Shapes, shapes, shapes!

My school uses Everyday mathematics and one of the lessons is to have students make shapes out of string in small groups.
I took some pictures (as I always do!) of this activity and got some really good shots!

triangle

square

pentagon, or as the kids called it: a house!

"long triangle"

...and my favorite - the star!

Use Shapes to Make Pete the Cat

So, you may know that I LOVE Pete the Cat! I (and many others at my school) used a great Pete the Cat tour of the school - found on Pinterest, of course! 

I also use Pete the Cat to teach colors - ideas galore on Pinterest! (I'm sorry, I don't make my own things, I am huge believer in "no need to re-invent the wheel!") This week, I also used Pete help me teach shapes. We learned a new shape a day (circle on Monday, square  on Tuesday, triangle on Wednesday, and we will do rectangle on Thursday, and Hexagon on Friday.) My class really has a handle on shapes and it rained today and I was really excited to try this out, so we did it early! :)  
This pic is a link to the site I pinned.
I pre-cut the shapes because (I'll be honest) I was afraid of what might happen letting my little ones cut that much this early on....

Here's what I did...I used my document camera and went through making Pete step-by-step. I had the shapes already cut and in sandwich bags (with an extra set for my example). I called out shapes and gave directions and you know what? They did GREAT! I should have trusted that my kiddos could handle cutting. (Then again, it may not have gone as smoo...nah, I'll leave it alone.) 

So here they are! My ADORABLE little Pete the Cats!

And this is where Pete lives in the classroom. I move him around every now and then, but he's been on the book shelf this week! :)

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!

This week we are studying insects! In the fall, near Halloween, we did a unit on spiders. Now it's all about insects!

I found a cute song on youtube to teach the parts of an insect, but of course I can't access it from school! So I wrote the words on chart paper and taught my kids the words and we do it our way! :)

Here is the link to the song on youtube:

This song is so cute and an effective way for kids to learn the body parts of an insect! 

Today we made this little project as a science and math lesson - bugs and shapes AND following directions!

This one was the model I made, and students were given squares of each color paper. I told them what shapes to cut and how to label and then I showed this one and had them glue their insects together!

When the insects were complete, I let my kiddos choose where to hang their creepy crawlies in the room! Very cute!

New Centers!

I'm not sure what inspired the activity for sure (Pinterest, probably), but here it is! 

An alphabetical order/letter-sounds center activity! This could be used either way.

I got the poster board at Dollar Tree (2 for $1).

I got the letters from Dollar Tree and the library card pockets from Oriental Trading Company. 

 I just used a glue stick to attach the pockets to the poster board and again for the letters. 

I doubled up the Q &R and X &Y for lack of space (my logic was that there won't be very many Q or X words.)

This center can be used for sounds for the students who need that and also alphabetizing words for the students who are ready for that. I will add photos of the center once it's in place next week! 

I am thinking of using craft sticks with pictures attached for the sounds activity and sight words on craft sticks for the alphabetizing. any ideas? :)

Math center Update:

I got the idea for Skip Counting Posters from Pinterest. I just made my own, though. I didn't download them.

I got this idea from Pinterest, too - using dollar store photo albums for flash cards! Brilliant! 

These geoboards have been in my office storage for who knows long! I finally remembered them and pulled them out for my math center. My kids really enjoy making shapes and letters!

Math Time!

My school uses Everyday Math and one of the recent activities had to do with place value. Each morning during calendar time, one of our daily activities is counting the days we have been in school (today was 141!) and we use straws and number cards to show place value. Even with this daily routine, I realize I always do that part and my kids aren't really getting it. So, to get to the point...I was talking with my husband (high school teacher) and got this idea from him:

Using dimes and pennies to represent the tens and ones, respectively. (Why couldn't I come up with that?) All I knew was I didn't have base ten blocks to use and I wanted the lesson to be meaningful for my kinders. I just hand- drew the tens and ones mats (or you can grab this simple Place Value Chart here) and let my students work in pairs. We did this as a whole group on the carpet. I gave each set of partners a mat, ten dimes (I used plastic ones from my math center), and nine pennies (I used real pennies because we had $12 worth after the Class Collection activity from two weeks before!). 

 On the board I wrote a number (example: 43) and showed the class how to make that number with 4 dimes (counting by tens) and 3 pennies (counting by ones). As a bonus at the end of the lesson, I asked students to show me how to make the number 100. About half got it right away :), however several tried to count out the pennies and realized it wouldn't work. *In case anyone is curious, I only gave 9 pennies to ensure their success in using only dimes to represent tens.  

This little money chart is also part of our daily calendar routine. As we count the days of the school year and use straws for place value, we also use this cute chart (I got it on clearance from Really Good Stuff!)When we got to the 100th day, we traded all those pennies for the dollar! (What a big deal!) Now, when we count, I remind students that while there are only so many pennies on the chart, the dollar represents the hundreds place. 

I couldn't resist sharing this photo. Kids have a tough time with tally marks (just like money!) and we do tally marks each day with our weather routine to try to really give them time to grasp it. This little angel used his string cheese to make tally marks! I love it when kids take what we teach them and make it their own! These are the moments teachers treasure! :)