How To Practice Spelling

The students use Spelling City to practice their spelling words in class.  We talk to the students about how important it is to practice these words.  We also try to explain to them that everyone has a different learning strength, and we practice words in lots of different ways to try to address all of those different learning strengths.  The great thing about Spelling City is that you can use it at home too!  Click the spelling list page above to learn how to do access our lists on this resource. That page is updated each week.  Below is a video of Kaylena practicing her spelling words on Spelling City.  We chose to video her because she is so engaged while practicing and she is saying and spelling each word out loud, which is a great strategy to get those words cemented in the brain!  Way to go Kaylena!  If you haven't check it out yet, please do...you and your students will love it!

Cool Compound Words!

The first grade students had been working on compound words.  They learned that a compound word is when you take two words and put them together to make a new word.  After lots of practice, they finished the study by making Cool Compound Word Penguins.  Each penguin was holding a snowball with a word on it.  The students combined those two words to make a compound word, which was written on the penguin's tummies!  How fun!

Shedding Some Light...

Mrs. Head has recently purchased some really unique reading tools!  After seeing a really neat idea on a blog, Mrs. Head purchased "finger lights" for the students to use during reading class.  We have noticed that some of the students were struggling to follow along when the teacher or other classmates were reading, and when Mrs. Head found these, she knew it would help to keep the students engaged and following along during times when other people were reading.  It has been quite successful...and the students LOVE them!  Thank you Mrs. Head for doing all that you can to make reading class fun and engaging!

Story Problems and Subtraction

The second and third grade students have been working so hard on learning how to understand and do two-digit subtraction, with and without regrouping.  When we finally had started to get a handle on it, we decided to make it really fun...we went shopping!!!  Well, pretend shopping with play money, but, boy, was it ever fun!  The boys and girls each went on a website (the boys went on Toys R Us and the girls chose Justice).  I gave them each an envelope of play money with $99 and they got to pick items to buy.  Each time they bought an item, they had to subtract to see how much money they had left and to see if they had enough to buy more.  What a great real life activity!  They finished the project by writing story problems for some of their purchases.

Geometry!

Our first and second grade students have been learning about geometry in math.  This week we focused on solid figures (sphere, cube, rectangular prism, etc.) and plane shapes (circle, square, rectangle, etc.).  We went around the school to look for real life examples of solid figures, we made solid figure flip books, and on Friday we  used gumdrops and toothpicks to build plane shapes and solid figures.  The boys and girls have done an amazing job with these!

Surprise!

We have a bit of a tradition in our classroom.  Every year at Christmas time Mrs. Head, Mrs. Shepherd and I like to surprise the students with a Christmas party.  We just love doing this as a reward to the students for all of their hard work throughout the year.  We usually make breakfast to enjoy with the children...this gives us some time to sit and talk and visit with them (something we rarely have time to do).  Then, we always watch the movie Polar Express.  When they come back in for the afternoon session, we have another little treat (this year it was cookies and hot chocolate) for the children to enjoy as they finish the movie.  This is truly one of my favorite days of the year!

This was the table with their gifts ready and waiting for them as they walked in.

Yum! We had breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls!

Mrs. Head, Mrs. Shepherd and I couldn't be more thankful to work with these students on a daily basis.  They are such a blessing in our lives and we enjoy the opportunity to be a part of their educational experience.  Wishing all of our students and families a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Shopping

We have been working on two-digit addition and subtraction with and without regrouping.  I thought it might be fun for the students to practice these skills with a real world application.  We took some sale ads and the students has a ball going through them and choosing items that they wanted to put on their Christmas wish list.  We paired the items together to work on our two-digit addition.  What a fun activity!

Regrouping and Organizing

Well, the students continue to work hard in class.  We were able to catch the students hard at work this week while learning new skills.

These students were working on two-digit addition with and without regrouping.  They got to practice in a fun way.  They played Tic-Tac-Toe Addition.  They had to draw a card with a two-digit addition problem, solve it, and if it was solved correctly AND regrouping was used, they got to mark and "X" or "O" on their board.  Great practice, but great fun as well!

These students had some small group time with Mrs. Head.  They learned all about making a web to organize thoughts related to one main idea.  Here, they were discussing details about how to clean their room.

Now they can't tell their parents that they don't know how to clean their rooms...lol!  :)

Catching Up

Whew! We have been so busy in class that we have barely had any time to blog!  We have snapped a few pictures and videos along the way.  Here are some things we have been up to:

Emily is working on her addition skills with this turkey math paper.  The students have been working on using a variety of strategies to solve addition problems.  Emily likes to "load" the bigger number into her brain and count on.  What a great strategy!

The whole group busy working on those turkeys!  They had so much fun that they barely knew they were practicing addition skills!

These second graders have been working on two digit addition.  Here, we were modeling regrouping with place value blocks.  Students modeled the addition problems and then voted on whether regrouping was necessary or not.  They really caught on to this!

The first and second graders have also been working on the reading fluency.  Here is a sample of their oral reading skills.  We think they are coming along very nicely! :)