Addition and Subtraction Part 3: Facts Strategies
  11. Multiplication Strategies Part 1
  12. Fractions Part 1: The basics

Some other tips to get prepared for your literacy lessons:

  • Organize your classroom books. Small tubs that can be brought to desk pods is helpful. Labels such as these help get the books returned to the right tub:  animals, friends, plants, weather, Clifford, by author, etc.  Think about a gradual release of your reading materials so students aren’t overwhelmed at the beginning of the year.  This way you can go over procedures for book selection, silent reading, how to treat books, etc. When I was in the classroom, I selected 5 tubs to put out onto desk pods each week (1 tub per pod). These were rotated daily.  The tubs were selected based on developmental level and theme. At the beginning of the year the tubs might be: friends, school, alphabet, problem solving, etc. Students could select from the tub at their pod during the day instead of everyone gathering at the bookshelf. Each student made a bookmark with their name on it (which I laminated).  They could put their book mark in it to signal to others in their group that they wanted to continue with that book later in the day. Each group had a “captain” for the week and they were in charge of making sure the books were in good order.
  • Plan for your word wall. I recommend building the word wall as the year goes along, with the children involved in placing words there (rather than coming in with a complete “busy” word wall).
  • Make a pledge to keep your guided reading table cleared and ready. Do you have these materials handy? Small whiteboards, markers, erasers, pencils, letter tiles or magnetic letters, sight word cards, pointers, small magnifying glasses, post-it notes, laminated graphic organizers, small teaching reference charts . . .
  • Literacy activities for students to do while you are assessing.  Get out those task cards for students to review skills from last year so you can do your required assessments. Try to include a running record if possible to help determine each child’s strategies. Procedures for the activities will be important to establish so that by your sixth week of school you will be ready to start guided reading.

General welcome back tips:

  1. Sharpened pencil(s): This is my most recommended tip. Give each student 1-2 already sharpened pencils to start their first day.  I learned this the hard way. First graders couldn’t sharpen their own pencils so I just about tore my arm/shoulder up sharpening pencils for them. Plus the electric one can’t take so many attempts. So it’s worth it!!
  2. Welcome bag: Check out this link for a cute poem and ideas for goody bags to welcome your students to your class: https://blog.reallygoodstuff.com/welcome-back-to-school-goodie-bags-by-hadar-maor/
  3. Think about how you are going to keep contact with parents.  I recommend some of the following:
    • Keep a separate log to keep track of phone, text, or email contacts (date, student name, parent name, reason, result)
    • Make it a goal to contact a specific number of parents each week with good news.
    • Try a weekly or monthly class newsletter. This is a great communication tool to let parents know what stds. you are working on, what they can do to help at home, activity ideas, sharing successes, advise them of things coming up, etc.
    • Start your own blog for your class. Then you can include the above newsletter type items, plus pictures, etc.
  4. Work to create a classroom community. I love the Responsive Classroom approach (Morning Meeting is one highly recommended routine). Everything you can do to build the sense of a classroom community will pay off in many ways!! Here is their website link to great articles and advice: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/articles/

More Number Talk Ideas – Part 1

by C. Elkins, OK Math and Reading Lady

I’m back after taking a couple of months off from blogging! I know some of  you are already back at school, while others will be starting this coming week. I wish the best with all the uncertainties that still lie ahead. BUT most of you are back in the classroom this year, which is a good thing, right? 

I am a big advocate of implementing Number Talks as part of a short daily math routine. Most of my previous number talk posts have focused on students sharing strategies for solving problems involving number strings and using known problems to stretch for new problems (such as 3 x 4 and then 30 x 4 or 10 + 8 and then 9 + 8).  Today I would like to start a two-part post about other good quality number talk options which are also designed to elicit critical thinking.

  • Picture Talks
  • Which One Doesn’t Belong (WODB)

Next post will be these two:

  • Esti-Mysteries
  • Data Talks

Tips for Implementing:

  1. There are multiple ways to interpret, so students can participate at different levels.
  2. Project them on a large screen, and allow writing on it to capture the thinking process.
  3. A great question to start with is, “What do you notice?”
  4. These are great to share with a partner before discussing with the whole group.
  5. You may need to assist students with verbally explaining their thinking. Summarize so everyone understands.
  6. Relish the chance to introduce or review new vocabulary.
  7. Design your own, and have students create some as well.
  8. Be amazed at the many different ways to interpret these!

