Measuring Mania

Measuring is always one of our last units of the year, but one of the most fun! We started by measuring using non standard units. I explained to my kiddies that when you measure, you are using a repeated unit. You can measure using anything at all (barrettes, noodles, pennies, hands, etc.) I told them we are going to use paper clips and cubes to measure today. I told students when they measure, they have to make sure they measure from one end to the other end. We sat in a circle on the carpet and I showed them how to measure an object with paper clips and cubes. Then I picked a few more students to use paper clips and cubes to measure some more objects. We also played a game on the board where they had to estimate and measure objects with paper clips and cubes. Students went back to their seats and worked with a partner to measure a pencil, eraser, their hand, an edge of their journal, a crayon, a puzzle piece, and a marker with paper clips and cubes. Finally, they each measured more things with paper clips and cubes. They had a blast! After spring break, they will use a ruler to measure to the nearest inch and centimeter :)

St. Patrick's Day

Today we all pretended we had a little Irish in us and celebrated St. Patrick's Day. We are taking Benchmarks this week, which are our standardized tests in First grade, so between testing, we had some fun!

First, I challenged everyone to create 16 words using the letters from the word leprechaun. Some of them came up with some great words, while others struggled to come up with 5!

Click here to view and download the worksheet.

Next, we read the story, That's What Leprechauns Do, by Eve Bunting. The kids enjoyed reading about the mischief the leprechauns got into on their way to put their gold at the end of the rainbow. After the last page of the story, there is a little information about leprechauns so I read it to the class. They all wanted to know if leprechauns were real (of course I didn't tell them no!)

After we read, we each got a pile of fruit loops and did various math activities with their fruit loops, including making a bar graph, making a pattern, and adding and subtracting. I think their favorite part was getting to eat their treat!

We also listened to Irish music as we worked!

Another activity we did was think all about the word LUCKY! We discussed and wrote about why we are lucky, who we are lucky to know, what our lucky charms are, and what we would do if we found a pot of gold. It was really cute to see why they think they are lucky. They shared things like I am lucky to have a nice family, have a bed, have friends, have a cool teacher, and to go to school. They drew all kinds of things for their lucky charms. Most of them said they would show their mom if they found a pot of gold. One little girl said she would throw it in the air and dance around!

I think these little ones enjoyed wearing my silly St. Patrick's Day hats!

More Money!

We have been working really hard on counting coins for the past couple of weeks! To help my kiddies remember what each coin is and what it's worth, I keep these paper plates on my board. I have a picture of each coin, the name, and sticker dots that show the value of the coin.

My kiddies have been counting coins on the board, writing on white boards, and even writing on their tables with dry erase markers (this is one of their favorite things to do!)

We also played a game on teams. I gave each team a bag of coins, a white board, and a dry erase marker. I said a value and teams had to work together to put coins that added up to that value on their white board. They had a blast working together and using their coins.

We are now on counting quarters! On Thursday, it was time for our March bulletin board and since we have been working on money, I decided to combine money and ice cream, because who doesn't love both things?! I gave them 3 ice cream scoops, a cone cut out of construction paper, and coins. They colored and cut out their ice cream scoops. Then they had to cut out a combination of coins and glue the coins on their ice cream scoops. Finally, they counted their coins and wrote the total value on their ice cream cone. They turned out great!

Money Money Money

Today was the first day of money, our longest Math unit of the year! The kids love the idea of counting money, but it's always a tough concept. We started with identifying coins and their value. I started Math by teaching a song to help my class remember the coins and their value. Here we are singing the money song! The words are shown on the board :)

After we sang the song, we played a game! There were paper plates with pictures of a penny, dime, nickel, or quarter on the carpet. Students began by standing behind a paper plate. I started the music and they started walking around the circle. When the music stopped, they had to get behind a paper plate and identify the coin they were standing behind. I said things like "If you have a penny, touch your toes" or "if you have a quarter, do 10 arm circles." They had fun learning and getting out some energy!

Next, we sorted coins at our tables. Each table got 2 sorting mats, a pile of coins, and cards with values 1, 5, 10, and 25. They had to sort the coins and the card that showed each coin's value.

Finally, each student completed a worksheet independently. I know my kiddies can't wait to start counting coins now that they can identify them!

Patterns!

Last week, we began working on creating and describing patterns. Students have so much fun every year when I teach patterns. This year was no different! After creating patterns on our interactive whiteboard, students worked in groups to use pattern blocks to create their own patterns. Each group created and described their pattern on whiteboards. The first pattern had to use 2 shapes and the second pattern they created had to use 3 shapes. After they were finished, they completed a worksheet independently. Finally, students had the chance to create one more pattern (phew!) on construction paper. I even let them use markers, which they absolutely love!