Math - 10 frames

Sorry for the laps of posts but I really didn't think anyone was keeping up with the blog and with everything going on, I just let it go.  However, I am thrilled that people actually use it.  So let me say I'm sorry and I will keep the blog fire going.
We are covering 10 frames in math for the next week or so.  Here are a few links to help your child out at home.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=75


http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/identify11-30/


https://play.dreambox.com/student/dbl/TeacherLessonQuickImagesMathrack4to10?atype=2&back=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dreambox.com%2Fteachertools&eng=Primary

Week of 9-16 through 9-20

Our story this week is Lucia's Neighborhood. The big idea is about community. Please try to create discussions with your child about people and places in their community while using vocabulary such as rural-farm and urban-city.  Included below are some links to help your child with this weeks focuses for reading.

Type your name and click on the -e. (phonics- short e)
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/wordfamily/

phonics (short e)
http://www.starfall.com/n/make-a-word/et/load.htm?f

ABC order
http://www.earobics.com/gamegoo/games/pawpark2/pawpark2lo.html

Build a community
http://pbskids.org/rogers/buildANeighborhood.html

phonics(word family _en)
http://www.starfall.com/n/make-a-word/en/load.htm?f


Please let me know if you find these links helpful.  Also, if you feel like you need something that's not on here, let me know as well.  This blog is for you and I am willing to put whatever you need on it to help the kids.  Enjoy that fall weather!!!

Movin' right along!

Wow. I guess that old saying is true! Time flies when your having fun.  I can't believe we've been in school for almost 6 weeks. It's almost time to start looking for Fall Break! Here's just a few reminders since we've fell into the groove of things:
1. Always listen to your child read from their book bag every night and sign their logs.
2. The kids will always have about 5 minutes of spelling homework nightly. (It's all on one sheet)
3. Spelling and reading tests are always on Friday mornings.
4. School-wide snacks (popcorn and drink - 2.00) are sold on Fridays.
5. Please make sure your child is bringing their Journey's book home and reading/listening to the story          nightly.

IT'S FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE

I come from a huge family that has lots of traditions.  So because of this, I have created lots of traditions for my little family and of course in my classroom.  One of my favorite traditions is football Fridays.  Every Friday morning during football season, we always sing Rocky Top.  It began this past Friday and I was super excited! I was surprised that several of my sweeties didn't know Rocky Top.  I told them their homework was to learn Rocky Top by next Friday.  So to help out, I've included the link to the Osborne Brothers rendition of Rocky Top.  Enjoy and GO VOLS!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n9prNixjbg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

As a mom of two, life can just get crazy sometimes.  I'm constantly looking for ways to make our little families life easier.  I know I'm not the only one out there. Can I get an amen?  So...... I've loaded some links to help you mommies and daddies support your sweeties.  These links are aligned with our reading series and will help reinforce the skills we are learning here at school.  Just click on the links and follow the directions.  Hopefully this will help somebody out there by making their life a little less crazier.

Reading links for the week of August 19!

* http://www.professorgarfield.org/Phonemics/chickenCoop.html

* Word Family Sort ( type in your name and then click on the a)

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/wordfamily/

* Type in your name and click on -at or -an.
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/construct/index.html

It's that time again!!!

I have this love-hate relationship with the beginning of school.  On the down side, I love spending time with my babies and summer is the perfect time to do that by sleeping in, going to the dollar day Thursdays at the movies, swimming,....I could go on and on.  The up side is that I love shopping the school section at Target, preparing to meet all my lovelies, preparing my room, and getting a fresh large McDonald's coffee every morning.  But, ready or not here it comes! This year is even more exciting for me because I am moving to First Grade! So excited but SO nervous! It hit home when I traded my student desks for tables.  My baby is going to Kindergarten and my oldest is going to the big hall for 3rd grade! I. Am. In. Denial.  So because of this, parents please know that I understand how precious your babies are and I am here to help them get the best out of their education and I am also here for you as you let them go to help them become responsible citizens.  It's hard. I get it.  So hopefully this blog will help you feel connected to them during their day.  Again, I am so happy that you have trusted me with your babies.  Thank you.

math miseries

I've never considered myself a math person. I've always got it but to say it's my favorite subject is a stretch.  Fast forward 20+ years.  Things have changed so much in how the operations and order works. So when I started getting calls and texts from parents, I knew I had to do something to make it easier for my kids and my parents.  One - my kids were learning it one way at school and then going home and the parents ( my husband included) were helping them how they were taught.  Two-it's imperative to make the lives of my parents easier! So here is a link of the same video the kids watch to get understanding on how to do this math in this chapter.  Please text me if you need more information. Hope this helps!

https://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com/snpapp/learn/navigateIDP.do?method=toc&newServiceId%20=10363&product_isbn=0-328-52259-7

Click on this link and scroll down to topic 7.  Our topics this week are 07-02 (finding parts of 100) and 07-03 (Subtracting on a hundred chart).

Paging Dr. Cardinal

Our classroom was a wreck today.  If that's any indication of how much fun we had, we blew the top off the roof! We've been studying contractions and we decided to take it to the next level today.  We wrote the two words of the contraction onto sentence strips and then performed surgery to create the contraction using scissors, band aids, and tape.  A special thanks goes to Amy Wolfenbarger for the gloves and surgical masks. 

Spelling words

Spelling words for the week of Oct. 29 - Nov. 2.

note, notes, lunch, lunches, story, stories, tune, tunes, switch, switches, baby, babies, crumbs, centuries, supplies

I heart visitors!

