Kindergarten Math Notebook {Freebie!}

Hi friends! Do you use interactive notebooks in your classroom? Today I have an awesome freebie to get your notebooks off to a great start!

Kindergarten is my absolute favorite grade of all time and I love creating resources for my kinder friends. This year my bestie asked me to create a math interactive notebook for her kinder kids. I told her “OF COURSE!” because I LOVE creating for the little ones. Right now I’m working on a number and operations pack. Luckily (for me) things go slowly in kinder at the beginning so all she needed from me right now was a number of the week set.

I created 4 activities that her kids can use to build a concrete understanding of numbers 1-10 and hit the math standards:

·      Counters on a ten frame

·      Flip flap template with the numeral on top, students record a set of that number under the flap

·      Tracing the numeral

·      A “zoomed in” number line for students to discuss what comes before and after that number

Here’s what it looks like:

So far the kids are doing really well (my friend teachers year round so they are in week 4). I’ll be adding more activities for the notebook soon and you just might see me blog about it! For now, I’m offering numbers 1-10 as an interactive notebook freebie!! (I've included headers with the TEKS and the CCSS!)

 You can pick it up here. Notebooks can be a little scary with kinders but just like many things, start slow, MODEL, MODEL, MODEL and you’ll get there before you know it! Leave me a comment if you plan on using these in your rooms! I LOVE PICTURES!! :)

35 Weeks and TEKS, TEKS, TEKS!

Hey Y'all! Hope everyone is well. I'm in my 3rd week of school and things are going well. I am well into daily five routines and practice as well as math stations. There is still so much to do and so much to teach my little ones! I'm also 35 weeks pregnant and getting a little anxious about delivery quickly approaching. I still don't know my long term sub but I'm trying to get as organized as possible to help her transition into my classroom.

I've also been very busy creating and customizing my TEKS cards for other Texas teachers. I use the second grade set in my classroom every day and I love them! They are great for goal setting and ensuring that students know the objectives for the lesson. They are also on sale until midnight tonight at my "Teachers Pay Teachers" store.

Have fun getting back into your classrooms! While organizing my binders I realized I wanted to change my small group plans/organization. I just whipped up this documenation form to help me keep track of student progress in small group reading or math. To keep track of student progress I use those little check marks at the bottom of the page. It's quick, easy and effective. Feel free to grab it if you think you can use it! :)

Second Grade Synergy!

Hey Y'all! I hope your back to school shopping is going well. We are well into our second full week of school. Our school is a 7 habits school. Last year we implemented the program as a staff and this year we are teaching the habits to the kiddos. So far, so good!

There are a ton of cute graphics/posters out there to help make the habits concrete for the children. My second graders are enjoying the discussions we've had about the habits. It will still take some time for them to truly grasp the concepts and apply them to their own lives. I think the time we spend on learning these life skills will really pay off.

When we learned about habit 6 "synergy" we each got a puzzle piece and decorated it with our name and things we like. The kids then put the pieces together and they did really well! It took them a while to do it, there were 26 pieces total and that took a lot of synergy from everyone. It was a great way to teach the concept! Here's a pic of our final product. :)

Happy Tuesday!

Texas Teachers!

So as I've been blog hopping I've read a lot about "common core standards." I had no idea what these were, looked it up and figured out that basically every other state has adopted the same standards except for Texas. Well, I thought it was a little funny because of course Texas would be one of the only ones to not do what everyone else is doing. We like to think we're still our own country I guess... :)

Anyways, I loved some of the common core standards cards I saw online. Really cute graphics and great for goal setting with your students. This aligns perfectly with what I've been reading in The Leader in Me. This year I plan on having one student be the "goal keeper." His or her job is to read aloud our learning goals for the day. I thought it would be easy and organized to just write the number of the standard (in Texas we call them TEKS) and let the student find the card, put it up and read it during morning meeting. That way it gives them leadership in the classroom, direction for the day and some accountability for their learning.

The only problem with this idea was...I don't have the cards made! Luckily, I've been inspired by many fabulous teachers so I had the drive to create my own now, instead of waiting until the last minute and creating a few at a time. I just finished working on the reading set. I'll make cards for math, writing, science and social studies as well. I created two sets for reading: one with just the text and border and the other with the text, border and a cute ocean graphic.

If you're a Texas teacher, check them out! I'm in second but if you need a different grade level, let me know and I can make them and post at a later date.

Smiles!