Possible Daily Schedule!

Daily Schedule

Did It Dots

During our writing workshop time, I mostly use lessons from Lucy Calkins' Units of Study.  But this year, I'm going to start out teaching some of the conventions portion using an idea that originally came from Primarily Writing.  I'm going to take their "did it dot" idea and change it just a bit by using these little stickers that I found at the teacher supply store and Target's dollar spot.

The idea is that as you teach the conventions (spacing, capital letter, punctuation, etc...), you give a "did it dot" for each new thing you see the student using during their independent writing.  For instance, if you've just taught them that you want them to put their name at the top of their paper as soon as they start a new piece, you give a sticker with a happy face on it right beside their name that day.  If you've taught them to stretch out the sounds in a long word that they want to write (turtle talk), and you notice a child finally doing it for the first time, you put a sticker with a turtle drawning on their paper.  Primariy Writing suggests getting the colored dot stickers and printing an abbreviation on each of them to use as did it dots.  I decided to go ahead and make a few of the first ones extra special by getting these stickers.  The happy faces from the Target dollar spot will be for name on your paper.  The sun stickers will be for date on the paper.  The turtles are for "turtle talk".  And I'm still deciding how I'm going to use the star stickers.

Smellies!!

You know all those yummy smelling lip balms that are out there?  Well, I use them as rewards and first graders LOVE them!  Each day I pick a favorite...chocolate chip cookie dough, cotton candy, juicy fruit...and it's our "scent of the day".  Anyone who I notice doing a great job walking in the hallway, gets a SMELLY on their HAND.  As soon as you swipe it across the back of their hand, they bring it straight to their nose with a BIG SMILE on their face!  No one uses the "smellies" on their lips...they're for hands only.  They work especially well toward the middle to end of the school year when things need to be "changed up" a little.  They also work really well at dismissal time when we're trying to get the whole grade level quietly out the door!  ;o)

Behavior Clip Chart

About seven years ago, I came up with this clip chart for my first grade classroom.  I had used many other systems in the past...pulling color cards, a stop light with clips on the sides, etc...but none of them allowed for students to be rewarded for the positive behaviors.  I wanted a chart that they could move up, not just begin their day at the top and move down.  I wanted to be able to reward all those sweet, well behaved students who, up until then, just stayed on "green" all day.  That's when I decided to make my first clip chart out of construction paper. 

 I knew I wanted them to begin each day in the center of the chart...a fresh start on each new day.  I tried to make the positive consequences relate to the negative consequences.  For example, the first step up the chart is a verbal "cheer" of "way to go!  (See the cheers we pull from our Cheer detergent box here.)  Likewise, the first step down is a verbal reminder to "get back on track".  My original laminated construction paper chart served me well over the years.  But this past year I discovered Vistaprint!  And I decided to make a new chart out of their small banner.

Each student's clip goes on the sides of the chart.  I usually put the boys' clips on the left side and the girls' on the right.  It makes it a little easier to find their clip when I need to move it.  I've always moved them myself.  I don't let the kids move their own clips.  Recently, I've seen a lot of blogs and talk of a simlar clip chart from a website called New Management.  I was excited and surprised to see how similar it is to my system.  One thing I've seen some teachers add to their clips are jeweled stickers.  Each time a student reaches the top of the chart, they get to put a jewel sticker on their clip.  This is something I'm going to try this year.  The kids are going to love the jewels!  I'm heading to Hobby Lobby or Michaels tomorrow.  :o)

Rock Star Steps

These are our "Rock Star Steps" for what to do when someone is bothering you.  Believe it or not, the kids used these really well last year.  It's definitely something I'll put up again.  But I'm not sure if I'll leave it "Rock Star Steps" (that was our theme last year) or if I'll figure out a way to make it fit this year's super hero theme.