Picture Talks

This involves the use of pictures of objects with the purpose of telling how many and how they were counted (simiar to dot cards, but actual photos of objects arranged in rows, arrays, groups, etc.). A terrific way to practice subitizing, doubles, near doubles, equal groups for multiplication and division, fractions, as well as create story problems with them. Great questions for these picture talks:  How many? How did you see them?

Many of them can be found on google images, but a good resource is via Kristen Acosta.  I participated with her on a recent webinar and was hooked. I have tried many of these with my Zoom online students and they enjoy them because there are multiple ways to analyze a picture to determine how many.

  • This is Kristen Acosta’s website. She has posted her photo images free, although you may need to subscribe to access them. She also has other math treasures on her website!  She has a few using egg cartons, which inspired me to go crazy and make my own photos. Feel free to use these below, or take your own! https://kristenacosta.com/number-talk-images/
  • Char Forsten is well known in the Singapore Math world. I have had this book for many years and love it! It is great for PreK-2nd grade. What’s inside? Nursery rhymes with pictures that are full of math content. Suggestions for questions to help students notice the pictures to find number bonds. Other photographs you can place under your document camera to project as you discuss. The book is rather expensive, but I found the digit version which is $15.
  • Math Talk by Char Forsten (Digital copy for sale by sis4teachers.org)
  • Math Talk by Char Forsten & Torri Richards (Amazon)

Example of different ideas students might have on how to count this:

Which One Doesn’t Belong?

Inspired by the book (or vice-versa), you will see 4 images, numbers, letters, shapes, graphs, etc. To elicit critical thinking, the goal is to have your students select one of the images and tell why it doesn’t belong with the others. BUT, there are many possible responses — as long as the student can explain their reasoning. Follow some of the tips above and have fun exploring all of these free ready-made WODB images!

Image 1 thoughts to get you started:

  • Top right because it’s the only one with no holes.
  • Top left because it’s the only one with no icing.
  • Bottom right: It’s pink and the others all have chocolate

Image 2 thoughts to get you started:

  • 9: because it’s the only single digit
  • 9: because the other numbers have digits that add up to 7
  • 43: because it’s the only prime number
  • 16: because it’s the only even number

WODB book at Amazon

WODB designs: Submissions by many, but website created by Mary Bourassa

Which One Doesn’t Belong: 2D shapes from Miss Laidlaw’s Classroom (FREE on TPT)

Which One Doesn’t Belong: 3D shapes from Miss Laidlaw’s Classroom (FREE on TPT)

Which One Doesn’t Belong: 2D shapes for 2nd-7th grades from Jeannie’s Store (FREE on TPT)

Google images for WODB

Here are more of my egg carton images to get you started!  Please share your experiences with these!

 

 

Happy Holidays

by C. Elkins, OK Math and Reading Lady

This has been an incredibly difficult year in so many ways.  But during these difficult times, you teachers do what teachers have always done — you show unbelievable flexibility, you adapt to changing situations with a variety of resources, spend countless hours making sure you have the best lessons, and continue to show compassion and caring for your students — because that’s who you are!! I am proud of you, and I want to thank you for hanging in there with me this year. I hope I was able to provide some help as you navigated through uncharted waters.

We are all looking forward to 2021, and hope to get closer to “normal.”  I wish the best for you, your family, and your school. May you have a brief respite here at the end of December and time to enjoy it and relax a little bit.  Happy Holidays to you!  I will resume my blog articles in January.