We were so lucky to have Dominick's Grandpa ( how was that Julie?) come in today and carve a pumpkin for us.  He usually carves a pumpkin in the New York school system but he's here in Tennessee visiting and boy are we glad! We loved getting our hands gooey. Check out his apron.  I loved it!

Dominick was all smiles and so was everyone else including me.  Thanks grandpa for our beautiful pumpkin.  It's out beside our classroom door welcoming everyone to our room.  I hope we can start a tradition!  

Best. Class. Ever!

These kiddo's are the best kids ever.  I'm constantly telling co-workers about the funny and witty things they are doing and saying.  Yesterday was no exception.  A student brought Halloween treat bags and we gave them out.  A few minutes later, I went to the bathroom.  I noticed it got quiet.  You know, that quiet that can't lead to anything good.  So I open my door and this is what's staring at me.  I had to get my camera and get a picture.  FYI: They are all wearing black because it's DARE week and it was all black day.

Spooky Spider leg graph

I would love to take credit for this cute idea but I just can't! Our county had the best math training for K-2. I honestly didn't even want to take a bathroom break because it was so engaging! Here's one of the many ideas the trainer shared.  

This activity covers so many standards in math and it just happens to be festive for Halloween (and look great on our walls for parent visitation!)  Each student blindly picks 8 legs.  There are two colors available in the bag.  When they pick their legs, they hole punch 4 holes on each side.  After everyone has assembled their spider, we graph according to the 2 colors of legs.  

 You can see that I put the math sentences up and write them by color to help them find where their spiders belong.

I was amazed by what my kids saw as we looked at our graph.  I used little scaffolding at first to see what type of conversation they would generate.  They discovered that the doubles had the most spiders because you had a better chance of pulling a little of both colors out.  We also discovered that both 0+8 and 8+0 didn't have any spiders because it would be harder to draw out eight of the same color of pipe cleaners.  We also discovered doubles and near doubles, the greatest and the least and so much more!

I think we may leave them up for a while and I may create a paper so my quick finishers can read the chart to find data.  Oh, disregard the finger in the picture below! 

Spelling words for A Walk In The Desert 9.17

SPELLING WORDS:

talked, talking, dropped, dropping, excited, exciting, lifted, lifting, hugged, hugging, smiled, smiling, dragging, amazed, danced

Spelling game links:
http://www.quia.com/jg/1103559.html

Punctuation rap! Word!

We are learning about punctuation marks this week.  For most, it's a review from first grade.  I found this great rap from The Electric Company on PBS.  Take time to watch this video with your children and help them review at home! You will have to have a flash to view.  Here's the link if you have trouble viewing. Happy learning.
http://pinterest.com/pin/273664114828074628/

Test Taking Geniuses!

Due to the state tests this week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday), there will not be any test in spelling and reading.  We will resume spelling and Scott Foresman reading next week. Please make sure your little sweetheart gets plenty of sleep and grabs a good breakfast!

Spelling: Week of August 26

Here are the words for this week. Please remember that our test are on Monday and all spelling homework is due Friday. Have a great week!

tune, page, nose, space, size, fine, mice, late, cube, blaze, home, vote, erase, spice, confuse

*The last three italicized words are bonus.

Groovin' back to school!!!

Hey parents! Don't forget the back to school dance THIS FRIDAY! The theme is 60's and 70's so it should be F-U-N! Admission is 3.00 and there is going to be face painting, finger nail painting, concessions, feathers, glow sticks, T-shirts, and so much more. Please note: K-2 must have an adult with them. I can't wait to see you there! I hear Mr. Wright will have the big hair again!

Spelling Words for the week of August 2-

 Spelling in my class is always considered homework.  It is always the same every week.  It is as follows: ABC order, 5 times each and use each word in a sentence.  They are due Friday.  Please note that spelling and reading tests are always on Monday unless it is a make up test or unless there will be no school on a Monday.  Please look for a paper coming home to help further explain spelling.  Below are the words for the week that go with the story, Iris And Walter. I've also included a link that has four spelling games with this week's words.  Have fun studying!

1.  drum
2.  rock
3.  list
4.  desk
5.  job
6.  sad
7.  chop
8.  sack
9.  tag
10. rib
11. mess
12. dust

BONUS:

13. picket
14. lettuce
15. engine

Spelling word games link:
http://www.quia.com/jg/1103570.html

I'm so EXCITED!!!!

I say this every year, but I really do have the. best. group of kiddo's this year! I'm already in love with them and their great personalities! I've already gotten so many love notes and flowers and even a delicious red, ripe tomato that one sweetie grew herself! (Thanks Haily. It was so good on my sandwich for lunch). I really do consider myself a lucky gal to be able to do what I do and to be surrounded by the best of the best at Caryville Elementary - both staff and kids.  I'm so blessed.
So..... enough of my my head being in the clouds, here's a little about me. I am married to Robert whom I couldn't live without.  We have two wonderfully crazy kids - Mac who is 4 and starting Pre-K this year (good luck Mrs. Kathy and Granny) and Sophia who is 7 and is lucky enough to be in my class (even though she may not see it that way).
I really hope you are able to use this blog to its potential this year.  You will find homework assignments, spelling words, updates, pictures of what's going on in the classroom, snack schedules, and so much more.  Feel free to sign up and become a follower.

New blog look!!!

I'm so excited to announce that my blog will have a new look next week!! I must say that I had blog envy when I saw my good friend Becky's blog so I had to go snatch me one up too! Thanks Beck!
Please go check out www.dreamlikemagicblog.com. She has some amazing designs! Check back to see the cuteness!