Skip Counting Problem Solving

We've been working on beginning our math units each week with some sort of "real problem" for the students to solve that will hopefully get them thinking in a way in which they need to use the strategy being taught for that week.  Here is an example of the problem we did for skip counting:

Mrs Garza will have 16 children in her first grade class.  Each child will have a set of 5 crayons.  How many crayons will there be?

The students were told they could solve it in their math journals or use crayons, if they wanted to.  Some of them chose to work together with others at their table.  Here are some of the solutions they came up with:

 

Ana decided to draw her groups of crayons.  She wasn't finished yet when I took this photo.

 Giselle and Ximena decided to work together using crayons to construct actual groups of 5.  They asked for rubber bands to group them more easily.  :)

Rosaisela chose to draw a square for each crayon and group them by rows of 5.

Colin was counting by 5's, showing his counting with the numbers, then added, "She's gonna need a big
basket " because there will be 80 crayons.  :)

Nathaniel drew a number line to 16.  Then he wrote a 5 under each number.  He said when he realized it was counting by 5's, he easily added the "count by 5 numbers" (5, 10, 15, 20...).

Math Workshop

Before we begin our math workshop at the beginning of the year, we look at several of the "math tools" that we will be using during the school year.  These consist of things such as links, unifix cubes, pattern blocks, plastic bears, etc...  The students sit in a circle with one of the tools in front of them, and brainstorm how we could use these tools for math. When they have an idea, we write it down and each of them tries out the idea.  Below are some of the charts we made at the beginning of the year.  These charts hang above our math station area as reminders of what is expected.  The students this year have been very good about using the manipulatives in the ways in which they were intended for the specific math games.  In past years, when we didn't introduce the "tools" this way, students were much more likely to "play" with the manipulatives.

The manipulatives are not all out and available to the children at all times.  When not in use, they each have their own labeled box in a closet.  I only put out the exact tools and amounts that they will need for each of the twelve math games.  Having them put away allows for novelty when they are used for a new game.  Also, students are less likely to use them correctly when they're all out at the same time.

While I am working with a small guided math group, the other students are working on specific activities/games around the classroom.  Some of the games are independent.  Some of them are with a partner.  Each game is stored on a tray.  The trays make it easy to carry to a spot in the classroom.  They also have only the tools needed for that specific game/activity.  The students have been excellent at cleaning up the trays and putting everything back neatly.  No more tubs for me.  I am hooked on the tray idea!

I have 12 different trays to choose from.  This is plenty because they also have the option of playing math games on three different computers or going to the SMARTboard for an independent math activity. 

Below is an example of one of the place value games we have on a tray right now.  All of the supplies needed for this particular game are included on the tray.  Included are:  directions for the game, a tens & ones mat, popcicle sticks and rubber bands for grouping by tens, number cards, and a die.  This particular game came from

http://www.k-5mathteachingresources.com/1st-grade-number-activities.html

These number grid puzzles are also from the above website.  This game is for one player.  There is a sticker on each of the trays labeled with either a "1" or "2" to let the students know how many people can play each game.

Scoop-De-Doo is a popular game right now for place value.  The students scoop beads with their spoon and count them out on the "ones" mat.  Once they make a set of ten, they put the ten beads into a small cup.  Whoever collects 100 beads (10 cups) first, wins.  This game is from

http://mathlearnnc.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=4507283&pageId=5048438

Before we begin going out into the room and playing the games, we talk about how we need our room to look, sound and feel during math time.  Below is the set of "rules" we came up with together, as a class, this year.  This is hanging near our math tray shelf.  We may refer to it anytime we have a problem during "math trays".

These are more of the math trays on the shelf.  You can see that each of them has a sticker with either a "1" or "2" to designate whether it's intended for one or two players.

Our math word wall hangs near our math trays. 

This is part of the area where I work with my small guided math groups.  We have an interactive number line on the wall.  Each card is connected with a paper clip, making it easy to change out the numbers to match the needs of the group I'm working with.  There is also a hundred's chart on the wall for us to refer to as we work.