Take care, be safe!!  Cindy Elkins, OK Math and Reading Lady

24 Summer Time Math Activities which can be done at home!

by C. Elkins, OK Math and Reading Lady

I realize many of you  (teachers and parents) may be searching for ways to link every day activities to math so that children can learn in a practical way while at home during this surrealistic period.  Happy Fourth of July and . . . .Here’s a list of things you might like to try:

 

 

 

 

Outdoors

  1. While bouncing a ball, skip count by any number. See how high you get before missing the ball. Good to keep your multiplication facts current.
  2. How high can you bounce a ball? Tape a yardstick or tape measure to a vertical surface (tree, side of house, basketball goal). While one person bounces, one or two others try to gauge the height. Try with different balls.  Figure an average of heights after 3-4 bounces.
  3. Play basketball, but instead of 2 points per basket, assign certain shots specific points and keep a mental tally.
  4. Get out the old Hot Wheels. Measure the distance after pushing them.  Determine ways to increase or decrease the distance. Compete with a sibling or friend to see who has the highest total after 3-4 pushes.  Depending on the age of your child, you may want to measure to the nearest foot, inch, half-inch or cm.
  5. Measure the stopping distance of your bicycle.
  6. Practice broad jumps in the lawn. Measure the distance you can jump. Older students can compute an average of their best 3-4 jumps. Make it a competition with siblings or friends.
  7. Some good uses for a water squirt gun:
    • Aim at a target with points for how close you come. The closer to the center is more points.
    • Measure the distance of your squirts. What is your average distance?
    • How many squirts needed to fill up a bucket?  This would be a good competition.
  8. Competitive sponge race (like at school game days): Place a bucket of water at the starting line. Each player dips their sponge in and runs to the opposite side of the yard and squeezes their sponge into their own cup or bowl. Keep going back and forth. The winner is the one who fills up their container first. Find out the volume of the cup and the volume of water a sponge can hold.
  9. Build a fort with scrap pieces of wood. Make a drawing to plan it. Measure the pieces to see what fits. Use glue or nails (with adult supervision).
  10. Take walks around the neighborhood. Estimate the perimeter distance of the walk.
  11. In the pool:
    • Utilize a pool-safe squirt gun (as in #6 above).
    • Estimate the height of splashes after jumping in.
    • Measure the volume of the pool (l x w x h).  The result will be in cubic feet.  Convert using several online conversion calculators such as this one: https://www.metric-conversions.org/volume/
    • Measure the perimeter of the pool.  If it is rectangular, does your child realize the opposite sides are equal.  This is a very important concept for students regarding geometry (opposite sides of rectangles are equal).
    • What if you want to cover the pool? What would the area of the cover be?
    • Measure how far you can swim.  Time the laps.  What is the average time?
  12. Watch the shadows during the day. Notice the direction and the length.  Many kids don’t realize the connection between clocks and the sun. Make your own sun dial. Here are a few different resources for getting that done, some easier than others:

 

