Shapin' Up!

It's been a while since the last blog because of this:

Aaahhhhhhhh. Such a beauty. Nothin' like it. :) Football is so big around here, even the sweeties get into it on the playground.

love it. 

We briefly touched on word problems for a week and discussed our strategies for solving them. As always, Blair Turner's Interactive Notebook had just the perfect flipchart to put in our math journals to help us!

We also used the math journals to get a good grip on what is a "ten". This review will come in handy later!

The kiddos even got to make their own facts to sort into the pockets. Some little ones got super creative and really tried to stretch their math knowledge! Even though some of the number were waaaayyyy to big for the point of the activity, I let it slide since it was a blank card and I loved seeing the creativity. :)

We eventually moved on to SHAPES! We looked at 2-D and 3-D shapes, their properties, and how we can sort them.
We played a great game called "Ways to Fill Patterns" which was a hit in math workshop!

We also looked at shapes to really break down what makes them special from other shapes. 

Once again, from Blair Turner

At the end of the week, we focused on rectangles, rows, and columns. Friday was a great day to break out the geoboards! 

Reading was a review week, so hopefully I'll have more to share as we start a new unit this week. :) This post was short and sweet because the hubby is grilling burgers and it smells DELICIOUS, so I'll let all the pictures do the talking for our bunch.

Oh, and my October Morning Work is up and ready in my TPT store today! Go ahead and grab it for some great practice this month!

Battling "Bored"- Early Finishers

"Mrs. Cecil, I'm dooooooooone"
"Mrs. Cecil, what do I do next?"
"Mrs. Cecil, can I do________?"

Yes, I hear my name about 18730712 times a day. I think I hear little voices say it in my sleep. :) One way I handle my early finishers is by a great idea that I got from Pinterest!

May Do, Must Do board:

Must Do:

Anything in the "Must Do" column is something that must be done! It's usually used in the morning for our reading block. After whole group, the kids follow the order of things listed in the "Must Do" column and finish those first. Usually there are page numbers listed for workbook pages (only 1 or 2 a day) or an activity sheet for individual practice. Once they finish, they go to their reading center which is the last thing on "Must Do". We have a center chart that I forgot to take a picture of :) Which brings me to...........

May Do:

6 weeks later, we are still practicing this one.

First, they have to make sure their morning work page is finished before they do any other may do. That's why it is first. Then, they check their work folder in their desk to see if there is anything else they haven't turned in yet. 

Morning Work folder: All morning work is kept in a folder in their desk. They know to do one page a day. You can find the morning work here.

Then, the fun comes! 

Reading chairs: 2 students a day are chosen for reading chairs and reading buddies. 

Math tools: students can grab a clock or coins to practice their skills!

Math Games: we have learned several math games that can be played alone. This game is called Make 10, where you have to find 2 cards that make a combination of 10. 

Free reading! 

We have also made our own addition facts pocket book to hold the addition facts we are working on. So far, we have +1, +2, combinations of 10, and we added doubles today. They can whip these out of their work folder to quiz themselves.

There is always plenty to do so nobody is able to give me "I'm bored" "I'm finished" "I don't have anything else to do". 

Um, have you check the May Do board? :)

A Peek into Math Workshop

It's Alabama football gameday, y'all!! The man in our house has 2 different football gameday shows on-SEC Network and ESPN College Gameday. To say that we are excited about football season in this house is an understatement. I'm excited I get to go to the game with Shawn's family today! Until then, we will sleep late and drink coffee and celebrate Saturday mornings. :)

I wanted to paint a picture of what it is like in our room during math workshop. We use Investigations as our math curriculum which is based on a lot of hands-on games and discussions about math. Friday was a great example of this type of learning because we learned 2 different math games and had a great conversation about doubles facts. But as I was walking around my room monitoring groups and talking over the loud math conversations occurring, I couldn't help but laugh at the organized chaos of it all. I just had to share!
Here is the layout of our math block:
1. Introduction/Review of topic
2. Partner practice
3. Whole-group discussion
4. Partner practice/individual practice
5. Math center

Here are some pictures of our class in the "partner practice" part of our math block. We learned a game called "Double It". Player 1 draws a card from a deck and doubles that number. Then, you plot the double, or sum, on a chart on the game recording sheet. The goal was for the kids to see a pattern in doubles answers-even numbers, or "counting by 2s" as my kids like to say. For the most part, our class works pretty well in partners/groups.

I use these sticks to choose partners. Each stick has a name. I pull 2 at random and TA-DA! you have a partner. I have a strict rule that the kids ARE NOT allowed to complain or show any negative emotion about their partner. If you do, you don't get to participate in our activity that day. I tell my kids all the time, "You don't have to be BFF with everybody in this class, but you WILL be respectful and kind!" I love this sticks. 

Clipboards and carpet squares are a normal thing for our math workshop. I tell them to choose any space around the room (except for under tables and in front of the door), and they can use a clipboard to write on and carpet square to sit on. These girls are showing a great example!

This cracked me up. They built a fort with the desk chairs. I checked, and they were playing the game correctly and talking about doubles-not playing incorrectly in their creative space. 7 year olds are super. 

Here's a little bit of craziness for you. Laying all over the rug, cards everywhere - but learning is happening!

That's a small look into our math block! It's still a work in progress (5 weeks into school), but they are getting better every day!

S'mores Galore!

First of all, THIS:

"On a Field - Mrs. Cecil"

I am a gigantic Alabama cheerleader with some serious eyebrows and thinning hair in Bryant Denny Stadium. I love everything about this and the sweet baby that brought it to me Friday morning!

Our story from RSCC last week was Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night by Cynthia Rylant.

 It was so fun to have a camping theme because that means S'MORES!! Our textbook had a procedural writing piece about "How to Make a S'more" that explained the steps in making a s'more. After reading the steps, the kiddos put the steps in their own words. First, they used a graphic organizer that had the transition words first, next, then, last.

After I checked their sentences and writing, we modeled as a class how to put it in a paragraph form.

Once I checked it again, I passed out construction paper to make their own "s'more".

Find this super cute activity here

"Mrs. Cecil, can we PLEASE make s'mores???" Sure kid, here's some paper.
Can you imagine the disappointed faces? Yeah, me too. That's why I TOTALLY TRICKED my kids and gave them a fun Friday surprise.

This picture was taken after we went outside to eat the s'mores. No chocolate left and almost all the marshmallows are gone. It was the best afternoon. Some of the kids said it was their first time to make a s'more. SADNESS. I'm glad I could experience their first s'more with them. :)

Our school has adopted the Leader in Me program which focuses on the 7 Habits of Happy Kids. This week we focused on Habit 1: Be Proactive.

This book has a super cute and relatable story for each habit to read aloud to the class.

After talking about what it means to Be Proactive all week, we made Proactive People so we can take the "first step" and be leaders. 

Find the craft here :)

NEW! Our class has a Facebook page! Check it HERE!