Indoors

  1. Keep track of time needed (or allowed) for indoor activities:  30 minutes ipad, 1 hour tv, 30 minutes fixing lunch, 30 minutes for chores, etc.  This helps children get a good concept of time passage. Even many 4th and 5th graders have difficulty realizing how long a minute is.  This is also helpful as a practical application of determining elapsed time. Examples:
    • It’s 11:30 now.  I’ll fix lunch in 45 minutes. What time will that be?
    • I need you to be cleaned up and ready for bed at 8:30.  It’s 6:30 now.  How much time do you have?
    • You can use your ipad for games for 1 hour and 20 minutes.  It is 2:30 now. What time will you need to stop?
  2. Explore various recipes and practice using measuring tools.  What if the recipe calls for 3/4 cup flour and you want to double it?
  3. In the bathtub, use plastic measuring cups to notice how many 1/4 cups equal a whole cup. How many 1/3 cups in a cup? How many cups in a gallon (using a gallon bucket or clean, empty milk carton)?
  4. While reading, do some text analysis regarding frequency of letter usage.
    • Select a passage (short paragraph).  Count the number of letters.
    • Keep track of how often each letter appears in that passage. Are there letters of the alphabet never used?
    • Compare with other similar length passages.
    • After analyzing a few, can you make predictions about the frequency of letters in any given passage?
    • How does this relate to letters requested on shows such as “Wheel of Fortune” or letters used in Scrabble?
  5. Fluency in reading is a measure of several different aspects:  speed, accuracy, expression, phrasing, intonation.
    • To work on the speed aspect, have your child read a selected passage (this can vary depending on the age of the child). Keep track of the time down to number of seconds. This is a baseline.
    • Have the child repeat the passage to see if the time is less.  Don’t really focus on total speed because that it not helpful for a child to think good reading is super fast reading. Focus more on smoothness, accuracy and phrasing.
    • Another way is to have a child read a passage and stop at 1 minute. How many words per minute were read?  Can the child increase the # of words per minute (but still keep accuracy, smoothness, and expression at a normal pace)?
  6. Play Yahtzee!  Great for addition and multiplication.  Lots of other board games help with number concepts (Monopoly, etc.)
  7. Lots of card games using a standard deck of cards have math links. See my last post for ideas.
  8. Measure the temperature of the water in the bathtub (pool thermometers which float would be great for that). How fast does the temperature decrease. Maybe make a line graph to show the decline over time.
  9. Gather up all of the coins around the house.  Read or listen to “Pigs Will be Pigs” for motivation. Keep track of how much money the pigs find around the house. Count up what was found. Use the menu in the back of the book (or use another favorite menu) to plan a meal. Be sure to check out Amy Axelrod’s other Pig books which have a math theme Amy Axelrod Pig Stories – Amazon  Here is a link to “Pigs Will be Pigs”: Pigs Will Be Pigs – Youtube version
  10. Help kids plan a take-out meal that fits within the family’s budget.  Pull up Door Dash for a variety of menus or get them online from your favorite eateries. This gives great practical experience in use of the dollar to budget.
  11. Look at the local weekly newspaper food advertisements.  Given a certain amount of $, can your child pick items to help with your shopping list?  If they accompany you to the store, make use of the weighing stations in the produce section to check out the weights and cost per pound.
  12. Visit your favorite online educational programs for math games or creative activities.  See a previous post regarding “Math Learning Centers.” The pattern blocks and Geoboard apps allow for a lot of creativity while experiencing the concept of “trial and error” and perseverance. These can be viewed at the website or as an app.  Here’s a link to it to save you time. Virtual math tools (cindyelkins.edublogs.org)

Please share other activities you recommend!!  Just click on the speech bubble at the top of this post or complete the comments section below.  I miss you all!

$25 gift card drawing winner announced!!

Gift Card Drawing Winner Announced:

As promised, those with lawtonps.org email addresses who subscribed to my blog using a personal email address (due to technical glitches beyond my control) were entered in a drawing for a $25 gift card to a vendor of your choice for purchasing educational materials.

Drum roll please . . . . . And the lucky winner (via random number drawing) was #32 on my list. That person is I.B., a teacher at EES.  Congratulations!  I will be contacting you, I.B., about how to get your gift card.

Thank you all for your loyalty as subscribers to the blog I started in August of 2016.  I hope to keep providing information that is helpful to you!

 

Blog interruption announcement

by C. Elkins, OK Math and Reading Lady

Those of you who are lawtonps.org subscribers were all abruptly unsubscribed about 10 days ago due to some type of technical glitch from the web-hosting company or the district.  Therefore, those of you with a lawtonps.org email address did not receive my automatic posts the last two times. It has now been fixed (cross your fingers), so I am arranging this to be sent out Tuesday night to check. Once I see it is ok, I will schedule it back to Sundays. . . but I will take a couple of weekends off around the holidays.

Thanks for hanging in there with me!!  Happy Holidays!!

P.S.  The fix from the webhosting site did not work. 🙁    So, I’m working on Plan B.  In the meantime, if any of you who were subscribed with your lawtonps.org address switch over to your personal email, I will put your name into my next $25 gift card drawing.  This will be held late January. I’ll keep you updated. Please email me when you have done that if your email address name doesn’t reflect who you are (so I can keep track and not have to resubscribe you when the lawtonps.org address becomes active – IF it becomes active.) Thank you!!!

Hello Awesome Educators!

Welcome to my brand new blog! I hope to bring you helpful math and reading tips and resources through this blog. This is my first attempt, so please be patient and check often for updates. Check out the “About Me” and “Math Monday Workshops” above.

If there are particular topics you would like me to address first, please let me know. You can comment by clicking on the little speech bubble above.

Thanks so much!

Cindy Elkins